Puritan American Liberalism

Liberal is a word whose meaning has multiple connotations for many the word is synonymous with freedom and open-mindedness. For others, it refers to people and ideas that lack practicality and discipline. When the Puritan came to America in 1630 John Winthrop told them to be liberal in spirit in a way that was similar to the prophet Nehemiah’s urgings and Matthew’s teachings of kindness. He asked his followers to balance benevolent generosity for strangers with prudent care for their families. He felt that kindness and liberality to the poor was the best way to show God’s love and grace. He felt the Puritans must be willing to give up their frivolous desires to help provide the poor with the things that they needed. This is because materialism

This is because the people involved in these arguments did not see the variances in ideas and traditions that are evident in hindsight. There was also the habit of many to reapply the arguments of others to suit their own purposes. However, the one concept of liberalism that has remained steadfast throughout history is the ideas of freedom and open-mindedness. It was these ideas that were behind the idea of abolitionism and women’s rights, as well as the creation of three levels of government which are intended to keep the others in

This is because the modern idea of liberalism includes the idea of support for groups that are disenfranchised by society and the idea of support for programs such as education that work to improve the lives of all. If this is the definition that one associates with liberalism, then the Federalists and Whigs would fit the classification. However, if the concept of liberalism supported the idea that the local government needed to be based on the interests of the local farmers and workers rather than that of the powerful, who work to control and exploit economic and political power. Then Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson were supporters of this type of Liberalism. This liberalism was based on the idea of privilege of the white man as they endorsed and the separation of society and the exclusion of freedoms given to an individual based on gender, and race. Therefore, according to Jeffersonian and Jacksonian politics that only people who mattered in society were white men and the rights of Native Americans, African Americans and women were inconsequential. It was this mindset that pervade much of the populace during the eighteenth and nineteenth