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

During a time when enslaved Americans sought freedom through escape, Elizabeth Freeman challenged her legal status as property—and won.

The 17th- century Englishman John Cooke was one of the tyranny’s greatest enemies, being the first- ever person to prosecute a head of state for crimes against humanity.

“We hope that our Government [secures] the Oregon Territory…before the great Brigand of the World pollutes [it with] the freebooters standard of Great Britain.” As the British Empire consolidated its ...

Libertarianism, and the classical liberalism from which it sprang, supports a strictly limited state, if indeed its adherents recognize the legitimacy of the state at all. The minimal state is a ...

Prosperity and property rights are inextricably linked. The importance of having well-defined and strongly protected property rights is now widely recognized among economists and policymakers. A ...

As the debate around guns becomes increasingly divisive, it is important to know the original purpose of the Second Amendment. Paul Meany is the editor for intellectual history at Lib er tar i an ism ...

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

In this episode we cover Marcus Tullius Cicero, the famed statesman, lawyer, orator, and above all a lover of liberty. Today Cicero is often read only by classical scholars and reluctant students, ...

Paul Meany is the editor for intellectual history at Lib er tar i an ism .org, a project of the Cato Institute. Most of his work focuses on examining thinkers who predate classical liberalism but ...