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Classical Liberalism

Classical liberalism

Classical liberalism (or alternatively Classic liberalism) is a political school of thought that holds that all rights are held by individuals, and that governments are put into place solely in order to defend those rights. Classical liberals promote the use of restrictive constitutions in the formation of governments, to ensure that their role is constrained to the defense of these rights. "Classical liberalism" can refer to early (approximately pre-1850) liberalism, or it can refer to economic liberalism which is similar to and derived from the historical classical liberals.

Introduction

The classic liberal philosophy places a particular emphasis on the role of property rights in ensuring the rights of the individual, and forms the philosophical underpinning of the free market system. The precepts of classic liberalism were probably best described by John Locke and Adam Smith, and illuminated much of the thought at the time of the American revolution. As a result, the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence are both documents that embody many principles of classic liberalism. Modern liberalism tends to deviate from this definition of the term "liberal" in that it espouses the use of the power of government to achieve a variety of desirable goals, ranging from social justice to economic equality. The libertarian movement is probably the closest modern derivative of classic liberalism, although other political movements and parties sometimes incorporate its ideals, and often borrow from its rhetoric. The CATO Institute briefly discusses these changes and their views on the term Classical Liberalism, stating from their website: :"Classical liberal" is a bit closer to the mark, but the word "classical" connotes a backward-looking philosophy. Finally, "liberal" may well be the perfect word in most of the world--the liberals in societies from China to Iran to South Africa to Argentina are supporters of human rights and free markets--but its meaning has clearly been corrupted by contemporary American liberals." Classical liberals often prefer to call themselves liberals because they see themselves as the only rightful inheritors of Liberalism.

Origins

Classical liberalism is a political and economic philosophy. With roots in ancient Greek and medieval thought, it received an early expression in the 16th century by the School of Salamanca and its classic formulation in the Enlightenment tradition. The Wealth of Nations (1776) by Scottish philosopher Adam Smith is one of the classic works. Another early expression is the tradition of a Nordic school of liberalism set in motion by a Finnish parliamentarian Anders Chydenius. Classical liberalism tries to circumscribe the limits of political power and to define and support individual liberty and private property. The phrase is often used as a means of delineating the older philosophy called liberalism from modern liberalism, in order to avoid semantic confusion. modern liberalism] Classic Liberalism is close to 18th century Liberalism. The Wealth of Nations (1776) by Adam Smith is considered one of the classic foundations of liberalism. While Adam Smith provides an explanation of liberalism and economics, the legal and philosophical understanding originates with scholars like John Locke and evolves through Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Immanuel Kant, in the Perpetual Peace, creates an international liberal framework to foster a sustainable world peace. The term "liberal" derived from this time period (generally the 18th and 19th century) with its origination stemming from the belief in individual freedom, economic freedom (including free markets), and limited representative government. This original understanding of the word "liberal" carries the same meaning in some parts of the world, but in others (such as the United States) the meaning and ideology behind Liberalism is ironically the exact opposite (welfare state, tariffs, heavy intervention and regulation into the economy, wage and price controls)of its original meaning. In many countries liberalism holds a position between classical liberalism and American liberalism. Only a few major parties adhere to classical liberalism, most of the liberal parties accept limited government intervention in economics. Perpetual Peace] Classic Liberals include all original liberals such as John Locke, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Stuart Mill with his work On Liberty, and even more modern liberals such as Von Mises, Hayek, and Milton Friedman. Classical liberal institutions include the Frasier Institute (Canada), The Hoover Institution (Stanford University), and The Cato Institute to name a few. In Hayek's book The Constitution of Liberty, in the chapter, "Why I am not a Conservative" Hayek tells us that he was not a conservative because he was in fact a liberal; and had refused to give up that label. In the United States the term liberal had changed meaning, and according to Hayek this was because Franklin D Roosevelt had been labeled a socialist and a leftist because of his New Deal Policies. Fearing the consequences of that label, FDR called himself a Liberal instead. Since that day, Liberal in the United States has had a different meaning from the orginal, 18th and 19th century meaning of the word. People who stayed close to this orginal meaning label themselves often "Classic Liberal", "Classical Liberal" or "Libertarian" to avoid confusion (especially in America ).

Classical liberal Philosophy

Classical Liberals subscribe to a very basic and universal understanding of the world and the rights of all humans. Classical Liberals believe in private property, free markets, economic competition, freedom from coercion, limited government (all economic freedom), the rule of law, and individual rights (Natural rights is also used). These are inherent to all people, of all faiths, cultures, societies, ethnicities, and histories and that all peoples are capable of achieving liberal government and liberal societies not just western cultures. (Classical) Liberals prefer a Laissez-faire style of government with a microeconomic focus and understanding of economic operations. Classical Liberals do not believe in wealth transfers, tariffs, or other trade barriers such as quotas, regulated markets (also known as a Mixed economy ), capital controls, wage and price controls. As a general rule these macroeconomic policies (favored by groups varying from Communists, Fascists, Nazis, socialists, social democrats, and liberal Keynesians) reduce the general welfare of society and according to Hayek and Friedman will ultimately reduce and eliminate the political and civil freedoms enjoyed by the people. Conversely, Hayek and Friedman believed that this economic freedom would help build and protect political and civil freedoms. Milton Friedman's Free to Choose and Capitalism and Freedom are examples of this philosophy updated for modern man and woman to understand (classical) liberalism.

Classical Liberalism during the Great Depression and the Rise of Dictatorships

Some liberals, including Friedrich August von Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Von Mises, argued that the great depression was not a result of "laissez-faire" capitalism but a result of too much government intervention and regulation upon the market but also that such intervention can and will lead to international conflict (World War I and World War II) but the rise of totalitarian regimes and the loss of political and civil freedoms. Hayek, in his book The Road to Serfdom, believed that the rise of totalitarian regimes, whether they be communist, fascist, or Nazi, were the result of the restriction of economic freedom. Economic freedom was, thus, restricted by government intervention and regulation of the economy. Hayek states: : "…economic planning, conducted independently on a national scale, are bound in the aggregate effect to be harmful even from a purely economic point of view and, in addition to produce serious international friction. That there is little hope of international order or lasting peace so long as every country is free to employ whatever measures it desires in its own immediate interest, however damaging they may be to others…" Hayek, F.A., The Road to Serfdom, The University of Chicago Press, 1944. p. 240. Here Hayek is demonstrating the rationale behind why economic policies like those subscribed to by Keynesian economists can not and could not be compatible to freedom and peace much in the same way Nazis, Fascists, and Communists failed to retain or create free and peaceful states The more economic freedom that was lost, he said, the more civil and political freedom would be lost as well. Hayek's work The Road to Serfdom remains influential, argued against these "Keynesian" institutions, believing that they can and will lead to the same totalitarian governments Keynesians were attempting to avoid. Hayek saw authoritarian regimes such as the fascist, Nazis, and communists, as the same totalitarian branch that sought the elimination of economic freedom. To him the elimination of economic freedom brought about the elimination of political freedom. Thus the differences between Nazis and communists are only rhetorical. The same outcomes could occur in Britain (or anywhere else) if the state sought to control the economic freedom of the individual with the policy prescriptions outlined by people like Dewey, Keynes, or Roosevelt. Nobel Prize winning economists such as Hayek and Milton Friedman have argued for years that economic freedom leads to greater political and civil rights and those governments who control the economy tend to limit economic rights and eventually will limit political, civil rights of their people. Friedman states, :"economic freedom is simply a requisite for political freedom. By enabling people to cooperate with one another without coercion or central direction it reduces the area over which political power is exercised." Friedman, Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose: A Personal Statement, Harcort Brace Janovich, 1980, p. 2-3 Free to Choose]

Classical liberalism, Economic Freedom, and their relationship with Civil and Political Freedoms

Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman stated that economic freedom is a necessary condition for the creation and sustainability of civil and political freedoms. Hayek believed the same totalitarian outcomes could occur in Britain (or anywhere else) if the state sought to control the economic freedom of the individual with the policy prescriptions outlined by people like Dewey, Keynes, or Roosevelt. (Classical) liberal studies by the Canadian conservative Fraser Institute, the American conservative Heritage Foundation, and the Wall Street Journal argue that there is in fact a relationship between economic freedom and political and civil freedoms as Friedrich von Hayek had once said. They agree with Hayeks statement that those countries which restrict economic freedom ultimately restrict civil and political freedoms. On the other hand, economic freedom does not necesarily imply civil and political freedom. FA Hayek and Milton Friedman have both observed that economic freedom is a necessary condition for the creation and sustainability of civil and political freedoms. This has been observed through history over the last century; easily seen by the atrocities committed by the least economically free countries in the world which include Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Communist China, Khmer Rouge Cambodia... Hayek believed the same totalitarian outcomes could occur in Britain (or anywhere else) if the state sought to control the economic freedom of the individual with the policy prescriptions outlined by people like Dewey, Keynes, or Roosevelt. The facts of history in the post-war era affirmed in his vision the accuracy of his thesis. Clement Atley's Labour Party, after winning a land slide election in post was England, encouraged private buisness owners to hand over their property, nationalized many industries, instituted wage and price controls, and even attempted to place restrictions on their citizens ability to seek employment at will, by requiring citizens to seek permission from the central government. Another example, in the 1960s the Labour Government of Harold Wilson placed a limit of £30 on money people could take abroad to avoid the consequences of an inflatonary policy pursued to create full-employment. Nevertheless, British democratic institutions survived and in 1979 a radical Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher was elected, which, sometimes painfully, re-liberalised the economy. Recent empirical studies by the Frasier Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the Wall Street Journal argued that there is in fact a relationship between economic freedom and political and civil freedoms as Friedrich von Hayek had once observed. As he stated, those countries which restrict economic freedom ultimately restrict civil and political freedoms.
- http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=pb&id=789
- http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/

Classical liberalism and rhetorical liberalism as practiced in the United States

In the United States the Republican Party has paid lip service to classical liberal philosophy since New Deal era. However, Republican president, Richard Nixon proved to be no friend of classical liberal philosophy by instituting price controls on goods during an economic crisis in the 1970s. The Democratic Carter administration oversaw the deregulation of the airline industry while also restricting the money supply (a harsh monetarist policy) to combat stagflation which plagued the United States. Many small liberal gains were achieved under Ronald Reagan in the 1980's as liberalism gained steam world wide, but the country continued to mount a national debt because of an embalanced budget. The Democrats, under Bill Clinton, took things a little further, balancing the U.S. budget, created NAFTA, and influenced the birth of the GATT94 WTO all of which helped usher in a prosperous decade for the United States. Despite these strides toward liberalism the changes have been small. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans consider themselves to be classical liberal parties. The Libertarian Party is a party in the United States that whole heartedly supports classical liberalism. However, it has little influence and only a small chance of putting an official in the White House or Congress. Within the United States, classical liberalism is rhetorically confused with conservatism. The CATO Instutite states from its website :" Only in America do people seem to refer to free-market capitalism--the most progressive, dynamic, and ever-changing system the world has ever known--as conservative. Additionally, many contemporary American conservatives favor state intervention in some areas, most notably in trade and into our private lives." According to most classical liberals, modern liberalism as it is practiced, is mostly rhetorical lip service to liberalisms highest ideals of freedom, rather than a function of its basic assumptions: the free market. See liberalism for further understanding.
See also

- Austrian School
- Capitalism
- Chicago school
- Deregulation
- Free market
- Globalization
- Privatization
- Liberalization
- Marketization
- Liberalism
- Libertarianism
- Paleoliberalism
External articles

- [http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/oldwhig4ever/ Liberalism] by Friedrich Hayek
- http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=pb&id=789
- http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/ Category:liberalism Category:Political theories

Economic liberalism
The liberal theory of economics is the theory of economics described by classical liberal authors such as Anders Chydenius, Adam Smith and the French Physiocrats. It is concerned with "natural liberty" as understood by these authors. Though Smith never used the term, today it is commonly known as laissez-faire. The concept of economic liberalism underpinned the move towards a free market economic system, and the subsequent demise of the mercantilist system. Private property and individual contracts form the basis of the liberal theory of economics. The theory also states that individuals act primarily out of self-interest, and that allowing them to do so without any restrictions will produce the best results, provided that minimum standards of public information and justice exist. The classical liberal line in economics has been taken up by modern economists of the Austrian School, and its combination with the open society and democracy is what is understood as liberalism in most of the world outside the United States. In the US itself, liberal economics is usually usually referred to as 'economic conservatism' or 'free-market ideology'. Liberal economics is a core belief in the Republican Party and Libertarian Party rather than the more social-market economics of the Democratic Party Category:Economic theories Category:Liberalism
Related

- Libertarianism

John Locke

John Locke (August 29, 1632–October 28, 1704) was a 17th-century English philosopher. He developed the Lockean social contract, which included the ideas of a state of nature, "government with the consent of the governed," and the natural rights of life, liberty, and estate. Locke was also the first to fully develop the idea of tabula rasa. Locke's ideas had an enormous influence on the development of political philosophy, and he is often seen as one of the most influential contributors to liberal theory as well as Enlightenment thinkers. Locke's writings formed the basis for many ideas of American revolutionaries as reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Locke has often been classified, along with David Hume and George Berkeley, as a British Empiricist. He is perhaps most often contrasted with the contemporary Thomas Hobbes.

Biography

Locke's father, also named John Locke, was a country lawyer who had served as a captain of cavalry for the Parliamentarian forces during the early part of the English Civil War, and his mother Agnes Keene was a tanner's daughter that was reputed to be very beautiful. Locke was born on August 29, 1632, in a small thatched cottage by the church in Wrington, Somerset, 11.42 miles (18.38 km) from Bristol. He was baptized the same day. Soon after Locke's birth, the family moved to the market town of Pensford, about seven miles south of Bristol, where Locke grew up in a rural Tudor house in Belluton. In 1647, Locke was sent to the prestigious Westminster School in London under the sponsorship of Alexander Popham, a member of Parliament and Locke's father's former commander. After completing his studies there, he was admitted to the college of Christ Church at Oxford University. The dean of the college at the time was John Owen, vice-chancellor of the university. Although a capable student, Locke was irritated by the undergraduate curriculum of the time. He found reading modern philosophers, such as René Descartes, more interesting than the classical material taught at the university. Locke was awarded a bachelor's degree in 1656 and a master's degree in 1658. Although he never became a medical doctor, Locke obtained a bachelor of medicine in 1674. He studied medicine extensively during his time at Oxford, working with such noted virtuosi as Robert Boyle, Thomas Willis, Robert Hooke and Richard Lower. In 1666, he met Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, who had come to Oxford seeking treatment for a liver infection. Cooper was impressed with Locke and persuaded him to become part of his retinue. Locke had been looking for a career and in 1667 moved into Shaftesbury's home at Exeter House in London, ostensibly as the household physician. In London Locke resumed his medical studies, under the tutelage of Thomas Sydenham. Sydenham had a major impact on Locke's natural philosophical thinking - an impact that resonated deeply in Locke's writing of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Locke's medical knowledge was soon put to the test, since Shaftesbury's liver infection became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Shaftesbury to undergo an operation (then life-threatening itself) to remove the cyst. Shaftesbury survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life. It was in Shaftesbury's household, during 1671, that the meeting took place, described in the Epistle to the reader of the Essay, which was the genesis of what would later become Essay. Two extant Drafts still survive from this period. Shaftesbury, as a founder of the Whig movement, exerted great influence on Locke's political ideas. Locke became involved in politics when Shaftesbury became Lord Chancellor in 1672. Following Shaftesbury's fall from favour in 1675, Locke spent some time travelling across France. He returned to England in 1679 when Shaftesbury's political fortunes took a brief positive turn. It was around this time, most likely at Shaftesbury's prompting, that Locke composed the bulk of the Two Treatises of Government. However, Locke fled to the Netherlands in 1683, under strong suspicion of involvement in the Rye House Plot (though there is little evidence to suggest that he was directly involved in the scheme). In the Netherlands Locke had time to return to his writing, spending a great deal of time re-working the Essay and composing the Letter on Toleration. Locke did not return home until after the Glorious Revolution. The bulk of Locke's publishing took place after his arrival back in England - the Essay, the Two Treatises and the Letter on Toleration all appearing in quick succession upon his return from exile. He died in 1704 after a prolonged decline in health, and is buried in the churchyard of the village of High Laver, east of Harlow in Essex, where he had lived in the household of Sir Francis Masham since 1691. Locke never married or had any children. Events that happened during Locke's lifetime include the English Restoration, the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London. He did not quite see the Act of Union of 1707, though the thrones of England and Scotland were held by the same monarch throughout his lifetime. Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy were in their infancy during Locke's time.

Writings

The influences of Locke's Puritan upbringing and his Whig political affiliation expressed themselves in his published writings. Although widely regarded as an important influence on modern ideas of political liberty, Locke did not always express ideas that match those of the present day. Locke's first major published work was A Letter Concerning Toleration. Religious toleration within Great Britain was a subject of great interest for Locke; he wrote several subsequent essays in its defence prior to his death. Locke's upbringing among non-conformist Protestants made him sensitive to differing theological viewpoints. He recoiled, however, from what he saw as the divisive character of some non-conformist sects. Locke became a strong supporter of the Church of England. By adopting a latitudinarian theological stance, Locke believed, the national church could serve as an instrument for social harmony. Locke is best known for two works, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government. The Essay was commenced in 1671, and as Locke himself described, was written in fits and starts over the next 18 years. It was finally published in December 1689. Though the exact dates of the composition of the Two Treatises are a matter of dispute, it is clear that the bulk of the writing took place in the period from 1679-1682. It was therefore much more of a commentary on the exclusion crisis than it was a justification of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, though no one doubts that Locke substantively revised it to serve this latter purpose.

A Letter Concerning Toleration

Locke originally published the Letter anonymously, in Latin, in Amsterdam, though it was almost immediately translated into English. He distinguishes a church from a civil government by the ends each pursues and by the means most appropriate to those ends. Government exists for the sake of peace, and must use force to achieve it; a church is a voluntary community for the salvation of souls, and must therefore use persuasion. Individuals cannot alienate control over their own souls, and so cannot make the government responsible for their salvation; force cannot bring about the changes necessary for salvation; and even if it could, there is no certainty that the religion doing the oppressing is the true religion. As a result, even were the government inclined to support a particular church, it could not do so without disturbing civil peace. Government may, however, regulate religion for political reasons, e.g., to forbid the public slaughter of all animals for health reasons, even if this prevents certain religious practices. Religious sects that refuse to accept Locke's doctrine of toleration of necessity seek a change in the government, and so may be suppressed as revolutionary. As there is no reason to keep promises without fear of God, and as civil peace requires that men keep their promises, the government may take an interest in promoting some form of religion.

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

In the Essay, Locke critiques the philosophy of innate ideas and builds a theory of the mind and knowledge that gives priority to the senses and experience. His adherence to this doctrine is what marks him out as an empiricist rather than a rationalist such as his critic Leibniz, who wrote the New Essays on Human Understanding. Book II of the Essay sets out Locke's theory of ideas, including his distinction between passively acquired simple ideas, such as "red," "sweet," "round," etc., and actively built complex ideas, such as numbers, causes and effects, abstract ideas, ideas of substances, identity, and diversity. Locke also distinguishes between the truly existing primary qualities of bodies, like shape, motion and the arrangement of minute particles, and the secondary qualities that are "powers to produce various sensations in us" (Essay, II.viii.10) such as "red" and "sweet." These secondary qualities, Locke claims, are dependent on the primary qualities. In Chapter xxvii of Book II Locke discusses personal identity, and the idea of a person. What he says here has shaped our thoughts and provoked debate ever since. Book III is concerned with language, and Book IV with knowledge, including intuition, mathematics, moral philosophy, natural philosophy ("science"), faith and opinion.

Two Treatises of Government

The First Treatise attacks Sir Robert Filmer, who was the author of the first criticism of Thomas Hobbes and of a peculiar theory of the Divine Right of Kings. The Second Treatise, or True End of Civil Government, purports to justify the Glorious Revolution by 1) developing a theory of legitimate government and 2) arguing that the people may remove a regime that violates that theory; Locke leaves it to his readers to understand that James II of England had done so. He is therefore best known as the popularizer of natural rights and the right of revolution. Locke posits a state of nature as the proper starting point for examining politics. Individuals have rights, and their duties are defined in terms of protecting their own rights and respecting those of others. Through the law of nature, which Locke describes as "reason," we are able to understand why we must respect the natural rights of others (including the right to property for which one has laboured). In practice, the law of nature is ignored and so government is necessary; this can be created only by the consent of the governed, which can be had only to a commonwealth of laws. As law is sometimes incapable of providing for the safety and increase of society, man may acquiesce in being done certain extralegal benefits (prerogative). All government is therefore a fiduciary trust: when that trust is betrayed, government dissolves. A government betrays its trust when the laws are violated or when the trust of prerogative is abused. Once government is dissolved, the people are free to erect a new one and to oppose those who claim authority under the old one, that is, to revolt.

Influence

Locke exercised a profound influence on subsequent philosophy and politics. His remarks concerning liberty and the social contract later influenced the written works of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other Founding Fathers of the United States. In particular, the Declaration of Independence drew upon many 18th century political ideas, derived from the works of Locke. Appraisals of Locke have therefore been tied to appraisals of the United States and of liberalism in general. Detractors note that he was a major investor in the English slave-trade, as well as his participation in drafting the Fundamental Constitution of the Carolinas while Shaftesbury's secretary, which established a feudal aristocracy and gave a master absolute power over his slaves. Some see his statements on unenclosed property as having justified the displacement of the Native Americans. Because of his opposition to aristocracy and slavery in his major writings, he is accused of hypocrisy, or of caring only for the liberty of English capitalists. Most scholars reject these criticisms, however, questioning the extent of his impact upon the Fundamental Constititution and his detractors' interpretations of his work in general.

List of major works

- (1689) A Letter Concerning Toleration
- (1690) A Second Letter Concerning Toleration
- (1692) A Third Letter for Toleration
- (1689) Two Treatises of Government
- (1689) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
- (1693) Some Thoughts Concerning Education
- (1695) The Reasonableness of Christianity, as Delivered in the Scriptures
- (1695) A Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity

Major unpublished or posthumous manuscripts

- (1660) First Tract on Government (or the English Tract)
- (c.1662) Second Tract on Government (or the Latin Tract)
- (1664) Essays on the Law of Nature
- (1667) Essay Concerning Toleration
- (1706) Of the Conduct of the Understanding
- (1707) A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul

Locke's epitaph

(translated from the Latin) "Stop Traveller! Near this place lieth John Locke. If you ask what kind of a man he was, he answers that he lived content with his own small fortune. Bred a scholar, he made his learning subservient only to the cause of truth. This thou will learn from his writings, which will show thee everything else concerning him, with greater truth, than the suspected praises of an epitaph. His virtues, indeed, if he had any, were too little for him to propose as matter of praise to himself, or as an example to thee. Let his vices be buried together. As to an example of manners, if you seek that, you have it in the Gospels; of vices, to wish you have one nowhere; if mortality, certainly, (and may it profit thee), thou hast one here and everywhere."

Secondary literature

- Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknapp/Harvard University Press, 1967. Enlarged Edition, 1992. Discusses influence of Locke and other thinkers upon American political thought.
- John Dunn, Locke Oxford University Press, 1984. A succinct introduction.
- John Dunn, The Political Thought of John Locke: An Historical Account of the Argument of the Two Treatises of Government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969. Introduced the interpretation which emphasizes the theological element in Locke's political thought.
- Roland Hall (ed.) `Locke Studies' is an annual journal of research on John Locke (obtainable from the editor for £12; the current volume is 300 pages).
- John W. Yolton (ed.), John Locke: Problems and Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969. Reassesses Locke's political philosophy from different points of view.

Quotes

If man in the state of nature be so free, as has been said; if he be absolute lord of his own person and possessions, equal to the greatest, and subject to no body, why will he part with his freedom?"
-Two Treatises of Government

References

- Robinson, Dave & Groves, Judy (2003). Introducing Political Philosophy. Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-450-X.

External links

- [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?amode=start&author=Locke,%20John Free, full-text works by John Locke]
-
- [http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dmckiern/locke.htm Works by Locke on the Web]
- [http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/locke/ John Locke Online Bibliography]
- [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry]
- [http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/locke/index.html John Locke Bibliography]
- [http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/locke/mss/index.html John Locke Manuscripts]
- [http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/ Readable versions of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding and the Second Treatise on Government] Locke, John Locke, John Locke, John Locke, John Locke, John Locke, John Locke, John Locke, John Locke, John Locke, John ko:존 로크 ja:ジョン・ロック th:จอห์น ล็อก

Adam Smith

Adam Smith, FRS (Baptised June 5, 1723 – July 17, 1790) was a Scottish political economist and moral philosopher. His Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was one of the earliest attempts to study the historical development of industry and commerce in Europe. That work helped to create the modern academic discipline of economics and provided one of the best-known intellectual rationales for free trade and capitalism.

Biography

Smith was the son of the controller of the customs at Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was baptized at Kirkcaldy on June 5, 1723, his father having died some six months previously. At around the age of 4, he was kidnapped by a band of Gypsies, but he was quickly rescued by his uncle and returned to his mother. Smith's biographer, John Rae, commented wryly that he feared Smith would have made "a poor Gypsy." At the age of fourteen, Smith proceeded to the University of Glasgow, studying moral philosophy under "the never-to-be-forgotten" (as Smith called him) Francis Hutcheson. Here Smith developed his strong passion for liberty, reason and free speech. In 1740 he entered Balliol College, Oxford, but as William Robert Scott has said, "the Oxford of his time gave little if any help towards what was to be his lifework," and he left the university in 1746. In 1748 he began delivering public lectures in Edinburgh under the patronage of Lord Kames. Some of these dealt with rhetoric and belles-lettres, but later he took up the subject of "the progress of opulence," and it was then, in his middle or late 20s, that he first expounded the economic philosophy of "the obvious and simple system of natural liberty" which he was later to proclaim to the world in his Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. About 1750 he met David Hume, who became one of the closest of his many friends. In 1751 Smith was appointed professor on logic at the University of Glasgow, transferring in 1752 to the chair of moral philosophy. His lectures covered the fields of ethics, rhetoric, jurisprudence, political economy, and "police and revenue." In 1759 he published his The Theory of Moral Sentiments, embodying some of his Glasgow lectures. This work, which established Smith's reputation in his day, was concerned with how human communication depends on sympathy between agent and spectator (that is, the individual and other members of society). His capacity for fluent, persuasive, if rather rhetorical argument is much in evidence. He bases his explanation, not as the third Lord Shaftesbury and Hutcheson had done, on a special "moral sense", nor (like Hume) on utility, but on sympathy. Smith now began to give more attention to jurisprudence and economics in his lecture and less to his theories of morals. An impression can be obtained as to the development of his ideas on political economy from the notes of his lectures taken down by a student in about 1763 which were later edited by E. Cannan (Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue and Arms, 1896), and from what Scott, its discoverer and publisher, describes as "An Early Draft of Part of The Wealth of Nations", which he dates about 1763. At the end of 1763 Smith obtained a lucrative post as tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch and resigned his professorship. From 1764-66 he traveled with his pupil, mostly in France, where he came to know such intellectual leaders as Turgot, Jean D'Alembert, André Morellet, Helvétius and, in particular, Francois Quesnay, the head of the Physiocratic school whose work he much respected. On returning home to Kirkcaldy he devoted much of the next ten years to his magnum opus, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which appeared in 1776. It was very well-received and popular, and Smith became famous. In 1778 he was appointed to a comfortable post as commissioner of customs in Scotland and went to live with his mother in Edinburgh. He died there on July 17, 1790, after a painful illness and was buried in Canongate Churchyard, Royal Mile, Edinburgh. He had apparently devoted a considerable part of his income to numerous secret acts of charity.

Works

Shortly before his death Smith had nearly all his manuscripts destroyed. In his last years he seemed to have been planning two major treatises, one on the theory and history of law and one on the sciences and arts. The posthumously published Essays on Philosophical Subjects (1795) probably contain parts of what would have been the latter treatise. The Wealth of Nations was influential since it did so much to create the field of economics and develop it into an autonomous systematic discipline. In the Western world, it is arguably the most influential book on the subject ever published. When the book, which has become a classic manifesto against mercantilism (the theory that large reserves of bullion are essential for economic success), appeared in 1776, there was a strong sentiment for free trade in both Britain and America. This new feeling had been born out of the economic hardships and poverty caused by the war. However, at the time of publication, not everybody was immediately convinced of the advantages of free trade: the British public and Parliament still clung to mercantilism for many years to come. The Wealth of Nations also rejects the Physiocratic school's emphasis on the importance of land; instead, Smith believed labour was paramount, and that a division of labour would effect a great increase in production. Nations was so successful, in fact, that it led to the abandonment of earlier economic schools, and later economists, such as Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo, focused on refining Smith's theory into what is now known as classical economics. (Modern economics evolved from this.) Malthus expanded Smith's ruminations on overpopulation, while Ricardo believed in the "iron law of wages" — that overpopulation would prevent wages from topping the subsistence level. Smith postulated an increase of wages with an increase in production, a view considered more accurate today. One of the main points of The Wealth of Nations is that the free market, while appearing chaotic and unrestrained, is actually guided to produce the right amount and variety of goods by a so-called "invisible hand". If a product shortage occurs, for instance, its price rises, creating a profit margin that creates an incentive for others to enter production, eventually curing the shortage. If too many producers enter the market, the increased competition among manufacturers and increased supply would lower the price of the product to its production cost, the "natural price". Even as profits are zeroed out at the "natural price," there would be incentives to produce goods and services, as all costs of production, including compensation for the owner's labour, are also built into the price of the goods. If prices dipped below a zero profit, producers would drop out of the market; if they were above a zero profit, producers would enter the market. Smith believed that while human motives are often selfish and greedy, the competition in the free market would tend to benefit society as a whole by keeping prices low, while still building in an incentive for a wide variety of goods and services. Nevertheless, he was wary of businessmen and argued against the formation of monopolies. Smith vigourously attacked the antiquated government restrictions which he thought were hindering industrial expansion. In fact, he attacked most forms of government interference in the economic process, including tariffs, arguing that this creates inefficiency and high prices in the long run. This theory, now referred to as "laissez-faire", influenced government legislation in later years, especially during the 19th century. Two of the most famous and oft-quoted passages in The Wealth of Nations are: It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. As every individual, therefore, endeavours as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labours to render the annual value of society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it.

The "Adam Smith-Problem"

There has been considerable controversy as to whether there is a contradiction between Smith's emphasis on sympathy in his Theory of Moral Sentiments and the key role of self-interest in The Wealth of Nations. Economist Joseph Schumpeter referred to this in German as das 'Adam Smith-Problem'.[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam-Smith-Problem] In his Moral Sentiments Smith seems to emphasize the broad synchronization of human intention and behaviour under a beneficent Providence, while in The Wealth of Nations, in spite of the general theme of "the invisible hand" creating harmony out of conflicting self-interests, he finds many more occasions for pointing out cases of conflict and of the narrow selfishness of human motives. Yet it would be inaccurate to describe the Adam Smith of the Moral Sentiments as disbelieving of an essential selfishness of most human motives, for he writes that: :Thus self-preservation, and the propagation of the species, are the great ends which Nature seems to have proposed in the formation of all animals. Mankind are endowed with a desire of those ends, and an aversion to the contrary; with a love of life, and a dread of dissolution; with a desire of the continuance and perpetuity of the species, and with an aversion to the thoughts of its entire extinction. But though we are in this manner endowed with a very strong desire of those ends, it has not been entrusted to the slow and uncertain determinations of our reason, to find out the proper means of bringing them about. Nature has directed us to the greater part of these by original and immediate instincts. Hunger, thirst, the passion which unites the two sexes, the love of pleasure, and the dread of pain, prompt us to apply those means for their own sakes, and without any consideration of their tendency to those beneficent ends which the great Director of nature intended to produce by them.

Influence

The Wealth of Nations, and to a lesser extent The Theory of Moral Sentiments, have become the starting point for any defence or critique of forms of capitalism, most influentially in the writings of Marx and Humanist economists. Because capitalism is so often associated with unbridled selfishness, there is a recent movement to emphasize the moral philosophy of Smith, with its focus on sympathy with one's fellows. There has been some controversy over the extent of Smith's originality in The Wealth of Nations; some argue that the work added modestly to the already established ideas of thinkers such as Anders Chydenius, David Hume and the Baron de Montesquieu. Indeed, many of the theories Smith sets out simply describe historical trends away from mercantilism, towards free-trade, that had been developing for many decades, and had already had significant influence on governmental policy. Nevertheless, it organizes their ideas comprehensively, and remains one of the most influential and important books in the field today. Smith was ranked #30 in Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history.

Major Works

- The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
- The Wealth of Nations (1776)
- Essays on Philosophical Subjects

Quotations

Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.
-Wealth of Nations "The best way to encourage economic growth is to unleash individuals to persue their own selfish economic interests."
See also

- Liberalism
- Contributions to liberal theory
- Adam Smith rule
- Capitalism
- History of economic thought
- Anders Chydenius
- The National Gain
External links
;General
-
- [http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Smith.html Biography] at the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
- [http://www.econlib.org/library/YPDBooks/Rae/raeLS.html Life of Adam Smith] by John Rae, at the Library of Economics and Liberty
- [http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/smith.htm Smith's works]
- [http://econ161.berkeley.edu/Economists/smith.html Brad deLong's Adam Smith page]
- [http://www.adamsmith.org The Adam Smith Institute]
- [http://www.libertyforums.com/ LibertyForums] - Classical Liberal, Libertarian & Objectivist Discussion Board.
- [http://www.boomerbible.com/adam20.html Excerpt from "The Book of the VIP Adam"]
- [http://web.uvic.ca/~rutherfo/a_smith.html Grave of Adam Smith] on the [http://web.uvic.ca/~rutherfo/mr_grvs.html Famous Economists Grave Sites]
- [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/ Images at the National Portrait Gallery] ;Works
- [http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN.html The Wealth of Nations] at the [http://www.econlib.org/index.html Library of Economics and Liberty]. Cannan edition. Definitive, fully searchable, free online.
-
- [http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/wealthofnations/toc.htm The Wealth of Nations] from [http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/ Mondo Politico Library] - full text; formatted for easy on-screen reading.
- [http://www.adamsmith.org/smith/won-intro.htm The Wealth of Nations] from the [http://www.adamsmith.org/ Adam Smith Institute] - elegantly formatted for on-screen reading
- [http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/BookSetToCPage.php?recordID=0141 Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith]. Glasgow edition, 7 volumes at the [http://oll.libertyfund.org/ Online Library of Liberty]. Definitive, free online.
- [http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS.html The Theory of Moral Sentiments] at the [http://www.econlib.org/index.html Library of Economics and Liberty] Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Category:Adam Smith Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Smith Smith, Adam Smith, Adam ko:애덤 스미스 ms:Adam Smith ja:アダム・スミス simple:Adam Smith th:แอดัม สมิท

American Revolution

The American Revolution is the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the political separation of thirteen colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was one part of the revolution, but the revolution began before the first shot was fired at Lexington and Concord and continued after the British surrender at Yorktown. "The Revolution was effected before the War commenced," wrote John Adams. "The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people." The precise nature and extent of the revolution is a matter of interpretation. It is generally agreed that the revolution originated around the time of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), and ended with the election of George Washington as the first President of the United States in 1789. Beyond that, interpretations vary. At one end of the spectrum is the view that the American Revolution was not "revolutionary" at all; that it did not radically transform colonial society, but 'simply replaced a distant government with a local one'. The opposite view is that the American Revolution was a unique and radical event, producing significant changes that had a profound impact on world history. Most current interpretations fall somewhere in-between these two positions. 1789, and the orange region was claimed by Spain. Note that this map does not show the bulk of British North America of that time.]]

Origins

In the early 1760s, Great Britain possessed a vast empire on the North American continent. In addition to the thirteen British colonies, victory in the Seven Years' War had given Great Britain claim over New France (Canada), Spanish Florida, and the Native American lands east of the Mississippi River. A war against France's former Indian allies—Pontiac's Rebellion—had, if not conquered, at least 'pacified' the western frontier. At this time, most white colonists in America considered themselves loyal subjects of the British Crown, with the same rights and obligations as Englishmen in Britain

Government

Main article: Colonial government in America Colonial government in America]

Philosophy and radical thought

The Enlightenment elevated natural philosophy, and began to replace arguments born of tradition and authority with those based upon observation and independent reasoning. The implications of the earlier scientific revolution began to have a greater effect on everyday life and in the conscious thought of men everywhere. Increased publication and communications between like-minded people opened up new areas to question and consideration. The early works of thinkers like John Locke became the analysis of men like Montesquieu. The "deist" views of several of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and their views on the proper form of government have roots in this European Enlightenment, and were a source for ideas regarding separation of church and state and other liberties. In addition, the ideas of "social contract" and the "Law of Nature" espoused by John Locke and others, gained wide acceptance in thought.

Religious trends

The Great Awakening was the American extension to the earlier religious revivals in Europe. It called into question the authority of established religious institutions; especially, but not exclusively, the Church of England, whose authority many of the colonists had come to New England to escape. The revival placed emphasis upon individual conscience and experience as the source of value in religious experience. Socially, there was also a strong element of 'class' revolt: God worked through grace that was given to every man or woman, regardless of station or level of education. This was a direct challenge to upper-class, aristocratic assumptions about the deference due to authority— it was a model of revolutionary thought to come; it was also the first event that swept through all the colonies, from New England to the Carolinas, as a generally common experience.

Road to rebellion

After the French and Indian War and Pontiac's Rebellion, the British government sought to overhaul its expansive North American possessions. In order to make the Empire more stable and profitable, new economic and land distribution policies were implemented. Specifically, the new British policies included the understandable desire of the crown that the colonists would shoulder a greater share of the burdens of war and the cost of their own defense, as well as the curtailment of smuggling with the colonies of the West Indies, the payment of royal tariffs and the exclusive trade with the British homeland. Colonial resentment of these new policies grew steadily throughout the decade, and had a significant impact on the emergence of "Americanism" and the outbreak of the American Revolution.

Economic disputes, 1760-70

The British national debt had risen to alarming levels during the war years and so in 1760 the Crown began a series of economic initiatives designed to extract more revenue from the colonies. These policies were 'justifiable', the reasoning went, because the colonists were enjoying the benefits of the peace that had been won. the Crown In theory, Great Britain already regulated the economies of the colonies through the Navigation Acts, but widespread evasion of these laws had long been tolerated. Now, through the use of open-ended search warrants (Writs of Assistance), strict enforcement became the practice. In 1761, Massachusetts lawyer James Otis argued that the writs violated the constitutional rights of the colonists. He lost the case, but John Adams later wrote, "American independence was then and there born." In 1763, Patrick Henry argued the Parson's Cause case. Clerical pay had been tied to the price of tobacco by Virginia legislation. When the price of tobacco skyrocketed after a bad crop in 1758, the Virginia legislature passed the Two-Penny Act to stop clerical salaries from inflating as well. In 1763, King George III vetoed the Two-Penny Act. Patrick Henry defended the law in court and argued "that a King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience." In 1764, British Prime Minister George Grenville's Sugar Act and Currency Act created economic hardship in the colonies. Protests led to the boycott of British goods, and to the emergence of the popular slogan "no taxation without representation," in which colonists argued that only their colonial assemblies, and not Parliament, could levy taxes on them. Committees of correspondence were formed in the colonies to coordinate resistance to paying the taxes. In previous years, the colonies had shown little inclination towards collective action. Grenville's policies were bringing them together. A milestone in the Revolution occurred in 1765, when Grenville passed the Stamp Act as a way to finance the quartering of troops in North America. The Stamp Act required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the colonies to carry a tax stamp. Colonial protest was widespread. Secret societies known as the Sons of Liberty were formed in every colony, and used propaganda, intimidation, and mob violence to prevent the enforcement of the Stamp Act. The furor culminated with the "Stamp Act Congress", which sent a formal protest to Parliament in October of 1765. Parliament responded by repealing the Stamp Act, but pointedly declared its legal authority over the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” declared its legal authority was designed to inflame opposition to the military occupation of Boston.]] The sequel was not long in coming. In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, placing taxes on a number of common goods imported into the colonies, including glass, paint, lead, paper, and tea. In response, colonial leaders organized boycotts of these British imports. The Liberty, a ship belonging to colonial merchant John Hancock, was suspected of smuggling and was seized by customs officials in Boston on June 10, 1768. Angry protests on the street led customs officials, fearing for their safety, to report to London that Boston was in a state of insurrection. British troops began to arrive in Boston in October of 1768. Tensions continued to mount; culminating in the "Boston Massacre" on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot fired into an angry mob, killing five. Revolutionary agitators like Samuel Adams used the event to stir up popular resistance, but after the trial of the soldiers, who were defended by John Adams, tensions diminished. The Townshend Acts were repealed in 1770 after much protesting, and it was still theoretically possible that further bloodshed in the colonies might be avoided. However, the British government had left one tax from the Townshend Acts in place as a symbolic gesture of their right to tax the colonies—the tax on tea. For the revolutionaries, who stood firm on the principle that only their colonial representatives could levy taxes on them, it was still "one tax too many". This resulted in the Boston Tea Party.

Western land dispute

The Proclamation of 1763 sought to limit the conflicts between Native Americans and the English settlers by restricting settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. However, groups of settlers, led for example by Daniel Boone, continued to move into the region beyond the Proclamation Line and fought violently with the Shawnees and other peoples inhabiting the area. Furthermore, the Quebec Act of 1774 extended Quebec's boundaries to the Ohio River, reestablished French civil law, and instituted toleration for Roman Catholics in that territory, an action which horrified some colonials, who had come to New England to establish their own protestant sects. Proposals to post British regulars to man forts in the west further disquieted Americans eager to occupy Indian land. protestant

Crises, 1772-75

- Gaspée Affair
- Tea Act of 1773.
- Boston Tea Party - December 16, 1773
- "Intolerable Acts" of 1774.
- The First Continental Congress convened on September 5, 1774 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and endorsed the Suffolk Resolves, which declared the Intolerable Acts to be unconstitutional, called for the people to form militias, and for Massachusetts to form a revolutionary government. Joseph Galloway's Plan of Union is defeated.
- Battle of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775
- Second Continental Congress convenes on May 10, 1775. :
- Olive Branch Petition -- July 5, 1775, one final attempt by the Continental Congress to appeal to King George to redress their grievances and avoid more bloodshed. The King refuses even to receive the petition.

Choosing sides

1775) originally appeared during the French and Indian War, but was recycled to encourage the American colonies to unite against British rule.]] The American revolutionaries, known as Patriots (or Whigs or rebels), included many shades of opinion. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and George Washington represented a socially conservative faction that would later take shape as the Federalist party and are traditionally characterized as preoccupied with preserving the wealth and power of the "better sorts" of colonial society. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine are usually portrayed as representing the less economically affluent side of society, and political equality. Among other dissenting minorities, a party known as the "anti-federalists", led by George Mason, considered the Constitution of the United States to be a dangerously flawed document, one which would cause greater tyranny than either Parliament or the British Crown; they walked out of the Constitutional Convention without signing it. A great many American colonists remained loyal to the British Crown; these became known as Loyalists (or 'Tories', or 'King's men'). Loyalists were often of the same well-to-do social circle that produced the right wing of the Patriots (for example Thomas Hutchinson); however, the Scottish highlanders of the Mohawk Valley and the frontiersmen of Georgia included a large number of poorer King's men. Some Loyalists were American Indians, notably Joseph Brant, who led a mixed band of Indians and white farmers and laborers in the Loyalist cause. After the war, United Empire Loyalists became a central component of the populations of the Abaco islands (in the Bahamas), the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Ontario, and Freetown, Sierra Leone, where many of them fled to escape persecution in the colonies.

Class differences among the Patriots

Just as there were rich and poor Loyalists, the Patriots were a 'mixed lot', and often had different aims for the revolution. Wealthy Patriots viewed independence as a means of freeing themselves from British taxation and limitations on taking western land, but had every intention of remaining in control of the resulting nation. Many craftsmen, small merchants and small farmers, however, were looking at independence as a means of reducing the power and privilege of the elite. Wealthy Patriots knew that they needed the support of the lower classes, but were fearful of their more radical democratic aims. John Adams (an elite more by education than by wealth) attacked Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the "absurd democratical notions" it proposed.

Women

Common Sense] The boycott of British goods would have been entirely unworkable without the willing participation of American women: women made the bulk of household purchases, and the boycotted items were largely household items such as tea and cloth. And as cloth was still a basic necessity, for the boycott to work, women would have to return to spinning and weaving, skills that had fallen into disuse. In 1769, the women of Boston produced 40,000 skeins of yarn, and 180 women in Middletown, Massachusetts wove 20,522 yards of cloth. As the Revolution progressed and economic disruption deepened, women participated directly in the food riots and tar and feathering that was the people's response to price gouging by merchants, Loyalist and Patriot alike. On July 24, 1777, Thomas Boyleston, a Patriot merchant who was withholding coffee and sugar from the market waiting for prices to rise, was confronted by a crowd of 100 or more women, who seized the keys to his warehouse and distributed the coffee themselves while a large crowd of men stood by and watched, dumbfounded.

Writing the state constitutions

By 1776, the colonies had overthrown their existing government, closing courts and driving British agents and governors from their homes, and they had elected conventions and "legislatures" that existed outside of any legal framework whatsoever— new constitutions were desperately needed in each colony to replace the superseded royal charters. On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution, six months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Then, in May, 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. Virginia, South Carolina, and New Jersey created their constitutions before July 4. Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown. The new states had to decide not only what form of government to create, they first had to decide how to select those who would craft the constitutions and how the resulting document would be ratified. This would be just the start of a process that would pit conservatives against radicals in each state. In states where the wealthy exerted firm control over the process, such as Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New York and Massachusetts, the result was constitutions that featured:
- substantial property qualifications for voting and even more substantial requirements for elected positions (though New York and Maryland lowered property qualifications);
- bicameral legislatures, with the upper house as a check on the lower;
- strong governors, with veto power over the legislature and substantial appointment authority;
- few or no restraints on individuals holding multiple positions in government;
- the continuation of state-established religion. In states where the less affluent had organized sufficiently to have significant power, especially Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont, the resulting constitutions embodied:
- universal manhood suffrage, or minimal property requirements for voting or holding office (New Jersey went so far as to enfranchise women, a radical step that they retracted 25 years later); Vermont
- strong, unicameral legislatures;
- relatively weak governors, without veto powers, and little appointing authority;
- prohibition against individuals holding multiple government posts;
- disestablishment of religion. Naturally, the fact that conservatives or radicals held sway in a state did not mean that the side with less power accepted the result quietly. In Pennsylvania, the propertied class was horrified by their new constitution (Benjamin Rush called it "our state dung cart"), while in Massachusetts, voters twice rejected the constitution that was presented for ratification; it was ultimately ratified only as a result of the legislature tinkering with the third vote. The radical provisions of Pennsylvania's constitution were to last only fourteen years— in 1790, conservatives gained power in the state legislature, called a new constitutional convention, and wrote a new constitution that substantially reduced universal white-male suffrage, gave the governor veto power and patronage appointment authority, and added an upper house with substantial wealth qualifications to the unicameral legislature. Thomas Paine called it a constitution unworthy of America.

War for independence, 1775-83

Benjamin Rush Main article: American Revolutionary War Thomas Paine produced a pamphlet entitled Common Sense arguing that the only solution to the problems with Britain would be republicanism and independence from Great Britain.
- United States Declaration of Independence
- Articles of Confederation Articles of Confederation

America after the war

- Shays' Rebellion - 1786
- Northwest Indian War (1785-1795)
- The Constitutional Convention of 1787 The American Revolution entrenched several noteworthy innovations: the separation of church and state, which ended the special privileges of the Anglican Church in the South and the Congregationalist Church in New England; a discourse of liberty, individual rights and equality which would prove highly appealing in Europe; the idea that government should be by consent of the governed (including the right of rebellion against tyranny); the delegation of power through written constitutions; and the notion that colonial peoples of the Americas could become self-governing nations in their own rights.

The impact on British North America

For tens of thousands of inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies, the victory of the revolutionaries was followed by exile. Approximately fifty thousand United Empire Loyalists fled to the remaining British colonies in North America, such as the Province of Quebec, concentrating in the Eastern Townships, and also Upper Canada (now known as Ontario), as well as in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia - where their presence would result in the creation of New Brunswick. Thus, the seeds of the French-English duality in British North America, which has been arguably the most prominent political and cultural feature of what would one day become Canada were sown.

Revolution beyond America

The American Revolution was the first wave of the Atlantic Revolutions that would also take hold in the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American wars of liberation. Aftershocks would also be felt in Ireland in the 1798 rising, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and in the Netherlands. The Revolution had a strong immediate impact in Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and France. Many British and Irish Whigs had been openly indulgent to the Patriots in America, and the Revolution was the first lesson in politics for many European radicals who would later take on active roles during the era of the French Revolution. Jefferson's Declaration had [http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap3a.html an immediate impact] on the French Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789. The American Revolution affected the rest of the world. The thinkers of the Enlightenment only wrote that common people had the right to overthrow unjust governments. The American Revolution was a case of practical success, which provided the rest of the world with a 'working model'. The American Revolution set an example to the people in Europe and other parts of the world. It encouraged the people to realize they had rights independent of the sovereign; it promoted republicanism to overthrow monarchs. It incited people to fight for their rights, and it showed them that it was possible to win even against the world's foremost power, Great Britain. Nowhere was the influence more profound than in Latin America, where American writings and the model of a colony that actually broke free and thrived decisively shaped the struggle for independence. Historians of Latin America have identified many links to the U.S. model . See [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=0QghsDsSCB4C&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=jefferson&prev=http://books.google.com/books%3Fq%3Djefferson%2Bindependence%2Blatin%2Bamerica&sig=v0afdyhrNgB42XLqhBEB9IQhCDU John Lynch, "The Origins of Spanish American Independence," in Cambridge History of Latin America Vol. 3 (1985), pp 45-46]

Legacy and interpretations

- American exceptionalism, Exceptionalism

External links

- [http://www.americanrevolution.com The American Revolution at americanrevolution.com] - historical information, documents, pictures, and more
- [http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/ PBS Television Series] ja:アメリカ独立戦争 ko:미국 독립전쟁 Category:American Revolution Category:Rebellions in the United States Category:The Enlightenment Category:Revolutions

United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It was completed on September 17, 1787, with its adoption by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was later ratified by special conventions in each of the original thirteen states. It created a federal union of sovereign states, and a federal government to operate that union. It replaced the less defined union that had existed under the Articles of Confederation. It took effect in 1789 and has served as a model for the constitutions of numerous other nations. nations] nations nations nations

History

During the Revolutionary War, the thirteen states first formed a very weak central government—with the Congress being its only component—under the Articles of Confederation. Congress lacked any power to impose taxes, and, because there was no national executive or judiciary, relied on state authorities (who were often uncooperative) to enforce all of its acts. It also had no authority to override tax laws and tariffs between states. The Articles required unanimous consent from all the states before they could be amended and states took the central government so lightly that their representatives were often absent. For lack of a quorum, Congress was frequently blocked from making even moderate changes. In September 1786, commissioners from five states met in the Annapolis Convention to discuss adjustments to the Articles of Confederation that would improve commerce. They invited state representatives to convene in Philadelphia to discuss improvements to the federal government. After debate, the Confederation Congress endorsed the plan to revise the Articles of Confederation on February 21, 1787. Twelve states (Rhode Island being the only exception) accepted this invitation and sent delegates to convene in May 1787. The resolution calling the Convention specified its purpose was to propose amendments to the Articles, but the Convention decided to propose a rewritten Constitution. The Philadelphia Convention voted to keep deliberations secret and decided to draft a new fundamental government design which eventually stipulated that only 9 of the 13 states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect. These actions were criticized by some as exceeding the convention's mandate and existing law. However, Congress, noting dissatisfaction with the Articles of Confederation government, unanimously agreed to submit the proposal to the states despite what some perceived as the exceeded terms of reference. On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was completed in Philadelphia, and the new government it prescribed came into existence on March 4, 1789, after fierce fights over ratification in many of the states. The original transcribed copy of the Constitution is on permanent display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. For a list of those who signed the Constitution, see List of signatories of the United States Constitution.

The Constitution

The U.S. Constitution styles itself the "supreme law of the land." Courts have interpreted this phrase to mean that when laws (including state constitutions) that have been passed by state legislatures, or by the (national) U.S. Congress, are found to conflict with the federal constitution, these laws are ultra vires and have no effect. Decisions by the Supreme Court over the course of two centuries have repeatedly confirmed and strengthened the doctrine of Constitutional supremacy, or the supremacy clause. supremacy clause The Constitution guarantees the legitimacy of the American state by invoking the American electorate. The people exercise authority through state actors both elected and appointed; some of these positions are provided for in the Constitution. State actors can change the fundamental law, if they wish, by amending the Constitution or, in the extreme, by drafting a new one. Different kinds of public officials have varying levels of limitations on their power. Elected officials can only continue in office if they are reelected at periodic intervals; appointed officials serve, in general, at the pleasure of the person or authority that appointed them, and may be removed at any time. The exception to this practice is the lifetime appointment by the President of Justices of the Supreme Court and other federal judges; the justification for this exception is that once appointed for life, these judges are presumed capable of acting free of political obligations or influence.

Principles of government

Although the Constitution has been amended several times since it was first adopted, its basic principles remain the same now as in 1789. There are three branches of the national government—executive, legislative, and judicial—and they are separate and distinct from one another. The powers given to each are in theory balanced and checked by the powers of the other two. Each branch ideally serves as a check on potential excesses of the others. This is known as "separation of powers", and was partly taken from the ideas of the Baron de Montesquieu. Baron de Montesquieu.]] The United States is federal in nature. Powers enumerated in the Constitution are given to the Federal Government, and all other, unenumerated, powers remain with the states or the people. (See the Tenth Amendment.) The Constitution, together with laws passed according to its provisions and treaties entered into by the president and approved by the Senate, stands above all other laws, executive acts, and regulations. Beginning with the case of Marbury v. Madison, the United States judiciary has engaged in judicial review. This means that the federal courts will examine duly enacted laws, and, if they are found to be unconstitutional, will overturn them. They also examine the acts of public officials—up to and including those of the president. (See United States v. Nixon.) Since the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment, all persons have been equally entitled to the law's protection. All states are equal and in principle none can officially receive special treatment from the federal government. Within the limits of the Constitution, each state must recognize and respect the laws of the others. State governments, like the federal government, must be republican in form, with final legitimacy resting with the people. By means defined in the Fifth Article of the Constitution, Congress may propose amendments to the Constitution. Moreover, any two thirds of the states may themselves initiate a convention for proposing amendments. When ratified as specified, all amendments are considered part of the Constitution.

Preamble

The Preamble reads: :We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The Preamble neither grants any powers nor inhibits any actions; it only explains the rationale behind the Constitution. The preamble, especially the first three words ("We the people"), is one of the most quoted and referenced sections of the Constitution.

Articles of the Constitution

The remainder of the constitution consists of seven articles.

Legislative power

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Article One establishes the legislative branch of government, U.S. Congress, which includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Article establishes the manner of election and qualifications of members of each House. In addition, it outlines legislative procedure and indicates the powers of the legislative branch. Finally, it establishes limits on federal and state legislative power.

Executive power

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Article Two describes the presidency (the executive branch): procedures for the selection of the president, qualifications for office, the oath to be affirmed, the powers and duties of the office, and procedures for selection. It also provides for the office of Vice President of the United States, and specifies that the Vice President succeeds to the presidency if the President is incapacitated or resigns. The article nominally makes the Vice President the presiding officer of the Senate, but in practice the Vice President only serves as such under limited circumstances. Article Two also provides for the impeachment and removal from office of civil officers (the President, Vice President, judges, and others). (See presidential system).

Judicial power

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Article Three describes the court system (the judicial branch), including the Supreme Court. The article requires that there be one court called the Supreme Court; Congress, at its discretion, can create lower courts, whose judgments and orders are reviewable by the Supreme Court. Article Three also requires trial by jury in all criminal cases, defines the crime of treason, and charges Congress with providing for a punishment for it, while imposing limits on that punishment.

States' powers and limits

Article Four describes the relationship between the states and the Federal government, and amongst the states. For instance, it requires states to give "full faith and credit" to the public acts, records and court proceedings of the other states. Congress is permitted to regulate the manner in which proof of such acts, records or proceedings may be admitted. The "privileges and immunities" clause prohibits state governments from discriminating against citizens of other states in favor of resident citizens (e.g., having tougher penalties for residents of Ohio convicted of crimes within Arizona). It also establishes extradition between the states, as well as laying down a legal basis for freedom of movement and travel amongst the states. Today, this provision is sometimes taken for granted, especially by citizens who live near state borders; but in the days of the Articles of Confederation, crossing state lines was often a much more arduous (and costly) process.

Process of amendment

Article Five describes the process necessary to amend the Constitution. It establishes two methods of proposing amendments: by Congress or by a national convention requested by the states. Under the first method, Congress can propose an amendment by a two-thirds vote (of a quorum, not necessarily of the entire body) of the Senate and of the House of Representatives. Under the second method, Congress must call a national convention for the purpose of considering amendments when two-thirds of the state legislatures "apply" to Congress for such a convention. Thus far, only the first method (proposal by Congress) has been used. Once proposed—whether submitted by a national convention or by Congress—amendments must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states to take effect. Article Five gives Congress the option of requiring ratification by state legislatures or by special conventions assembled in the states. The convention method of ratification has been used only once (to approve the

Classical liberalism

Introduction

Origins

Classical liberal Philosophy

Classical Liberalism during the Great Depression and the Rise of Dictatorships

Classical liberalism, Economic Freedom, and their relationship with Civil and Political Freedoms

Classical liberalism and rhetorical liberalism as practiced in the United States

See also

External articles

Economic liberalism

Related

John Locke

Biography

Writings

A Letter Concerning Toleration

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Two Treatises of Government

Influence

List of major works

Major unpublished or posthumous manuscripts

Locke's epitaph

Secondary literature

Quotes

See also

References

External links

Adam Smith

Biography

Works

The "Adam Smith-Problem"

Influence

Major Works

Quotations

See also

External links

American Revolution

Origins

Government

Philosophy and radical thought

Religious trends

Road to rebellion

Economic disputes, 1760-70

Western land dispute

Crises, 1772-75

Choosing sides

Class differences among the Patriots

Women

Writing the state constitutions

War for independence, 1775-83

America after the war

The impact on British North America

Revolution beyond America

Legacy and interpretations

See also

Further reading

External links

United States Constitution

History

The Constitution

Principles of government

Preamble

Articles of the Constitution

Legislative power

Executive power

Judicial power

States' powers and limits

Process of amendment