greykit.essays — Sources Of Liberty
-
1748-01-01
[sources-of-liberty]
The Spirit of the Laws
The Enlightenment treatise on government the founders cited above all others — the source of the doctrine of the separation of powers, from the selected books on the forms, principles, and corruption of government and on political liberty.
-
1729
[sources-of-liberty]
A Modest Proposal
Swift's savage satire proposing that the Irish poor sell their children as food — the most famous satirical essay in English.
-
1689-01-01
[sources-of-liberty]
A Letter Concerning Toleration
Locke's argument that the magistrate's power reaches only civil interests, not the salvation of souls — the founding text of the liberal case for religious liberty.
-
1689
[sources-of-liberty]
Second Treatise of Government
Locke's foundational argument for government by consent, natural rights, and the right of revolution — the deepest source of the American founding.
-
c. 44 BC
[sources-of-liberty]
On Friendship
Cicero's dialogue on friendship, spoken by Laelius — on friendship as the accord of virtue, and a staple of the founders' classical education.
-
c. 44 BC
[sources-of-liberty]
On Old Age
Cicero's dialogue in the voice of Cato the Elder, defending old age against its reputation — one of the most beloved classical texts among the American founders.
-
c. 54 BC
[sources-of-liberty]
On the Commonwealth
Cicero's dialogue on the best form of the state — the mixed constitution, the doctrine of a natural higher law ("True law is right reason"), and the Dream of Scipio. Surviving in fragments, it shaped the founders' idea of a republic.