Classical liberalism (note the small "l") was a movement to leave people alone. Let them be free. Keep government small. Throughout the nineteenth century (to my knowledge) this is what liberalism meant.
In the 20th century, as communism, socialism, and progressivism all proved themselves to be unworkable, the activists on the Left needed a new name for their unworkable philosophy. Again, to the best of my knowledge, in the middle of the 20th century, the activists on the Left started pushing for "Liberalism" which was big government, high taxes, no religion, no freedom, no families.
I'm surprised to see something from 1878 using Liberalism in this sense.
At some point, liberals made the jump from limited government and liberty to bigger government and statism. This is a lead in, they didn’t make the full transition to statism until the 20th century progressive era. This kind of transition doesn’t just happen over night, it takes years and the continued development of these kinds of sentiments.
You’re right about the usurpation of the term ‘liberalism’, but with these kinds of liberals existing before the progressive era, that would explain why nobody batted an eye when all the progressives switched their labels. There was already a ‘liberal’ movement that was spouting these kinds of ideals.
I was surprised too. But these are all original sources.
Classical liberalism (note the small “l”) was a movement to leave people alone. Let them be free. Keep government small.
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Exactly! Not only should government be limited and small it should be kept as **local** as possible.
Please read my post #11.