Locke, Enlightenment, and Liberty in the Works of Catharine Macaulay and her Contemporaries

This chapter demonstrates how a number of women in eighteenth-century Europe exploited a contrast between ‘liberty’ and ‘licence’ in their political writings. The authors discussed include Catharine Macaulay (1731–91) and her contemporaries Catherine II of Russia, Octavie Belot, Louise Keralio, and Elise Reimarus. It is shown that, in their works, these women are strongly opposed to unfettered licence, the freedom to do as one wills in the absence of external impediments and constraints. They distinguish this kind of freedom from their own positive notion: the freedom to govern one’s self in accordance with the moral law of reason. In this respect, this chapter argues, these women adapt the earlier ideas of English philosopher John Locke. It is shown that in the writings of Macaulay, in particular, Locke’s sentiments about liberty and law are taken to a radical democratic conclusion: an ideal of fair and equal representation of the people.