Portraits of Liberty

By Libertarianism.org

Portraits of Liberty investigates the lives and philosophies of thinkers throughout history who argued in favor of a freer world.

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FAQs about Portraits of Liberty:

How many episodes does Portraits of Liberty have?

The podcast currently has 83 episodes available.

Portraits of Liberty episodes:

March 10, 2026 Cato’s Letters: Against Tyranny and Corruption
Long before the American Revolution, in the 1720s, a series of newspaper essays known as Cato’s Letters warned readers that power corrupts and liberty survives only through constant vigilance. In this episode of Portraits of Liberty, we explore how John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon’s fiery writings helped shape the American tradition of free speech, self-defense, and resistance to tyranny.
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25min
February 10, 2026 A Son of the Forest: William Apess
Born of Pequot descent, William Apess was the first Native American to publish a full-length autobiography. Apess became a Methodist minister and one of the most piercing moral critics of white Christian America’s hypocrisy.

Drawing on the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, and the language of natural rights, Apess demanded that liberty, equality, and self-government apply to Native peoples as much as they were to anyone else. From his autobiography, A Son of the Forest, and his fiery essay “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” to his leadership in the Mashpee Revolt, Apess held the American republic accountable to its professed creed.
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20min
December 09, 2025 The Forgotten Polish Republican: Wawrzyniec Goślicki and the Rights of a Free Commonwealth
In the late sixteenth century, Wawrzyniec Goślicki authored De Optimo Senatore (The Accomplished Senator), a bold argument for a politics grounded in natural law, civic virtue, and the constitutional liberties of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Joined by Walker Haskins, our editor for intellectual history, Paul Meany, covers Goślicki’s career as a bishop, diplomat, and political theorist. They discuss Goślicki’s vision of checks on executive power and his rejection of arbitrary rule.
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53min
November 11, 2025 A Quiet Rebel: José Castellanos
This episode explores the often overlooked classical liberal tradition of civil disobedience through the remarkable story of José Castellanos Contreras, a Salvadoran diplomat who, during World War II, defied orders and international law to save thousands of Jewish people from Nazi death camps. His story, forgotten for decades, embodies the liberal conviction that moral law supersedes state authority.
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16min
October 14, 2025 Japan's Ignored Anarchist: Andō Shōeki
This episode explores the thought of Andō Shōeki, a Japanese philosopher who denounced feudal hierarchies, Confucian dogma, and the samurai class. Shōeki’s vision of a natural, egalitarian society based on voluntary cooperation challenges the notion that anarchist or libertarian thought is uniquely Western. His work is an early critique of state power, anticipating later theories by figures like Franz Oppenheimer.
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15min
September 09, 2025 Benjamin Franklin: A Versatile Genius, with Guest Mark Skousen
In this episode, economist and historian Mark Skousen joins us to discuss his latest book, The Greatest American: Benjamin Franklin, The World's Most Versatile Genius. Skousen highlights Franklin’s remarkable range of life experiences from scientist and inventor to statesman, printer, and philosopher—showing why Franklin has long been considered by historians to be the most modern of the Founding Fathers. Skousen reflects on Franklin’s lessons on liberty, enterprise, and the pursuit of a flourishing life.
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40min
August 12, 2025 Joseph Hiam Levy: A Forgotten Radical for Liberty, with guest Matt Zwolinski
J.H. Levy was a prominent but now largely forgotten voice in the individualist intellectual circles of Victorian Britain, known for his passionate defense of self-ownership and voluntary social cooperation. Matt Zwolinski introduces listeners to Levy’s life, intellectual context, and the principles that drove his activism in organizations like the Personal Rights Association.

This episode is also available to watch on Youtube.
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29min
July 03, 2025 Liberty With an Asterisk: Black Americans In the Revolution Era
In this podcast, we revisit the lives of Elizabeth Freeman, Lemuel Haynes, and James Forten, three Black Americans who lived through the contradictions of the Revolutionary era and helped expand its ideals. These three did not passively await emancipation but seized the rhetoric of liberty and used it to reshape law, religion, and civil society. Their stories illuminate the untold Black contribution to the founding vision of the American Republic.
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21min
June 19, 2025 The Father of Abolitionism: John Rankin (With Caleb Franz)
An episode interviewing Caleb Franz covering the life of the abolitionist minister John Rankin. From his hilltop home in Ripley, Ohio, Rankin established a safe haven for enslaved people crossing the Ohio River. Over the course of his life, he became one of the most active conductors on the Underground Railroad, helping hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom. Rankin was a powerful voice for individual liberty. His Letters on American Slavery, published in the 1820s, were among the earliest and most forceful arguments for the immediate abolition of slavery.
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51min
May 13, 2025 How Self-Interest Built Societies: Bernard Mandeville
This episode explores the provocative work of Bernard Mandeville, who argued that everything from commerce to civilization itself emerged not from altruism, but from self-interest, vanity, and competition. In his poetic satire and philosophical essays, Mandeville laid the groundwork for understanding society as an evolving system shaped by passions, not perfection.
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17min

FAQs about Portraits of Liberty:

How many episodes does Portraits of Liberty have?

The podcast currently has 83 episodes available.

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