Charles Carroll of Carrollton

When the signatories of the Declaration of Independence pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor,” few men had more to lose than Charles Carroll of Carrollton. A wealthy landowner, businessman, and member of a prominent Maryland family, Carroll risked the confiscation of his estate and the loss of his life if the British had prevailed.

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Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most eminent men of an exceptionally eminent generation. He was handsome, articulate, vigorous, and a steadfast friend. He was also an accomplished scientist, farmer, and architect. His massive library formed the core of the Library of Congress's new collection after the first was lost in the burning of Washington in the War of 1812.

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James Madison

In the Spring of 1776, with the American Revolution well under-way, the Commonwealth of Virginia's Revolutionary Convention deliberated the new state's constitution. The delegates intended to include a Declaration of Rights, which, in turn, would include a clause on religious liberty.

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Samuel von Pufendorf

Jurist Samuel von Pufendorf made important contributions to the study of law in light of the political realities created in the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War. As a young student of ethics and politics, Pufendorf was impressed by the natural-law theory of Hugo Grotius.

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Samuel Rutherford

When Charles II assumed the throne of England in 1660, one of the first acts of his government was to ban Samuel Rutherford's masterwork of political theory, Lex, Rex.

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Jean-Baptiste Say

Jean-Baptiste Say was inspired to write his Treatise on Political Economy when, working at a life insurance office, he read a copy of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. His Treatise, often described as a popularization of Smith’s ideas, departed from the typical economics methodology of his day.

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William Penn

William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was the son of Sir William Penn, a distinguished English admiral. His boyhood was marked by a combination of pietism with a strong interest in athletics, and he was expelled from Oxford for nonconformity. After leaving the university, he traveled on the continent, served in the British navy, and studied law.

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Francisco Marroquín

Francisco Marroquín was born in the province of Santander, in northern Spain, of noble and landed family. After completing ecclesiastical studies and taking priestly vows, Marroquín studied theology and philosophy at the University of Heusca.

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Karol Wojtyła

Long before he became Pope John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla (b. 1920) had identified the center of his life's work: The Christian defense of the human person. His defense of human liberty, properly understood, led to the spread of that same liberty behind the Iron Curtain. And his defense of human dignity was part of the same Christian vision.

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Leonard E. Read

Leonard E. Read was the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, one of the original pro-freedom think tanks. Through his tireless efforts in that organization, as well as through his twenty-seven books, countless essays, and extensive speaking schedule, he was largely responsible for the revival of the liberal tradition in post-World War II America.

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Frédéric Bastiat

"The state is the great fiction by which everybody tries to live at the expense of everybody else." These words by Frédéric Bastiat constitute one of history's most damning definitions of government.

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Alexis de Tocqueville

"I am inclined to believe that if faith be wanting in (a man) he must be subject; and if he believe, he must be free." These are the words of Alexis de Tocqueville in his classic Democracy in America.

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