UNIT TWO: FOUNDATIONS OF LIBERALISM

Classical liberalism also contributed to the creation of the United States of America, otherwise known as the American Revolution, which occurred between 1775-1783.

Before this, the 13 colonies along America's east coast had local governments, but under the the control of Great Britain. American settlers had to pay British taxes, as well as tariffs on imported goods.

They did not want to be ruled from a government from abroad and declared themselves independent from Great Britain with the "Declaration of Independence" that established a republican form of government in which authority to rule came from the citizens, and not a foreign monarch.

Bolstered by enlightenment thinkers such as Thomas Paine and John Locke, they set out to establish political autonomy and economic freedom from British control. On the right hand side is Thomas Paine's original pamphlet entitled Common Sense, which was immensely popular in the United States when published in 1776.