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Freedom or Power

Lord Acton: Freedom is the Engine of History

A Philosophical History of Freedom

Lord Acton: Freedom is the Engine of History

  • Acton's Thesis
  • Voltaire and Condorcet
It is known that the victors write history. Attention is often focused on the conquest of power, on the lives of leaders in power, and on the conflicts that oppose them to those who wish to take their place.
This is particularly true of textbooks intended for public schools and written by professors employed by the State. This is not the case for a work in two volumes written by a historian from Cambridge in the 19th century, Lord Acton. His full name is John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Baron of Acton (1834-1902). He is the author of History of Liberty in Antiquity and Christianity. His work is considered one of the most important on the subject, and he dedicated a large part of his career to it. His work, although unfinished, is a powerful warning against the dangers of power abuse, and his advocacy for freedom and individual responsibility remains relevant today.
This author is best known for his maxim: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." A formula that echoes that of Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws:
It is an eternal experience that every man who has power is tempted to abuse it.

Acton's Thesis

For Acton, the conflict between liberty and power is the central theme of human history, and liberty is the driving force of progress and the evolution of societies. Acton sought to understand the factors that contributed to the rise of liberty in the West. His goal was to identify the conditions necessary for its preservation and development. He studied philosophical ideas, social structures, and political contexts that favored their emergence over time.
His central thesis is that "liberty is established by the conflict of powers." According to Acton, for centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Catholic Church was the only force capable of challenging the authority of feudal lords, monarchs, and emperors. This power struggle between the Church and the State proved crucial for the rise of liberty. Europe had a strong Church and a weak state, due to the ongoing quarrel in the Middle Ages between popes and kings. In contrast, China had a weak deity and a strong bureaucratic power.
By liberty, I mean the assurance that every man will be protected, when he does what he believes to be his duty, against the influence of authority and majorities, of custom and opinion. The State is competent to set duties and to distinguish between good and evil only in its immediate sphere. (Lord Acton) In other words, freedom is the right for individuals to follow their conscience, and it is not the state's role to dictate a person's conduct in philosophical, moral, and religious matters. Friedrich Hayek had initially considered naming the Mont Pelerin Society the "Acton-Tocqueville Society," in tribute to two thinkers he deeply admired: Lord Acton and Alexis de Tocqueville. Ultimately, it was the name of the location where the Society's first meeting was held, Mont Pelerin in Switzerland, that was chosen.

Voltaire and Condorcet

But the idea that freedom in Europe was born from internal struggles among various claimants to power, preventing the establishment of absolute domination, is not unique to Acton. It can already be found in thinkers such as Voltaire and Condorcet.
Thus, Voltaire, in his Philosophical Letters, attributes English freedom to conflicts between kings and nobles, which prevented any excessive concentration of power. And he notes:
If there were only one religion in England, its despotism would be to be feared; if there were only two, they would cut each other's throats; but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness. (On the Presbyterians)
Condorcet, in his Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind, attributes the decentralized structure of power in Italy to the rivalry between the pope and the emperor, which allowed many independent city-states to flourish.
This thesis is also found in a monumental work dating from 1983: Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition, by Harold J. Berman (French translation by Raoul Audouin, published by the University of Aix en Provence Bookstore in 2002). Berman's analysis highlights the crucial role of legal pluralism in the history of the West. This system, far from being a mere source of complexity, was a driver of development, freedom, and innovation, shaping the Western legal traditions enduringly.
Quiz
Quiz1/5
What is the definition of freedom given by Lord Acton?