What forces from 17th to 19th centuries contributed to a more liberal west?

examples of people, events, ideas, political and economic examples, etc.
What forces from 17th to 19th centuries contributed to a more liberal west?
Have a look on wikipedia under 'the enlightenment'
What forces from 17th to 19th centuries contributed to a more liberal west?
17th century English Civil War, and then the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England.





18th century. American War of independence, French Revolution





19th century - new nations created throughout Europe and the Americas as the people broke away from the empires and colonial powers that previously controlled them..





but there were darker aspects that led to the creation of these 'liberal societies' too.





The independence of the new agricultural middle classes in the Agricultural Revolutions of the 14th-19th centuries, which brought wealth to the new 'sheep farmers' came at the cost of the 'Enclosures of the Commons' which deprived farm labourers the rights they'd had for centuries to a subsistence living from the land.





The rights to independent merchants to engage in trade free of the Crown brought them wealth, but centred around the Slave Trade in the 'Golden Triangle' between Britain, Africa, and the Americas.





The freedoms of 19th century businessmen to use the wealth of their families as 'free individuals' occurred only when they were given absolute rights over their wives' property and income.





The spread of 'western societies' across the West in the North Americas, Australia, India and further into Asia - disrupted and in some cases destroyed whole cultures and peoples.





These 'freedoms' were underpinned by the philosophies of John Locke, Thomas Paine, Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Adam Smith.