In thinking of liberalism, I always think of the word “liberate”: to make free. So that liberate = liberalism.
Liberalism has been around a long time. In the 18th + 19th centuries, liberalism stood opposed to monarchical rule, to ‘divine right’. Liberals demanded and agitated to bring about constitutional monarchies or else republics. For these liberals, constitutions were seen as the answer to everything. we see this first, in the American War of Independence and in the French Revolution. We also see it in the nationalist movements that created Italy and Germany.
So, liberals were always constitutionalists, they were also democrats but in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they only called for limited democracies. People had to be worthy of the vote. This would be decided by owning property. For this showed a man (and liberalism didn’t stretch to seeing women as worthy of the vote for some time) was successful and so deserved to have a say in the government of his country, and it must be added, a say in how his taxes were spent.
As the nineteenth century progressed, liberalism broadened its scope more and more. Liberalism had to respond to industrialisation and urbanisation, and the need for more government as it had to legislate in areas such as urban planning, health and education. Still, liberalism based on the individual and individual rights remained prominent but was spelt out more clearly. Liberals called for negative rights, freedom from:
government interference
government controls
low taxes
free trade
religious persecution
The liberal watchword becomes “laissez-faire”, leave well alone
But industrialisation and urbanisation created a bigger middle class and a working class, and as the franchise expands and the working class gain the vote, liberalism again had to respond. So, in the second-half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, liberalism took on more positive rights (though still based on the individual), freedom to:
an education
good health care
sick benefits and pensions
So, a sense of social justice becomes a part of liberalism. And liberals, eventually, support votes for women!