When George Washington gave his inaugural speech as first President of the United States under the new federal constitution, he asserted that the "preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government" were "deeply" and perhaps "finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American People." This book identifies the nature and origins of the "sacred fire" which Washington sought to protect.

M.N.S. Sellers' The Sacred Fire of Liberty places the concept of "liberty" into the context of its political origins, and explains the structures and vocabulary of liberty that still dominate contemporary legal and political debate.

Contrary to the common opposition of liberal and republican traditions as rival conceptions of political legitimacy, Sellers demonstrates the close links between the two, their common roots in developing Western conceptions of liberty, and their eventual divergence over structures of government following the French revolution.

Clarifying our often muddled notions about liberty, The Sacred Fire of Liberty reestablishes the original republican principle that there can be no justice without citizenship, no liberty without law.