Liberalism:

During the period of their formation these ideas, which in the nineteenth adjective ‘liberal’ gradually assumed its political connotation during the later part of century came to be known as liberalism, were not yet described by that name. The eighteenth century when it was used in such occasional phrases as when Adam Smith wrote of ‘the liberal plan of equality, liberty, and justice’. As the [120] name of a political movement liberalism appears, however, only at the beginning of the next century, first when in 1812 it was used by the Spanish party of Liberals, and a little later when it was adopted as a party name in France. In Britain it came to be so used only after the Whigs and the Radicals joined in a single party which from the early 1840s came to be known as the Liberal Party. Since the Radicals were inspired largely by what we have described as the Continental tradition, even the English Liberal Party at the time of its greatest influence was based on a fusion of the traditions mentioned. In view of these facts it would be misleading to claim the term ‘liberal exclusively for either of the two distinct traditions. They have occasionally bee referred to as the ‘English’, ‘classical’ or ‘evolutionary’, and as the ‘Continental’ ‘constructionist’ types respectively. In the following historical survey both types w be considered, but as only the first has developed a definite political doctrine, later systematic exposition will have to concentrate on it.

It should be mentioned here that the USA never developed a lube movement comparable to that which affected most of Europe during the nine-tee century, competing in Europe with the younger movements of nationalism socialism and reaching the height of its influence in the 1870s and thereafter slew declining but still determining the climate of public life until 1914. The reason for absence of a similar movement in the USA is mainly that the chief aspirator European liberalism were largely embodied in the institutions of the United S since their foundation, and partly that the development of political parties there unfavourable to the growth of parties based on ideologies. Indeed, what in Europe or used to be called ‘liberal’ is in the USA today with some justification called ‘conservative’; while in recent times the term ‘liberal’ has been used there to describe what in Europe would be called socialism. But of Europe it is equally true that none of the political parties which use the designation ‘liberal’ now adhere to the liberal principles of the nineteenth century.

The classical and medieval roots

The basic principles from which the Old Whigs fashioned their evolutionary liberalism have a long pre-history. The eighteenth century [121] thinkers who formulated them were indeed greatly assisted by ideas drawn from classical antiquity and by certain medieval traditions which in England had not been extinguished by absolutism.