Cato's Letters

"Cato's Letters" were essays by British writers John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, first published from 1720 to 1723 under the pseudonym of Cato (95-46 BC), the implacable foe of Julius Caesar and a famously stubborn champion of republican principles.

The "Letters" are considered a seminal work in the tradition of the Commonwealth men. The 144 essays were published originally in the "London Journal", later in the "British Journal." These newspaper essays condemning tyranny and advancing principles of freedom of conscience and freedom of speech, were a main vehicle for spreading the concepts that had been developed by John Locke.

The "Letters" were collected and printed as "Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious". [John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. "Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects". ed. and annotated by Ronald Hamowy. 2 vols. (Indianapolis, Liberty Fund, 1995). The standard modern edition.] A measure of their influence is attested by six editions printed by 1755. A generation later their arguments immensely influenced the ideals of the American Revolution; it is estimated that half the private libraries in the American colonies held bound volumes of "Cato's Letters" on their shelves.

Cato was later appropriated as a pseudonym in a series of letters to the "New York Journal" in 1787 and 1788 opposing James Madison's views and urging against ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Many historians attribute these letters to George Clinton, though their authorship has not been definitively proven. These letters are unrelated to the Trenchard and Gordon letters. [http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch4s16.html Cato #3]

The Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank founded by Edward H. Crane in 1977, takes its name from "Cato's Letters."Cato Institute, [http://www.cato.org/about.php "About Cato"] , undated, accessed January 2008.]

References

External links

* [http://classicliberal.tripod.com/cato/ All 144 of Cato's Letters]
* [http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1355 Some brief quotes, showing the "Letters"' influence on the American revolutionaries]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=QYgDAAAAQAAJ Cato's Letters (Volume I)]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/catosletters01tren Cato's Letters (Volume II)]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/catosletters02tren Cato's Letters (Volume III)]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/catosletters04tren Cato's Letters (Volume IV)]