... assertions on agrarian law. This is not the only time we see Machiavelli cited as the authority on a piece of political theory, especially those concerning the republican school. Rousseau also uses Machiavelli, although in a different way. His statement in Du contrat social about the necessity of a Lawgiver ... saw as being facts would not hold true for human society everywhere. Thus the common "truths" could only be established from a comparison and debate between a number of different theorists, who came from numerous different places and were scattered across the social spectrum, excep...

• Word Count: 1857
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In England in the 17th century, during the Great Rebellion, Englishmen in the New Model Army of Parliament began to debate liberal ideas concerning extension of the suffrage, parliamentary rule, the responsibilities of government, and freedom of conscience. The controversies of this period produced one of the classics of liberal thinking, Areopagitica (1644), a treatise ... , even to the person's own detriment. His essay "On Liberty" (1859) is one of the most eloquent defenses of free speech. By the middle of the 19th century, liberal thought concerning constitutionalism, wider suffrage, tole...

• Word Count: 788
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Graduate