Secession, State, and Liberty

David Gordon

The essays in Secession, State & Liberty argue that the political impulse to secede—to attempt to separate from central government control—is a vital part of the Lockean classical-liberal tradition, one that emerges when national governments become too big and too ambitious.

Unlike revolution, secession seeks only separation from rule, preferably through non-violent means. It is based on the moral idea, articulated by Ludwig von Mises in 1919, that "no people and no part of a people shall be held against its will in a political association that it does not want."

These seven important essays—which cover philosophy, history, economics, and law—argue that the threat of secession should be revived as a bulwark against government encroachment on individual liberty and private property rights, as a guarantor of international free trade, and as protection against attempts to curb the freedom of association.

Secession, State, and Liberty edited by David Gordon
Meet the Author
David Gordon

David Gordon is Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute and editor of the Mises Review.

Mises Wire David Gordon
Lincoln’s God: How Faith Transformed a President and a Nation by Joshua Zeitz Viking, 2023; 313 pp. Joshua Zeitz, a contributing writer to Politico, has written a very useful book. It belongs to an...
View David Gordon bio and works
References

Gordonh, David, ed. Secession, State, and Liberty (Transaction Publishers, 1998).