greykit.essays — #liberty
-
1865-03-04
[american-civic]
Second Inaugural Address
Lincoln's somber second inaugural, weighing the war as divine judgment on slavery — "With malice toward none, with charity for all.
-
1863-11-19
[american-civic]
The Gettysburg Address
Lincoln's 272-word dedication at Gettysburg — "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
-
1859
[european-tradition]
On Liberty
Mill's defence of individual liberty against the tyranny of the majority — the harm principle and the freedom of thought, discussion, and individuality.
-
1854
[american-civic]
Slavery in Massachusetts
Thoreau's furious response to the Fugitive Slave Law and Massachusetts's complicity in returning a man to bondage.
-
1854
[american-civic]
Walden
Thoreau's account of two years living simply at Walden Pond — a meditation on self-reliance and deliberate life.
-
1852-07-05
[american-civic]
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
Douglass's searing Independence Day address — "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine" — indicting a republic that celebrated liberty while holding millions in bondage.
-
1849
[american-civic]
Civil Disobedience
Thoreau's argument that the individual must not lend himself to the injustice he condemns — the founding text of civil disobedience.
-
1845
[american-civic]
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Douglass's account of his life in slavery and his escape to freedom — the most influential of the American slave narratives.
-
1841
[american-civic]
Essays: First Series
Emerson's first series of essays — Self-Reliance, Compensation, The Over-Soul, Circles, and more — the core of American Transcendentalism.
-
1801-03-04
[american-founding]
First Inaugural Address
Jefferson's conciliatory inaugural after a bitter election — "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.
-
1798-12-24
[american-founding]
The Virginia Resolutions of 1798
Madison's companion to the Kentucky Resolutions — the states may "interpose" against unconstitutional federal acts like the Alien and Sedition laws.
-
1798-11-10
[american-founding]
The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798
Jefferson's anonymous protest against the Alien and Sedition Acts, arguing the states may judge federal overreach — the compact theory of the Union.
-
1796-09-19
[american-founding]
Washington's Farewell Address
Washington's valedictory letter to the American people, warning against party faction, sectionalism, and permanent foreign alliances.
-
1795-02-07
[american-founding]
Amendments XI–XXVII to the Constitution
The seventeen amendments after the Bill of Rights — from the Eleventh (1795) through the Twenty-seventh (1992).
-
1791-12-15
[american-founding]
The Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the Constitution, guaranteeing fundamental civil rights.
-
1789-04-30
[american-founding]
First Inaugural Address
Washington's first inaugural — the diffident opening of the presidency, invoking "the sacred fire of liberty.
-
1787-10-18
[american-founding]
The Anti-Federalist Papers: Brutus
The most formidable Anti-Federalist series — the direct answer to the Federalist, arguing a republic cannot be extended over so vast a territory and warning that the federal judiciary would swallow the states.
-
1787-07-13
[american-founding]
The Northwest Ordinance
The charter for the Northwest Territory — guaranteeing rights, mandating public education, and forbidding slavery north of the Ohio.
-
1786-01-16
[american-founding]
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
Jefferson's statute disestablishing religion in Virginia — that "no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship.
-
1776-12-23
[american-founding]
The American Crisis
Paine's thirteen wartime Crisis papers (and A Crisis Extraordinary) — "These are the times that try men's souls.
-
1776-07-04
[american-founding]
The Declaration of Independence
The thirteen colonies' unanimous declaration dissolving allegiance to the British Crown.
-
1776-06-12
[american-founding]
The Virginia Declaration of Rights
Mason's declaration of inherent rights — a direct model for the Declaration of Independence and the federal Bill of Rights.
-
1776-04-01
[american-founding]
Thoughts on Government
Adams's blueprint for republican government — a bicameral legislature, an independent judiciary, and annual elections — written as a letter and taken up by several state constitutions.
-
1776-01-10
[american-founding]
Common Sense
Paine's incendiary case for American independence and against monarchy and hereditary rule.
-
1775-07-06
[american-founding]
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
Congress's July 1775 declaration justifying armed resistance a year before independence — "resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves.
-
1775-03-23
[american-founding]
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
Henry's call to arm the Virginia militia against Britain, closing on the most quoted sentence of the Revolution.
-
1774-10-14
[american-founding]
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
The colonies' first united statement of grievances and of the rights they claimed as Englishmen, on the eve of the Revolution.
-
1768-01-01
[american-founding]
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
Dickinson's twelve letters against the Townshend duties — the most influential colonial argument that Parliament could not tax the colonies, however the tax was disguised.
-
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.