John Trenchard (writer)

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This article is about the writer. For the Secretary of State, see John Trenchard (Secretary of State).

John Trenchard (1662-1723), English writer and Commonwealthman, belonged to the same Dorset family as the Secretary of State Sir John Trenchard.

Trenchard was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. As he inherited considerable wealth, Trenchard was able to devote the greater part of his life to writing on political subjects, his approach being that of a Whig and an opponent of the High Church party. His works include A Short History of Standing Armies in England 1698 and 1731 and The Natural History of Superstition 1709. Along with Thomas Gordon he published The Independent Whig, a weekly periodical. From 1720 to 1723, Trenchard, again with Thomas Gordon, wrote a series of 144 essays entitled Cato's Letters, condemning corruption and lack of morality within the British political system and warning against tyranny. The essays were published as Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, first in the London Journal and then in the British Journal. These essays became a cornerstone of the Commonwealthmen tradition. From 1722 until his death in 1723 Trenchard was also a member of Parliament from Taunton.