The Liberal Tradition in America

1. America's Unique Birth: Skipping Feudalism

The great advantage of the Americans is, that they have arrived at a state of democracy without having to endure a democratic revolution; and that they are born equal, instead of becoming so.

Born equal. Unlike Europe, America was settled by people fleeing the feudal and clerical oppressions of the Old World. This meant that feudalism never truly took root in America, allowing the society to begin with a foundation of relative equality and individual liberty, as noted by Tocqueville.

Absence of conflict. Because America lacked a feudal past, it also lacked the revolutionary tradition needed to overthrow such a system. This absence of a foundational social conflict meant that American society was "born equal," avoiding the deep class divisions and ideological struggles that characterized European history.

Comparative perspective. Understanding American history requires comparing it to Europe. Without the contrast of a society shaped by feudalism and the subsequent revolutions against it, the unique nature of the American experience – its "natural" liberalism – cannot be fully appreciated or understood.

2. The Absolute Power of Natural Liberalism

...a society which begins with Locke, and thus transforms him, stays with Locke, by virtue of an absolute and irrational attachment it develops for him...

Locke as dogma. America started with Lockian liberalism (individual liberty, equality, capitalism) as its de facto foundation, not as the outcome of a struggle. This "natural" liberalism became an absolute, almost irrational dogma, deeply ingrained in the national psyche and rarely questioned at a fundamental level.

Indifference to alternatives. This absolute liberal faith made America uniquely indifferent to alternative ideologies. Just as it was unfamiliar with feudalism's heritage, it remained largely immune to the challenge of socialism, which in Europe arose partly from the revolutionary liberal revolt against class structures.

Hidden conformitarianism. While liberalism champions individual liberty, its absolute form in America fostered a hidden conformitarianism. Natural law, telling equal people equal things, combined with nationalism, created a powerful pressure towards uniformity of thought and behavior, often stifling dissent.

3. The Tyranny of Unanimity: Liberalism's Dark Side

I believe that this is the basic ethical problem of a liberal society: not the danger of the majority which has been its conscious fear, but the danger of unanimity, which has slumbered unconsciously behind it...

Unconscious fear. The core ethical challenge in America is not the consciously feared "tyranny of the majority," but the unconscious danger of unanimity. This near-absolute agreement on fundamental liberal beliefs can transform eccentricity into sin and dissent into perceived subversion.

Hysteria against dissent. When faced with external pressure (like Communism), this ideological unanimity leads to instinctive closing of ranks and disproportionate hysteria against internal dissenters. Hartz notes the paradox:

• America had fewer radicals than Europe.
• Hysteria against them was vastly greater.

Legalism's limits. Even the celebrated American legalism and constitutionalism, often seen as bulwarks against majority tyranny, are weakened by this underlying unanimity. Since the law is built upon the Lockian consensus, it struggles to protect dissent when that consensus itself is challenged by mass sentiment.

4. A Frustrated Aristocracy in an Egalitarian Land

America has presented the world with the peculiar phenomenon, not of a frustrated middle class, but of a “frustrated aristocracy”—of men, Aristotelian-like, trying to break out of the egalitarian confines of middle class life but suffering guilt and failure in the process.

Yearning for status. In a society "born equal," the top strata often yearn for an aristocratic ethos that doesn't exist. Unlike Europe's frustrated middle class fighting an aristocracy, America saw a "frustrated aristocracy" trying to escape the pervasive middle-class egalitarianism.

Inversion of tradition. Attempts to replicate European traditionalism, like the Southern "feudalists" before the Civil War, were inversions of the typical Western situation. They were driven to fantastic contradictions and ultimately failed because the underlying American reality was fundamentally liberal.

Guilt and failure. These aristocratic yearnings were often met with guilt and failure. The dominant liberal ethos meant that even those at the top were compelled to operate within the capitalist marketplace, leading to a psychic split and an inability to establish a genuine, respected aristocratic class.

5. The Failure of Socialism in America

It is not accidental that America which has uniquely lacked a feudal tradition has uniquely lacked also a socialist tradition.

Hidden origin in feudalism. Socialism in Europe arose not only to fight capitalism but also the remnants of feudalism and the class structures it inspired. The revolutionary liberal revolt against the ancien régime provided ideological roots for socialist thought.

Lack of fertile ground. Because America skipped the feudal stage, it lacked this crucial hidden origin for socialist thought. The concept of class, central to European socialism, was meaningless in its traditional form and never fully developed in its bourgeois form, leaving socialism without fertile ground.

Common fecklessness. This explains the shared failure of Southern "feudalists" and modern socialists in America. Both ideologies, rooted in European social structures and conflicts absent in the U.S., failed to make a significant dent in the absolute American liberal intelligence.

6. The American Revolution: Not a European Revolution

Symbols of a world revolution, the Americans were not in truth world revolutionaries.

Escape, not overthrow. The American Revolution was unique because it didn't need to overthrow a deeply entrenched feudal order. Americans were already "born equal," fleeing European oppressions rather than rebelling against them in situ.

Sober temper. This lack of a need for fundamental social overthrow resulted in a more sober, less messianic revolutionary temper compared to the French or Russian revolutions. Americans were grateful for their inherited freedom, not driven by utopian visions of creating a new man or earthly paradise.

Traditionalist rationalism. The American past, being one of new beginnings and stated principles (like colonial charters), allowed revolutionaries to base claims on both history and natural law. This created a unique blend where traditionalism often bore marks of anti-historical rationalism, baffling European observers.

7. The Paradoxical American Democrat

The American democrat, by compounding in his own small propertied liberal personality the ancient feudalism and the incipient socialism of Europe, is a man who may satisfy no one but he is also a man whom no one can thoroughly hate.

Hybrid character. The American democrat (the Jacksonian figure) is a unique hybrid, absorbing European peasant, artisan, and even proletarian elements into a small-propertied liberal ethos. This figure is unlike any found in Europe.

Strength from homogeneity. This hybrid character, representing the mass of the nation outside of the Whig elite, made the American democrat unconquerable by traditional European political strategies (like divide and conquer) that relied on diverse class antagonisms.

Inner tensions. Despite his strength, the American democrat suffered inner tensions. Compounding disparate European social roles led to psychic strain. Moreover, his own individualist fear and capitalist hunger often led him to adopt the very policies of the Whigs he opposed, creating confusion and self-betrayal.

8. The Civil War: An Anomaly in the Liberal Consensus

The Civil War, in other words, if it seems on the surface like a French Revolution in reverse, is really nothing of the kind.

Slavery's incongruity. The Civil War, and the Southern thought leading up to it, appears as a major break in the American liberal tradition. Southern thinkers, driven by the need to defend slavery, adopted European reactionary and "feudal socialist" ideas.

Fraudulent feudalism. However, this Southern "feudalism" was largely a fraud. It was based on slavery, an institution incongruous with any Western social theory, rather than genuine feudal roots. Southern thinkers struggled with contradictions, trying to reconcile their new reactionary stance with their Jeffersonian past.

Forgotten reaction. Unlike European reactions, the Southern "conservative reaction" was largely forgotten after its military defeat. Its ideas, being rooted in a social anomaly and riddled with internal contradictions, failed to scar American political thought or provide a basis for future conservatism.

9. The Rise of Democratic Capitalism (Horatio Alger)

Unfurling the golden banner of Horatio Alger, American Whiggery marched into the Promised Land after the Civil War and did not really leave it until the crash of 1929.

Whig transformation. After the Civil War, American Whiggery (the big business elite) abandoned its earlier elitist, quasi-European strategies. It embraced the American democrat's acquisitive dreams, adopting a philosophy of "democratic capitalism" symbolized by Horatio Alger.

Exploiting the ethos. This new Whiggery succeeded by catering to the "petit-bourgeois" giant's capitalist impulse and leveraging the national liberal consensus. It "discovered America" by articulating the very ethos that had previously isolated it.

Charm and terror. The new Whig doctrine used two main weapons:

• The charm of the Alger dream (equal opportunity, wealth).
• The terror of "Americanism" (labeling opponents, especially Progressives, as "socialist" and "un-American").

10. Progressive Blindness and Pragmatic Innovation (New Deal)

The fact is, the age was much freer of fetish in America than it was in Europe where ideological categories reigned.

Algerism's grip. Progressivism, the liberal reform movement, remained largely within the grip of the Alger ethos. Despite seeking reform, Progressives often framed their goals (like trust-busting) in terms of restoring individual opportunity within the existing liberal framework, not fundamentally challenging it.

Pragmatic response. The Great Depression and the New Deal era demonstrated the strength of America's irrational liberalism. Instead of turning to socialism, America responded with pragmatic "bold and persistent experimentation," solving problems without explicitly violating the underlying Lockian faith.

Hidden liberalism. This pragmatism allowed significant departures from classical liberalism (state intervention, social programs) while keeping the national liberal dogma submerged and unchallenged. This made the New Deal appear "radical" compared to European Liberal Reform, which had to explicitly defend its deviations against socialist critiques.

11. World Involvement Challenges American Absolutism

America’s new world involvement explodes at once the handy pragmatism and the submerged Lockianism which governed the New Deal era.

Isolationism vs. Messianism. American "Americanism" has historically oscillated between isolationism (fleeing the "alien" Old World) and messianism (reconstructing the world in America's image). Both stem from the absolute nature of the national liberal ethos.

Ideological war's impact. The 20th century, marked by ideological conflict (especially with Communism), intensified this dynamic. "Americanism" hampers understanding of alien cultures abroad while generating fear and hysteria against perceived internal dissent.

Challenge and enlightenment. World involvement, while intensifying nationalist blindness for some, also offers the potential for enlightenment. Contact with diverse cultures can provide the relative perspective that America's history of liberal unanimity has lacked, posing a crucial challenge to the national liberal absolutism.

Last updated: May 3, 2025