Humanities 2319
American Minorities: Political Culture in A Global Environment
Lecture 3: American Political Philosophy:
The fabric of
our culture TOP
[T]he only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over
any member of a civilised community against his will, is to prevent
harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a
sufficient warrant .
John Stuart Mill---the Harm Principle from "On Liberty"
Our last lecture explored some of the
major Enlightenment philosopher’s views of human nature and how
this behavior influences
structures of government.
This lecture
will concern American
political culture, more specifically, its roots, formation and the broad patterns of
beliefs that influence it.
It
will also explore the acquisition and transmission of
those beliefs.
From whence have we come?
Colonial Rule
Our last lecture examined Rousseau’s grand vision for a
democratic society in Social Contract, published just prior
to the American Revolution. To provide some historical context
though, one needs to consider the state of things
during the period well before the
Revolution.
The Virginia colony was founded by the London Company in 1607. A little more than a decade later in 1619, the first legislative assembly was organized to govern the colony of Virginia called the House of Burgess. This institution was the first colonial assembly to declare their desire for independence from the King even before the Declaration of Independence was written! Farther north, in 1620, the Mayflower Compact was written and given assent by those Pilgrim colonists arriving in Plymouth Colony. The Mayflower Compact reflected these early American’s belief that government represented a form of a covenant, and for it to be legitimate, it must have the consent of the governed. This very much reflected the very ideas of Hobbes, Locke and others.
|
Mayflower Compact
We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our
dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of
Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the
Faith, etc. |
Geographically speaking, the early colonists were divided into the three regions. The "New England Colonies" included what today is Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The economy of this region centered around small-farms, fishing, shipbuilding and commerce with the wider Atlantic world. The second area-- the "Middle Colonies"-- consisted of the states we now call New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. These colonies relied on grain production, shipping and fur trading with the Native Americans. Finally, the "Southern Colonies" consisted Virginia, North and South Carolina, Maryland and Georgia. This region was more racially diverse than other two regions, hosting the majority of African slaves. The Middle Colonies were the most ethnically and religiously diverse, populated by immigrants for areas beyond Great Britain and its islands. The economy of the Southern Colonies centered around the plantations which grew tobacco and rice. Cultures would emerge that would reflect simply, the economies of these distinct regions. The New England Colonies, in spite of economic commonalities with the lower two, set itself quite apart in terms of its lack of religious tolerance.
It is important to make a distinction however, from those early colonists in Virginia and Chesapeake and those colonists we call Pilgrims and Puritans in New England. In terms of values; there were noticeable differences. For example, the first governor of Massachusetts colony (John Winthrop) criticized democracy as ‘the meanest and worst of all forms of government.’ He urged the expulsion of anyone who challenged Puritan governance. The Puritans hardly envisioned the democratic pluralist society that American would become. In other words, puritanical governance alone would hardly provide the well-spring of democratic ideals. The colonists of Virginia, had similar economic interests as well as very undemocratic ideas regarding slavery or the treatment of Native Americans.
|
Jamestown Colonists |
Plymouth Pilgrims |
Puritans |
|
Roughly 100 Gentleman of privilege, artisans and craftsmen,
laborers, charged with establishing a colony in Virginia for
profit.
|
Almost half of the initial 102 were Christian Separatists
who left England, & subsequently Holland,
in search of the freedom necessary to practice their
religious views
The majority were merchants, craftsmen and indentured
servants.
|
To escape religious persecution, they Left England to protest policies pursued by King James I. They hoped to create a model society that would as an example for England in light of the dangerous direction they perceived in James’s leadership. |
|
House of Burgesses, meeting annually and led by the Governor
who received his appointment from company officials in
London. Comprised of the Governor’s council, which were 6
prominent citizens selected by him; the burgesses from the
larger plantations.
|
Each year the "Civil Body Politic," assembled to elect the
governor and a small number of assistants. |
“Congregationalists” believed the
ultimate authority rested in God’s word, but through
‘charters’ called covenants, political governance could be
created. |
|
|
All adult males except indentured servants
|
Landholding Puritan men who were members of a "Congregation" |
In spite of their distinction in purpose, a majority of the colonists had several things in common---They were all basically Anglo-Saxon, European in decent, they were all some variation of Christian and they were all facing conflicts with the Native American populations. Clearly, the colonists viewed the Native Americans with whom they came into contact with varying degrees of disdain.
While the Native American culture provides rich stories in American History, earlier colonists viewed them as a 'nuisance'. Certainly, while Indians were a vital component in trading for some colonists, they provided little in the way of instruction for forming any new governments. However, because the colonists viewed the Native Americans as 'nations, unto themselves', this view allowed the New Americans the opportunity to begin developing strategies, akin to a form of foreign policy, through their encounters with the them.
The '3rd culture' that comes into play were Africans, brought over as slaves. Virginia was the first state to adopt slave codes in 1662, conferring slave bondage onto a child based upon the status of the mother. Massachusetts was the first state to legalize slavery, followed by Connecticut in 1650 and in 1661. Slavery was officially sanctioned by Congress through the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act (1793). These laws excluded Africans from the political body of the colonies, dividing the Anglo-Saxon European populations from that of their enslaved African counterparts.
But many residents of European descent were not all 'equal' and would not be admitted to the body politic. Certainly women were not included, and neither were unpropertied men.
According to those holding power at this time, the individuals, most capable of discerning the best outcomes of the colony were those with a vested interest: property owners, or in the case of Pilgrims or Puritans, propertied men who were tied to God. Women, children and slaves were chattel and therefore, ill-equipped intellectually, for 'self-governance'.
By the 1700s, "enlightenment liberals," or those educated men influenced strongly by the works of Enlightened philosophers, began exploring the 'binding's of their society. A distinction between what was 'public' and what was 'private' emerged. Governments, they argued, should attempt to rule for the good of all society and some things which were more appropriately considered outside the sphere of its influence. Pamphleting became a popular means by which to spread their ideas and in some cases, sow the seeds of discontent among the colonists. For example, in Cato's Letters, which are considered to be among the most influential writings circulated within the colonies, you again find discussions of the nature of man (#31), consent of the governed (#38), freedom as an inalienable right (#59), and the nature of power (#115) to cite a few. These letters and other similar works would form the philosophical foundation on which rebellion against the British Crown would be justified in the eyes of the colonists. Colonists began to convene, legitimating reasons for a rebellion. The ideals proposed by the Enlightenment philosophers and echoed in the writings of the colonists, fomented a revolution. By 1776 the colonists no longer considered themselves subjects, beholden to the King, but individuals, capable of establishing a new form of government, based upon a social contract that respected the rights of man (life, liberty and property), and that would distribute and share power based upon the principle of consent.
During the revolutionary era a unique and powerful American political culture formed. Deist and other rationalist commentators united on the basis of a common goal to rid their emerging nation-state of a monarch, and opted instead for some form of self-governance. After a series of Parliamentary Acts viewed as oppressive by the colonists, they openly opposed and began to argue for the overthrowing of British rule. By 1775, King George III issues a proclamation declaring the American colonies in a state of rebellion. In 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, a 50-page pamphlet, highly critical of the King and arguing for independence.
"We have it in our power to begin the world anew...
America shall make a
stand, not for herself alone, but for the world."
Colonists protested efforts by Parliament to reform the colonies role in the British Empire. Parliament wanted them to pay more direct taxation and to abrogate much of their self rule. Colonial protests eventually culminated in a revolution that emerged from a desire to
end British rule and become independent states
create a new type of political system
encase republican ideas within each colony and to provide a means
through
which they could also remain united with
each other yet distinct
In 1783, the United States of America officially gained her freedom when the Treaty of Paris was signed between the new American Congress and Great Britain. The former colonists now set about the task of creating a new government, based upon the principles embodied in the writings of Locke, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. Here again though, the cultures present among colonies would clash----Who were entitled to the inalienable rights discussed by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence? What, in fact, were those rights?
American political culture was formed---formed from a strength of will, arguably perhaps, obstinacy. It reflected values such as a trust in providence or a faith in God, a sense of equity and justice; most important perhaps, a firm belief in liberty, at least for some. The regional differences between the colonies would appear in force during the debates over reframing a Constitution to govern the newly independent states during the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia. "How were the Indians to be considered?" "What about the question of slavery and the status of slaves?" "What role would religion play?" "What protections would be provided for the citizens under this new government?" Middlekauff writes that the secret debates of that summer “generated its own forces, chiefly through discussion and argument. In all these deliberations, reason and intellect made their impression just as did irrationality and passion, chance and accident.”1
Those involved with writing the document were forced to examine and confront aspects of their regional differences in political culture. Debates took the form of pamphlets known as the Federalist and Anti-Federalists papers. These would extol the virtues and vices (respectively) presented by the new Constitution, the form of government it was providing and the respective powers afforded to it and the constituent states. What was just as important though were the differences in opinion regarding Africans or slaves and the Native American population; the status of women, the rights and responsibilities imposed upon those designated as citizens; those common folk who remained without property and what relationships would be created between their Montesquien form of government and themselves.
The American Constitution was the embodiment of those ideas or values we ascribe as providing the 'underpinnings' or foundations for American political culture:
liberty
republican
government and popular sovereignty (otherwise known as
democratic rule)
equality
On the subject of liberty, John Stuart Mill argued freedom is necessary if individuals and societies are expected to progress. This could be achieved in a representative democracy because those who rule merely represent the interests of the ruled. Unfortunately, according to Mill, while a democracy inclines toward allowing individuals liberty, it doesn't necessarily guarantee it. Individual liberty can be jeopardized if, after societies rid themselves of oppressive governments wind up instead merely trading them for oppressive interests within the society. In other words, he supported majority rule with the protection of minority rights---protection of the individual from the tyranny of the majority, a very novel idea for that time expressed by Rousseau in his version of the social contract.
Popular sovereignty, the fundamental belief that the government must have the consent of the governed through elections that are free and fair, emerged as a watershed idea for not only the new Americans, but for the French, who were grappling with issues similar to those with which the colonists wrestled. Ironically, while the new country’s leaders grappled with these questions, their ally in the Revolutionary War – France – underwent its own revolution based on similar ideas and questions. After an initial rebellion against absolutism succeeded, the French public was besieged with arguments that paralleled the American discussion. For example, Emmanuel Sieyes, a French cleric, in 1789 penned a pamphlet, "Qu’est ce que le tiers état?" which is widely considered to be the manifesto for the French Revolution. Like the founding fathers of the American system, he had been influenced by the writings Locke. Sieyes and others read with great interest the news of the "American Experiment' as did many others in France.
"What is the Third Estate? Everything.
What has it been hitherto in the political order? Nothing.
What does it desire? To be something."
The American Revolution, the values that shaped it and were ultimately enshrined in the Constitution, provided another catalyst for the growing discontent in France. Eventually, the French would revolt. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen would be their grail and another monarch would fall----this time, to his death.
Here we find America and France are inextricably tied: by their ideas about government, the rights of man and the revolutions they fought forever changed the destiny of both countries.
This concludes Lecture 3. Please click on the link below to find your activity questions.
1. Middlekauff, Robert 1982. The Glorious Cause. UK: Oxford University Press.