Book contents
- Liberty as Independence
- Liberty as Independence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conventions
- Introduction
- Part I Liberty and the Revolution of 1688
- Part II Liberty as Independence: The Ideal Entrenched
- 3 Towards the Whig Idea of a Free State
- 4 The Whig Vision of a Free Society
- Part III Liberty as Independence: The Ideal Betrayed
- Part IV A New View of Liberty
- Part V The Rival Views in Contestation
- References
- Index
4 - The Whig Vision of a Free Society
from Part II - Liberty as Independence: The Ideal Entrenched
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2025
- Liberty as Independence
- Liberty as Independence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conventions
- Introduction
- Part I Liberty and the Revolution of 1688
- Part II Liberty as Independence: The Ideal Entrenched
- 3 Towards the Whig Idea of a Free State
- 4 The Whig Vision of a Free Society
- Part III Liberty as Independence: The Ideal Betrayed
- Part IV A New View of Liberty
- Part V The Rival Views in Contestation
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 4 examines the body of Whig propaganda in which the government was congratulated for having succeeded in establishing a free civil society within a free state. A large number of Anglican writers joined the spokesmen for the government in arguing that Britain had by now established a constitution that made her the envy of Europe. Everyone was now equally subject to the law; the law alone ruled, with no incursions of arbitrary power; and the law was at last being expertly administered, without any corruption or incompetence. As a result, the life, liberty and property of every subject was now fully secure, including the property that (as Locke had said) everyone may be said to possess in their own person. No one is any longer condemned to live in a state of subjection to the mere will and power of anyone else. The consequence is said to be a civil society in which everyone can hope to find their own pathway to prosperity and happiness. The chapter concludes with an examination of Whig celebrations of urban life as the best setting in which to lead a flourishing and happy life.
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- Liberty as IndependenceThe Making and Unmaking of a Political Ideal, pp. 98 - 116Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025