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Ancient Greek Democracy was considered the first democracy, democracy is derived from the greek word "demos kratia" which means "the people rule". Greek democracy was direct democracy because men over the age of twenty could take part in these meetings. The Ancient greeks had contributed to the ideas of classical liberalism with their men being able to be present at the meetings instead of having one representative. They had focused on individualism rather than one representing the whole. -
Magna Carta was one of the earlies documents in the development of the Rule of Law. It has also contributed to the establishment of individual rights and freedoms. When signed in 1215 it limited the power of Kings and had established fundamental rights for citizens. Magna Carta was another step towards individualism by giving their citizens rights and taking away power from the Kings promoting the individual and helping the development and key ideas of classical liberalism. -
The Renaissance was a time of social, intellectual, political and artistic changes in Europe. The Renaissance humanists believed in individual human worth and dignity, reason over faith and thought that people choose their own nature. The Renaissance had brought about major changes in thinking, this is when people became more individualist in their ideas and values rather than sticking with the old way of thinking and staying loyal to God and the church. They began thinking for themselves. -
German Pastor Martin Luther believed the church had become corrupt and had too much power, this had sparked the reformation. The Reformation had caused reformers to break away from the Roman Catholic Church and construct various new denominations based on the new ways of thinking, especially that people can think for themselves. This had contributed to classical liberalism in the sense that they took away the power from the church and given the power to the people instead. -
The Haudenosaunee are known to be one of the longest continuously existing communal democracies. The Haudenosaunee/Iroquois had created the Great Law of Peace which became their oral constitution, it became their way of peace and harmony among nations. Key principles were division of power, equal participation for everyone, and establishing rights and freedoms for everyone. The Haudenosaunee had revolutionary ideas which helped contribute to today's liberalism and modern society. -
The ideas from the Renaissance and Reformation became more popular, it had helped European philosophers promote ideas about human nature which led to the development of classical liberalism and the ideas that are the foundation such as the rule of law, individual rights and freedoms, private property, economic freedom and self interest. -
The American Revolution was an ideological and political movement in the Americas regarding their freedom from Britain. The British government began taxing the colonies heavily in order to create revenue which lead to protests and many revolutions regarding the taxation. All of this had lead to the Declaration of Independence which is a contributing factor to classical liberalism and the ideals that go along with it. The Declaration of Independence had given the individual rights and freedom. -
The Industrial Revolution was the transition of Britain from an agricultural and mercantile society to a modern industrial one. With the industrial revolution came many problems that had impacted those who worked in factories, they had been mistreated which had lead to a change being made in order to give these workers rights. This movement of rights and freedoms had lead to the development of classical liberalism. -
The French Revolution was an attempt to transform society using liberal principles. With this attempt came the third estate revolting against authority. The leaders of the revolution believed in the principles of liberalism which had lead them to this overthrown. -
The most profound impact from the Industrial Revolution was the changes in classes of society. Previously people had wealth based on property and who owned the most, however with the industrial revolution it had brought about new weath to factory owners, bankers, retailers, lawyers, engineers, and other professionals. With classical liberalism comes economic freedom so we are able to see how the changes to the class system had shown the new found economic freedom.