Political Theory

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.

Spooner published this pamphlet prior to the election in November 1860 urging voters not to vote for the Republican Party because it had no plan for the abolition of slavery.

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… more

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… more

Following the success of the First Reform Act of 1832 John Wade published an appendix to the 1832 edition of his best selling work detailing corruption which still remained in the English government.

This is Milton’s famous defense of freedom of speech and the press, in an edition based upon Sir Richard Jebb’s lectures at Cambridge in 1872, with extensive notes and commentaries. Mlton’s work was a protest against Parliament’s… more

James Mill wrote a number of influential articles for the Encyclopedia Britannica in which he developed the Philosophic Radical view on law, government, education, colonies, and other topcis.

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… more

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… more

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 formatted as pamphlets for… more

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… more

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… more

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… more

The Best of Bastiat (BOB) is a collection of some of the best material in Liberty Fund’s edition of The Collected Works of Frédéric Bastiat (2011-). These extracts should be useful in the classroom, or discussion groups. This… more

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… more

One of the articles James Mill wrote for the Encyclopedia Britannica.

This is a collection of classic works on liberty from the Online Library of Liberty collection which have been “enhanced” to assist readers is learning more about these important works. The enhancements include, in addition to the… more

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” Eric Mack discusses John Locke’s theory of property to which Jan Narveson, Peter Vallentyne, and Michael… more

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” Geoffrey Brennan assesses the work of the Nobel Prize winning economist James Buchanan with responses and… more

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” Roderick T. Long assesses the work of the French political economist Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) with… more

This online discussion engages with George Smith on his book The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (CUP 2013). Smith describes the works of the history of political thought which inspired him, and the… more

In this Liberty Matters discussion, Aurelian Craiutu argues that Tocqueville was not just an observer of democracy in America but also a theorist of democracy who wanted to create “a new science of politics” suitable to the new world… more

The political thought of James Mill is not as well known as it should be. This online discussion with a lead essay by Sandra J. Peart, attempts to reassess his contribution to classical liberal political theory via his dichotomy… more

The English sociologist and individualist political philosopher Herbert Spencer has been either completely neglected or badly misinterpreted by scholars for over one hundred years. In this discussion George Smith explores an… more

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 Anglo-Hungarian economist Anthony de Jasay turned 90 in 2015. To celebrate this event Liberty Fund organized a Liberty Matters discussion of his work as an economic and political theorist which came to public attention with the… more

In this discussion of Montesquieu’s economic thought, in particular his ideas about the need for sumptuary laws in republics, Henry Clark of Dartmouth College investigates this little appreciated aspect of Montesquieu’s thinking and… more

In this discussion Randy Barnett explores the political thought and constitutional theories of the 19th century American individualist, anarchist, and abolitionist Lysander Spooner (1808-1887). He concludes that “Spooner’s approach… more

Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom (2014), argues that there is a tension within liberal theories of freedom, between views concerned with the risk of tyranny posed by the modern, centralized and centralizing, Weberian state and… more

The year 2017 marked the bicentenary of Germaine de Staël’s death (1766-1817). Although her name almost never appears in textbooks or histories of political thought in the English-speaking world her political thought is undeniably… more

This is an anthology of James Mill’s writings compiled from The British Review, and London Critical Journal [1815], the Supplement to the 4th, 5th and 6th editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica [1815-1824], Parliamentary History… more

The Levellers were a political movement active in England from 1646 to 1649. They were a populist movement that emphasized equal rights, religious toleration, and reformation of political and judicial corruption. They are… more

The Levellers were a political movement active in England from 1646 to 1649. They were a populist movement that emphasized equal rights, religious toleration, and reformation of political and judicial corruption. They are… more

The Levellers were a political movement active in England from 1646 to 1649. They were a populist movement that emphasized equal rights, religious toleration, and reformation of political and judicial corruption. They are… more

The Levellers were a political movement active in England from 1646 to 1649. They were a populist movement that emphasized equal rights, religious toleration, and reformation of political and judicial corruption. They are… more

The Levellers were a political movement active in England from 1646 to 1649. They were a populist movement that emphasized equal rights, religious toleration, and reformation of political and judicial corruption. They are… more

The Levellers were a political movement active in England from 1646 to 1649. They were a populist movement that emphasized equal rights, religious toleration, and reformation of political and judicial corruption. They are… more

The Levellers were a political movement active in England from 1646 to 1649. They were a populist movement that emphasized equal rights, religious toleration, and reformation of political and judicial corruption. They are… more

The Levellers were a political movement active in England from 1646 to 1649. They were a populist movement that emphasized equal rights, religious toleration, and reformation of political and judicial corruption. They are… more