Liberal ideal can be termed as a belief in progress and science, the rule of law, expansion of democracy, free markets and production of individual liberties.
Different scholars have contributed towards development of liberalism field and as a result there are a number of documents addressing the subject. This paper will critically analyze primary historical documents by showing how the authors of the documents support or challenge the liberal ideals and why.
A source of twentieth century global history is a book used as a primary source reader text designed with intentions of supplementing twentieth century history courses. It contains both visual and textual sources from different locations in the world. The book has a general introduction chapter and is divided into different sections. Chapter four highlights the writer’s ideas on church opposition to general society matters.
It was written by James Overfield, a Denison university graduate who had a lot interest in studying social history. Overfield did research on church reforms and contributed greatly towards Germany’s pre-formation.
Laozi, a famous 6th century Chinese philosopher is another great contributor to the liberalism field. He authored a text called Tao Te Ching, which suggested that; rulers were not supposed to involve themselves in matters of the society.
People should be independent without and should work without any interference from their leaders, something which he viewed as causing unintended side effects. According to him, Leaders are supposed to guide but not to rule hence should never meddle with other people’s affairs.
Banuchi Spinoza from the Netherlands was another great contributor to the field and wrote an article titled Tracticus theologio-politicus.
The articles strongly defended separation of the state, church and democracy. He supported secular governments and viewed freedom as the catalyst of human actions by arguing that people know why they do things. He also stated that people know the end results of their actions; hence they should not be forced to conform to specific expectations.
Between the periods of 1689 to 1755, a philosopher from France called Charles de Montesquieu wrote a book known as the spirit of laws in which he explained the separation of powers in society and government. He supported the division of the government through formation of the legislature, judiciary and the executive.
His views were not meant to contradict the established laws of any country or state. He gave England as a good example whereby the constitution subdivided the powers of the monarchy and split parliament along class lines. He impacted greatly on American and French revolutionaries such as napoleon.
Countries such as Finland were not left behind in contributing towards liberalism. Anders Chydenius who lived when Finland was still part of Sweden between 1729 and 1803 wrote a book titled Den Nationale Winsten. In his book, Ander conveyed similar ideas and thoughts concerning national gains with another philosopher known as Adam Smith.
Smith’s book was titled as Wealth of nation and was about foundations of liberalism and capitalism. He advocated for complete economic and individual freedom as well as religious freedom despite being a man of the cloth. He also fought for freedom of movement for workers, their right to choose careers and places of employment, freedom of speech and trade in addition to removal of all price and wage controls.
Most of these ideas are being advocated and practiced in most developing countries across the world. His reasoning was influenced by the fact that he was a parliamentarian, advocate and a member of a panel that crafted and wrote a popular constitutional law on Sweden’s freedom in 1766.He combined press freedom and abolishment of political censorship meaning that any citizen could access government documents.
His liberal system which involved transparency reinforcing freedom became a very important constitutional principle in Sweden ever since.The principle was later perceived as one of the fundamental laws in the country shine the right to access public documents in Sweden has in the recent pasts been included in the freedom of information acts of many countries.
Chydenius has had great impact on politics and public administration of modern western cities. He was a great contributor of liberal ideas which have been firmly grounded in the governing principles of Finland and Sweden as well as across the world from as far as the 18th century to the present.
Adam smith of Great Britain lived between1723 to 1790 and was seen as the founder of modern economics. He played a great role in formulation and advancement of economic doctrines of free trade and competition which are among the key liberal ideas. In his book, wealth of nations he insisted that an independent community should be rich, self reliant and for it to be successful, it should utilize the available resources effectively.
He was at the forefront in advancing property rights and personal civil liberties such as stopping slavery and opposing stock holding companies which currently are better known as corporations. Free market can also be achieved through association of moral individuals.
Some presidents made contributions towards development of liberal ideas. One famous president who made his contribution was Thomas Jefferson.
He was the third president of the United States and the author of a text titled ‘the declaration of independence’ which was a crucial document in American liberation. He championed for individual rights and for separation of the church and state. The French revolution was among the many revolutions that emulated his ideas.
Liberal ideas also included political and economic doctrine that emphasizes the rights and freedoms of the individual and the need to limit the powers of government. Liberalism came about as a result of defense against European wars of religion especially in the 16th century.
Two philosophers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke contributed to these ideologies by stating that the authority conferred upon rulers and leaders is only sanctioned by the citizens which is enforced by a hypothetical social contract rather than by divine right.
In the 19th century, liberals were against the interference of the state in the economic life of the society arguing that economic systems built on free markets are likely to succeed and become profitable than those which are state controlled in support to Adam smith’ ideology of free markets.
Social problems and inequalities of wealth brought about by the industrial revolution in the 19th century caused the liberals to advocate for limited intervention of the state in the market and created state funded social services like free public education and health insurance. President Franklin. D. Roosevelt included liberalism in the government activities and increased regulation of business.
Liberals all over the world supported ideas such as liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, constitutionalism and freedom of religion.
These ideologies have been widely accepted by governments, political groups and the general public across the world from 19th century to the present. Numerous individuals from philosophers to presidents have made contributions to the field of liberalism, something that has greatly assisted in changing the world.