Liberalism is a political ideology or worldview based on the idea of equality and liberty. As an ideology and practice, liberalism became the preeminent reform movement in Europe and the United States in the 19th century. During the 19th century and before, the term liberalism was often used to describe classical liberalism, a political philosophy, and branch of liberalism that advocates for free market and limited government. The main components of the liberalism in the 19th century was the advocating of civil liberties under the rule of law and a keen emphasis on economic freedom. This paper discusses these components of liberalism include civil rights, political, and economic freedom.
Civil Rights
The advancement of liberalism in Great Britain was marked by the formation of the Liberal Party. One of the main agenda of the liberals at during that time was the abolition of slave trade. The liberal agenda was based on the fact that human progress is best achieved by unleashing the energies of the individual human being. Liberalism relied on the idea of free enterprise and capitalism. Slavery did not fit these ideals and thus had to be ended. The idea of liberal individualism went hand in hand with the idea of free enterprise. Slaves were a free form of labor and cheaper compared to having paid works. Legal equality was the center of liberalism and slaves were considered equal. The liberal part’s movements saw an end of Britain’s slave trade in the year 1807. In the United States, The Constitution was amended in the year 1865 and slavery was abolished (Barry and Osborne, 2013).
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The liberals had the ideology of individualism without interference from the government. Liberals thus took the approach of independent thinking without the interference of the government. They believed that each individual had inherent rights and should be given a chance to work their way up to the social class of the nation. The main goal of the liberalism was to have a complete personal, economic, and political freedom.
Political liberalism
Political liberalism formed the center of liberal ideas in the United States. From independence, the United States was built on the standpoint of liberalism. Thomas Jefferson, a leading thinker at that time, composed the document, the Declaration of Independence based on the ideas of classical liberalism. The Declaration aligned with the vision of the society being made of individuals that pursue self-determined goals and individuals that enjoy personal rights (Gerber, 2014). The constitution created a system where power was going to be divided. Through these concepts, America became a model to the world. As the nation advanced, it continued to advance its liberty to a larger class of people. The state was able to abolish several restrictions on voting for the white males during the 19th century. Voting was extended to Black men in 1870.
John Stuart Mill was liberalist that contributed largely to the school of classical political liberalism in the 19th century. He gave a passionate speech in 1859 titled On Liberty. The speech addressed the limits and nature of power that can be exercised by the government and society to an individual. Throughout the speech, he argued about free speech stating that such freedom was imperative for social and intellectual progress. He went ahead to define social liberty as being protected from the tyranny of political rule and its political leaders (Stuart, 2016).
Economic freedom
One of the major dimensions that Liberalism took in Europe was of economic freedom. According to Adam Smith’s views, the hidden hand of the market was seen to lead to a big improvement in welfare compared to the several regulations and rules that had been imposed by the central government. David Ricardo later came up with the Law of Comparative Advantage where he talked about the principles of taxation and political economy. Economic freedom became a big cry for liberals (Watson, 2017). This saw an end of to the tariff issued on basic grains in the year 1846. This was later known as the eradication of Corn Laws. The eradication marked a major achievement to liberalism in Britain and was a model for other parts of the world (Mehta, 1999).
The free trade and world peace policy was a major topic for liberals in the nineteenth century. The freedom to trade involved a right to trade with any partner across the globe. The freedom to trade would involve possible trading even on unequal terms. Several liberals argued that a free exchange of goods would be advantageous in promoting world peace. Liberal scholars advocated that free markets could have the potential of freeing states from the looming warfare.
In conclusion, the main aim of liberalism in the nineteenth century was to increase prosperity and freedom. Liberals sought to empower those of the lower class political, advocate for civil rights, and to encourage economic growth through better trading policies. Liberalism was different in the United States compared to Europe. It was well established in the United States during the nineteenth century due to its favorable political culture. This was different in Europe where liberalism was the transforming force throughout the 19th century. Classical liberalism provided an opportunity for modernization and industrialization.
References
Barry, A., & Osborne, T. (Eds.). (2013). Foucault and Political Reason: liberalism, neo-liberalism and the rationalities of government . Routledge.
Gerber, S. D. (2014). Liberal Originalism: The Declaration of Independence and Constitutional Interpretation. Clev. St. L. Rev. , 63 , 1.
Mehta, U. S. (1999). Liberalism and Empire: A study in nineteenth-century British liberal thought . University of Chicago Press.
Stuart, J. (2016). On Liberty . Imenand Publishing Eu.
Watson, M. (2017). Historicising Ricardo’s comparative advantage theory, challenging the normative foundations of liberal International Political Economy. New Political Economy , 22 (3), 257-272.
