“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, ...

“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 ...

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 ...

Francisco de Victoria was a Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian who lived during the Spanish Renaissance. He is the founder of the School of Salamanca and was pivotal in shaping the conversation ...

A collection of nine original essays by top philosophers introducing the major moral theories and how they support a libertarian political system. With personal stories, historical anecdotes, ...

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 ...

In Man Versus the State, Herbert Spencer argues that as the state tries to regulate more of our lives, it inches us closer to slavery. What is essential to the idea of a slave? We primarily think of ...

William Graham Sumner held a professorship in political economy at Yale and did pioneering work in sociology when the field was in its infancy. In addition to doing academic work that spanned a ...

“He fell upon Government, and shew’d, that every Man was born free, and had as much Right to what would support him, as to the Air he respired.” One of the most important primary sources of any kind ...

William Graham Sumner held a professorship in political economy at Yale and did pioneering work in sociology when the field was in its infancy. In addition to doing academic work that spanned a ...

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 ...