We have exchanged “liberty”, which is endowed by our Creator, for “freedom”, which is guaranteed by an act of government. Liberty deals with just vs unjust, freedom with legal vs illegal. Thus, liberty may say something is unjust yet government may declare it legal (I’m sure many examples come to mind!).
I believe we need to re-discover the principles of liberty.
No, the confusion does not come from confusing these words. They are synonyms for the same concept.
freedom: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
liberty: the power or scope to act as one pleases.
Liberty certainly doesn't deal with "justice". Justice is its own concept.
Generally, people who talk about liberty and freedom being different things are trying to undermine the concept of liberty because they don't really want people to be free. They want people to behave as they would wish them to behave. So they try to say "freedom" really means doing what I want you to do.
You might enjoy a book entitled "Rediscovering the Ideas of Liberty," which is a condensed version of the Bicentennial (1987) Volume, Our Ageless Constitution.
Both are easy-to-read explanations of the principles and ideas underlying America's Declaration of Independence and the Framers' Constitution.
America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights.." This was the statement of guiding principle for the new nation, and, as such, had to be translated into a concrete charter for government. The Constitution of The United States of America became that charter.
Other forms of government, past and present, rely on the state as the grantor of human rights. America's founders, however, believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over other people should possess limited powers. Through their Constitution, they wished to "secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves and for posterity by limiting the powers of government. Through it, they delegated to government only those rights they wanted it to have, holding to themselves all powers not delegated by the Constitution. They even provided the means for controlling those powers they had granted to government.
This was the unique American idea. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic concept. Gradually, other "ideas" have influenced legislation which has reversed the roles and given government greater and greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of individual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity.
Footnote: "Our Ageless Constitution," W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III: ISBN 0-937047-01-5