Liberals:
* Wanted a government based on written constitutions
* Defended “natural rights” - government’s job to protect and preserve the rights of people
* Middle class tended to be liberals - business owners, bankers, lawyers, politicians, writers, publishers
* What did they want to accomplish?
* Republics, constitutional monarchy
* Manhood suffrage
* Why?
* Popular sovereignty, equality, important philosophy of the Enlightenment
* Gave them power
Conservatives:
* Believed in legitimacy, social hierarchy,m supported the established churches
* Opposed alleged “natural rights” and freedoms proposed by the philosophes
* Conservatives tended to be monarchs, public officials, noble landowners, church leaders, peasants
* What did they want to accomplish?
* Wished to “turn back the clock” to the days before the French Revolution or as close as they could get
* Why?
* Stability, order, peace, “We were in charge”