729. Samuel Gorton: The Radical Defender of Liberty Before America Existed

What if the man who fought hardest for liberty in early America is one you've never heard of?

Today on The Way the World Works, Brittany shares the story of Samuel Gorton, one of the earliest and boldest pro-liberty activists in America, and a man who was banished, jailed, and whipped for refusing to give up on freedom.

With America 250 in full swing, Brittany has been working her way through Murray Rothbard's Conceived in Liberty, and she's sharing what she's learning about the people who laid the groundwork before the Founders ever came along. Gorton stood against the religious theocracy of Massachusetts, argued that rights come from natural law rather than from kings or colonial governments, and pushed for what may be the first anti-slavery law in the American colonies.

His story is a reminder that liberty has deep roots, and that the people who refuse to quit are often the ones who change everything.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Who Samuel Gorton was and why he deserves a place in the story of American liberty
• Why America 250 is such a great moment to dig into lesser-known figures from before the founding
• How Massachusetts drifted from the hopes of the Mayflower Compact into a theocracy
• The strange laws of the Massachusetts colony, including a woman who was whipped for smiling in church
• Why Gorton believed rules come from natural law and human nature, not from kings, parliaments, or colonies
• How he called for the first anti-slavery law in the colonies because humans can't be property
• Why Gorton called the Massachusetts government illegitimate, and why his growing number of followers scared its leaders
• How he was jailed, whipped, and banished again and again, and how he ended up connecting with Roger Williams in Rhode Island
• Why he insisted on buying land from Native Americans at Warwick instead of simply taking it
• How he sailed back to England and returned with a document backing his community's right to self-govern
• The "exit and build" idea: if a society won't honor liberty, start your own
• Why Rhode Island's role in the story of liberty deserves more attention

Timestamps

0:00 Welcome and Why America 250 Matters 0:53 Ken Burns and the American Revolution 1:39 Reading Rothbard's Conceived in Liberty 2:24 Meet Samuel Gorton 3:13 From the Mayflower Compact to a Theocracy 4:01 Whipped for Smiling in Church 4:48 Natural Law and Moral Equality 5:33 The First Anti-Slavery Law in the Colonies 6:30 A Government Without Consent 7:06 Jailed, Whipped, and Banished 7:51 Rhode Island and Roger Williams 8:39 Buying Land Fair and Square at Warwick 9:25 Gorton Takes His Case to England 10:11 Never Giving Up 10:57 Exit and Build 11:45 Rhode Island's Overlooked Role 13:15 Celebrating Lesser-Known Founders

👍 Like this video if you love learning about the forgotten heroes of liberty 🔔 Subscribe for more episodes on American history, natural law, and individual liberty 💬 Comment below: Who is a lesser-known figure from history that you think deserves more attention?

Shop Resources

📘 Meet real people who stood up for what was right in The Tuttle Twins Guide to Courageous Heroes https://www.tuttletwins.com/products/the-tuttle-twins-guide-to-courageous-heroes

📘 Explore the ideas behind natural rights and limited government in The Tuttle Twins Guide to the Constitution https://www.tuttletwins.com/products/the-tuttle-twins-guide-to-the-constitution

📚 Get Tuttle Twins books and homeschool resources: https://tuttletwins.com

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