Political Liberalism During The Enlightenment Era

As liberalism ideology evolved and championed by the economic leaders, it pose a threat to the existing social settings such as the presence of the nobility, and the church. The attempt to defend existing social arrangement is what brought about conservatism. Conservatives stood against the ideas of liberals in a rational for maintaining existing traditional political structures and the centralization of power. They stood against transferring political responsibility to the common people under the disguise of equality (Shively, 2014).

Liberalism, in general, was an ideological movement that emerged out of the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century. It embraced the ideas of individualism which were established in the Renaissance and Reformation era. The Renaissance period sparked a belief in the importance of the individual in society. It helped promote the beliefs of classical liberalism which gradually formed into the liberal ideology of the 19th century. Individuals that were waiting to get their individual rights and freedoms were allowed to finally gain liberty and power through this period of time. Classical liberalism developed

During the Age of Absolutism, views of how government should have been run were drastically different that the views of Enlightenment thinkers. The fundamental difference between these two views of government – absolutism and Enlightenment – was that, in an absolute view of government, it stated that it should be run by a monarch – such as a king or a queen – and that he or she should have complete and unquestionable authority over everything, whereas the Enlightenment resulted in the development of new ideas, many of which criticized absolute monarchies, such as the idea that the fundamental function of government was to protect it's people's rights. The Enlightenment thinkers all had different ideas, and all to varying degrees, but the

Classic liberalism is a political ideology that advocates limited government constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, individual liberties including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets. The Age of Enlightenment was a cultural movement of intellectuals in Europe and the United States, whose purpose was to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted science and intellectual interchange and opposed superstition, intolerance and abuses by church and state.

the claim to the Crown, and he believed that individuals held the right to revolt against a

Some of the leaders of the American Revolution were influenced by Enlightenment ideas which are, freedom of speech, equality, freedom of press, and religious tolerance. American colonists did not have these rights, in result, they rebelled against England for independence. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote about American's natural rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." These ideas came from the Enlightenment, the ideals led towards the American Revolution soon after (Fisk). "The American Revolution must be considered as an anticolonial war for independence, not only a war of liberation from overseas rule but a war for freedom. The American Revolution was a movement to fulfill aspirations to acquire more property" (Morris, 3).

Liberalism started with the ideas of the Enlightenment. Two of these ideas were freedom of speech and freedom of the individual, and kept growing from there. Liberalism is the belief in a small central government and no monarchy. The liberalists defended the ideas of the definitive rights of an individual’s liberty, equality and property. The liberalists wanted their government to be established on written laws and a constitution based on equality.

Throughout the Enlightenment, philosophes have made discoveries as well as have ideas that have revolutionized society as we know it today. The Enlightenment took place during the 17th and 18th century in Europe. During this period, philospohes, or philosophers, would discuss different questions and brought new, intellecutal ideas that brought out the Age of Reason. There is many different points of view of what the philosophes main idea was during the enlightenment. The main idea of the philosophes was greater individual freedom. This idea was a key part of their thinking in three areas: government, religion and women's rights.

Liberals were business owners, bankers, lawyers, news writers/editors, and politicians. They spoke mostly for the bourgeoisie and wanted governments to be based on written constitutions and separation of powers. Liberals spoke out against divine-right monarchy and old aristocracy. The liberals of the early 1800s defended natural rights and supported the laissez-faire economics of Adam Smith. Liberals eventually supported the principle of universal manhood suffrage, which gave all men the right to vote (Doc. 1). In France, many liberals sought to replace the July Monarchy with a democratic republic. However, most of the revolts resulted in a widespread disillusionment among the

In the 17th and 18th Century, a new age erupted in Europe that shaped the world and it’s ideas to this day, called the Enlightenment Period or the Age of Reason. During the Enlightenment Period, hundreds of individual ideas were expressed between philosophers as well as the citizens of England and France. Interestingly enough, most of these ideas seemed to share one central theme together. This theme was around individual freedoms that people can and should have, and the natural rights they should also hold. In these discussions of individual freedoms, sprouted innovative ideas regarding politics, economics, religion, and social rights.

The Enlightenment era was a new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems. Even though different philosophers approached their goal differently, they achieved it none the less. They all approached their goal differently due to their different upbringings, their different backgrounds, and most importantly their different environments. A few among the many enlightened thinkers were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Baron Do Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. While some of their idea’s are not used in modern society, they were all instrumental to the modern society we live in today.

The ideas of the Enlightenment inspired both the American and French Revolution. The Revolution was based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Philosophers of the Enlightenment, known as philosophes, favored limited monarchy, freedom of speech, and equality. The Enlightenment was based on the ideas of John Locke who said that all men are born with natural rights of life, liberty, and property. He believed that human nature was basically good and that in a state of nature, without any government, people would be reasonable and cooperative and could both learn from their experiences and improve themselves. France’s government and society on the eve of the Revolution went against everything the Enlightenment philosophers favored.

The precepts of the Enlightenment did not concentrate simply on religious liberty. It concentrated on universal ideas such as limited government, popular sovereignty, private property and yet others. And in order to secure these civil liberties, it was first necessary to establish a government predicated on limited authority. As Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, “What, then, is the government? An intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign for their mutual communication, a body charged with the execution of the laws and the maintenance of freedom, both civil and political.”

Such as Authoritarian, Totalitarian, Representative Democracy, and Direct Democracy. Since the government is responsible for the people and many people in the South think that the government doesn’t care for them. In the book Bageant discussed gun policy. In class we discussed how a man is trying to apply for a job. He sends his resume to a company in the North and one in the South. He killed someone who broke into his home. He stated his reasons for killing the intruder, saying that it was self defense.Only the company from the South send a letter back saying that he can come work. So how is it okay in one part of the country to accept or understand why he killed the man while the other part isn’t okay with it. Most Americans have very little knowledge about government. Going back to unequal opportunities of education related to the social class or where one cen belong to and move out of depending on their own efforts. The difference in education creates a new political perspective. College can have a “liberalizing” effect on students. The ideology of liberal is political and social reform. Extensive government intervention in the economy. Also the expansion of the federal government can have a vigorous effects on behalf of the poor, minorities, and women. A liberal usually supports abortion rights, right to marriage equality, individual rights and freedom, concerned with rights and those accused of a crime. They oppose

Classical liberalism is the transition from focusing on government to focusing on the rights of individuals. This transition came about during the time of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. The Enlightenment period was when man started to have more faith in his own reasoning. People began to look for evidence on their beliefs themselves and to find proof on these beliefs, so that they could come up with their own opinions on things. One way that they did this was by going back and rereading Roman and Greek texts and retranslating these texts. This new way of thinking also caused the Protestant Reformation to occur. Some of the most influential Enlightenment writers were John Locke, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and the people of France’s National Constituent Assembly.