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Definition Essay (Liberal) Although people often associate the word liberal with a political view, it is far more than that. According to Dictionary.com, The word liberal we know today is a middle English word taken from the Latin word līberālis meaning freedom or being free. If the word liberal was a book and every person who had an impact on the way we define liberal today read that book, the book would just be a pile of pages because it would have been read so many times that the bindings would have fallen apart ages ago. That pile of pages represents how much this philosophy has built upon itself. Liberal today stands for a variety of beliefs and ideas that are based on liberty, equality, and tolerance. So in order to fully understand the word, we will travel back into the past to look at the events that helped shape the word into its present day definition. In 1375, liberal was first used to describe liberal arts as the “desirable education for a free man.” In 1640, fighting between the English parliament and King Charles I led to the English Civil War. King Charles was executed for …show more content…
When Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence in 1756 and sparks the American Revolution, he sights the same basic beliefs that Locke mentions in his work. Evident in Jefferson’s phrase “all men are created equal” and that we all have “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Once the colonies won the war, they created the Constitution of the United States. In the constitution, they lay out the government system in three separate branches of government; the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. This has direct correlation with Montesquieu’s argument for separation of government powers. In the Bill of Rights, you can see some of the natural rights liberal thinkers thought were necessary at the time (“Liberalism”
Today, the definition of the term “liberal” is relatively uncontested, and its content is relatively well defined. A liberal today is someone who advocates for governmental solutions to various problems, not for unaided individual freedom. Liberals today trust and call for governmental action, not for the type of self-determination supported by Hoover. Contemporary liberals believe in individual freedom, but they typically advocate f...
Liberalism is an ideology which advocates equality of opportunity for all within the framework of a system of laws. It includes a belief in government as an institution whose primary function is to define and enforce the laws. Furthermore, a Constitution, must be developed not solely by one ruler but by representatives of the elite groups. Therefore, liberalism invariably involves a belief in the need for legislative bodies which represent the influential groups. The Constitution then defines ...
Jefferson’s language in the Declaration of Independence shows clear influence from Locke and his theory of Life, Liberty, and Property. Locke’s idea of government is one that sets out to protect these rights and once a government becomes more destructive than useful it is the right of the people to dissolve the government and start over from scratch. It can be seen that Jefferson’s view of government, through his criticisms toward the British Parliament, are in direct alignment with Locke’s.
The authors of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the United States Constitution pulled from many different sources during the infancy of these invaluable documents. They used pieces such as Hobbes’ Leviathan, Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, Rousseau’s Of The Social Contract, and Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws as inspiration for America’s fundamental government. Each of these influential political philosophers were instrumental in making our government what it is today. Hobbes brought the ideas of natural equality, a strong, powerful government, and the principle that governments must be able to protect the people to American political philosophy. Locke added that
When looking at the Declaration of Independence and the justifications which Jefferson used in order to encourage the dissolve of the ties between the United Colonies and Great Britain, it becomes apparent how much of the theories of John Locke that Jefferson used as the basis for his argument. Focusing particularly on the second paragraph of the Declaration, the arguments for the equality of each man and the formation and destruction of governments come almost directly from Locke's Second Treatise of Government. The other arguments in the Declaration of Independence deal primarily with each citizen's rights and the natural freedoms of all men, two areas that Locke also spent much time writing on.
Specifically, the idea that man is endowed with certain liberties that were granted by God and/or nature was advocated by the Enlightenment thinkers. Many people took aim at arbitrary governments and the “divine right of kings.” John Locke in return offered principles of constructing a constitutional government, a contract between rulers and the ruled. In Document 7, John Locke in The Two Treatises of Government stated that men consent to enter society in order to preserve their natural rights such as life, liberty, and property. The government should protect people's natural rights and if not, then the people can remove their consent because the government derives its power from the consent of the people. John Locke wrote during the time period of the Enlightenment; therefore, his thoughts were based on the emerging idea of individualism furthermore man's inherent rights and powers. Thomas Jefferson wrote in The Declaration of Independence (Document 9) that are all men are created equal and that they are endowed with certain natural rights. The Declaration of Independence was written because of England's tyrannical rule over the American colonies thus, the citizens felt that their natural rights were being abused by the English government. Individualism was indeed formed in response to the skepticism of the Church as
Jefferson expressed his concerns and disagreements with the king in the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson's main points focused on the lack of natural rights the colonists were granted. With the natural rights of the people removed the people and the government would not be able to function. When the king eliminated freedoms that colonists once had he stripped them of their grounds for life. Jefferson also focused on equality. He stated that all men were created equal and by equality he meant that all men (and women) rich or poor all had God given rights that no person should be able to restrict them from having.
The Founding Fathers of the United States relied heavily on many of the principles taught by John Locke. Many of the principles of Locke’s Second Treatise of Government may easily be discovered in the Declaration of Independence with some minor differences in wording and order. Many of the ideas of the proper role of government, as found in the Constitution of the United States, may be discovered in the study of Locke. In order to understand the foundation of the United States, it is vital that one studies Locke. A few ideas from Hume may be found but the real influence was from Locke. Rousseau, on the other hand, had none.
... different. While Locke stated people formed a government to avoid war and protect rights, it appeared Jefferson was giving excuses to go into war to protect their rights. Locke also went on to describe the natural law of nature whereas a man is given the right to his property and any man who imposed on another man’s property was inclined to receive punishment. Jefferson took this idea to another level in the Declaration of Independence by listing the abuses of the King and Parliament. Jefferson showed that because of the failure of the British Government to protect the colonists’ rights to life, liberty and property (pursuit of happiness) even in the state of nature where man has to obey natural law, it was inevitable that the colonist would have to declare war on the British for violating their unalienable rights and even more so as the British citizens.
Political ideas change and adapt their perceptions of the social and political world through the years to cope with all changing aspects of life. Liberalism is no different. It is these changes that allow the idea to maintain its identity. Sometimes it is hard for some political ideas to adapt and change for instance the divine monarchists. Liberalism goes back at least 300years; this means that it has had to change a great deal, the ideas behind the ideology have remained the same though. Liberalism started attacking the monarchy in Britain but soon moved on to social change. This relates back to the heart of liberalism, the concept of the individual. This can be difficult because ‘man is born free, but everywhere in chains’ (- Jean-Jaques Rousseau). Liberalism was a political idea adopted by many countries during the 19th and 20th century and has been the source of many economic and social policies. Liberalism believes that each person should be free to act as they wish, it also believes that each individual deserves respect no matter of race, religion, sexual preference, or social status. Most liberals believe that the government is detrimental to liberalism’s beliefs because it does not allow everyone to be an individual since laws are in place to limit freedom. John Locke advocated this when he attacked the government saying ‘no government allows absolute liberty”. This is true because if no laws were in place then absolute liberty would soon be replaced by anarchy. Liberalism not only influenced equality but it was the basic idea behind the United States of America constitution. This was easy for the American governments to adopt because unlike other countries, it did not have to contend with aristocratic traditions and institutions.
Locke talked about how people have the right to overthrow and unjust government and Jefferson also had this concept in the writing of the Declaration. The Declaration was created to explain why the colonies wanted independence from the British. The similarity between both the arguments is that Jefferson wanted to separate from a government that treated the people poorly “to dissolve the political bands” (Constitution) and Locke had the same idea that people need to get rid of the corrupt government. In the second part of the Declaration, Locke’s influence can be further seen when Jefferson states that “all men are created equal.” There is also another similarity between both the documents as Jefferson explains in the Declaration that all men have the rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Locke also emphasized this point except Locke believed that all men have the rights to life, liberty and property. Locke wrote earlier that revolutions are rare because most times the people do not feel that the government is abusing the power too much. However, in this case Jefferson explained that the rule of the British had a “history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States” (Constitution). In Locke’s writing he also explained that tyrants only care about their own needs and do not provide for the society. Therefore, Jefferson and the Americans had the right to overthrow the government because the government did not provide for the governed. Jefferson wrote a list of charges against the British rule to influence Americans into revolting. One of charges that Jefferson makes is that the King “has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good” (Constitution). This is important because Locke stated in his article explained
Liberalism is an ideology and due to the changing views of historical persons, who have each viewed themselves to be Liberals, is difficult to define precisely. There are five agreed defining tenants of Liberalism. The most important of these, percolating through the ideology, is the ‘Importance of the Individual’, and closely interlinked with this is ‘Freedom’, which leads on to the concept of ‘Individual Freedom or liberty’. Liberals believe that humankind is a rational species, and thus ‘Reason’ is a third tenant. Furthermore Liberalism advocates that the principle of ‘Justice’ and Toleration’ are fundamental in the well being of society and each of these aspects relates directly back to the quintessential first tenant. Liberalism, according to Habermas “emphasizes individual freedom from restraint and is usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard; c: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties.” As an individualist, rather than a collectivist ideology the individual is placed as the building block of society. J. S. Mill says ...
A liberal in older days was not what one would be today; they were considered a person whom sought to use change, while a conservative is one who opposed change. The differences between a liberal and a conservative is a wide gap that focuses upon the fundamental beliefs of those within each group. Pure liberals are people who show themselves as liberal on both economic policy and personal conduct. This means "that they want the government to reduce economic inequality, regulate business, tax the rich heavily, cure the (presumably) economic causes of crime, allow abortions, protect the rights of the accused, and guarantee the broadest possible freedoms of speech and press." (Wilson, 121)
The word liberal is derived from the Latin word liber which means free man. Liberalism is also a derivative of liber. The central idea of all these words is freedom or liberty. Liberal also denotes generosity or open-mindedness. Open-mindedness/generosity indicate liberty in taking food, drink, social attitude, behavior and selection of the
Modern day society is engrossed in a battle for protection of individual rights and freedoms from infringement by any person, be it the government or fellow citizens. Liberalism offers a solution to this by advocating for the protection of personal freedom. As a concept and ideology in political science, liberalism is a doctrine that defines the motivation and efforts made towards the protection of the aforementioned individual freedom. In the current society, the greatest feature of liberalism is the protection of individual liberty from intrusion or violation by a government. The activities of the government have, therefore, become the core point of focus. In liberalism, advocacy for personal freedom may translate to three ideal situations, based on the role that a government plays in a person’s life. These are no role, a limited role or a relatively large role. The three make up liberalism’s rule of thumb. (Van de Haar 1). Political theorists have