Independence Day comes and goes every year, but it’s never quite clear, now 250 years later, what exactly it is that most people are celebrating. Some tell us that it’s “America’s birthday,” while others say it’s the anniversary of “freedom.” Some people don’t really have much of an opinion about it at all. For many, it’s just a day to celebrate “America” and enjoy a day off from work.
For Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the commemoration of Independence Day was about the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolutionaries breaking free from the domination of the British state. To use the words of the Declaration itself, the day is about breaking “the political bands” that tie one polity to another. Jefferson was particularly emphatic about this, and 40 years after the first Independence Day, he was still supporting potential new secession movements in America.
John Adams, in spite of his regression into more conservative politics during the 1790s, was nonetheless very much a revolutionary during the 1770s. For him, the independence movement in 1776 was truly an act of revolution, of rebellion, and of refusing to be ruled by others. He fully supported an annual celebratory day to commemorate exactly that.
Many modern commentators, however, are far less sure about the reasons for celebration. Many have even turned Independence Day into a celebration of the US government and the political status quo, complete with displays of the military might of the central government.
Others say the day is about celebrating equality and the need for the government to ensure that everyone is “equal.” Yet what Jefferson meant by “equality” was something quite different from what it means in modern American discourse. In many cases, Americans can’t even tell the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the counterrevolutionary Constitution of 1787. The two are quite distinct, and they work at cross-purposes: the Declaration was a celebration of political disunity and rebellion. The constitution that came later was designed to impose a new, centralized, and powerful government on the free and independent states.
In this issue of The Misesian, we bring the focus back to the Americans who brought about what Murray Rothbard has called a truly libertarian revolution against the power of states and imperialism.
The articles in this issue help us to understand the true meaning of both the Declaration of Independence and the revolutionary movement that produced it.
From the Editor—July / August 2026
In this issue of The Misesian, we bring the focus back to the Americans who brought about what Murray Rothbard has called a truly libertarian revolution against the power of states and imperialism.
The 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
As we commemorate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it deserves to be read as its authors intended: as both a universal defense of natural rights and as a formal declaration by 13 free and independent states that they were assuming their place among the nations of the earth.
What Made the American Revolution Unique?
The Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution it launched were unique because they were focused on decentralization, liberty, and limitations on state power. This movement did not “create a nation.” Rather, it seriously challenged and limited the Hobbesian state.
Faculty Spotlight—Patrick Newman
Patrick Newman is an assistant teaching professor of economics at the University of Tampa and the Murray N. Rothbard Research Fellow at the Mises Institute. He is the author of several books, the most recent is Cronyism: Rise of the Corporatist State, 1849–1929 (2026).
None Dare Call It Conspiracy
If you have time to read only one book about the American Revolution, it should be this one. It formed the basis for Rothbard’s conclusion that “in the deepest sense, the American Revolution was a conscious majority revolution in behalf of libertarianism and against power."
A Declaratory Judgment
Birzer does not grasp the importance of states’ rights in preserving liberty against the leviathan central government. In Randolph’s words, “I love liberty; I hate equality.” However, readers will learn a great deal from reading it.
40th Anniversary of Mises University
Since 1986, Mises University has been the world’s leading academic program advancing Austrian economics. This July, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of our flagship event with students attending from around the world.
Why Is the Healthcare System Broken?: Mises Circle in New Hampshire
There is little disagreement that the American healthcare system is broken. It is failing because market forces have been buried under decades of subsidies, regulations, licensing restrictions, and political favoritism. How did this happen and what to can we do about it?
