History

About this Collection

Whether it is David Hume’s eighteenth-century account of English history stretching from Julius Caesar to the Glorious Revolution or Edmund Burke’s analysis of the American and French Revolutions as he watched them unfold, our history collection reflects on the events of history and the ways we discuss those events over time.

Key People

Titles & Essays

THE READING ROOM

A Meeting of Minds in the Middle of the Street

By: Richard B. McKenzie

We lived across a quiet neighborhood street from one another for more than three decades. On the political spectrum, however, we were so far apart that we couldn’t see one another from our houses. On the religion spectrum, we had an…

THE READING ROOM

A View of Jefferson for the 21st Century

By: Isadore Johnson

There’s a deep tension in society about how to view America’s founding. Some people see the creation of America as a product of enlightenment, based on the ideals of liberty, independence, and pluralism. Others see America as a…

THE READING ROOM

Abigail and John Adams Disagree Over the Rights of Women

By: Steve Ealy

In a letter dated March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams announces to John that spring has lightened her mood. “I feel a gaiety de Coar to which before I was a stranger.” Her light mood did not prevent her from raising heavy topics, however.…

THE READING ROOM

Acton on Doing History: To Judge or Understand

By: Hans Eicholz

In July’s Liberty Matters Discussion of the Declaration of Independence, a main theme of our deliberations was on the role and purpose of history. A distinction was made between an older ethic of understanding the past in its own…
Acton-Creighton Correspondence

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (author)

In one of these 3 letters to Archbishop Creighton Lord Acton makes his famous statement about “power corrupts and absolute power absolutely”. He also makes other remarks about the proper role for moral judgments in history.

Alexis de Tocqueville

This is a collection of key extracts by, and essays and study guides about Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859).

See the Liberty Matters online discussion of Tocqueville’s New Science of Politics Revisited.

See also the following…

THE READING ROOM

America without Black Americans

By: Steve Ealy

On April 6, 1970, Time magazine published a special issue devoted to “Black America 1970,” which provided a sweeping survey of contemporary Black life in terms of residential patterns, medicine, psychological and sociological…
The American Commonwealth, 2 vols.

Viscount James Bryce (author)

In Democracy in America (1835) the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville interpreted American society through the lens of democratic political theory. A half-century later the Scotsman James Bryce examined “the institutions and the people…

The American Nation: Primary Sources

Bruce Frohnen (editor)

This volume is a continuation of Frohnen’s earlier collection of primary sources The American Republic. It contains material from the Civil War to the outbreak of World War Two in the Pacific.

American Political Writing During the Founding Era: 1760-1805, 2 vols.

Charles S. Hyneman (editor)

These volumes provide a selection of seventy-six essays, pamphlets, speeches, and letters to newspapers written between 1760 and 1805 by American political and religious leaders. Many are obscure pieces, but all illuminate the…

American Political Writing During the Founding Era: 1760-1805, vol. 1

Charles S. Hyneman (editor)

These volumes provide a selection of seventy-six essays, pamphlets, speeches, and letters to newspapers written between 1760 and 1805 by American political and religious leaders. Many are obscure pieces, but all illuminate the…

American Political Writing During the Founding Era: 1760-1805, vol. 2

Charles S. Hyneman (editor)

These volumes provide a selection of seventy-six essays, pamphlets, speeches, and letters to newspapers written between 1760 and 1805 by American political and religious leaders. Many are obscure pieces , but all illuminate the…

The American Republic: Primary Sources

Bruce Frohnen (editor)

The American Republic is an excellent textbook for classroom use which provides, in a single volume, critical, original documents revealing the character of American discourse on the nature and importance of local government, the…

America’s Second Crusade

William Henry Chamberlin (author)

Chamberlin wrote this volume on the role of the United States in World War II just a few years after the surrender of the Axis forces in 1945. This reprint is designed to give history students and scholars a more immediate “window”…

L’Ancien Régime et la Révolution (7th ed. 1866)

Alexis de Tocqueville (author)

Tocqueville’s last major work which he left unfinished on the continuities between the old regime and the French Revolution.

Ancient Law

Sir Henry Sumner Maine (author)

A classic work on the history of law by one of the great English jurists of the 19th century. Another great English jurist, Sir Frederick Pollock wrote an introduction and extensive notes.

Anti-Slavery Tracts. First Series, Nos. 1-20 (1855-56)

David M. Hart (editor)

The first of two collections of anti-slavery tracts published by the American Anti-Slavery Society between 1855-56. It consists of 20 pamphlets written by Higginson, Foster, Burleigh, Beecher Stowe, and others. A second collection of…

Anti-Slavery Tracts. Second Series, nos. 1-25 (1860-62)

David M. Hart (editor)

The second of two collections of anti-slavery tracts published by the American Anti-Slavery Society between 1860-62. It consists of 25 pamphlets written by William Lloyd Garrison, Daniel O'Connell, Maria Child, Wendell Phillips, and…

An Appeal to Impartial Posterity, by Citizenness Roland

Jeanne Marie Roland de la Platière (author)

Whilst in prison for her liberal views Roland wrote a series of letters and reflections which were published in 2 volumes.

An Appeal to Impartial Posterity, Volume 1

Jeanne Marie Roland de la Platière (author)

Whilst in prison for her liberal views Roland wrote a series of letters and reflections which were published in 2 volumes.

An Appeal to Impartial Posterity, Volume 2

Jeanne Marie Roland de la Platière (author)

Whilst in prison for her liberal views Roland wrote a series of letters and reflections which were published in 2 volumes.

An Arrow against all Tyrants

Richard Overton (author)

The Leveller pamphleteer Richard Overton could not stop himself from denouncing the tyrants who put him in jail for speaking his mind. His “arrow” was “shot from the prison of Newgate into the prerogative bowels of the arbitrary…

Autobiography

Edward Gibbon (author)

Shortly after Gibbon finished his magnum opus on the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire he wrote the first draft of his autobiography in 1788. It is an important chronicle of intellectual life in the late 18th century.

The Babylonian Story of the Deluge and the Epic of Gilgamesh

Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge (author)

This book attempts to reconstruct two ancient Sumerian stories from photographs of the stone tablets on which they were originally written: one story concerns an ancient account of a deluge (or flood) which destroyed much of…

THE READING ROOM

Benjamin Franklin: “First philosopher” of America

By: Walter Donway

"Every man…is, of common right, and by the laws of God, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty.""All the property that is necessary to a man for the conservation of the individual… is his natural right which none…
The Best of Bastiat 1.1: A Life in Letters

Frédéric Bastiat (author)

The Best of Bastiat (BOB) is a collection of some of the best material in Liberty Fund’s 6 volume edition of The Collected Works of Frédéric Bastiat (2011-). They are chapter length extracts and have been edited as pamphlets for…

The Best of Bastiat 1.2: Bastiat the Revolutionary Part 1

Frédéric Bastiat (author)

The Best of Bastiat (BOB) is a collection of some of the best material in Liberty Fund’s 6 volume edition of The Collected Works of Frédéric Bastiat (2011-). They are chapter length extracts and have been edited as pamphlets for…

The Best of Bastiat1.3: Bastiat the Revolutionary Part 2

Frédéric Bastiat (author)

The Best of Bastiat (BOB) is a collection of some of the best material in Liberty Fund’s 6 volume edition of The Collected Works of Frédéric Bastiat (2011-). They are chapter length extracts and have been edited as pamphlets for…

BOLL 11: W.G. Sumner, “The Conquest of the United States by Spain” (1898)

William Graham Sumner (author)

This is part of “The Best of the Online Library of Liberty” which is a collection of some of the most important material in the OLL. This one comes…

BOLL 36: Lord Acton, “Inaugural Lecture on the Study of History” (1895)

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (author)

This is part of “The Best of the Online Library of Liberty” which is a collection of some of the most important material in the OLL. A thematic list…

BOLL 46: David Hume, “The Progress of English Liberty” (1761)

David Hume (author)

This is part of “The Best of the Online Library of Liberty” which is a collection of some of the most important material in the OLL. A thematic list…

BOLL 49: “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” (1789)

Georg Jellinek (author)

This is part of “The Best of the Online Library of Liberty” which is a collection of some of the most important material in the OLL. A thematic list…

THE READING ROOM

BOLL 11: W.G. Sumner, “The Conquest of the United States by Spain” (1898)

This is part of “The Best of the Online Library of Liberty” which is a collection of some of the most important material in the OLL. This one comes from a lecture given by William Graham Sumner, “The Conquest of the United States by…
BOLL 74: John Millar, “Circumstances which tend to increase the power of the Sovereign” (1771)

John Millar (author)

This is part of The OLL Reader: An Anthology of the Best of the OLL which is a collection of some of the most important material in the OLL. It is a…

THE READING ROOM

Brought to the Scaffold": Pepys, Smith, and Voltaire on Public Executions

By: Sarah Skwire

In early October of 1660, the diarist Samuel Pepys got up in the morning and headed out to Charing Cross to spend a pleasant day with friends and
to see Major-general Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered;
The Case of Ireland being bound by Acts of Parliament in England, Stated

William Molyneux (author)

Molyneux’s work was eagerly read by the American colonists who used its anti-imperial and anti-mecantilist arguments in their own struggle against Britain.

Catalogue of the Guillaumin Librairie (1847)

Gilbert-Urbain Guillaumin (editor)

This catalogue is 16 pages long and contains an announcement of the massive Collection des Principaux Économistes which was a multi-volume collection of the classic works of political economy, Bastiat’s Sophismes économiques and

Cato’s Letters, or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects

Thomas Gordon (author)

A facsimile of the 1737 edition. Almost a generation before Washington, Henry, and Jefferson were even born, two Englishmen, concealing their identities with the honored ancient name of Cato, wrote newspaper articles condemning…

Cato’s Letters, vol. 1 (1737 ed.)

Thomas Gordon (author)

A facsimile of the 1737 edition. Volume 1 (November 1720 to June 1721) of a four volume set. Almost a generation before Washington, Henry, and Jefferson were even born, two Englishmen, concealing their identities with the honored…

Ce qu'on appelle des idées nouvelles en 1848

Amédée de Noé (author)

A panel of six anti-socialist cartoons which ridicules the ideas of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Pierre Leroux, Étienne Cabet, Victor Considerant, Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin, and Louis Napoléon Bonaparte.

Des circonstances actuelles qui peuvent terminer la Révolution et des principes qui doivent fonder la république en France

Germaine de Staël (author)

In this posthumously published work, the French classical liberal Germain Necker (de Staël), provides the most coherent account of her thoughts on constitutional government, property rights, public opinion, and representative…

The Claim of the American Loyalists

Joseph Galloway (author)

Having lost his valuable estate in Pennsylvania during the American Revolution, the Loyalist Galloway spent the rest of his years in exile in Britain lobbying the government for compensation and writing books like this one to…

The Clarke Papers. Selections from the Papers of William Clarke, 4 vols.

Sir William Clarke (editor)

The Clarke Papers chronicle the debates which took place in the Army during the English Civil War over the relationship between Parliament and the Army.

The Clarke Papers. Selections from the Papers of William Clarke, vol. 1

Sir William Clarke (editor)

Vol. 1 of the Clarke Papers which chronicle the debates which took place in the Army during the English Civil War over the relationship between Parliament and the Army.

The Clarke Papers. Selections from the Papers of William Clarke, vol. 2

Sir William Clarke (editor)

Vol. 2 of the Clarke Papers which chronicle the debates which took place in the Army during the English Civil War over the relationship between Parliament and the Army.

The Clarke Papers. Selections from the Papers of William Clarke, vol. 3

Sir William Clarke (editor)

Vol. 3 of the Clarke Papers which chronicle the debates which took place in the Army during the English Civil War over the relationship between Parliament and the Army.

The Clarke Papers. Selections from the Papers of William Clarke, vol. 4

Sir William Clarke (editor)

Vol. 4 of the Clarke Papers which chronicle the debates which took place in the Army during the English Civil War over the relationship between Parliament and the Army.

The Collected Papers of Frederic William Maitland, 3 vols.

Frederic William Maitland (author)

A 3 volume collection of Maitland’s shorter pieces on English law.

The Collected Papers of Frederic William Maitland, vol. 1

Frederic William Maitland (author)

Vol. 1 of a three volume collection of the shorter works of the great English legal historian, including in vol. 1 his “Historical Sketch of Liberty and Equality”, an essay on Herbert Spencer, and essays on aspects of medieval law

The Collected Papers of Frederic William Maitland, vol. 2

Frederic William Maitland (author)

Vol. 2 of a three volume collection of the shorter works of the great English legal historian, including many essays on aspects of medieval law.

The Collected Papers of Frederic William Maitland, vol. 3

Frederic William Maitland (author)

Vol. 3 of a three volume collection of the shorter works of the great English legal historian, including many essays on aspects of medieval law and some biographical essays.

The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume VI - Essays on England, Ireland, and the Empire

John Stuart Mill (author)

Vol. 6 of the 33 vol. Collected Works contains a number of Mill’s essays on contemporary political issues, including his essay Reorganization of the Reform Party.

The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XI - Essays on Philosophy and the Classics

John Stuart Mill (author)

Vol. 11 of the 33 vol. Collected Works contains a number of Mill’s essays on philosophy, Plato, Aristotle, and the history of Greece.

The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XX - Essays on French History and Historians

John Stuart Mill (author)

Vol. 20 of the 33 vol. Collected Works contains a number of Mill’s essays and book reviews about French history.

The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXX - Writings on India

John Stuart Mill (author)

Vol. 30 of the 33 vol. Collected Works contains Mill’s longer writings on India. Some parliamentary speeches and newspaper articles can be found in other volumes.

Introductions to the Robson Edition of the Collected Works of J.S. Mill

John Stuart Mill (author)

This is a collation of the 19 lengthy scholarly Introductions which preceded key volumes in the 33 volume Collected Works of John Stuart Mill edited by John M. Robson for the University of Toronto Press between 1963 and 1991. The…

A Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett

William Leggett (author)

A two volume collection of newspaper articles and other writings by the Jacksonian era journalist and advocate of free banking and other free market policies, William Leggett.

A Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett, vol. 1

William Leggett (author)

Volume 1 of a two volume collection of newspaper articles and other writings by the Jacksonian era journalist and advocate of free banking and other free market policies, William Leggett.

A Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett, vol. 2

William Leggett (author)

Volume 2 of a two volume collection of newspaper articles and other writings by the Jacksonian era journalist and advocate of free banking and other free market policies, William Leggett.

Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History

Donald S. Lutz (editor)

A collection of eighty documents which demonstrate how local government in colonial America was the seedbed of American constitutionalism. Most of these documents, commencing with the Agreement of the Settlers at Exeter in New…

Complete Works, vol. 3

Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (author)

This is volume 3 from the Complete Works. It contains his piece on the Grandeur and Declension of the Roman Empire, a short Dialogue between Sylla and Eucrates, and the Persian Letters.

The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, 8 vols.

Saint Bede (author)

An 8 volume collection of the works of Bede including his poetry, letters, Ecclesiastical history, historical and scientific tracts, homilies, and commentaries on the scriptures.

The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, 8 vols.

Saint Bede (author)

An 8 volume collection of the works of Bede including his poetry, letters, Ecclesiastical history, historical and scientific tracts, homilies, and commentaries on the scriptures. Vol. 1 includes a Life (in English), poems and letters…

The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, 8 vols.

Saint Bede (author)

An 8 volume collection of the works of Bede including his poetry, letters, Ecclesiastical history, historical and scientific tracts, homilies, and commentaries on the scriptures. Vol. 2 contain Ecclesiastical History Books I-III in…

The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, 8 vols.

Saint Bede (author)

An 8 volume collection of the works of Bede including his poetry, letters, Ecclesiastical history, historical and scientific tracts, homilies, and commentaries on the scriptures. Vol. 3 contain Ecclesiastical History Books IV-V in…

The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, 8 vols.

Saint Bede (author)

An 8 volume collection of the works of Bede including his poetry, letters, Ecclesiastical history, historical and scientific tracts, homilies, and commentaries on the scriptures. Vol. 4 contains several historical tracts in Latin and…

Considerations of Behalf of the Colonists

James Otis (author)

Otis wrote a couple of pamphlets in the early phase of the American Revolution which galvanized and radicalized the colonists’ opposition to the British Empire. In Considerations of Behalf of the Colonists Otis continues his…

Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution (LF ed.)

Germaine de Staël (author)

Considerations is considered de Staël’s magnum opus and sheds renewed light on the familiar figures and events of the Revolution, among them, the financier and statesman Jacques Necker, her father.

Considérations sur les principaux événemens de la Révolution française, 3 vols.

Germaine de Staël (author)

One of the earliest histories of the French Revolution by the daughter of the last minister of Financer of the Old Regime (Necker) and one of the leading classical liberals of her day.

Considérations sur les principaux événemens de la Révolution française, vol. 1

Germaine de Staël (author)

Volume 1 of a 3 volume work. This work is the first full-length history of the French Revolution written by a participant. Staël was the daughter of the last Controller-General before the Revolution, was active in politics throughout…

Considérations sur les principaux événemens de la Révolution française, vol. 2

Germaine de Staël (author)

Volume 2 of a 3 volume work.This work is the first full-length history of the French Revolution written by a participant. Staël was the daughter of the last Controller-General before the Revolution, was active in politics throughout…

Considérations sur les principaux événemens de la Révolution française, vol. 3

Germaine de Staël (author)

Volume 3 of a 3 volume work. This work is the first full-length history of the French Revolution written by a participant. Staël was the daughter of the last Controller-General before the Revolution, was active in politics throughout…

The Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, 1625-1660

Samuel Rawson Gardiner (editor)

A collection of constitutional documents from the English Revolution of the mid-17th century. They include parliamentary speeches, letters and declarations by the monarch, legal proceedings, and other documents. They are preceded by…

Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers

M.J.C. Vile (author)

Arguably no political principle has been more central than the separation of powers to the evolution of constitutional governance in Western democracies. M. J. C. Vile traces the history of the doctrine from its rise during the…

Constitutionalism: Ancient and Modern

Charles Howard McIlwain (author)

Constitutionalism: Ancient and Modern explores the very roots of liberty by examining the development of modern constitutionalism from its ancient and medieval origins. Derived from a series of lectures delivered by Charles Howard…

The Continental System: An Economic Interpretation

Eli F. Heckscher (author)

The great Swedish economist, Heckscher’s, first effort to show how interventionist economic policies fail. He began with this 1918 study of Napoleon’s effort to wage economic warfare against the British known as The Continental…

The Corn Laws. Speech of R. Cobden

Richard Cobden (author)

A cheap mass produced pamphlet of Cobden’s speech distributed by the Anti-Corn Law League.

Correspondence and Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior from 1834-1859, 2 vols. (1872)

Nassau William Senior (author)

A two volume collection of journal entries and letters between Tocqueville and Nassau Senior between 1834 and 1859. Vol. 1 contains material from 1834 to 1851. Vol. 2 contains material from 1851 to 1859.

Correspondence and Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior from 1834-1859, vol. 1 (1834-1851)

Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (author)

Volume 1 of a two volume collection of journal entries and letters between Tocqueville and Nassau Senior between 1834 and 1859. Vol. 1 contains material from 1834 to 1851.

Correspondence and Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior from 1834-1859, vol. 2 (1834-1851)

Nassau William Senior (author)

Volume 2 of a two volume collection of journal entries and letters between Tocqueville and Nassau Senior between 1834 and 1859. Vol. 2 contains material from 1851 and 1859.

The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 4 vols.

John Jay (author)

A 4 volume collection of the works of John Jay. Vol.1 covers the period 1763-1781; vol. 2 1781-1782; vol. 3 1782-1793; vol. 4 1794-1826.

THE READING ROOM

Counsel, Command and English Renaissance Politics: Counsel and Command in the English Civil War

By: Joanne Paul

The period between the Wars of the Roses and the England Civil War has been referred to by scholars as the ‘monarchy of counsel’: an era where advice and advisers were at the centre of political discourse. As concepts of ‘counsel’…

THE READING ROOM

Counsel, Command and English Renaissance Politics: Early Tudor England

By: Joanne Paul

The period between the Wars of the Roses and the England Civil War has been referred to by scholars as the ‘monarchy of counsel’: an era where advice and advisers were at the centre of political discourse. As concepts of ‘counsel’…

THE READING ROOM

Counsel, Command and English Renaissance Politics: Thomas Elyot and Henry VIII

By: Joanne Paul

The period between the Wars of the Roses and the England Civil War has been referred to by scholars as the ‘monarchy of counsel’: an era where advice and advisers were at the centre of political discourse. As concepts of ‘counsel’…

THE READING ROOM

Counsel, Command and English Renaissance Politics: Weak Monarchs and Tyrannous Counsellors

By: Joanne Paul

The period between the Wars of the Roses and the England Civil War has been referred to by scholars as the ‘monarchy of counsel’: an era where advice and advisers were at the centre of political discourse. As concepts of ‘counsel’…
The Crisis: A British Defense of American Rights, 1775–1776

Neil L. York (editor)

The Crisis was a London weekly published between January 1775 and October 1776. It was the longest-running weekly pamphlet series printed in the British Atlantic world during those years, and it used unusually bold, pithy language.…

The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century

Hugh Trevor-Roper (author)

The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century collects nine essays by Trevor-Roper on the themes of religion, the Reformation, and social change. As Trevor-Roper explains in his preface, “the crisis in government, society, and ideas which…

Critical and Historical Essays contributed to the Edinburgh Review, 3 vols.

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (author)

Collected in these three volumes are essays and book reviews Macaulay wrote between 1825 and 1841 for the Edinburgh Review.

Critical and Historical Essays, Vol. 1

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (author)

Essays which appeared in the Edinburgh Review between 1825-1831. They are on such topics as Milton, Machiavelli, Southey, Johnson, and other topics.

Critical and Historical Essays, Vol. 2

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (author)

Essays by Macaulay in the Edinburgh Review published between 1832 and 1839 on Horace Walpole, the War of Spanish Succession, William Pitt, Sir James Mackintosh, Lord Bacon, and Gladstone.

Critical and Historical Essays, Vol. 3

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (author)

Essays and reviews published by Macaulay in the Edinburgh Review between 1838 and 1841 on historical figures such as Lord Clive, von Ranke, and Warren Hastings.

Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy 3 vols.

Louis Wolowski (author)

A massive 3 volume, 3,000 page compendium of nearly every aspect of 19th century American economics and political institutions. Main contributors, with 10 or more articles each, are: Alexander Johnston (293), Maurice Block (85),…

Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy vol. 1 Abdication-Duty

John Joseph Lalor (editor)

Vol. 1 of a massive 3 volume, 3,000 page compendium of nearly every aspect of 19th century American economics and political institutions. An additional bonus are the numerous translation of articles written for the French-language

Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy vol. 2 East India Co. - Nullification

John Joseph Lalor (editor)

Vol. II of a massive 3 volume, 3,000 page compendium of nearly every aspect of 19th century American economics and political institutions. An additional bonus are the numerous translation of articles written for the French-language

Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy vol. 3 Oath - Zollverein

John Joseph Lalor (editor)

Vol. III of a massive 3 volume, 3,000 page compendium of nearly every aspect of 19th century American economics and political institutions. An additional bonus are the numerous translation of articles written for the French-language…

Daniel Webster on the Draft: Text of a Speech delivered in Congress, December 9, 1814

Daniel Webster (author)

A reprint of Webster’s famous speech against conscription during the War of 1812 against Britain. It was reprinted by the American Union against Militarism in 1917 when America was on the verge of entering World War I and…

David Hume: Prophet of the Counter-revolution

Laurence L. Bongie (author)

The bulk of Bongie’s work consists of the writings of French readers of Hume who were confronted, first, by the ideology of human perfection and, finally, by the actual terrors of the French Revolution. These vitally important…

The Debates in the Several State Conventions 5 vols

Jonathan Elliot (editor)

An influential early 19th century edition of key documents about the ratification of the US Constitution by the states.

The Declaration of Independence: A Study on the History of Political Ideas

Carl Lotus Becker (author)

An examination of the political ideas behind the Declaration of Independence. Becker examines the theory of natural rights, the view the colonists had of their place in the British Empire, and the literary qualities of the…

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens

Georg Jellinek (author)

An analysis of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen showing the impact which American practice and theory had on French thinking about constitutional law.

The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, 2 vols.

Gouverneur Morris (author)

A two volume diary which Morris kept while he was Minister to France for the new American Republic from 1792-94. It provides much detail about the social life and political turmoil of Paris during a critical phase of the French…

The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 1

Gouverneur Morris (author)

Volume 1 of a two volume diary which Morris kept while he was Minister to France for the new American Republic from 1792-94. It provides much detail about the social life and political turmoil of Paris during a critical phase of the…

The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2

Gouverneur Morris (author)

Volume 2 of a two volume diary which Morris kept while he was Minister to France for the new American Republic from 1792-94. It provides much detail about the social life and political turmoil of Paris during a critical phase of the…

LIBERTY MATTERS

Did the American Colonies Pay Too High a Cost for Revolution? (August/September 2023)

By: Vincent Geloso and Antoine Noël

If one leaves out petro-nations (e.g., Qatar, United Arab Emirates) and fiscal havens (e.g., Bermuda) from international rankings of income per person, one will find the United States at or near the top of the list (depending on the…
A Discourse of Standing Armies (1722)

Thomas Gordon (author)

“Cato” (of Cato’s Letter’s) continues his attack on the waste and militarism of the British Empire which this critique of the idea of permanent “standing” armies.

A Discourse on the Love of Our Country

Richard Price (author)

Price gave this sermon to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. As a vigorous supporter of this revolution as well as the American and French Revolutions he incurred the wrath of Edmund Burke who wrote…

Dissertations on Early Law and Custom

Sir Henry Sumner Maine (author)

A third volume consisting of Maine’s lectures at the University of Oxford. The first was Village Communities in the East and West”; the second was The Early History of Institutions. This volume is drawn from a number of his courses…

Early Economic Thought in Spain, 1177-1740

Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson (author)

In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, clerics gave lectures at the University of Salamanca on such topics as the varying purchasing power of money, the morality of money, and how price is determined. Marjorie…

The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (and Lives of Saints and Bishops)

Saint Bede (author)

The Venerable Saint Bede was an important Anglo-Saxon theologian and historian. He is generally best remembered for his Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, a work considered to be one of the best sources for early English…

The Economic Consequences of the Peace

John Maynard Keynes (author)

As part of the British delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference after WW1 Keynes had detailed knowledge of the debates about reparations which were demanded of Germany. He believed the demands on defeated Germany were too harsh…

Empire and Nation: Letters from a Farmer

John Dickinson (author)

Two sets of letters that have been described as “the wellsprings of nearly all ensuing debate on the limits of governmental power in the United States” are collected in this volume. They include Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

England, Ireland, and America

Richard Cobden (author)

An early piece by Cobden on foreign policy and free trade written under the pseudonym of “A Manchester Manufacturer.”

English Works of Thomas Hobbes, 11 vols.

Thomas Hobbes (author)

An 11 volume collection of the English works of Thomas Hobbes which includes his best known work of philosophy and history as well as his notable translations of Thucydides and Homer.

The English Works, vol. VI (Dialogue, Behemoth, Rhetoric)

Thomas Hobbes (author)

A collection of some of Hobbes’ shorter works on philosophy and history.

The English Works, vol. VIII (The Peloponnesian War Part I)

Thucydides (author)

Vol. 1 of Hobbes’ translation. Thucydides was one of the greatest of the ancient Greek historians because of his attention to accurate research. His account of the 5th century BC struggle between Athens and Sparta is one of the first…

The English Works, vol. IX (The Peloponnesian War Part II)

Thucydides (author)

Vol. 2 of Hobbes’ translation. Thucydides was one of the greatest of the ancient Greek historians because of his attention to accurate research. His account of the 5th century BC struggle between Athens and Sparta is one of the first…

Die Entwicklung des gutsherrlich-bäuerlichen Verhältnisses in Galizien (1772-1848)

Ludwig von Mises (author)

This is Mises dissertation which began his academic career. It is about the liberation of the peasants in Galicia under reform minded Kaisers and bureaucrats from just before the French Revolution up to the outbreak of the 1848…

An Essay on the History of Civil Society

Adam Ferguson (author)

A pioneering work of the Scottish Enlightenment in the field of “philosophical history”, or what we would today call sociology. It deals with the social, political, economic, intellectual, and legal changes which accompanied…

Essays Moral, Political, Literary (LF ed.)

David Hume (author)

This edition of Hume’s much neglected philosophical essays contains the thirty-nine essays included in Essays, Moral, and Literary, that made up Volume I of the 1777 posthumous Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects. It also…

Life and Letters of Montaigne with Notes and Index, vol. 10

Michel de Montaigne (author)

Volume 10 of a 10 volume collection of Montaigne’s famous essays in the 17th century English translation by Charles Cotton.

Exploring the Bounds of Liberty: Political Writings of Colonial British America from the Glorious Revolution to the American Revolution

Jack P. Greene (editor)

Exploring the Bounds of Liberty is a 3 vol. collection which presents a rich and extensive selection of the political literature produced in and about colonial British America during the century before the American Revolution. Most…

Exploring the Bounds of Liberty: Political Writings of Colonial British America from the Glorious Revolution to the American Revolution. Vol. 2 (1734-1755)

Jack P. Greene (editor)

Exploring the Bounds of Liberty is a 3 vol. collection which presents a rich and extensive selection of the political literature produced in and about colonial British America during the century before the American Revolution…

The Formation and Progress of the Tiers État, or Third Estate in France 2 vols

Augustin Thierry (author)

In this influential work Thierry combines two of his main interests, the study of the ruling elites of French history and the rise of the third estate to challenge this rule from the middle ages until the outbreak of the French…

The Formation and Progress of the Tiers État, or Third Estate in France vol. 1

Augustin Thierry (author)

In this influential work Thierry combines two of his main interests, the study of the ruling elites of French history and the rise of the third estate to challenge this rule from the middle ages until the outbreak of the French…

The Formation and Progress of the Tiers État, or Third Estate in France vol. 2

Augustin Thierry (author)

In this influential work Thierry combines two of his main interests, the study of the ruling elites of French history and the rise of the third estate to challenge this rule from the middle ages until the outbreak of the French…

Four Tracts on Political and Commercial Subjects

Josiah Tucker (author)

Four essays on trade, war, and the rebellion in the American colonies.

François Guizot (1787-1874)

Related Links:

François Guizot

Source: François Guizot, General History of Civilization in Europe by François Pierre Guillaume Guizot, edited, with critical and supplementary notes, by George Wells Knight (New York: D Appleton…

The French Revolution, 3 vols

Hippolyte Taine (author)

Taine’s 3 volume history of the French Revolution, written from a conservative perspective.

Friends of the Constitution: Writings of the “Other” Federalists, 1787-1788

Colleen A. Sheehan (editor)

A collection of pamphlets, speeches, and other pro-ratification writings of George Washington, Benjamin Rush, Nicholas Collin, John Dickinson, James Wilson, Tench Coxe, Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster, Roger Sherman, Fisher Ames,…

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From the Publishing Department: Smyth Sewing

By: Dan Kirklin

“Of making many books there is no end,” said Ecclesiastes, but there have long been limits placed on their number by technology. The earliest books were scrolls, sheets of papyrus, vellum, or parchment glued together into a long…

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Fukuzawa Yukichi: The Man Who Was “Civilization and Enlightenment” in Japan

By: Walter Donway

“Each individual man and each individual country, according to the principles of natural reason, is free from bondage.”
Fukuzawa Yukichi made this statement in Japan in 1872, a few years after the end of Japan’s last samurai…
General History of Civilization in Europe

François Guizot (author)

Guizot presented the lectures upon which this book is based in 1828 at the Sorbonne where he was professor of history. He provides a survey of European history and culture from its beginnings until the French Revolution. He wants to…

George Washington: A Collection

George Washington (author)

George Washington speaks for himself on behalf of liberty and the emerging American republic. Drawing extensively on his correspondence, this volume includes all of his presidential addresses, various public proclamations, his last…

The Goodriches: An American Family

Pierre F. Goodrich (author)

A biography of one of Indiana’s most prominent twentieth-century families. It begins with the birth of James P. Goodrich in 1864 and continues through the death of his son Pierre F. Goodrich in 1973. James Goodrich served as governor…

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Grover Cleveland

By: Paul A. Cleveland

Grover Cleveland was born in New Jersey. Early in his life his family moved to New York. The death of his father prevented him from going to college after completing his primary education.
The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, 3 vols.

Snorre Sturlason (author)

The Heimskringla presents the German mythical god, Odin, as an actual historical figure and the first Norse king. Sturluson traced the history of sixteen famous Nordic kings from this ancient figure through Halvdan the Black (ca.…

The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, vol. 1

Snorre Sturlason (author)

Vol. 1 of 3. The Heimskringla presents the German mythical god, Odin, as an actual historical figure and the first Norse king. Sturluson traced the history of sixteen famous Nordic kings from this ancient figure through Halvdan the…

The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, vol. 2

Snorre Sturlason (author)

Vol. 2 of 3. The Heimskringla presents the German mythical god, Odin, as an actual historical figure and the first Norse king. Sturluson traced the history of sixteen famous Nordic kings from this ancient figure through Halvdan the…

The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, vol. 3

Snorre Sturlason (author)

Vol. 3 of 3. The Heimskringla presents the German mythical god, Odin, as an actual historical figure and the first Norse king. Sturluson traced the history of sixteen famous Nordic kings from this ancient figure through Halvdan the…

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Henry Maine’s “Society of Status” Under Feudalism

By: Walter Donway

Even among intellects of the Victorian era, Sir Henry Sumner Maine (1822-1888) shone brightly: on the Cambridge University faculty, at the Inns of Court in London, in India leading legal-system reform, at Oxford University teaching…
An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution

Mary Wollstonecraft (author)

An optimistic and rationalist account of the French Revolution based upon first-hand, eyewitness experiences. It was intended to defend the Revolution against critics like Burke. Wollstonecraft explained the violent excesses of the…

Historical and Political Essays

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

A posthumously published collection of essays on historical topics and important political and literary figures which had appeared in magazines such as the North American review, the Edinburgh Review, the Pall Mall Gazette, and the…

The Historical Essays and Narratives of the Merovingian Era

Augustin Thierry (author)

This volume contains many essays on 17th century English history, the revolution, the restoration, Scotland, the Roman Empire, books reviews, and French history. It also contains his narrative history of France from 561-583. There…

Historical Essays and Studies

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (author)

A collection of Acton’s articles from journals such as the Quarterly Review, the English Historical Review, the Nineteenth Century, the Rambler, the Home and Foreign Review, the North British Review, and the Bridgnorth Journal.

A Historical Sketch of Liberty and Equality LF ed.)

Frederic William Maitland (author)

In 1875, at only twenty-five years of age, Maitland, in pursuit of a fellowship in Cambridge University, submitted a this remarkable work. He went on to become one of greatest legal historians of his time.

An Historical View of the English Government

John Millar (author)

An Historical View of the English Government consists of three parts, concerned with the most substantive revolutions in English government and manners: from the Saxon settlement to the Norman Conquest, from the Norman Conquest to…

The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings, 4 vols.

Niccolo Machiavelli (author)

A 4 volume set of Machiavelli’s writings.

The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings, vol. 1

Niccolo Machiavelli (author)

Volume 1 of a 4 volume set of Machiavelli’s writings which contains a lengthy introduction on the life of Machiavelli, the History of Florence, The Prince, Discourses on Livy, and his letters and papers from his time as a diplomat.…

The History, 4 vols.

Herodotus (author)

A four volume work on the Graeco-Persian wars of 490 and 480-79 BC.

The History, vol. 1

Herodotus (author)

Volume 1 of a four volume work on the Graeco-Persian wars of 490 and 480-79 BC.

The History, vol. 2

Herodotus (author)

Volume 2 of a four volume work on the Graeco-Persian wars of 490 and 480-79 BC.

The History, vol. 3

Herodotus (author)

Volume 3 of a four volume work on the Graeco-Persian wars of 490 and 480-79 BC.

The History, vol. 4

Herodotus (author)

Volume 4 of a four volume work on the Graeco-Persian wars of 490 and 480-79 BC.

A History of American Currency

William Graham Sumner (author)

A collection of Sumner’s writing on money and banking with a reprint of the 1810 British *Report on Bullion”.

The History of British India, 6 vols. (1826)

James Mill (author)

James Mill’s History is a work of Benthamite “philosophical history” from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion, and the deleterious impact of commercial monopolies like the East India…

The History of British India, vol. 1

James Mill (author)

James Mill’s History is a work of Benthamite “philosophical history” from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion, and the deleterious impact of commercial monopolies like the East India…

The History of British India, vol. 2

James Mill (author)

James Mill’s History is a work of Benthamite “philosophical history” from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion, and the deleterious impact of commercial monopolies like the East India…

The History of British India, vol. 3

James Mill (author)

James Mill’s History is a work of Benthamite “philosophical history” from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion, and the deleterious impact of commercial monopolies like the East India…

The History of British India, vol. 4

James Mill (author)

James Mill’s History is a work of Benthamite “philosophical history” from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion, and the deleterious impact of commercial monopolies like the East India…

The History of British India, vol. 5

James Mill (author)

James Mill’s History is a work of Benthamite “philosophical history” from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion, and the deleterious impact of commercial monopolies like the East India…

The History of British India, vol. 6

James Mill (author)

James Mill’s History is a work of Benthamite “philosophical history” from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion, and the deleterious impact of commercial monopolies like the East India…

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, 8 vols.

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

An 8 volume work which took Lecky 19 years to complete and which made his reputation as a scholar. Volumes I and II cover the period 1700-1760; vol.s 3 and 4 1760-1784; vols. 5 and 6 1784-1793; and vol.s 7 and 8 1793-1800.

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. I

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Vol. 1 of a 8 volume work which took Lecky 19 years to complete and which made his reputation as a scholar.

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. II

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Vol. 2 of a 8 volume work which took Lecky 19 years to complete and which made his reputation as a scholar.

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. III

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Vol. 3 of a 8 volume work which took Lecky 19 years to complete and which made his reputation as a scholar.

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. IV

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Vol. 4 of a 8 volume work which took Lecky 19 years to complete and which made his reputation as a scholar. Vol. IV deals with the American Revolution.

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. V

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Vol. 5 of a 8 volume work which took Lecky 19 years to complete and which made his reputation as a scholar. This volume covers the French Revolution.

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. VI

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Vol. 6 of a 8 volume work which took Lecky 19 years to complete and which made his reputation as a scholar. This volume covers the history of Ireland.

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. VII

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Vol. 7 of a 8 volume work which took Lecky 19 years to complete and which made his reputation as a scholar. This volume covers the French Revolution and English social and economic history (including opposition to the slave trade.

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. VIII

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Vol. 8 of a 8 volume work which took Lecky 19 years to complete and which made his reputation as a scholar. This volume covers the Rebellion in Ireland.

The History of England, 6 vols.

David Hume (author)

Hume’s great History of England the theme of which is liberty, above all English constitutional development from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Revolution of 1688. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the edition of 1778, the last to…

The History of England, vol. 1

David Hume (author)

Volume 1 of “Hume’s great History of England the theme of which is liberty, above all English constitutional development from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Revolution of 1688. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the edition of…

The History of England, vol. 2

David Hume (author)

Volume 2 of “Hume’s great History of England the theme of which is liberty, above all English constitutional development from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Revolution of 1688. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the edition of…

The History of England, vol. 3

David Hume (author)

Volume 3 of “Hume’s great History of England the theme of which is liberty, above all English constitutional development from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Revolution of 1688. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the edition of…

The History of England, vol. 4

David Hume (author)

Volume 4 of “Hume’s great History of England the theme of which is liberty, above all English constitutional development from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Revolution of 1688. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the edition of…

The History of England, vol. 5

David Hume (author)

Volume 5 of “Hume’s great History of England the theme of which is liberty, above all English constitutional development from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Revolution of 1688. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the edition of…

The History of England, vol. 6

David Hume (author)

Volume 6 of “Hume’s great History of England the theme of which is liberty, above all English constitutional development from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Revolution of 1688. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the edition of…

The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I, 2 vols.

Frederic William Maitland (author)

First published in 1895, Sir Frederick Pollock and Frederic William Maitland’s legal classic The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I expanded the work of Sir Edward Coke and William Blackstone by exploring the origins…

History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne, 2 vols.

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

As Lecky stated, this work is an attempt to use the historical method to uderstand the merits of certain theological opionions from the beginning of the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages.

History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne, vol. 1

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

As Lecky stated, this work is an attempt to use the historical method to understand the merits of certain theological opinions from the beginning of the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages.

History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne, vol. 2

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

As Lecky stated, this work is an attempt to use the historical method to understand the merits of certain theological opinions from the beginning of the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages. Volume 2 has a lengthy chapter on the position…

The History of Freedom and Other Essays

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (author)

Acton never completed his projected History of Liberty. The collection contains two chapters from this planned history - on liberty in antiquity and Christianity - and many book reviews where one can piece together Acton’s approach…

A History of Political Economy

John Kells Ingram (author)

A nice older history of economic thought written when the marginal revolution and the emerging Austrian school were young and on the top of every young researcher’s agenda.

The History of Rome by Titus Livius, in 6 vols.

Titus Livius (Livy) (author)

Livy’s History of Rome begins with its founding and continues up to the reign of Augustus.

The History of Rome, Vol. 1

Titus Livius (Livy) (author)

Vol. 1 of Livy’s History of Rome from its founding to the reign of Augustus.

History of Rome, Vol. 2

Titus Livius (Livy) (author)

Vol. 2 of Livy’s History of Rome from its founding to the reign of Augustus.

History of Rome, Vol. 3

Titus Livius (Livy) (author)

Vol. 3 of Livy’s History of Rome from its founding to the reign of Augustus.

The History of Rome, Vol. 4

Titus Livius (Livy) (author)

Vol. 4 of Livy’s History of Rome from its founding to the reign of Augustus.

The History of Rome, Vol. 5

Titus Livius (Livy) (author)

Vol. 5 of Livy’s History of Rome from its founding to the reign of Augustus.

The History of Rome, Vol. 6

Titus Livius (Livy) (author)

Vol. 6 of Livy’s History of Rome from its founding to the reign of Augustus.

The History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, 2 vols.

Thomas Clarkson (author)

A very detailed 2 volume history of the British efforts to abolish the Atlantic slave trade by a Quaker leader of the abolitionist movement.

The History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, vol. 1

Thomas Clarkson (author)

Vol. I of a very detailed 2 volume history of the British efforts to abolish the Atlantic slave trade by a Quaker leader of the abolitionist movement.

The History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, vol. 2

Thomas Clarkson (author)

Vol. II of a very detailed 2 volume history of the British efforts to abolish the Atlantic slave trade by a Quaker leader of the abolitionist movement.

The History of the American Revolution, 2 vols.

David Ramsay (author)

David Ramsay’s History of the American Revolution appeared in 1789 during an enthusiastic celebration of nationhood. It is the first American national history written by an American revolutionary and printed in America. Ramsay…

The History of the American Revolution, vol. 1

David Ramsay (author)

Vol. 1 of a 2 volume work. David Ramsay’s History of the American Revolution appeared in 1789 during an enthusiastic celebration of nationhood. It is the first American national history written by an American revolutionary and…

The History of the American Revolution, vol. 2

David Ramsay (author)

Vol. 2 of a 2 volume work. David Ramsay’s History of the American Revolution appeared in 1789 during an enthusiastic celebration of nationhood. It is the first American national history written by an American revolutionary and…

History of the Conquest of England by the Normans 2 vols.

Augustin Thierry (author)

Thierry was a pioneering liberal historian who collected large bodies of primary source material to use in his writings. He is particular remembered for his class analysis based upon the idea of conquest. This work is a classic…

History of the Conquest of England by the Normans vol. 1

Augustin Thierry (author)

Volume 1 of a 2 volume work. Thierry was a pioneering liberal historian who collected large bodies of primary source material to use in his writings. He is particular remembered for his class analysis based upon the idea of conquest.…

History of the Conquest of England by the Normans vol. 2

Augustin Thierry (author)

Volume 2 of a 2 volume work. Thierry was a pioneering liberal historian who collected large bodies of primary source material to use in his writings. He is particular remembered for his class analysis based upon the idea of conquest.…

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 12 vols.

Edward Gibbon (author)

A 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magisterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1

Edward Gibbon (author)

The first volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magisterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 2

Edward Gibbon (author)

The second volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 3

Edward Gibbon (author)

The third volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 4

Edward Gibbon (author)

The fourth volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 5

Edward Gibbon (author)

The fifth volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 6

Edward Gibbon (author)

The sixth volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 7

Edward Gibbon (author)

The seventh volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 8

Edward Gibbon (author)

The eighth volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 9

Edward Gibbon (author)

The ninth volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 10

Edward Gibbon (author)

The tenth volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 11

Edward Gibbon (author)

The eleventh volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 12

Edward Gibbon (author)

The twelth and final volume of a 12 volume set of Gibbon’s magesterial history of the end of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest works of history written during the Enlightenment.

History of the Insurrection in the Four Western Counties of Pennsylvania

William Findley (author)

Findley was a strict constitutionalist who opposed Hamilton’s Federal military intervention in a local state uprising.

The History of the Origins of Representative Government in Europe

François Guizot (author)

Guizot reflects on the principles, goals, and institutions of representative government in Europe from the fifth to the reign of the Tudors in England. In Part 1 he examines such topics as the “true” principles of representative…

History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, 2 vols.

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Lecky discusses the decline in the belief of magic and miracles, the rise of religious persecution, the gradual secularisation of politics, and the rise of toleration and rationalism.

History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, vol. 1

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Lecky discusses the decline in the belief of magic and miracles, the rise of religious persecution, the gradual secularisation of politics, and the rise of toleration and rationalism.

History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, vol. 2

William Edward Hartpole Lecky (author)

Lecky discusses the decline in the belief of magic and miracles, the rise of religious persecution, the gradual secularisation of politics, and the rise of toleration and rationalism.

History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution 2 vols

Mercy Otis Warren (author)

Mercy Otis Warren has been described as perhaps the most formidable female intellectual in eighteenth-century America. This work (in the first new edition since 1805) is an exciting and comprehensive study of the events of the…

History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution vol. 1

Mercy Otis Warren (author)

Vol. 1 of a 2 volume work. Mercy Otis Warren has been described as perhaps the most formidable female intellectual in eighteenth-century America. This work (in the first new edition since 1805) is an exciting and comprehensive study…

History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution vol. 2

Mercy Otis Warren (author)

Vol. 2 of a 2 volume work. Mercy Otis Warren has been described as perhaps the most formidable female intellectual in eighteenth-century America. This work (in the first new edition since 1805) is an exciting and comprehensive study…

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Hobbes Translation of Thucydides: From the Liberty Fund Rare Book Room

By: Sarah Skwire

This is the book that knocked my socks off the first time I visited Liberty Fund's rare book collection, more than twenty years ago. It is a 1648 edition of Hobbes's 1629 translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War…
The Holy Roman Empire

Viscount James Bryce (author)

A history of the empire from the second century to the fall of the empire after Napoleon. Supplemental chapters deal with the new German Empire after 1870.

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Hume’s History of England: From the Liberty Fund Rare Book Room

By: Sarah Skwire

Some of the most remarkable books in the Liberty Fund rare book room come from the collection of the American historian Joseph Hamburger. Acquired in the late 90s, the selections from Hamburger's collection that we own are some of…

Hume’s Life written by Himself

Related Links:

David Hume

Source: Hume's The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688, Foreword by William B. Todd, 6 vols. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1983). Vol. 1.

THE LIFE OF DAVID…

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Hume’s History of England and The House of Dudley: Part 1

By: Joanne Paul

This three-part blog series investigates the treatment of the Tudor Dudley family by enlightenment philosopher and historian David Hume in his History of England (vols 3 and 4), comparing his accounts to recent research on the…

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Hume’s History of England and The House of Dudley: Part 2

By: Joanne Paul

In his treatment of Edmund Dudley, Henry VII’s unpopular minister, David Hume made arguments about the dangers of arbitrary rule and the importance of justice. As such, Edmund emerges as a mixed character, both a greedy transgressor…

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Hume’s History of England and The House of Dudley: Part 3

By: Joanne Paul

“The hatred borne the Dudleys, made it be remarked, that Edward [VI] had every moment declined in health, from the time that lord Robert Dudley had been put about him.” Our third Dudley – Robert – makes his villainous entrance into…

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Ibn Al-Khaldun Approaches Buchanan’s Bridge

By: Owen Holzbach

For the student of the history of economic thought, it is interesting to think about whether the pre-Classical thinkers would grade well on an exam given by Buchanan on what economists should do. Specifically, how would Ibn…

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Ilia Chavchavadze – the Father of Georgian Liberalism on Private Property

By: Irakli Javakhishvili

While in Europe the famous English philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote his eminent On Liberty (1859) and perfected the teachings of utilitarian liberalism, in the East, namely in Georgia, which at that time was a part of the Tsarist…
The Intellectual Portrait Series: A Conversation with Jacques Barzun

Jacques Barzun (author)

One of our most distinguished contemporary cultural historians, Jacques Barzun reflects on his long academic career and the movement of ideas he helped to shape through his seminal writings on liberal education in America.

Watch the…

The Intellectual Portrait Series: A Conversation with Max Hartwell

Ronald Max Hartwell (author)

One of the foremost historians of the Industrial Revolution discusses what really happened to the quality of life and standard of living for those who lived through the industrialization of the West.

Watch the video on our YouTube…

The Intellectual Portrait Series: A Conversation with Harry V. Jaffa

Harry Victor Jaffa (author)

Jaffa talks about his work on American constitutional theory and history including the nature of the American Republic and the impact of Abraham Lincoln on constitutional matters.

The Intellectual Portrait Series: A Conversation with Leonard Liggio

Leonard P. Liggio (author)

An early leader of the classical liberalism revival movement, Leonard Liggio was one of the most ardent defenders of the tenets of personal liberty in the world. Liggio was the Executive Vice-President of the Atlas Economic Research…

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Internal Improvements

By: Andrew Smith

Whenever I drive through parts of my hometown of Indianapolis, I cross a small waterway with a trail running alongside - the Central Canal.
Today, it’s a recreational area, with people walking and biking along its towpath and…
Ireland: Social, Political, and Religious, 2 vols. (1839)

Gustave de Beaumont (author)

A 2 volume work on the history and current economic and political problems of Ireland. Vol. 1 contains the historical section and his analysis of the Irish aristocracy. Vol. 2 continues Beaumont’s discussion of the Irish aristocracy.…

Ireland: Social, Political, and Religious, vol. 1 (1839)

Gustave de Beaumont (author)

Volume 1 of a 2 volume work on the history and current economic and political problems of Ireland. Vol. 1 contains the historical section and his analysis of the Irish aristocracy. This books seems to have been hastily translated…

Ireland: Social, Political, and Religious, vol. 2 (1839)

Gustave de Beaumont (author)

Volume 2 of a 2 volume work on the history and current economic and political problems of Ireland. Vol. 2 continues Beaumont’s discussion of the Irish aristocracy. This book seems to have been hastily translated into English in the…

L’Irlande sociale, politique, réligieuse, 2 vols

Gustave de Beaumont (author)

The original French edition of Beaumont’s 2 volume work on the history and social and political structure of Ireland. This contains the footnotes which are missing from the English translation.

L’Irlande sociale, politique, réligieuse, vol. 1

Gustave de Beaumont (author)

Volume 1 of the original French edition of Beaumont’s 2 volume work on the history and social and political structure of Ireland. Vol. 1 contains the lengthy historical introduction and his analysis of the civil, political, and…

L’Irlande sociale, politique, réligieuse, vol. 2

Gustave de Beaumont (author)

Volume 2 of the original French edition of Beaumont’s 2 volume work on the history and social and political structure of Ireland. Vol. 2 contains a discussion of political changes in Ireland and the need to abolish the aristocracy.…

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John Toland’s Tetradymus: From the Liberty Fund Rare Book Room

By: Sarah Skwire

One of the great joys of working at Liberty Fund, and of working with our websites, in particular, is the chance to learn about so many new things. Without Walter Donway's recent posts on the Irish Enlightenment--and about John…
Judgments on History and Historians

Jacob Burckhardt (author)

Judgments on History and Historians consists of records collected by Emil Dürr from Burckhardt’s lecture notes for history courses at the University of Basel from 1865 to 1885. The notes span five eras: Antiquity, the Middle Ages,…

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Kato Mikeladze at the Beginnings of Georgian Feminism

By: Irakli Javakhishvili

A hundred years ago, even in the most difficult political situation, when the Tsarist Russian Empire was collapsing and Georgia was fighting for independence, there were fearless women who fought for equality and emancipation of…

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Kemal Atatürk Founds a Twentieth-century Islamic Nation Rooted in Enlightenment Ideas

By: Walter Donway

He led an overwhelmingly Islamic population out of the Ottoman Empire, created a new secular nation, introduced protections of individual rights, deposed both the sultan and the caliph to introduce a presidency, initiated a Western…
The Lamp of Experience

Trevor Colbourn (author)

In a landmark work, a leading scholar of the eighteenth century examines the ways in which an understanding of the nature of history, seen as as a continual struggle between liberty and virtue on one hand and arbitrary power and…

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Laws of a Bygone Civilization

By: Barry Cooper

Liberty Fund’s Online Library of Liberty offers its readers the opportunity to learn from C.H.W. Johns’s classic 1904 edition of Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters. As with later collections of early Mesopotamian…
The League. 1845 Part 2 (July 5 - Dec. 27 1845).

National Anti-Corn Law League (editor)

The organ of the National Anti-Corn-Law League was based in London and appeared between 1843 and 1846. It closed when the League achieved its goal of abolishing the Corn Laws in 1846. It was perhaps the first lobby group to use…

Lectures on Modern History

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (author)

These are the lectures given by the great English classical liberal historian, Lord Acton, in the academic years 1899-1901 at Cambridge University. It is a survey of modern history from the rise of the modern nation state to the…

Lectures on the Early History of Institutions

Sir Henry Sumner Maine (author)

The sequel to his more famous book on *Ancient Law” in which Maine examines kinship, tribal society, early legal remedies and sovereignty.

Lectures on the French Revolution (1910 ed.)

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (author)

Delivered at Cambridge University between 1895 and 1899, Lectures on the French Revolution is a distinguished account of the entire epochal chapter in French experience by one of the most remarkable English historians of the…

Lectures on the French Revolution (LF ed.)

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (author)

Delivered at Cambridge University between 1895 and 1899, Lectures on the French Revolution is a distinguished account of the entire epochal chapter in French experience by one of the most remarkable English historians of the…

Lectures on the Relation between Law and Public Opinion (2nd ed. 1919)

Albert Venn Dicey (author)

A series of lectures Dicey gave at Harvard Law School on the rise of collectivism in England during the 19th century and its impact on legislation.

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Letter from a Birmingham Jail

By: OLL Editor

We at the Online Library of Liberty think that there are few better things one could do today than to read or listen to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
Letter to Charles Sumner (1864)

Lysander Spooner (author)

Spooner criticised Senator Sumner of Massachussetts for not being rigorous enough in his condemnation of the unconstitutionality of slavery. Like all politicians, according to Spooner, Sumner made too many compromises once he entered…

Letters of Lord Acton to Mary, Daughter of the Right Hon. W.E. Gladstone

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (author)

A collection of letters from Acton to Gladstone’s daughter Mary which shows a “family” side to Acton’s life.

Letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero (author)

A collection of letters by Cicero along with his work on Old Age and On Friendship as well as some letters by Pliny.

Liberty and American Experience in the Eighteenth Century

David Womersely (editor)

This collection examines themes and ideologies central to the formation of the United States including Edmund Burke’s theories on property rights and government, the influence of Jamaica on the American colonies, the relations…

Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle

Lance Banning (editor)

An anthology of primary sources which documents the first great party struggle in American history between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists over the proper construction of the new Constitution, political economy, the…

David M. Hart, “Classical Liberalism and the Problem of Class” (Nov. 2016)

David M. Hart (author)

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.”

Liberty Matters: Deirdre McCloskey and Economists’ Ideas about Ideas (July, 2014)

Donald J. Boudreaux (author)

The key issue of this Liberty Matters discussion is to try to explain why “the Great Enrichment” of the past 150 years occurred when and where it did. McCloskey argues that a fundamental change in ideas took place which raised the “…

Liberty Matters: On the Spread of Classical Liberal Ideas (March, 2015)

David M. Hart (author)

In this discussion David Hart surveys the field of ideological movements and present a theory of ideological production and distribution based upon Austrian capital theory as it might be applied to the production of ideas.

The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: From 1817-1882

Frederick Douglass (author)

Douglass’s third and last autobiography of his life as a slave, runaway, and then campaigner for the abolition of slavery. This edition is interesting because of the introduction by one of Britain’s leading classical liberal…

Life of Adam Smith

John Rae (author)

A useful late-19th century biography of Adam Smith which was based upon research undertaken at the University of Glasgow, the Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (the Hume Correspondence), and the University of Edinburgh.

The Life of George Washington

John Marshall (author)

A one volume abridgement of the first major biography of Washington by John Marshall who became the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. An influential conservative interpretation. The volume also contains 5 of the more…

The Life of Richard Cobden

John Morley (author)

A lengthy biography (along with many letters) of the leading advocate for free trade in mid-19th century Britain.

The Lives of the Twelve Caesars

Suetonius Tranquillus (author)

Suetonius’ most famous work of the lives of the 12 Caesars along with his shorter biographies of famous grammarians, rheoticians and poets.

The Making of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America

James T. Schleifer (author)

A model of intellectual history which documents where, when, and under what influences Alexis de Tocqueville wrote different sections of his Democracy in America and how the central themes of that work - democracy, individualism,…

The Manchester School of Economics

William Dyer Grampp (author)

A history of the so-called “Manchester School” of economic thought which emerged in the 19th century in order to challenge protectionism, especially the corn laws in Britain. It continued a as force after the repeal of the Corn Laws…

The Miscellaneous Works

Sir James Mackintosh (author)

This collections contains his philosophical writings on Locke, natural law, Thomas More, and Machiavelli; his historical writings on the Glorious Revolution, his defence of the French Revolution Vindiciae Gallicae; and several of his…

The Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay, in 2 vols.

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (author)

A two volume collection of Macaulay’s essays. The first volume contains his essays from Knight’s Quarterly Magazine written during the mid-1820s. The second volume contains essays published in the Edinburgh Review in the 1830s and…

Miscellaneous Writings, vol. 1

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (author)

The first volume of a two volume collection of Macaulay’s essays. The first volume contains his essays from Knight’s Quarterly Magazine written during the mid-1820s. The second volume contains essays published in the Edinburgh Review…

Miscellaneous Writings, Vol.2

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (author)

The second volume of a two volume collection of Macaulay’s essays. The first volume contains his essays from Knight’s Quarterly Magazine written during the mid-1820s. The second volume contains essays published in the Edinburgh…

Murray Rothbard on Herbert Hoover

Related Links:

Murray N. Rothbard

Source: New Individualist Review, editor-in-chief Ralph Raico, introduction by Milton Friedman (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1981). Chapter: MURRAY N. ROTHBARD, Herbert Clark Hoover: A…

Nation, State, and Economy: Contributions to the Politics and History of Our Time

Ludwig von Mises (author)

Nation, State, and Economy, published less than a year after Austria’s defeat in World War I, examines and compares prewar and postwar economic conditions and explicates Mises’s theory that each country’s prosperity supports rather…

New Individualist Review

Milton Friedman (author)

Initially sponsored by the University of Chicago Chapter of the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, the New Individualist Review was more than the usual “campus magazine.” It declared itself “founded in a commitment to human…

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Niko Nikoladze: Liberal Nationalism, the Constitution of the United States and International Law

By: Irakli Javakhishvili

In 1865, when he was a student, young Niko Nikoladze met Karl Marx in London. The latter offered him the opportunity to be the representative of the First International in Transcaucasia, which Nikoladze delicately refused.

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No Instructions for the Art of Peace: Molesworth’s An Account of Denmark

By: Eric Schliesser

Robert Molesworth’s An Account of Denmark(1694; hereafter Account) is intended as a contribution to the “arts of peace.” The reader quickly realizes that seventeenth century Denmark is held up as a kind of anti-exemplar or…
Notes and Recollections with The Historical Setting of the Austrian School of Economics (2013)

Ludwig von Mises (author)

This volume contains Mises' brief memoir Notes and Recollections he wrote just prior to migrating to the U.S. in 1940 and an essay on the history of the Austrian school of economics from 1962. His memoir is accompanied by a…

The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856)

Alexis de Tocqueville (author)

This is the first part of a planned history of the French Revolution. Tocqueville did not live to complete the work. Part one deals with the origins of the Revolution and the centralization of the French bureaucracy.

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Oliver Wardrop and His “The Kingdom of Georgia” (1888)

By: Irakli Javakhishvili

British diplomat, translator and well-known Georgianist, Sir Oliver Wardrop (1864-1948) is among those foreigners who were well acquainted not only with the political and socio-economic situation in Georgian, but also with its…

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OLL’s April Birthday: Mary Wollstonecraft (April 27, 1759- September 10, 1797)

By: Peter Carl Mentzel

This month’s featured birthday anniversary is the English philosopher, writer, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Perhaps best known for her book Vindication of the Rights of Women, she was crucially important in the arguments about…

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OLL’s August (Belated) Birthday: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (August 30, 1797 – February 1, 1851)

By: Peter Carl Mentzel

This month’s featured (belated) birthday anniversary is the English author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Best known for writing Frankenstein, she also wrote a number of plays, poems, and novels, all strongly embodying a philosophy of…

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OLL’s August Birthday: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (August 28, 1749 – March 22, 1832)

By: Peter Carl Mentzel

August’s featured birthday is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. A true polymath, he was a playwright, poet, novelist, scientist, and statesman who had an impact in all of those fields and emerged as probably the most influential writer in…

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OLL’s February Birthday: Thomas Paine (February 9, 1737 – June 8, 1809)

By: Peter Carl Mentzel

This month’s featured birthday anniversary is the Anglo-American author and political activist Thomas Paine. Best known for his tremendously influential Rights of Man, he wrote many other important books and pamphlets, while also…

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OLL’s January Birthday: Lord Acton

By: Peter Carl Mentzel

This January’s Birthday essay honors John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham, 8th Baronet, more commonly known simply as Lord Acton. His writings and lectures as a liberal, Catholic historian were tremendously…

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OLL’s March Birthday: Franz Oppenheimer (March 30, 1864-September 30, 1843)

By: Peter Carl Mentzel

This month’s featured birthday anniversary is that of the German sociologist Franz Oppenheimer, best known for his work on the sociology of the State, which subsequently became tremendously influential among anarchist and…

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OLL’s October (Belated) Birthday: William Penn (October 14, 1644 – July 30, 1718)

By: Peter Carl Mentzel

October’s OLL Birthday Essay features the English theologian, philosopher, activist, and founder of the colony of Pennsylvania, William Penn. Over the course of his life, Penn emerged as an indefatigable champion of religious…
Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War

Ludwig von Mises (author)

Published in 1944, during World War II, Omnipotent Government was written and published after Mises arrived in the United States. In this volume Mises provides in economic terms an explanation of the international conflicts that…

The Orations of Marcus Tullius Ciciero

Marcus Tullius Cicero (author)

A 4 volume collection of Cicero’s orations which consisted of his political and legal speeches in which he often expressed his political views.

Orations vol. 1

Marcus Tullius Cicero (author)

Vol. 1 of a 4 volume collection of Cicero’s orations which consisted of his political and legal speeches in which he often expressed his political views. In vol. 1 there are his Orations for Quintius, Sextus Roscius, Quintus Roscius,…

Orations vol. 2

Marcus Tullius Cicero (author)

Vol. 2 of a 4 volume collection of Cicero’s orations which consisted of his political and legal speeches in which he often expressed his political views. In vol. 2. Three Orations on the Agrarian Law, the four against Cataline, the…

Orations vol. 3

Marcus Tullius Cicero (author)

Vol. 3 of a 4 volume collection of Cicero’s orations which consisted of his political and legal speeches in which he often expressed his political views. In Vol. 3. Orations for his House, Plancius, Sextius, Coelius, Milo, Ligarius,…

The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks

John Millar (author)

The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks is one of the major products of the Scottish Enlightenment and a masterpiece of jurisprudence and social theory. Millar developed a progressive account of the nature of authority in society by…

The Origins of Contemporary France

Hippolyte Taine (author)

Hippolyte Taine’s 5 part history of modern France, The Origins of Contemporary France, in 6 volumes. They are The Old Regime (1875); The Revolution, vol. 1 Anarchy (1878); The Revolution, vol. 2 The Jacobin Conquest (1881); The…

The Origins of Contemporary France: The Ancient Regime

Hippolyte Taine (author)

The 1st volume of Taine’s 5 part history of modern France, The Origins of Contemporary France.

The French Revolution, vol. 1

Hippolyte Taine (author)

The 1st volume of Hippolyte Taine’s 3 volume history of the French Revolution which is part of his history of modern France, The Origins of Contemporary France

The French Revolution, vol. 2

Hippolyte Taine (author)

The 2nd volume of Hippolyte Taine’s 3 volume history of the French Revolution which is part of his 5 part history of modern France, The Origins of Contemporary France.

The French Revolution, vol. 3

Hippolyte Taine (author)

The 3rd volume of Hippolyte Taine’s 3 volume history of the French Revolution which is part of his history of modern France, The Origins of Contemporary France.

The Origins of Contemporary France: The Modern Regime, vol. I

Hippolyte Taine (author)

The 1st volume of Hippolyte Taine’s 2 volume history of the Modern Regime which is part of his history of modern France, The Origins of Contemporary France. This volume deals with the state created by Napoleon and how it evolved…

The Origins of Contemporary France: The Modern Regime, vol. II

Hippolyte Taine (author)

The 2nd volume of Hippolyte Taine’s 2 volume history of the Modern Regime which is part of his history of modern France, The Origins of Contemporary France. This volume deals with the Church and public education.

Outlines of an historical view of the progress of the human mind

Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet (author)

Condorcet wrote this while in prison awaiting execution by the Jacobins. It is an optimistic view of the progress the human race will undergo when political and economic liberty are gradually introduced.

The Perfectibility of Man

John Passmore (author)

Thoroughly and elegantly, Passmore explores the history of the idea of perfectibility - manifest in the ideology of perfectibilism - and its consequences, which have invariably been catastrophic for individual liberty and…

Plutarch’s Lives (Dryden trans.)

Plutarch (author)

A five volume translation by Dryden.

Plutarch’s Lives (Dryden trans.) vol. 1

Plutarch (author)

Volume 1 of a five volume translation by Dryden.

Plutarch’s Lives (Dryden trans.) vol. 2

Plutarch (author)

Volume 2 of a five volume translation by Dryden.

Plutarch’s Lives (Dryden trans.) vol. 3

Plutarch (author)

Volume 3 of a five volume translation by Dryden.

Plutarch’s Lives (Dryden trans.) vol. 4

Plutarch (author)

Volume 4 of a five volume translation by Dryden.

Plutarch’s Lives (Dryden trans.) vol. 5

Plutarch (author)

Volume 5 of a five volume translation by Dryden.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes

Plutarch (author)

The influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 1

Sir Thomas North (translator)

Vol. 1 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 2

Sir Thomas North (translator)

Vol. 2 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 3

Plutarch (author)

Vol. 3 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 4

Plutarch (author)

Vol. 4 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 5

Plutarch (author)

Vol. 5 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 6

Plutarch (author)

Vol. 6 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 7

Plutarch (author)

Vol. 7 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 8

Plutarch (author)

Vol. 8 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 9

Plutarch (author)

Vol. 9 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

Plutarch’s Lives, Englished by Sir Thomas North in Ten Volumes - Volume 10

Plutarch (author)

Vol. 10 of the influential late 16th century translation of Plutarch’s lives of famous Greeks and Romans.

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Pocket Globes: The World in Your Hand

By: Virginia Postrel

The century that began around 1670 was an extraordinary period of exploration and discovery. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek found microscopic animals teeming in a drop of water. Isaac Newton revolutionized physics. The East India Company…
Political Discourses on Tacitus and Sallust (1728-1744)

Thomas Gordon (author)

Gordon’s criticisms of war, empire, and political corruption in Cato’s Letters (1720-23) are quite well known. Less well known are the very similar and much more extensive criticisms which he included as prefaces to his translations…

Poor Law Commissioners’ Report of 1834

Nassau William Senior (author)

A path-breaking British Parliamentary report, primarily written by Nassau Senior and Edwin Chadwick, into the state of public charity in Britain. It was one of the key pieces of reformist legislation during the Victorian era.

The Present Age

Robert A. Nisbet (author)

Nisbet examines the role of the United States in the world since World War I focusing on the threats that the unprecedented militarization of American life in the decades after 1914, bureaucracy, centralization, and creeping…

The Present State of Germany

Samuel von Pufendorf (author)

The editor of this volume, Michael J. Seidler, describes this work of Pufendorf as “an account of German constitutional law detailing the historical relations between the Emperor and the Estates as well as an examination of the…

The Progress of English Liberty

David Hume (author)

Towards the end of writing his 6 volume history of England Hume surveyed the entire sweep of English constitutional development. We include this…

The Prose Works of John Milton, vol. 2

Rufus Wilmot Griswold (editor)

Vol. 2 of a mid-19th century 2 volume of Milton’s most significant prose works. Vol. 2 contains The Ready and Easy way to Establish a Free Commonwealth, The History of Britain, Of True Religion, and other works.

Raico on Benjamin Constant

Related Links:

Ralph Raico Benjamin Constant

Source: New Individualist Review, editor-in-chief Ralph Raico, introduction by Milton Friedman (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1981). Chapter: RALPH RAICO, GREAT INDIVIDUALISTS OF THE…

Raico on Wilhelm von Humboldt

Related Links:

Ralph Raico Wilhelm von Humboldt

Source: New Individualist Review, editor-in-chief Ralph Raico, introduction by Milton Friedman (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1981). Chapter: RALPH RAICO, GREAT INDIVIDUALISTS OF THE…

The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville (1896)

Alexis de Tocqueville (author)

These are Tocqueville’s memoirs of the 1848 Revolution in France during which he was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies and a supporter the “party or order” against the socialists.

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, 3vols.

Max Farrand (editor)

A 3 volume collection of the records of the Federal Convention which was held in Philadelphia between May and September 1787. The sessions were secret but the proceedings were reconstructed from notes kept by the official secretary…

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 1

Max Farrand (editor)

Volume 1 covers May 14 to July 13, 1787. The records of the Federal Convention which was held in Philadelphia between May and September 1787. The sessions were secret but the proceedings were reconstructed from notes kept by the…

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 2

Max Farrand (editor)

Volume 2 covers July 14 to September 17, 1787. The records of the Federal Convention which was held in Philadelphia between May and September 1787. The sessions were secret but the proceedings were reconstructed from notes kept by…

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 3

Max Farrand (editor)

Volume 3 contains numerous supplementary records, the Virginia and other plans, and an index by clauses of the US Constitution. The records of the Federal Convention which was held in Philadelphia between May and September 1787. The…

Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the Ancient Republicks

Edward Wortley Montagu (author)

Montagu’s warnings in Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the Ancient Republicks are unusual in that each of the five states he examines supplies a separate lesson adapted to the needs of Britain during the crisis. Discussion of…

Report made to the Chamber of Deputies on the Abolition of Slavery in the French Colonies (1840)

Alexis de Tocqueville (author)

The Report on the abolition of slavery by a Commission which included Roger, Tocqueville, de Sade, de Rémusat, Cadeau-d’Arcy, Dugabé, Odilon Barrot, and de Panat. It was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies in July 1839 and conlcuded…

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Revisiting Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport

In August of 1790, George Washington made a trip to Newport, Rhode Island shortly after Rhode Island had agreed to the Constitution and to join the United States. Washington was greeted by various leaders of the city including a…

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Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel and Kurosawa’s Rashomon

By: Nathaniel Birzer

Many popular articles have noted the similarities in structure between Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel and the classic Kurosawa film Rashomon, and a few articles have addressed the historical truths which informed the movie and the…
The Roots of Liberty: Magna Carta and the Anglo-American Tradition of Rule of Law

John Phillip Reid (author)

This is a critical collection of essays on the origin and nature of the idea of liberty. The authors explore the development of English ideas of liberty and the relationship those ideas hold to modern conceptions of rule of law.

The Ruins: or a Survery of the Revolutions of Empires

Constantin-François Chasseboeuf, Marquis de Volney (author)

Volney’s best known work deals with the origins of human society, of government and laws, the evolution of society, and the reasons for the decline and fall of empires.

Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, 3 vols.

Committee of the Association of American Law Schools (editor)

A massive three volume collection of essays by leading American and English legal experts which surveys the entire body of Anglo-American law.

Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, vol. 1

John Maxcy Zane (author)

A massive three volume collection of essays by leading American and English legal experts which surveys the entire body of Anglo-American law. Volume 1 is a general survey.

Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, vol. 2

Sir William Searle Holdsworth (author)

A massive three volume collection of essays by leading American and English legal experts which surveys the entire body of Anglo-American law. Volume 2 covers particular topics such as the sources of English law, the court system,…

Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, vol. 3

Viscount James Bryce (author)

A massive three volume collection of essays by leading American and English legal experts which surveys the entire body of Anglo-American law. Volume 3 covers particular topics such as commercial law, torts, property, wills and…

Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises, 3 vols

Ludwig von Mises (author)

A three volume collection of Mises’s writings from the so-called “lost papers” found in a Moscow archive in 1996. These were seized by the Gestapo and then taken back to Russia after the war by the Russian government.

Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises, vol. 1: Monetary and Economic Problems Before, During, and After the Great War

Richard Ebeling (editor)

Vol. 1 of a three volume collection. The articles that comprise this book include Mises’s policy memoranda, essays, and speeches that were found in a formerly secret KGB archive in Moscow. They deal with Mises’s thoughts on the…

Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises, vol. 2: Between the Two World Wars: Monetary Disorder, Interventionism, Socialism, and the Great Depression

Ludwig von Mises (author)

Vol. 2 of a three volume collection of Mises' essays found in Moscow in 1996. Vol. 2 contains essays on inflation, interventionism, the great depression, Austrian economic policy, autarchy, the theory of Austrian economics, and…

Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises, vol. 3: The Political Economy of International Reform and Reconstruction

Ludwig von Mises (author)

Vol. 3 of a three volume collection of Mises' essays found in Moscow in 1996. Vol. 3 contains essays on postwar reconstruction, American foreign trade policy, monetary policy, and plans for European union.

Selections from the Correspondence of the First Lord Acton, Vol. I

Reginald Vere Laurence (editor)

A selection from Acton’s large mass of correspondence including a number to Gladstone on the budget, foreign affairs, Acton’s library, and women’s suffrage.

Shakespeare’s Plutarch, 2 vols.

Sir Thomas North (translator)

A 2 volume selection of the works of Plutarch which Shakespeare used in the writing of Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus.

Shakespeare’s Plutarch, Vol. I (containing the main sources of Julius Caesar)

Sir Thomas North (translator)

Vol. 1 of a 2 volume selection of the works of Plutarch which Shakespeare used in the writing of Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. Vol. I contains the main sources of Julius Caesar.

Shakespeare’s Plutarch, Vol. 2

Sir Thomas North (translator)

Vol. 2 of a 2 volume selection of the works of Plutarch which Shakespeare used in the writing of Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. Vol. 2 contains the main sources of Anthony and Cleopatra and of Coriolanus.

Sketches of the History of Man, 3 vols.

Henry Home, Lord Kames (author)

Written late in his life, this 3 volume work deals with the idea of human progress. Vol. 1 deals with progress in property law, commerce, the treatment of women, and luxury. Vol. 2 deals with the development of states, government,…

Sketches of the History of Man, vol. 1

James A. Harris (editor)

Written late in his life, this 3 volume work deals with the idea of human progress. Vol. 1 deals with progress in property law, commerce, the treatment of women, and luxury. Vol. 2 deals with the development of states, government,…

Sketches of the History of Man, vol. 2

James A. Harris (editor)

Written late in his life, this 3 volume work deals with the idea of human progress. Vol. 1 deals with progress in property law, commerce, the treatment of women, and luxury. Vol. 2 deals with the development of states, government,…

Sketches of the History of Man, vol. 3

James A. Harris (editor)

Written late in his life, this 3 volume work deals with the idea of human progress. Vol. 1 deals with progress in property law, commerce, the treatment of women, and luxury. Vol. 2 deals with the development of states, government,…

A Source Book for Mediaeval History. Selected Documents

Edgar Holmes McNeal (editor)

A 600 page collection of primary sources on such topics as the Germans and the Empire, the Papacy, the struggle between the Empire and the Papacy, the Church, Feudalism, the Courts, Monasticism, the Crusades, and Social Classess and…

The Story of Burnt Njal

Rasmus B. Anderson (editor)

A translation of the Icelandic saga, the main character of which is Burnt Njal, which was first written down in the 13th century.

Studies in History and Jurisprudence, 2 vols.

Viscount James Bryce (author)

A two volume collection of Bryce’s essays and articles on the Roman and British Empires, constitutional history and theory, obedience, sovereignty, the law of nature , and legal history.

Studies in History and Jurisprudence, vol. 1

Viscount James Bryce (author)

Vol. 1 of a two volume collection of Bryce’s essays and articles on the Roman and British Empires, constitutional history and theory, obedience, sovereignty, the law of nature , and legal history.

Studies in History and Jurisprudence, vol. 2

Viscount James Bryce (author)

Vol. 2 of a two volume collection of Bryce’s essays and articles on the Roman and British Empires, constitutional history and theory, obedience, sovereignty, the law of nature , and legal history.

LIBERTY MATTERS

Suffrage and States’ Rights: How Federalism Defeated Reconstruction’s Constitutional Revolution

Nicole Etcheson (contributor)

Read Jeffrey Hummel's Essay

Read Vernon Burton's Essay

LIBERTY MATTERS

THE READING ROOM

The Birth of English (and Roman) Tragedy: Camilla, Diana, and The Aeneid

By: Daniel Ross Goodman

A few weeks ago we were all witnesses to history when we watched the longest heir-to-the-throne-in-waiting in British history finally ascend the throne in his seventy-fourth year of life. But it wasn’t only King Charles III who made…

THE READING ROOM

The French Revolution Spawns the Terror—and the Classic Conservatism of Burke

By: Walter Donway

It can seem that every battle Edmund Burke fought became epic, remembered by history: his attempts to head off the war with the American colonies, his defense of representative democracy, his opposition to the British East India…

THE READING ROOM

The Lady and the Tycoon: From the Liberty Fund Rare Book Room

By: Sarah Skwire

The lively colors of this book from Pierre Goodrich's personal collection made it jump off the shelf during this week's visit to the Liberty Fund rare book room. The title is not, as I had first speculated, that of a romance novel.…

THE READING ROOM

The Last King of America: A Review

By: Renee Wilmeth

When it comes to Enlightenment-era monarchs, we generally think the worst of one in particular, especially when it comes to progress – King George III of England. Too often, we think of him as the king who lost the American…

LIBERTY MATTERS

The Roman Senate in Early Modern Europe (May 2023)

By: Paulina Kewes

The rise and fall of the Roman republic continued to influence political thought for centuries after its demise. In this Liberty Matters, we invited a group of scholars, led by Paulina Kewes, to consider the influence of this history…

THE READING ROOM

The Russian Enlightenment and Its “Absolutist” Champions

By: Walter Donway

In Russia, the Enlightenment began just as the country emerged from the medieval period. Contrast that with the West, where the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries) and the beginnings of the scientific revolution laid the foundations…

THE READING ROOM

The Slave Bible

By: Steve Ealy

Many enslaved people who learned to read were actually taught or encouraged by their masters or owners for religious reasons. Janet Cornelius found that “the majority of owners who taught slaves were concerned with Bible literacy,…

THE READING ROOM

The “Enlightened Absolutism” of the Eighteenth Century

By: Gary McGath

The eighteenth century was the age of “enlightened absolutism” in Russia and the German-speaking states. Its noteworthy practitioners included Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia, Catherine II (the Great) of Russia, and Maria…
Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution

Ludwig von Mises (author)

Mises applies his theory of methodological individualism to an analysis of history. Along the way he debunks other theories of history which are based upon notions of race, dialectical materialism (Marxism), and determinism.

Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution (LF ed.)

Ludwig von Mises (author)

Theory and History is primarily a critique of Karl Marx, his materialism, and his prediction of the inevitability of socialism. This book discusses the theory of economics, i.e., the study of purposive human action, and with history,…

Thierry, Augustin (1795-1856)

Related Links:

Augustin Thierry

Source: Augustin Thierry, History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, translated from the seventh…

Timeline of the American Founding

David M. Hart (editor)

Designed to provide a chronological representation of the unfolding of the early history of the nation, this PDF features historical events and…

THE READING ROOM

Tracing Turkey’s Creation to French Enlightenment’s Influence

By: Walter Donway

Antecedents of the revolution led by Ataturk must be sought in the Turkish Enlightenment, which had two phases.
The Tudor Translations: Machiavelli

Henry Cust (introduction)

A two volume collection of inlfuential English translations of the writings of Machiavelli during the Tudor period.

The Tudor Translations: Machiavelli vol. 2 (The Florentine History)

Thomas Bedingfeld (translator)

A volume which contains an historic translation of Machiavelli’s major writings which were done during the Tudor period in England: The Florentiine Historie by Thomas Bedingfeld ini 1595.

THE READING ROOM

VRG Extras: Wolf Hall and Hume

By: Christy Lynn Horpedahl

Brother men, you who live after us,Do not harden your hearts against us.-François Villon

THE READING ROOM

What Irish Enlightenment? The Case of Edmund Burke

By: Walter Donway

Four times I have posed, in these pages, the question: “What Irish Enlightenment?” And answered with the “cases” of John Toland, Jonathan Swift, George Berkeley, and Maria Edgeworth—a priest/academic, a satirist, a philosopher, and…

THE READING ROOM

What “Irish Enlightenment”? The Case of George Berkeley

By: Walter Donway

In earlier posts on John Toland and Jonathan Swift, I pointed out that champions of the Irish Enlightenment seem to elude being identified with specifically Irish aspects of that European movement. George Berkeley, born in Dysart…

THE READING ROOM

What “Irish Enlightenment”? The Case of John Toland

By: Walter Donway

“What Irish Enlightenment?” is the first question for one setting out to discuss Ireland’s participation in the pan-European philosophical, political, economic, social, and literary movement that created the modern world. About…

THE READING ROOM

William Henry Harrison and “The True Principles of Government”

William Henry Harrison (1773-1841)
[An autograph of the first page]

Quentin Taylor discusses the little read Inaugural Address of William Henry Harrison who was the 9th President of the United States. He assumed…

The Works and Life of Walter Bagehot, vol. 2 (Historical & Financial Essays)

Mrs. Russell Barrington (editor)

This volume contains essays on Macaulay, Gibbon, Peel, Shelley, and two essays on banking and the currency crisis.

The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, vol. 11 (Miscellanies)

Ralph Waldo Emerson (author)

Vol. 11 of the 12 volume Fireside edition of the works of Emerson.

The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. IV Letters and Misc. Writings 1763-1768

John Bigelow (editor)

Volume 4 of a 12 volume collection of the works of Franklin edited by the New York lawyer and politician John Bigelow. Vol. 4 contains a essays and letters written between 1763 and 1768.

The Works of John Adams, vol. 1 (Life of the Author)

Charles Francis Adams (editor)

A 10 volume collection of Adams’ most important writings, letters, and state papers, edited by his grandson. Vol. 1 contains a life of Adams by his grandson.

The Works of Sallust (1744)

Marcus Tullius Cicero (author)

Thomas Gordon’s translation of Sallust’s histories with Gordon’s lengthy commentaries and his translation of Cicero’s Four Orations against Catiline, and other speeches. This copy was owned by John Adams and has his name on the title…

The Works of Tacitus, 4 vols. (1737)

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (author)

The historical works of Tacitus are a history of the period from A.D. 14 to 96 in thirty volumes. Although many of the works were lost (only books 1-5 of the Histories and 1-6 and 11-16 of the Annals survive), enough remains to…

The Works of Tacitus, vol. 1 - Gordon’s Discourses, Annals (Books 1-3)

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (author)

The historical works of Tacitus are a history of the period from A.D. 14 to 96 in thirty volumes. Although many of the works were lost (only books 1-5 of the Histories and 1-6 and 11-16 of the Annals survive), enough remains to…

The Works of Tacitus, vol. 2 - Annals (Books 4-6, 11-16)

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (author)

This volume contains the second and final part of The Annals Books 4-6 and Books 11-15.

The Works of Tacitus, vol. 3 - Gordon’s Discourses II, History (Books 1-2)

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (author)

This volume contains Gordon’s Discourses upon Tacitus and Books 1 and 2 of The History.

The Works of Tacitus, vol. 4 - History (Books 3-5), Germany, Agricola

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (author)

This volume contains the last part of Tacitus’s History of Rome , his ethnographical study of the Germans, and the biography of his father-in-law Agricola.

The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version, in 21 vols.

Voltaire (author)

A 21 volume collected works of the writings of Voltaire with a biographical volume by the English Liberal MP John Morley and notes by the 18th century Scottish novelist Tobias Smollett.

The Works of Voltaire, Vol. XII (Age of Louis XIV)

William F. Fleming (translator)

Taken from the 21 volume 1901 edition of the Complete Works, this is one of Voltaire’s pioneering works of history.

The Works of Voltaire, Vol. XXI (A Biographical Critique of Voltaire by John Morely)

Voltaire (author)

Vol. 21 of Voltaire’s collected works contains a biography of Voltaire by the British classical liberal John Morley.

The Works of William Robertson in Eight Volumes (1840)

William Robertson (author)

An 8 volume edition of The Works of William Robertson (1840). It contains his major works of history: The History of Scotland (1759) in vols. 1 and 2; A View of the Progress of Society in Europe in vol 3; The History of the Reign of…

The Works of William Robertson, vol. 1. The History of Scotland vol. 1

William Robertson (author)

This is vol. 1 of an 8 volume edition of The Works of William Robertson (1840). It contains his major works of history: The History of Scotland (1759) in vols. 1 and 2; A View of the Progress of Society in Europe in vol 3; The…

The Works of William Robertson, vol. 2. The History of Scotland vol.2

William Robertson (author)

This is vol. 2 of an 8 volume edition of The Works of William Robertson (1840). It contains his major works of history: The History of Scotland (1759) in vols. 1 and 2; A View of the Progress of Society in Europe in vol 3; The…

The Works of William Robertson, vol. 3. A View of the Progress of Society in Europe and The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V, book 1

William Robertson (author)

This is vol. 3 of an 8 volume edition of The Works of William Robertson (1840). It contains his major works of history: The History of Scotland (1759) in vols. 1 and 2; A View of the Progress of Society in Europe in vol 3; The…

The Works of William Robertson, vol. 4. The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V, books 2-7

William Robertson (author)

This is vol. 4 of an 8 volume edition of The Works of William Robertson (1840). It contains his major works of history: The History of Scotland (1759) in vols. 1 and 2; A View of the Progress of Society in Europe in vol 3; The…

The Works of William Robertson. Vol. 5. The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V, books 8-12

William Robertson (author)

This is vol. 5 of an 8 volume edition of The Works of William Robertson (1840). It contains his major works of history: The History of Scotland (1759) in vols. 1 and 2; A View of the Progress of Society in Europe in vol 3; The…

The Works of William Robertson. Vol. 6. A Catalogue of Spanish Books and Manuscripts and The History of America, books 1-4.

William Robertson (author)

This is vol. 6 of an 8 volume edition of The Works of William Robertson (1840). It contains his major works of history: The History of Scotland (1759) in vols. 1 and 2; A View of the Progress of Society in Europe in vol 3; The…

The Works of William Robertson. Vol. 7. The History of America, books 5-8.

William Robertson (author)

This is vol. 7 of an 8 volume edition of The Works of William Robertson (1840). It contains his major works of history: The History of Scotland (1759) in vols. 1 and 2; A View of the Progress of Society in Europe in vol 3; The…

The Works of William Robertson. Vol. 8. The History of America, books 9-10. An Historical Disquisition concerning Ancient India.

William Robertson (author)

This is vol. 8 of an 8 volume edition of The Works of William Robertson (1840). It contains his major works of history: The History of Scotland (1759) in vols. 1 and 2; A View of the Progress of Society in Europe in vol 3; The…

The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 10 Biographical Miscellany

Maurice Herbert Dobb (editor)

This volume is a collection of personal correspondence and recollections that focus on Ricardo’s life outside of his political economic endeavors. These missives concern Ricardo’s character, his amiable and generous nature, his…

The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols.

Worthington Chauncey Ford (editor)

A 14 volume collection of Washington’s writings.

The Writings of George Washington, vol. I (1748-1757)

Worthington Chauncey Ford (editor)

Vol. 1 covers the years 1748 to 1757 and includes some of his early journals and many letters.

The Writings of James Madison, 9 vols.

James Madison (author)

A 9 volume collection edited by Gaillard Hunt in 1900-10.

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Quotes

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Adam Ferguson notes that “implicit submission to any leader, or the uncontrouled exercise of any power” leads to a form of military government and ultimately despotism (1767)

Adam Ferguson

Economics

Adam Ferguson observed that social structures of all kinds were “the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design” (1782)

Adam Ferguson

Politics & Liberty

Adam Ferguson on Factional Quarrels

Adam Ferguson

Philosophy

Adam Ferguson on Love, Self-Interest, and Pleasure

Adam Ferguson

Taxation

Alexander Hamilton denounces the British for imposing “oppressive taxes” on the colonists which amount to tyranny, a form of slavery, and vassalage to the Empire (1774)

Alexander Hamilton

Class

Alexander Hamilton on the Civil Balance of Power

Alexander Hamilton

Politics & Liberty

Andrew Fletcher believed that too many people were deceived by the “ancient terms and outwards forms” of their government but had in fact lost their ancient liberties (1698)

Andrew Fletcher

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Benjamin Franklin and the Need for Unity among the Colonies

Benjamin Franklin

Food & Drink

Benjamin Franklin on killing and cooking a turkey with electricity (1748)

Benjamin Franklin

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Benjamin Franklin on making the transition from slavery to civil liberty (1789)

Benjamin Franklin

The State

Benjamin Franklin on the “superstructure” of Good Government (1736)

Benjamin Franklin

Revolution

Benjamin Franklin on the trade off between essential liberty and temporary safety (1775)

Benjamin Franklin

Society

Benjamin Franklin’s List of Virtues for “Clean” Living

Benjamin Franklin

War & Peace

Cobden argues that the British Empire will inevitably suffer retribution for its violence and injustice (1853)

Richard Cobden

War & Peace

Cobden on the complicity of the British people in supporting war (1852)

Richard Cobden

Free Trade

Cobden on the folly of using government force to “protect commerce” (1836)

Richard Cobden

War & Peace

Daniel Webster thunders that the introduction of conscription would be a violation of the constitution, an affront to individual liberty, and an act of unrivaled despotism (1814)

Daniel Webster

Origin of Government

David Hume argued that Individual Liberty emerged slowly out of the “violent system of government” which had earlier prevailed in Europe (1778)

David Hume

Liberty

Edmund Burke on liberty as “social” not “individual” liberty (1789)

Edmund Burke

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Edward Gibbon believed that unless public liberty was defended by “intrepid and vigilant guardians” any constitution would degenerate into despotism (1776)

Edward Gibbon

Politics & Liberty

Edward Gibbon called the loss of independence and excessive obedience the "secret poison" which corrupted the Roman Empire (1776)

Edward Gibbon

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Edward Gibbon gloomily observed that in a unified empire like the Roman there was nowhere to escape, whereas with a multiplicity of states there were always gaps and interstices to hide in (1776)

Edward Gibbon

Odds & Ends

Edward Gibbon reveals the reasons why he wrote on the Decline of the Roman Empire, “the greatest, perhaps, and most awful scene in the history of mankind” (1776)

Edward Gibbon

Politics & Liberty

Ferguson on the flourishing of man’s intellectual powers in a commercial society (1767)

Adam Ferguson

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Frederick Douglass and his Desire to be Free

Frederick Douglass

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Frederick Douglass makes a New Year’s resolution to gain his freedom from slavery (1836)

Frederick Douglass

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation

Frederick Douglass

Quote

Frederick Douglass on Religion and Slavery

Frederick Douglass

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Frederick Douglass on the Ballot Box, the Jury Box, and the Cartridge Box

Frederick Douglass

Women’s Rights

Frederick Douglass on Women’s Right to Vote

Frederick Douglass

Politics & Liberty

Georg Jellinek argues that Lafayette was one of the driving forces behind the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

Georg Jellinek

Politics & Liberty

George Washington on the Difference between Commercial and Political Relations with other Countries (1796)

George Washington

Taxation

George Washington on the Whiskey Rebellion and the Pardon Power

George Washington

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

George Washington warns that the knee jerk reaction of citizens to problems is to seek a solution in the creation of a “new monarch”(1786)

George Washington

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

George Washington warns the nation in his Farewell Address, that love of power will tend to create a real despotism in America unless proper checks and balances are maintained to limit government power (1796)

George Washington

Politics & Liberty

Germaine de Staël on the indestructible love of liberty (1818)

Germaine de Staël

Politics & Liberty

Gouverneur Morris on the proper balance between commerce, private property, and political liberty (1776)

Gouverneur Morris

Liberty

Guizot on how intellectual and political diversity and competition created a unique European civilization (1828)

François Guizot

Politics & Liberty

Guizot on liberty and reason (1851)

François Guizot

Liberty

Guizot on man’s unquenchable desire for liberty and free political institutions (1820-22)

François Guizot

The State

Guizot on the legitimacy of state power and its limits (1851)

François Guizot

Literature & Music

Gustave de Beaumont and Irish liberty (1839)

Gustave de Beaumont

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Harriet Martineau on the institution of slavery, “restless slaves”, and the Bill of Rights (1838)

Harriet Martineau

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Henry Parker on Parliament’s role in limiting the power of Kings (1642)

Henry Parker

The State

Hippolyte Taine on how the modern bureaucratic state destroys spontaneous and fruitful private cooperation (1890)

Hippolyte Taine

Law

James Mackintosh on how constitutions grow and are not made (1799)

Sir James Mackintosh

Justice

James Mackintosh on the relationship between justice and utility (1791)

Sir James Mackintosh

War & Peace

James Madison argues that the Constitution places war-making powers squarely with the legislative branch; for the president to have these powers is the “the true nurse of executive aggrandizement” (1793)

James Madison

Class

James Madison on the “sagacious and monied few” who are able to “harvest” the benefits of government regulations (1787)

James Madison

Parties & Elections

James Madison on the dangers of elections resulting in overbearing majorities who respect neither justice nor individual rights, Federalist 10 (1788)

James Madison

Politics & Liberty

James Madison on the mischievous effects of mutable government in The Federalist no. 62 (1788)

James Madison

War & Peace

James Madison on the necessity of separating the power of “the sword from the purse” (1793)

James Madison

Politics & Liberty

James Madison on the need for the “separation of powers” because “men are not angels,” Federalist 51 (1788)

James Madison

War & Peace

James Madison on the need for the people to declare war and for each generation, not future generations, to bear the costs of the wars they fight (1792)

James Madison

Origin of Government

James Otis on the right of the people to alter their government (1764)

James Otis

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Jefferson feared that it would only be a matter of time before the American system of government degenerated into a form of “elective despotism” (1785)

Thomas Jefferson

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Jefferson on how Congress misuses the inter-state commerce and general welfare clauses to promote the centralization of power (1825)

Thomas Jefferson

Taxation

Jefferson on Taxes and the General Welfare (1791)

Thomas Jefferson

Politics & Liberty

Jefferson on the right to change one’s government (1776)

Thomas Jefferson

Taxation

Jefferson tells Congress that since tax revenues are increasing faster than population then taxes on all manner of items can be “dispensed with” (i.e. abolished) (1801)

Thomas Jefferson

Revolution

Jefferson warns about the rise of an “Anglo-Monarchio-Aristocratic party” in America (1797)

Thomas Jefferson

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Jefferson’s list of objections to the British Empire in his first draft of the Declaration of Independence (1776)

Thomas Jefferson

Freedom of Speech

Jefferson’s preference for “newspapers without government” over “government without newspapers” (1787)

Thomas Jefferson

Law

John Adams argues that the British Empire is not a “true” empire but a form of a “republic” where the rule of law operates (1763)

John Adams

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

John Adams on how absolute power intoxicates those who excercise that power (1814)

John Adams

The State

John Adams on Religion and the Constitution

John Adams

Law

John Adams predicts a glorious future for America under the new Constitution and is in “reverence and awe” at its future prospects (1787)

John Adams

Politics & Liberty

John Adams thought he could see arbitrary power emerging in the American colonies and urged his countrymen to “nip it in the bud” before they lost all their liberties (1774)

John Adams

Class

John C. Calhoun notes that taxation divides the community into two great antagonistic classes, those who pay the taxes and those who benefit from them (1850)

John C. Calhoun

Politics & Liberty

John Calhoun and the Unchecked Majority

John C. Calhoun

Politics & Liberty

John Calhoun on Concurrent Majorities

John C. Calhoun

Politics & Liberty

John Calhoun on Executive Power and Constitutional Order

John C. Calhoun

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

John Calhoun on Slavery as a Positive Good

John C. Calhoun

Politics & Liberty

John Calhoun on the Nature and Purpose of Constitutions

John C. Calhoun

The State

John Calhoun on Unchecked Majorities

John C. Calhoun

War & Peace

John Jay in The Federalist Papers discussed why nations go to war and concluded that it was not for justice but “whenever they have a prospect of getting any thing by it” (1787)

John Jay

War & Peace

John Jay on the pretended as well as the just causes of war (1787)

John Jay

Natural Rights

John Lilburne on one’s duty to respect “the Right, Due, and Propriety of all the Sons of Adam, as men” (1646)

John Lilburne

Rhetoric of Liberty

John Lilburne rails against his unjust imprisonment (1646)

John Lilburne

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

John Lilburne shows defiance to the tyrants who would force him to pay tythes to the Church (1648)

John Lilburne

Rhetoric of Liberty

John Thelwall on political sheep shearing (1795)

John Thelwall

Politics & Liberty

Leggett on the tendency of the government to become “the universal dispenser of good and evil” (1834)

William Leggett

Liberty

Liberty in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Livy on the irrecoverable loss of liberty under the Roman Empire (10 AD)

Titus Livius (Livy)

Religion & Toleration

Lord Acton argues that civil liberty arose out of the conflict between the power of the Church and the Monarchy (1877)

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton

Politics & Liberty

Lord Acton on the destruction of the liberal Girondin group and the suicide of Condorcet during the French Revolution (1910)

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton

Revolution

Lord Acton on the storming of “the instrument and the emblem of tyranny” in Paris, the Bastille, on July 14, 1789 (1910)

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Lord Acton writes to Bishop Creighton that the same moral standards should be applied to all men, political and religious leaders included, especially since “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (1887)

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton

Sport and Liberty

Macaulay and Bunyan on the evils of swearing and playing hockey on Sunday (1830)

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay

The State

Macaulay argues that “the main end” of government is the protection of persons and property (1839)

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Macaulay argues that politicians are less interested in the economic value of public works to the citizens than they are in their own reputation, embezzlement and"jobs for the boys" (1830)

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay

Rhetoric of Liberty

Macaulay wittily denounces a tyrannical priest as being an intermediate grub between sycophant and oppressor (1837)

Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Madame de Staël argues that Napoleon was able to create a tyrannical government by pandering to men’s interests, corrupting public opinion, and waging constant war (1817)

Germaine de Staël

Liberty

Madame de Staël on how liberty is ancient and despotism is modern (1818)

Germaine de Staël

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Madame de Staël on the tyrant Napoleon (1818)

Germaine de Staël

War & Peace

Madison argued that war is the major way by which the executive office increases its power, patronage, and taxing power (1793)

James Madison

Liberty

Madison on “Parchment Barriers” and the defence of liberty I (1788)

James Madison

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Madison on “Parchment Barriers” and the defence of liberty II (1788)

James Madison

Politics & Liberty

Mercy Otis Warren asks why people are so willing to obey the government and answers that it is supineness, fear of resisting, and the long habit of obedience (1805)

Mercy Otis Warren

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Michel Chevalier on two kinds of political power in America, the Caesars and the Commissioners (1835)

Michel Chevalier

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Pufendorf on the danger of rulers confusing their own self-interest with that of the State (1695)

Samuel von Pufendorf

Liberty

Richard Overton argues that to submit to the unjust rule by another is to violate one’s right of self ownership (1646)

Richard Overton

Natural Rights

Richard Overton shoots “An Arrow against all Tyrants” from the prison of Newgate into the prerogative bowels of the arbitrary House of Lords and all other usurpers and tyrants whatsoever (1646)

Richard Overton

Liberty

Richard Price on giving thanks for the principles of the Revolution of 1688 (1789)

Richard Price

War & Peace

Richard Price on how the “domestic enemies” of liberty have been more powerful and more successful than foreign enemies (1789)

Richard Price

Politics & Liberty

Richard Price on the true Nature of Love of One’s Country (1789)

Richard Price

Economics

Robert Molesworth on the benefits of open borders and free immigration (1705)

Robert Molesworth

Law

Spooner states the importance of the 9th Amendment to the American Constitution which protects the natural rights of the people not enumerated in the first 8 Amendments (1886)

Lysander Spooner

Education

The ex-slave Frederick Douglass reveals that reading speeches by English politicians produced in him a deep love of liberty and hatred of oppression (1882)

Frederick Douglass

Literature & Music

Thierry on the need for songs about our lost liberties which will act as a barrier to encroaching power (1845)

Augustin Thierry

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Thomas Clarkson on the “glorious” victory of the abolition of the slave trade in England (1808)

Thomas Clarkson

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Thomas Gordon compares the Greatness of Spartacus with that of Julius Caesar (1721)

Thomas Gordon

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Thomas Gordon on how people are frightened into giving up their liberties (1722)

Thomas Gordon

Parties & Elections

Thomas Gordon on how the “Spirit of Party” substitutes party principles for moral principles, thus making it possible for the worst to get on top (1744)

Thomas Gordon

War & Peace

Thomas Gordon on standing armies as a power which is inconsistent with liberty (1722)

Thomas Gordon

The State

Thomas Gordon on the nature of power to expand (1721)

Thomas Gordon

Taxation

Thomas Jefferson boasts about having reduced the size of government and eliminated a number of “vexatious” taxes (1805)

Thomas Jefferson

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Thomas Jefferson’s First Draft of the Declaration of Independence denounced the slave trade as an “execrable Commerce” and slavery itself as a “cruel war against nature itself” (1776)

Thomas Jefferson

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Thucydides on political intrigue in the divided city of Corcyra caused by the “desire to rule” (5thC BC)

Thucydides

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Tocqueville on Centralised Government in Canada and Decentralised Government in America (1856)

Alexis de Tocqueville

Religion & Toleration

William Walwyn wittily argues against state enforced religious conformity (1646)

William Walwyn

Notes About This Collection

Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) Thomas Babbington Macaulay (1800-1859) Henry Sumner Maine (1822-1888)

See also the extracts, chapters, and introductions in the History section of the Ideas page.