Cato’s Letters: Liberty and Responsibility

Liberty and Responsibility in Cato's letters

Topic

The authors of this series of letters directed them against the ministry of Robert Walpole, who they claimed was a dangerous centralist, using corruption in government, government debt, and the development of a standing army in a plot against British liberties. These letters caused quite a stir in their time in England, but in America they were widely read as being descriptive of the colonial situation in dealing with the mother land in the years following the close of the French and Indian War.

Guide to the Readings

Edition used:

• John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, Cato’s Letters, or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects. Four volumes in Two, edited and annotated by Ronald Hamowy (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1995).

See also in the Online Library of Liberty:

• Collection: Works read by the Founding Fathers
• School of Thought: 18thC Commonwealthmen

For additional reading see:

• John Trenchard (1662-1723)
• Thomas Gordon (?-1750)

Session I: Legitimate Authority

Trenchard and Gordon, Cato's Letters

• Letters 12, 14, 19, 45, 60, 61, 84

Session II: Liberty and Individual Rights

Trenchard and Gordon, Cato's Letters

• Letters 15, 42, 59, 62, 100, 101, 110

Session III: The Abuse of Power

Trenchard and Gordon, Cato's Letters

• Letters 17, 25, 33, 43, 72, 73, 115

Session IV: The Importance of Participation in Public Life

Trenchard and Gordon, Cato's Letters

• Letters 32, 35, 38, 69, 70, 98, 99

Session V: The Benefits of Civil Liberty

Trenchard and Gordon, Cato's Letters

• Letters 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 71

Session VI: Threats to Civil Liberty

Trenchard and Gordon, Cato's Letters

• Extract 40, 90, 91, 94, 95, 133, 134