How Did Liberalism Change In Europe During The 18th Century

Liberalism affected much of Europe during the Eighteenth Century. It started with the French wanting to get property rights and the lower class people wanting the right to vote, and it eventually conformed with nationalism and wanting to combine countries based on the language people spoke. Britain even had their share of Liberalism, and it especially heated up during the time of Gladstone and Disraeli. Liberalism did not always win, but it changed the political and economic atmosphere all throughout Europe. The French Revolution led to lower class citizens being able to own property. For peasants and farmers this was a big sigh of relief because they had been controlled by aristocrats who had owned the land, and they could not make a very good living because of them.

Instead of there being peasants or serfs, there was now the wage-labor force. This is what helped create the rise of the free-market and capitalism and the Bourgeois and the Proletariats. Now skilled labor became a commodity in the market place, and it suffered when the factory system arose. The Western Heritage states, “In the process of becoming wage laborers, artisans gradually lost both significant ownership of the means of production, such as tools and equipment, and of control over the conduct of their own trades.” Instead of the monarchy controlling businesses and the aristocrats, now the middle classes or those that could run factories controlled businesses and turned them into a big profit. Mass production became a big theme during this time, which allowed prices to lower on several goods. Trade with other countries, also helped these businesses. For Britain where the Industrial Revolution seemed to hit first, trade really benefited them. Since they had the largest ship fleet, they could trade with the Americas very easily and in high quantity. Those countries relied on Britain for trade as well as others in