1688-1830
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Defender of Liberties: Charles James Fox
2006 saw the bicentary of the death of the Whig leader Charles James Fox. A proponent of the supremacy of Parliament, the freedom of the press and the rights and civil liberties of the people, and a believer in reform, rationalism and progress, rather than repression, the ideas he defended particularly over the challenge of…
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No one likes us, we don’t care
Review of Leslie Mitchell, The Whig World 1760-1837 (Hambledon Continuum, 2005).
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Charles James Fox, the Repeal of Poynings Law, and the Act of Union
1782 – 1801: the critical period in Irish and British history during which many of the seeds of the present troubles were sown.
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Philosopher of freedom
Wilhelm von Humboldt and early German Liberalism.
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Fox to a friend on the French Revolution
Letter from Charles James Fox to his friend, Mr Fitzpatrick, on the French Revolution.
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Adam Smith, 1723-1790
Adam Smith did for economic liberalism what John Locke had done for political liberalism, namely, to lay the philosophical foundations on which others would build a distinctive liberal tradition. Smith’s ideas, however, have permeated the western political tradition to the extent where not only liberals but also other contemporary schools of thought claim to be…
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Joseph Hume, 1777-1855
Joseph Hume was a Scottish radical who devoted his political career to championing the principles of retrenchment. He was born near Montrose, Forfarshire in January 1777, the first son of James Hume. Hume’s father, master of a small fishing ship, died when he was nine and the family was forced to fall back on the…
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Jeremy Bentham, 1745-1832
Jeremy Bentham, the English moral philosopher, jurist, social reformer, political economist and founding father of modern utilitarianism was born in London on 15 February 1748. His ambitious father, also a lawyer, had plans for young Jeremy to become Lord Chancellor of England, not only making his name but also his fortune in the process. Despite…
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Man of contradictions
Review of Arthur H. Cash, John Wilkes, The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty (Yale University Press, 2006).