Recommendable! His books were banned and destroyed!
His story is also an excellent example why religious freedom is so important!
"... Though the roots of the classical liberalism that led to the American Revolution can be traced back through early Judeo-Christian writings to the works of Aristotle, many of liberalism’s basic principles were codified in the 16th-century by Mariana and other like-minded scholars during Spain’s Golden Age. Of course, Mariana’s new book did more than bluntly denounce the government’s manipulation of money and blame it for the nation’s crippling price inflation—though that was certainly enough in those days to justify an arrest warrant. The professor had also insisted that kings did not own the private property of their citizens and asserted that any king “who tramples everything underfoot and believes everything to belong to him” was nothing more than a tyrant. ...
Mariana even argued that nations do not have the right to tax the people without their consent, since imposing unapproved taxes amounted to stealing what belonged to them ...
Mariana had made the even more audacious claim that the people had the right to overthrow their rulers whenever they shut down their freedom of speech and assembly, seize their property unjustly, or impose taxes without their consent. ...
Mariana – who would be widely read in England during his final years and after his death -- thus anticipated John Locke’s (1632-1704) theory of popular consent and the superiority of the people to their government. He also was the forebear of the great English philosopher’s assertion that men establish governments in the first place to protect their natural rights. ...
Thomas Jefferson discovered Mariana and even gave copies of one of his books to friends; and America’s second president, John Adams, included at least two of Mariana’s works in his library, including On Kings and Royalty. ...
In [his then] new book, Mariana explained in simple terms the truth about monetary debasement, or what is today called “money printing.” In those days, debasement consisted of removing coins’ precious metal content for its use by the king and his government. Mariana had seen how this policy had impoverished the citizenry and hurt commerce, creating widespread discontent. Watching the fiscal chaos unfold, he likened the policy to outright theft ..."
Mariana even argued that nations do not have the right to tax the people without their consent, since imposing unapproved taxes amounted to stealing what belonged to them ...
Mariana had made the even more audacious claim that the people had the right to overthrow their rulers whenever they shut down their freedom of speech and assembly, seize their property unjustly, or impose taxes without their consent. ...
Mariana – who would be widely read in England during his final years and after his death -- thus anticipated John Locke’s (1632-1704) theory of popular consent and the superiority of the people to their government. He also was the forebear of the great English philosopher’s assertion that men establish governments in the first place to protect their natural rights. ...
Thomas Jefferson discovered Mariana and even gave copies of one of his books to friends; and America’s second president, John Adams, included at least two of Mariana’s works in his library, including On Kings and Royalty. ...
In [his then] new book, Mariana explained in simple terms the truth about monetary debasement, or what is today called “money printing.” In those days, debasement consisted of removing coins’ precious metal content for its use by the king and his government. Mariana had seen how this policy had impoverished the citizenry and hurt commerce, creating widespread discontent. Watching the fiscal chaos unfold, he likened the policy to outright theft ..."
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