The Rise Of Liberalism

Introduction

The terms liberal and liberalism commonly denote various currents of thought—political, economic, religious, and theological—that appeared at the time of the Reformation and solidified between the Enlightenment and the 19th century. For a good many reasons, the nineteenth century may be considered the century of liberalism par excellence. Indeed the Europeans of the time took it for granted that theirs was a “liberal” era. The term itself and several other relatives of "liberty" ("liberal," "liberals," "liberalism," or the Italian "liberismo," referring to an economic rather than a political liberalism) all date from the nineteenth century. Consequently, and ...