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“Liberal” as a Political Adjective (in English), 1769 – 1824

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Klein, D. “Liberal” as a Political Adjective (in English), 1769 – 1824. Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch, 99999(), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.2024.380533
Klein, Daniel B. "“Liberal” as a Political Adjective (in English), 1769 – 1824" Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch 99999., 2024, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.2024.380533
Klein, Daniel B. (2024): “Liberal” as a Political Adjective (in English), 1769 – 1824, in: Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch, vol. 99999, iss. , 1-23, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.2024.380533
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“Liberal” as a Political Adjective (in English), 1769 – 1824

Klein, Daniel B.

Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch, Vol. (2024), Online First : pp. 1–23

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Article Details

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Duncker & Humblot
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.2024.380533
Language
Multiple languages
Pages
23
Keywords

Author Details

Daniel B. Klein, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, George Mason University 4400 University Drive VA 22030 Fairfax, USA

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Abstract

The data from text digitization show that “liberal” acquired a sustained political signification for the first time around 1769: the liberal policy principles of Adam Smith and his associates. The bodies of evidence include: (1) the non-occurrence in English prior to 1769 (with a few exceptions); (2) the blossoming from 1769 of “liberal plan,” “liberal system,” “liberal principles,” “liberal policy,” etc.; (3) the occurrence beginning in the 1770s of political uses of “liberal” in Parliament; (4) the occurrence of the same in the Edinburgh Review, 1802 – 1824. The political adjective liberal came alive around 1769 and was sustained straight up to when the political nouns liberalism and liberal start up in the 1820s. The data from French, German, Italian, and Spanish confirm that Britain was the first to get to a political sense of “liberal.” Key authors are sampled.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
By Daniel B. Klein: “Liberal” as a Political Adjective (in English), 1769–1824 1
1. Introduction 1
2. Data and Figures 4
3. On the Stepping from the Pre-Political to the Political 9
4. Some Critical Texts 11
4.1 David Hume 11
4.2 Adam Ferguson 12
4.3 William Robertson 13
4.4 Adam Smith 15
4.5 Briefly on Burke, Stewart, McCulloch 1824, and America 18
5. Concluding Remarks 20
References 20

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