<The Captain dusts off his Master’s degree in Political Science, and tries to remember those theory classes he took>
Let me preface this by saying I don’t have a site to back this up…I’m going from memory, but hopefully my recollections can point the OP in a direction. I am also restricting my explanation to the meaning of the word “liberal” in U.S. political thought. “Liberal” means something different in Britain and the continent. Also, as you can see, this post is long.
Originally, in political thought, a liberal was someone who was a follower of the enlightenment, especially economic and political thinkers like Hobbes, Locke, and Smith. The classical liberals believed that government derived from the decision of people to join together to form a government. Rulers didn’t have any sort of divine right or mandate from heaven. They had a mandate from the people, who had entered into a contract with them. It was this form of liberalism that was the philosophical basis for the founding of the U.S., and is reflected in the American political system (Capitalism, a relatively small gov’t, a contract and constitutional theory of law, etc.)
Fast forward through American history. It’s now 1872, and one political party effectively controls the national American scene. The Democrats, tarred with the specter of “disloyalty” from the Civil War, have never, since the Republican presidential victory in 1860, held the presidency. The Republicans, in addition to controling the presidency, have consistantly controlled congress. However, all is not well in the party. A number of businessmen have gotten rich from the war, and they, more and more, are controlling the party, and by extension, the political life of the nation. The devestated economy of the south, and the growing economy of the west give these businessmen new markets for their goods, and the increase in joint stock corporations means that they can more easily find investors and raise money to grow their businesses. Corruption is endemic, as corporate money flows into politics, and politicians often go into business for themselves, with powerful backers. Horace Greeley sees this, and sighs. The old editor of the New York Herald Tribune was a Republican from the founding of the party. He was there in 1856, at the first convention, when the disasterous Freemont was nominated. It was his influence in 1860, in Chicago, that pulled the New York delegation to back Lincoln. But, this is no longer Greeley’s party, he thinks. They have forgotten the Negro. They have forgotten the farmer, and the industrial worker. Greeley is part of a movement in the Republican Party, one that is at the same time both radical and conservative, one that says that the Republicans need to go back to their roots, that they need to remember the principles of liberty that led to the founding of the party. Therefore, they have dubbed themselves the Liberal Republicans. Less generous commentators call the mugwumps. Greeley has no chance of getting the Republican nomination. General Grant will be renominated…it’s clear the war hero will have another term if he wants it. Even if he doesn’t, Greeley has few friends among those who control the party. The Democrats, however, are headless. He turns to them, and gets the nomination, but even the combined strength of the Democrats and the Liberal Republicans aren’t strong enough to win the Presidency, especially against Grant, and Greeley dies a month after the election, worn and broken. The Liberals fall back into the party, attempting to reform it from within, and time passes. They are, for the most part, not successful nationally, even though their backing of the Democrat Grover Cleveland leads to his victory. They are more successful on the state and local level, pushing through civil service reforms. However, they stay quiet.
Years pass, and it’s now 1896. William McKinley has won the presidency, and he needs a cabinet. Meanwhile, in New York City, a young Liberal Republican Police Commissioner is annoying both parties with his massive ego and his attempts at reform. To get him out of there, New York politicians convince McKinley to make the young man, one Theodore Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the navy. Roosevelt is in Washington, but finds himself more excited by the Spanish war that is breaking out. He resigns his position, and recruits a voluntary cavalry regiment that serves in Cuba. TR finds himself a hero. He comes back to New York, and is elected governor. In 1900, McKinley runs for reelection with TR as his running mate, and wins. Then, the unthinkable happens. William McKinley is shot and killed. Teddy is president now, and the liberals find themselves in control of the party. He serves until 1908, pushing through liberal positions…election and campaign finance reform, the national park system, food and drug regulation, labor laws, laws against monopoly. In 1908, tired of the Presidency, he arranges for his friend and fellow reformer Bill Taft to be nominated, then after Taft wins, goes to Africa to hunt, then to Brazil, to travel the Amazon.
Taft is a liberal, but he is also a cautious man and a diplomat. He lacks the fire of his predecessor. So, he compromises with the other wing of the Republican party. The liberals see this as a betrayal. In 1912, TR comes back, rested, and ready for another fight. He accuses Taft of betraying the Republican party, and the liberals in the party attach themselves to him. He’s their hero. TR announces he will seek the presidency again, and leads the liberals out of the Republican party, and forms his own party, the Progressives. With this split in the Republican party, the Democrat Wilson wins handily, and the Progressives find themselves no longer welcome as Republicans, and not strong enough to be an independent party. They therefore join the Democrats.
And that, my son, is how the liberals got their name.
