In 1854 John Stuart Mill began a short essay on the relationship of authority and liberty. Five years later he published On Liberty, a treatise that remains one of the most articulate and influential works on the subject. The central idea is that an individual should be free to pursue his own interests so long as the resulting action does not harm the interests of others.  He defines three basic liberties: freedom of thought, emotion and expression; freedom to pursue one’s tastes, however vulgar or immoral; and freedom to associate with others. He proposes three reasons to justify resistance to government actions: if private agents can perform an action better than government; if the action benefits the agents even when the government is qualified; and, if the action adds to the power of government so that it becomes over-reaching or creates dependency in its subjects. The last chapter defines two maxims: “first, that the individual is not accountable to society for his actions, in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself”, and “that for such actions as are prejudicial to the interests of others, the individual is accountable, and may be subjected either to social or to legal punishment, if society is of opinion that the one or the other is requisite for its protection”.  The book was immensely popular when published and continues to appeal due to its lucid analysis, accessible prose and compelling model of society. To this day a copy of the book is held by the president of the British Liberal Party as a symbol of office.

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