One of the most significant thinkers who shaped Locke’s philosophy, despite preceding him by eighteen centuries, is Marcus Tullius Cicero.

The Anti-​Federalists had a strong distrust of government power. A national government with too much power was, as far as they were concerned, a pathway to government oppression.

The 1619 Project and the debate it spurred have both been fraught with conceptual and historical misunderstandings about the relationship between slavery and free markets.

The quartering of soldiers on private property was a real, pressing threat to liberty when the Bill of Rights was drafted.

Smith explains some features of the slave trade and the constitutional provision that it would not be banned in America for at least 20 years.

Croce argued that the lifespans of particular regimes, tyrants and oppressors are limited, but history always and inevitably arcs toward Liberty.

Smith discusses Acton’s thesis that the conflict between church and state in medieval Europe was vital to the progress of freedom.

George H. Smith discusses some common criticisms of Lord Acton and other classical liberal historians.

George H. Smith discusses some of Lord Acton’s ideas about freedom and their relevance to the modern libertarian movement.

Samples discusses some of the failures of the constitution, wondering if it can truly be a government limiting document.