What is classical liberalism?

What is classical liberalism? by John C. Goodman, National Center for Policy Analysis:

http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/whatisclassicalliberalism.pdf

John Goodman's article is a lucid and sophisticated elucidation of the notion of liberty and rights in the classical liberal tradition within a specific American context. One of his most valuable contributions in the article in terms of giving people an idea of the history of liberalism is his succinct description of the shift in what constituted 'liberalism' from what is widely understood to constitute in the mid to late 19th compared with the middle to latter stages of the 20th century.

Another text I would recommend to understand this shift further would be a speech given by 19th century British Liberal political activistand philosopher Thomas Hill Green at the Leicester Liberal Association on the freedom of contract. Here Green explains and tries to justify how the Liberal party which had supported near complete freedom of contract had come to the position of supporting state imposed limitation of contracts on the grounds of it;s contribution to freedom. (“Liberal Legislation and freedom of contract”, January 1881)

Another important contribution to the furtherance of understanding of the classical liberal tradition Goodman makes in his article is his clear explanation of where individual rights derive from according to the classical liberal tradition and the implications that this has for the public policy positions classical liberals or libertarians take.

Goodman’s article does precisely what I believe is required to begin the process of changing the dominant tone of the debates surrounding public policy, politics and the role of government on both sides of the Atlantic. He does this primarily highlighting and critiquing the shift in what being liberal means to one to which I would subscribe. Which is largely concerned with putting what I would contend to be the most neglected factor in our public discourse, the individual and their liberty, at unifying centre of our public discourse about what we want our society to look like and how we seek to achieve that end.