GROUP FRQ
Question #1: Discuss the origins and evolution of European Liberalism as a political
movement during the 19th century.
By: Cailin Considine, Derrick Dudley, and Bryan
Aranda
WHAT IS THE QUESTION ASKING? AND
WHAT STEPS CAN WE TAKE TO ANSWER IT?

The question is asking where did liberalism come from and how did it
grow and change as a political movement during the 19th century.
1.
Analyze the question and make sure to have a good
understanding and ideas for a paper.
2.
Form a good thesis statement that covers all parts of the question.
3.
For body paragraphs that include where and how liberalism starts,
how it changed to become a bigger political movement and how
it changed the 19th century.
4.
Write a good conclusion that ties all of the information (thesis, body
paragraphs, and the main idea) together.
TIMELINE
1700 January: The Industrial Revolution
•
•
Major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, technology and transportation.
Almost every of aspect of life was affected. This slowly lead into the Enlightenment.
1750 January: The Enlightenment
•
Age of Reason-Movement of thought
•
19th century liberals derived their political ideas from the writers of the Enlightenment
1789 May: The French Revolution
•
Began with the convocation of the Estates General
August: Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
•
19th century liberals also derived their political ideas from the “principles of 1789” embodied in
the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
1804: Napoleonic Code
•
Gave France a modern legal system that liberals favored.
THESIS
The origins of European liberalism derived from the Enlightenment’s thinkers and writers
who favored a government that had limited power against the people and citizens
who called this classical liberalism. Classical Liberalism eventually evolved into the 19th
century Liberalism that changed aristocratic authority, a fair economic structure open
to anyone who possesses talent, and to change (along with limiting) the government’s
power.
TOPIC SENTENCE #1 WITH EVIDENCE
(2)
1.
Liberalism’s main origin was the enlightenment, where the new thinking and influence of
Enlightened writers created this idea of establishing political framework of legal equality.

Adam smith was known as the “father of liberalism”. This is an important piece of evidence
because knowing the origin also is important to know of the father, which also means the
one who technically created it.

Liberalists wanted to establish a political framework of legal equality, religious toleration,
and freedom of the press. They also wanted a political structure that would limit the power
of the government against the people and property of citizens. This is also important
evidence because it is important to understand the basic idea as to what liberalism is
before diving into deep information about it later on in the paper.
TOPIC SENTENCE #2 WITH EVIDENCE
(3)
2.
As classical liberalism became the 19th century liberalism, aristocratic authority and
economic policies changed and evolved to benefit the middle class and workers who
possess talents towards certain jobs.

19th century liberalists wanted to extend representation to the propertied classes, they
transformed the 18th century concept of aristocratic liberty into a new concept of
privilege based on wealth and property rather than birth. This piece of evidence clearly
shows the evolution of this political movement.

By the middle of the 19th century, liberals throughout Europe separated themselves from
both the rural peasant and the urban working class. This bit of evidence can help
smoothly transition the paragraph into more information about the benefited skilled
workers.

Liberals also wanted an economic structure in which people were at liberty to use
whatever talents and property they possessed to further benefit themselves. They
believed that this would help produce more goods and services for everyone at lower
prices and provide the basis for material progress.
TOPIC SENTENCE 3 WITH EVIDENCE (3)
3.
The political movement that 19th century liberalism created strong goals towards
establishing a political structure that would limit the power of government against the
people and property of individual citizens.

Liberalists believed that the power of the government should correspond with the
consensus of the people. This is an important fact about liberalistic beliefs because it
strongly supports the topic sentence about the limited government power.

Government, according to liberalism, should be expressed through elections or
parliamentary bodies. This piece of evidence also shows that having parliament or
representatives (from elections) will further decrease the power of government.

Lastly, liberalism called for a written constitution. Liberalists wanted to see
constitutionalism and constitutional governments installed across the continent. This last
bit of evidence ties in all the points. Even though it does not directly associate with
property owners, a constitution will provide them more rights and the decreased power
of government will also give them more opportunities and freedoms.