Liberalism had its beginning in the 1700s with a philosophical movement in France called the Enlightenment, which precipitated revolutions in France, England and America.
The most noteworthy of these was the American Revolution,because at the time it was penned, the U.S. Constitution was the most liberal and radical document ever written by man. It overthrew the universal concept of authoritarian rule, passed on through heredity.
This was of paramount importance, because as far as we know, this was the 1st time this had ever happened in human history.
As stated above, liberalism is related to historical development and events. It is correlated to the Industrail Revolution,ubanization, rasing educational levels and increasing means of communication and mobility.
The Industrial Revolution, which began about the same time as the Enlightenment can be defined as the replacement of human and animal labor by machines, which greatly increased productivity. This led to ubanization, which increased educational opportunities.
Former president Teddy Roosevelt graduated from Harvard in 1880. At that time, only one person in five thousand attended college, and his classmates came from a hundred mile radius of the university.
Because educated people tend to be less orthodox, more tolerant and less extreme, this has led to more democracy and moderation.
While the idealogy expressed in the U.S. Constitution originally applied mostly to the upper classes, as time has passed, it has been expanded to include the general population through its amendments.
Ideas are spread through communication and mobility. We can see this playing out in the world today. Where are the backwards areas of the world? They are in the isolated ones. Life is becoming better long term.
This was a very informative article and a good overview of liberalism in my opinion. I thought it was interesting in how you showed that education has a liberalizing influence.
-Zach