1692 - 1750

Nationality:
English

Historical Period:
The 18th Century

Groups

• 18th Century Commonwealthmen
• Founding Fathers' Library

Thomas Gordon (1692-1750) was a radical Whig and Commonwealthman who, along with his collaborator John Trenchard (1662-1723), were important voices defending constitutionalism and individual liberty in the 1720s in England. Little is known of Gordon’s early life but he came to prominence by co-writing The Independent Whig (1720-21) and Cato’s Letters (1720-23) with Trenchard. He was a defender of the idea of liberty against political corruption, imperialism and militarism in the early 18th century. Their writings, especially Cato’s Letters, were also much read in the American colonies. After the death of Trenchard, Gordon translated the works of Tacitus (1728) and Sallust (1744) which included very lengthy political and historical commentaries.

Titles:

• Author: BOLL 60: Thomas Gordon, “On the Nature of Power” (1721)
• Author: Cato’s Letters, 4 vols. in 2 (LF ed.)
• Author: Cato’s Letters, vol. 1 November 5, 1720 to June 17, 1721 (LF ed.)
• Author: Cato’s Letters, vol. 2 June 24, 1721 to March 3, 1722 (LF ed.)
• Author: Cato’s Letters, vol. 3 March 10, 1722 to December 1, 1722 (LF ed.)
• Author: Cato’s Letters, vol. 4 December 8, 1722 to December 7, 1723 (LF ed.)
• Author: Cato’s Letters, or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects
• Author: Cato’s Letters, vol. 1 (1737 ed.)
• Author: Cato’s Letters, vol. 2 (1737 ed.)
• Author: Cato’s Letters, vol. 3 (1737 ed.)
• Author: Cato’s Letters, vol. 4 (1737 ed.)
• Author: A Collection of Tracts, 2 vols. (1751)
• Author: A Collection of Tracts, vol. I
• Author: A Collection of Tracts, vol. 2
• Author: A Discourse of Standing Armies (1722)
• Author: An Essay on Government (1747)
• Author: The Independent Whig, 4 vols. (1720, 1743)
• Author: The Independent Whig, vol. 1 (7th ed. 1743)
• Author: The Independent Whig, vol. 2 (7th ed. 1743)
• Author: The Independent Whig, vol. 3 (2nd ed. 1741)
• Author: The Independent Whig, vol. 4 (1747)
• Author: Political Discourses on Tacitus and Sallust (1728-1744)
• Author: The Works of Sallust (1744)
• Editor: The Works of Tacitus, 4 vols. (1737)
• Editor: The Works of Tacitus, vol. 1 - Gordon’s Discourses, Annals (Books 1-3)
• Editor: The Works of Tacitus, vol. 3 - Gordon’s Discourses II, History (Books 1-2)

Quotations:

• Thomas Gordon believes that bigoted Princes are subject to the "blind control" of other "Directors and Masters" who work behind the scenes (1737)
• Thomas Gordon gives a long list of ridiculous and frivolous reasons why kings and tyrants have started wars which have led only to the enslavement and destruction of their own people (1737)
• Thomas Gordon on standing armies as a power which is inconsistent with liberty (1722)
• Thomas Gordon compares the Greatness of Spartacus with that of Julius Caesar (1721)
• Thomas Gordon on how the "Spirit of Party" substitutes party principles for moral principles, thus making it possible for the worst to get on top (1744)
• Thomas Gordon on the nature of power to expand (1721)
• Thomas Gordon asks whether tyranny is worse than anarchy (1728)
• Thomas Gordon warns about the dangers of a politicised Religion which tries to rule this world (1720)
• Thomas Gordon on how people are frightened into giving up their liberties (1722)

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