{"id":1276,"date":"2021-12-29T06:02:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-28T19:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/?p=1276"},"modified":"2026-04-07T22:10:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:10:27","slug":"some-thoughts-on-liberal-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/some-thoughts-on-liberal-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Thoughts on Liberal History"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

[Hyacinth Rigaud, \u201cLouis XIV\u201d (1701)]<\/p>\n

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[Pierre-Paul Prud\u2019hon, \u201cLiberty\u201d (1793) slaying the hydra monster of tyranny]<\/p>\n

I interpret \u201cliberal history\u201d in several ways. It might mean<\/p>\n

(1.) The history of the classical liberal tradition<\/strong>, which has at least two components:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. a history of how and when liberal ideas<\/strong> first emerged and then evolved over time – so the \u201cintellectual history\u201d of liberalism;<\/li>\n
  2. a history of \u201cliberal movements<\/strong>\u201d where liberal minded people organized to join forces in order to change \/ reform society along the lines suggested by their liberal philosophy and values – so a social and political history of liberal reform movements, such as the movement to abolish slavery, or to abolish tariffs (the Corn Laws in England)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    (2.) The history of societies or entire countries<\/strong> during periods when liberal ideas and movements had sufficient strength to influence the course of history, such as the late 18th century in north America and western Europe when revolutions took place (e.g. Palmer\u2019s \u201cThe Age of Democratic Revolutions\u201d), or the 19th century when many European countries enacted liberal reforms and restructured their societies according to some liberal principles (democratic reform, free trade, constitutional limits on the power of the state, freedom of speech) (Hamerow\u2019s \u201cThe Birth of a New Europe\u201d)<\/p>\n

    (3.) The use of liberal political, economic, and social theory to analyse the power structures, government policies, and the problems they caused<\/strong> in the broader society, in writing the history of any society (liberal or illiberal). For example the use of classical liberal class analysis and theory of \u201cinterventionism\u201d developed by Mises, to study the nature of the class system of Ancient Greece and Rome, the class structure and the economic crises faced by \u201cold regime\u201d states in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, or communist regimes during the course of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

    I have tried to make contributions to all three forms of \u201cliberal history\u201d which I have listed here. Since 1987 I have been teaching and lecturing on the history of the classical liberal tradition (history of ideas) and its impact on the world (political, economic, social, and military history). This has taken the path of formal courses taught at university (the University of Adelaide 1986-2001), occasional lectures\/seminars for groups such as the Institute for Human Studies (since 1991), the Center for Liberal Studies, the Centre for Independent Studies (since 1999), and the Mannkal Center, as well as lectures to student groups and the general public wherever and whenever the opportunity arose (Students for Liberty, Bastiat Societies all across the US).<\/p>\n

    For example,<\/p>\n

    (1.) On the history of classical liberal ideas and the movements they inspired to bring about liberal reforms see the following:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. about half of my full-year course given at the University of Adelaide on \u201cLiberal Europe and Social Change, 1815-1914″ (1987) was devoted to an intellectual history of 19th century classical liberal thought and the other half to the movements for reform which it inspired. Course Reading Guide<\/a> and Lecture Notes<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    2. the entire one semester upper level course on “The Enlightenment: Ideas of Criticism and Reform in an International Context” (1990) dealt with both ideas and liberal reform movements before the French Revolution. Course Reading Guide<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    3. as did the short three week module in a first year subject \u201cThe Old Regime, Enlightenment, and Revolution in the 18th Century\u201d (2000). Lecture Notes<\/a> and Seminar Reading Guide<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    4. and the lecture\/seminar series I have been giving since 2006 on \u201cThe Classical Liberal Tradition: A 400 Year History of Ideas and Movements\u201d (which is currently being revised and rewritten) here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      (2.) On the history of more extended periods when European societies were undergoing radical social and economic changes inspired largely by classical liberal ideas see:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. significant portions of the course “Liberal Europe and Social Change, 1815-1914” (1987). Course Reading Guide<\/a> and Lecture Notes<\/a>.<\/li>\n
      2. most of the semester length first year course on modern European history \u201cRevolution(s) and the Struggle for Emancipation in Europe: The Long Nineteenth Century, 1789-1914″ (1998-1999). Lecture Notes<\/a> and Seminar Reading Guide<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        (3.) On liberal social theory to explain historical events, my focus has been on classical liberal theories of class analysis and how it can be used to explore the tensions within societies which lead to opposition and even violent resistance (revolutions). My work on CLCA as a social theory can be seen here<\/a>, and my application of this theory to specific historical moments in the following courses:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \u201cThe Old Regime, Enlightenment, and Revolution in the 18th Century\u201d (2000). Lecture Notes<\/a> and Seminar Reading Guide<\/a>.<\/li>\n
        2. \u201cRevolution(s) and the Struggle for Emancipation in Europe: The Long Nineteenth Century, 1789-1914″ (1998-1999). Lecture Notes<\/a> and Seminar Reading Guide<\/a>.<\/li>\n
        3. and the numerous lecture\/seminars I have given on class analysis for the IHS and other groups which are listed here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          The trajectory of my teaching, lecturing, and research has followed a fairly circuitous path but I believe that in spite of these twists and turns I have pursued a consistent approach to the study of history, namely the struggle between \u201cliberty\u201d and \u201cpower\u201d. By this I mean that a select group ( a \u201dclass\u201d) has commonly enjoyed positions of power and privilege at the expense of ordinary people; that this power and privilege has been challenged at various times, first intellectually (the Enlightenment in the 18th century, and then by the ideologies of liberalism and socialism in the 19th century) and then politically, sometimes peacefully through gradual reform, and sometimes violently through revolution; this challenge to entrenched power and privilege resulted sometimes in radical and systemic change (particularly in post-revolutionary America) and at other times to only partial and temporary changes which were limited or even undone by the \u201ccounter-revolutionary\u201d activities of the surviving members of the old regime. Nevertheless, the end result by the end of the 19th century was a new kind of society in \u201cthe West\u201d with many important liberal institutions and practices which dramatically improved the lot of the ordinary working person.<\/p>\n

          Yet, in spite of these liberal reforms there remained powerful groups who wished to undo or moderate these reforms and to reassert their power and reclaim their privileges beginning in the 1870s and 1880s (Mayer\u2019s \u201cThe Persistence of the Old Regime in Europe\u201d). This took the form of the reappearance of protectionism for well-connected agricultural and industrial interests, the policies of colonialism and imperialism which saw the carving up of the world into spheres of interest and exclusive trading blocks, the formation of mass conscript armies and a naval arms race, the creation of a new bureaucratic regulatory state, and the beginnings of a \u201ctransfer\u201d or welfare state.<\/p>\n

          A more coherent chronological statement of my view of the evolution of modern European history between 1750 and 1914 would consist of the following main points:<\/p>\n