Category:History
This Fourth of July, let’s celebrate colonial failure.
July 4, 2017 | Post
The luck of the Spanish turned out to be their misfortune, and the curse of the English turned out to be a blessing.
America’s Founding (Full Series), Featuring Sarah Burns
July 3, 2017 | Video
Taxes, protests, massacre, and revolution — this is our full America’s Founding series in one glorious video. For more US history, watch
What Charles Darwin owes Adam Smith
June 16, 2017 | Post
The following is a lightly edited, slightly condensed transcript of the talk “Adam Darwin: Emergent Order in Biology and Economics,” presented by Matt Ridley at the Adam Smith Institute in 2012. I’ve called my lecture “Adam Darwin” to stress how congruent the philosophies of Adam Smith and Charles Darwin are. The common theme, of course, […]
US Economic History 9 — America’s Transition to a Global Economy (1960s-1990s)
June 1, 2017 | Video
The US became a global economy, but also struggled with stagflation and trade conflicts. Video created with the Bill of Rights Institute to help students ace their exams. This is the final video in our series with Professor Brian Domitrovic, which aims to be a resource for students studying for US History exams, and to […]
US Economic History 8 — Post-WWII Boom: Transition to a Consumer Economy
May 25, 2017 | Video
The American economy boomed in the years after World War II. Video created with the Bill of Rights Institute to help students ace their exams. This is the eighth video in a series of nine with Professor Brian Domitrovic, which aim to be a resource for students studying for US History exams, and to provide […]
Highlights from our Reddit AMA with Professor Sarah Burns
May 19, 2017 | Post
Did you miss our recent Reddit AMA with Professor Sarah Burns of RIT’s political science department? You can find the whole conversation here, or check out some of the highlights below. Dr. Burns is a regular contributor to the Learn Liberty Blog, and starred in our series on America’s Founding. Adama82 Hi, thanks for […]
US Economic History 7 — The Great Depression: Causes & Repercussions
May 18, 2017 | Video
Video created with the Bill of Rights Institute to help students ace their exams. This is the seventh video in a series of nine with Professor Brian Domitrovic, which aim to be a resource for students studying for US History exams, and to provide a survey of different (and sometimes opposing) viewpoints on key episodes […]
US Economic History 6 — Progressivism & the New Deal
May 11, 2017 | Video
In the Progressive and New Deal eras, government intervened heavily in the economy. Video created with the Bill of Rights Institute to help students ace their exams. This is the sixth video in a series of nine with Professor Brian Domitrovic, which aim to be a resource for students studying for US History exams, and […]
Reddit AMA with Professor Sarah Burns, scholar of the American founding
May 5, 2017 | Post
Sarah Burns is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her research examines the intersection of political liberalization and American constitutional development with an eye toward policy implications for democratization across the globe. Professor Burns was featured in Learn Liberty’s America’s Founding series. She has also written on American history (1), American foreign policy (2,3), elections (4,5), […]
Confront, slander, reject: The anti-intellectual legacy of Karl Marx
May 5, 2017 | Post
Marx espoused confrontation and slander over careful and critical intellectual debate.
US Economic History 5 — Economic Growth in the Gilded Age
May 4, 2017 | Video
In the Gilded Age (the 1870s and 1880s), the US economy grew faster than ever. Video created with the Bill of Rights Institute to help students ace their exams. This is the fifth video in a series of nine with Professor Brian Domitrovic, which aim to be a resource for students studying for US History […]
The Long History of Music Piracy
April 20, 2017 | Post
When you’re a historian, people expect you to write history. So, twelve years ago, when I told people I was writing a dissertation about music piracy, the typical response was, “But… that’s not history.” I couldn’t blame them. The dirt was still fresh on Napster’s grave at the time, and challenges to online services such […]
US Economic History 3 — National Banks’ Rise and Fall
April 20, 2017 | Video
Does a national bank make the US economy more stable or more chaotic? Video created with the Bill of Rights Institute to help students ace their exams. This is the third video in a series of nine with Professor Brian Domitrovic, which aim to be a resource for students studying for US History exams and […]
Dan Carlin — What All of History Has in Common
April 17, 2017 | Video
Does history repeat itself? Dan Carlin, the “political Martian,” says history can’t teach us what to do next, but it can teach us who we are. Watch the full interview here.
US Economic History 2 — Interstate Commerce & the Constitution
April 13, 2017 | Video
The Constitution’s Interstate Commerce clause was supposed to liberate American markets. Video created with the Bill of Rights Institute to help students ace their exams. This is the second video in a series of nine with Professor Brian Domitrovic, which aim to be a resource for students studying for US History exams, and to provide […]
The Progressive War: Woodrow Wilson and the US entry into WWI
April 6, 2017 | Post
The American entry into the war was the apotheosis of progressivism — the high-water mark of its crusading zeal.
US Economic History 1 — How Mercantilism Started the American Revolution
April 6, 2017 | Video
The British Empire’s mercantilist plan backfired — and led to the American Revolution. Video created with the Bill of Rights Institute to help students ace their exams. This is the first video in a series of nine with Professor Brian Domitrovic, which aim to be a resource for students studying for US History exams […]
Elinor Ostrom, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, and learning to see the women who have shaped the world
March 31, 2017 | Post
Well-behaved women seldom make history, but they should.
Emma Watson is right. Feminism is about choice.
March 30, 2017 | Post
Watson offered up a simple truism about feminism that is more powerful than it might sound: “Feminism is about giving women choice.”
Marxism and Class Consciousness
March 29, 2017 | Video
Prof. Brandon Turner says libertarians can learn a lot from Karl Marx, even though they disagree with him on the nature of self-interest. Watch the full-length video on Facebook
6 women who should be on the $20 bill
March 29, 2017 | Post
We reached out to Learn Liberty professors for suggestions on great women whose achievements should earn them a place on US currency.
Mercy Otis Warren: Conscience of Great Causes
March 25, 2017 | Post
Two centuries before “women’s lib,” in the run-up to America’s Revolutionary War, Mercy Otis Warren was already a liberated woman by the standards of her day. And she did the liberating herself. In the latter half of the 18th century, Warren was an accomplished poet, playwright, pamphleteer, and historian — though much of what she […]
History, progress, and the fate of gay marriage
March 23, 2017 | Post
The future belongs to everyone, and the arc of the universe bends nowhere in particular.
Mary Wollstonecraft: Libertarian Feminist
March 21, 2017 | Post
Almost two centuries before the women’s lib movement and a full century before the suffragettes, not all women were quiet subordinates to men. In this 1996 essay, historian Jim Powell provides us with an illuminating account of the brilliant Mary Wollstonecraft, an 18th-century author and philosopher who never minced her words in defense of equal […]