For the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Lilah Kimble reflects on the American Founders’ courage to risk their lives for their commitment to liberty. She asks if, even in less ...

One’s behavior sends signals about oneself. From ancient times, luxury has been used as a signal. Drawing on Adam Smith, ...

This essay explores Mill’s discussion of possible tensions between liberty and harm to others, especially in the context of ...

America’s political tradition was not built on radical autonomy, but rather on a freedom rooted in human nature and a robust moral order. Brenda M. Hafera is the assistant director and senior policy ...

Most people learn that the American Revolution began over taxes. But the real conflict was much deeper: who has the right to rule? Barbara Galletti is the Senior Producer of Lib er tar i an ism .org.

An exploration of how the idea of individual freedom has shaped not only politics and economics but also the arts—from pop music to poetry, from Star Trek to the blues, and from Western novels to ...

George H. Smith was formerly Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for Humane Studies, a lecturer on American History for Cato Summer Seminars, and Executive Editor of Knowledge Products. Smith’s ...

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 ...

While Karl Marx hated Pierre- Joseph Proudhon and his philosophy of mutualism, a libertarian can find in it much to appreciate. Although Herbert Spencer has been rightly regarded as the most ...

Having previously discussed abolitionist black women, Presley highlights some of the white women in the movement to end slavery. The valiant efforts of abolitionist men like William Lloyd Garrison, ...

The origin of the idea that liberty could be preserved through the separation of powers endures through the arguments of Polybius. Paul Meany is the editor for intellectual history at Lib er tar i an ...

Ulysses S. Grant rode his popularity to political power. “Everything Wrong with the Presidents” series focuses on, as the title suggests, everything each president did wrong while in office. While ...