Limited government

Part of a series on
Liberalism
Schools History of liberalism Contributions to liberal theory
Ideas Cultural liberalism Democratic capitalism Democratic education Economic liberalism Free market Egalitarianism Free trade Harm principle Individualism Laissez-faire Liberal democracy Liberal neutrality Market economy Negative / positive liberty Open society Permissive society Political freedom Popular sovereignty Rights (individual) Secularism Separation of church and state
Variants Anarchist Classical Conservative Democratic Geolibertarianism Georgism Green Liberal feminism Liberal internationalism National Neoliberalism Ordoliberalism Radical centrism Radicalism Religious Secular Social Socialist Technoliberalism
People John Ballance Frédéric Bastiat Jeremy Bentham Isaiah Berlin Anders Chydenius Benjamin Franklin Adam Ferguson Milton Friedman John Kenneth Galbraith David Lloyd George Henry George William Ewart Gladstone Thomas Hill Green Václav Havel Friedrich Hayek Leonard Hobhouse Wilhelm von Humboldt David Hume Thomas Jefferson John F. Kennedy Immanuel Kant Adamantios Korais Wilfrid Laurier John Locke Thomas Babington Macaulay Salvador de Madariaga Giuseppe Mazzini James Mill John Stuart Mill Ludwig von Mises Montesquieu Mário Ferreira dos Santos Robert Nozick Thomas Paine Lester B. Pearson Zhelyu Zhelev Simeon Sakskoburggotski Ognyan Gerdzhikov Ahmed Dogan John Rawls David Ricardo Franklin D. Roosevelt Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Baptiste Say Richard Seddon Herbert Spencer Adam Smith Alexis de Tocqueville Pierre Trudeau Mary Wollstonecraft
Organizations Liberal parties Africa Liberal Network (ALN) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDEP) Arab Liberal Federation (ALF) Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) European Democratic Party (EDP) European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America (RELIAL) Liberal South East European Network (LIBSEEN)
Related topics Communitarianism Conservatism Libertarianism Republicanism Socialism
Liberalism portal Politics portal

Limited government is a concept in political philosophy in which governmental power is restricted by law, usually in a written constitution. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism. The Magna Carta and the United States Constitution represent important milestones in the limiting of governmental power. The earliest use of the term limited government dates back to King James VI and I in the late 16th century.

See also

• Social contract
• Natural and legal rights
• Constitutionalism
• Enumerated powers

External links

• Barth, Alan, 1991, The Roots of Limited Government
• Unknown, Limited Government