Did Adam Smith—celebrated hero of free trade—make a big exception for reasons of national defense? Would he support the Jones ...

In this excerpt from Letter IX of John Rankin’s Letters on American Slavery, Rankin argues that slavery is incompatible with ...

In this lively new history, Brian Doherty provides a concise, thorough account of the intellectual roots of the American libertarian movement, with helpful summaries of key figures, institutions, and ...

Monticello May 8. 25. Dear Sir Your favor of Apr. 29 has been duly recieved, and the offer of mineralogical specimens from [M]r Myer has been communicated to Dr Emmet our Professor of Natural history.

Crypto- anarchism is a philosophy whose advocates think technology can assist them in creating communities based on consent rather than coercion. Crypto- anarchists wish to be free from state ...

The socialist calculation debate revolves around the question of whether central planners can, at least in principle, make the economic calculations necessary to achieve the rational, efficient ...

The sentiment remains apt. We cannot stay free for long if we are not willing to scrutinize, critique, or- - at the most extreme end of the spectrum- - resist the encroachments of the state upon the ...

Born in England while Puritans were persecuted, Williams hopped aboard a ship to America in an attempt to find a place where freedom of religion was a guaranteed right. Unable to find a home free of ...

One such progressive was the well- known journalist Walter Lippmann (1889-1974), once a wide- eyed idealist reminiscent of today’s progressive politicians and activists. In fact, knowingly or not, ...

Today Cicero is often read only by classical scholars and reluctant students, which is a great shame because his life and philosophy reflect a sort of proto- liberalism that came to influence a wide ...

The classical liberals of the 18 th, 19 th, and much of the 20 th century positioned themselves as opponents of what they termed “privilege.” For these thinkers, privilege referred to the monopolies, ...

War is the quintessential undertaking of the state, especially the modern centralized nation- state of the past five or six centuries. Indeed, the relationship between the two is encapsulated in the ...