The Promise of American Life | Page 6

political and social institutions of America, and when the political
differences between Great Britain and her American colonies
culminated in the Revolutionary War, the converted "American
Farmer" was filled with anguish at this violent assertion of the "New
Americanism." Nevertheless he was fully alive to the benefits which
the immigrant enjoyed from a larger dose of political and social
freedom; and so, of course, have been all the more intelligent of the
European converts to Americanism. A certain number of them,
particularly during the early years, came over less for the purpose of
making money than for that of escaping from European political and
religious persecution. America has always been conventionally
conceived, not merely as a land of abundant and accessible economic
opportunities, but also as a refuge for the oppressed; and the immigrant

ships are crowded both during times of European famine and during
times of political revolution and persecution.
Inevitably, however, this aspect of the American Promise has
undergone certain important changes since the establishment of our
national independence. When the colonists succeeded in emancipating
themselves from political allegiance to Great Britain, they were
confronted by the task of organizing a stable and efficient government
without encroaching on the freedom, which was even at that time
traditionally associated with American life. The task was by no means
an easy one, and required for its performance the application of other
political principles than that of freedom. The men who were
responsible for this great work were not, perhaps, entirely candid in
recognizing the profound modifications in their traditional ideas which
their constructive political work had implied; but they were at all
events fully aware of the great importance of their addition to the
American idea. That idea, while not ceasing to be at bottom economic,
became more than ever political and social in its meaning and contents.
The Land of Freedom became in the course of time also the Land of
Equality. The special American political system, the construction of
which was predicted in the "Farmer's" assertion of the necessary
novelty of American modes of thought and action, was made explicitly,
if not uncompromisingly, democratic; and the success of this
democratic political system was indissolubly associated in the
American mind with the persistence of abundant and widely distributed
economic prosperity. Our democratic institutions became in a sense the
guarantee that prosperity would continue to be abundant and accessible.
In case the majority of good Americans were not prosperous, there
would be grave reasons for suspecting that our institutions were not
doing their duty.
The more consciously democratic Americans became, however, the
less they were satisfied with a conception of the Promised Land, which
went no farther than a pervasive economic prosperity guaranteed by
free institutions. The amelioration promised to aliens and to future
Americans was to possess its moral and social aspects. The implication
was, and still is, that by virtue of the more comfortable and less

trammeled lives which Americans were enabled to lead, they would
constitute a better society and would become in general a worthier set
of men. The confidence which American institutions placed in the
American citizen was considered equivalent to a greater faith in the
excellence of human nature. In our favored land political liberty and
economic opportunity were by a process of natural education inevitably
making for individual and social amelioration. In Europe the people did
not have a fair chance. Population increased more quickly than
economic opportunities, and the opportunities which did exist were
largely monopolized by privileged classes. Power was lodged in the
hands of a few men, whose interest depended upon keeping the people
in a condition of economic and political servitude; and in this way a
divorce was created between individual interest and social stability and
welfare. The interests of the privileged rulers demanded the
perpetuation of unjust institutions. The interest of the people demanded
a revolutionary upheaval. In the absence of such a revolution they had
no sufficient inducement to seek their own material and moral
improvement. The theory was proclaimed and accepted as a
justification for this system of popular oppression that men were not to
be trusted to take care of themselves--that they could be kept socially
useful only by the severest measures of moral, religious, and political
discipline. The theory of the American democracy and its practice was
proclaimed to be the antithesis of this European theory and practice.
The people were to be trusted rather than suspected and disciplined.
They must be tied to their country by the strong bond of self-interest.
Give them a fair chance, and the natural goodness of human nature
would do the rest. Individual and public interest will, on the whole,
coincide, provided no individuals are allowed to have special privileges.
Thus the American system will be predestined to success by