Essays on Freedom and Power

Lord Acton

Freedom and Power collects Lord Acton's most important writings on a theme that would define his reputation for more than a century: the corruptions of power. In addition, the reader learns from his love of liberty as the great creative force in culture and society. This is the great collection of this giant of the late 19th century, published first in 1948 and republished by the Mises Institute .

Lord Acton might have been the last in a long line of a particular type of liberal before the time of Mises himself. He still has much to teach us, and no liberal education can be truly complete without a thorough knowledge of his understanding of the history and meaning of liberty..

Essays on Freedom and Power
Meet the Author
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
Lord Acton

Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 1834–1902) was a leading 19th-century historian in the classical-liberal tradition. He watched the growth of the United States with great interest, and lamented the decline of states' rights and federalism. While he was a prolific writer and speaker, his great work, a history of freedom, was never completed.

Mises Daily Lord Acton
It is remarkable that the Constitution was little trusted or admired by the wisest and most illustrious of its founders, and that its severest and most desponding critics were those whom Americans revere as the fathers of their country.
Mises Daily Lord Acton
The motive was empire on one side and self-government on the other. It was a question between liberty and authority, between government by consent and government by force.
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References

The Beacon Press, Boston, Mass., 1949.