Liberalism, as a political philosophy, can be traced as the foundation to several theories that were circulating the American nation during the mid-nineteenth century. This political ideology embraces a strong repudiation for the laws, customs, and institutions of the time that were believed to foster the subordination of individuality, and is radical to the extent that it challenges the view that only by keeping with tradition will society continue to grow and flourish. In positive correlation with the latter view, the Puritan colonies of this nation and era shared a political prescription for society based on a profound respect for history and tradition. In light of this respect for traditional forces, the Puritan culture advocates several elements of a classically conservative ideology aimed against individualism.Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, written and published in 1851, questions the promise of a politick embracing classical conservatism by critically and symbolically weighing the forces of history and tradition against those of individualism and revolution in a compelling advocation of the latter. Hawthorne's appreciation for a more liberal philosophy as a catalyst for social and political progress is evident throughout The Scarlet Letter, which endorses liberal, individualist thought over a traditional and classically conservative Puritan belief structure. Hawthorne's success in this endorsement is largely attributable to his powerful and ambiguous use of the symbol as the central vehicle for the novel that is foremost to the entire narrative itself. Hawthorne writes The Scarlet Letter in a fashion that sets the symbol, as an intrinsic part of the narrative, in a superior position to that of the entire narrative. In the process thereof, Hawthorne analogously undermines the basic tenet of classical conservatism---that tenet which is fixated on tradition and holds that the whole of society, past and present, i...
