The Best of the OLL No. 57: John Stuart Mill, “The Spirit of the Age” (1831) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2013).

This is part of “The Best of the Online Library of Liberty” which is a collection of some of the most important material in the OLL. This extract includes the first and fifth parts of a long essay which appeared in The Examiner between January and May 1831. Mill believed that English society had entered an “age of transition” in which the ideas and the ruling elites of the old society were no longer able to provide the direction the country needed. New ideas and new men were about to step forward and introduce “one of the greatest revolutions of which history has preserved remembrance.”

The Best of the OLL No. 56: Hugo Grotius “The Preliminary Discourse Concerning the Certainty of Right” (1625) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2013).

This is part of “The Best of the Online Library of Liberty” which is a collection of some of the most important material in the OLL. At the beginning of his book on The Rights of War and Peace Grotius wrote a short “Prolegomena” (Introductory Essay) in which he summarizes his views about natural rights and natural laws. This excerpt comes from the first part of the “Prolegomena.” According to his understanding of human beings, Grotius believed that they were by nature sociable creatures and that the purpose of natural rights, especially the right of property, was to enable them to live together in peace and prosperity.

Subject Guide: The U.S. Constitution (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2013).

Timeline of Key Figures and Events of the American Founding (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2013).

The Best of the OLL No. No. 55: Herbert Spencer, “Political Retrospect and Prospect” (1882) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2013).

The Best of the OLL No. 54: James Harrington, “The Commonwealth of Oceana” (1656) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2013).

Designed to provide a chronological representation of the unfolding of the early history of the nation, this new full-color, frameable poster (36” by 24”) features historical events and figures of the founding era. Included in the timeline are major military events, such as battles and treaties; historical events that are both directly and indirectly related to the founding; and key men and women who figured prominently in the founding events. The poster provides both a visual representation of the period and a broader historical context for the books Liberty Fund publishes in this subject area.

This is part of “The Best of the Online Library of Liberty” which is a collection of some of the most important material in the OLL. In this chapter Spencer applies his theory of militant and industrial types of society to predicting how Britain, Europe, and the US would develop in the near future. In the late 1870s and early 1880s when he was writing it seemed that European societies were tending away from war and the coercive “militant” type of society and were turning increasingly to a more voluntary market-based or “industrial” type of society. If this trend continued, he predicted that more and more activities which had been undertaken by the state would be supplied voluntarily by local communities or by the free market unless a new war broke out or if people chose to align themselves with coercive trade unions or political parties.