Revised: 1 May 2026

Welcome | Key Features | Celebrating 1776 | Additions in 2026

[Material from the old website is being transferred to the new website.
This transfer is not yet complete. (More …)]

Welcome to the Digital Library of Liberty & Power

The Digital Library of Liberty & Power is concerned with the history of the classical liberal and libertarian tradition both in the emergence and development of its key ideas, and the movement for change which these ideas inspired. Its purpose is to collect, organize, present, and discuss the works of major liberal thinkers in the disciplines of economics, political thought, philosophy, history, and literature. The idea of “liberty” which links all these thinkers is a broadly understood one, comprising individual, economic, political, social, and legal liberty, as it has evolved over the past 2,000 years or so, but especially over the past 500 years. (See my essays on “The History of the Classical Liberal Tradition“.)

Editor’s Note: What you are now reading is the new “front end” to the website which has been in existence since June 2010. We have kept the old website (davidmhart.com/liberty) as the Repository of the texts in their various formats (HTML, facsimile PDF, and ePub) and my essays and papers but are making use of WordPress for its content management tools and its blogging feature (davidmhart.com/wordpress/).

The transition to the new website is a work in progress which will take a few weeks to complete. Some pages still have “filler text” which will eventually be replaced.

You can still access the legacy front pages here:

  1. the introduction to the site
  2. the “Recent Additions” page

 

Key Features of the Website

New Additions. For the past six years I have been keeping an “intellectual diary” to chronicle the new books and essays I have put online. Below on this page are the additions to the website for 2026. For past years see the “Additions” in the navigation menu above (“New / Additions …”). For example, this is what was added in 2025).

Blog: Reflections on Liberty & Power. I have been blogging since December 2011 where I post my occasional “Reflections on Liberty & Power”. See the full list of posts and categories in the WordPress format and an alternative list in my preferred format here.

Groups of Authors and Collections of Texts. The library is organized around “Authors” and their “Works”. The authors are organised into “groups” (nationality, historical periods, and schools of thought) and the works into “collections” (disciplines, topics, and anthologies). Of particular interest to me is the Guillaumin Collection of the Great Books about Liberty and the various Special Projects in my areas of research: the Leveller Project, the Comte and Dunoyer Project, the Bastiat Project, the Molinari Project, and the Monarchomach Project.

The Texts in Multiple Formats. Our philosophy is to provide the written texts in a variety of formats which can be read online or downloaded. These include a facsimile PDF of the original work, an enhanced HTML version with a citation tool, various eBook formats, and a Multi-Pane Reader in which to read the texts which have large numbers of notes, appendixes, and glossaries, or to view translations of key texts side-by-side with the original.

Anthologies and Translations. To assist those interested in exploring the classical liberal and libertarian tradition of thought we have many Anthologies of writings by key authors, and we have begun a Translation project to bring less well-known texts (especially the French classical liberal tradition) to the attention of our readers.

Collected Works. In addition to Anthologies and Translations of the works of important classical liberal authors I have edited a number of collections of their works, some in the form of “virtual collections”. These are works which are listed in a sortable table with links to the individual pieces which may be found in separate volumes.

My Essays and Papers. Also on the website is a collection of my essays, papers, and other writings in the form of a sortable table which can be searched by date, topic, kind, and title.

For more information about the design philosophy behind the site see “About the Site.”

Celebrating Liberty in 1776

Since this year is the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence we are joining in the celebration of this momentous event in the history of liberty as you will see below. Here is our reinterpretation of Eugène Delacroix’s 1830 painting “Liberty leading the People on the Barricade” updated and relocated to the southern hemisphere:

“Libertas sub Cruce Australis”
(Liberty under the Light of the Southern Cross)

Additions to the Site in 2026 (L’an VII)

Jan – Feb – Mar – Apr – May – Jun – Jul – Aug – Sept – Oct – Nov – Dec

APRIL 2026

Papers I am working on:

  1. A talk on “The Declaration of Independence after 250 Years: Success or Failure?”. Lecture overheads [PDF] and [blog post]

Additions to the Library:

  • New: (to come)

 

MARCH 2026

Papers I am working on:

  1. (I was otherwise occupied this month.)

Additions to the Library:

  • New: No new material was added to the site this month as a redesign and rebuilding of the entire website was undertaken.

 

FEBRUARY 2026

Papers I am working on:

  1. "Pareto on the Ruling Class and Plunder" in [HTML]

Additions to the Library:

  • New: Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) often engaged socialists in debate. In this essay he agrees with the socialists in many of their complaints about the abuses of the modern Italian state, but asks them how they propose to prevent the much larger and interventionist socialist state they want to introduce from abusing its powers in the same way? See the Italian version and my English translation: "La risposta di Diogene sulle cause e sui rimedi degli scandali odierni" (Diogenes’ reply on the causes of and the remedies for today’s scandals), Critica Sociale (aprile 1893) in [HTML]

 

JANUARY 2026

Papers I am working on:

  1. [to come]

The 250th Anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence

2026 is the 250th anniversary of a number of important publications, such as the following:

  1. the publication of Thomas Paine, Common Sense; addressed to the inhabitants of America (10 January, 1776) in [enahanced HTML] and [facs. PDF]
  2. the first edition of Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (9 March, 1776). We have this online in a "near replica" version of the first edition [enhanced HTML and facs. PDF vol1 and vol2] as well as Edwin Cannan’s edition of the 5th edition of 1789 (the last to appear in Smith’s lifetime) [enhanced HTML and multi-pane HTML; and facs. PDF vol1 and vol2].
  3. That same year Condillac published Le Commerce et le Gouvernement (Commerce and Government) (1776) which we have online in a near replica edition. [enhanced HTML and facs. PDF]
  4. George Mason’s (and others), "The Virginia Declaration of Rights" (May and 12 June, 1776). We have online Mason’s draft and the final official version. [enhanced HTML and facs. PDF and facs. PDF]
  5. Thomas Jefferson’s (and others), "The Declaration of Independence" (4 July, 1776). We have online the following versions of this important document (see below for the opening sentence of each version …):
    1. Jefferson’s draft and the final official version. [enhanced HTML and facs. PDF and facs. PDF]
    2. a German translation which was published in Philadelphia the next day. [enhanced HTML and JPG]
    3. the standard French translation done by La Rochefoucauld in 1783 in [enhanced HTML]
    4. a French version we have done in the style of Jefferson in [enhanced HTML]
    5. a Latin version we have done in the style of Cicero in [enhanced HTML]
    6. a Latin version done by an unnamed member of Harvard University in the 1820s in [enhanced HTML]
    7. a version "translated" into the American vernacular (1921) by H.L. Mencken in [enhanced HTML]
    8. a version we have "translated" into modern Australian English in [enhanced HTML]
    9. another version we have "translated" into more colloquial Australian English – the "backyard BBQ" version – in [enhanced HTML]
    10. my own updated version of a Bill of Rights written in time for this coming "Australia Day" (26 January, 2026) – "Libertas utrimque maris" (Liberty on both sides of the sea) in [enhanced HTML]

It seems only fair to allow King George III, whose government was so harshly criticised by Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues, the "right of reply". So we have constructed a rebuttal which he might have made, concerning both the principles which lay behind the Declaration as well as the specific charges made against him. [HTML]

It is also worth noting that in 1975 (the 199th anniversary of the American Declaration) the Australian libertarian "Workers Paty" published its Party Platform which included a Bill of Rights which we have here.

  • see the sections "The Fundamental Principle", "I.1. Individual Rights", and "I.2. Rights, Justice and the Law" and the proposed Amendment of the Constitution concerning a "Bill of Rights" [enhanced HTML]

And to celebrate the 200th anniversary, since we don’t have one of our own, I have written my own "Declaration of Independence" and a "Bill of Rights" in time for "Australia Day" (26 January, 2026).

  1. "A Declaration of Independence from the State" (26 January, 2026) [enhanced HTML and PDF]
  2. "A New Bill of Rights and the Enumerated Powers of a Limited Government" (26 January, 2026) [enhanced HTML]

We should add these to the larger collection of 28 Declarations of Rights and Liberties which I put together in 2024:

  • On Limiting the Power of the State: A Collection of Petitions, Charters, Decrees, and Declarations of Rights and Liberties (1215-1848) (The Pittwater Free Press, 2024). In [enhanced HTML].

Additions to the Library:

  • I have a new series of books online which use a new format to display text with complex and long footnotes, marginal notes, and glossaries which are placed side-by-side in order to make reading easier. This "Multi-Pane Reader" has been designed to make complex texts easier to navigate and read. Typically, these texts have glossaries, tables, indices, foot or end notes, and bibliographies which can only be consulted by interrupting the flow of reading and turning to the back of the book where they are usually located. In this Reader they are instead displayed in a 4th "pane" on the right-hand side while keeping the text visible in the larger central pane. In addition there is a "Contents" pane on the left which contains the table of contents, a "Main Text" pane where the body of the text (the chapters) is displayed in the widest pane, an "Endnotes" pane which contains the endnotes, and a "Resources" pane which contains other material. I have seven texts so far in this collection:
    1. an anthology of 47 entries from Pierre Bayle’s Dictionnaire historique et critique (1697, 1702, 1820) – selected because of its complex format of a main dictionary entry with long notes below it and marginal notes at the side; with the large notes having their own marginal notes off to the side [multi-pane HTML]
    2. my new translation of Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare; entretiens sur les lois économiques et défense de la propriété (1849): Soirées on the rue Saint-Lazare: Discussions about Economic Laws and a Defence of Property. [multi-pane HTML]
    3. John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy with some of their Applications to Social Philosophy (1871) – the last edition published in Mill’s lifetime. [multi-pane HTML]
    4. my translation of Gustave de Molinari, L’évolution politique et la Révolution (Political Evolution and the Revolution) (1884) – selected because of its large number of very long footnotes. [multi-pane HTML]
    5. Vilfredo Pareto, Les systèmes socialistes (1902-03) – selected because of its large number of footnotes, additions to the text, and extensive analytical tables and indices [multi-pane HTML]
    6. The Edwin Cannan edition (1904) of the 5th edition (1789) of Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations – selected because of Cannan’s extensive notes, marginal summaries, and expanded index. [multi-pane HTML]
    7. Vilfredo Pareto, Traité de sociologie générale (1917-19) – selected because of its large number of footnotes, additions to the text, and extensive analytical tables and indices. [multi-pane HTML]

The opening sentence of the Declaration of Independence in various languages:

  • When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, & to assume among the powers of the earth the equal & independant station to which the laws of nature & of nature’s god entitle them …
  • When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them …
  • Wenn es im Lauf menschlicher Gegebenheiten für ein Volk nöthig wird die Politische Bande, wodurch es mit einem andern verknüpft gewesen, zu trennen, und unter den Mächten der Erden eine abgesonderte und gleiche Stelle einzunehmen, wozu selbiges die Gesetze der Natur und des Gottes der Natur berechtigen …
  • Lorsque, dans le cours des événements humains, il devient nécessaire à un peuple de dissoudre les liens politiques qui l’unissaient à un autre, et de prendre, parmi les puissances de la terre, le rang séparé et égal auquel les lois de la nature et du Dieu de la nature lui donnent droit …
  • Lorsque, dans le cours des événements humains, il devient nécessaire à un peuple de dissoudre les liens politiques qui l’unissaient à un autre, et d’assumer, parmi les puissances de la terre, le rang séparé et égal auquel les Lois de la Nature et du Dieu de la Nature lui donnent droit …
  • Cum in humanarum rerum cursu fiat interdum, ut populus alter ab altero dissolvat vincula, quibus inter se coniuncti sunt, atque inter nationes terrarum potestates sibi pares et separatas obtineat, ad quas Leges Naturae et Dei Naturae eum ius habere concedunt …
  • Quum in rerum humanarum cursu contingat, ut populus aliquis necessitate coactus vincula politica, quibus cum alio coniunctus fuit, dissolvat, atque inter terrarum potestates locum separatam et aequalem, ad quem eum naturae leges et naturae Deus vocant …
  • When things get so balled up that the people of a country have to cut loose from some other country, and go it on their own hook, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, …
  • and in the cause of "Libertas utrimque maris" (Liberty on both sides of the sea), a couple of Australian versions for your edification and amusement:
    • When it becomes necessary for one people to break away from another, to cut the political ties that bind them, and to take up an equal and independent place in the world—as the laws of nature and the Creator entitle them to do …
    • Look, sometimes in life you’ve just gotta cut the cord. One lot of people decides they’ve had enough of being bossed around by another, so they break free and stand on their own two feet. When you do that, you’ve gotta give the world a heads-up why. …
    • WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for every person to reclaim that sovereignty which nature vested in them from their first breath, and which no compact, no parchment, no vote of the many, nor decree of the few can justly alienate, …

Other Books this Month

 

Authors this Month