John Stuart Mill and the U.S. Constitution

Paper Summary:

Discusses his ideas of individual liberty. Personal liberty versus government rights. Struggle between liberty and authority. Limits to personal sovereignty. U.S. Constitution and the separation of powers. Prevention of tyranny. Pragmatic approach to people's pursuit of happiness. Christian nation concept. Need for minority as well as majority views.

From the Paper:

ON LIBERTY, INDIRECT PRAGMATISM , ETC.
John Stuart Mill is usually considered the greatest of the Victorian Liberal thinkers. Utilitarianism was his creation. As a defender of individual liberty against the interference of both society and state, and as an early advocate of women's equality, Mill continues to be of major significance especially as we continue to wrestle with the ideals and the constraints of personal liberty versus government rights. In On Liberty, Mill develops the principle that only self-protection can justify either the state's tampering with the liberty of the individual or any personal interference with another's freedom He sees the struggle between liberty and Authority to be the most conspicuous one in history. It seems, in further reading On Liberty, that Mill is not in favor of unbridled liberty, but liberty with

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