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Two Treatises of Government
"Two Treatises of Government," is a historic document written by John Locke, which directly influenced Liberalism and the Founding Fathers of the United States. This document outlined Lockes belief that the law of nature shows that all men should be held as equals under God. From this John expands an idea that the only legitmate forms of governent are those that are held accountable by the people that they rule over through a social contract. -
The Two Treatises Cont.
Lock concluded that if the government is not acting with the interests of the people in mind then they have broken the social contract and have every right to overthrow the government. This document inspired the Founding Fathers to write the Declaration of Independance because they believed that the British Monarchy had broken this contract with the way they had been treated as colonies of the empire. John Locke's two main ideas are now core principles of Liberalism. -
The Wealth Of Nations
"The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith was an influential book that introduced many of the ideas of economic liberalism through Laissez-Faire economics/capitalism. At the time Capitalism was a radical idea because almost all the Monarchies in Europe used mercantilism as their economic system. His ideas of the invisible hand of the market and what an individual does for the good of themselves is for the good of the society revolutionized economics. Individuals had opportunity to create prosperity, -
The Wealth of Nations cont.
Within a hundred years many countries adopted capitalism, especially industrialized nations, This system created economic wealth for both nations as well as individuals. However, this wealth was concentrated amongst a few individuals leaving the working class unsatisfied due to no government regulations protecting the majority of people working for the factories in the Industrial Revolution. -
The declaration of Independence
The United State Declaration of Independence was highly influential in the foundations of modern liberalism. This document was influenced greatly by John Locke's ideas of Natural Law and a government's relationship with the people and the social contract that it was based on. The Founding Fathers created this document to protest taxation without representation but were ignored by King George II. They believed that this broke the social contract between the people and their government. -
Declaration of Independence Cont.
The U.S Declaration of Independance's influence on liberalism was that it was the first official document to give rightrs to the people and to take away power from the government. It guaranteed the American people individual rights and freedoms. -
The Tennis Court Oath
Spurred through the American declaration of independence, This was one of the first meetings of the National Assembly in the beginning of the French Revolution. At this meeting they all agreed they would not disband and would reassemble wherever and whenever necessary until France had a constitution. This was the first time the citizens of France formally opposed King Louis XVI. -
Tennis Court Oath cont,
The Tennis Court Oath was one of the defining moments of early liberalism because this was one of the first times that the people had come together in order to stand up for their individual rights and freedoms against a very controlling government that had broken the social contract between governed and governor. -
John Stuart Mill
On May 20, 1806 J. S. Mill was born. Throughout his life he fought for a change in government that would protect individual rights and freedoms rather than restrict them. One of his most important ideas was the concept of the harm principle, which was that individuals should be free to do what they want as long as they don't cause harm to themselves or others. -
The General strike
On August 13, 1842, the Chartist Movement spurred one of the largest strikes of the 19th century. In protest to the brutal work conditions of industrial Britain men gathered all over Britain and stopped working in order to get the attention of the government. These men moved from town to town using whatever force was necessary in order to stop work in mills and other worplaces, They sought universal suffrage for all men, equal sized electoral districts and voting by secret ballots. -
The General Strike cont.
The main goal of the strikes was make the government create a constitution for the people in order to protect their rights and freedoms speicifically relating to working conditions and low wages. On Sep. 26th, 1843 the last strike took place and the group was unsuccessful at persuading the government to create the charter for universal suffrage. Even though they were unsuccessful at the time eventually the government of Great Britain did rectify the problem. -
John Stuart Mill cont.
Another important principle of Mill was called Tyrrany of the Majority, which was for limiting the power of a leader and protecting individuals rights and freedoms. The principles have had a major effect on liberalism and pushed liberalism in a direction more towards what we know today as modern liberalism. J.S. Mill died on May 8, 1873.
