Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Nineteenth-century liberalism promised equality before the law but denied universal suffrage. In revolutionary France, only property-owning men could vote; men without property and all women were excluded from political rights. The Napoleonic Code further reduced women to the status of minors under male authority. At the Frankfurt Parliament (1848), women could only observe from the gallery and had no suffrage rights.

This reveals that liberalism primarily served the interests of the educated, propertied middle classes. "Equality" was economic and legal, not political — designed to abolish aristocratic privilege while keeping working classes and women subordinate.

Source: Chapter 1, Section 2.2 — What did Liberal Nationalism Stand for?; Section 3.3 — 1848: The Revolution of the Liberals

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Examiners look for three things here (1 mark each):

1. Who was excluded — women and non-propertied men (be specific).
2. Why — property qualification; gender ideology (nature/separate spheres argument used by liberals like Welcker).
3. What it reveals — liberalism was a class ideology benefiting the middle class, not a universal programme of freedom.

Avoid writing a general essay on liberalism. Stick to the contradiction: equality before law ≠ political equality. Use textbook examples (France, Frankfurt Parliament) for credibility.