Abstract
The persistent popularity of his description suggests that it is essentially true. But the partisan violence which it has engendered suggests that its meaning is confused. Santayana described truly the general conflict between aristocratic tradition and democratic practice in American life and thought. But he misunderstood the historic origins of this conflict, and he misinterpreted its modern manifestations. During the last generation, the terms of the dualism have become clearer. In naming the genteel tradition, Santayana fathered two major confusions. First, he identified this tradition with Puritanism,* and traced the genteel mentality to Calvinistic theology. This accentuated the confusion in general usage between puritanism as a state of mind, and Puritanism as a historical movement. Second, Santayana denied that the ideal opposite of the genteel tradition was really a mental-
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