The principal ideas of liberalism — liberty and equality — were by no means defeated in 1815. Liberalism demanded representative government as opposed to autocratic monarchy, and equality before the law as opposed to legally separate classes. The idea of liberty also meant specific individual freedoms: freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of worship, and freedom from arbitrary arrest. In Europe in 1815, only France with Louis XVIII’s Constitutional Charter and Great Britain with its Parliament had realized any of the liberal program. Even in those countries, liberalism had only begun to succeed.

Although conservatives still saw liberalism as a profound threat, it had gained a group of powerful adherents: the new upper classes made wealthy through growing industrialization and global commerce. Liberal economic principles, the doctrine of laissez faire (lay-zay FEHR), called for free trade (including relaxation of import/export duties), unrestricted private enterprise, and no government interference in the economy.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, liberal political ideals became closely associated with narrow class interests. Starting in the 1820s in Britain, business elites enthusiastically embraced laissez-faire policies because they proved immensely profitable, and they used liberal ideas to defend their right to do as they wished in their factories. Labor unions were outlawed because, these elites argued, unions restricted free competition and the individual’s “right to work.” Early-nineteenth-century liberals favored representative government, but they generally wanted property qualifications attached to the right to vote. In practice, this meant limiting the vote to very small numbers of well-to-do men.

As liberalism became increasingly identified with upper-class business interests, some opponents of conservatism felt that liberalism did not go nearly far enough. Inspired by memories of the French Revolution and the example of Jacksonian democracy in the young American republic, these republicans expanded liberal ideology to include universal voting rights, at least for males. Republicans were more radical than the liberals, and they were more willing than most liberals to endorse violent upheaval to achieve goals. As a result, liberals and radical republicans could join forces against conservatives only up to a point.