Look Who it Was Random video

The Cato Home Study Course, Vol. 10: The Achievements of Nineteenth Century Classical Liberalism

1,558 views · Published 8 July 2013 · 3:10:08 · Indexed 22 September 2026

Channel: Libertarianism.org · 2013 · News & Politics

Watch on YouTube

Download the .mp3 version of this course right here: http://bit.ly/2byTEno

During the nineteenth century the principles of individual liberty, constitutionally limited government, peace, and reliance on the institutions of civil society and the free market for social order and economic prosperity were fused together into a powerful synthesis, known as liberalism. Although the term "liberalism" retains its original meaning in most of the world, it has unfortunately come to have a very different meaning in late twentieth-century America. Hence terms such as "market liberalism," "classical liberalism," or "libertarianism" are often used in its place in America. This module shows how liberalism developed in Europe and America in the nineteenth century. In addition to examining the important debates, such as those between utilitarians and natural rights advocates and between supporters and opponents of state involvement in education, this module traces the rise and the ultimate collapse of liberalism. By the end of the nineteenth century, liberalism had all but died as an intellectual and political movement. It was replaced by various forms of collectivism, such as socialism, fascism, racism, nationalism, imperialism, and corporatism. (The revival and reformulation of liberalism after World War II are covered in the next two modules.)

A number of fascinating chapters in the story of liberalism are developed at length in this module, including the opposition to mercantilism, coercive monopolies, and special privileges; the rise and success of the Anti-Corn Law League and of the general movement for free trade; the vigorous debates over state education; and the development and application of the idea of freedom of conscience as a guiding principle of liberalism, applicable not only to religion but to charity and other activities. A lengthy examination of the ideas of one of the great figures of nineteenth-century liberalism, Herbert Spencer, gives insight into both the rise and the fall of liberalism, for Spencer was active during both periods. The ideas of a formidable American liberal, the sociologist William Graham Sumner, who warned of the consequences of abandoning the ideal of limited government and respect for the equal rights of individuals, also receive careful consideration. Each chapter bears important lessons for modern day libertarians.

Of special significance are the remarkable efforts of the French liberal Frederic Bastiat, who explained in remarkably clear language the fallacies of socialist and interventionist thinking. Bastiat, whom Joseph Schumpeter called "the greatest economic journalist who ever lived," used devastating wit and logic to reveal the errors of protectionist, Keynesian, interventionist, and socialist arguments. He insisted that the good economist is concerned to show, not only the direct effects of a policy, but the indirect ones, as well. Adam Smith had devoted great attention to showing the indirect, or unintended, effects of market exchanges; as he argued in The Wealth of Nations, we do not intend to create a complex social order when we exchange, but that is the result of our action. Bastiat concentrated on showing the indirect effects of state intervention. The American economist Henry Hazlitt, formerly a columnist for the New York Times and for Newsweek, updated that lesson and applied it to American institutions in Economics in One Lesson.

Alexis de Tocqueville, in the reading from his famous Democracy in America, shows how freedom and virtue were made compatible in the America of his day. Richard Cobden, whose work on behalf of freedom of trade and international peace is examined in the audiotapes, explains in the selections from his writings how peace promotes international harmony. Doug Bandow applies the basic principles of "conscience liberalism," which are explained in the audiotape portion of the module, to a most important contemporary social problem. And the essay from a 1900 issue of The Nation foretells the future with chilling accuracy: "We hear no more of natural rights, but of inferior races, whose part it is to submit to the government of those whom God has made their superiors. The old fallacy of divine right has once more asserted its ruinous power, and before it is again repudiated there must be international struggles on a terrific scale."

More from this channel