Blog - Page 279 of 285 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Puritan New England 1: Prehistory of American Freedom

February 9, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Foner starts his Story of American Freedom with the claim that “American Freedom was born in revolution,” but then makes it clear that the story really begins in a web of complex conflicts and outright […]

Andrew McFarland Davis on the Land Banks

February 7, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Here are some links to a small part of Andrew McFarland Davis’ work on the colonial land banks. The first essay, on a Connecticut experiment of 1732, is interesting. The last essay provides a context […]

William Cullen Bryant, “On Usury Laws” (1836)

February 2, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

While this essay was published in 1836, while William B. Greene was at West Point, similarities between it and the the section on “The Usury Laws” in Greene’s Equality (1849) make it worth at least […]

William Manning and the “Key of Libberty”

February 1, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Here’s a guest post from my peer facilitator and teaching assistant, Jennie Ahlborn, introducing William Manning’s Key of Libberty, along with citations (and links, for some folks, to Manning’s two key texts.) William Manning’s The […]

Greene meets Kossuth, Springfield, MA, April 26, 1852

February 1, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

From Kossuth in New England : a full account of the Hungarian governor’s visit to Massachusetts with his speeches, and the addresses that were made to him, carefully revised and corrected, with an appendix (1852). […]

Calvin Blanchard: A Crisis Chapter on Government

January 26, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

It’s been awhile since this has been up in the Labyrinth. Yesterday, when I was discussing Tom Paine with my Great Ideas students, I passed around a couple of 19th century editions of Paine’s work: […]

Oops! Wrong Brookfield? Mass. Historical backroads prove tricky

January 25, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Hehe. Thanks to some help from the very kind folks at the West Brookfield Historical Commission, it looks like we may have to revise one of the generally accepted “facts” about William B. Greene’s career. […]

“Song of Espousal” in the Moss Rose for 1847

January 23, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve been able to verify that William B. Greene’s first published work, the poem “Song of Espousal,” did in fact appear in the Moss Rose holiday gift annual for 1847. The annual is apparently a […]

The Fund: A Boston Land Bank of 1681

January 23, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

An important episode in the story of the New England land banks is The Fund at Boston, in New England, apparently the earliest practical land bank experiment in the colonies. Much of what we know […]

The Fund: A Boston Land Bank of 1681

January 22, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

One sheet survives of this pamphlet, attributed to Rev. John Woodbridge. It describes an early mutual bank scheme known as The Fund at Boston in N. E. It is quite likely that this sheet was […]