Publication Date

1961

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Fox, Arnold B.||Kallich, Martin, 1918-2006

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of English

LCSH

Fielding; Henry; 1707-1754

Abstract

During the early eighteenth century, England was the only world power in which the individual possessed any real amount of liberty. Thus, while the kings of France and Spain ruled as absolute monarchs, the kings of England were only important agents in a government of ministers and representatives. France had many years to wait for the rule of law, judicial independence, freedom, and popular control, and today, there are many countries still waiting for these freedoms. However, as we know, "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance." Thus, John Stuart Mill felt as compelled to write his On Liberty in 1859, after England had enjoyed many years of comparative freedom, as John Milton had felt compelled to write his Areopagitica in 1644, a time of limited freedom. And just as Milton in the seventeenth century wrote in defense of liberty in England, Paine in the latter half of the eighteenth century wrote Common dense in America, and Voltaire and Rousseau in France were slowly sowing the seeds which led to the French Revolution. And just as Paine and the French revolutionists were fighting for liberty in the latter half of the eighteenth century in America and France, at least one man devoted his life to the preservation of liberty in the first half of the eighteenth century in England, even though historians tell us that during this man’s life England enjoyed unusual freedom.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

iii, 40 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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