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Full Idea
The first liberal, the founding father if we have one, is the great sixteenth century French essayist Michel de Montaigne.
Gist of Idea
Montaigne was the founding father of liberalism
Source
report of Michel de Montaigne (On Cruelty [1580]) by Adam Gopnik - A Thousand Small Sanities 1
Book Ref
Gopnik,Adam: 'A Thousand Small Sanities' [riverrun 2019], p.27
A Reaction
He says this not on the basis of his politicies or achievements, but his general attitudes and values. It may be another hundred years before we can identify another obvious liberal (Locke?).