THE RISE AND DECLINE OF EARLY AMERICAN LIBERALISM Jiang Xinhao（134） Early liberalism was a dominant trend of thought in the United States which prevailed from the founding of the country till after the Civil War. Thomas Paine and H.D. Thoreau were outstanding thinkers among the numerous liberalists, and represented the thought in time of prosperity and transition in American history. The decline of early liberalism did not mean the end of the thought, but rather a periodic change adapted to the evolution of times. The shift from early liberalism to moderm liberalism was a vulgarizing process from revolution to reform.