How We Invented Freedom & Why It Matters

This narrative history tells the story of freedom and its uniquely British origins—not Western origins. It shows how the inhabitants of a damp island at the western tip of the Eurasian landmass stumbled upon the extraordinary idea that the state was the servant, and not the master, of the individual. This revolutionary concept created security of property and contract which, in turn, led to industrialization and modern capitalism. For the first time in human history, a system grew up that generally rewarded production over predation. The system was carried across the oceans by English speakers—sometimes colonial administrators, sometimes patriotic settlers—where in Philadelphia in 1787, it was distilled into its purest and most sublime form as the US Constitution. Freedom is the key to the success of Anglo-Saxon peoples and this book teaches us to keep fast to that legacy and pass it intact to our progeny.