Classic Liberalism

When we think of Liberalism today, we often think of the modern leftist political groups, but most people do not know that at one point the Liberals were a group of free market thinkers comprised of men like Benjamin Constant, Thomas Paine, and James Madison. The group originated out of many schools of thought such as Empiricism, Rationalism, and Skepticism, and some of their many ideas were taken from the work of John Locke, Francis Bacon, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and other philosophers. The Classical Liberals stood for individual rights and limited government, but most importantly these men showed us that liberty is one of the greatest gifts a human can posses, and without it, all other institutions eventually fall. 

            We see the Classical Liberals as a product of thousands of years of philosophy and economic thought, as they, essentially, pulled together the ideas of many different groups of theorists in order to form what might be considered the greatest group of liberty advocating men that the world has ever seen. The first known document where we see the ideas of liberty outlined in is, of course, the Bible, as there is no denying the freedom to be responsible for one’s self, and the clear non aggression principal. From there we get the Greek Philosophers like Aristotle and Socrates who brought us the basic appreciation for logic, for, through their eyes, man holds no higher gift. Then we move to the ideas of people like Thomas Aquinas and the Scholastic philosophers, who bring us the harmony in which reason works hand in hand with the Bible. Throughout this age, we see a rich source of theories arising, bringing us toward the Levelers, the first officially libertarian group, where we see the ideas of individual rights and free trade becoming quite clear through their work. John Locke was one of the greatest influencers of the Classical Liberals, through his ideas on natural law, as expressed in The State of Nature, we find the foundations of the free individual. Around the time of Locke, we get many other incredible thinkers like Thomas Hobbs and Edmund Burk. In the French and American Revolutions, we see continued support of these ideas, especially with the drafting of the French Constitution, in which we perceive the hunger in France for individual freedom, unfortunately the revolution took the wrong direction. As we have seen so far, the Classical Liberals had a lineage of incredible thinkers, and with such a foundation it is no wonder that they, to a great extent, embody modern Libertarianism.

            Now that we have seen the incredible line that led up to the Classical Liberals, we will now see how they brought these various views into unity. One of the most important men in the movement was Benjamin Constant, most famous for his writings, as he united the movement’s goals and distilled their basic ideas to be understood by the common man. Throughout his professional career Constant was a novelist, diplomatist, political activist, political philosopher, author, and an elected politician, and today he is regarded as one of the major leaders of the movement. Other important names in the group were, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and many others, who, in their classical writings take the widely accepted views found in The State of Nature, such as the freedom to mix one’s labor with something and use them to convey their ideas of ownership for instance. They were also likely inspired by the U.S. Constitution, showing them that state oppression is not a part of free society. Thus the movement grew, which is one reason why America thrived for so long in its early days, the Classical Liberals gave us the foundations of the United States, and their indisputable ideas on minimizing government, but most importantly they showed us that liberty and self ownership are some of the greatest treasures we have, not to be enslaved under the state, but to be enjoyed to the fullest, and to exist in the freedom in which we were created to live.

            The Classical Liberals believed in what most modern libertarians believe, and as it so happens, the complete opposite of what modern liberals hold, but regardless of political sides, the Classical Liberal tradition stood for a way of life, a standard under which a society could thrive, but most importantly they believed in the right of every individual to own themselves, because when people are not allowed to live in the manner God intended, there will be grave consequences, some of which we can see, even now. 

Information gathered from the Ron Paul Curriculum Western Civ 2 course and Wikipedia.