sic tenet was strongly advocated by many of America's revolutionary era thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin.
Besides free market policies, classical liberalism was expressed in the Constitutions governing the protection of individual rights and defining the relationship between individuals and their governments, which flourished among western nations from the late 17th-century to the end of the 19th-century. These Constitutions were an outgrowth of the liberal concern for a balance between individual and community rights and the role government played in securing this social balance. Quite simply, classical liberals advocated complete freedom of markets in which government's played limited roles and the liberties of individuals were only restricted by consent.
Classical liberalism also embraced the notion of expanded civil liberties for individuals (Noble, et al., 1994, 956). However, the classical liberals had an extremely narrow view of who was worthy of expanded rights including economic and educational opportunities, and enfranchisement (Noble, et al., 1994, 956). They felt that white males were the only group worthy of, and capable of, handling civil liberties. In Europe, this ideology excluded women, foreigners (from outside Europe in particular), non-anglo and non-Caucasian groups (such as gypsies, Eastern European and Mediterranean ethnics). In America, this ideology also excluded women. However, due to the strong presence of a variety of races, American liberalism emphasized racial exclusions, such as blacks and Native Americans, to a greater degree than its European counterparts.
Classical liberals also believed in the value of meritocracy in which an individual's skills, hard work, and ingenuity, were the sole marks of achievement. They believed that advancement strictly by title or inheritance was unjust as well as inefficient: the best man for the job and ...