در طول قرن هجدهم و عصر روشنگری، پنداره‌های لیبرال در اروپا و آمریکای شمالی رواج یافتند.Garbooshian, Adrina Michelle (2006). "The Concept of Human Dignity in the French and American Enlightenments: Religion, Virtue, Liberty". ProQuest. p. 472. ISBN 0-542-85160-1. ISBN 978-0-542-85160-5. "Influenced by Locke and Smith, certain segments of society affirmed classical liberalism, with a libertarian bent."Cantor, Paul A. (2012). "The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture: Liberty Vs. Authority in American Film and TV". University Press of Kentucky. p. xiii. ISBN 0-8131-4082-X. ISBN 978-0-8131-4082-7. "[T]he roots of libertarianism lie in [...] the classical liberal tradition". لیبرترین‌ها از مکاتب گوناگون تحت تأثیر این پنداره‌ها قرار داشتند.Otero, Carlos Peregrin, ed. (1994). "Noam Chomsky: Critical Assessments, Volumes 2–3". Taylor & Francis. p. 617. ISBN 0-415-10694-X. ISBN 978-0-415-10694-8. از نظر فیلسوف رادریک تی. لانگ لیبرترین‌ها «دارای یک ریشهٔ مشترک یا حداقل تبار فکری همپوشان با لیبرال‌ها هستند. آن‌ها پیشینیان ایدئولوژیک خود را برابرسازان انگلیسی و دایرةالمعارف‌نویسان فرانسوی می‌دانند و علاقهٔ مشترکی به توماس جفرسونRocker, Rudolf (1949). "Pioneers of American Freedom: Origin of Liberal and Radical Thought in America". New York: J. J. Little & Ives Company. p. 13. "It was the great service of liberal thinkers like Jefferson and Paine that they recognized the natural limitations of every form of government. That is why they did not want to see the state become a terrestrial Providence which in its infallibility would make on its own every decision, thereby not only blocking the road to higher forms of social development, but also crippling the natural sense of responsibility of the people which is the essential condition for every prosperous society".Tucker, Benjamin (1926) [1976]. "Individual Liberty". New York: Vanguard Press. p. 13. "The Anarchists are simply unterrified Jeffersonian Democrats. They believe that 'the best government is that which governs least,' and that that which governs least is no government at all".Scott, James C. (2012). "Two Cheers for Anarchism: Six Easy Pieces on Autonomy, Dignity, and Meaningful Work and Play". Princeton University Press. pp. 79–80. "At one end of an institutional continuum one can place the total institutions that routinely destroy the autonomy and initiative of their subjects. At the other end of this continuum lies, perhaps, some ideal version of Jeffersonian democracy composed of independent, self-reliant, self-respecting, landowning farmers, managers of their own small enterprises, answerable to themselves, free of debt, and more generally with no institutional reason for servility or deference. Such free-standing farmers, Jefferson thought, were the basis of a vigorous and independent public sphere where citizens could speak their mind without fear or favor. Somewhere in between these two poles lies the contemporary situation of most citizens of Western democracies: a relatively open public sphere but a quotidian institutional experience that is largely at cross purposes with the implicit assumptions behind this public sphere and encouraging and often rewarding caution, deference, servility, and conformity". و توماس پین دارند».Long, Roderick T. (1998). "Toward a Libertarian Theory of Class". "Social Philosophy and Policy". 15 (2): 310. doi:10.1017/s0265052500002028.