Federalist #10
(by James Madison)
• “Among the numerous advantages promised by
a well constructed Union, none deserves to be
more accurately developed than its tendency to
break and control the violence of faction.”
• “By faction I understand that a number of
citizens, whether amounting to a majority or
minority of the whole, who are united and
actuated by some common impulse of passion,
or of interest, adverse to the rights of other
citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate
interests of the community.”
Federalist #10:
The Causes of Faction
• “The latent causes of faction are thus sown in
the nature of man; and we see them every
where brought into different degrees of
activity, according to the circumstances of
civil society. A zeal for different opinions
concerning religion, concerning Government
and many other points, as well of speculation
of practice; an attachment to different leaders
ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and
power . . . .”
Political Culture
What defines us “Americans?” Not race
(e.g., the Japanese or the Germans)
Rather: A collection of beliefs and values
about the justification and operation of a
country’s government.
Our political culture is what defines us as
“Americans”
Americans: A Contradictory
People?
• Americans are more ethnically and religiously
diverse than the citizens of other democracies.
• Most multicultural democracies are short-lived.
• Long-lasting examples had authoritarian
governments: suppression of cultural divisions.
• U.S. is diverse, yet has consistency/uniformity in
political believes.
• How did this happen
What does it mean to be an American?
Americans Agree on Fundamentals
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They value individual liberty
They believe in individual responsibility
They believe in equality (of opportunity)
The believe in the importance of religious
faith
– But more than anything, it is “individualism”
that is the key to American political culture.
Alexis de Tocqueville visits America
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A French Journalist who toured America in the 1830s.
Wrote Democracy in America, published in 1835
The first to write extensively on American Individualism
Many of the observations he made in Democracy in
America are still quite relevant today
• He was much in favor of local government being a strong
factor influencing public affairs.
• Tocqueville suggests several forms of local government
institutions as being able to perform this job. But he
identifies one as best able . You should know which
form he identifies as the “best able.”
Philosophical Unity
•
The Tension Between Individualism and
Equality
 Most Americans do not regard economic and
social inequality as justification for government
action
 Initially, liberty and equality thought to be
reinforcing
 People use their liberty to achieve economic
success
 Industrial Revolution produced concentration of
private wealth and masses of low-wage workers
• Liberty and equality became detached
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Social Diversity
• Colonial American
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Dutch settled New York
Swedes along the Delaware River
French at northern and western borders
Spaniards to the south
British most numerous but composed of varied
religious groups: Puritans, Anglicans, Catholics,
Quakers
– Also immigrants from Ireland, Scotland, Wales
– Involuntary immigrants: Slaves made up 20% of
colonial population
A Nation of Immigrants Then (I)
• New federal government maintained states’
policy of unrestricted immigration.
– Land plentiful and labor scarce
• Mid-century
– English, Irish, and German immigrants as high as
400,000 a year
– Irish immigration became a political issue
(Catholicism)
• Know-Nothing Party (anti-Catholic) won 43 seats in House
(roughly 20% of seats)
A Nation of Immigrants Then (II)
• Immigration related political issues in the
20th Century
– prohibition
– funding of parochial schools
– bilingual schools
– blue laws
A Nation of Immigrants Now
• Immigration Act of 1965
– largest surge since 1890s
– Congress abandoned national-quotas system
favoring northern Europeans
– Having family in the U.S. now gets a preference
– Immigration from Latin American and West Indies
increased
– Growth in variety of Asian immigrant groups
– Non-Hispanic Whites dropped to less than 70 percent
of the population by the 2000 census
– By 2030 Non-Hispanic Whiles will drop to 60%
Immigration as a Contemporary
Issue
• Four reasons why immigration differs now from
that in the past:
– 1. immigrants are not entering an unskilled laborhungry economy
– 2. there are mismatches between the costs and
benefits of immigration
• A large majority of new immigrants went to 6 states
– CA, NY, TX, FL, NJ, and IL
• While immigrants pay taxes, most are federal and not state
• Utilize services of states such as education and social
services
Immigration as a Contemporary Issue
– 3. Both the U.S. and the world face environmental
problems tied to expanding populations.
– 4. Due to the nature of the law giving preference to
those with relatives already in the country, 2/3s of all
immigrants today are relatives of those already here.
• High percentage of dependent persons (often older people)
have been admitted in recent years.
• Thus, fewer taxpayers and more in need of services.
-- 5. Opposition to immigration
• Economics
• Threat to political culture
• Conservative political ideology
Immigration from Mexico no longer a
population increase factor
From 2005 to 2010 1.4 million Mexicans
immigrated to the United States (either
legally or illegally)
From 2005 to 2010, 1.4. Mexican
immigrants and their U.S. born children
moved back to Mexico from the United
States
Source: Pew Research Center, April 23, 2012
Illegal Immigration from Mexico to the
U.S. is dropping
• 2005: 1.1 million Mexicans illegally
immigrated to the United States
• 2011: 286,000 Mexicans illegally
immigrated to the United States
Source: Pew Research Center, April 23, 2012
Source: New York
Times, September 2, 2015
Change in American Society
• Aging of America
– Proportion of population over age 65 is growing
(14% in 2012; will be 26% in 2030) and
proportion of population 18 – 64 is shrinking;
proportion over 85 is growing rapidly
– Growing proportion of population that is
dependent on government services
– Debate over Obamacare and how should work
– Financing of Social Security and Medicare
– Increasingly burdensome tax load on those still
in the workforce
American Individualism
• Central themes of American political thought
– Americans emphasize individual responsibility much
more than people elsewhere.
– Suspicious of governmental power
– Skeptical of governmental competence
• Belief in individual achievement and
responsibility is not closely tied with the actual
social and economic circumstances Americans
find themselves in -- rich or poor.
• Embrace the work ethic whether rich or poor
LO 4.3
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Learning Objectives
The Tension Between
Individualism and Equality
• Equality of opportunity
– equal chance to advance
• Equality of condition
– All individuals have a right to a more or less equal
part of the material goods that society produces.
• While most support the first, few support the
latter.
• Equality of opportunity should be sufficient.
• Of course, not all agree
Traditional Explanations of
American “classicial” Liberalism
• Early American colonists were middle class not
impoverished peasants.
• Lacked feudal tradition to parallel the social
structure of Europe.
• Great deal of available land in early America and
scarcity of labor.
• Ambitious individuals did succeed: reinforcing
individualistic values
• Why no socialism in America? No need?
Newer Explanations for Continued
Individualism
• Immigrants
– Self-selection
– What kind of person would emigrate from their
country and do well here?
• Perhaps those who were individualistic.
– Waves of immigrants may rejuvenate those
values of individualism.
– Diversity itself may influence the staying
power of America’s founding ideals and
principles.
The American Tax Code
Income Inequality Based on Data
from the Bureau of the Census
• 1980 richest 10% total share of total income
• 2012 richest 10% of total share of total income
30 percent
48 percent
• 1980 richest 1% share of total income
• 2012 richest 1% share of total income
08 percent
19 percent
Income Inequality in the U.S.
One Nation, Under God?
• U.S. stands out regarding the widespread
importance of religion and religiosity.
– Most of the Nation’s Founders were not very religious
(many were “Deists”) and wanted to protect state from
religion, but today religion seems of more
consequence than during the Founding Era
– Separation of church and state, but religion is seen in
politics through voters and leaders
– American politics highly moralistic
• How do we explain this in a country with no established
church, a reputation for individualism, and a people
known for their pragmatism?
The Founding Fathers “God” and the Church
• It is hard to know exactly what many of the Founder
Fathers believed about God as Creator. Darwin’s Origin
of the Species was written 50 years later. Even Thomas
Jefferson, the Founding Father most skeptical of religion
us the term “Creator” in the Declaration of Independence
“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created
equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
- Thomas Jefferson
However, the Institution of the Church and Clergy were
viewed by most of the Founding Fathers as potential
threats to democracy
• Fear of organized religion merged with the state was one
reason many people fled Europe for America. Religious
heretics were persecuted, usually by representatives of
the state. The Founders were well aware of how the
“official state religion” treated those heretics with who
they did not agree.
• Even the most revered historical figures brutally
suppressed heresy. Example: Sir Thomas More, the
“Man for All Seasons.” Probably an apt description. He
was responsible for the torture and death of many who
did not share is Roman Catholic religion, but choose
death rather than convert when Henry 8th broke with
Rome and established the Church of England as the
official state religion with himself as it head.
Religion and 1st Amendment
• Congress shall make no law respecting
the establishment of religion . . . .
America is getting less religious.
General Social Survey Percent who say “none” when
asked “What is your religion?”
Why the increase in unaffiliated:
Backlash against conservative politics?
In their recent book, “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,” Robert
Putnam of Harvard University and David Campbell of Notre Dame marshal evidence from
various surveys that supports this thesis. From the 1970s through the 1990s, they argue,
“[r]eligiosity and conservative politics became increasingly aligned, and abortion and gay
rights became emblematic of the emergent culture wars.” The result, they write, was that
many young Americans came to view religion as “judgmental, homophobic, hypocritical,
and too political.” In the 1990s, they argue, “[r]eligiosity and conservative politics became
increasingly aligned, and abortion and gay rights became increasing opposed by the
religious. Several leading scholars contend that young adults, in particular, have turned
away from organized religion because they perceive it as deeply entangled with
conservative politics and do not want to have any association with it. University of
California, Berkeley, sociologists Michael Hout and Claude S. Fischer first suggested in
2002 that “part of the increase in ‘nones’ can be viewed as a symbolic statement against
the Religious Right.” And in their recent book, “American Grace: How Religion Divides
and Unites Us,” Robert Putnam of Harvard University and David Campbell of Notre Dame
marshal evidence from various surveys that supports this thesis. From the 1970s through
the 1990s, they argue, “[r]eligiosity and conservative politics became increasingly
aligned, and abortion and gay rights became emblematic of the emergent culture wars.”
The result, they write, was that many young Americans came to view religion as
“judgmental, homophobic, hypocritical, and too political” and on the wrong side of the
emergent culture wars.”
A “Personal God” and “god as natural law”
• From Albert Einstein
• “God does not play dice with the universe”
OR
“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious
convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated.
I do not believe in a personal God and I have never
denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is
in me which can be called religious then it is the
unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so
far as our science can reveal it.”
Scientists and the Public
“God” and “god”
• A personal God: A God that judges
humans and can intervene in a way to
violate the laws of nature—i.e. turning
water into wine
• god as natural law: After the Big Bang the
laws of the universe are inviolate, and no
being exists that is superior to the laws of
the universe. Human life evolved through
natural selection.
Thomas Jefferson on Religion
John Adams on Religion
“I almost shudder at the thought of
alluding to the most fatal example
of the abuses of grief which the
history of mankind has
preserved—the Cross. Consider
what calamities that engine of
grief has produced.”
Hamilton on Religion
Thomas Paine
• Author of the book: Common Sense
• “I do not believe in the creed professed by
the Jewish church, the Roman church, by
the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church,
by the Protestant Church, nor by any
Church that I know of.”
One Nation, Under God?
Diversity of religion promote religious tolerance
Competitive environment; no captive audience
liberal tradition and religiosity do not conflict at all
– Liberal tradition, particularly individualism, allows
for religion. In Europe, children were forced into a
state religion, which led to resentment.
– The church is Europe was often corrupt (e.g.
selling indulgences)
– Church Bishops and Cardinals were often major
political players, were blamed in part when things
went wrong.
© 2009, Pearson Education
Between now and the 2012 political conventions, there will be
discussion about the qualifications of presidential candidates. If your
party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who
happened to be . . . . . , would you vote for that person?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Black
Women
Hispanic
Mormon
Gay/Lesbian
Muslim
Atheist
96%
95%
92%
78%
68%
58%
54%
Vote for an Atheist?
Percent “Yes”
Age
18-29
70%
30-49
50-64
65%
48%
40%
56%
Gender
Male
62%
Female
47%