Liberty Chronicles

One of the biggest drawbacks of thinking in “vulgar libertarian” fashion is that you forget that there were ever alternatives available to people, that the way that we live now or the way we’re used to living is the only way that was ever reasonable or good. The rise of the modern state marks a time in history when authorities began to and continue to control more about people’s lives. The modern state also intrudes on people’s lives in a fashion that is so much greater than before. With that being said, we are still hesitant to look at other society organizational possibilities even though the modern state continues to control us more than most would prefer. Kevin Carson joins us to discuss the depths of capitalism and if the possibility for a post-capitalism world exists. 

What is the definition of capitalism? What is the history of the word “capitalism”? Who were the Boston Anarchists? What is “vulgar libertarianism”? Are there alternative social structures that we do not acknowledge because we are stubborn and stuck in our ways? Is post-capitalism occurring?

Center for a Stateless Society website

Mutualist Blog: Free Market Anti-Capitalism, by Kevin Carson

Why Not Capitalism?, Free Thoughts Podcast

Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?, Free Thoughts Podcast

The Corporation Problem with Gary Chartier, Liberty Chronicles Podcast

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Historians usually mark off the years, about 1815 to 1845 as the Jacksonian era and for Americans, and many other people across the planet, these were years of singularity. This period of time is remembered for many inventions and innovations. Most notably was Samuel Morse’s magnetic telegraph. His magnetic telegraph “eliminated the greatest problem plagued by all republics since the ancient days of Rome” because it was able to connect the states through rapid communication. Originally, Congress thought that the telegraph would be used as an extension of the Postal Service, but they could find no way for it to be profitable, so they left it up to the private sector to decide how to best utilize the service.

When was the Jacksonian era? How did the way Americans travelled change through the Jacksonian era? What was the most impressive innovation of that era? How did the magnetic telegraph affect the way Americans communicated?

Feller, Daniel. The Jacksonian Promise: America, 1815-1840. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1995. Howe, Daniel Walker.

What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007.

Calhoun’s “Cords of Union” Speech

There’s No Excuse for Slavery, Liberty Chronicles Episode

Defenses of the Right of Secession, written by George H. Smith

Why Did the Southern States Secede?, written by Anthony Comegna

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Abram Smith caught political fire as a radical Locofoco Democrat, a friend of working people and outsiders. Smith was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1852 after he spent some time as a notable defense attorney. Let’s not forget that in 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was revamped in order to ensure that Northerners were not a hinderance in the capture of slaves who had escaped their southern masters. In fact, Northerners were now required to return any slaves whom they knew to be fugitives. Smith, as a judge, was in utter disagreement with this act and he made that quite apparent when he nullified the Fugitive Slave Act for his state after a slave by the name of Joshua Glover was thrown into the city jail. Sherman Booth had been helping Glover maintain his freedom. Smith decided that Glover should be liberated and Booth should be cleared of any wrongdoing.

Who was Abram Smith? What was the Fugitive Slave Act and did it change during the Compromise of 1850? What did Abram Smith decide about the Fugitive Slave Act?

Dunley, Ruth. “A.D. Smith: Knight-Errant of Radical Democracy,” (PhD Diss.). The University of Ottowa. 2008.

Abram D. Smith: Nullification, from Classics of Liberty

“From President of Canada to Governor of the People”

Music by Kai Engel

The Slave Trade and the Constitution, written by George H. Smith

There’s No Excuse for Slavery, Liberty Chronicles Episode

Why did the Southern States Secede?, written by Anthony Comegna

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All the way from the 1770s to the 1850s, Americans had plenty of political disagreements, but nothing ever seriously disrupted the machinery of state until abolitionists and planters began forcing the slavery issue. Prior to the election of 1856, some much-needed rearrangement occurred in politics. In 1856, the newly-minted Republican Party lost on the back of John C. Frémont, but they gained crucial insight out of the election. The Republicans realized that they could take over the White House without a single vote from the Southern states. In 1860, along came an ambitious Republican from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, who used the trail blazed by early libertarians.

How did the Republican Party arise? What happened to the Free Soilers and Whigs in response to the birth of the Republican party? Who was the New American Party? Who were the “Know-Nothings”? Was there a Loco-Foco Party?

James Buchanan: Campaigns and Elections, written by William Cooper

United States presidential election of 1856, written by Richard Pallardy

Gienapp, William. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856. New York: Oxford University Press. 1987.

Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995.

Music by Kai Engel

There’s No Excuse for Slavery (Updated), Liberty Chronicles Episode

Whiggery’s Last Gasp, Liberty Chronicles Episode

Free Soil After Van Buren, Liberty Chronicles Episode

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This is a updated version of “There’s No Excuse for Slavery” which was released on July 3rd, 2018. Enjoy!

The planters of the South believed that slavery had grown up with American society and its’ institutions. John C. Calhoun argued that slavery was a “positive good” because he believed that no well-off society existed in which “one portion of the community did not in point of fact, live on the labor of the other”. How did beliefs like these and those of Calhoun’s followers further split the Union?

How could a man like Jefferson at once declare all humanity’s equal, natural rights and yet hold hundreds of people in bondage? What was state-made racism? Who were the beneficiaries of slavery? Who were the Quakers and how did they influence the anti-slavery movement? What is the argument of slavery as a “positive good”? Who really was John C. Calhoun?

John C. Calhoun and Slavery as a “Positive Good:” What He Said, written by Clyde Wilson

John C. Calhoun: He Started the Civil War, written by Civil War Times

Music by Kai Engel

Libertarians and the Confederacy, by Jason Kuznicki

Why “Libertarian” Defenses of the Confederacy and “States’ Rights” are Incoherent, written by Jonathan Blanks

Kansas Changes Everything, Liberty Chronicles Episode

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In the mid-20th century, it was fashionable for historians to speak of a “Blundering Generation” of pre-Civil War politicians, people who—well intended or not—made a long series of foolish and short-sighted mistakes. They made blunders that make for wonderfully detailed political histories “from below,” as it were, but what appear to be mistakes were often intentional, and what appear to be great men were often just the schemers whose plans succeeded in the end.

Who is the worst politician to come out of Illinois? Who were the “F Street Mess”? What happened to the Whig party between 1852 and 1856? Who were the first Republicans? Was the Civil War avoidable?

Stephen A. Douglas: A Featured Biography

Stephen A. Douglas, History Channel

What Can the Collapse of the Whig Party Tell Us About Today’s Politics?, Smithsonian Magazine

Music by Kai Engel

Whiggery’s Last Gasp, Liberty Chronicles Episode

Was Frederick Douglass a Libertarian?, Liberty Chronicles Episosde

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In 1850, American politics was nearing its breaking point. The Senate as well as the Administration was doing much in order to keep the peace between the Southern and Northern politicians. For example, Henry Clay was pulling out all the stops to pass a combination of compromise measures that would finally resolve the territorial crisis. However, his bill kept failing on partisan lines. No Southerners wanted to vote for restricting slavery, even if it meant getting a souped-up fugitive slave law in return. And no self-respecting or self-interested Northerner, wanted to vote for that fugitive slave bill, even if it meant abolishing the slave trade in Washington.

What did the Compromise of 1850 solve? Did it just put off an inevitable split in our nation over the slavery issue? What happened in the Presidential Election of 1852? Did nationalism take over in this period defined by great stress and division?

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Life of Franklin Pierce” Holt, Michael.

The Fate of Their Country: Politicians, Slavery Extension, and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Hill & Wang. 2004.

Silbey, Joel. The Shrine of Party: Congressional Voting Behavior, 1841-1852. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 1967.

Music by Kai Engel

1848 and Its Aftermath, Liberty Chronicles Episode

The World Wide Revolution, Liberty Chronicles Episode

The Virtues of Compromise, written by Charles Jared Ingersoll

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Jeff Hummel joins our lengthy debate about who Van Buren really was as a person and as a President. Hummel argues that Van Buren took a small “r” republican position for most of his career, both in the law and in politics. Hummel also argues that Van Buren was more consistent as President than those who came before him.

Why would Jeff Hummel categorize Van Buren as the “least bad” President? Why is Van Buren considered the first “ethnic President”? Was Van Buren consistently classically liberal? How does Van Buren compare to Calhoun? What did Van Buren think was the purpose of political parties?

Jeff Hummel’s articles on Van Buren: In The Independent and from Reassessing the Presidency

Curtis, James C. The Fox at Bay: Martin Van Buren and the Presidency, 1837-1841. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. 1970.

Silbey, Joel. Martin Van Buren and the Emergence of American Popular Politics. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2002.

Van Buren, Martin. Inquiry into the Origin and Course of Political Parties in the United States. New York: Hurd and Houghton. 1867.

The Autobiography of Martin Van Buren, Edited by John C. Fitzpatrick. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1920.

Widmer, Edward. Martin Van Buren. New York: Times Books. 2005.

Music by Kai Engel

Free Soil After Van Buren, Liberty Chronicles Episode

Van Buren’s Dirty Game, Liberty Chronicles Episode

What’s a Loco-Foco?, Liberty Chronicles Episode

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Whigs were happy to have the White House, but many of them, at least, could still see the trouble lying head at the inevitable contest of 1852. On the strength of surprisingly large margins, the Free Soilers actually had a serious seat at the table. The Loco-Focos were the ones out there leading the young America cultural movement, they were the ones integrating Whigish abolitionism, with Jacksonian anti-monopoly, even when Van Buren had left them behind.

What happened to the Free Soil Movement after Van Buren was elected? What was the Speakership Crisis of 1849? Were the Whigs more reliable allies than the Democrats? What were the Loco-Focos doing during this time of upheaval in Congress? What role did the Wilmot Proviso play in this time defined by factions?

Blue, Frederick. The Free Soilers, Third Party Politics, 1848-54. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. 1973.

Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995.

Brooks, Corey M. Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2016.

Music by Kai Engel

1848 and Its Aftermath, Liberty Chronicles Episode

Van Buren’s Dirty Game, Liberty Chronicles Epsiode

Polk- What a Horrible President!, Liberty Chronicles Episode

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Our conversation about how all history is revisionist and open to creativity with Michael Douma continues this week. Douma believes that a history classroom should not be about memorizing facts that a professor believes matter. It is more important to train people to think critically and creatively. Douma believes that history is always written from the perspective of the historian, describing it as, “a discussion without end”, meaning history is never completely solid or solved.

What is the definition of creativity? How is history like a pencil? Is history all conspiracy? What is a history buff? What is a crack-pot?

Michael J. Douma website

Creative Historical Thinking, written by Michael J. Douma

What is Classical Liberal History?, written by Michael J. Douma

Music by Kai Engel

Creative Historical Thinking, with Michael Douma, Part One, Liberty Chronicles Episode

What is the Importance of History, written by David Boaz

Is there a Purpose to History?, Free Thoughts Episode

What is Classical Liberal History?, Liberty Chronicles Episode

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