The War for Southern Independence: A Radical Libertarian Perspective

This paper will present a radical libertarian analysis of the War of 1861-65; as such, it will disagree in many ways with existing interpretations. It will be frankly evaluative in libertarian terms and will not assume that things “had to” turn out just exactly as they did (pace the Locomotive of History). The discussion will be no more “presentist” than conventional viewpoints (with their tacit statist premises). But by starting from entirely opposed principles we will, it is hoped, contribute to the understanding of our common past.

Volume 3, Number 1 (1979)