Woodrow Wilson and the Idea of the Nation State

Abstract

A T the beginning of this century the nation state was regarded in the United States, as in Western Europe, as 'the apotheosis of man', the most nearly perfect form which political society could reach. It was the Greek conception of the State, affirming in one form or another the Platonic belief in a virtuous citizenry governed by virtuous rulers. John W. Burgess, the political scientist of the day, who, like scores of other American professors, was a product of the German university, employed the language of Hegel and endowed the State with supernatural powers. At the other end of the intellectual ladder, William Jennings Bryan, the perennial candidate of the Democratic Party for the Presidency, framed his creed in the language of evangelical Christianity. 'Behold a republic,' he declaimed, 'increasing in wealth, in strength and in influence, solving the problems of civilization, and hastening the coming of an universal brotherhood ... a republic gradually but surely becoming the supreme moral factor in the world's progress and the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes-a republic whose history as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. William Allen White, the revered editor of Kansas and friend of Theodore Roosevelt, affirmed his faith in 'the essential nobility of man and the wisdom of God', in democracy as 'a positive moral force, a good in itself'; and insisted that 'the way to have a golden age is to elect it by an Australian ballot'. Suiting the action to the word, many Western States wrote into their constitutions provisions for the initiative, referendum, and recall, which they borrowed from Switzerland and which, being the 'voice of the people', were confidently relied upon to bring about the millennium in government. When we turn to Herbert Croly, the intellectual leader of the American Progressive movement, we discover doubts of the capacity of the masses and a reluctance to accept the principle of majority rule. The common citizen, Croly observed in his book The Promise of Amnerican Life, could at best only imitate the saints and heroes; he could not rise to their level; he must depend upon the ability of his exceptional fellow citizens to offer him examples of heroism and saintliness. 'Faith in the people,' Croly declared, 'and confidence in popular government means . . . an utter lack of faith in those personal instruments, whereby such rule can be endowed with