Modernization and the Modern Personality in Early America, 1600-1865: A Sketch of a Synthesis

Abstract

universals-life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A nationalism bathed in empathy, in which the liberty-loving of every nation might become American citizens, was a distinctly modern aspect of the new national consciousness. modernity of nationalism was apparent in other ways as well. America was seen as a doubly-chosen land, chosen by God for his blessings, but also deliberately chosen by its inhabitants, rationally and purposefully, to advance their legitimate interests as well as the cause of liberty. America was perceived in a dynamic way as a society which was physically expanding the same time that it was developing its economy and perfecting its social order. American nationalism, therefore, was not merely a unifier in the common political science sense; it also defined an open, essentially voluntary citizenship in a dynamic novus ordo seclorum.33 What came to prominence in the generation following the Revolution was a society of people who were, according to the definitions of both Inkeles and Lerner, not only strikingly modern, but also living in a society which nurtured and stimulated their modern characteristics. As Inkeles puts it: There is a set of personal qualities which reliably cohere as a syndrome and which identify a type of man who may be validly described as fitting a reasonable theoretical conception of the modern man. Central 33 There is no systematic study of the formation and early development of American nationalism, and so the generalizations here have been based primarily on my own analysis of discussion surrounding the design of the great seal of the United States, contemporary newspaper rhetoric, Fourth ofJuly Orations, and the emergence of national symbols in the decorative arts. Hartz has some significant observations on the functions of nationalism in early America in his Founding of New Societies. For the period 18 r5-i860, Fred Somkin, Unquiet Eagle: Memory and Desire in the Idea of American Freedom, 181 1860 (Ithaca, I967), provides important insights. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.148 on Sun, 11 Sep 2016 04:37:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 216 I RICHARD D. BROWN to syndrome are: (I) Openness to new experience, both with people and with new ways of doing things ...; (2) the assertion of increasing independence from the authority of traditional figures like parents and priests and a shift of allegiance to leaders of government, public affairs, trade unions, cooperatives, and the like; (3) belief in the efficacy of science and medicine, and a general abandonment of passivity and fatalism in the face of life's difficulties; and (4) ambition for oneself and one's children to achieve high occupational and educational goals. Men who manifest these characteristics (5) like people to be on time and show an interest in carefully planning their affairs in advance. It is also part of syndrome to (6) show strong interest and take an active part in civic and community affairs and local politics; and (7) to strive energetically to keep up with the news, and within effort to prefer news of national and international import over items dealing with sports, religion, or purely local affairs.34 Lerner stresses the empathic capacity and the use of transpersonal common doctrine formed in terms of shared secondary symbols, that enable persons unknown to each other to engage in political controversy or achieve 'consensus.' Coupled with this, Lerner says, is the expectation that citizens should hold opinions on public matters, and that such opinions matter. It is, in Lerner's words, this subtly complicated structure of reciprocal expectation which sustains widespread empathy.35 modernity of American personal attributes, in part cause and in part consequence of the Revolution, was visible in nearly every aspect of social life. In a revealing analysis of Crevecoeur's American, Handlin depicts a central theme in modern personality-the willingness to plan calculated risks as a matter of course, as part of the ordinary pursuit of one's livelihood. The speculative temperament, Handlin maintains, asserted itself at every level of society.36 34 Alex Inkeles, Making Men Modern: On the Causes and Consequences of Individual Change in Six Developing Countries, American Journal of Sociology, LXXV (1969),