Glossary

787 terms from every course in Liberty and the Republic. For audio and video terms in more depth, see the Audio and Video glossary and the SoundStudio glossary.

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2011 international dollars: The price base used by the Maddison Project so that incomes in different countries and years can be compared. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Comparing the Record

A

Abatis: A barrier of sharpened felled trees placed in front of a fort. At Redoubt 10 the sappers had to cut through one. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Plumb Martin: The Common Soldier Who Wrote It All Down
Abolitionist: A person who worked to end slavery. In Britain the first goal was abolishing the slave trade; in the United States the movement came to demand an end to slavery itself. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Slavery, Abolition and the Arts
Absolute rights: In Blackstone's usage, the rights a person has in himself, apart from his relations to others: personal security, personal liberty and private property. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: William Blackstone
Abstain: To decline to vote either yes or no. Dickinson abstained on independence in July 1776. People of the Constitution: John Dickinson: The Penman Who Would Not Sign Twice
Act of 1783: A Virginia law that freed enslaved men who had served as soldiers in place of their owners. Armistead did not qualify because he had served as a spy and laborer. People of the Revolutionary War: James Armistead Lafayette: The Spy Who Fooled Cornwallis
Adjutant general: The staff officer who handles an army's orders, records and, in Andre's case, much of its intelligence work. People of the Revolutionary War: John Andre: The British Spy Master Hanged at Tappan
Affluence: In his usage, an ever-increasing prosperity, a life measured by things and conveniences. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer Reads the West: The 1976 Book and Film Series
African Lodge: The Masonic lodge Hall and fourteen other Black men founded in Boston. It received a charter from the Grand Lodge of England and became the first Black Masonic lodge. People of the Constitution: Prince Hall: A Free Black Citizen Petitions the New Republic
Aggregate demand: Total spending in an economy by households, businesses, government and foreign buyers. Keynes argued that a shortfall in it can keep unemployment high for years. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Critics and the Evidence
Aide-de-camp: A personal staff officer who carries orders, writes letters and assists a general. Laurens served Washington as one. People of the Revolutionary War: John Laurens: The Soldier Who Asked Congress to Free Slaves; A personal staff officer. De Kalb's aide, the Chevalier du Buysson, wrote the best surviving account of his last day. People of the Revolutionary War: Johann de Kalb: The Self-Made Baron Who Held the Line at Camden
Albany Plan of Union: Benjamin Franklin's 1754 proposal for a general government of the colonies under a Crown-appointed President-General and an elected Grand Council. The Founding of the Republic: Colonial Self-Government
Albumen print: The most common photographic print of the 1850s to 1880s, made by coating paper with egg white and silver salts and printing from a glass negative. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: The Civil War in Art, Music and Words
Alias: A false name used for safety. Woodhull wrote as Samuel Culper Sr. and Tallmadge as John Bolton. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Tallmadge and the Culper Ring: Washington's Spy Network
Alignment grid: The nine-cell chart from the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game that crosses law and chaos with good and evil. Pierson's first version of the matrix, in 2025, adapted it for politics. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Two Axes: Moral Grounding and Institutional Power
All-volunteer force: An armed force filled entirely by enlistment at market pay, with no conscription. The United States has had one since 1973. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman: The Public Policy Voice
Allegory: A picture or story in which the people and things stand for ideas. Cole's Course of Empire is an allegory of the life of a nation. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Painters of the American Wilderness
American Colonization Society: An organization founded in 1816 to send free Black Americans to Africa. Key helped found it. Art, Music and Writing: The Star-Spangled Banner
American Legion: A Loyalist regiment Arnold was authorized to raise after he changed sides. People of the Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold: The Hero Who Sold West Point
Americanism: A word or phrase used in America that differs from British use. Etymonline credits Witherspoon with coining the term in 1781. People of the Revolutionary War: John Witherspoon: The Preacher Who Taught the Founders and Signed for Independence
Anacreontic Society: A gentlemen's music club in London. Its club song, "To Anacreon in Heaven," supplied the tune Key used. Art, Music and Writing: The Star-Spangled Banner
Anarcho-capitalism: The view that every function of the state, including police, courts and defense, should be supplied by private firms or voluntary associations, so that no state remains. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: What Libertarians Believe
Anderson-Burdick test: The balancing test courts use for election rules, from Anderson v. Celebrezze (1983) and Burdick v. Takushi (1992): severe burdens need a narrowly drawn rule serving a compelling interest; reasonable, nondiscriminatory rules usually survive on the state's important regulatory interests. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Left, Right and the Third Paths
Annapolis Convention: A meeting of twelve commissioners from five states at Annapolis, September 11-14, 1786, called to discuss trade, which instead urged a wider convention at Philadelphia. The Founding of the Republic: The Crisis of the 1780s
Anti-Federalist: An opponent of the Constitution as written. Many wanted a bill of rights and a weaker national government. The spelling varies: Antifederalist, Anti-Federalist. The Founding of the Republic: Ratification: Federalists and Anti-Federalists; A person who opposed ratifying the Constitution of 1787 as written, often because it lacked a bill of rights. People of the Revolutionary War: Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen of the Revolution; A person who opposed ratifying the Constitution as written in 1787 and 1788, usually because it lacked a bill of rights or gave the national government too much power. People of the Constitution: George Mason: The Delegate Who Would Not Sign; A person who opposed the Constitution as written, usually for lack of a bill of rights or fear of too much national power. People of the Constitution: Luther Martin: The Delegate Who Went Home; A person who opposed the Constitution as written, usually over the lack of a bill of rights or fear of too much national power. People of the Constitution: Elbridge Gerry: The Skeptic From Marblehead
Anti-Federalists: Opponents of the Constitution of 1787, who feared a large national government and wanted amendments. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers
Antifederalist: An opponent of the Constitution as written in 1787. Most did not oppose union. They wanted stronger limits on the new government and more protection for the states and the people. People of the Constitution: Melancton Smith: The Antifederalist Who Voted Yes
Apologetics: The reasoned defense of the Christian faith. The word comes from the Greek apologia, a defense, as in 1 Peter 3:15. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Francis Schaeffer: A Life of Hard Questions; The reasoned defense of the Christian faith. Schaeffer practiced it as conversation with people who doubted. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Francis Schaeffer: The Man and L'Abri
Articles of Confederation: The first written constitution of the United States, drafted in 1776-1777 and in force from March 1, 1781 until the Constitution replaced it in 1789. The Founding of the Republic: War and the Articles of Confederation
Associate Justice: A member of the Supreme Court other than the Chief Justice. Paterson served from 1793 to 1806. People of the Constitution: William Paterson: The New Jersey Plan
Assumption: The federal government taking over the unpaid Revolutionary War debts of the states, as Hamilton proposed in 1790. The Founding of the Republic: The Bill of Rights and the First Government
Asymmetric information: A market in which one side knows more than the other, such as a seller who knows a used car's defects. Stiglitz, Akerlof and Spence shared the 2001 prize for analyzing such markets. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Critics and the Evidence
Attest: To certify that a document is genuine. Thomson's name appeared with Hancock's on the first printed Declaration. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Thomson: The Secretary Who Kept Congress's Books
Attestation: A signed statement by witnesses vouching that something is genuine. Wheatley's book opened with one signed by eighteen Boston men. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Writings of the Revolution; A signed statement vouching for a fact. Eighteen Boston men signed one saying they believed Wheatley wrote her poems. People of the Revolutionary War: Phillis Wheatley: The Enslaved Poet Washington Answered
Attorney general: The state's chief law officer. Martin held the post in Maryland from 1778 to 1805 and again from 1819. People of the Constitution: Luther Martin: The Delegate Who Went Home
Audit the Fed: The popular name for bills that would remove limits on the Government Accountability Office's power to audit the Federal Reserve, including its monetary policy decisions. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ron Paul: The Doctor Who Said No
Austrian school: A school founded in Vienna by Carl Menger's Principles of Economics (1871). It stresses subjective value, individual choice, dispersed knowledge and the harm done by monetary expansion. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Map of Free-Market Thought
Authenticated copy: A copy certified as true. The Goddard Broadside ends with the printed name of John Hancock as president of Congress, and the Library of Congress copy carries a handwritten attestation by Charles Thomson. People of the Revolutionary War: Mary Katharine Goddard: The Printer Who Put the Signers' Names on the Declaration
Autonomous: Self-ruling, a law to itself. Schaeffer used it for any area of life or thought treated as independent of God. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Art, Truth and the Christian
Autonomy: From the Greek for self-law. Kant's word for a person ruling himself by reason. In later lessons it comes to mean freedom from any authority outside the self. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment: Reason and Rights
Auxiliary precautions: Madison's phrase in Federalist 51 for the checks built into a government because the people's control alone is not enough. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: From Garden to Republic: Virtue, Faith and Self-Government

B

Back pay: Wages owed to a soldier but never paid. Sampson sought it from Massachusetts in 1792. People of the Revolutionary War: Deborah Sampson: The Soldier Called Robert Shurtleff
Bad faith: Sartre's term for pretending to oneself that one has no freedom, as when a man says he must act because of his role or his past. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Sartre, Camus and the Absurd
Balance of trade: The difference between the value of what a country sells abroad and what it buys. Mercantilists wanted it to stay in surplus. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Mercantilism
Ballot access: The state rules, such as petition signatures, filing fees and deadlines, that decide whether a candidate or party appears on the ballot. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Left, Right and the Third Paths
Bank of North America: The first commercial bank in the United States. It opened in Philadelphia on January 7, 1782. People of the Revolutionary War: Robert Morris: The Merchant Who Financed the Revolution and Died Broke
Bankruptcy Act of 1800: The first federal bankruptcy law. Morris was released from debtors' prison under it in 1801. People of the Revolutionary War: Robert Morris: The Merchant Who Financed the Revolution and Died Broke
Bar Confederation: A 1768 alliance of Polish nobles against Russian influence over their country. Pulaski was one of its commanders. People of the Revolutionary War: Casimir Pulaski: The Polish Cavalryman Who Fell at Savannah
Battle Road: The roughly 18 miles of road from Concord back through Lincoln, Lexington and Menotomy to Charlestown, along which the fighting went on all afternoon. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Lexington and Concord
Behavioral economics: The study of how limited attention, self-control and fairness norms change economic choices, using evidence from psychology. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Chicago School: Price Theory Applied to Everything
Beloved Woman (Ghigau): A Cherokee woman honored for valor or wisdom who could speak in council and decide the fate of captives. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Ward: The Beloved Woman of the Cherokee
Bemis Heights: The ridge near Saratoga, New York, that Kosciuszko helped select and fortify for the American defense against Burgoyne in 1777. People of the Revolutionary War: Thaddeus Kosciuszko: The Engineer Who Chose the Ground
Benefit night: A theater performance whose profits went to one actor or singer. Hail Columbia was first sung at one. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Arts of the Early Republic
Benefit of clergy: An old English rule that let a person convicted of manslaughter escape hanging by claiming it. The two convicted soldiers used it and were burned in the hand instead. People of the Revolutionary War: Crispus Attucks: What the Record Shows About the Boston Massacre
Benevolent societies: Voluntary associations of the early 1800s, such as the American Bible Society and American Tract Society, that spread religious literature and pushed moral reform. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture and Law in American History
Bible Presbyterian Church: A small Presbyterian denomination formed in 1938 after a split among the followers of J. Gresham Machen. Schaeffer was its first ordained minister. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Francis Schaeffer: A Life of Hard Questions; A small separatist Presbyterian denomination formed in the late 1930s. Schaeffer was the first student to graduate from Faith Seminary and the first minister ordained in it. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Francis Schaeffer: The Man and L'Abri
Bill of exchange: A written order to pay a sum on a set date. Salomon sold the government's bills for a commission. People of the Revolutionary War: Haym Salomon: The Broker Behind the Myth; A written order to pay a sum of money later. Clark and Oliver Pollock paid for supplies with these, and the people holding them came looking for payment. People of the Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark: The Frontier General of the Northwest; A written order to pay a sum of money later. Pollock signed and sold these to buy supplies, and he became liable when they came due. People of the Revolutionary War: Oliver Pollock: The New Orleans Merchant Who Paid for the War in the West
Bill of Rights: The first ten amendments to the Constitution, ratified on December 15, 1791. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Rights in the Founding Documents; The first ten amendments to the Constitution, ratified December 15, 1791. The Founding of the Republic: The Bill of Rights and the First Government; A list of rights the government may not violate. The Constitution had none when it was sent to the states. People of the Revolutionary War: Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen of the Revolution
Bill of Rights 1689: The statute that followed the Glorious Revolution and listed the rights of English subjects against the Crown. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Magna Carta and the English Charters
Birchtown: A Black Loyalist settlement near Shelburne, Nova Scotia, named for the British general who signed many of the freedom certificates. People of the Revolutionary War: Boston King and Thomas Peters: Two Black Loyalists Who Left America
Black battalion: Laurens's proposed unit of enslaved men who would be freed in return for service. People of the Revolutionary War: John Laurens: The Soldier Who Asked Congress to Free Slaves
Black Loyalist: A person of African descent who sided with the British during the Revolution, most often by escaping slavery and reaching British lines. People of the Revolutionary War: Boston King and Thomas Peters: Two Black Loyalists Who Left America
Black Pioneers: A British unit of Black soldiers that dug, built and repaired for the army. Thomas Peters rose to sergeant in it. People of the Revolutionary War: Boston King and Thomas Peters: Two Black Loyalists Who Left America
Blackface minstrelsy: Stage entertainment in which performers, at first white men, blackened their faces with burnt cork and acted out racist caricatures of Black people in song, dance and comedy. It was the most popular form of American stage entertainment from the 1840s until vaudeville replaced it. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Music of the People
Blazon: The formal written description of a coat of arms. Congress adopted Thomson's blazon of the Great Seal on June 20, 1782. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Thomson: The Secretary Who Kept Congress's Books
Blockade: Control of a harbor or coast by warships so that nothing can sail in or out. De Grasse's blockade shut Cornwallis off from rescue by sea. People of the Revolutionary War: Comte de Grasse: The Admiral Who Closed the Chesapeake
Blue Book: The nickname of Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, published in 1779. People of the Revolutionary War: Friedrich von Steuben: The Drillmaster of Valley Forge
Board of officers: A panel of senior officers that heard Andre's case on September 29, 1780 and recommended death. People of the Revolutionary War: John Andre: The British Spy Master Hanged at Tappan
Bonhomme Richard: Jones's flagship in 1779, an old French merchantman named for Benjamin Franklin and his Poor Richard almanac. She sank two days after the battle. People of the Revolutionary War: John Paul Jones: The Scottish Captain Who Raided Britain's Own Coast
Bonnie Blue Flag: A plain blue flag with one white star, used as a secessionist banner. The song named for it counts the seceding states. Art, Music and Writing: Confederate Songs: Dixie and the Bonnie Blue Flag
Book of Negroes: The register kept in New York in 1783 of Black refugees cleared to leave with the British. About 3,000 people were listed as embarked. People of the Revolutionary War: Boston King and Thomas Peters: Two Black Loyalists Who Left America
Bracket creep: The movement of taxpayers into higher brackets because inflation raises their nominal income, not their real income. ERTA indexed brackets to inflation starting in 1985. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Supply-Side Economics, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams
Brain death: Death defined by the permanent loss of all brain function. A Harvard Medical School committee defined irreversible coma in 1968. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The 1970s: Life and Death Questions
Brandywine: The September 11, 1777 battle in Pennsylvania where Lafayette was shot in the leg. People of the Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette: The Teenage General Who Wanted Slavery Ended
Breach: In Jeff A. Pierson's usage, an act by an official outside lawful authority, in violation of an oath to uphold the Constitution and the natural rights of the people. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Legitimate Authority and Its Limits
Breach of ordered liberty: In Jeff A. Pierson's usage, official action that betrays the covenant between citizens and government, even when it is wrapped in law. Punishing people for their ancestry rather than for anything they did is the plainest example in this lesson. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans
Breitbart Doctrine: A later name for Andrew Breitbart's view that people who want to change politics should first change the culture, especially entertainment and media. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture Before Politics: The Idea and Its Roots
Bretton Woods system: The postwar arrangement of fixed exchange rates tied to a dollar convertible into gold for foreign governments. It broke down after August 1971. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman: The Public Policy Voice
Brevet rank: An honorary promotion. Congress gave Allen the brevet rank of colonel after his release. People of the Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen: The Green Mountain Boy Who Took Ticonderoga
Brigadier general: A general officer's rank. Arnold held it in the Continental Army from 1776 and again in the British service after 1780. People of the Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold: The Hero Who Sold West Point; A rank above colonel. Governor John Rutledge made Sumter a brigadier general of South Carolina militia in October 1780. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Sumter: The Carolina Gamecock
Broadside: A single large sheet printed on one side and sold or posted in public. Used for news, songs, notices and pictures. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Art of the Revolution; A single sheet printed on one side, sold or posted for a song, a poem, a notice or a proclamation. Thousands of Civil War songs first circulated this way. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: The Civil War in Art, Music and Words; A single large sheet printed on one side, meant to be posted or passed around. The Goddard Broadside carries the Declaration in two columns and the signers' names in four. People of the Revolutionary War: Mary Katharine Goddard: The Printer Who Put the Signers' Names on the Declaration; A single printed sheet posted or handed out to spread an announcement or argument. Reed's was issued without her name. People of the Revolutionary War: Esther de Berdt Reed: The Ladies Who Sewed 2,000 Shirts; A single sheet printed on one side for posting or handing out. Key's poem first appeared as a broadside titled "Defence of Fort M'Henry" in Baltimore. Art, Music and Writing: The Star-Spangled Banner
Broadside ballad: A popular song printed on one side of a cheap sheet and sold in the streets. In Fletcher's time ballads carried news, jokes and political opinion. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture Before Politics: The Idea and Its Roots; A song printed on one side of a single sheet and sold cheaply in the street, often set to a well-known tune named at the top. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Songs of the Revolution
Broker: An agent who arranges sales between parties for a fee and does not necessarily lend his own money. People of the Revolutionary War: Haym Salomon: The Broker Behind the Myth
Brothertown: A settlement of Christian Native people from several New England nations, begun in 1775 on land the Oneida granted in New York. People of the Revolutionary War: Samson Occom: The Mohegan Minister Who Funded Dartmouth
Budget reconciliation: A process that lets certain tax and spending bills pass the Senate by simple majority with limited debate, after both chambers adopt a budget resolution with instructions. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Rand Paul: The Senator Who Holds the Floor
Bullionism: The belief that wealth consists of gold and silver, so a country should hoard them and keep them from leaving. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Mercantilism
Bureaucratic Tyrants: Matrix cell: institutional and authoritarian. They use institutional structures and procedural legitimacy to suppress liberty, masking authoritarianism in legalism. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Middle and Lower Rows: Drift and Domination
Burgess: An elected representative in the Virginia assembly. The word first meant a freeman of an English borough. The Founding of the Republic: Colonial Self-Government
Burlesque: A mocking imitation. Colonel Otho Holland Williams used it to describe Marion's ragged appearance. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Marion: The Swamp Fox Behind the Legend
Butler's Rangers: A Loyalist military unit that raided frontier settlements in New York and Pennsylvania with Native allies. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Brant: The Mohawk Who Chose the Crown

C

Camp follower: A civilian, often a wife, who traveled with the army and cooked, washed and nursed. People of the Revolutionary War: Margaret Corbin: The Woman Who Kept the Gun Firing
Camp meeting: An outdoor revival lasting several days, where families camped in tents and wagons to hear preaching and sing. The Cane Ridge meeting of 1801 in Kentucky is the most famous. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Music of the People; An outdoor revival that drew families for days of preaching and singing, common in the early 1800s. The tune of the Battle Hymn came out of this tradition. Art, Music and Writing: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Carte de visite: A small, cheap photograph mounted on a card about the size of a calling card, popular from about 1860. Copies could be printed by the hundreds and passed hand to hand. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Slavery, Abolition and the Arts
Categorical imperative: Kant's name for the moral law as an unconditional command, binding whatever we happen to want. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kant and the Split Between Fact and Value
Cato: Joseph Addison's 1713 play about a Roman republican, popular with American patriots. One of its lines resembles Hale's reported words. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale: The Schoolteacher Hanged as a Spy
Cayenne: The French colony in South America where Lafayette bought a plantation in 1785 for his emancipation experiment. People of the Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette: The Teenage General Who Wanted Slavery Ended
Central planning: A system in which officials decide what is produced and how it is shared out, rather than letting prices and private choices decide. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: What Every Economic System Must Decide
Cession: A treaty transfer of land from one nation to another, often under pressure. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Ward: The Beloved Woman of the Cherokee; A treaty in which one nation gives up land to another. Several Native nations signed cessions under pressure in the 1780s. People of the Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark: The Frontier General of the Northwest
Chance operations: A way of composing in which coin tosses or similar methods, and not the composer's taste, decide the notes. John Cage used them. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Modern Art and Music: What Schaeffer Saw
Charge: A formal address to the members of a lodge. Hall's 1797 Charge was printed at the request of the members. People of the Constitution: Prince Hall: A Free Black Citizen Petitions the New Republic
Charter: A written grant of rights or powers, issued by a king or other authority. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Magna Carta and the English Charters
Chartered monopoly: A trading company given by the crown the exclusive right to trade in a region, like the East India Company. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Mercantilism
Checks and balances: Powers given to each branch to restrain the others, so that no branch can take over the whole. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers
Cherokee War: The 1759 to 1761 frontier war between South Carolina and the Cherokee, in which Marion served as a young militia officer. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Marion: The Swamp Fox Behind the Legend
Cherokee War of 1776: A summer of Cherokee and Loyalist attacks on the Carolina and Virginia frontier, answered by militia campaigns that destroyed many Cherokee towns. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Salvador: The Jewish Planter Killed on the Cherokee Frontier
Chicago Boys: Chilean economists trained at the University of Chicago who held key posts in Chile's government after 1975. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Comparing the Record
Chicago school: The economists of the University of Chicago, from Frank Knight and Henry Simons to Milton Friedman and George Stigler, known for price theory, monetary history and testing ideas against data. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Map of Free-Market Thought
Chief Justice: The head of the Supreme Court. Ellsworth held the post from 1796 to 1800. People of the Constitution: Oliver Ellsworth: Partly National, Partly Federal
Child Abuse Amendments of 1984: Federal law, signed October 9, 1984, that dealt with the medical treatment of disabled newborns. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The 1970s: Life and Death Questions
Chinking: The clay or wood fill packed between the logs of a cabin. In Ellet's version, Hart pulled a piece out and passed muskets through the gap. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Hart: The Georgia Legend and What the Record Holds
Chisholm v. Georgia: An early Supreme Court case from 1793, decided while Wilson sat on the Court, about federal courts hearing disputes between private citizens and states. People of the Constitution: James Wilson: The Scot Who Wanted a Broad Base
Chota (Echota): The Overhill capital and a traditional town of peace, where Nanye'hi lived. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Ward: The Beloved Woman of the Cherokee
Christendom: Kierkegaard's word for a society where being a citizen and being a Christian had become the same thing, so that faith cost nothing. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kierkegaard and the Leap
Christian Commission: The United States Christian Commission, founded by the YMCA in November 1861 to supply Bibles, books, chaplains and relief to Union troops. Art, Music and Writing: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Cipher number: A number standing for a word, name or place in the ring's code book. In the ring's numbers, 727 meant New York and 355 meant lady. People of the Revolutionary War: Anna Strong and Agent 355: The Women of the Culper Ring
Circuit riding: The early practice of having Supreme Court justices travel to hear cases in assigned regions. The Founding of the Republic: The Bill of Rights and the First Government
Circular letter: A letter sent to every state asking it to join in a request. New York's called for a second general convention to consider amendments. People of the Constitution: Melancton Smith: The Antifederalist Who Voted Yes
Citation count: A tally of how often writers cite an author, used by Donald Lutz as a rough measure of influence. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers
Citation study: A count of which authors are quoted or named in a body of writing, used as rough evidence of influence. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Roots of Western Culture: Jerusalem, Athens and Rome
Civic Anti-Authoritarianism: Pierson's term for the organized defense of liberty through moral vigilance rather than political violence. The citizen becomes the moral auditor of government, and institutions are to be questioned, not worshiped. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Why One Line Fails: The False Paradigm
Civic responsibility: In Pierson's glossary, the duty to uphold and defend ordered liberty through lawful and moral action. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Using the Matrix Honestly
Civic virtue: In Montesquieu's sense, the habit of putting the common good ahead of private gain, which he held a popular government cannot do without. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers; The habits of honesty, self-restraint and public spirit that let citizens govern themselves without a master. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: From Garden to Republic: Virtue, Faith and Self-Government
Civil anti-authoritarianism: Jeff A. Pierson's name for the organized defense of liberty through moral vigilance rather than political violence: refusing arbitrary power while upholding lawful order. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Legitimate Authority and Its Limits
Civil disobedience: In Jeff A. Pierson's definition, the intentional and public refusal to obey a specific law as moral protest, carried out nonviolently, openly, in response to a specific injustice, and with acceptance of the legal consequence. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Forms of Lawful Resistance; Open refusal to obey a law one believes unjust. Schaeffer, following Rutherford, put protest and legal action first, flight second and force last. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Law and Resistance: The 1979 and 1981 Books; Open, peaceful refusal to obey a law one believes unjust, accepting the legal penalty. Schaeffer treated it as a last resort. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: What Culture First Asks of Citizens; Open, peaceful refusal to obey a law one believes unjust, while accepting the penalty. The phrase became attached to Thoreau's 1849 essay after his death. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Literature of the Young Nation
Civil religion: A public creed of a few civic dogmas that Rousseau thought the state may require of citizens. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Rousseau and the General Will
Civil society: The groups people form apart from the state, such as families, congregations, clubs, unions, charities, schools and newspapers. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: What Culture First Asks of Citizens
Civilian control of the military: The principle that elected civil authority commands the armed forces, and not the reverse. The Founding of the Republic: War and the Articles of Confederation
Civilisation: Kenneth Clark's 1969 BBC television series on Western art and culture, which How Should We Then Live? was meant to answer from a Christian point of view. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer Reads the West: The 1976 Book and Film Series
Class E stock: A separate class of General Motors stock created in 1984 to pay for EDS, with its value tied to EDS earnings rather than to GM's car business. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ross Perot: The Man Before the Campaign
Class struggle: Marx's name for the conflict between groups that stand in different relations to the means of production, such as owner and wage worker. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Marx and the Theory of Class
Classical liberal: A person who holds that individual liberty, limited government, private property and free exchange are the foundation of a good society. Friedman used 'liberal' in this older sense. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom
Classical liberalism: The tradition that puts individual liberty, private property, limited government and free exchange first. Smith, Mill and the American founders are its common ancestors. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Map of Free-Market Thought
Close-order drill: Training soldiers to march, turn and load together in ranks. People of the Revolutionary War: Friedrich von Steuben: The Drillmaster of Valley Forge
Closed system: Schaeffer's phrase for a view in which every event, including human thought, is explained by a chain of natural causes with nothing outside it. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Darwin and the New Story of Origins
Cloture: The Senate procedure for ending debate, which usually takes 60 votes. Cloture on the Brennan nomination in 2013 passed 81 to 16. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Rand Paul: The Senator Who Holds the Floor
Code of Laws: The new body of law Abigail expected the independent states to write. She asked John to keep women in mind when it was drafted. People of the Revolutionary War: Abigail Adams: The Farmer Who Told John to Remember the Ladies
Codebook: A list that swaps numbers for words, names and places. The Culper codebook used 763 numbers. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Tallmadge and the Culper Ring: Washington's Spy Network
Coercive Acts: The four punitive laws Parliament passed in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party, which the colonists called the Intolerable Acts. The Founding of the Republic: The Road to Revolution, 1763-1775; The 1774 acts of Parliament, called the Intolerable Acts in the colonies, that closed Boston harbor and rewrote the Massachusetts charter after the Tea Party. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Warren: The Doctor Who Sent Revere
Collectivization: Stalin's drive, from 1929, to merge peasant farms into state-controlled collective farms. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Communism
College of New Jersey: The Presbyterian college in Princeton that Witherspoon led from 1768. It was later renamed Princeton University. People of the Revolutionary War: John Witherspoon: The Preacher Who Taught the Founders and Signed for Independence
Colonial Marines: A British unit of about 200 formerly enslaved men from the Chesapeake region, raised in 1814 and trained on Tangier Island. Art, Music and Writing: The Star-Spangled Banner
Combahee River: A river in South Carolina where Laurens was killed on August 27, 1782. People of the Revolutionary War: John Laurens: The Soldier Who Asked Congress to Free Slaves
Combination: Smith's word for an agreement among sellers or among employers, often secret, to hold up prices or hold down wages. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations
Commander of Horse: The title Congress gave Pulaski on September 15, 1777, as head of the Continental cavalry. People of the Revolutionary War: Casimir Pulaski: The Polish Cavalryman Who Fell at Savannah
Commentaries on the Laws of England: Blackstone's four-volume account of English law, published at Oxford from 1765 to 1769. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: William Blackstone
Commercial agent: An official sent abroad to look after a country's trade and money matters. Congress named Pollock one at New Orleans. People of the Revolutionary War: Oliver Pollock: The New Orleans Merchant Who Paid for the War in the West
Commission: The written grant of authority that Congress gave Washington in 1775 as commander in chief. The Founding of the Republic: War and the Articles of Confederation
Commission Number One: The first captain's commission of the permanent U.S. Navy, signed by Washington on February 22, 1797, and ranking from 1794. It went to Barry. People of the Revolutionary War: John Barry: The Irish-Born Captain Who Held Commission Number One
Commission on Presidential Debates: The private, nonprofit group, formed in 1987, that sponsored the general-election presidential debates of the 1990s and set the rules for who was invited. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Perot's Platform and the Reform Party
Committee of correspondence: A standing committee that shared news and coordinated resistance between towns and colonies by letter. The Founding of the Republic: The Road to Revolution, 1763-1775; A standing committee that wrote to other towns and colonies to share news and coordinate resistance. Boston's was formed in November 1772. People of the Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams: The Tax Collector Who Organized a Revolution
Committee of Detail: The five-member committee, appointed July 24, that turned the Convention's resolutions into the first full draft of a constitution. The Founding of the Republic: The Constitutional Convention of 1787; The five-member committee that drafted a working text of the Constitution from the Convention's resolutions, reporting August 6, 1787. People of the Constitution: Charles Pinckney: The Young Delegate and His Plan
Committee of Five: The committee appointed June 11, 1776, to draft a declaration: Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. The Founding of the Republic: Independence, 1776
Committee of Safety: A body of the Provincial Congress that oversaw the militia and gathered supplies and an alarm system. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Concord: Why the Resistance Was Lawful in Their Eyes; The executive body created by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in 1774 to call out and supply the militia. Warren chaired it. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Warren: The Doctor Who Sent Revere
Committee of Secret Correspondence: The congressional committee, formed in 1775, that dealt with foreign contacts. Beaumarchais wrote to it as Hortalez. People of the Revolutionary War: Pierre Beaumarchais: The Playwright Behind Secret French Aid
Committee of Style: The five-member committee, appointed September 8, that revised the wording and arrangement. Gouverneur Morris wrote most of the final text. The Founding of the Republic: The Constitutional Convention of 1787; The five-member committee that turned the Convention's resolutions into the final text in September 1787. Madison served on it, and Gouverneur Morris did most of the drafting. People of the Constitution: James Madison: The Man Who Kept the Notes; The committee appointed on September 8, 1787, to put the Convention's resolutions in order. Its members were William Samuel Johnson, Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, James Madison and Rufus King. People of the Constitution: Gouverneur Morris: The Pen of the Constitution
Committee of the Whole: The Convention sitting as one committee, with looser rules, in the early weeks of debate. People of the Constitution: Benjamin Franklin at the Convention: Doubt, Prayer and Compromise
Committee on Postponed Matters: A Convention committee that took up unresolved questions, including how to choose the president. People of the Constitution: Gouverneur Morris: The Pen of the Constitution
Committees of correspondence: Networks of local committees that shared news and coordinated resistance across the colonies. People of the Revolutionary War: Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen of the Revolution
Commodore: A courtesy title for a captain commanding several ships. It was not an official U.S. Navy rank until July 17, 1862. People of the Revolutionary War: John Barry: The Irish-Born Captain Who Held Commission Number One
Common good: In Aquinas's definition, the end that law must serve: the good of the whole community, not the private advantage of a ruler. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Natural Law From Cicero to Aquinas
Common law: Law that comes from the decisions of judges and from long custom, as distinct from law enacted by a legislature. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Common Law: Custom, Precedent and the Jury
Common Pleas: One of the three great common-law courts at Westminster. Blackstone sat on it from 1770 until he died. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: William Blackstone
Common Sense: Paine's pamphlet of January 10, 1776, which argued for independence and for a republic. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Paine: The Pamphleteer Who Argued for Independence
Common sense philosophy: The school of Thomas Reid and others holding that some basic truths are known directly and need no proof from argument. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment Has Two Faces: Edinburgh and Paris
Communism: A system aimed at a classless society with common ownership of property. In practice, one-party states that owned nearly all means of production and ran the economy by central plan. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Communism
Compact: An agreement among the people that creates a government and sets its limits. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Founders on Natural Rights
Compelled speech: A government requirement that a person say or affirm something, such as a pledge. The Supreme Court barred compulsory flag salutes in public schools in 1943. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: What Culture First Asks of Citizens
Composite legend: A single story built from several real people. Molly Pitcher is often described this way. People of the Revolutionary War: Margaret Corbin: The Woman Who Kept the Gun Firing
Compromise: An agreement in which each side gives up part of what it wants. Franklin compared it to joining two planks. People of the Constitution: Benjamin Franklin at the Convention: Doubt, Prayer and Compromise
Concentrated benefits and dispersed costs: A policy whose gains go to a small, organized group while its costs are spread thinly over many people, each of whom has little reason to resist. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Public Choice and Government Failure
Concord Principle of Resistance: The site author's test for when resistance to government is justified: lawful and peaceful means first, and force only defensively, as a last resort against unlawful force, when five standards are met. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Critics, and an Ordered-Liberty View
Conditional ratification: Approving the Constitution only if certain amendments were adopted. Federalists said Congress would not accept it. People of the Constitution: Melancton Smith: The Antifederalist Who Voted Yes
Conditioners: Lewis's word for those who would shape human nature to their own ends with no standard above themselves. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Lewis and The Abolition of Man
Conduct, not identity: Pierson's first rule for the matrix: classification must be based on observable actions, not stated affiliations or party labels. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Using the Matrix Honestly
Confessing Church: The German Protestant movement that rejected Nazi control of the churches and took the Barmen Declaration as its main statement. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The New Theology: Barth and the Liberal Church
Congressional Gold Medal: The highest civilian honor Congress gives. Morgan received one for Cowpens. People of the Revolutionary War: Daniel Morgan: The Wagoner Who Won at Cowpens
Connecticut Compromise: The agreement that the House of Representatives be apportioned by population and each state have an equal vote in the Senate. Also called the Great Compromise. The Convention adopted it by a vote of five states to four on July 16, 1787, with Massachusetts divided. People of the Constitution: Roger Sherman: The Cobbler Who Made the Compromise
Connotation word: Schaeffer's term for a word used for its emotional force and not for a definite meaning. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The New Theology: Barth and the Liberal Church
Conscientious objection: A claim of exemption from military service on grounds of conscience. In United States v. Seeger (1965) the Supreme Court read the statute to cover any sincere and meaningful belief that occupies a place parallel to that filled by God in a traditionally religious person's life. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Forms of Lawful Resistance
Consent of the governed: The principle that legitimate government rests on the agreement of the people it rules. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Garden and the First Law; The idea that no one can lawfully be placed under the political power of another without his own agreement. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Locke, Sidney and the Right of Resistance; The principle that a government's just powers come from the people it governs. The Founding of the Republic: Independence, 1776; The principle that just government draws its authority from the agreement of the people it rules. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment: Reason and Rights
Consolidated government: The Anti-Federalist term for a single national government that would absorb the states. The Founding of the Republic: Ratification: Federalists and Anti-Federalists
Constitutional economics: Buchanan's study of the choice of rules, as distinct from choices made within the rules, and of how better rules can restrain the faults of ordinary politics. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Public Choice and Government Failure
Constrained vision: Sowell's name for the tradition that sees human nature as limited and self-interested and therefore trusts rules, traditions and decentralized processes more than designed solutions. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Supply-Side Economics, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams
Contemners: An old word for those who treat something with scorn. In the hymn, God speaks of those who contemn him. Art, Music and Writing: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Contemporary evidence: Letters, orders, diaries or newspapers made at the time of the event. The Ludington ride has none. People of the Revolutionary War: Sybil Ludington: The Midnight Ride the Record Cannot Confirm
Continental Army: The national army raised by the Continental Congress in 1775, as distinct from state militias. People of the Revolutionary War: Deborah Sampson: The Soldier Called Robert Shurtleff
Continental Association: The boycott agreement adopted by the First Continental Congress on October 20, 1774, enforced by local committees. The Founding of the Republic: The Road to Revolution, 1763-1775; The 1774 agreement among the colonies to stop trading with Britain until Parliament repealed the Coercive Acts. People of the Constitution: Roger Sherman: The Cobbler Who Made the Compromise
Continental dollar: Paper money issued by Congress. It lost value fast, and Reed's plan counted forty paper dollars as worth one dollar in coin. People of the Revolutionary War: Esther de Berdt Reed: The Ladies Who Sewed 2,000 Shirts
Continentals: The regular soldiers of the Continental Army, enlisted for long terms and drilled, as opposed to short-term state militia. People of the Revolutionary War: Johann de Kalb: The Self-Made Baron Who Held the Line at Camden
Contrafactum: New words written to fit an existing tune. Most Revolutionary songs were made this way, so anyone who knew the tune could sing them at once. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Songs of the Revolution; A new text set to an existing tune. Both sides used the practice constantly in the Civil War. Art, Music and Writing: Confederate Songs: Dixie and the Bonnie Blue Flag
Contributors to the Cause: The series of 1975 U.S. stamps that included Salomon, labeled "Financial Hero." People of the Revolutionary War: Haym Salomon: The Broker Behind the Myth
Conway Cabal: The later name for criticism of Washington in 1777 and 1778 that favored replacing him with Horatio Gates or another general. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Rush: The Doctor Who Titled Common Sense and Crossed Washington
Coram nobis: A rare writ that lets a court reopen a long-final criminal judgment because of a fundamental error or newly found facts. Korematsu, Hirabayashi and Yasui used it in the 1980s. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans
Counterfactual: An estimate of what would have happened under conditions that did not occur, such as an election with Perot's name left off the ballot. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: 1992: The Campaign
Court-martial: A military trial. Arnold's court-martial sat at Morristown from December 1779 to January 1780 and ended in a reprimand. People of the Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold: The Hero Who Sold West Point; A military trial of an officer. De Grasse demanded one after the Saintes, and it cleared the captains he blamed. People of the Revolutionary War: Comte de Grasse: The Admiral Who Closed the Chesapeake; A military trial. The Patriot officers held one for Loyalist prisoners on October 14, 1780, and hanged nine of them. People of the Revolutionary War: The Overmountain Men: The Frontiersmen Who Won Kings Mountain
Covenant: A solemn agreement made in the presence of God. Puritans used it to describe both the church and the civil community. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Garden and the First Law; A mutual, binding promise with duties on both sides. Jeff describes the relation of citizen and government as a covenant, not a one-way contract of administration. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: What Ordered Liberty Means; A solemn promise made before God and among the parties, which the Pilgrims and the Connecticut settlers used as the basis of a government. The Founding of the Republic: Colonial Self-Government
Covenant Chain: A long-standing alliance between the British Crown and the Haudenosaunee, kept up by councils, gifts and treaties. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Brant: The Mohawk Who Chose the Crown
Cover firm: A business set up so a government can act without being seen to act. People of the Revolutionary War: Pierre Beaumarchais: The Playwright Behind Secret French Aid
Coverture: The English common law rule that a married woman had no separate legal identity. Her husband controlled her property and her earnings. People of the Revolutionary War: Abigail Adams: The Farmer Who Told John to Remember the Ladies
Creative destruction: Schumpeter's name for the process by which new products and methods displace old ones. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Capitalism: Prices, Property and Profit
Culper Ring: The spy network run for Washington by Major Benjamin Tallmadge from 1778 to 1783, reporting from British-held New York City and Long Island. People of the Revolutionary War: Anna Strong and Agent 355: The Women of the Culper Ring; The spy network that reported from British-held New York City and Long Island between 1778 and 1783. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Tallmadge and the Culper Ring: Washington's Spy Network; Washington's spy network in British-occupied New York, run by Major Benjamin Tallmadge. People of the Revolutionary War: Hercules Mulligan: The Tailor Who Dressed the Enemy and Spied on Him
Culture: The shared habits, loves, stories, songs, beliefs and institutions of a people, the things they pass on to their children without needing a statute to do it. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture Before Politics: The Idea and Its Roots
Culture industry: Horkheimer and Adorno's 1944 term for mass entertainment produced and sold like any other commodity. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Writers Who Put Culture First
Cunning of reason: Hegel's phrase for the way reason in history uses the passions of individuals to reach ends they did not intend. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Hegel and the March of History

D

Dallas Accord: The informal 1974 compromise inside the Libertarian Party under which the platform would not say whether any state should exist, keeping minarchists and anarchists in one party. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Libertarian Party
Danbury raid: The British expedition of April 25 to 28, 1777, led by Major General William Tryon, that destroyed the Continental Army's stores at Danbury, Connecticut. People of the Revolutionary War: Sybil Ludington: The Midnight Ride the Record Cannot Confirm
Dead capital: De Soto's term for assets, such as informally held homes, that cannot be used as collateral or traded because they lack formal legal title. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Capitalism: Prices, Property and Profit
Death of God theology: A short-lived 1960s movement whose best known voices were Altizer, Hamilton and van Buren. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The New Theology: Barth and the Liberal Church
Debt ceiling: The legal limit on how much the Treasury may borrow. Congress must raise or suspend it to permit more borrowing. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Rand Paul: The Senator Who Holds the Floor
Debtors' prison: A jail where a person could be held until the debt was paid or a friend stood surety. People of the Revolutionary War: Oliver Pollock: The New Orleans Merchant Who Paid for the War in the West
Declaration of rights: A list of rights placed at the front of a constitution, as in Virginia in 1776 and Massachusetts in 1780. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Rights in the Founding Documents; A written list of rights the government may not take away. Virginia adopted Mason's on June 12, 1776. People of the Constitution: George Mason: The Delegate Who Would Not Sign; The first part of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. Its Article I says all men are born free and equal. People of the Constitution: Elizabeth Freeman: Mum Bett Takes the Constitution at Its Word
Declaratory Act: The act of March 18, 1766, passed the day the Stamp Act was repealed, which asserted Parliament's power to bind the colonies 'in all cases whatsoever.' The Founding of the Republic: The Road to Revolution, 1763-1775
Deconstruction: Derrida's way of reading that shows how a text's key oppositions, such as speech and writing, depend on each other and on what they exclude. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Postmodern Turn: Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida
Default effect: The finding that people tend to keep whatever option is set for them unless they act, which made automatic enrollment in retirement plans so powerful. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Critics and the Evidence
Defenders of Ordered Liberty: Matrix cell: institutional and morally grounded. They act within structured systems to preserve liberty and truth, treat law as a moral boundary, and defend institutional integrity even against allies who would abuse it. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Upper Row: Defenders, Independents and Rebel Patriots
Deism: A belief in a Creator who can be known by reason, without revelation. Allen's book Reason the Only Oracle of Man argued from it. People of the Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen: The Green Mountain Boy Who Took Ticonderoga; Belief in one God known by reason and conscience, without a church or revealed scripture. Paine described his faith this way in The Age of Reason. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Paine: The Pamphleteer Who Argued for Independence; The belief in a Creator who made the world and its laws but does not intervene in it. Some Founders held it. Many did not. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment: Reason and Rights
Demobilization: Releasing soldiers from service at the end of a war. The Black soldiers of the regiment were sent home from Saratoga in 1783. People of the Revolutionary War: The First Rhode Island Regiment: The Black Soldiers of Yorktown
Democratic socialism: A tradition that seeks social ownership or democratic control of major parts of the economy by winning elections instead of by revolution. Its meaning today varies from speaker to speaker. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Socialism
Democratic-Republican: The party of Jefferson and Madison, also called Republican. Not the same as today's Republican Party. The Founding of the Republic: Washington's Precedents and the Peaceful Transfer; The party of Jefferson and Madison in the 1790s and early 1800s. Pinckney joined it after being a Federalist. People of the Constitution: Charles Pinckney: The Young Delegate and His Plan
Denationalisation of money: Hayek's 1976 proposal to end the government monopoly on issuing money and let private banks issue competing currencies. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Hayek and the Knowledge Problem
Deposition: A sworn written statement. After April 19 the Massachusetts Provincial Congress took dozens to put the colonists' account on record. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Lexington and Concord
Depreciation: The fall in value of Continental paper money during the war, which pushed prices up sharply. People of the Revolutionary War: Abigail Adams: The Farmer Who Told John to Remember the Ladies
Desegregation order: A court order or federal requirement that a school district end separation by race, often enforced by threat of losing federal funds. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture and Law in American History
Dialectic: A way of reasoning in which a position meets its opposite and both are taken up into a fuller view. Hegel used it to describe thought and history. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Hegel and the March of History
Difference-in-differences: A method that compares the change in an outcome for a group affected by a policy with the change for a similar group that was not, as Card and Krueger did with New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Critics and the Evidence
Dignity: In Kant's ethics, a worth that has no equivalent and cannot be traded, which every rational person has. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kant and the Split Between Fact and Value
Direct election: Choosing officials by the votes of the people themselves, as opposed to election by a state legislature or by electors. People of the Constitution: James Wilson: The Scot Who Wanted a Broad Base
Disaffiliation rule: A law that bars a person from running as an independent if he or she belonged to a party within a set time before the election. The Court upheld California's one-year rule in Storer v. Brown (1974). Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Left, Right and the Third Paths
Discharge certificate: The paper that proved a soldier had been honorably released. Hull's, signed by Washington, is dated July 24, 1783. People of the Revolutionary War: Agrippa Hull: The Free Black Soldier Who Served Kosciuszko
Discourses Concerning Government: Algernon Sidney's reply to Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, published in 1698 after his execution. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Locke, Sidney and the Right of Resistance
Disownment: A meeting's formal decision that a member had broken its rules and was no longer part of the body. Quaker records of the time often call it being read out of meeting. People of the Revolutionary War: Lydia Darragh: The Quaker Housewife and the Whitemarsh Warning
Dispersed knowledge: Hayek's term for the facts about local conditions, skills and preferences that exist only in the heads of millions of separate people. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: What Every Economic System Must Decide
Divine right of kings: The claim that a monarch holds power directly from God and answers to God alone, not to the people or to a parliament. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Garden and the First Law
Division of labor: Splitting a job into specialized tasks so that each worker does one thing well. Smith said it was the main cause of rising productivity. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations
Dixie: A nickname for the South. Its origin is disputed, and the song gave the word its widest use. Art, Music and Writing: Confederate Songs: Dixie and the Bonnie Blue Flag
Dorchester Heights: Hills south of Boston that overlooked the harbor. American guns placed there in March 1776 threatened the British fleet. People of the Revolutionary War: Henry Knox: The Bookseller Who Hauled the Guns
Double agent: A spy who works for one side while pretending to serve the other. Armistead reported to Lafayette while he appeared to serve the British. People of the Revolutionary War: James Armistead Lafayette: The Spy Who Fooled Cornwallis
Double envelopment: An attack in which both flanks of the enemy are wrapped at once. People of the Revolutionary War: Daniel Morgan: The Wagoner Who Won at Cowpens
Doughoregan Manor: The Carroll family estate in what is now Howard County, Maryland, where he was buried. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Carroll of Carrollton: The Last Surviving Signer
Downstream: The metaphor in the slogan: a river carries what enters it upstream, so whatever shapes culture will sooner or later shape politics and law. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture Before Politics: The Idea and Its Roots
Dragging Canoe: A Cherokee war leader who opposed land cessions and led a faction south to Chickamauga after 1777. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Ward: The Beloved Woman of the Cherokee
Dragoons: Mounted soldiers who could also fight on foot. Tallmadge served in the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Tallmadge and the Culper Ring: Washington's Spy Network
Dred Scott v. Sandford: The 1857 Supreme Court decision holding that persons of African descent could not be citizens and that Congress could not bar slavery from the territories. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Slavery: The Founding Breach
Dropsy: The old name for edema, a buildup of fluid in the body. Pinckney died of it. People of the Constitution: Charles Pinckney: The Young Delegate and His Plan
Due process of law: The requirement that government take a person's life, liberty or property only by lawful procedures. The phrase grew out of Magna Carta's 'law of the land.' The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Magna Carta and the English Charters
Dunlap broadside: The first printed copy of the Declaration, run off by John Dunlap in Philadelphia on the night of July 4 and morning of July 5, 1776. The Founding of the Republic: Independence, 1776
Duty of scrutiny: One of the nine duties in Jeff A. Pierson's Ordered Liberty Papers: the citizen's task of examining policies, testing claims and questioning leaders in light of truth. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Supporting Legitimate Government
Dynamic scoring: A revenue estimate that includes the effect of a tax change on the size of the economy, as distinct from a conventional estimate that holds total output fixed. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Supply-Side Economics, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams

E

Earned Income Tax Credit: A refundable federal tax credit for low and moderate income workers, created in 1975. It resembles a negative income tax but pays only people with earnings. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman: The Public Policy Voice
Economic calculation problem: Mises's argument that planners without market prices for capital goods cannot compare the costs of different ways of producing something. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Socialism
Economic Freedom of the World: An annual Fraser Institute ranking of 165 jurisdictions that scores how much people are free to make their own economic choices. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Comparing the Record
Economic nationalism: The view that trade and immigration policy should be set to protect domestic industry and workers first, even at some cost in prices or efficiency. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Critics, and an Ordered-Liberty View
Education savings account: A state account funded with public money that parents may spend on approved education costs such as tuition, tutoring and curriculum. It descends from Friedman's voucher idea. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman: The Public Policy Voice
Efficient-market hypothesis: The claim that asset prices reflect available information so quickly that consistently beating the market is very hard. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Chicago School: Price Theory Applied to Everything
Elasticity of taxable income: How much reported taxable income changes when the marginal tax rate changes. A larger elasticity means a lower revenue-maximizing rate. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Supply-Side Economics, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams
Electoral College: The system of electors chosen in each state to choose the president. Wilson proposed an early form of it. People of the Constitution: James Wilson: The Scot Who Wanted a Broad Base
Electronic Data Systems (EDS): The computer services company Perot founded in Dallas in 1962. It ran data processing for insurers and for state Medicare and Medicaid programs, was sold to General Motors in 1984 and to Hewlett-Packard in 2008. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ross Perot: The Man Before the Campaign
Electronic town hall: Perot's idea of using television and telephone technology to let citizens hear a national issue explained and register their views directly. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Perot's Platform and the Reform Party
Elegy: A poem of mourning for the dead. Whitman's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd is an elegy for Lincoln. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: The Civil War in Art, Music and Words; A poem of mourning. Her elegy on George Whitefield in 1770 made her known on both sides of the Atlantic. People of the Revolutionary War: Phillis Wheatley: The Enslaved Poet Washington Answered
Emancipation: Freeing enslaved people. Laurens's plan tied it to military service. People of the Revolutionary War: John Laurens: The Soldier Who Asked Congress to Free Slaves
Emotivism: The view that moral statements express feelings. MacIntyre argued that modern moral talk has become emotivist. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Reading Schaeffer Today and the Voices That Built on Him
Employer sanctions: Civil and criminal penalties on employers who knowingly hire workers who lack authorization, enacted in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and now found at 8 U.S.C. 1324a. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Immigration Law and Order Today
Engineer (military): An officer who designs fortifications, roads, bridges and river crossings. People of the Revolutionary War: Thaddeus Kosciuszko: The Engineer Who Chose the Ground
Engraving: A print made from an image cut or etched into a copper plate. Amos Doolittle made four of the battles in 1775. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Lexington and Concord; A print made by cutting lines into a metal plate, inking it and pressing paper onto it. One plate could make hundreds of copies. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Art of the Revolution
Engrossed: Written out in final, formal form on parchment for signing. The Founding of the Republic: The Constitutional Convention of 1787
Engrossed copy: The final, formal copy written on parchment, which is the one the delegates signed, mostly on August 2, 1776. The Founding of the Republic: Independence, 1776
Enlightenment: The movement of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that trusted human reason to understand nature and to judge custom, church and government. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment: Reason and Rights
Entitlement theory: Nozick's account of justice in holdings: a distribution is just if it arose from just acquisition and just transfer, with rectification of past wrongs, whatever pattern results. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: What Libertarians Believe
Entrepreneur: A person who spots an opportunity, organizes resources and bears the risk of failure. Kirzner stressed alertness to opportunities others have missed. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Capitalism: Prices, Property and Profit
Enumerated goods: Colonial products, such as sugar and tobacco, that the 1660 act allowed to be shipped only to England or English colonies. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Mercantilism
Esseneca: A Cherokee town on the Keowee River, near present-day Seneca, South Carolina, where the ambush of August 1, 1776, took place. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Salvador: The Jewish Planter Killed on the Cherokee Frontier
Eternal law: In Aquinas, the plan by which God governs all creation. Natural law is the share of it that rational creatures can know. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Natural Law From Cicero to Aquinas
Eugenics: A movement, begun by Darwin's cousin Francis Galton, that sought to improve human stock by controlling who had children. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Darwin and the New Story of Origins
Evacuation Day: November 25, 1783, the day the British army left New York City and American troops took it back. People of the Revolutionary War: Hercules Mulligan: The Tailor Who Dressed the Enemy and Spied on Him
Evil Dictators: Matrix cell: independent and rejecting moral order. Rule by force, fear and destruction; in Pierson's words, the terminal outcome of unchecked authoritarian drift in any political system. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Middle and Lower Rows: Drift and Domination
Excise: A tax on the making or sale of a particular good, such as distilled spirits. The Founding of the Republic: The Bill of Rights and the First Government; A tax on the production or sale of a good. The whiskey excise taxed distilled spirits. The Founding of the Republic: Washington's Precedents and the Peaceful Transfer
Excise officer: A tax collector on goods such as liquor and tobacco. Paine held the job in England. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Paine: The Pamphleteer Who Argued for Independence
Execution sermon: A sermon preached on the day of a hanging, often printed and sold afterward. People of the Revolutionary War: Samson Occom: The Mohegan Minister Who Funded Dartmouth
Executive Order 9066: The order Franklin Roosevelt signed on February 19, 1942, that let the Secretary of War and military commanders set areas from which any or all persons could be excluded. It never named Japanese Americans, and it was used almost only against them. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans
Executor: The person who carries out the terms of a will. Kosciuszko named Thomas Jefferson. People of the Revolutionary War: Thaddeus Kosciuszko: The Engineer Who Chose the Ground; The person named in a will to carry out its terms. Kosciuszko named Thomas Jefferson. People of the Revolutionary War: Agrippa Hull: The Free Black Soldier Who Served Kosciuszko
Existence precedes essence: Sartre's phrase. A person first exists and then makes himself what he is, with no designer who fixed his purpose beforehand. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Sartre, Camus and the Absurd
Existentialism: A way of doing philosophy that starts from the individual who must choose and act, not from a system that explains everything. Kierkegaard is usually named as its first major figure. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kierkegaard and the Leap; A family of twentieth-century philosophies that start from the individual person who exists and chooses, not from a fixed human nature. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Sartre, Camus and the Absurd
Exit poll: A survey of voters taken as they leave the polling place on Election Day. In 1992 the networks pooled theirs through Voter Research and Surveys. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: 1992: The Campaign
Expedited removal: A procedure created by Congress in 1996 under which an immigration officer may order certain noncitizens removed without a hearing before an immigration judge. A person who says he fears persecution must be referred for an interview with an asylum officer. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Immigration Law and Order Today
Expedition Particuliere: The French name for the army sent to America in 1780 under Rochambeau, about 5,500 men at the start. People of the Revolutionary War: Rochambeau: The French General Who Marched to Yorktown
Externality: A cost or benefit that falls on people who are not part of a transaction and that is not reflected in its price. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The Critics and the Answers

F

Faction: Washington's word for a party or combination that puts its own will in place of the will of the nation. He warned that it can use constitutional forms to undermine a government. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Supporting Legitimate Government; In Madison's usage, a group of citizens united by a common interest or passion against the rights of others or the good of the whole. The Founding of the Republic: The Crisis of the 1780s; In Federalist No. 10, a group of citizens united by a passion or interest adverse to the rights of other citizens or to the community's permanent interests. The Founding of the Republic: Ratification: Federalists and Anti-Federalists; Madison's word for a group of citizens, whether a majority or a minority, united by a passion or interest against the rights of others or the good of the whole. People of the Constitution: James Madison: The Man Who Kept the Notes; Madison's word for a group, whether a majority or a minority, united by a passion or interest against the rights of others or the good of the whole. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Marx and the Theory of Class
Faithful presence: James Davison Hunter's phrase for taking full part in the institutions of a culture while being formed by the church. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Reading Schaeffer Today and the Voices That Built on Him
Faithless elector: A member of the Electoral College who votes for someone other than the candidate he or she was pledged to support. Roger MacBride's 1972 vote is the most famous example in Libertarian history. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Libertarian Party
False paradigm: Pierson's name for the left-right framing when it is used to explain all of politics. He argues it distracts from the real contest between liberty and authoritarianism. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Why One Line Fails: The False Paradigm
Family tradition: A story handed down by relatives and first written long after the event. It can be true, but it needs outside evidence before a historian will rely on it. People of the Revolutionary War: Lydia Darragh: The Quaker Housewife and the Whitemarsh Warning; A story handed down by relatives. It can preserve true events, but it needs outside evidence before historians treat it as fact. People of the Revolutionary War: Sybil Ludington: The Midnight Ride the Record Cannot Confirm
Farewell Address: George Washington's 1796 letter to the American people on leaving the presidency, published in a Philadelphia newspaper. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: From Garden to Republic: Virtue, Faith and Self-Government; George Washington's letter to the American people of 1796, which names religion and morality as indispensable supports of political prosperity. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Nietzsche and the Death of God
Fast day: A day of public prayer and humiliation. Congress appointed one for the colonies, and Witherspoon preached on it on May 17, 1776. People of the Revolutionary War: John Witherspoon: The Preacher Who Taught the Founders and Signed for Independence
Federal deficit and debt: The deficit is the amount by which federal spending exceeds revenue in one year. The debt is the total the government owes from all past borrowing. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Perot's Platform and the Reform Party
Federal outlays: What the federal government spends in a year. Measured here as a share of GDP. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The American Mix and Economic Freedom Today
Federal principle: The idea that states are equal political societies that join in a union and keep an equal voice in it. Ellsworth argued the Senate should reflect it. People of the Constitution: Oliver Ellsworth: Partly National, Partly Federal
Federal Register: The daily journal of the U.S. government, first published in 1936, containing proposed and final rules, notices and presidential documents. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The American Mix and Economic Freedom Today
Federal style: The architecture and decoration of the United States from about 1780 to 1830, lighter and more delicate than the Georgian style before it, using classical forms such as columns, domes and fanlights. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Arts of the Early Republic
Federalist: A supporter of the Constitution of 1787 during the ratification debate. The Founding of the Republic: Ratification: Federalists and Anti-Federalists; A supporter of the party of Washington and Hamilton. Haynes was a lifelong Federalist, and sources link his politics to his dismissal in 1818. People of the Revolutionary War: Lemuel Haynes: The Minuteman Who Became a Pastor; A supporter of a strong national government and of Washington and Adams. Lee was one for life. People of the Revolutionary War: Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Cavalryman Who Eulogized Washington
Fee Bill controversy: A Maryland dispute over whether the governor could set officials' fees by proclamation without the assembly's consent. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Carroll of Carrollton: The Last Surviving Signer
Feigned retreat: A planned pullback meant to draw the enemy into an exposed position. People of the Revolutionary War: Daniel Morgan: The Wagoner Who Won at Cowpens
Fidelity medal: A silver medal Congress ordered for each of the three men who captured Andre. People of the Revolutionary War: John Andre: The British Spy Master Hanged at Tappan
Field music: The fife and drum calls that gave commands in camp, on the march and in battle, as opposed to a band that played for parades and dinners. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Songs of the Revolution
Filibuster: Extended debate used to delay or block a Senate vote. A talking filibuster means a senator holding the floor in person, as Paul did in 2013 and 2015. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Rand Paul: The Senator Who Holds the Floor
Financial instability hypothesis: Hyman Minsky's theory that long booms push borrowers from safe hedge finance into speculative and Ponzi finance, so that stability itself breeds the next crisis. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Critics and the Evidence
First Citizen: The pen name Carroll used in 1773 newspaper letters in the Maryland Gazette, arguing against the governor's fee proclamation. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Carroll of Carrollton: The Last Surviving Signer
Fiscal multiplier: The change in total output caused by one dollar of government spending or tax change. Estimates since 2008 mostly put the spending multiplier between 0.6 and 1. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Critics and the Evidence
Flag of truce vessel: A boat allowed to pass between enemy lines under a white flag to talk about prisoners or terms. Key and John Skinner sailed in one. Art, Music and Writing: The Star-Spangled Banner
Flamborough Head: A headland on the Yorkshire coast of England, off which the battle was fought on the evening of September 23, 1779. People of the Revolutionary War: John Paul Jones: The Scottish Captain Who Raided Britain's Own Coast
Flexible exchange rate: A price of one currency in terms of another that is set by supply and demand in the market instead of by government decree. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman: The Public Policy Voice
Foraging: Collecting food and fodder from civilians for the army, which Martin describes as done at the point of the bayonet. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Plumb Martin: The Common Soldier Who Wrote It All Down
Form and freedom: Schaeffer's phrase for the balance in Reformation-shaped governments between order and liberty, which he believed rested on a shared belief in God's law. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer Reads the West: The 1976 Book and Film Series
Fort Sackville: The British fort at Vincennes on the Wabash River. Clark took it on February 25, 1779. People of the Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark: The Frontier General of the Northwest
Fort Washington: An American earthwork on the northern end of Manhattan, taken by British and Hessian troops on November 16, 1776. People of the Revolutionary War: Margaret Corbin: The Woman Who Kept the Gun Firing
Fragmentation: His word for the breaking apart of form and meaning in modern art, music and thought, which he read as an expression of a fragmented view of reality. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer Reads the West: The 1976 Book and Film Series
Free Quakers: A Philadelphia group organized in 1781 by Friends who had been disowned for supporting the Revolution. Darragh was among those who joined. People of the Revolutionary War: Lydia Darragh: The Quaker Housewife and the Whitemarsh Warning
Free rider: A person who benefits from something others pay for and contributes nothing. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The Critics and the Answers
Free University Amsterdam: The Dutch university where Hans Rookmaaker started the art history department in the mid-1960s. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Modern Art and Music: What Schaeffer Saw
Free verse: Poetry without a regular pattern of meter or rhyme. Whitman's 1855 Leaves of Grass made it famous in America. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Literature of the Young Nation
Freehold: Ownership of land. Morris argued at the Convention for limiting the vote to freeholders. People of the Constitution: Gouverneur Morris: The Pen of the Constitution
Freeman: In the New England colonies, a man admitted to full political rights, including the vote. Admission had its own rules. The Founding of the Republic: Colonial Self-Government
Freiherr: A German noble title, usually translated baron. People of the Revolutionary War: Friedrich von Steuben: The Drillmaster of Valley Forge
Frontispiece: An illustration facing the title page of a book. Wheatley's 1773 book opens with an engraved portrait of her. People of the Revolutionary War: Phillis Wheatley: The Enslaved Poet Washington Answered
Fuging tune: A psalm tune with a section in which the voices enter one after another with the same melody, overlapping, before coming back together. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Songs of the Revolution
Fugitive Slave Acts: Federal laws of 1793 and 1850 that put the Constitution's fugitive clause into force by empowering claimants and federal officers to seize and return escaped slaves. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Slavery: The Founding Breach
Fusion voting: A system in which a candidate may appear on the ballot as the nominee of more than one party. The Supreme Court allowed states to ban it in 1997. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Left, Right and the Third Paths
Fusionism: The effort, identified with Frank Meyer at National Review, to join traditionalist conservatives and libertarians in one movement on the ground that virtue must be freely chosen and the state kept limited. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: What Libertarians Believe

G

Garrison flag: The large flag a fort flew in fair weather. Fort McHenry's measured 30 by 42 feet. A smaller storm flag, 17 by 25 feet, flew in bad weather. Art, Music and Writing: The Star-Spangled Banner
GDP per capita: A country's total output divided by its population, a rough measure of average income. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Comparing the Record
Genealogy: A method of asking where an idea came from and whom it served. Nietzsche used it on morals. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Nietzsche and the Death of God; Foucault's method of tracing how a practice or idea arose from contingent events and not from inevitable progress. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Postmodern Turn: Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida
General Court: The name for the Massachusetts legislature, a Council and a House of Representatives. People of the Constitution: Prince Hall: A Free Black Citizen Petitions the New Republic
General warrant: A warrant that names no particular person or place, letting officers search wherever they wish. English courts condemned it in the 1760s and the Fourth Amendment forbids it. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Legitimate Authority and Its Limits
General will: Rousseau's term for the will of the people aimed at the common good. The French Declaration of 1789 says law expresses it. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment Has Two Faces: Edinburgh and Paris; For Rousseau, the people's will directed at the common good alone. It differs from the sum of what individuals privately want. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Rousseau and the General Will
Genre painting: Painting of scenes from everyday life, such as Bingham's pictures of Missouri voters, boatmen and townspeople. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Painters of the American Wilderness
Genuine Information: Martin's report to the Maryland House of Delegates, dated January 27, 1788, giving his account of the Convention and his reasons for opposing the Constitution. People of the Constitution: Luther Martin: The Delegate Who Went Home
Gerrymander: To draw legislative districts for partisan advantage. The word comes from Gerry, who signed a Massachusetts districting law in 1812 after a district was said to resemble a salamander. People of the Constitution: Elbridge Gerry: The Skeptic From Marblehead
Gold standard: A monetary system in which the dollar is defined as a fixed weight of gold and paper money can be redeemed for it. The United States ended the last link to gold for foreign governments on August 15, 1971. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ron Paul: The Doctor Who Said No
Gradual abolition: A plan to end slavery over time, usually by freeing children born to enslaved mothers once they reached a set age. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Carroll of Carrollton: The Last Surviving Signer
Gradual emancipation: A plan to free the children of enslaved people when they reached a set age. New Jersey adopted one in 1804. People of the Revolutionary War: John Witherspoon: The Preacher Who Taught the Founders and Signed for Independence
Grand jury: A body of citizens that decides whether there is enough evidence to charge someone with a serious crime. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Common Law: Custom, Precedent and the Jury
Grapeshot: A load of small iron balls fired from a cannon. A charge of it wounded Pulaski at Savannah. People of the Revolutionary War: Casimir Pulaski: The Polish Cavalryman Who Fell at Savannah
Great Awakening: The wave of revivals that swept the English-speaking world in the 1730s and 1740s, led in America by preachers such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture and Law in American History
Great Compromise: The July 16 decision to give states equal votes in the Senate while the House would count population. Also called the Connecticut Compromise. The Founding of the Republic: The Constitutional Convention of 1787
Great Contraction: Friedman and Schwartz's name for the collapse of the American economy from 1929 to 1933, which they traced chiefly to the failure of Federal Reserve policy. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom
Great Enrichment: Deirdre McCloskey's term for the roughly thirtyfold rise in real income per person since about 1800. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Markets and Moral Order
Great Leap Forward: Mao Zedong's 1958 campaign to industrialize and collectivize China at high speed, followed by famine. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Communism
Green Mountain Boys: The militia of the Grants, started by Allen and his cousin Remember Baker to defend settlers holding New Hampshire titles against New York. People of the Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen: The Green Mountain Boy Who Took Ticonderoga
Green Spring: A July 6, 1781 battle near Williamsburg, Virginia, in which Lafayette's force was outmatched by Cornwallis. People of the Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette: The Teenage General Who Wanted Slavery Ended
Grenadiers and light infantry: The elite flank companies of British regiments. Gage sent them to Concord, with the Marines, a force of about 700. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Lexington and Concord
Guerrilla warfare: Fighting by small mobile forces that raid and retreat. Greene used partisan leaders like Francis Marion alongside his regular troops. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathanael Greene: The General Who Lost Battles and Won the South
Gundalow: A flat-bottomed boat used on lakes and rivers. Knox's men used one to carry cannon down Lake George. People of the Revolutionary War: Henry Knox: The Bookseller Who Hauled the Guns

H

Habeas corpus: A writ ordering a jailer to bring a prisoner before a court and show the legal reason for holding him. The Latin means 'you have the body.' The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Magna Carta and the English Charters; The ancient right to demand that a jailer bring a prisoner before a court and justify the detention. The Founding of the Republic: The Crisis of the 1780s
Haberdasher: A merchant who sells clothing and sewing goods. Mulligan ran a tailoring and haberdashery shop. People of the Revolutionary War: Hercules Mulligan: The Tailor Who Dressed the Enemy and Spied on Him
Haldimand negotiations: Talks that began in 1780 between Vermont leaders, Allen among them, and Frederick Haldimand, the British governor of Quebec. People of the Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen: The Green Mountain Boy Who Took Ticonderoga
Haldimand Proclamation: The order of October 25, 1784, in which Governor Frederick Haldimand granted the Six Nations land along the Grand River in what is now Ontario. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Brant: The Mohawk Who Chose the Crown
Harm principle: Mill's rule that society may coerce an adult only to prevent harm to others, never for the person's own good. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: What Libertarians Believe
Haudenosaunee: The people the English called the Iroquois. Their Confederacy, also called the Six Nations, joined the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora. People of the Revolutionary War: Polly Cooper: The Oneida Woman Who Fed Valley Forge
Head of Elk: The head of Chesapeake Bay, now Elkton, Maryland, where the allied armies tried to find ships in September 1781. People of the Revolutionary War: Rochambeau: The French General Who Marched to Yorktown
Hegemony: In Antonio Gramsci's prison writings, the leadership a ruling group exercises through consent won in culture, schools, churches and the press, as well as through force. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Writers Who Put Culture First
Heroic medicine: The belief that most illness called for heavy bleeding and purging. Rush taught it and used it in 1793. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Rush: The Doctor Who Titled Common Sense and Crossed Washington
Hessians: German soldiers hired by Britain from German princes, including the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, and sent to fight in America. The Founding of the Republic: War and the Articles of Confederation
Higher criticism: Study of the Bible's sources, authorship and history, often with the assumption that its accounts contain errors. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The New Theology: Barth and the Liberal Church
Higher law: A law above any ruler or legislature, such as God's law or the natural law, by which human laws can be judged. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Roots of Western Culture: Jerusalem, Athens and Rome
Historical materialism: Marx's theory that the way people produce what they need shapes their laws, politics, ideas, and religion. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Marx and the Theory of Class
Historicism: The view that ideas, rights and values belong to their time and develop with it, with no standard that stands outside history. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Hegel and the March of History
History painting: A large picture of an important event from history, scripture or legend, meant to teach a moral lesson. In the 1700s it was ranked the highest kind of painting. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Art of the Revolution
Hollow square: The seating plan of a shape-note singing: four sections (tenor, bass, treble, alto) face each other around an open center where the leader stands. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Music of the People
Holodomor: The Ukrainian name for the famine of 1932-33. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Communism
Honorary citizen: A person Congress declares an American citizen by resolution, without the legal rights of citizenship. Pulaski received the honor in 2009. People of the Revolutionary War: Casimir Pulaski: The Polish Cavalryman Who Fell at Savannah
Horizontal axis (matrix): Institutional dependence versus independence. On the left are actors who derive legitimacy from institutions, procedures and established systems; on the right, actors who operate independently of them out of distrust, rejection or perceived corruption. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Two Axes: Moral Grounding and Institutional Power
Horseshoe theory: The idea that the far left and the far right, instead of sitting at opposite ends of a line, bend toward each other like the ends of a horseshoe. It is usually credited to the French philosopher Jean-Pierre Faye. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Why One Line Fails: The False Paradigm
House Bill 72: The Texas school reform law passed in a special session that began June 4, 1984, after a select committee chaired by Perot. It raised teacher pay, added testing and class-size limits, started state pre-kindergarten for poor four-year-olds and created no pass, no play. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ross Perot: The Man Before the Campaign
Howitzer: A short cannon that fires shells in a high arc. People of the Revolutionary War: Henry Knox: The Bookseller Who Hauled the Guns
Hudson River School: A name given in the 1870s, not kindly, to a group of New York painters of wild American scenery from about 1825 to 1875, beginning with Thomas Cole. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Painters of the American Wilderness
Human capital: Skills, knowledge and health that raise a person's productivity. Becker treated schooling and training as investments with returns. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Chicago School: Price Theory Applied to Everything
Human law: The statutes, ordinances and decisions that communities adopt. Aquinas held that they are law only to the extent that they follow from natural law. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Natural Law From Cicero to Aquinas
Humanism (Schaeffer's sense): Not the study of the humanities, which he praised, but the belief that man is his own measure and the source of all truth and value, with no knowledge from God. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer Reads the West: The 1976 Book and Film Series
Humanist Manifesto: A statement of non-theistic humanist belief. The first appeared in 1933 and was signed by Dewey among 34 others. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Dewey and the Schools
Humanist Manifestos: Statements issued by American humanists in 1933 and 1973 setting out a nonreligious view of life. Schaeffer's title answered them. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Law and Resistance: The 1979 and 1981 Books

I

Ideology: In Marx's use, ideas that look neutral but serve the interests of the ruling class. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Marx and the Theory of Class
IEEPA: The International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which presidents have used to declare emergencies and impose tariffs. Congress can vote to end such emergencies by joint resolution. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Rand Paul: The Senator Who Holds the Floor
Illinois campaign: Clark's 1778 and 1779 expedition that took Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes from the British and their French-speaking allies. People of the Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark: The Frontier General of the Northwest
Image of God: The teaching from Genesis 1:26 and 1:27 that every human being, male and female, was made in the likeness of God. Political writers took it to mean that no person is born the natural property of another. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Garden and the First Law
Immanent frame: Charles Taylor's term for the modern setting in which the world is understood as a self-contained natural order. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Reading Schaeffer Today and the Voices That Built on Him
Immigration and Nationality Act: The main federal immigration statute, enacted in 1952 and amended many times since. It is codified in Title 8 of the United States Code, beginning at section 1101, and governs admission, naturalization, removal, asylum and the duties of employers. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Immigration Law and Order Today
Impartial spectator: In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, the imagined fair observer whose judgment a conscience takes into account. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations
Impeachment: A charge of serious misconduct brought against an official by the lower house of a legislature, tried by the upper house. People of the Constitution: Elbridge Gerry: The Skeptic From Marblehead
Implied powers: Powers Congress may use because they are needed to carry out a power the Constitution lists, though the Constitution does not list them by name. The Founding of the Republic: The Bill of Rights and the First Government
Impressionism: A style begun in Paris in the 1870s that painted light and passing effects. The name came from a mocking review of Monet's Impression, Sunrise in 1874. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Modern Art and Music: What Schaeffer Saw
Inalienable (unalienable): Not capable of being given away or taken away. Samuel Adams argued that no one can lawfully sell himself into slavery. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Founders on Natural Rights
Inalienable rights: Rights that cannot be given away or taken away because they come from the Creator, not from the state, as the Declaration of Independence says. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Law and Resistance: The 1979 and 1981 Books
Inclusive and extractive institutions: Acemoglu and Robinson's terms for rules that let broad numbers of people own property, trade and take part in politics, versus rules built to let a narrow group take the wealth of others. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Critics and the Evidence
Incorporation: The process by which the Supreme Court applied parts of the Bill of Rights to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Palko v. Connecticut (1937) asked which rights were fundamental enough to be incorporated. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: What Ordered Liberty Means
Indenture: A contract binding a person to work for another for a set number of years. Haynes was bound out as an infant and served until he was twenty-one. People of the Revolutionary War: Lemuel Haynes: The Minuteman Who Became a Pastor
Index of Economic Freedom: The Heritage Foundation's annual ranking of more than 180 countries, now in its 32nd edition. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Comparing the Record
Industrial policy: Government use of subsidies, tax breaks or protection to build up chosen industries. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Mercantilism; Government steering of credit, trade and investment toward chosen industries. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Comparing the Record
Infallibility: The claim of never being wrong. Franklin asked each delegate to doubt a little of his own. People of the Constitution: Benjamin Franklin at the Convention: Doubt, Prayer and Compromise
Infant industry argument: The claim that a young industry needs temporary protection from foreign competition until it can stand on its own. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Mercantilism
Infanticide: The killing of a newborn. It is one of the subjects the Schaeffer and Koop book and film series took up. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The 1970s: Life and Death Questions
Infomercial: A paid television program, usually thirty or sixty minutes long, that looks like regular programming. Perot used them to lecture on the federal debt with charts. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: 1992: The Campaign
Inherent: Belonging to a person by nature and from birth, as the word is used in Jefferson's rough draft and in Mason's first article. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Founders on Natural Rights
Inoculation: The 1700s method of giving a person a small dose of smallpox matter on purpose, to bring on a milder case and lasting immunity. It was risky and required weeks of recovery. People of the Revolutionary War: Abigail Adams: The Farmer Who Told John to Remember the Ladies
Inspector General: The officer responsible for drill, discipline and inspection. Washington made Steuben temporary Inspector General, and Congress confirmed it. People of the Revolutionary War: Friedrich von Steuben: The Drillmaster of Valley Forge
Institutionalism: In Pierson's essay The Acacia Illusion, the reflexive defense of institutions on habit, identity and survival instinct rather than performance or morality: loyalty to process instead of principle. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Middle and Lower Rows: Drift and Domination
Instrumentalism: Dewey's view that ideas are tools for solving problems, to be judged by how they work in experience. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Dewey and the Schools
Intelligence: Information about an enemy's plans, numbers and movements. People of the Revolutionary War: James Armistead Lafayette: The Spy Who Fooled Cornwallis
Invalid Corps: A unit of wounded or disabled soldiers given lighter duty. Corbin was attached to it at West Point. People of the Revolutionary War: Margaret Corbin: The Woman Who Kept the Gun Firing
Invalid pension: A pension paid to a veteran disabled by service. Sampson received one in 1805. People of the Revolutionary War: Deborah Sampson: The Soldier Called Robert Shurtleff
Invisible hand: Adam Smith's phrase for the way people pursuing their own interests can end up serving others without intending to. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: What Every Economic System Must Decide; Smith's phrase for the way a person pursuing his own gain can end up serving a wider good that was no part of his intention. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations
Is-ought problem: Hume's observation that writers slide from statements about what is to statements about what ought to be, without showing how the second follows from the first. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kant and the Split Between Fact and Value
Ius gentium: Latin for 'law of nations.' In Roman law, rules common to all peoples, such as contracts and the law of war. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Natural Law From Cicero to Aquinas

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Jasperware: A fine unglazed stoneware developed by Josiah Wedgwood, often made with white figures raised on a colored ground. The anti-slavery medallion of 1787 was made of it. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Slavery, Abolition and the Arts
Joint-stock company: A company owned by many shareholders and run by directors, which Smith distrusted because directors manage other people's money. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations
Judiciary Act of 1789: The statute that set up the federal court system: a Supreme Court of six justices, district courts and circuit courts. Ellsworth and William Paterson were its main authors. People of the Constitution: Oliver Ellsworth: Partly National, Partly Federal
Jury: A body of local citizens who decide the facts of a case. A jury in Great Barrington decided Freeman's. People of the Constitution: Elizabeth Freeman: Mum Bett Takes the Constitution at Its Word
Jury nullification: A jury's refusal to convict even where the facts fit the charge, because it finds the law or its use unjust. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Common Law: Custom, Precedent and the Jury; A jury's refusal to convict a defendant who plainly broke a law because the jury finds the law unjust. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Slavery: The Founding Breach

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Kettle Creek: A Georgia battle fought on February 14, 1779, in Wilkes County, where Patriot militia defeated a Loyalist force under James Boyd. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Hart: The Georgia Legend and What the Record Holds
Knowledge problem: Hayek's name for the fact that the knowledge an economy runs on is scattered among millions of people, much of it about particular times and places, and never exists in one mind or one office. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Hayek and the Knowledge Problem
Knowlton's Rangers: A scouting unit Washington formed in August 1776 under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton. Hale served in it. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale: The Schoolteacher Hanged as a Spy
Kosciuszko Uprising: The 1794 Polish revolt against Russian and Prussian rule that Kosciuszko led. People of the Revolutionary War: Thaddeus Kosciuszko: The Engineer Who Chose the Ground
Kulak: A label used by Soviet authorities for supposedly well-off peasants. In practice it was applied to anyone who resisted collectivization. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Communism

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L'Abri: French for 'the shelter.' The study community Francis and Edith Schaeffer opened in their home at Huémoz, Switzerland, in 1955, now with branches in several countries. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Francis Schaeffer: A Life of Hard Questions; French for "the shelter." The community the Schaeffers opened in Huémoz, Switzerland, in 1955, where students study, work and talk through hard questions about God and culture. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Francis Schaeffer: The Man and L'Abri; The study and fellowship community Schaeffer and his wife founded in Switzerland in 1955, where visitors asked questions about faith and culture. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Reading Schaeffer Today and the Voices That Built on Him
Laboratory School: The experimental school Dewey founded at the University of Chicago in 1896 to test his theories. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Dewey and the Schools
Laffer curve: A curve showing that tax revenue is zero at a 0 percent rate and at a 100 percent rate, so some rate in between raises the most revenue. Its real shape is an empirical question. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Supply-Side Economics, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams
Land bank: A 1739 Massachusetts scheme that issued paper money against mortgaged land. Parliament shut it down in 1741 and its directors, including Adams's father, were left liable. People of the Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams: The Tax Collector Who Organized a Revolution
Language game: Lyotard's name for a type of speech with its own rules, such as science, law or art. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Postmodern Turn: Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida
Last surviving signer: After Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4, 1826, Carroll was the only signer still alive. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Carroll of Carrollton: The Last Surviving Signer
Lauriger Horatius: The traditional tune to which Maryland, My Maryland was set, better known as the tune of the carol O Tannenbaum. Art, Music and Writing: Confederate Songs: Dixie and the Bonnie Blue Flag
Law and economics: The use of economic reasoning to explain and evaluate legal rules, developed at Chicago by Director, Coase, Posner and others. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Chicago School: Price Theory Applied to Everything
Law of nature: A moral law that binds all people because of what they are, whether or not any government has enacted it. Locke said reason teaches it to anyone who will consult it. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Garden and the First Law
Law of revelation: The divine law found in Scripture, which Blackstone treated as a second foundation under all human law. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: William Blackstone
Leave to withdraw: An eighteenth-century legislative phrase that politely rejected a petition. The Massachusetts General Court gave it to the officers who praised Salem Poor. People of the Revolutionary War: Peter Salem and Salem Poor: Two Black Soldiers of Bunker Hill
Lee Resolution: Richard Henry Lee's motion of June 7, 1776, that the United Colonies 'are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.' Congress passed it on July 2. The Founding of the Republic: Independence, 1776
Left and right: Political labels that began as seating positions in the French National Assembly in 1789 and now serve as shorthand for a spectrum of opinion that changes from country to country and era to era. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Left, Right and the Third Paths
Left-libertarianism: A school that accepts self-ownership but holds that natural resources such as land belong to everyone in an egalitarian way, so that those who claim them may owe compensation to others. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: What Libertarians Believe
Left-right spectrum: The one-dimensional political map that places movements on a single line from left to right. The terms come from the seating of the French National Assembly in 1789. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Where Left and Right Came From
Legal positivism: The view that law is whatever the proper authorities enact, whether or not it is just. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Natural Law From Cicero to Aquinas
Legion: A mixed unit of cavalry and infantry under one commander. Lee's Legion numbered about 300 and could scout, raid and fight on its own. People of the Revolutionary War: Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Cavalryman Who Eulogized Washington
Legitimacy: The rightful exercise of authority. In Jeff A. Pierson's usage, authority is legitimate when it rests on consent conditioned by justice, is limited by law, and is directed toward the good of the governed. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Legitimate Authority and Its Limits
Lesser magistrate: An official below the supreme ruler (a town officer, a provincial assembly, a noble) who, in Reformation-era teaching, may resist a tyrant on the people's behalf when private persons may not. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Legitimate Authority and Its Limits; A lower officer or body that, on this Protestant doctrine, may lawfully resist a higher authority acting unjustly. Lesson 02 introduced it. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Concord: Why the Resistance Was Lawful in Their Eyes
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania: Twelve essays Dickinson began publishing in late 1767 attacking the Townshend Acts and arguing that Parliament could regulate trade but not tax the colonies for revenue. People of the Constitution: John Dickinson: The Penman Who Would Not Sign Twice
Lex, Rex: Latin for 'the law is king.' Samuel Rutherford's 1644 book arguing that rulers are under the law and that the people may resist a tyrant. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Law and Resistance: The 1979 and 1981 Books
Libby Prison: A Confederate prison for Union officers in Richmond, Virginia, where Chaplain Charles McCabe was held in 1863. Art, Music and Writing: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Liberal theology: Nineteenth and early twentieth century Protestant thought that tried to restate Christianity in terms the modern world, its science and its historical criticism, could accept. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The New Theology: Barth and the Liberal Church
Liberty Political Matrix: Pierson's two-axis classification tool, grounded in the Ordered Liberty Framework, that sorts people and movements by moral grounding and by their relationship to institutional power. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Where Left and Right Came From
License: Freedom with no restraint on appetite or harm to others. The founders and Jeff both treat it as liberty's counterfeit. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: What Ordered Liberty Means
Lieutenant governor: The second-ranking British official of a province. Henry Hamilton held the post at Detroit and supplied Native war parties that raided the frontier. People of the Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark: The Frontier General of the Northwest
Lifetime score: A scorecard rating that averages a member's record over every year the group has scored him, as distinct from a single year or session. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Comparing the Pauls: Father and Son
Light infantry: Fast-moving infantry used for scouting, raids and skirmishes. Sampson served in a light infantry company. People of the Revolutionary War: Deborah Sampson: The Soldier Called Robert Shurtleff
Line of battle: The formation in which warships sailed one behind another so that every ship could fire broadsides at the enemy. Admirals fought by keeping the line. People of the Revolutionary War: Comte de Grasse: The Admiral Who Closed the Chesapeake
Line of despair: Schaeffer's name for the point at which a field of thought gave up the hope of a unified, rational answer to life. He said it came first in philosophy, then art, music, general culture and last theology. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer Reads the West: The 1976 Book and Film Series; Schaeffer's name for the point in modern thought where people gave up hope of one rational answer covering both facts and meaning, and began to look for meaning in a separate realm. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kierkegaard and the Leap
Little platoon: Burke's 1790 phrase for the small groups a person first belongs to, such as family, parish and rank, from which love of country grows. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Writers Who Put Culture First
Livre: The main French money of account. NPS counts the Havana money in livres, while a Spanish source counts it in pesos. People of the Revolutionary War: Comte de Grasse: The Admiral Who Closed the Chesapeake; The French unit of account. One million livres was a very large sum in the 1770s. People of the Revolutionary War: Pierre Beaumarchais: The Playwright Behind Secret French Aid
Logrolling: Trading votes: a legislator supports another's project in return for support on his own. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The Critics and the Answers
Long march through the institutions: A strategy credited to the German student leader Rudi Dutschke around 1967: change society by working inside its institutions over many years. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Writers Who Put Culture First
Loyal Nine: A small Boston group that organized the 1765 Stamp Act protests. Adams was closely associated with them, and sources differ on whether he was a member. People of the Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams: The Tax Collector Who Organized a Revolution
Loyalist: A colonist who stayed loyal to the Crown during the Revolution. Wilson opposed Pennsylvania's plan to seize Loyalist property. People of the Constitution: James Wilson: The Scot Who Wanted a Broad Base; A person in America who stayed loyal to the Crown during the Revolution. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Brant: The Mohawk Who Chose the Crown; An American colonist who stayed loyal to the Crown. Hale's cousin Samuel and the storekeeper Consider Tiffany were Loyalists. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale: The Schoolteacher Hanged as a Spy; An American who stayed loyal to the Crown. Also called a Tory. Nearly all of Ferguson's men were Loyalists born in America. People of the Revolutionary War: The Overmountain Men: The Frontiersmen Who Won Kings Mountain; A colonist who stayed loyal to the Crown. Sumter's men took Loyalist property, including enslaved people, as plunder. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Sumter: The Carolina Gamecock
Loyalty questionnaire: A form given to camp residents in early 1943. Question 27 asked about willingness to serve in combat and Question 28 asked for an oath of allegiance that Issei, who could not become citizens, found impossible to answer cleanly. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans

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Magna Carta: Latin for 'Great Charter.' The agreement King John sealed at Runnymede on June 15, 1215, and the later reissues that became part of English statute law. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Magna Carta and the English Charters
Major general: The highest rank in the Continental Army under Washington's own. Congress gave Lafayette the rank at 19. People of the Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette: The Teenage General Who Wanted Slavery Ended; The highest rank Congress commonly gave in the Continental Army. De Kalb held it from the fall of 1777. People of the Revolutionary War: Johann de Kalb: The Self-Made Baron Who Held the Line at Camden
Malinvestment: In Austrian business cycle theory, investment drawn into projects that only looked profitable because credit expansion held interest rates artificially low. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Mises, Rothbard and the Austrian School
Maltster: A person who prepares malt for brewers. Adams worked in the family malthouse. Some accounts call the business a brewery. People of the Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams: The Tax Collector Who Organized a Revolution
Man of system: Smith's name for the reformer so in love with his plan that he would arrange society like pieces on a chessboard, forgetting that each person has a principle of motion of his own. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Markets and Moral Order
Mandamus counselor: A member of the Massachusetts governor's council appointed by the Crown under the 1774 Massachusetts Government Act, instead of being elected by the legislature. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Art of the Revolution
Manslaughter: An unlawful killing without the planning or malice that makes it murder. The jury found two soldiers guilty of it. People of the Revolutionary War: Crispus Attucks: What the Record Shows About the Boston Massacre
Manumission: The formal act of freeing an enslaved person. Salem Poor received his on July 10, 1769, after paying 27 pounds. People of the Revolutionary War: Peter Salem and Salem Poor: Two Black Soldiers of Bunker Hill; The act of an owner, or in this case a legislature, freeing an enslaved person. People of the Revolutionary War: James Armistead Lafayette: The Spy Who Fooled Cornwallis; The act of an owner freeing an enslaved person. Wheatley wrote that her master gave her freedom after her return from England. People of the Revolutionary War: Phillis Wheatley: The Enslaved Poet Washington Answered; The legal act of freeing an enslaved person. Rush filed papers for William Grubber in 1788. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Rush: The Doctor Who Titled Common Sense and Crossed Washington
Marginal tax rate: The share of the next dollar of income that goes to taxes. Supply-siders argue it matters more for incentives than the average rate. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Supply-Side Economics, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams
Marine Committee: The committee of the Continental Congress that ran naval affairs and issued Barry's first orders. People of the Revolutionary War: John Barry: The Irish-Born Captain Who Held Commission Number One
Market socialism: A proposed system, associated with Oskar Lange, in which firms are publicly owned but a planning board sets prices by trial and error. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Socialism
Maryland Line: The Continental regiments raised by Maryland. De Kalb led a division of Maryland and Delaware Continentals south in 1780. People of the Revolutionary War: Johann de Kalb: The Self-Made Baron Who Held the Line at Camden
Mass meeting: In the civil rights movement, a large evening gathering in a church, with preaching, prayer, songs and plans for the next day's action. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture and Law in American History
Massachusetts Government Act: A May 1774 act of Parliament that revoked parts of the 1691 charter, made the governor's council a royal appointment and forbade town meetings without the governor's leave. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Concord: Why the Resistance Was Lawful in Their Eyes
Massachusetts Provincial Congress: The assembly the towns of Massachusetts elected in 1774 after Parliament altered the colony's charter. It governed outside royal control until 1775. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Warren: The Doctor Who Sent Revere
Massacre oration: The annual Boston address given on the anniversary of the March 5, 1770 shootings. Warren gave it in 1772 and 1775. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Warren: The Doctor Who Sent Revere
Matross: A soldier who assisted the gunners of an artillery piece by loading, sponging and moving it. Corbin's husband served in such a role. People of the Revolutionary War: Margaret Corbin: The Woman Who Kept the Gun Firing
Means of production: The land, tools, factories and other capital used to make goods. Who owns them is the dividing question among the four systems. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: What Every Economic System Must Decide; The land, factories, machines and other capital used to make goods and services. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Socialism
Medieval synthesis: The joining of Christian faith with Greek philosophy and Roman law in the universities and law books of the Middle Ages, best known in Thomas Aquinas. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Roots of Western Culture: Jerusalem, Athens and Rome
Memoirs: Lee's 1812 book on the war in the South. It is a valuable first-hand source and sometimes a self-flattering one. People of the Revolutionary War: Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Cavalryman Who Eulogized Washington
Memorial: A written petition to a legislature. Salomon sent one to Congress in 1778. People of the Revolutionary War: Haym Salomon: The Broker Behind the Myth; A formal written request to a government body. Goddard sent one to Washington and a petition to the Senate. People of the Revolutionary War: Mary Katharine Goddard: The Printer Who Put the Signers' Names on the Declaration
Men without chests: Lewis's phrase for people trained in intellect and appetite but not in the trained feeling that links them. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Lewis and The Abolition of Man
Mercantile system: The set of policies Smith attacked, built on the idea that wealth is money and that exports should exceed imports. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations
Mercantilism: The doctrine that a nation grows rich by running a surplus in foreign trade and that government should steer commerce to that end. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Mercantilism
Meschianza: A grand fete held in Philadelphia on May 18, 1778 for General William Howe. Andre helped plan it. People of the Revolutionary War: John Andre: The British Spy Master Hanged at Tappan
Metanarrative: A grand story that claims to explain history and justify knowledge, such as progress through reason or liberation of the working class. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Postmodern Turn: Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida
Militia: The body of able-bodied men, in Massachusetts those from 16 to 60, required by colonial law to train and turn out in defense of their towns. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Concord: Why the Resistance Was Lawful in Their Eyes; Part-time citizen soldiers called up by the states. At Cowpens Morgan used them in a way that fit their habits. People of the Revolutionary War: Daniel Morgan: The Wagoner Who Won at Cowpens; Part-time citizen soldiers called out by local colonels. Henry Ludington commanded a Dutchess County regiment of about 400 men. People of the Revolutionary War: Sybil Ludington: The Midnight Ride the Record Cannot Confirm; Part-time soldiers raised by a county or state. Both sides at Kings Mountain were militia. People of the Revolutionary War: The Overmountain Men: The Frontiersmen Who Won Kings Mountain
Minarchism: The view that a state is legitimate only if it is limited to protecting rights: police, courts and national defense. Nozick's 'minimal state' is the best-known version. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: What Libertarians Believe
Minister Plenipotentiary: A diplomat with full authority to act for his government. Morris served as the U.S. minister to France after ratification. People of the Constitution: Gouverneur Morris: The Pen of the Constitution; A diplomat with full authority to act for his government. Ellsworth went to France in 1799. People of the Constitution: Oliver Ellsworth: Partly National, Partly Federal
Minstrel show: A stage entertainment popular from the 1840s in which white performers in blackface sang, danced and joked in mock-plantation dialect. Dixie was written for one. Art, Music and Writing: Confederate Songs: Dixie and the Bonnie Blue Flag
Minute man: A Massachusetts militiaman in a company organized to turn out on short notice. Peter Salem marched as one on April 19, 1775. People of the Revolutionary War: Peter Salem and Salem Poor: Two Black Soldiers of Bunker Hill
Minute men: Companies of younger, readier militiamen, about a quarter of the militia, recommended by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in October 1774 to be ready on the shortest notice. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Lexington and Concord
Minuteman: A militiaman in colonial Massachusetts pledged to turn out on short notice. Haynes joined his town's company in 1774. People of the Revolutionary War: Lemuel Haynes: The Minuteman Who Became a Pastor
Mises Caucus: A faction founded in 2017 by Michael Heise, aligned with the ideas of Ron Paul, that won control of the Libertarian National Committee in 2022. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Libertarian Party
Mixed economy: An economy in which private ownership and markets operate alongside substantial government spending, regulation and ownership. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The American Mix and Economic Freedom Today
Mixed government: A constitution that blends rule by one, by the few and by the many so that each checks the others. The founders found it in Aristotle, Polybius, Cicero and the English constitution. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Roots of Western Culture: Jerusalem, Athens and Rome
Mob law: Lincoln's phrase in his 1838 Lyceum Address for punishment or redress carried out by a crowd outside the law. He wrote that there is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by it. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Forms of Lawful Resistance
Model company: A picked unit of about 120 men that Steuben trained first, so they could teach the rest. People of the Revolutionary War: Friedrich von Steuben: The Drillmaster of Valley Forge
Mohegan: A Native nation of southeastern Connecticut. Occom was born at Mohegan, near New London. People of the Revolutionary War: Samson Occom: The Mohegan Minister Who Funded Dartmouth
Molatto: The eighteenth-century spelling of a word used then for people of mixed African and other ancestry. It appears in the quotations below because witnesses and Adams used it, and it is now regarded as an offensive term. People of the Revolutionary War: Crispus Attucks: What the Record Shows About the Boston Massacre
Monetarism: The view that changes in the quantity of money are the main driver of changes in national income and prices, so that steady, predictable money growth is the best policy. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom
Money bill: A bill to raise revenue. The compromise gave the House the right to start them. People of the Constitution: Benjamin Franklin at the Convention: Doubt, Prayer and Compromise
Money bomb: A one-day online fundraising drive organized by supporters, often outside the campaign itself. Paul's backers made the tactic famous in 2007. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ron Paul: The Doctor Who Said No
Moor's Indian Charity School: Eleazar Wheelock's school in Lebanon, Connecticut, for Native students. It moved to New Hampshire and became tied to Dartmouth College. People of the Revolutionary War: Samson Occom: The Mohegan Minister Who Funded Dartmouth
Moral grounding: In Pierson's glossary, adherence to objective standards of truth and justice. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Two Axes: Moral Grounding and Institutional Power
Moral parity: Jeff's phrase for the rule that citizens and officials are held to the same moral standard. No person is beneath the law's protection and no official is above its restraint. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: What Ordered Liberty Means; The first of the expectations in Jeff A. Pierson's Ordered Liberty Reclaimed: citizens and government operate under the same moral standards, and neither side holds a moral exemption. Applied to enforcement, it binds the officer and the protester alike. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Immigration Law and Order Today
Moral sentiments: The feelings of sympathy and benevolence that Hutcheson and Smith treated as the natural bond of human society. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment Has Two Faces: Edinburgh and Paris
Mores: A Latin word for a people's moral habits and customs. Tocqueville used it for 'the whole moral and intellectual condition of a people.' Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture Before Politics: The Idea and Its Roots; The Latin word Tocqueville used for a people's habits, opinions and moral character taken together. His translator rendered it 'manners.' Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Writers Who Put Culture First
Morris notes: Promissory notes backed by Morris's own credit, used to pay for army supplies. People of the Revolutionary War: Robert Morris: The Merchant Who Financed the Revolution and Died Broke
Mudsill: The lowest timber of a house frame. James Henry Hammond used it in 1858 for the class he said every society must have to do its menial work. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Slavery, Abolition and the Arts
Mulberry Grove: The plantation near Savannah that Georgia gave Greene after the war. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathanael Greene: The General Who Lost Battles and Won the South
Multinomial probit: A statistical model for choices among three or more options. Political scientists used it to estimate how Perot voters would have divided without him. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: 1992: The Campaign
Muster: The formal inspection and enrollment of a recruit before a commanding officer. Under the 1778 act, a man became free when he passed muster. People of the Revolutionary War: The First Rhode Island Regiment: The Black Soldiers of Yorktown
Muster roll: A list of the soldiers present with a unit on a given date. Hull's survive and place him at Valley Forge. People of the Revolutionary War: Agrippa Hull: The Free Black Soldier Who Served Kosciuszko
Mutual restraint: The shared limit on both sides of the civic covenant: citizens do not exploit liberty for selfish ends, and officials do not stretch their power past its lawful bounds. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Supporting Legitimate Government

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NAFTA: The North American Free Trade Agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico, in force from January 1, 1994 until the USMCA replaced it on July 1, 2020. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Perot's Platform and the Reform Party
Narragansett: The Native nation of southern Rhode Island, whose men served in the regiment. People of the Revolutionary War: The First Rhode Island Regiment: The Black Soldiers of Yorktown
Narrative: The account of Hamilton's early life that Mulligan wrote between about 1810 and 1815 at the request of Hamilton's son. People of the Revolutionary War: Hercules Mulligan: The Tailor Who Dressed the Enemy and Spied on Him; Martin's memoir, published in 1830 as A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers, and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Plumb Martin: The Common Soldier Who Wrote It All Down
National emergency tariff: A tariff imposed by the President under a declared national emergency instead of by an act of Congress. Congress may vote to end the emergency by joint resolution. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Comparing the Pauls: Father and Son
National Historic Trail: A route recognized by Congress for its place in American history. The Overmountain Victory Trail follows the Patriot march. People of the Revolutionary War: The Overmountain Men: The Frontiersmen Who Won Kings Mountain
National principle: The idea that a government should represent people according to their numbers. Ellsworth said the House should reflect it. People of the Constitution: Oliver Ellsworth: Partly National, Partly Federal
Nationalization: Transfer of a private firm or whole industry into state ownership. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Socialism
Natural aristocracy: Smith's phrase for the few men whom talent, education and wealth set above the rest in any society, whatever the law says. People of the Constitution: Melancton Smith: The Antifederalist Who Voted Yes
Natural experiment: A situation in which history divides similar populations and applies different policies, giving a rough comparison without a researcher controlling anything. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Comparing the Record
Natural law: A standard of right and wrong grounded in human nature and reason, binding on everyone, and prior to any government's statutes. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Natural Law From Cicero to Aquinas; The idea that certain moral truths about right and wrong bind everyone and can be known by reason and conscience, whatever a government enacts. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: What Ordered Liberty Means; A moral law that human reason can know, binding on all people and all governments, which Cicero and Aquinas both described. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Roots of Western Culture: Jerusalem, Athens and Rome; A moral law that binds all people and can be known by reason. Locke taught that it comes from the Maker of mankind. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment: Reason and Rights; The idea that there is a moral order built into human nature that reason can know and that no government makes. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Nietzsche and the Death of God; The idea that some moral rules bind everyone because they follow from the kind of beings humans are. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Lewis and The Abolition of Man
Natural rate of unemployment: Friedman's term for the rate of unemployment that the real structure of the labor market would produce when expectations are correct, which monetary policy cannot hold below for long. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman the Economist
Natural right: A right that comes from the Creator and from human nature, not from a government's grant. A government may protect it or violate it, but it did not give it. People of the Constitution: Prince Hall: A Free Black Citizen Petitions the New Republic; A claim that belongs to a person because of what a person is, and not because a government or a class granted it. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Marx and the Theory of Class
Natural rights: Rights a person holds because of what he is, a creature made by God with reason and conscience, and not because a king or legislature granted them. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Founders on Natural Rights; Rights that belong to every person by nature or by God, whether or not a government recognizes them. Haynes built his anti-slavery argument on them. People of the Revolutionary War: Lemuel Haynes: The Minuteman Who Became a Pastor; Claims such as life, liberty and property that belong to a person by nature and that government exists to protect. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment: Reason and Rights
Natural selection: Darwin's name for the process by which individuals with helpful inherited variations leave more offspring, so that those variations spread. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Darwin and the New Story of Origins
Natural state: In Enlightenment thought, the condition of people before government. The Sheffield Declaration claimed that in it, all are equal and free. People of the Constitution: Elizabeth Freeman: Mum Bett Takes the Constitution at Its Word
Naturalism: The view that nature is all there is and that explanations need nothing outside it. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Dewey and the Schools
Nature and grace: The medieval pairing of the created, visible world (nature) with God, heaven and the soul (grace). Schaeffer argued that once nature was treated as independent of God, it slowly 'ate up' grace. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Art, Truth and the Christian
Necessary and proper clause: Article I, Section 8, last clause: Congress may make all laws necessary and proper for carrying the listed powers into execution. The Founding of the Republic: The Bill of Rights and the First Government
Necessary and sufficient condition: A necessary condition must be present for an outcome to occur. A sufficient condition guarantees it. Friedman said capitalism is the first for political freedom but not the second. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom
Negative and positive liberty: Isaiah Berlin's terms. Negative liberty is freedom from interference. Positive liberty is the capacity to act, which in political form often means goods or services a government supplies. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: What Ordered Liberty Means
Negative income tax: Friedman's proposal that families with income below a set level receive a cash supplement through the tax system, in place of many separate programs. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom; Friedman's proposal to replace many welfare programs with one cash payment that phases out as earnings rise. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The Critics and the Answers
Negative liberty: Isaiah Berlin's term for freedom from interference: the absence of constraints imposed by other people. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Critics, and an Ordered-Liberty View
Negative on state laws: Madison's proposed power for the national legislature to veto state laws. The Convention rejected it on July 17, 1787. People of the Constitution: James Madison: The Man Who Kept the Notes
Neighborhood effect: Friedman's term for a cost or benefit that falls on people outside a transaction. He argued that general schooling for citizenship has one, which justifies public funding, while vocational training does not. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman: The Public Policy Voice
Neighborhood effects: Friedman's term for costs or benefits that fall on third parties who cannot be charged or paid, and one of the justifications he accepted for some government action. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom
Neo-orthodoxy: The name often given to Barth's theology and its relatives, which turned back toward the Word of God and the great Reformation themes after liberalism. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The New Theology: Barth and the Liberal Church
Neo-Platonism: A revival of Plato's philosophy in fifteenth-century Florence, which Schaeffer said humanists used to try to put universals back into an 'upper story.' Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Art, Truth and the Christian
Neoclassical: Art and building modeled on ancient Greece and Rome. Americans used it to link their republic to the ancient republics. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Arts of the Early Republic
Neutrality: Staying out of a war. Spain was officially neutral until 1779 while its governor in Louisiana helped the Americans. People of the Revolutionary War: Bernardo de Galvez: The Spaniard Who Opened the Mississippi; Refusing to fight for either side. Many Native communities chose it in the Revolution, and many were pulled in anyway. People of the Revolutionary War: Samson Occom: The Mohegan Minister Who Funded Dartmouth
Neutrality Proclamation: Washington's April 22, 1793 statement that the United States would follow a friendly and impartial course toward the nations at war in Europe. The Founding of the Republic: Washington's Precedents and the Peaceful Transfer
New Economic Policy (NEP): Lenin's partial retreat of 1921 that replaced grain requisition with a tax and allowed small private trade. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Communism
New Hampshire Grants: The land between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain that New Hampshire's governor sold to settlers. New York claimed the same ground, and the fight over it produced the Green Mountain Boys. People of the Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen: The Green Mountain Boy Who Took Ticonderoga
New Jersey Plan: William Paterson's June 15 proposal to amend the Articles of Confederation, keeping one house of Congress with an equal vote for each state. The Founding of the Republic: The Constitutional Convention of 1787; The plan Paterson presented on June 15, 1787, to amend the Articles of Confederation, keep one legislative house with an equal vote for each state, and add some new federal powers. People of the Constitution: William Paterson: The New Jersey Plan
New York Manumission Society: A group founded in 1785 to work for the end of slavery in New York. Mulligan was among its early members. People of the Revolutionary War: Hercules Mulligan: The Tailor Who Dressed the Enemy and Spied on Him
Newburgh Conspiracy: A threat of action by Continental Army officers against Congress in March 1783 over back pay, ended by Washington's address on March 15. The Founding of the Republic: War and the Articles of Confederation
News desert: A county with no local news outlet consistently producing original reporting, as defined by Northwestern University's Medill School. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: What Culture First Asks of Citizens
Nihilism: The loss of belief that anything has real value or meaning. Nietzsche thought it was coming for Europe and wanted to overcome it. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Nietzsche and the Death of God
Ninety Six District: The South Carolina backcountry district where Salvador held land and which sent him to the Congress. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Salvador: The Jewish Planter Killed on the Cherokee Frontier
Ninth Amendment: The amendment saying that listing certain rights does not deny or disparage others retained by the people. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Rights in the Founding Documents
Nisei and Issei: Nisei are the American-born children of Japanese immigrants, and citizens by birth. Issei are the immigrants themselves, who were barred by law from becoming citizens. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans
Nobel Prize in Literature: The 1957 prize awarded to Camus. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Sartre, Camus and the Absurd
Noble train of artillery: Knox's own phrase for the cannon and mortars he brought from Ticonderoga to Boston. People of the Revolutionary War: Henry Knox: The Bookseller Who Hauled the Guns
Nolan chart: A two-axis chart drawn by David Nolan in 1969 and published in 1971 that plots economic freedom against personal freedom, placing libertarianism outside the left-right line. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Why One Line Fails: The False Paradigm
Nominalism: The medieval teaching, linked to William of Ockham, that universal terms are only names. Richard Weaver blamed it for the West's loss of belief in real, transcendent truths. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Writers Who Put Culture First
Non-aggression principle: The rule, central to Rothbard and the Libertarian Party, that no one may initiate force or the threat of force against another person or that person's property. Force used in defense is permitted. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: What Libertarians Believe
Non-importation: An agreement among colonists not to buy goods from Britain, used as an economic weapon against Parliament's taxes. The Founding of the Republic: The Road to Revolution, 1763-1775
Non-resistance: The teaching that subjects must never resist their rulers, however bad, a doctrine often drawn from Romans 13. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Locke, Sidney and the Right of Resistance
Nonaggression axiom: Rothbard's principle that no person or group may initiate or threaten physical violence against the person or property of anyone else. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Mises, Rothbard and the Austrian School
None of the above: An option some parties and states allow on a ballot. Libertarian convention delegates can vote for it, and in 2024 it took 36.6 percent on the final ballot against Chase Oliver. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Libertarian Party
Noninterventionism: A foreign policy that avoids military action abroad unless the nation is attacked or Congress declares war, and that opposes foreign aid and permanent alliances that commit the country to fight. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ron Paul: The Doctor Who Said No
Northwest Ordinance: The 1787 act of the Confederation Congress that set up government in the territory north of the Ohio River and guaranteed certain rights there. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Rights in the Founding Documents; The law of July 13, 1787, by which Congress organized the territory north of the Ohio River and promised its eventual division into states equal to the original thirteen. The Founding of the Republic: The Crisis of the 1780s; The law of 13 July 1787 that organized the territory north of the Ohio River and named religion, morality, and knowledge as necessary to good government. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Dewey and the Schools
Northwest Territory: The land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi that Britain gave up in the Treaty of Paris of 1783. People of the Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark: The Frontier General of the Northwest
Notes of Debates: Madison's daily record of the Convention, published after his death. It is the fullest account of what delegates said. People of the Constitution: James Madison: The Man Who Kept the Notes
Noumena: Things as they are in themselves, apart from how we perceive them. Kant held that we cannot know them by theory. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kant and the Split Between Fact and Value
Nullification: The claim that a state, or an official acting for it, may declare a federal law void within its borders. Kentucky asserted it in 1799 and South Carolina acted on it in 1832. Andrew Jackson and the Supreme Court rejected it. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Forms of Lawful Resistance

O

Oath: A solemn promise made before God or on a person's honor, on which courts and public office have long depended. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: From Garden to Republic: Virtue, Faith and Self-Government
Occupational licensing: A legal requirement to hold a government license to work in an occupation. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The American Mix and Economic Freedom Today
Office of Finance: The department Robert Morris ran as Superintendent of Finance from 1781. People of the Revolutionary War: Haym Salomon: The Broker Behind the Myth
Old Style and New Style: The two calendars in use in Paine's day. Britain moved from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752, which moved dates forward by eleven days. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Paine: The Pamphleteer Who Argued for Independence
Old Whig: Hayek's chosen label: the English tradition of limited government under a higher law, which he traced to 1688 and to James Madison. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Hayek and the Knowledge Problem
Olive Branch Petition: Congress's last petition to King George III, adopted July 5, 1775, asking him to stop the conflict. He refused to receive it. The Founding of the Republic: Independence, 1776; A 1775 appeal from the Second Continental Congress to King George III, drafted by Dickinson, asking him to join in a reconciliation. People of the Constitution: John Dickinson: The Penman Who Would Not Sign Twice
Open system: The view Schaeffer credited to early modern scientists: nature runs on regular causes, but God and, in a measure, persons act freely within it. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Darwin and the New Story of Origins
Operation HOTFOOT: The name, according to the Perot family's account, of the 1979 plan in which retired Colonel Arthur Simons trained a handful of EDS employees with combat experience to free two colleagues from prison in Tehran. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ross Perot: The Man Before the Campaign
Opportunity cost: What you give up when you pick one use of a scarce thing over the next best use. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: What Every Economic System Must Decide
Oral tradition: History carried by telling and retelling inside a community. It is a record kept by people, and it can be checked against paper records but is not the same kind of evidence. People of the Revolutionary War: Polly Cooper: The Oneida Woman Who Fed Valley Forge; History passed by spoken retelling. It can preserve real events, but details may shift before anyone writes them down. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Ward: The Beloved Woman of the Cherokee; History passed along by retelling, with no document behind it. It can hold true memories, and it changes as it travels. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Hart: The Georgia Legend and What the Record Holds; A story handed down by word of mouth in a family or community, often long before anyone writes it down. People of the Revolutionary War: Anna Strong and Agent 355: The Women of the Culper Ring
Ordered liberty: In Jeff A. Pierson's usage, the moral structure of a free people: freedom exercised within just law, sustained by conscience, and bound by the Constitution, with a shared duty to hold government accountable and to support legitimate government. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: What Ordered Liberty Means; As used in this course, liberty that recognizes a shared duty of holding government accountable and supporting legitimate government. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: What Culture First Asks of Citizens
Orderly: A soldier assigned to an officer to carry messages, tend his needs and run errands. Hull served two generals this way. People of the Revolutionary War: Agrippa Hull: The Free Black Soldier Who Served Kosciuszko
Orderly book: An army record of daily orders and events. A British orderly book noted Hale's execution. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale: The Schoolteacher Hanged as a Spy
Ordination: The formal act by which a church or association of ministers authorizes a man to serve as a minister. Haynes was ordained in Connecticut in November 1785. People of the Revolutionary War: Lemuel Haynes: The Minuteman Who Became a Pastor
Ordoliberalism: A German school of economists, centered at Freiburg and including Ropke and Rustow, that defended free markets inside a strong legal order against monopoly and concentrated power. It shaped West Germany's social market economy. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Markets and Moral Order
Orthography: The accepted way of spelling a language. Webster wanted an American orthography, such as color for colour. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Arts of the Early Republic
Overhill Cherokee: The Cherokee towns on the Little Tennessee River, west of the mountains. Chota was their capital. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Ward: The Beloved Woman of the Cherokee
Overmountain Men: Settlers who lived west of the Blue Ridge, in what is now eastern Tennessee and southwest Virginia, and rode east to fight Ferguson. People of the Revolutionary War: The Overmountain Men: The Frontiersmen Who Won Kings Mountain

P

Pamphlet: A short unbound booklet, usually a few sheets folded and stitched, sold cheaply. The main form of political argument in the 1700s. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Writings of the Revolution
Panopticon: Jeremy Bentham's prison design in which a central guard can see every cell, and prisoners cannot tell when they are watched. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Postmodern Turn: Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida
Panorama: A very wide view, or a painting made to show one, often taken from a high place. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Painters of the American Wilderness
Paper barrier: Madison's name for a written limit on power that depends on public respect to work. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Rights in the Founding Documents
Paper money: Notes issued by a state and declared to be legal payment for debts. Debtors favored it, since it lowered the real value of what they owed, and creditors opposed it. The Founding of the Republic: The Crisis of the 1780s
Paradox: For Kierkegaard, a truth that offends ordinary expectation, most of all the claim that God became a man. He did not mean a plain logical contradiction. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kierkegaard and the Leap
Paramount: Superior in authority. Mason complained that national law was paramount to state bills of rights. People of the Constitution: George Mason: The Delegate Who Would Not Sign
Pardon exception: A named person left out of an offer of royal forgiveness. Gage's June 1775 proclamation excepted Adams and Hancock. People of the Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams: The Tax Collector Who Organized a Revolution
Parliamentary sovereignty: The doctrine that Parliament is the highest lawmaker and that no court or other body may set aside what it enacts. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: William Blackstone
Parlor song: A sentimental song for voice and piano, sold as sheet music and sung at home by amateurs. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Music of the People
Parson Weems: Mason Locke Weems, a minister and book peddler who wrote the earliest popular biography of Washington and also a life of Marion that mixed fact and invention. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Marion: The Swamp Fox Behind the Legend
Partial agency: Madison's phrase for a limited share in another branch's work, such as the President's veto over bills. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers
Partisan: A fighter who operates on his own or with a small band behind enemy lines, outside the regular army's chain of command. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Marion: The Swamp Fox Behind the Legend; A leader of irregular troops who raids outposts and supply lines instead of fighting set battles. Sumter and Marion were the main partisans of South Carolina. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Sumter: The Carolina Gamecock
Partition of Poland: The division of Polish-Lithuanian territory among Russia, Prussia and Austria between 1772 and 1795. People of the Revolutionary War: Thaddeus Kosciuszko: The Engineer Who Chose the Ground
Patriarchalism: Sir Robert Filmer's theory that royal power descends from the fatherly authority God gave Adam, so that every king is the heir of the first father. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Garden and the First Law
Patriots of Color: George Quintal Jr.'s 2002 National Park Service study identifying African American and Native American men at Battle Road and Bunker Hill. People of the Revolutionary War: Peter Salem and Salem Poor: Two Black Soldiers of Bunker Hill
Paulus Hook: A British-held fort on the Hudson River at what is now Jersey City, New Jersey, taken by Lee's night attack on August 19, 1779. People of the Revolutionary War: Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Cavalryman Who Eulogized Washington
Pension: A regular payment to a veteran. Congress began paying pensions to needy veterans of the Continental line in 1818. People of the Revolutionary War: Agrippa Hull: The Free Black Soldier Who Served Kosciuszko; Regular payment to a veteran. Martin's was approved in 1818 at $96 a year. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Plumb Martin: The Common Soldier Who Wrote It All Down
Permanent income: Friedman's term for the income a household expects to last, as against temporary windfalls or shortfalls. He argued that spending follows permanent income. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman the Economist
Persistent vegetative state: A condition of wakefulness without awareness, as in the case of Karen Ann Quinlan. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The 1970s: Life and Death Questions
Personal liberty laws: Northern state laws that, among other things, required jury trials or barred state officials from helping return alleged fugitives. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Slavery: The Founding Breach
Personal peace: In Schaeffer's usage, the wish to be let alone and not troubled by other people's troubles, at home or abroad, for the length of one's own life. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer Reads the West: The 1976 Book and Film Series
Peso: The Spanish silver coin, also called the piece of eight or Spanish dollar, used all over the Americas in Pollock's day. People of the Revolutionary War: Oliver Pollock: The New Orleans Merchant Who Paid for the War in the West
Petit jury: The trial jury, a group of citizens who decide the facts in a case and return a verdict. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Common Law: Custom, Precedent and the Jury; The trial jury that decides a case. Federal law says citizens have 'an obligation to serve as jurors when summoned for that purpose.' Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Supporting Legitimate Government
Petition: A formal written request to a legislature. Armistead's owner and then Armistead himself used petitions to win his freedom and later his pension. People of the Revolutionary War: James Armistead Lafayette: The Spy Who Fooled Cornwallis; A written request to a legislature. Black Bostonians in the 1770s and 1780s used petitions because they could not vote their way out of slavery. People of the Constitution: Prince Hall: A Free Black Citizen Petitions the New Republic
Petition drive: The collection of voter signatures that state law requires before an independent candidate's name may appear on the ballot. Each state sets its own number and deadline. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: 1992: The Campaign
Petition for redress: A formal request to government to correct a wrong. The First Amendment protects 'the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.' Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Forms of Lawful Resistance
Petition of Right: The 1628 statement by Parliament that the king could not tax without parliamentary consent, jail people without cause shown, or quarter soldiers in private homes. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Magna Carta and the English Charters
Phenomena: Things as they appear to us within the frame of our senses and understanding. Kant held that science gives knowledge of phenomena. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kant and the Split Between Fact and Value
Phillips curve: The observed pattern, first drawn for Britain by A. W. Phillips in 1958, that low unemployment goes with higher wage and price inflation and the reverse. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman the Economist
Philosophes: The French writers of the Enlightenment, among them Voltaire, Diderot and d'Alembert, who sought to apply reason to religion, society and government. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment Has Two Faces: Edinburgh and Paris
Pinckney Plan: A draft constitution Charles Pinckney said he laid before the Convention on May 29, 1787. No contemporary copy survives, and most historians doubt the later text he supplied is what he presented. People of the Constitution: Charles Pinckney: The Young Delegate and His Plan
Plein air: Painting or sketching outdoors, in front of the subject, rather than in the studio. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Painters of the American Wilderness
Plenary power: The doctrine, from Fong Yue Ting v. United States (1893), that Congress and the President hold very broad authority over who may enter and stay, so that courts review immigration decisions only lightly. Later cases insist that the Constitution still applies. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Immigration Law and Order Today
Plunder: Property taken from an enemy or from civilians. Both sides in the Carolina war practiced it, and Greene complained of it often. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Sumter: The Carolina Gamecock
Plurality: The largest number of votes in a race, even if it is less than half. Clinton won 1992 with a plurality of 43.01 percent. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: 1992: The Campaign
Pointillism: Seurat's method of building a picture from small dots of pure color that the eye blends at a distance. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Modern Art and Music: What Schaeffer Saw
Policy feedback: The finding in political science that laws, once passed, change the habits and attitudes of the people who live under them. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture Before Politics: The Idea and Its Roots
Polis: The Greek city-state, a small self-governing community of citizens. Aristotle wrote his Politics about it. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Roots of Western Culture: Jerusalem, Athens and Rome
Political label: A name for a person's side or affiliation, such as conservative, liberal or moderate. Pierson's complaint is that labels describe affiliation and say little about conduct. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Where Left and Right Came From
Poll tax: A flat tax charged per person rather than on property or income. Thoreau's refusal to pay the Massachusetts poll tax led to his night in jail in 1846. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Literature of the Young Nation
Populism: In Cas Mudde's widely used definition, an ideology that divides society into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups, the pure people and the corrupt elite, and says politics should express the general will of the people. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Left, Right and the Third Paths
Portia: The pen name Abigail signed to her May 7, 1776 letter and some others. People of the Revolutionary War: Abigail Adams: The Farmer Who Told John to Remember the Ladies
Positive economics: Economics that describes what is and predicts what will happen, as distinct from normative economics, which says what ought to be. Friedman used the term in his 1953 essay on method. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Map of Free-Market Thought
Positive good: John C. Calhoun's 1837 claim that slavery was not a necessary evil but a benefit to both races, which became the standard pro-slavery position. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Slavery, Abolition and the Arts
Positive law: Law as enacted by a legislature or announced by a court, as distinct from natural law. Lord Mansfield held in 1772 that slavery could exist only by positive law. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Slavery: The Founding Breach
Positive liberty: Berlin's term for freedom to: the ability to pursue one's goals, or self-mastery. Berlin warned that the idea could be turned into coercion in the name of a person's 'true' self. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Critics, and an Ordered-Liberty View
Post rider: A person on horseback who carried mail between towns. Goddard said she paid riders from her own money during the war. People of the Revolutionary War: Mary Katharine Goddard: The Printer Who Put the Signers' Names on the Declaration
Postmaster: The local official who runs a post office, receives the mail and sends it on. In Goddard's day he or she also arranged the riders who carried it. People of the Revolutionary War: Mary Katharine Goddard: The Printer Who Put the Signers' Names on the Declaration
Postmodern: A label for thought that doubts grand stories, universal reason and fixed meaning. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Postmodern Turn: Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida
POW/MIA: Prisoners of war and service members missing in action. Perot campaigned for American POWs in Vietnam from 1969 and later pressed the claim that some had been left behind after 1973. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ross Perot: The Man Before the Campaign
Powder Alarm: The panic of September 1-2, 1774, after British troops removed gunpowder from the provincial magazine near Boston. False rumors that blood had been shed brought thousands of militiamen onto the roads. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Lexington and Concord
Power of the purse: The authority to raise and spend public money. Colonial assemblies held it and used it to restrain governors. The Founding of the Republic: Colonial Self-Government
Power-Seekers: Matrix cell: center and strongly authoritarian. They pursue dominance through any available mechanism and use order and chaos interchangeably; loyal to ambition, not principle. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Middle and Lower Rows: Drift and Domination
Power/knowledge: Foucault's claim that systems of knowledge and systems of power support each other. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Postmodern Turn: Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida
Praxeology: Mises's name for the deductive study of human action. It starts from the fact that people act purposefully and draws conclusions by logic. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Map of Free-Market Thought
Pre-evangelism: Schaeffer's word for clearing away a person's intellectual obstacles so that the gospel could be heard. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Francis Schaeffer: The Man and L'Abri
Preamble: The opening paragraph of the Constitution, beginning 'We the People of the United States,' that states the purposes of the new government. People of the Constitution: Gouverneur Morris: The Pen of the Constitution
Precedent: An earlier decision that judges follow when the same question comes up again. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Common Law: Custom, Precedent and the Jury; An action that later officeholders treat as a guide because the first one to hold the office took it. The Founding of the Republic: Washington's Precedents and the Peaceful Transfer
Prejudice (Burke's sense): A settled opinion held without a full chain of argument, which Burke thought often carries the stored wisdom of many generations. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment Has Two Faces: Edinburgh and Paris
Presupposition: A basic belief a person assumes without arguing for it. Schaeffer held that people act out their presuppositions whether or not they admit them. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Nietzsche and the Death of God
Price signal: The information carried by a price about what is scarce and what is plentiful, which tells buyers and sellers how to adjust. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Capitalism: Prices, Property and Profit
Price system: The network of prices set by buying and selling, which tells people what is scarce and what is plentiful. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: What Every Economic System Must Decide
Price theory: The core Chicago toolkit: explain behavior by how prices, costs and incentives shape choices, then test the explanation against evidence. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Chicago School: Price Theory Applied to Everything
Primary source: A document made at the time of the events, such as a letter, a code book or a newspaper issue. People of the Revolutionary War: Anna Strong and Agent 355: The Women of the Culper Ring
Principled Independents: Matrix cell: independent and morally grounded. They act from conscience rather than ideology or procedure, cooperate with institutions without relying on them, and judge each issue on its merits. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Upper Row: Defenders, Independents and Rebel Patriots
Printing (edition): One run of copies from set type. A pamphlet could go through many printings in many towns, each by a different printer. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Writings of the Revolution
Private property: The right of persons to own, use, trade and bequeath things, including land, tools and their own labor. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Capitalism: Prices, Property and Profit
Prize: An enemy or neutral ship captured at sea. Crews were paid shares of the sale, which is why raiding was a business as well as a war measure. People of the Revolutionary War: John Paul Jones: The Scottish Captain Who Raided Britain's Own Coast
Proceduralism: In Pierson's glossary, the elevation of process above moral outcome. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Two Axes: Moral Grounding and Institutional Power
Proclamation: A formal public announcement by a governor or commander. Dunmore and Clinton each used one to offer something to the enslaved people of their enemies. People of the Revolutionary War: Boston King and Thomas Peters: Two Black Loyalists Who Left America
Profit and loss: Profit means revenue exceeds the cost of the resources used. Loss means the reverse, and it tells owners to stop or change course. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Capitalism: Prices, Property and Profit
Progressive education: A movement, with Dewey among its best-known voices, that stressed learning by doing, the child's interests, and the school as a community. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Dewey and the Schools
Prohibition: The national ban on making, selling and transporting alcohol under the Eighteenth Amendment, in force from January 1920 until repeal in December 1933. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture and Law in American History
Proletariat: The class of wage workers who own no means of production. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Marx and the Theory of Class
Propaganda: Words or pictures made to push people toward a belief or an action, often by leaving out or bending facts. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Art of the Revolution; Pictures or words made to move opinion rather than to record events. Revere's print of the shooting is the standard example. People of the Revolutionary War: Crispus Attucks: What the Record Shows About the Boston Massacre
Property (Locke's sense): Locke's general name for the lives, liberties and estates of the people, not only land and goods. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Locke, Sidney and the Right of Resistance
Providence: The belief that God governs events in the world. Franklin cited it on June 28. People of the Constitution: Benjamin Franklin at the Convention: Doubt, Prayer and Compromise; God's purposeful governance of the world and of history, the idea at the center of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: The Civil War in Art, Music and Words
Provincial Congress: The extralegal assembly the elected representatives of Massachusetts formed on October 7, 1774, after Gage cancelled the General Court. It governed most of the province outside Boston. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Concord: Why the Resistance Was Lawful in Their Eyes; South Carolina's revolutionary assembly, which met from January 1775 and ran the colony after royal government collapsed. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Salvador: The Jewish Planter Killed on the Cherokee Frontier
Provisional placement: A placement read from the record to date, open to revision as the record grows. Pierson writes that individuals may move between categories depending on context, incentives and pressure. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Using the Matrix Honestly
Provost: A military prison in British-held Manhattan. Recent archival work places Selah Strong there. People of the Revolutionary War: Anna Strong and Agent 355: The Women of the Culper Ring
Proxy signature: A signature placed by one person for another with permission. George Read signed the Constitution for Dickinson. People of the Constitution: John Dickinson: The Penman Who Would Not Sign Twice
Pseudonym: A pen name. Warren signed her 1788 pamphlet "A Columbian Patriot." People of the Revolutionary War: Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen of the Revolution; A false name used by a writer. Dickinson wrote as 'A Farmer,' Mercy Otis Warren as 'A Columbian Patriot,' and Paine signed Common Sense 'an Englishman.' Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Writings of the Revolution; A made-up author's name. Kierkegaard published many books as imaginary authors such as Johannes de silentio and Johannes Climacus so that readers would weigh the argument, not his reputation. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kierkegaard and the Leap
Public choice: The study of government and voters using the same assumptions of self-interest economists apply to markets. Associated with James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The Critics and the Answers
Public funding: The federal grant to presidential nominees from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. A minor party whose nominee won 5 to 25 percent of the vote in the last election can qualify for a partial grant. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Perot's Platform and the Reform Party
Public good: A good, such as national defense, that people can use without paying and that one person's use does not reduce for others, which makes it hard to supply by sale alone. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The Critics and the Answers
Public record: A writing held by a public agency. Idaho law gives every person a right to examine and copy one, with a presumption that records are open. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Supporting Legitimate Government
Publius: The pen name Hamilton, Madison and Jay used for the eighty-five essays of The Federalist. The Founding of the Republic: Ratification: Federalists and Anti-Federalists
Pulaski's Legion: An independent corps of cavalry and infantry he raised in 1778, mostly around Baltimore. People of the Revolutionary War: Casimir Pulaski: The Polish Cavalryman Who Fell at Savannah

Q

Qasr prison: The Tehran prison where EDS employees Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord were held in early 1979 until a revolutionary crowd broke it open on February 11, 1979. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ross Perot: The Man Before the Campaign
Qualified party: In Idaho, a political party that meets one of the three tests in Idaho Code 34-501 and so may hold primaries and place nominees on the general election ballot. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Libertarian Party
Quantitative easing: Large-scale purchases of longer-term securities by a central bank once its short-term interest rate is near zero, used by the Fed from November 2008. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Critics and the Evidence
Quarter: Mercy granted to a surrendering enemy. To ask for quarter is to surrender. Captain Pearson's question to Jones was about quarter. People of the Revolutionary War: John Paul Jones: The Scottish Captain Who Raided Britain's Own Coast
Quartermaster General: The officer who supplied the army with food, wagons, tents and forage. Greene held the post from 1778 to 1780. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathanael Greene: The General Who Lost Battles and Won the South
Quasi-War: The undeclared naval conflict between the United States and France from 1798 to 1800. The Founding of the Republic: Washington's Precedents and the Peaceful Transfer; The undeclared naval conflict between the United States and France from 1798 to 1800, in which Barry commanded in the West Indies. People of the Revolutionary War: John Barry: The Irish-Born Captain Who Held Commission Number One
Quero: The 62-ton Salem schooner, commanded by Captain John Derby, that carried the colonists' depositions to London in May 1775. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Concord: Why the Resistance Was Lawful in Their Eyes

R

Ratifying convention: A special assembly of delegates elected in a state to vote on the Constitution, as Article VII directed. The Founding of the Republic: Ratification: Federalists and Anti-Federalists; A special state assembly, elected to vote on the Constitution. Nine states had to approve it before it took effect. People of the Constitution: Melancton Smith: The Antifederalist Who Voted Yes
Rational expectations: The assumption that people use all available information, including what they know about government policy, when forming forecasts. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Chicago School: Price Theory Applied to Everything
Rational ignorance: Anthony Downs's point that a voter has little reason to study public issues, because one vote almost never decides an election and the time spent learning is costly. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Public Choice and Government Failure
Readymade: Marcel Duchamp's term for an ordinary manufactured object chosen and presented as art. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Modern Art and Music: What Schaeffer Saw
Rebel Patriots: Matrix cell: highly independent and morally grounded. They disrupt centralized power and corruption to defend natural rights, are motivated by restoration rather than revolution, and need clear standards to avoid overreach. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Upper Row: Defenders, Independents and Rebel Patriots
Recommendatory amendments: Changes a state convention suggested to the first Congress while ratifying the Constitution without conditions. The Founding of the Republic: Ratification: Federalists and Anti-Federalists; Amendments suggested by a state convention for the first Congress to consider. The Founding of the Republic: The Bill of Rights and the First Government
Reconstruction Amendments: The Thirteenth (1865), Fourteenth (1868) and Fifteenth (1870) Amendments, which ended slavery, defined citizenship and equal protection, and barred racial limits on voting. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Slavery: The Founding Breach
Redoubt: An enclosed earthwork fort. The Americans built one on Breed's Hill the night before the Battle of Bunker Hill. People of the Revolutionary War: Peter Salem and Salem Poor: Two Black Soldiers of Bunker Hill; A small, closed earthwork used for defense. The British held Redoubts 9 and 10 on the edge of their line at Yorktown. People of the Revolutionary War: The First Rhode Island Regiment: The Black Soldiers of Yorktown; A small, enclosed earth fort. Arnold was wounded storming the Breymann Redoubt at Saratoga on October 7, 1777. People of the Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold: The Hero Who Sold West Point
Redoubt No. 10: A British earthwork at Yorktown stormed on the night of October 14, 1781, by Hamilton's and Laurens's light infantry. People of the Revolutionary War: John Laurens: The Soldier Who Asked Congress to Free Slaves
Reformational philosophy: The Dutch Calvinist school of Herman Dooyeweerd and others, which held that every area of life stands under God's law. Rookmaaker brought it to Schaeffer. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Art, Truth and the Christian
Regulars: The professional soldiers of the British Army, as distinct from colonial militia. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Lexington and Concord
Regulators: The name taken by the protesters who closed courts in western Massachusetts in 1786, borrowed from an earlier North Carolina movement. The Founding of the Republic: The Crisis of the 1780s
Regulatory capture: A situation in which an agency created to regulate an industry ends up serving that industry. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The Critics and the Answers
Reign of Terror: The period of mass arrests and executions in France in 1793 and 1794. It ended after Robespierre's fall in July 1794. People of the Revolutionary War: Rochambeau: The French General Who Marched to Yorktown; The period from September 5, 1793, to July 27, 1794, when the French revolutionary government used mass arrest and execution to defend itself. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The Enlightenment Has Two Faces: Edinburgh and Paris
Religious Right: A name, used by supporters and opponents alike, for the movement of evangelical and other religious Americans into organized political action from the late 1970s. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Law and Resistance: The 1979 and 1981 Books
Religious test: A requirement that an officeholder profess certain beliefs. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Rights in the Founding Documents; A requirement that an officeholder profess a belief. Article VI of the Constitution forbids one for any federal office or public trust. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: From Garden to Republic: Virtue, Faith and Self-Government; A requirement that an officeholder profess a certain faith. Article VI, Clause 3 bans them for federal office. People of the Constitution: Charles Pinckney: The Young Delegate and His Plan
Removal proceeding: The civil process in which an immigration judge decides whether a noncitizen may be removed from the United States. The person receives notice, a hearing, the chance to present evidence, and the privilege of counsel at no expense to the government. The Supreme Court calls removal a civil matter, not a criminal one. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Immigration Law and Order Today
Rent seeking: Spending time and money to obtain a transfer of wealth through government, such as a subsidy, tariff or license limit, instead of creating new wealth. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Public Choice and Government Failure
Replica: A copy of a painting made by the artist himself. Stuart painted dozens of replicas of his Washington portraits. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Arts of the Early Republic
Reprimand: A formal written or spoken rebuke. Washington delivered Arnold's in General Orders on April 6, 1780. People of the Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold: The Hero Who Sold West Point
Republic: A government in which the supreme power rests in the people or in a body chosen by them. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers; A government in which power is held by the people and exercised by elected officers who answer to them and rule under law. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: From Garden to Republic: Virtue, Faith and Self-Government
Requisition: A formal request by Congress to the states for money or soldiers. Under the Articles, Congress could ask but could not compel. The Founding of the Republic: War and the Articles of Confederation; A request from Congress to the states to pay a share of national expenses. Martin wanted direct taxes collected this way first. People of the Constitution: Luther Martin: The Delegate Who Went Home
Rerum Novarum: The 1891 encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the condition of workers. It rejected socialism and defended private property while insisting on just wages and worker dignity. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Marx and the Theory of Class
Revolt: Camus's answer to the absurd: refuse to give in, live fully, and stand with others against injustice. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Sartre, Camus and the Absurd
Riddell Memorial Lectures: A lecture series at the University of Durham in which Lewis gave the talks that became the book. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Lewis and The Abolition of Man
Rifleman: A soldier armed with a long rifle, which was accurate at far greater range than a musket but slow to load. People of the Revolutionary War: Daniel Morgan: The Wagoner Who Won at Cowpens
Right reason: Cicero's phrase for reason working correctly, and the faculty by which people recognize natural law. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Natural Law From Cicero to Aquinas
Rights of Englishmen: The inherited liberties of English subjects under common law and statute, which the colonists claimed they carried with them overseas. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Magna Carta and the English Charters; The liberties the colonists claimed under Magna Carta, the common law and their charters. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Founders on Natural Rights
RINO: Republican In Name Only, a party epithet. The matrix replaces it with distinct categories, because conduct the epithet describes can belong to a System Loyalist, a Self-Preserver or a Principled Independent. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: Using the Matrix Honestly
Roderigue Hortalez and Company: The cover firm, written Hortalez et Cie in French, through which Beaumarchais sold munitions to the Americans. People of the Revolutionary War: Pierre Beaumarchais: The Playwright Behind Secret French Aid
Roe v. Wade: The 1973 Supreme Court decision, 7 to 2, that held the right of privacy covers the abortion decision, within limits set by the state's interests. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The 1970s: Life and Death Questions
Roll call vote: A recorded vote in which each member's yes or no is published. The Clerk of the House posts every House roll call online. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ron Paul: The Doctor Who Said No
Romance: In Hawthorne's use, a work of fiction that claims freedom to mix the real and the imagined in order to reach moral truth, as opposed to a strictly realistic novel. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Literature of the Young Nation
Romans 13: The passage in Paul's letter to the Romans, verses 1 to 7, telling Christians to be subject to the governing authorities. Its meaning for tyrannical rulers has been argued for centuries. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Legitimate Authority and Its Limits
Rotation in office: A rule that an officeholder must step down after a set time. Smith defended a plan to limit senators to six years in any twelve. People of the Constitution: Melancton Smith: The Antifederalist Who Voted Yes
Roundabout production: Producing by longer methods that use tools and stages, which take more time but yield more output. Bohm-Bawerk's term. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Mises, Rothbard and the Austrian School
Royal Academy: The Royal Academy of Arts in London, founded in 1768, which held the most important yearly exhibition of new paintings in Britain. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Art of the Revolution
Rule of law: The principle that law applies to everyone, including officials, and protects persons and property from arbitrary power. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Capitalism: Prices, Property and Profit
Runaway advertisement: A newspaper notice offering a reward for an escaped enslaved person. One from 1750 is the main evidence for Attucks's early life. People of the Revolutionary War: Crispus Attucks: What the Record Shows About the Boston Massacre

S

Salutary neglect: Burke's phrase for the loose way Britain managed its American colonies before 1763, which left colonial assemblies room to govern themselves. The Founding of the Republic: Colonial Self-Government
Samson Occom: A Mohegan Presbyterian minister. Wheatley's letter to him in February 1774 defended the natural right of Africans to freedom. People of the Revolutionary War: Phillis Wheatley: The Enslaved Poet Washington Answered
Sanitary Commission: The United States Sanitary Commission, a civilian group that raised money and supplies for the care of Union soldiers. Howe's party went to Washington in 1861 partly to see its work. Art, Music and Writing: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Sappers and Miners: The Continental Army corps that dug trenches and cleared obstacles in sieges. Martin served in it as a sergeant. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Plumb Martin: The Common Soldier Who Wrote It All Down
Satire: Writing that mocks real people or institutions to criticize them. Warren wrote satirical plays against Governor Thomas Hutchinson. People of the Revolutionary War: Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen of the Revolution; Writing that attacks people or ideas by making them look ridiculous. Warren's plays satirized the royal officials of Massachusetts. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Writings of the Revolution
Saxhorn: A family of valved brass instruments patented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, which became the standard instruments of American brass bands in the 1850s. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Music of the People
Scarcity: The condition in which what people want adds up to more than exists. It is why every society must choose. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: What Every Economic System Must Decide
Scholarship granting organization: A nonprofit that collects donations and pays private school or education scholarships. The 2025 federal law gives donors a tax credit of up to $1,700 a year for gifts to them, starting in 2027. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman: The Public Policy Voice
Scientism: Hayek's word for the uncritical copying of the methods of the physical sciences in fields where they do not fit, such as the study of society. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Hayek and the Knowledge Problem
Scorecard: A rating an advocacy group publishes after choosing a set of votes, deciding which side it favors on each, and computing what share of the time a member voted its way. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Comparing the Pauls: Father and Son
Scottish common sense philosophy: A school of moral thought from Hutcheson and others holding that people share a natural moral sense. Witherspoon brought it into the Princeton curriculum. People of the Revolutionary War: John Witherspoon: The Preacher Who Taught the Founders and Signed for Independence
Second convention: A new general convention that Mason and others wanted to meet after the first to review the plan. People of the Constitution: George Mason: The Delegate Who Would Not Sign
Second Great Awakening: The revivals that began around 1800, including camp meetings like Cane Ridge in 1801, which fed the reform movements of the next half century. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture and Law in American History
Second Treatise of Government: The second half of John Locke's Two Treatises of Government, published anonymously at the end of 1689. It argues that government rests on consent and exists to protect property. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Locke, Sidney and the Right of Resistance
Secondhand account: A report by someone who heard the story from another person and did not witness the event. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale: The Schoolteacher Hanged as a Spy
Secret journals: Records of foreign and domestic business that Congress kept out of the published journals. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Thomson: The Secretary Who Kept Congress's Books
Secretary of Congress: The officer who kept the journals, certified the acts and held the papers and seal of the Continental Congress. Thomson held the post from 1774 to 1789. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Thomson: The Secretary Who Kept Congress's Books
Secretary of War: The cabinet officer in charge of the army. Knox held the post under the Confederation and then under Washington. People of the Revolutionary War: Henry Knox: The Bookseller Who Hauled the Guns
Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs: Paine held this post in Congress from 1777 until January 1779. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Paine: The Pamphleteer Who Argued for Independence
Section 215: The Patriot Act provision the government used to collect Americans' telephone records in bulk. It lapsed on June 1, 2015 and was replaced by the USA FREEDOM Act. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Rand Paul: The Senator Who Holds the Floor
Sedition: Conduct or speech meant to stir up resistance to lawful government. The Sedition Act of 1798 made certain criticism of the government a crime. The Founding of the Republic: Washington's Precedents and the Peaceful Transfer
Seditious libel: Under the old law, publishing words that criticized the government or its officers, whether or not the words were true. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Common Law: Custom, Precedent and the Jury; The old crime of publishing words that criticize the government, even true ones. John Peter Zenger was tried for it in 1735 and acquitted by a jury. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Forms of Lawful Resistance; The crime of publishing words said to stir up hatred of the government or unrest. Key prosecuted the abolitionist Reuben Crandall on such a charge in a trial that opened in April 1836. Art, Music and Writing: The Star-Spangled Banner
Self-ownership: The idea that each person has ownership rights over his or her own body and life, so that others may not use that person without consent. Locke wrote that 'every man has a property in his own person.' Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: What Libertarians Believe
Self-Preservers: Matrix cell: center and morally neutral. Driven by survival, relevance or advancement; they hedge, flex between sides and avoid accountability. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Middle and Lower Rows: Drift and Domination
Self-reliance: Emerson's idea that a person should trust his own judgment and conscience rather than conform to custom or public opinion. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Literature of the Young Nation
Self-styled title: A rank of nobility a man claims for himself without a grant from a ruler. Historians use the phrase for de Kalb's 'baron.' People of the Revolutionary War: Johann de Kalb: The Self-Made Baron Who Held the Line at Camden
Separation of powers: The division of government into legislative, executive and judicial parts, each held by different hands. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers; The division of government into legislative, executive and judicial branches, each able to check the others. People of the Constitution: James Madison: The Man Who Kept the Notes
Sephardic: Descended from the Jews of Spain and Portugal. The Salvador family fled Portugal after the Inquisition. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Salvador: The Jewish Planter Killed on the Cherokee Frontier
Septuagint: The ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Thomson translated it into English in retirement. People of the Revolutionary War: Charles Thomson: The Secretary Who Kept Congress's Books
Seventeenth Amendment: Ratified April 8, 1913, it replaced the original method, in which state legislatures chose U.S. senators, with direct election by voters. People of the Constitution: Roger Sherman: The Cobbler Who Made the Compromise
Shape notes: A way of printing music in which the head of each note has a different shape for each syllable of the scale (fa, sol, la, mi), so untrained singers can find the pitch. First published in The Easy Instructor of 1801. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Music of the People
Shareholder primacy: The view that the corporate executive's duty is to the owners of the company, within the law and ethical custom. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom
Shays's Rebellion: An armed protest by indebted Massachusetts farmers in 1786 and 1787 over taxes and debts. People of the Constitution: Prince Hall: A Free Black Citizen Petitions the New Republic
Sheffield Declaration: A set of resolves adopted by the town of Sheffield, Massachusetts, in January 1773. It said that mankind in a state of nature are equal, free and independent. People of the Constitution: Elizabeth Freeman: Mum Bett Takes the Constitution at Its Word
Sherrill decision: City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation (2005), in which the Supreme Court held that the Oneida could not revive tribal sovereignty over land they bought back on the open market. People of the Revolutionary War: Polly Cooper: The Oneida Woman Who Fed Valley Forge
Ship of the line: A large warship with two or three gun decks, built to fight in a battle line. De Grasse had 24 of them in the battle off the Capes. People of the Revolutionary War: Comte de Grasse: The Admiral Who Closed the Chesapeake
Side agreements: The labor and environmental agreements negotiated by the Clinton administration in 1993 and added to NAFTA before Congress voted on it. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Perot's Platform and the Reform Party
Siege: Surrounding a fortified place and cutting it off until it surrenders. People of the Revolutionary War: Bernardo de Galvez: The Spaniard Who Opened the Mississippi
Sierra Leone Company: The British company that took about 1,200 Nova Scotian settlers to West Africa in 1792 to found Freetown. People of the Revolutionary War: Boston King and Thomas Peters: Two Black Loyalists Who Left America
Sine die: Latin for 'without a day.' A body that adjourns sine die ends its session with no date to meet again. The Founding of the Republic: The Constitutional Convention of 1787
Sine qua non: Latin for a condition without which something will not happen. People of the Constitution: Roger Sherman: The Cobbler Who Made the Compromise
Singing school: A course of evening lessons in a town, taught by a traveling singing master, where young people learned to read music and sing in parts. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Songs of the Revolution
Skenandoah: An Oneida leader, also written Oskanondonha, who is named in the tradition as the man who sent the corn to Valley Forge. People of the Revolutionary War: Polly Cooper: The Oneida Woman Who Fed Valley Forge
Skinners: Bands of armed marauders who preyed on civilians in the lower Hudson Valley during the war. People of the Revolutionary War: Sybil Ludington: The Midnight Ride the Record Cannot Confirm
Slave Enlistment Act: The Rhode Island law of February 14, 1778, that let enslaved men enlist, freed them on muster and paid their owners a set value. People of the Revolutionary War: The First Rhode Island Regiment: The Black Soldiers of Yorktown
Slave narrative: An autobiography of a person who escaped or was freed from slavery, usually published with letters or prefaces from white supporters vouching for its truth. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Slavery, Abolition and the Arts
Social Assistance State: Centesimus Annus's critical name for a welfare state that takes over society's responsibilities and grows bureaucratic agencies, losing human energies in the process. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Markets and Moral Order
Social contract: The agreement by which free people form a political community and put themselves under its law. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Rousseau and the General Will
Social Darwinism: A label for the use of evolutionary language to defend policies about wealth, race, or the weak. It is tied more to Herbert Spencer than to Darwin. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Darwin and the New Story of Origins
Social market economy: The postwar West German order of free prices and competition within a legal framework and a social safety net, associated with Ludwig Erhard's 1948 reforms. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Markets and Moral Order
Socialism: In the strict sense, an economy in which the means of production are owned socially or by the state and decisions are made by plan instead of by market prices. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Socialism
Society of Friends: The formal name of the Quakers. Friends of Darragh's day held to a peace testimony and expected members to stay out of war. People of the Revolutionary War: Lydia Darragh: The Quaker Housewife and the Whitemarsh Warning
Sociological law: Schaeffer's term for law with no fixed base, made by a few people deciding what seems good for society at a given moment. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Law and Resistance: The 1979 and 1981 Books
Sons of Liberty: Groups formed in the colonies during the Stamp Act crisis to organize protests, often with public demonstrations. The Founding of the Republic: The Road to Revolution, 1763-1775; Groups of colonists who organized protests and sometimes mob action against British taxes and troops, beginning with the Stamp Act in 1765. People of the Revolutionary War: Hercules Mulligan: The Tailor Who Dressed the Enemy and Spied on Him
Southern Department: The Continental Army's command covering the Carolinas and Georgia. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathanael Greene: The General Who Lost Battles and Won the South
Sovereign: The holder of final authority. For Rousseau it is the whole body of citizens acting as lawmaker. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Rousseau and the General Will
Sovereignty: Final authority to govern. Paterson argued that under the Articles each state held an equal share. People of the Constitution: William Paterson: The New Jersey Plan
Spanish Louisiana: The territory west of the Mississippi and the city of New Orleans, held by Spain from 1763 to 1800. People of the Revolutionary War: Bernardo de Galvez: The Spaniard Who Opened the Mississippi
Special artist: A newspaper or magazine artist sent to the front to draw events for publication as wood engravings, the job Winslow Homer did for Harper's Weekly. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: The Civil War in Art, Music and Words
Special election: An election held to fill a vacant seat before the regular term ends. Paul first entered Congress through one in April 1976. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Ron Paul: The Doctor Who Said No
Specie: Money in coin, gold or silver, as opposed to paper currency. People of the Revolutionary War: Esther de Berdt Reed: The Ladies Who Sewed 2,000 Shirts; Gold and silver coin, as opposed to paper money or promises to pay. Continental paper had collapsed in value, so coin was scarce and prized. People of the Revolutionary War: Rochambeau: The French General Who Marched to Yorktown; Gold and silver coin. Continental paper money lost value, so soldiers, spies and foreign sellers often had to be paid in specie. People of the Revolutionary War: Robert Morris: The Merchant Who Financed the Revolution and Died Broke
Speller: A schoolbook for teaching spelling, reading and pronunciation, arranged in graded lists of words and short lessons. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Arts of the Early Republic
Sphere sovereignty: Abraham Kuyper's teaching that family, church, school, business, science and art each have their own God-given authority, which the state may not absorb. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Writers Who Put Culture First
Spirit (Geist): Hegel's word for the shared mind of a people and an age as it comes to know itself. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Hegel and the March of History
Spiritual: A religious folk song created by enslaved African Americans, usually built on Bible stories and sung in call-and-response. The first published collection appeared in 1867. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Music of the People
Spoiler: A candidate who cannot win but whose presence changes which of the leading candidates does. Whether Perot was one in 1992 is the main argument of this lesson's last section. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: 1992: The Campaign
Spontaneous order: An order that arises from many people following rules and pursuing their own plans, without anyone designing the result. Language, common law and markets are Hayek's usual examples. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Hayek and the Knowledge Problem
Spy: Under the customs of war, a man who gathers information in disguise behind enemy lines. Spies were hanged, not shot. People of the Revolutionary War: John Andre: The British Spy Master Hanged at Tappan
Spymaster: The officer who runs agents and collects their reports. Tallmadge held the job for Washington from 1778. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Tallmadge and the Culper Ring: Washington's Spy Network
Stagflation: High inflation together with high unemployment and weak growth, the combination that the 1970s produced and that simple Phillips-curve thinking said could not happen. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman the Economist
Stamp duty: A tax collected by requiring that paper be bought already stamped by the government. The 1765 Stamp Act put it on newspapers, pamphlets, legal papers, licenses and playing cards. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Writings of the Revolution
Standing army: A permanent professional army kept up in peacetime. Gerry and many others thought it a danger to liberty. People of the Constitution: Elbridge Gerry: The Skeptic From Marblehead
Staple crops: The main export crops of the Southern states, such as tobacco and rice. Mason feared a Congress dominated by Northern merchants could drive their price down. People of the Constitution: George Mason: The Delegate Who Would Not Sign
State of nature: Locke's name for the condition of people before government, in which all are free and equal but still bound by the law of nature. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Garden and the First Law; The condition of people before government. Martin said going to the citizens at large to approve a new government would throw them back into it. People of the Constitution: Luther Martin: The Delegate Who Went Home
Stewardship: In the ordered-liberty framework, the duty to treat life, power and resources as entrusted and to care for them on behalf of family, community and creation. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Markets and Moral Order
Strict scrutiny: The test that courts apply to laws that sort people by race. The government must show a compelling reason and a close fit. Justice Black stated the idea in Korematsu and then upheld the order anyway. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans
Subjective value: The idea that the value of a good lies in the importance people attach to it for their own purposes, not in the labor or materials that went into it. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Mises, Rothbard and the Austrian School
Subjectivism: The view that value statements only report the speaker's feelings. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Lewis and The Abolition of Man
Sublime: In the art and writing of the 1700s and 1800s, the feeling of awe, even fear, that vast or wild things such as storms, cliffs and waterfalls produce. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Painters of the American Wilderness
Subscription: A fund raised by pledges or gifts from many people. Reed used the word for the women's collection. People of the Revolutionary War: Esther de Berdt Reed: The Ladies Who Sewed 2,000 Shirts
Subsidiarity: The principle in Catholic social teaching that a higher community should not take over the functions of a lower one, such as the family or a local association, but should support it when needed. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Markets and Moral Order
Suffolk Resolves: Resolutions adopted by delegates of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on September 9, 1774, rejecting the Coercive Acts and endorsed by the First Continental Congress on September 17. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Concord: Why the Resistance Was Lawful in Their Eyes; Resolutions adopted by delegates of the towns of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on September 9, 1774, declaring the Coercive Acts void and urging a boycott, militia training and a Provincial Congress. Warren drafted them. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Warren: The Doctor Who Sent Revere
Summary View: Jefferson's 1774 pamphlet addressed to the king, which argued that Parliament had no right to govern the colonies. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Founders on Natural Rights
Sumter's Law: The 1781 pay plan under which ten-month state troops were promised slaves taken from Loyalists. The name was applied by later writers to the plan. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Sumter: The Carolina Gamecock
Sunrise and sunset review: Legislative review of whether a new licensing requirement is needed (sunrise) or an existing one should continue (sunset). Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The American Mix and Economic Freedom Today
Superintendent of Finance: The executive post Congress created in 1781 to run national money. Morris held it from 1781 to 1784. People of the Revolutionary War: Robert Morris: The Merchant Who Financed the Revolution and Died Broke
Superior Court: Connecticut's high trial court. Sherman was a judge on it from 1766. People of the Constitution: Roger Sherman: The Cobbler Who Made the Compromise
Supply-side economics: The view that tax rates and other rules shape how much people work, save and invest, so that policy should be judged by its effect on production and not only on demand. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Map of Free-Market Thought
Supremacy clause: Article VI, Clause 2, which makes the Constitution and federal laws and treaties the supreme law of the land. Resolution 6 of Paterson's plan said something similar. People of the Constitution: William Paterson: The New Jersey Plan
Surgeon General of the Middle Department: The Continental Army medical post Rush held from April 1777 to early 1778, covering the hospitals from New York to Maryland. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Rush: The Doctor Who Titled Common Sense and Crossed Washington
Swamp Fox: The nickname Marion earned after escaping Banastre Tarleton in the swamps of the Santee region in November 1780. People of the Revolutionary War: Francis Marion: The Swamp Fox Behind the Legend
Sworn testimony: A statement made under oath. Sampson gave hers in 1818 to support a federal pension. People of the Revolutionary War: Deborah Sampson: The Soldier Called Robert Shurtleff
Sycamore Shoals: A ford on the Watauga River at today's Elizabethton, Tennessee, where the Overmountain Men gathered on September 25, 1780. People of the Revolutionary War: The Overmountain Men: The Frontiersmen Who Won Kings Mountain
Sympathetic stain: An invisible ink that appears only when the reader brushes the page with a second chemical. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Tallmadge and the Culper Ring: Washington's Spy Network
Sympathy: In Adam Smith's moral philosophy, the capacity to share in the feelings of others by imagining ourselves in their place. It is the base of his account of moral judgment. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Markets and Moral Order
Synthesis: The joining of a position and its opposite into a higher view. In Schaeffer's account, the modern habit of seeking synthesis in place of plain true and false. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Hegel and the March of History
System Loyalists: Matrix cell: institutional and morally neutral. They value order, structure and process regardless of moral consequence, and will enforce unjust outcomes if the outcomes are procedurally correct. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Middle and Lower Rows: Drift and Domination
System of natural liberty: Smith's name for an arrangement in which, once preferences and restraints are removed, each person is free to pursue his own interest within the laws of justice. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations

T

Tactical defeat: Losing the field of a battle while still achieving a larger goal, such as weakening the enemy. People of the Revolutionary War: Nathanael Greene: The General Who Lost Battles and Won the South
Taking the roof off: Schaeffer's phrase for gently pressing a person to live out the logic of what he says he believes, until he feels the gap between his belief and his own life. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Francis Schaeffer: A Life of Hard Questions; Schaeffer's method of pressing a person's worldview to its logical conclusions until the person felt the weight of what the view could not explain. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Francis Schaeffer: The Man and L'Abri; Schaeffer's method of pressing a worldview to its conclusions to show where it cannot support life. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Reading Schaeffer Today and the Voices That Built on Him
Tariff-rate quota: A system that allows a set volume of imports at a low duty and charges a higher duty on imports above that volume. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The American Mix and Economic Freedom Today
Technopoly: Neil Postman's word for a culture that surrenders to technology, from the subtitle of his 1992 book. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Reading Schaeffer Today and the Voices That Built on Him
Teleological suspension of the ethical: Kierkegaard's pseudonym's phrase for the question raised by Abraham and Isaac: can a divine command override the ordinary moral rule? Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kierkegaard and the Leap
Temperance: The movement against heavy drinking, which began with calls for moderation and later sought legal prohibition. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Culture and Law in American History
Tenant farmer: A farmer who works land he does not own and pays rent. Lafayette wanted freed people to live this way. People of the Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette: The Teenage General Who Wanted Slavery Ended
Tender: A small vessel that serves a larger warship. The Edward was a tender of HMS Liverpool. People of the Revolutionary War: John Barry: The Irish-Born Captain Who Held Commission Number One
Tenth Amendment: The amendment reserving powers not delegated to the United States to the states or to the people. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Rights in the Founding Documents
Texel: A Dutch island and anchorage where Jones brought his prize and wounded in October 1779. People of the Revolutionary War: John Paul Jones: The Scottish Captain Who Raided Britain's Own Coast
Thayendanegea: Joseph Brant's Mohawk name. One source renders it roughly as he places two bets together. People of the Revolutionary War: Joseph Brant: The Mohawk Who Chose the Crown
The absurd: Camus's name for the clash between a person's demand for meaning and a silent world that supplies none. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Sartre, Camus and the Absurd
The American Crisis: A series of pamphlets Paine wrote from December 1776 to 1783. The first opens with 'These are the times that try men's souls.' People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Paine: The Pamphleteer Who Argued for Independence
The didactic heresy: Poe's name for the belief that the purpose of a poem is to teach a moral lesson. He held that a poem should be written for its own sake. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Literature of the Young Nation
The final bottom line: Schaeffer's phrase for the point at which a government so contradicts God's law that a Christian must disobey it. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Law and Resistance: The 1979 and 1981 Books
The leap: His name for the step modern people take when they give up rational hope of meaning but still reach for it in an 'upper story' by faith, art, drugs or mysticism without reasons. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Art, Truth and the Christian
The madman: The character in The Gay Science (section 125) who runs into a market with a lantern and announces that God has been killed. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Nietzsche and the Death of God
The Tao: C. S. Lewis's name in The Abolition of Man for the shared moral law found across the world's traditions. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Writers Who Put Culture First; Lewis's name for the body of objective values he found in all great moral traditions, from the Chinese word for the Way. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Lewis and The Abolition of Man
Theocracy: Government by clergy or by a religious body claiming direct divine authority. Schaeffer said plainly that he opposed it. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: What Culture First Asks of Citizens
Three-fifths clause: The rule in Article I, section 2 that counted three fifths of all 'other Persons' in apportioning representatives and direct taxes. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Slavery: The Founding Breach; The rule counting three-fifths of enslaved people in apportioning House seats and direct taxes. Wilson moved the June 11 amendment that first wrote the ratio into a Convention resolution. People of the Constitution: James Wilson: The Scot Who Wanted a Broad Base
Timberlake expedition: A 1761-62 mission to the Overhill Cherokee towns led by Henry Timberlake, which ended with a Cherokee delegation sailing to London. People of the Revolutionary War: Thomas Sumter: The Carolina Gamecock
Time preference: The general preference for having a good now over having the same good later. Bohm-Bawerk used it to explain why interest exists. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Mises, Rothbard and the Austrian School
Tom show: Any of the many stage versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin that toured America from 1852 into the twentieth century, often changing Stowe's story and borrowing from the minstrel show. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Slavery, Abolition and the Arts
Tory: A colonist who stayed loyal to the Crown, also called a Loyalist. Georgia's backcountry war pitted neighbors of both kinds against each other. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Hart: The Georgia Legend and What the Record Holds
Total truth: Nancy Pearcey's phrase for the claim that Christianity speaks to all of life and not only to private religion. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Reading Schaeffer Today and the Voices That Built on Him
Totalitarian democracy: J. L. Talmon's phrase for a government that claims the people's will as its warrant and then allows no private sphere outside it. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Rousseau and the General Will
Town meeting: A gathering of a New England town's voters to pass local laws, set the tax and choose officers. The Founding of the Republic: Colonial Self-Government; The New England assembly of local voters. Adams used the Boston Town Meeting as his main platform for years. People of the Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams: The Tax Collector Who Organized a Revolution
Townshend Acts: Parliament's 1767 duties on goods imported into the colonies, meant to raise revenue. People of the Constitution: John Dickinson: The Penman Who Would Not Sign Twice
Trade balance: The value of a country's exports minus its imports. A negative balance is a trade deficit. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Perot's Platform and the Reform Party
Transaction costs: The costs of finding a trading partner, bargaining, drawing up an agreement and enforcing it. Coase argued that they explain why firms exist and why legal rules matter. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: The Chicago School: Price Theory Applied to Everything
Transcendentalism: A New England movement of the 1830s to 1850s, led by Emerson, that held that every person can know truth directly through intuition and conscience, without depending on church, party or tradition. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Literature of the Young Nation
Transitional gains trap: Tullock's 1975 observation that the value of a government privilege gets built into the price of the asset that carries it, so later owners earn no special profit yet lose heavily if the privilege ends. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Public Choice and Government Failure
Treasuress: The word Reed's plan used for the woman chosen in each county to receive and hold the money. People of the Revolutionary War: Esther de Berdt Reed: The Ladies Who Sewed 2,000 Shirts
Treaty of Canandaigua: An agreement of 1794 in which the United States acknowledged the Oneida reservation and promised the Oneida free use and enjoyment of it. People of the Revolutionary War: Polly Cooper: The Oneida Woman Who Fed Valley Forge
Treaty of Paris (1783): The treaty signed on September 3, 1783, in which Great Britain recognized the United States as independent and set its boundaries. The Founding of the Republic: War and the Articles of Confederation
Trilogy: Schaeffer's name for his three foundational books: The God Who Is There (1968), Escape from Reason (1968) and He Is There and He Is Not Silent (1972). Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Francis Schaeffer: A Life of Hard Questions
True truth: Schaeffer's phrase for truth that is really so for God and for us, though not exhaustive, as opposed to truth that is only true for a person or a culture. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Art, Truth and the Christian
Trust: Locke's picture of government power: it is lent by the people to rulers for stated ends, and it can be taken back when the rulers betray those ends. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Locke, Sidney and the Right of Resistance
Tunebook: An oblong book of psalm and hymn tunes in parts, with a section teaching how to read music, used by singing schools and church choirs. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: Songs of the Revolution
Tusculum: Witherspoon's farm just outside Princeton, where he lived from 1779 and died in 1794. People of the Revolutionary War: John Witherspoon: The Preacher Who Taught the Founders and Signed for Independence
Twelfth Amendment: The 1804 amendment that had electors vote separately for president and vice president. The Founding of the Republic: Washington's Precedents and the Peaceful Transfer
Twelve Tables: The first written code of Roman law, drawn up in 451 and 450 B.C. and posted in the Forum so that citizens could read it. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Roots of Western Culture: Jerusalem, Athens and Rome
Tyranny: In Mayhew's sermon, rule contrary to law and equity, as opposed to government, which rules according to law and equity. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: Locke, Sidney and the Right of Resistance; In Locke's words, the exercise of power beyond right, used for the ruler's private advantage instead of the good of those under it. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Legitimate Authority and Its Limits

U

Unalienable rights: Rights that belong to a person by nature and that no government may legitimately give up or take away. The word in the final text is 'unalienable.' The Founding of the Republic: Independence, 1776; Rights the Declaration says come from the Creator, so that no government grants them and none may rightly take them away. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Darwin and the New Story of Origins; The Declaration's term for rights that come from the Creator and cannot be surrendered or taken. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The 1970s: Life and Death Questions
Unanimous consent of the States present: The signing formula the Convention used, so that delegates could sign as witnesses to the states' agreement, not as individual supporters of every clause. People of the Constitution: Benjamin Franklin at the Convention: Doubt, Prayer and Compromise
Unicameral: Having one legislative house rather than two. The Articles Congress was unicameral. People of the Constitution: William Paterson: The New Jersey Plan
Unitary executive: An executive branch headed by a single person, as opposed to a committee of two or three. Wilson moved for it on June 1, 1787. People of the Constitution: James Wilson: The Scot Who Wanted a Broad Base
Universal license recognition: A state law that lets a worker licensed in good standing in another state practice in the new state without starting over. Arizona enacted it in 2019. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: The Libertarian Party
Universal licensure: A rule that lets a worker licensed in good standing in another state obtain a license in the new state through a streamlined process. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: The American Mix and Economic Freedom Today
Universalism: The belief that all people will finally be saved. Haynes, a Calvinist, opposed it in a famous 1805 sermon. People of the Revolutionary War: Lemuel Haynes: The Minuteman Who Became a Pastor
Unstable Wildcards: Matrix cell: independent and morally ambiguous. Disruptive without a consistent moral framework; reactive and often ego-driven; may serve liberty or undermine it depending on circumstance. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Middle and Lower Rows: Drift and Domination
Upper story: Schaeffer's picture of modern thought, in which hope and meaning are placed above a line where reason cannot reach. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Sartre, Camus and the Absurd
Upper story and lower story: Schaeffer's picture of modern thought as a two-story house: a lower story of facts, reason and science with no meaning, and an upper story of meaning, faith or feeling with no connection to reason. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Schaeffer on Art, Truth and the Christian; Schaeffer's picture of modern thought, with facts and science below and meaning, morals and God above, and no stairs between. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kant and the Split Between Fact and Value; Schaeffer's picture of a divided house. The lower floor holds what reason and science can test. The upper floor holds meaning, morals, and God, cut off from reason. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Kierkegaard and the Leap
Upper-story leap: Schaeffer's phrase for a move in which art or religion claims meaning that reason cannot check. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Modern Art and Music: What Schaeffer Saw
Usurpation: Taking a power one has not been given. Washington's rule was that a constitution be changed by the amendment process and never by usurpation. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Supporting Legitimate Government
Utilitarian: Describing an ethic that judges actions by their total good results. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The 1970s: Life and Death Questions

V

Velocity of money: How many times a unit of money is spent in a year. Monetarism works best if velocity is stable and predictable. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman the Economist
Vergennes: The Comte de Vergennes, Louis XVI's foreign minister from 1774, who approved and managed the secret aid. People of the Revolutionary War: Pierre Beaumarchais: The Playwright Behind Secret French Aid
Vertical axis (matrix): Moral orientation. The upper half reflects alignment with natural law, constitutional limits and objective truth; the lower half reflects moral relativism, ideological primacy, or the subordination of truth to power or outcome. The Liberty Political Matrix: Beyond Left and Right: The Two Axes: Moral Grounding and Institutional Power
Viceroy: A governor who rules a colony in the name of a king. Galvez became viceroy of New Spain in 1785. People of the Revolutionary War: Bernardo de Galvez: The Spaniard Who Opened the Mississippi
Victoire: The ship Lafayette bought with his own money and sailed to America in 1777. People of the Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette: The Teenage General Who Wanted Slavery Ended
Vinerian Professor: The holder of the Oxford chair in English law founded with money left by Charles Viner. Blackstone was the first. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: William Blackstone
Virginia Plan: The fifteen resolutions Edmund Randolph offered on May 29, 1787, calling for a national government with a two-house legislature, an executive and a judiciary. The Founding of the Republic: The Constitutional Convention of 1787; The set of fifteen resolutions Edmund Randolph presented on May 29, 1787, based on Madison's preparation. It called for a national government of three branches with a legislature of two houses. People of the Constitution: James Madison: The Man Who Kept the Notes
Virtual representation: The British argument that every member of Parliament spoke for all subjects of the Crown, including those who had never voted for him, such as the colonists. The Founding of the Republic: The Road to Revolution, 1763-1775
Voluntary exchange: A trade both sides agree to because each expects to gain. Without gains on both sides, one would refuse. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Capitalism: Prices, Property and Profit
Voluntary obedience: In Jeff A. Pierson's framework, obedience that comes from conscience and from recognizing that a law is just and was made by lawful authority, in place of obedience extracted by fear. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: Supporting Legitimate Government
Voucher: A government payment redeemable for a service, such as schooling, from any approved provider the family chooses. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom

W

Walk-around: The closing number of a minstrel show, a lively song with a chorus the whole company could sing while parading in a circle. Art, Music and Writing: Confederate Songs: Dixie and the Bonnie Blue Flag
War communism: The Bolshevik policy of 1918 to 1921 that nationalized industry and seized grain from peasants by decree. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Communism
War Powers Resolution: The 1973 law that requires the president to report to Congress on hostilities and lets Congress direct the removal of forces. Senators can force votes on resolutions under it. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Rand Paul: The Senator Who Holds the Floor
War Relocation Authority: The civilian agency, created in March 1942, that ran the ten camps where people removed from the West Coast were held. The camps were called relocation centers. Ordered Liberty: Civil Anti-Authoritarianism and Resistance: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans
Welfare state: A system of taxes and public programs (pensions, health care, unemployment benefits) that operates inside an economy where most firms are privately owned. Economic Systems: Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism and Communism: Socialism
West Florida: The Gulf Coast strip held by Britain until Galvez took it; its main town was Pensacola. People of the Revolutionary War: Bernardo de Galvez: The Spaniard Who Opened the Mississippi
Wethersfield conference: The meeting of Washington and Rochambeau at the Joseph Webb house in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on May 21 and 22, 1781. People of the Revolutionary War: Rochambeau: The French General Who Marched to Yorktown
Whig: In Revolutionary-era writing, a supporter of the American cause. Ellet uses the word for Georgia patriots. People of the Revolutionary War: Nancy Hart: The Georgia Legend and What the Record Holds
Whiskey Rebellion: The 1794 uprising in western Pennsylvania against the federal excise tax on distilled spirits. A militia army put it down. People of the Revolutionary War: Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Cavalryman Who Eulogized Washington
Whitemarsh: The place north of Philadelphia where Washington's army camped in the autumn of 1777. British and American forces skirmished there in early December. People of the Revolutionary War: Lydia Darragh: The Quaker Housewife and the Whitemarsh Warning
Widow's pension: A federal payment to the widow of a Revolutionary veteran, which required proof of her marriage and of his service. People of the Revolutionary War: Sybil Ludington: The Midnight Ride the Record Cannot Confirm
Will of all: The total of private interests, which Rousseau said does not count as the general will. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Rousseau and the General Will
Willing, Morris and Company: Morris's Philadelphia shipping and trading firm, formed in 1757. People of the Revolutionary War: Robert Morris: The Merchant Who Financed the Revolution and Died Broke
Winepress: The vat in which grapes were trodden for wine. Isaiah and Revelation use it as a picture of God's judgment, and the Battle Hymn borrows the picture. Art, Music and Writing: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Winner-take-all: The rule in 48 states and the District of Columbia that gives all of a state's presidential electors to the statewide popular vote winner. Maine and Nebraska award some electors by congressional district. Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics: Left, Right and the Third Paths
Withholding: The collection of income tax by employers from each paycheck, required by the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943. Economic Thinkers: Friedman, Hayek, Mises and the Free-Market Schools: Friedman: The Public Policy Voice
Wood engraving: A print made from a design cut into the end grain of a hard wood block. Illustrated weeklies used it to print drawings alongside text. Art, Music and Writing from the Revolution to the Civil War: The Civil War in Art, Music and Words
Word of God: Barth's term for God speaking in Jesus Christ, witnessed to in Scripture and proclaimed by the church. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: The New Theology: Barth and the Liberal Church
World-historical individual: A person such as Caesar whose aims, in Hegel's account, carry the next stage of history. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Hegel and the March of History
Worldview: The set of beliefs a person holds about God, human beings, truth and right and wrong, usually without stating them, which shapes how the person sees everything else. Culture Comes First: Francis Schaeffer, Western Culture and Politics Downstream: Francis Schaeffer: A Life of Hard Questions; The basic set of beliefs about reality, human nature, truth and right and wrong that shapes how a person or an age lives. Ideas and Values Since the Enlightenment: Francis Schaeffer: The Man and L'Abri
Writ of assistance: A general search warrant that let customs officers search any place for smuggled goods without naming a place or a person. The Principles of Liberty: The Garden to the Republic: The Common Law: Custom, Precedent and the Jury
Writ of replevin: A legal order to recover property wrongly held. Freeman's lawyer used it to ask the court to release her and Brom from Ashley. People of the Constitution: Elizabeth Freeman: Mum Bett Takes the Constitution at Its Word

X

XYZ affair: A 1797 and 1798 diplomatic crisis in which French agents demanded bribes from three American commissioners, including Gerry. People of the Constitution: Elbridge Gerry: The Skeptic From Marblehead

Y

Yellow fever: A mosquito-borne disease that killed nearly 5,000 people in Philadelphia in 1793. Doctors of the day did not know how it spread. People of the Revolutionary War: Benjamin Rush: The Doctor Who Titled Common Sense and Crossed Washington
Yorkers: The settlers and officials holding New York titles to land in the Grants, whom Allen's neighbors opposed. People of the Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen: The Green Mountain Boy Who Took Ticonderoga