New at Reason: Jacob Hornberger on Expanding Liberty's Reach

April 9, 2010

On April 6, Reason published David Boaz’s “Up from Slavery: There’s no such thing as a golden age of lost liberty,” which argued that when libertarian writers omit or minimize slavery and other past depredations against individuals in their discussions of American history, they cannot fully appreciate the increases in liberty and freedom we enjoy now. One of the writers he criticized was Jacob G. Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

In his response to Boaz, Hornberger notes that it is certainly true that the principles of liberty on which our ancestors founded the U.S. government were not applied to everyone, especially slaves. But should those exceptions and infringements prevent us from appreciating and honoring the fact that our ancestors brought into existence the freest, most prosperous, and most charitable society in history?

View this article.