Pros Of Classical Conservatism

The topic I have chosen to cover in my end of the semester powerpoint is the idea of Classical Liberalism. Classical liberalism became a popular political belief in the mid-nineteenth century that emphasized the rights and liberties of the individual and advocated for free trade between countries by eliminating tariffs and allowing the market to run its course without the interference of any government. Liberals first came about in Spain after Napoleon occupied the country and many people wished to reform the government institutions that Napoleon put in place while occupying the country. Word began to travel to France, where citizens became increasingly liberal in opposition to royalism, which began to take root in the country after the

Liberals did not advocate for true democracy because they feared, like the founding fathers of the United States, mob rule and irrational decision making. Liberals looked to the revolutions of the United States and of France to see what type of government and policy decisions they would like to see get done. Liberals believed in human charity and in mankind in general in that they believed the government did not need to be involved in many affairs because humans and generally charitable and good people who don’t need “supervision” from the government. Liberalism also embraced laissez-faire capitalism and the works of revolutionary and genius men such as Adam Smith. They believed that free markets were the only way men of any status could achieve wealth and success and government interference in these markets only took away the wealth and success of everyone and limited it to a select few. Liberalism differed from other political ideologies of the time, such as socialism, because they believed competition and unequal distribution of wealth were healthy for an economy to thrive whereas socialism believed in the exact opposite. Classical Liberalism played a pivotal role in the development of Europe in the nineteenth century and since many other political ideologies