The Ethics of Liberty - Tapa dura

"[A]s Baer explains in this excellent microhistory of the church community, [fights] over church governance and religious practice were significant in early republican Philadelphia... Baer wisely shrinks from making an easy conclusion about this fight between two factions in one community, both of which had a good cause for concern about their place and future in the new nation. In doing so, Baer has shed light on the dynamic processes by which immigrants--of all ethnicities--have fought to live together in the United States."-Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, "Baer presents the larger history of the congregational conflict, which began long before the trial and continued long afterwards. She also exposes the thick complexity of the conflict, which involved competing understandings of citizenship in the new American republic. Hers is at once a social, cultural, and religious history." -"Lutheran Quarterly", "Vividly recreates this fascinating inter-ethnic group controversy about the meaning of language for culture and citizenship in the early republic." -"American Historical Review", "This is microhistory at its best. Baer has selected a single event and brilliantly used it to explore the larger culture and society of the time. With great clarity and insight Baer has investigated multicultural issues of language and the assimilation of immigrants that are as relevant for us today as they were to Americans two centuries ago. This is a very important and timely book."-Gordon S. Wood, Brown University "This case study is fascinating in part because of the richness of its sources." -"The Journal of American History",

This updated edition of a classic defense of libertarianism includes a new introduction.