Vol. 9 No. 1 (2026): 250 Years of Independence, Freedom, and Civil Order

The year 2026 presents us with an intellectual and political convergence that is as rare in its clarity as it is demanding. It marks the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States, but also the 250th anniversary of two texts that, each in its own way, helped translate the modern world into a language understandable to the moral conscience and to practical reason. In January 1776, Thomas Paine published *Common Sense* and transformed the argument for independence into a cause capable of moving from the drawing rooms to the public square; in March of that same year, Adam Smith published *The Wealth of Nations* and offered a conceptual framework for thinking about trade, prosperity, and the limits of power over economic life. This is not merely a matter of historical dates. The year 1776 encapsulates tensions that we continue to grapple with—under different names and in different guises, but with the same underlying tension: freedom and authority, public morality and private life, virtue and commerce, religion and institutions, political imagination and historical prudence.