Liberty Chronicles

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Today Anthony Comegna (@DrLocoFoco) leaves us with one final message as we end chronicling liberty: “I certainly will continue my own end of the deal we have struck here—you couldn’t drag me away from my Locofocos, my Spiritualists, my Free Love anarchists, or my radical English Dissenters, to name just a few—but I’ll close with one final plea to each of you: History is not an instruction manual; it is a cautionary tale. No intellectual tradition, no set of good or just ideas, no heroes nor villains are ever remembered unless we do the labor of memory. Our tradition, our ideas, our tales of heroes and our villains all deserve to be remembered, and we deserve to learn from their examples.”Be sure to check back with libertarianism.org to learn about our new history adventures in the coming months.Our Most Memorable Episodes:Eggnog Riot!!The Possession of Frances WhippleReasonable Crimes: Humanizing PiratesThere’s No Excuse for Slavery (Updated)

Last week we left off with selections from William Graham Sumner and we pick up right there today with Christopher Preble. Preble’s new book was released today on our site and it not only explores America imperialist tendency in the past, but also recognizes our foreign policy blunders of today.Does the U.S. think they are in a perfect position to solve the problems of other countries? How did the war against Spain turn out? Does the American imperial empire exist today? When did the U.S. start to get influenced by the imperial mindset of Europe? What is corporatism? Was it honorable to be a soldier in the 1900s? What was the anti-war movement and what happened to it after World War II?Further Reading:Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy, written by Christopher A. Preble, available April 30, 2019.Dreams of a City on a Hill, 1630, written by John WinthropRelated Content:Address Delivered at the Request of the Committee for Arrangements for Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence, written by John Quincy AdamsJackson: The First Imperial President, Learn LibertyThe Conquest of the United States by Spain, written by William Graham Sumner

 Can you imagine people getting themselves all worked up over banks and money today? Having that intensely boring issue so thoroughly dominate political life that presidents and parties rise and fall on this one subject alone? No one today knows anything about the Fed and no one wants to know about the Fed. People back in the 1830s and ‘40s, were in a constant state of agitation about it. It seemed to Jacksonian Americans that the individual pursuit of self interest was natural and inevitable.What was important about Adam Smiths’ Wealth of Nations? Were banks corrupt? Have banks always been corrupt? How did views of banks and the Fed change since Jacksonian America?Further Reading:The Myth of Class in Jacksonian America, Cambridge University PressThe Bank War and the Partisan Press, written by Stephen W. CampbellAndrew Jackson, Banks and the Panic of 1837, Lehrman InstituteRelated Content:Jackson Kills the Bank, Part One, written by Andrew JacksonJackson Kills the Bank, Part Two, written by Andrew JacksonMake America Young Again, Liberty Chronicles Podcast

Edgar Allen Poe was far from being defined as a Locofoco. He was no lover of democracy. He idolized the “devoted loyalty” of old Virginia gentry. As a dark romanticist poet, he believed the America’s Old World aristocracy was fighting the noble cause of attempted to preserve the elevated cultures of the past.What did Edgar Allen Poe think of the class struggle? Did Edgar Allen Poe think that Americans were spoiled? How did Poe think America erected an aristocracy? Was Edgar Allen Poe a conservative?Further Reading:The Fall of the House of Usher (Story by Poe), written by David RushEdgar Allen Poe, Poetry FoundationWho was Edgar Allen Poe?, The Poe MuseumRelated Content:Mushrooms & Men, Liberty Chronicles PodcastAn Introduction to Imaginative Literature, Part IV, written by Jeff RiggenbachLibertarians, Class, and the Left, Anthony Comegna & Caleb O. Brown

For our 100th episode we interviewed Caleb Brown to gain a better understanding of how Quakerism aligns with libertarianism. He discusses his own experience as a Quaker, but he also makes larger claims about how Quakerism can foster a sense of community to the life of an average libertarian.What is attractive about Quakerism? What is a ‘true-believer’ Christian? How does Quakerism mesh with libertarianism? Are there a lot of communitarian elements to Quakerism? How do Quaker meetings take place? What role does Quakerism play in your life?Further Reading:Friends for 300 Years, written by Howard H. BrintonAmazing Grace, directed by Michael AptedCato Daily PodcastRelated Content:Libertarians, Class, and the Left, interview between Anthony Comegna and Caleb BrownThe Antinomians, Liberty Chronicles PodcastSam Gorton: Antinomian Radical, by Literature of Liberty Reviewer

For classical liberals and libertarians, class is a social phenomenon marked by largely artificial distinctions between people based mainly on their access (or lack of access) to raw physical force and a willingness to use force against other people. Classes do not form in society simply because some people have more material wealth racked up than others, nor because some people are better at drawing or sewing or rollerblading than others. Even ideological content of the mind is not really the stuff of class. Sure, plenty of societies have divvied up rights and privileges based on religious or political adherence to one kind of orthodoxy or another, but even in those cases, the ideas do not create the classes. Who is the ruling class? How were they viewed in Jacksonian America? What is a tyrant? Who are the parasites of the class system? How would you define the class struggle?Further Reading:Class and Class Struggle, written by Henry HellerClass Struggle Analysis: A Critique of Class Structure, written by Alvin Y. SoBastiat’s Theory of Class: The Plunders vs. the PlunderedRelated Content:Class for Classical Liberals, written by Jason KuznickiEquality: The Meaning of Class, written by R. H. TawneyAdam Smith, Class Warrior: A Contentious Legacy, written by David S. D’Amato

It is a mistake to think of the Civil War a just a conflict between slavery and freedom. Planters and industrialists were interrelated groups that were dependent on the output of one another. The Civil War was not a clear contest between two groups as many academics make it out to be.What was at stake during the Civil War? What impact did the Civil War have on America in the years following? Did the Civil War make the Federal Government to powerful? How did the Union use the Constitution throughout the Civil War to their advantage?Further Reading:Civil War Created the Modern US Economy, written by Jeremy BenderThe Business of Civil War: Military Mobilization and the State, 1861-1865. written by Mark R. WilsonRelated Content:Was the Civil War a Libertarian Moment?, Liberty Chronicles PodcastWhy Did the Southern States Secede?, written by Anthony ComegnaSeward’s “Little Bell”, Liberty Chronicles Podcast