John Trenchard (1662-1723) was an English essayist who, together with Thomas Gordon, advocated republican government and denounced the tyranny of absolute rule in the essays Cato’s Letters. Born to a wealthy family, Trenchard got his education at Trinity College in Dublin and was afterwards free to devote his time entirely to writing. Though he authored numerous works, he is most famous for the series of essays he wrote with his friend Thomas Gordon. Cato’s Letters exposed the corruption and impending absolutism Trenchard and Gordon observed in British politics. While the letters were popular in England, they became at least as popular with the American revolutionaries. Some scholars argue that Cato’s Letters were the most widely cited work on politics in America’s pre-revolutionary period.