Liberalism Chapter 23-2

1
LiberalismChapter 23-2

• The first major theory in Western thought that
  saw the individual as a self-sufficient being,
  whose freedom and well-being were the sole
  reasons for the existence of society

2
Classical Liberalism

• Reformist and political not usually
  revolutionary
• Individuals are entitled to seek freedom from
  tyranny
• Humans have certain natural rights and a
  governments job is to protect them
• Rights are best guaranteed by a written
  constitution
• Republican (representative) form of government
  essential

3
Liberalism in Economics

• The dismal science for some
• Ricardos Iron Law of Wages
• Malthuss principles of population
• Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations (1776)
• Became the Bible of capitalism
• Advocated economic individualism
• Promoted Laissez-faire No government
  intervention even if the need seemed great

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Wealth of Nations continued

• The most productive economy allows for the
  greatest measure of individual choice
• The Invisible hand refers to the
  self-regulating market (natural laws of supply
  and demand)
• Huge opposition to mercantilism

5
Utilitarianism

• Jeremy Bentham
• The utility (worth or value) of any law or
  institution should be based on whether it
  provided the greatest good for the greatest
  number
• Bentham was a major supporter of Poor Laws

6
John Stuart Mill On Liberty (1859)

• Argued for absolute freedom of opinion to be
  protected from both censorship and from the
  tyranny of the majority
• Argued with his wife for womens rights in On
  the Subjugation of Women 1867

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Impact of Liberalism

• Influenced revolutions in France in 1830 1848
• Liberalism became embodied in over 10
  constitutions of the German states between
  1815-48
• Influenced reform in Britain beginning in 1830
  and continuing into the 20th Century
• Inspired German student organizations
• Had an impact on Prussian life
• Inspired mild Russian reform in 20th century

8
Nationalism

• Goal Cultural unity to self-government
• Unity and common loyalties caused by common
  language, history, tradition
• Supported by liberals and democrats (more radical
  and prone to violence than liberals)
• Origins the French Revolution and Napoleonic
  Wars

9
German Nationalists

• Herder The father of modern nationalism
• Believed every cultural group to be unique
  distinct called the uniqueness Volksgeist
• No one culture is superior to another
• Led to the belief that every nation should be
  sovereign and contain all members of the same
  nationality

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German Nationalists continued

• Fichte The Father of German Nationalism
• Believed that German culture was superior to all
  others especially superior to Jewish culture

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Nationalist Revolutionary Movements 1815-1829

• 1820 Spain Caused England to leave the
  Congress System and France crushed Spains revolt
  replacing a Bourbon on the throne
• 1820 Naples The Carbonari (a secret
  liberal-nationalist organization) protested the
  absolute rule of Ferdinand I, King of the Kingdom
  of the Two SiciliesRevolt was crushed by
  Austrian troops

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More Nationalistic Revolutions

• Greek Revolution 1821-29
• The Eastern Question Who would fill the void
  when the Ottomans (The Sick Old Man of Europe)
  finally lost European territory?
• England, France and Russia joined the Greeks
  against Egyptian and Ottoman forces (religion)
• 1829 The Treaty of Adrianople Greek autonomy
  recognized after Russians defeated Ottomans
• NOTE the division of the great powers. Prussia
  and Austria stayed out of the war

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Revolutions of 1830

• France July Revolution (1830)
• King Charles X tried to impose absolutism by
  eliminating the constitutional monarchy
• Paris mobs forced Charles X to abdicate
• Louis Philippe The Bourgeoisie King-led the
  constitutional monarchy (Orleans family)
• France now controlled by bourgeoisie bankers and
  businessmen

14
France 1830

• July Revolution in France sparked a wave of
  revolutions throughout Europe
• When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches
  a cold

15
Italy 1831-32

• Evidence of liberal discontent in Northern Italy
  Modena, Parma, Papal states
• The Carbonari advocated the use of force to
  achieve nationalism
• Guiseppe Mazzini led the secret revolutionary
  society Young Italy
• Austrian troops crushed unorganized Italians
• Italian Risorgimento continued

16
The German States 1830-33

• The Carlsbad Decrees had severely restricted
  freedom in German states
• The July Revolution in France inspired German
  students to take to the streets
• Were temporarily successful in the granting of
  constitutions in some of the minor German states
• But easily crushed by Austria under Metternich

17
Belgium 1830

• Culturally different than the Netherlands
• But had been merged with the Dutch in 1815
• Inspired by French July Revolution, Belgian
  students and industrial workers revolted against
  Dutch rule
• Dutch army was defeated and forced to withdraw
  from Belgium by a Franco-British fleet
• 1839 The Great Powers declared the neutrality of
  Belgium

18
Poland 1830-31

• Nicholas I of Russia crushed a nationalistic
  uprising in Poland
• The Organic Statute of 1832 declared Poland to be
  an integral part of the Russian Empire

19
Prussia

• Established the Zollverien in 1834
• An economic union of 17 German states which
  eliminated internal tariffs and established a
  uniform tariff on foreign manufactured goods
• Austrias exclusion led to conflict between
  Austria and Prussia, especially over control of
  the German Confederation
• Free-trade idea was pretty liberal

20
Liberal Reform in England

• 1820-30 Young reform-minded Tories allied with
  liberal Whig reformers (Canning, Peel)
• Britain left the Congress System in 1822
• Reformed prisons, criminal code, allowed
  membership in labor unions, established new,
  efficient urban police force Bobbies

21
English Religious Reforms

• Repealed the Test Act of 1673 which banned
  non-Anglicans from office
• 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act granted full
  civil rights to Roman Catholics

22
England Electoral Reform

• Earl Grey (Whig) PM 1830
• Whigs had big support from Middle Class
• Doubled the franchise from 6 to 12
• Eliminated Rotten Boroughs (under populated
  rural districts were replaced with urban
  districts)
• Recent government response to a cholera epidemic
  was weak and the population demanded a more
  responsive government

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English Labor Reform

• Factory Act of 1833 no child labor under age 9
• End of slavery in British West Indies (inspired
  by the work of William Wilberforce)
• Poor Law of 1834 required healthy unemployed
  workers to live in workhouses
• Mines Act of 1842 Prohibited child labor in
  mines
• 10-Hour Act of 1847 Limited work hours of women
  and children to 10 hours a day

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Other English Reforms

• Chartists wanted
• Universal male suffrage
• Secret balloting
• No property qualifications for Parliament
• Salaries for members of Parliament
• Annual elections to Parliament
• Equal electoral districts
• Although Chartists failed initially, all ideas
  were adopted in late 19th and early 20th centuries

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Other English Reforms

• Corn Laws repealed 1846
• Richard Cobden and John Bright led Anti-Corn Law
  League and argued for lower food prices
• Partial reaction to the Irish Potato Famine
• Navigation Acts repealed 1849 official end to
  mercantilism
• Little internal unrest in England. Victorian Age

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Revolutions of 1848

• Influenced by Nationalism, Liberalism,
  Romanticism AND economic dislocation and
  instability
• Only Brits and Russians avoided dramatic
  upheavals
• Neither conservatives nor liberals gained the
  final upper hand
• Results end of serfdom in Austria and Germany,
  universal male suffrage in France, Parliaments
  est, in some German states, encouraged
  unification movement in Italy

27
France 1848

• February Revolution Louis Philippe was forced to
  abdicate because working class and liberals not
  happy with kings unwillingness to institute more
  electoral reform
• A Second French Republic led by Lamartine (a
  liberal allied with bourgeoisie)
• Louis Blanc (socialist leader) demanded work for
  the unemployed
• National Workshops were created to provide work
  for the unemployed

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France 1848 continued

• Reforms
• Abolished slavery in the empire
• 10-hour workday in Paris
• Abolished the Death Penalty
• But April elections for new Constitutional
  Assembly resulted in conflict between liberal
  capitalists and socialists

29
France continued

• 1848 June Days Revolution
• Government closed workshops
• Caused class warfare Bourgeoisie and working
  class
• Workers wanted a war on poverty and a
  redistribution of income
• Barricades put up in the streets to prevent
  authorities from stopping the revolt (the
  backdrop to Hugos Les Miserables

30
France continued

• General Cavaignac assumed dictatorial powers
• Crushed revolt 10,000 dead
• Election 1848 Louis Napoleon defeated Cavaignac
  and became president of the new republic
• 1852 Louis Napoleon consolidated power and became
  Emperor Napoleon III of the Second French Empire

31
Italy

• Italian nationalists and liberals wanted an end
  to foreign rule
• 1848 Milan, Lombardy, Venetia drove Austrian
  rulers out
• Bourbons defeated in Sicily and Naples
• Sardinia-Piedmont declared war on Austria
• Mazzini (Young Italy) established the Roman
  Republic

32
Italy continued

• Mazzini was protected and supported by Garibaldi
  and his forces
• The Pope fled
• BUT Italian efforts failed
• Austrians and French returned and regained lost
  land
• Italians were unorganized, rural folks did not
  support movement, radicals v moderates

33
Austria

• Hapsburg empire was particularly vulnerable to
  nationalism due to the number of ethnic groups
  within the empire Germans only 25 of pop
• Hungarians
• Slavs
• Czechs
• Italians
• Serbs
• Croats

34
Hungary

• Louis Kossuth (Magyar leader) demanded
  independence
• Czechs in Bohemia declared autonomy
• 3 Northern Italian provinces did same
• Hungarian armies made it to Vienna (Metternich
  fled the city)
• BUT Austrians regrouped, aided by Slavs and
  Russians and Hapsburg authority restored

35
Bohemia

• Prague Conference 1848 promoted the idea of
• Austroslavism A constitution and autonomy
  within the Hapsburg empire
• But the Pan-Slav Congress failed to unite the
  Slavic peoples in the empire so
• Austrian army occupied Bohemia and crushed the
  rebellion

36
German States

• Liberals demanded a constitutional government and
  a union of the German states
• 1848 Frankfurt Parliament Liberals,
  nationalists, romantic leaders called for
  elections to a constituent assembly from all the
  states in the Bund in order to unify the German
  states
• Wanted Denmark to return two German states
  Schleswig and Holstein
• So Prussia declared war on Denmark

37
German States continued

• Frankfurt Parliament came up with a constitution
  for a united Germany
• Selected Prussian King Frederick William IV as
  their emperor
• He rejected the constitution
• Claimed divine right
• Said he would not accept crown from the gutter
• Imposed a conservative constitution guaranteeing
  royal sovereignty
• Plan fell apart

38
German States continued

• Then Austria demanded that Prussia swear
  allegiance to the Bund (Austria president of
  Diet)
• Humiliation of Olmutz Prussia forced to drop
  plan to unify German states under Prussian
  control and left Austria as the dominant state in
  the Bundconflict later

39
Results

• Revolutions were largely urban movements
• Led by Bourgeoisie
• Thwarted by conflicts between rural v urban,
  class conflict, disorganization, lack of
  leadership
• The failure of the revolutions will cause
  Romanticism to be replaced by Realism