Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
The Origins of American
Democracy, 1700-1865
Eric Davis
http:// fas-polisci.rutgers.edu
davis@polisci.rutgers.edu
http://new-middle-east.blogspot.com/
Democracy Institute
Washington Township High School
October 4, 2012
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Key questions in studying
the origins of American
democracy
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
What are the key questions?
 Did the United States produce a unique form of
democracy?
 Can we speak of an “American exceptionalism”?
 What historical traditions did the 13 colonies draw
upon in creating American democracy?
 What role did religion play in the formation of
American democracy?
 What form did that democracy take in the early
years of the Republic and how did it evolve over
time?
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
What are the key concepts?
 The ideas of American democracy
 National identity
 Historical memory
 Political leadership
 Political institutions and parties
 Foreign policy and democracy
 Political economic determinants of American
democracy
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
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American democracy and historical memory
 An important concept to teach students is that
of historical memory
 All nation-states require foundational myths
upon which to build national identity
 “American exceptionalism” is a form of
historical memory which is ritualized in our
political institutions and our national holidays
 Once citizens forgot the past or fail to learn its
significance, national identity is undermined
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
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Is American democracy unique?
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
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What is “American exceptionalism”?
 Many commentators have argued that the US
developed a unique form of democracy in 1776
 The US had no feudal tradition and thus
developed no rigid social hierarchy
 The highly favorable land to labor ratio
meant that social class conflicts never appeared
 Americans could always move west to find
new opportunities rather than engage in social
conflict in areas of economic distress
Department of Political Science
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Louis Hartz and “American exceptionalism”
 In The Liberal Tradition in America (1955),
Hartz argued that the US never developed any
strong commitment to political ideologies
 Especially absent was an interest in socialism
 Vast open spaces and resources promoted
economic opportunity and produced a
consensual political culture
 Hartz called this a Lockean consensus
Department of Political Science
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Turner’s “Frontier thesis”
 In 1893 paper given at American Historical
Society in Chicago, Frederick Jackson Turner
argued the frontier made the US exceptional
 The frontier forced Americans to dispense
with their European customs and traditions
 The ever shifting frontier created a new
culture based in liberty and self reliance
 The rugged individualism that developed was
increasingly intolerant of social hierarchy
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3 forms of “American exceptionalism”
 Protestant Christians thought America was
blessed by God and would bring about the
Christian Millennium
 Others saw American democracy as the logical
outcome of the Anglo-Saxon liberal tradition
 Still others saw America as the product of a
new Eden – a virgin land which created a
people different from the Europeans and
uncorrupted by the Papacy and monarchal rule
Department of Political Science
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“American exceptionalism” and Manifest
Destiny
 American exceptionalism helped create a strong sense
of national identity
 It gave American political culture a strong religious
overlay
 European settlers had gone to the New World to
create a new “City on the Hill,” a new “Holy Land”
 This belief extended to concept of “Manifest Destiny”
– that white Americans were destined by God to
occupy North America from “sea to shining sea”
Department of Political Science
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“American exceptionalism” and Manifest
Destiny
 American exceptionalism continued until the
1960s to influence American political thought,
when protest movements began to undermine it
 In The First New Nation, political sociologist
Seymour Martin Lipset argued that the US was
the first country to throw off colonial rule
 Our culture of equality and equal opportunity
promoted a stable and unique democracy
Department of Political Science
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The legacy of “American exceptionalism”
 Americans continue to think of the US as a special
case among nations
 This has a strong positive impact on our collective
sense of national identity
 However, it does not serve us well during times of
social and economic decline such as we face today
 If US is destined to excel among nations, there is
little guidance as to how to deal with decline and the
loss of global economic and political power
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The political philosophy of
American democracy
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The Declaration of Independence
 American thinking about democracy was strongly
influenced by ideas of Natural Law
 The Declaration begins by referencing the “Laws of
Nature” and “Nature’s God”
 During the Enlightenment, Natural Law challenged the
idea of Divine Right of Kings
 Natural Law is derived from nature and thus universal
– all men have the powers of reason and morality
inherent in humanity, not just the nobility
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The Declaration and Natural Law
The Declaration states that that “all men are created
equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
 It can be ascertained by use of our faculty of reason
 The document appeals to an authority higher than any
existing man-made authority, e.g., the British crown
 Religion played a key role in development of
American democracy - seen in reference to the Creator
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Liberalism and the Declaration
 The Declaration is the logical outcome of the erosion
of support for monarchical absolutism
 “…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed, -That whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People
to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government…”
 Declaration’s logic rejects Hobbes and stands more in
the tradition of Rousseau, as British liberal thinkers
largely avoided discussing revolutionary change
Department of Political Science
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Liberalism and the Declaration
 The Declaration accords with British liberal thinking
in rejecting the Crown’s authority because it no longer
respected the rights of its citizens in the 13 colonies
 There is no reference to social justice
 The Declaration does not mention the trifecta of the
French Revolution of 1789 – liberté, fraternité,
egalité (liberty, brotherhood and equality)
 It focuses on individual rights and fails to emphasize
communitarian thought
Department of Political Science
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The economic origins of
the American Revolution
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The Seven Years War
 The Seven Years War (1754-1763) dramatically
increased Great Britain’s debt
 Britain created great resentment in seeking to extract
more revenues from its colonies,
 This was especially true in American colonies which
were highly prosperous (Adam Smith in The Wealth
of Nations [1776] notes that they were the most
productive region in the world)
 This increase in taxes was especially hard on small
entrepreneurs, artisans and craftsmen (such as those
who formed the Sons of Liberty in Massachusetts)
Department of Political Science
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Evolution of idea of representation
 Before 1763, colonists already differed with
Crown on interpretation of British constitution
 Colonists had already developed multiple
legislative assemblies, e.g., the Virginia House
of Burgesses which held first meeting in 1619
 By 1700, colonists already had a strong sense
of political institutions and resented not being
consulted in Parliament’s decision-making
Department of Political Science
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British impact on ideas of representation
 Colonists were still loyal to Britain at time of French
and Indian Wars (1763)
 British Parliament turned colonists against England
with passage of multiple taxes which had negative
economic consequences
 The Sugar Act (1764), Currency Act (1764), Stamp
Act (1765), and Quartering Act (1765) negatively
impacted American trade with Europe and the
Caribbean
 These policies hastened support for revolution
Department of Political Science
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Popular support for the Revolution
 Many merchants in port cities such as New York,
Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore opposed the
Revolution due to their economic ties to England
 Estimates are that 15-20% of colonists remained
loyal to the Crown
 A large but undefined group remained neutral, e.g.,
the Quakers
 Small farmers, small merchants, artisans and
craftsmen were at core of Revolution, along with
many plantation owners from southern colonies
Department of Political Science
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Challenges to American
democracy
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How to treat the Native Americans?
 One of the tragedies of the formation of the
US was the elimination of Native Americans
 Many were killed by diseases, others were
killed in fights with settlers, others were run off
their land, and others lost their identity through
intermarriage
 Little respect was shown for Indian traditions
and Native Americans were largely the victims
of greed and commercial impulses
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
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How to treat the Native Americans?
 Treaties signed with Native Americans were
largely ignored
 Indians were pushed off their lands because of
pressures to develop more farm land
 The environmental lessons of stewardship of
the land, developed by Native Indians, were
sacrificed as most forests on the East coast
were destroyed by the late 19th century
Department of Political Science
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Historical Memory:
American democracy
and the Greco-Roman
Tradition
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Tourists view Statue, 1899
Statue of George Washington,
Horace Greenough, 1840
National Museum of
American History
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Commemorating Washington’s birth
 Greenough’s statue of Washington was meant to
commemorate the centenary of his birth
 1832 commission was for the Capitol Rotunda
 Greenough modeled Washington on the classical
Greek God Zeus, but wrapped in a Roman toga
 There was no Christian imagery associated with the
statue
 US was still culturally and politically insecure about
its lack of traditions
Department of Political Science
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The Roman
Pantheon
(126 BCE)
The Supreme Court
Building (1935)
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The Egyptian Revival
 Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt in 1798 and
publishing of Description de l’Égypte between
1803 and 1826 spread interest in ancient Egypt
and Egyptian architecture
 European states began to import obelisks
from Egypt
 In using the obelisk form (555.5 ft.), the US
was creating a monument that dwarfed all
those in Europe
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The Washington Monument
 Cornerstone laid 1848 but took 36 yrs.
to complete (1884)
 Anti-Catholic “Know Nothing Party” seized control
of Monument Commission
1855-1861, because Pope
had given stone for the
monument
Robert Mills
design, 1836
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The impact of the past on the US
 Drawing upon multiple traditions: Greco-Roman,
Egyptian, and Christian, showed that the early US
was to be a relatively tolerant society
 It also showed need for foundational myths
 This created the foundations of a nation-state built
on diversity and cultural pluralism
 In everyday life in early US, Christianity as a
religion did not dominate the federal government
 Religion was much stronger at state and local level
Department of Political Science
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Political Leadership: the
Genius of the Founding
Fathers
Department of Political Science
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Founding Fathers and religion
 Most of the Founding Fathers – John Adams,
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams all
Deists or Unitarians; Franklin was a libertine
 George Washington, a major American brewer,
became an Anglican to join the British army and was
extremely tolerant religiously
 In 1790 letter to the Jews of Truro, he wrote: The
“Government of the United States, which gives to
bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistances,
requires only that they who live under its protection,
should demean themselves as good citizens”
Department of Political Science
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Founding Fathers and religion
 Jefferson produced a Bible that removed all
references to Jesus as miraculous because he
considered him an activist and mortal
 Thomas Paine’ Common Sense, makes no
reference to religion
 Constitution has no references to Christianity,
Jesus or Christ
 Does this mean that religion did not play a role
in American politics?
Department of Political Science
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Great Awakening and American Revolution
 Prior to Revolution, colonies experienced the
first “Great Awakening” in 1730s and 1740s
 Protestant preachers such as John Witherspoon
linked ideas of revolution to the Hebrew Bible
 Many pastors read revolutionary sermons in
their churches
 Protestant churches inspired revolutionary
fervor
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American Expansionism and
its Impact on Democracy
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Acquisition of Florida
 Jefferson said the US “could not keep its hands off
Florida”
 1812 US forces began invading Florida since
Seminoles there had given refuge to slaves
 In 1818, after years of conflict, Gen. Andrew
Jackson informed President Monroe that he was
invading Florida (Monroe later denied giving him the
order to invade)
 Despite most of country opposing invasion, Florida
was ceded by Spain in 1819 via Adams-Onis Treaty
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What were the Barbary Wars’ origins?
 First Barbary War:1801-1805; the second:1812-1816
 Barbary states: Sultanate of Morocco, regencies of
Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli (latter 3 were nominal
provinces of Ottoman Empire)
 Morocco signed treaty with US in1777 and did not
attack US ships; thus not part of Barbary Wars
 Barbary states offered to protect ships in Mediterranean
Sea in exchange for protection money
 1801 Jefferson refused to pay protection money and 3
states – Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli - declared war on US
Department of Political Science
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Barbary States – North Africa
(early 19th century)
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What was the first Barbary War’s outcome?
 Despite an anti-Federalist and advocate of smaller
government, Jefferson forced to build larger navy to
protect US commercial expansion
 Barbary Wars led to many American sailors and
merchant sailors being held hostage by Barbary states
 US Congress did not pay ransoms and some captives
died in prison
 Most famous battle led to rescue of sailors from USS
Constitution that ran aground in Tripoli harbor in 1803
after US marines and mercenaries attacked Tripoli after
crossing Libyan desert from Egypt in 1805
Department of Political Science
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The Louisiana Purchase
 The Louisiana Purchase (1803) added 828,000 sq.
miles for $15 million or 15 cents/acre
 Called the greatest real estate deal in history
 Purchase was justified so as not to have France, a
potential enemy to our West
 Louisiana Purchase was the part of the idea which
became known in 1840s as “Manifest Destiny”
 It was God’s will that the US to control all territories
from “sea to shining sea”
Department of Political Science
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Origins of War of 1812 (1812-15)
 US angry after Revolutionary War when Britain refused
to withdraw from Great Lakes territory
 Britain continued to support Native American tribes
 Britain refused to sign commercial treaties with US and
Britain tried to stop US exports to France in early 1800s
as Britain and France fought Napoleonic Wars (1802-15)
 When US refused to comply, Britain began policy of
impressment of sailors on American ships which created
strong tensions with Britain (Britain began policy1664)
 1807 HMS Leopard fired on USS Chesapeake, leading to
Embargo Act, which devastated New England economy
Department of Political Science
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Impact of War on US foreign policy
 US militias fought poorly in War of 1812 but US
still fought Britain to a draw
 US and Britain realized they had more to gain
through cooperation than through war
War strengthened American nationalism, national
solidarity, and ushered in Era of Good Feelings
 US government’s self-confidence increased and
many Americans saw 1812 as 2nd war of
independence
Department of Political Science
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Mexican-American War and Manifest Destiny
 When Mexican-American War began, US had
8000 men which quickly became 60,000 with
large number of men volunteering for army
 War another example of reliance on superior
military force to achieve foreign policy aims
 War again demonstrated power of nationalism
 Texas’1837 declaration of independence from
Mexico seen as prelude to annexation by US
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The Mexican-American War (1846-48)
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The outcome of war and expansion
 By 1850, US had proved via War of 1812 and
Barbary Wars that it a naval power to be feared
 It had largely completed the goals of Manifest
Destiny
 Apart from Alaska and Hawaii, US control of
continental America was complete and, after
Civil War, ready for a dynamic Industrial
Revolution
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Political institutions
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Institutional divergence from England
 Legislatures in 13 colonies developed idea of having
a written constitution
 They made laws, organized colony’s economy and
settled disputes
 The distance from England and the relative autonomy
of the legislatures set the stage for US constitution
 Already in 1639, Connecticut’s constitution made no
mention of “mother country”
 Legislative members were elected freeman who only
pledged loyalty to Commonwealth (state)
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The Articles of Confederation
 The Articles did not refer to the US as a nation
 Rather refer to a “League of Friendship” and
effort to join together for collective security
 Articles showed centrality of individual and
states rights in early American political thought
 However, the Articles quickly showed how
the 13 states could not function without a more
centralized government
Department of Political Science
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The Articles of Confederation
 As Washington put it, under the Articles there
was “no money”
 Federal government could print money but it
was worthless
 Without a central bank and currency, country
had trouble engaging in domestic/foreign trade
 An economic rationale forced the 13 states to
abandon the Articles for a more politically
integrated federal system
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The US Constitution
 Constitution was adopted Sept. 17, 1787
 First 3 Articles establish 3 branches of
government: executive, legislative and judicial
 Document reflects continued fear of ceding
authority to a central power
 Constitution’s “checks and balances” one of
great innovations in political institution building
 First 10 Amendments – Bill of Rights – have
inspired constitutions throughout the world
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The American political party system
 Federalists and Democratic-Republicans were
the two dominant parties until the early 1820s
 Federalists (Hamilton) represented New
England mercantile interests
 Democratic-Republicans (Jefferson) expressed
the interests of the rural plantation classes
 The Federalists overplayed their hand in War
of 1812 when they lost support for seeming to
favor British interests in North America
Department of Political Science
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The Development of Popular
Democracy in the US
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The collapse of the old party system
 By 1824, the Federalists were not fielding any
presidential candidate
 5 Democratic-Republican candidates were
competing for the presidency
 Although Andrew Jackson, the hero of the Battle of
New Orleans, received 43% of vote to John Quincy
Adams’ 30%, neither could win the Electoral College
 House of Representatives choose Adams in “Corrupt
Bargain” in which Henry Clay forged alliance for
Adams who appointed him Secretary of State
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The rise of the Jacksonians
 When Adams pushed for new economic policies,
Jackson’s supporters branded them as corrupt insiders
 Adams’ calls for government involvement in the
economy were out of step with the times
 He refused to campaign publically seeing that as
demeaning to office of the Presidency
 Adams lost to Jackson in the 1828 election
 New Whig Party continued the traditions of
Democratic-Republicans and opposed Jackson
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The Jacksonian Revolution
 By 1820s, old Revolutionary War elite was
aging and leaving the political scene
 American population was growing, esp. in
territories West of the original 13 colonies
 Politics was no longer confined to the wealthy
 Many self-made men were seeking office in
local and national office with no allegiance to
old party system
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The Age of Jackson, 1824-1840
 Period also called the “Age of Jacksonian
Democracy” and the “Era of the Common Man”
 Political participation expanded as all white men
received franchise in new states after 1815
 Many states abolished property tax qualifications for
voting
 Written ballots replaced “oral voting”
 Vote totals increased from 355,000 in 1824 to 1.1
million in 1828
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The rise of regionalism
 In Republican Monroe administration, John C.
Calhoun represented southern interests, John
Quincy Adams the northeast, and Andrew
Jackson the emerging West
 Old political elite increasingly fragmented
 Provided opening for Jackson’s populism
 Despite less well-to-do entering politics, class
conflict did not emerge as it was cross cut by
regionalism and, increasingly, the slave issue
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Power of the Jackson presidency
 Jackson seen as decisive leader, having fought
Native Americans and won Battle of New
Orleans
 Played important role in negotiating Treaty of
Ghent which ended War of 1812
 He was a slaveholder, thus popular in South
 Combining support from the south and West,
Jackson received 55% of vote in 1828
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Jacksonian populism
 Jackson was the first “commoner” president
 6 prior presidents all classically trained and well-todo
 Republicanism of the elite distrusted common man
who were not be trusted with power
 Meacham in biography quotes Jackson who argues
that “the republic is safe, and its main pillars — virtue,
religion and morality — will be fostered by a majority
of the people…” ”Democracy was in; elitism was out.”
Department of Political Science
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The first 7
presidents of
the United
States
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Jacksonian populism
 Inauguration day 1829, Jackson opened White
House to the people
 Furniture and rugs were ruined and Chief
Justice Joseph Story remarked that “the reign of
King Mob had taken over”
 Jackson viewed experts with suspicion and
supported the Scottish Enlightenment view that
social reality could be ascertained by the
common people
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Democracy in America
 Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
is the classic analysis of American democracy
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The quality of American civic life
 Tocqueville (1835) argued that the great
strength of the US lay in civic participation of
its citizenry
 T’s purpose in 2 vol. study was to show the
French dangers of a fading aristocratic order
 He also wanted to show the benefits of local
control – in France, all decisions made in Paris
 T esp. impressed by civic spirit of Americans
and their participation in the town hall meeting
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Tocqueville’s fears
 Nevertheless, T was worried about the “tyranny of
the majority” in US
 T feared that 19th century emphasis on equality
would destroy that of liberty
 Many rural American towns were intolerant of
behavior not sanctioned by religion
 Without an elite to set norms and values, mass
democracies could become despotisms as everyone
is forced to conform to group values
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Slavery: the Achilles
Heel of American
Democracy
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Slavery and American democracy
 Slavery, legal institution from early colonial
period, the main flaw of American democracy
 African-Americans were defined as 3/5 of a
man in the Constitution
 Many of the Founding Fathers owned slaves
 All northern states abolished slavery after
Revolutionary War and it was banned in North
West territories
Department of Political Science
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Slavery and American democracy
 1793 invention of cotton gin revolutionized
cotton industry and increased demand for slaves
 16th – 19th centuries, estimated 645,000 slaves
brought to US
 Slave population reached 4 million by 1860 (of
total population of 31,400,000)
 Of 72 yrs. from Washington’s to Lincoln’s
presidency, 50 under slaveholding presidents
Department of Political Science
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Slavery and American democracy
 The 1820 Missouri Compromise and the
Compromise of 1850 postponed the inevitable
conflict over issue of slavery
 As North was industrializing, south remained
largely agrarian, and dominated by cotton
 The Civil War was not fundamentally about
slavery
 Rather the war was about which economic
system would dominate the US economy
Department of Political Science
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Slavery and American democracy
 The Supreme Court began to play a positive role as
19th century progressed, e.g., Marbury vs. Madison
 However, in 1857 Dred Scott case, court ruled in
favor of slavery by denying slaves in new states
whose masters had died their freedom
 Court also ruled that slaves could not become US
citizens
 Decision angered north and encouraged slave
owners, thereby contributing to onset of Civil War
Department of Political Science
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Summary comments I
 The American Revolution was unique in
terms of its contribution of new political ideas
 US Constitution was an innovative document
the likes of which had not been seen before
 System of checks and balances produced a
critical bulwark against authoritarianism
 Economic opportunities for white males were
widespread and many fortunes were made
Department of Political Science
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Summary comments II
 Separation of religion and state existed at the
federal level, but not at state levels
 While Founding Fathers were largely Deists or
tolerant believers, religious beliefs were still
strong in former Puritan towns of New England
 Tocqueville’s towns were very conformist and
religiously intolerant
 Strong anti-Roman Catholicism characterized
Protestant churches in early 19th century US
Department of Political Science
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Summary comments III
 Protestantism justified Western expansion and
the seizure of Indian and Mexican lands
 It promoted a cultural superiority which did
not foster respect for social difference
 This attitude did not serve the US well after
Civil War, when Industrial Revolution required
large amounts of immigrant labor
Department of Political Science
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Rutgers University
Summary comments IV
 The North’s economic prosperity brought the crisis of
national identity to a head
 The struggle over slavery was an extension of the
Federalist–Democratic-Republican struggle over
whether to have an urban, industrial or rural US
 The Civil War would release US’ industrial prowess
and allow it to become world’s most powerful nation
 However, the issues of national identity which began
prior to the Revolution are still with the US today
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Bibliography
Diamond, Jared, Guns, Germs and Steel
Hartz, Louis, The Liberal Tradition in America
Howe, William Daniel, What Hath God Wrought:
The Transformation of America, 1815-1848
Meacham, Jon, American Lion: Andrew Jackson
in the White House
De Tocqueville, Alexis, Democracy in America,
ed. by J.P. Mayer
Wilentz, Sean, The Rise of American Democracy:
Jefferson to Lincoln