Bartholomew de Las Casas

Bartholomew de Las Casas was born in Seville, Spain. He studied law at the University of Salamanca, where the Dominicans were wrestling with moral issues raised by the conquest of the New World.

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James Fenimore Cooper

James Cooper—he added “Fenimore” later—was born on September 15, 1789 in Burlington, New Jersey. He came from a devout, but eclectic religious family. While his parents were Quakers, they also attended Episcopal and Presbyterian services.

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Carl F. H. Henry

Born on January 22, 1913, to German immigrants in New York City, Carl F. H. Henry was not raised in a religious family environment. In 1933, while Henry was editor of The Smithtown Star and a stringer for The New York Times, Henry met with a man named Gene Bedford.

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John Winthrop

John Winthrop was born in Suffolk, England, and grew up at Groton Manor, his father's estate in the English countryside. Preparing to take his father's place as the lord of Groton Manor, Winthrop studied law. He wanted to obtain the expertise needed to handle landlord-tenant disputes, collect rents, and deal with government authorities.

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Ferdinando Galiani

Born in Chieti, Italy, Ferdinando Galiani was raised in Naples. Galiani was the nephew of the famous archbishop Coelestino Galiani. The archbishop made sure his nephew received a top quality education. The intention was for Galiani to serve the church as a member of the clergy someday.

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St. Bernardino of Siena

St. Bernardino of Siena, the “Apostle of Italy,” was a missionary, reformer, and scholastic economist. He was born of the noble family of Albizeschi in the Tuscan town of Massa Marittima. After taking care of the sick during a great plague in Siena in 1400, he entered the Franciscan order. He became a well-known and popular preacher, traveling throughout Italy on foot. He was offered bishoprics three times during his ministry, which he refused because he would have had to give up what he felt was his primary calling, that of a missionary.

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Edward A. Keller, C.S.C.

"The encyclicals do not condemn our economic system of free enterprise, but instead give a strong moral foundation for such a system."

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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien was professor of Anglo-saxon and English language and literature from 1925-59 at Oxford University.

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John Locke

Philosopher John Locke, along with thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes and Rene Descartes, is often blamed by Christian social ethicists for misappropriating the natural law tradition, articulating unbiblical views of human nature, and generally secularizing modern Western political reflection.

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Charles Carroll of Carrollton

When the signatories of the Declaration of Independence pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor,” few men had more to lose than Charles Carroll of Carrollton. A wealthy landowner, businessman, and member of a prominent Maryland family, Carroll risked the confiscation of his estate and the loss of his life if the British had prevailed.

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Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most eminent men of an exceptionally eminent generation. He was handsome, articulate, vigorous, and a steadfast friend. He was also an accomplished scientist, farmer, and architect. His massive library formed the core of the Library of Congress's new collection after the first was lost in the burning of Washington in the War of 1812.

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James Madison

In the Spring of 1776, with the American Revolution well under-way, the Commonwealth of Virginia's Revolutionary Convention deliberated the new state's constitution. The delegates intended to include a Declaration of Rights, which, in turn, would include a clause on religious liberty.

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