First published 2019
Conceived in Liberty, Volume 5: The New Republic: 1784–1791
Conceived in Liberty, Volume 5: The New Republic: 1784–1791 by Murray N. Rothbard is available as a free PDF and EPUB download at freecapitalists.org, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0. The file here is the Mises Institute first edition, 2019.
- Murray N. Rothbard
- First published
- 2019
- Edition here
- Mises Institute first edition, 2019
- Format
- PDF and EPUB
- Pages
- 332
- ISBN
- 978-1-61016-708-6
- Publisher
- Mises Institute
- License
- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
Volume V of Murray Rothbard's Conceived in Liberty carries the story from the end of the Revolution to the Bill of Rights. Rothbard wrote it by hand after the first four volumes and never published it. Patrick Newman transcribed and edited the manuscript from the Mises Institute's Rothbard archive, and it appeared in October 2019 with a foreword by Andrew P. Napolitano and a preface by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
Where Volumes I to IV end in the triumph of liberty over British mercantilism, Volume V treats the Constitution as a nationalist counter-revolution. It follows the depression of the 1780s, the state tariff and paper-money fights, the western lands, Shays' Rebellion, the convention at Philadelphia, the ratification battles state by state, the Bill of Rights, and closes by asking whether the Constitution was radical.
Which edition this is
The file served here is the Mises Institute's first edition of Volume V, published October 24, 2019, edited by Patrick Newman with a foreword by Andrew P. Napolitano and a preface by Thomas E. Woods Jr. Rothbard wrote most of the volume by hand and typed only a small part of it, which is why it stayed unpublished after Volumes I to IV appeared in the 1970s. Volumes I to IV are a separate book in this archive.
The Mises Institute published this volume under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 licence, stated on the PDF's own copyright page: you may share it with attribution, but not sell it or change it.
Source: the hosted PDF's copyright page, contents and editor's introduction, and the mises.org library page (publication date). Verified 2026-09-29.
Also in Rothbard's Conceived in Liberty
Chapter by chapter
What's in Conceived in Liberty, Volume 5: The New Republic: 1784–1791
39 chapters. Page numbers are this edition's.
- Front matter
-
Introduction by Patrick Newmanp. 25
Newman explains that Rothbard finished this fifth volume but left most of it in near-illegible longhand, which he deciphered, edited and footnoted. He outlines Rothbard’s motive-centered libertarian method and the earlier volumes, and presents this one as showing the Constitution imposing a new domestic mercantilism.
- Part I: The Economic Legacy of the American Revolution
-
Changes in Foreign Tradep. 47
Independence reshuffled American trade: exports to Britain nearly halved as tobacco and rice found other buyers, cotton and southern grain rose, and New England shipping and whaling declined. Rothbard adds that the Revolution freed land and subsoil resources for private enterprise while wartime manufactures had to readjust.
-
The Depression of the 1780s and the Banking Strugglep. 52
Rothbard rejects the claim that consumer imports caused the 1784-85 depression, blaming instead inflationary credit from chartered banks (North America, Massachusetts, New York) and their forced contraction. He follows the Pennsylvania radicals’ attack on the Bank of North America’s charter against its defenders Morris, Wilson and Paine.
-
The Drive for State and Federal Protective Tariffsp. 57
Depression-hit artisans and merchants demanded protection, and states passed tariffs and navigation acts. Rothbard shows how uneven state rates pushed northern manufacturers and shippers toward a single national system, allying urban mechanics with the nationalist oligarchy, while Abraham Yates and New York’s legislature helped defeat the impost.
-
The Burdens of State Public Debtp. 66
State war debts swallowed most state budgets, and Robert Morris and the nationalists pushed to redeem them at par for speculators’ benefit. Rothbard contrasts Virginia, which paid at market value and cut taxes, with Massachusetts, whose heavy taxes and refusal of relief provoked backcountry resistance.
-
The Issuance of State Paper Moneyp. 73
Seven states issued paper money in the 1780s, and Rothbard denies that the fight pitted farmer-debtors against merchant-creditors, since most groups wanted inflation and quarreled over who received it. Legal tender laws in North Carolina and Georgia produced quick depreciation, while other states escaped through tax relief.
-
The Burdens of Federal Public Debtp. 78
Public creditors turned to the states, and Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland took over roughly $9 million in Confederation securities, leaving Congress without revenue or leverage. Rothbard argues the nationalist program stood in rout by 1786, with the paper concentrated in a few speculators’ hands.
- Part II: The Western Lands and Foreign Policy
-
The Old Northwestp. 85
Congress nationalized the western domain, and Rothbard traces how the liberal Ordinance of 1784 gave way to land sales favoring speculators such as the Ohio Company and William Duer’s Scioto project. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 replaced settler self-government with appointed rule, over squatter and Indian resistance.
-
The Old Southwestp. 93
In the Southwest, Rothbard follows the state of Franklin, the Muscle Shoals scheme and the Kentucky statehood drive, showing land speculators like John Sevier and William Blount steering each movement. Radical settler-oriented plans lost out, while Spain pressed its claims and North Carolina resisted losing its western grants.
-
The Jay-Gardoqui Treaty and the Mississippi Riverp. 97
Rothbard defends the Jay-Gardoqui treaty as a reasonable trade bargain and calls the western claim to navigate the Mississippi baseless. Sectional votes killed it, the South backing westerners and speculators, while Wilkinson, Sevier and others plotted secession toward Spain, and Britain schemed too.
-
The Diplomacy of the Confederationp. 105
Praises the liberal trade treaties negotiated under the Plans of 1776 and 1784 (Sweden, Prussia, Morocco), which protected neutrals and curbed privateering. It contrasts these with Barbary piracy, where Jay welcomed attacks as a spur to national union, and with Britain’s refusal to treat, while intriguing with Vermont.
- Part III: The Nationalists Triumph: The Constitutional Convention
-
Shays’ Rebellionp. 111
Rothbard reads the western Massachusetts rising as a libertarian revolt against poll taxes, court fees and full-face redemption of the debt for eastern speculators. He follows the court closings, Bowdoin’s repression, Lincoln’s army and the pardons, and shows Congress and conservatives using the scare to advance nationalism.
-
The Annapolis Conventionp. 127
Rothbard shows a broad coalition (artisans, merchants, speculators, creditors, slaveholders) forming behind nationalism by 1787. Failing to amend the Articles by unanimity, Hamilton and Madison used the sparsely attended Annapolis meeting to call a Philadelphia convention, misleadingly presented as a legal revision.
-
The Delegates of the Convention and America’s Great Menp. 133
Antifederalist leaders, already conceding a stronger center, let nationalists seize the initiative and lured Washington in as front man. Rothbard argues the delegates were a wealthy elite drawn from seaboard commercial and planter interests, with inland farmers unrepresented and skeptics like Henry, Lee and Jefferson absent.
- Part IV: The Nationalists Triumph: The Constitution
-
Elections in the Bicameral Congressp. 145
Rothbard describes how nationalists arrived with a fixed goal of a British-style overriding government, then opened the convention in secrecy behind Washington. He shows Madison and Randolph’s Virginia Plan as a revolution against the Articles and traces the early fights over electing House and Senate.
-
The Nature of National Powerp. 153
Delegates gave Congress sweeping power over the states, with Wilson, Madison and the Pinckneys leading. Rothbard shows the same men winning a single executive, elected through electors for a long term with a near-absolute veto, while a total congressional veto over state laws narrowly failed.
-
The Debate over Representation in Congressp. 159
The clash over representation pitted large-state nationalists (Madison, Wilson, Morris) against small states behind the Paterson plan, Sherman and Bedford. Rothbard follows the three-fifths clause, Hamilton’s monarchical plan and the narrow Connecticut Compromise, arguing slave states sided with large ones expecting population growth.
-
Strengthening the Executive and Judiciaryp. 177
The convention approved vague sweeping powers for Congress, then traded the congressional veto over state laws for national supremacy through federal courts. Rothbard shows Madison, Wilson and Gouverneur Morris pushing for a stronger, independent executive, and the nationalists getting ratification by state conventions to escape unanimity.
-
The Preliminary Draftp. 181
The Committee of Detail turned the sweeping grant into enumerated powers, which Rothbard treats as a loosely bounded list (taxing, commerce, war, the general welfare clause), while restraints on states were far harsher than on Congress. It also covers suffrage, paper money, debts, new states and a strengthened presidency.
-
The Corrupt Bargain and the Preservation of Slaveryp. 192
Rothbard describes Gouverneur Morris’s bargain: New England shippers got Congress’s power to pass navigation acts by majority, while Deep South planters won protection of the slave trade until 1808 and a fugitive slave clause. He adds that delegates also voted down a bill of rights and press protection.
-
The Ratification and Amendment Processp. 199
Nationalists set ratification at nine state conventions, bypassing unanimity and Congress’s approval, over Martin’s protests. Rothbard shows Randolph and Mason losing their plan for a second convention, Congress gaining control of amendments, and slave imports and equal Senate votes placed beyond amendment.
-
The Election of the Presidentp. 204
A committee of nationalists reworked the executive: an independent president chosen by electors, four-year terms, treaty and appointment powers, and impeachment in the Senate, with the House deciding ties by state. Rothbard also notes the general welfare clause and Morris’s Committee of Style comma trick.
- Part V: The Nationalists Triumph: The Constitution Ratified
-
Congress and the First Stepp. 211
Rothbard calls the finished Constitution a nationalist document, with enumerated powers riddled by loopholes, no bill of rights and slavery entrenched. He recounts Mason, Randolph and Gerry refusing to sign, and Congress sending it to the states with a misleading unanimity.
-
Federalist Control of the Mail and Newspapersp. 215
Federalists exploited an organized, urban, wealthy base and control of the post office and press, delaying Antifederalist mail and papers and spreading falsehoods. Rothbard argues Antifederalists probably held popular majorities in seven states, but malapportioned and restricted conventions turned that against them.
-
Little Delaware and New Jersey Ratifyp. 219
Delaware ratified 30-0 on December 7 and New Jersey 38-0 on December 18, both tied commercially to Philadelphia. Rothbard explains that the small states wanted only Senate equality, and that heavily indebted New Jersey’s creditors and taxed farmers welcomed federal assumption of debts and import revenue.
-
The Battle for Pennsylvaniap. 221
Pennsylvania Federalists rushed the convention call, used a mob to force a quorum, and won 46-23 through Philadelphia and press dominance. Rothbard traces the radicals’ resistance under Whitehill, Smilie and Centinel, the Carlisle riots and the failed Harrisburg convention for amendments.
-
Georgia and Connecticut Followp. 231
Georgia ratified 26-0 on January 2, its backcountry driven to Federalism by fear of Creek Indian resistance to settler encroachment, and Connecticut followed 128-40 on January 9. Rothbard notes that Shays’ Rebellion, press control and the clergy helped, and that Antifederalist delegates Hopkins and Williams switched sides.
-
The Setback in New Hampshirep. 234
New Hampshire delivered the Federalists their first setback: the convention, called by an illegally sitting legislature, had a large anti-Constitution majority. Rothbard shows Samuel Livermore’s maneuver to adjourn until June, by a 56-51 vote, and the alarm this caused among Federalists.
-
The Battle for Massachusettsp. 236
Rothbard shows the commercial east and Federalist elite overcoming a Massachusetts majority hostile to the Constitution, through press control, election fraud and manipulation. The decisive step was buying off Hancock and Sam Adams with promises and recommended amendments, giving a 187-168 vote.
-
Rhode Island Holds Outp. 247
Rhode Island refused to call a convention and instead put the Constitution to its towns, which voted it down 28 to 2. Rothbard explains that Federalists boycotted the vote, and reads the split as commercial ports for the Constitution against an entirely hostile interior.
-
Maryland and South Carolina Ratifyp. 249
Maryland ratified 63-11 with little opposition beyond Luther Martin and Samuel Chase, while South Carolina’s backcountry majority was overridden by lowland planters and Charleston. Rothbard shows the convention call passing by one vote, then 149-73 for ratification after Federalist wining, dining and press control.
-
New Hampshire Followsp. 253
New Hampshire’s convention reversed course and ratified 57-47 on June 21, the ninth state needed. Rothbard credits Federalist propaganda, Livermore’s influence, Massachusetts’s example, fear of Canadian invasion, deals and bribery, with merchants and the wealthy favoring the Constitution and farmers leaning against it.
-
The Battle for Virginiap. 255
Virginia’s evenly matched leaders split, but Rothbard argues Governor Randolph’s betrayal, western fears over British forts and delegates defying constituents tipped the vote. Henry’s demand for prior amendments lost 88-80, and ratification passed 89-79, with recommended amendments and a bill of rights.
-
The Battle for New York and the Twilight of the Antifederalistsp. 267
Clinton’s Antifederalists won 46-19 of New York’s convention seats, but Rothbard argues delay, malapportionment, Hamilton’s Federalist essays as propaganda, and turncoat Melancton Smith produced a 30-27 unconditional ratification. Only a circular letter demanding a second convention survived from their fight.
-
The Constitution Takes Effectp. 282
The Confederation Congress fades away as elections are set, the capital fight between Hamilton and Madison plays out, and the Federalists double-cross Hancock. Rothbard traces Washington’s unanimous election and John Adams, now converted to titles and pageantry, being placed second, with the government starting April 30, 1789.
-
North Carolina Postpones and then Ratifiesp. 288
North Carolina’s convention, dominated by small inland farmers, adjourned 184-84 instead of ratifying, demanding a bill of rights first. Rothbard shows Federalists then combining petitions, secession threats and Congress’s promised amendments to win a second convention, which ratified 194-77 on November 21, 1789.
-
The Coercion of Rhode Islandp. 291
Rothbard admires Rhode Island’s long refusal, imagining it as a free-trade haven, until Congress threatened an embargo and Providence and Newport threatened secession. The convention ratified 34-32 in 1790, with several defectors holding state securities they hoped Hamilton’s assumption plan would redeem.
- Part VI: The Nationalists Triumph: The Constitution’s Legacy
-
The Bill of Rightsp. 297
Madison pushed a bill of rights through Congress to head off a second convention and structural limits on federal power, which the Antifederalists wanted but never got. Rothbard reads the Ninth and Tenth Amendments as real libertarian weapons, weakened by Madison’s omitted word and by the courts.
-
Was the U.S. Constitution Radical?p. 306
Rothbard concludes that the Constitution was a counterrevolution: a bloodless coup by merchants, landowners and artisans who wanted taxes, tariffs, subsidies and a strong army, paid for by inland farmers. He argues the Revolution was against big government, and that the Bill of Rights led liberals to work inside a doomed framework.
Questions
About this book and this copy
- Is Conceived in Liberty, Volume V free to download?
- Yes. The complete 332-page PDF and the EPUB download here with no signup, no account and no paywall. You can also read the chapters in the browser.
- When was Conceived in Liberty, Volume V published?
- On October 24, 2019, by the Mises Institute. It appeared forty years after Volume IV (1979) because Rothbard left the fifth volume in handwritten draft and it took Patrick Newman's transcription and editing to publish it.
- What does Volume V cover?
- The years 1784 to 1791: the postwar depression, tariffs, state debts and paper money, the western lands, Shays' Rebellion, the Constitutional Convention, the ratification fight state by state, and the Bill of Rights. Rothbard's thesis is that the Constitution was a nationalist counter-revolution against the libertarian gains of the Revolution.
- Which edition of Volume V is this?
- The Mises Institute's first edition, 2019, ISBN 978-1-61016-708-6, 332 pages in 38 chapters, edited by Patrick Newman. Page numbers in the chapter guide are this edition's.
- Where are Volumes I to IV of Conceived in Liberty?
- In this archive as one book: the 2011 single-volume edition of Volumes I to IV, 1,616 pages, free to download and read here. Volume V does not repeat them; its footnotes refer back to them.
- How long is Conceived in Liberty, Volume 5: The New Republic: 1784–1791?
- 332 pages, 34 chapters, and about 104,227 words in the edition this archive serves.
- Can I reuse or republish Conceived in Liberty, Volume 5: The New Republic: 1784–1791?
- This edition is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0. You may copy and share it with attribution, but commercial use is not permitted and adaptations and derivative works are not permitted. Check the deed for the exact terms.
- Who wrote Conceived in Liberty, Volume 5: The New Republic: 1784–1791?
- Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) was an American economist, economic historian, and libertarian political philosopher, and perhaps Ludwig von Mises’s most important American student, attending Mises’s NYU seminar in the 1950s. He earned a B.A. This archive holds 98 of Rothbard's works.
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