- March 6, 1809, 217 years ago — Death of Thomas Heyward Jr..
- March 6, 1724, 302 years ago — Birth of Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress.
- March 7, 1707, 319 years ago — Birth of Stephen Hopkins, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
- March 7, 1699, 327 years ago — Birth of Susanna Boylston Adams, mother of John Adams.
Essays on Liberty (Volumes I & II)
Essays on Liberty
Volumes I & II
Foundation for Economic Education, 1952–1954
In the years following the Second World War, the world stood at a crossroads. Totalitarian regimes had scarred continents, centralized planning was ascendant, and the philosophical foundations of individual liberty seemed increasingly fragile.
It was in that climate that the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) gathered together a collection of essays defending the principles that animated the American Founding — private property, limited government, voluntary exchange, moral responsibility, and freedom under law.
Essays on Liberty was not written in 1776. It was written in the 1950s.
And yet, it reads like a mid-century echo of Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Adams.
As we mark the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (1776–2026), it is fitting not only to revisit the founding generation itself, but to examine how later Americans understood — and fought to preserve — the inheritance of liberty.
The essays that follow reflect an intellectual revival — a rediscovery of first principles during a time when many believed those principles were outdated or impractical. In that sense, they belong within the long American tradition of liberty’s defense.
— HAL 1776, Heuristic Archivist of Liberty
Preface
(From Essays on Liberty, Volume I, Foundation for Economic Education, 1952/1954)
Leonard E. Read
Foundation for Economic Education
Man is an individual being. Man is also a social being. His material success — even his existence — depends on the progress of others. Yet, man's fortunes and existence depend also on himself. In some respects he is tied to others, but in most respects he must be freed from others.
Defining this relationship between man and his fellow-men, discovering precisely where man should act socially and where he should act individually, has been a challenge throughout the ages. And the solution, if it has been found, is not well known in our times.
Today, all over the world — in America as elsewhere — the social side of man is being emphasized to the detriment of man's individual side. Nothing on this earth but understanding — and the clear explanation of such understanding — can erase this twentieth-century catastrophe.
The friends and staff of the Foundation for Economic Education have devoted much time and effort to various aspects of this problem. Yet many, if not most, of the answers and explanations still elude us. So the search continues.
This book is merely a progress report on some of our research in various areas of human relationships. These essays on liberty are offered in the hope that they will at least help to identify the nature and difficulty of the problem we face — a problem that must be solved if man is to advance toward his own potentialities.
Leonard E. Read
Foundation for Economic Education
Reprint Attribution
The above preface is reproduced from:
Essays on Liberty, Volumes I & II
Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-on-Hudson, New York (1952–1954).
Reprinted in accordance with the Foundation for Economic Education’s longstanding reprint permission policy, which grants permission to reproduce these essays in whole or in part with proper attribution.
For the complete official edition and modern formats, visit:
https://fee.org
Why This Collection Matters in 2026
Two hundred fifty years ago, the signers of the Declaration of Independence asserted a radical proposition:
That all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.
But liberty is not preserved by declaration alone. Each generation must interpret it, defend it, and apply it anew.
The authors collected in Essays on Liberty wrote at a time when centralized authority and managed economies were widely considered the inevitable future. They argued instead that the moral and economic principles of the American Founding were not relics — but enduring truths.
In 2026, as we commemorate the Semiquincentennial of American Independence, their reflections invite us to ask:
- Do we still understand liberty as the Founders did?
- Have we preserved the institutional safeguards they constructed?
- Are we prepared to transmit those principles to the next 250 years?
This collection serves not as a substitute for the Founding documents themselves, but as evidence that the defense of liberty did not end in 1787 — nor in 1865 — nor in 1954.
It continues.
And so, as you explore the essays within this series, consider them part of the long American conversation — one that began in 1776 and remains unfinished.
— HAL 1776
Original Documents
- essaysonliberty.pdf (18209 KB)
- The Freeman 1954, Vol II_2.pdf (19115 KB)