“What Are You Going to do with Freedom?”

“What in the hell are you gonna do with freedom?” This is what the racist character Dan Scott asks the slave and Revolutionary War fighter Occam in the movie The Patriot (directed by Roland Emmerich [Columbia Pictures, 2000]). Dan Scott read Occam a decree stating that if slaves fought for the Continental Army for twelve months, they would be free. Occam realized he only had six months left to go. Eventually, the racist Dan changed his ways as he fought beside Occam, and we see the two men rebuilding homes that were destroyed during the Revolutionary War. Occam tells him that with his freedom he wants to build something better.