To commemorate the 175th anniversary of Frédéric Bastiat’s libertarian classic The Law, we delve into Bastiat’s intellectual legacy. There is perhaps no writer better at articulating the economic way ...

“To my mind the law is not our worst enemy. … Religious bigotry, marital jealousy, social prejudice, will operate in ostracism, contempt…and actual violence.” From Emil F. Ruedebusch, Mayville, Wis., ...

Paine explores the distinction between society and government and the impact the latter has on the former in this selection from Common Sense. SOME writers have so confounded society with government, ...

Yates (using the pseudonym “Brutus”) argues that the constitutional power to raise an army and borrow money will lead to an expansion of state power. The next powers vested by this constitution in the ...

“Servitude and mastery result from the struggle between the strong and the weak…and Blue Heaven has nothing whatsoever to do with it.” We know next to nothing about the man historian Etienne Balazs ...

Spooner argues in this radical essay that the Constitution, which he frames as a legal contract, is not binding. The Constitution has no inherent authority or obligation. It has no authority or ...

“Plantain was resolved that he would now make himself King of Madagascar, and govern there with absolute Power and Authority.” Clement Downing served on a variety of ships in the Indian Ocean as an ...

John Locke lays out the foundational arguments of liberalism: people have rights preexisting government, and government exists to protect those rights. Nicknamed the "Father of Liberalism," Locke's ...

There is perhaps no writer better at articulating the economic way of thinking and exposing the myths that plague political debate than the Frenchman Frédéric Bastiat. During his short life (1801-1850 ...

In this excerpt from *Social Statics*, Spencer makes a radical claim: that an individual may sever all connections with the state. ##1. The Right to Voluntary Outlawry As a corollary to the ...

Kant discusses his theory of the state, concluding, “Whatever a people cannot impose upon itself cannot be imposed upon it by the legislator either.” Immanuel Kant is considered to be one of the ...

So far, Menger has gently revised Classical Economics. Once subjective and marginal utility enter the equation, though: a revolution is underway. So far in our explorations in early Austrianism, Carl ...