19th Century
Richard Cobden
1804–1865 · Free trade & anti-imperialism
Peace, free trade, and a small army.
In their words
“Free trade is the international law of the Almighty.”
Cobden led the Anti-Corn Law League, which taught a mass movement that protection transfers wealth from ordinary people to privileged owners. He argued that free commerce is the strongest guarantor of peace among nations, denounced the Crimean War and the British empire, and campaigned for international arbitration. His leagues are the model of libertarian reform won by argument rather than revolution.
Why it matters for freedom
He showed that tariffs are a way of making the poor pay the rich, and that exchange is the alternative to empire.
Who they stood against
the Corn Laws, the landed interest, and the war fever of his own class