Images of Liberty and Power

The French political caricaturist Amédée de Noé mocked the leading socialist figures of the 1848 Revolution in this panel of 6 cartoons. He ridicules their claims that their ideas were new and original by pointing out the true… more

Allan T. Kohl, Minneapolis College of… more

One of the most… more

This is part of an ongoing series which will… more

The 17th century German political philosopher Politica included this along with the text.

Drawing deeply from Aristotle and biblical teaching,Politicapresents a unique vision of the commonwealth as a harmonious ordering of natural… more

We believe that the first written reference to the concept of liberty is the ancient Sumerian cuneiform symbol "amagi" which Liberty Fund uses as its logo.

Urukagina, the leader of the Sumerian city-state of Girsu/Lagash, led a… more

Here is a collection of images of Ancient Roman figures. In the OLL we have a collection of texts concerning a debate about the actions of Brutus in assassinating Caesar. Was he a defender of Roman liberties or just a murderer? The… more

The Leveller Tracts had some very interesting title pages which used typography and occasionally woodcuts to add graphical force to the political and economic arguments being made by the authors. The pamphlets were published in their… more

Among the names engraved on the limestone walls of the Luther's Hymns and Bach's Chorals. We exhibit here some of the melodies from those works.

The Hebrew Bible (also known as the Tanakh or the “Old Testament”) is an important document in the history of the idea of liberty, as well as the history of religion. This page contains several images of prominent figures in the… more

In William Blackstone's famous Commentaries on the Laws of England (1753), which were used to teach the law to many generations of British and American lawyers, there are two interesting illustrations. One shows a "table of… more

Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569) was a Flemish painter famous for his landscapes and depictions of peasant life. In this painting, "The Numeration (Census) of the People of… more

This images comes from the first edition (1713) of Joseph Addison's play "Cato. A Tragedy" which was so influential in the decades leading up to the American Revolution with its story of the courageous Cato the Younger defying… more

These illustrations about Richard Cobden and the Anti-Corn Law League (ACLL) (1838-1846) accompany the Liberty Matters online discussion "Richard Cobden: Ideas and Strategies in… more

This decorative print of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was produced in 1864 by engraver W. Roberts, and the printer, C.A. Alvord. The print does far more than just record the text of the proclamation. It provides an… more

This illustrated essay explores some images of "liberty" and "industry" from Diderot’s Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Encyclopaedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts,… more

engraving (scroll to bottom of the page). It shows a seated figure with a sceptre under pictures of important law givers and defenders of liberty (from top left to right): Moses, Solon, Confucius, Lycurgus, Numa, Brutus and… more

In this essay we wish to examine 5 prints drawn by James Gillray in the 1790s and 1800s which explore the theme of the suffering of the British people (“John Bull”) under the heavy taxation and national debt which the British… more

From The Triall of Lieut. Collonell J. Lilburne by an extraordinary Commission of… more

During the war years the Austrian-American free market economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) wrote a number of books which criticised government intervention and control of the economy, especially price controls, rationing, policies… more

In an Appendix to his The Theory of Money and Credit (1912) the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) discussed the value of a silver coin issued by Gelon the King of Syracuse in 480 BC. A picture of the coin was used on… more

The Austrian-American free market economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) left Switzerland for the United States in August 1940. During the war years he wrote a number of books which criticised government intervention and control of… more

Many statues and monuments are erected in public places to military leaders, kings, emperors, and presidents who take their countries to war, raise taxes, increase economic regulation of the economy, and violate civil liberties. Far… more

This lithograph ofAlexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville, better known as Alexis de Tocqueville, was created byLeon Noël in 1848. That year Tocqueville was elected to France’s Chamber of Deputies, and on September 12, 1848… more

According to the Wikipedia article on The Google Ngram Viewer:

The first president… more

In Chapter XVIII of his Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence, Samuel Pufendorf makes an argument about the "geometry of moral actions", comparing them to the arc of a circle made by moving radii. In his own words:

Created circa 1870 by the artist L. Schamer, “Representative Women” is a combinative portrait of seven influential suffragists who were popular on the lyceum lecture circuit from about 1860-1880. The popularity of this style of… more

These four depictions from a much larger collection of etchings, come from an illustrated work of ancient coins compiled by the famed cartographer and geographer of the Netherlands, Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598). They depict a number… more

Anthony Ashley Cooper, more commonly known as the Third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713), wrote one of the most influential books of the 18th century:Characteristicsof Men, Manners, Opinions, Times.This work contains… more

Shakespeare is one of the authors whose name is inscribed on the walls of the King Henry IV, King Lear, and the Tempest.

In 1786, the United States government was young in its development and still finding its way. The country was governed by the Articles of Confederation, its first constitution, which many felt wasn’t strong enough. Shays's… more

During the upheavals of the English Civil War when the divine right of the English monarchy was challenged by Parliament, the king executed,… more

Created circa 1872 by the Currier & Ives Lithography Company, “The First Colored Senator and Representatives” is a combined portrait of the African-Americans that were elected to serve in Congress following the Civil War. They… more

John Wade (1788-1875) was active in British reform circles throughout the 1820s. This group included people such as James Milland other “Philosophical Radicals”. One of their key demands was to enlarge the franchise to… more

In early 16th century Florence, when Machiavelli was working as a diplomat for the city state, the seal of the Magistrates of the Ten of Liberty and Peace was an image of a dove holding an olive branch in its beak with the… more

We have selected an appropriate quotation from the works of members of the Scottish Enlightenment to go with the following illustrations from the Très Riches Heures. We have done this because the Très Riches Heures is a… more

Here we have a collection of images depicting the Seven Virtues of charity, faith, fortitude, hope, justice, prudence, and temperance.

One of the great movements for liberty was the abolitionist movement in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It was led by figures like the Quaker Thomas Clarkson who successfully agitated for the abolition of the slave trade in… more

The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia: A Comprehensive Collection of the Views of Thomas Jefferson. Classified and Arranged in Alphabetical Order Under Nine Thousand Titles,… more

There are some striking parallels in the lives of George Washington (1732-1799) and Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821): both were military leaders who helped their countries during a revolution and both came to power as head… more