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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - I. The Approach - 1. American Ideals and the American Conscience - 7. American Conservatism - 8. The American Conception of Law and Order
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Chapter i. American Ideals 13
American Creed which, as far as the technical arrangements for executing
the power of the people are concerned, is strongly opposed to stiff formulas.
Jefferson actually referred to the American form of government as an
experiment. The young Walt Whitman, among many other liberals before
and after him, expressed the spirit of the American Revolution more
faithfully when he demanded “continual additions to our great experiment
of how much liberty society will bear.” Modern historical studies of how
the Constitution came to be as it is reveal that the Constitutional Conven-
tion was nearly a plot against the common people. Until recently, the
Constitution has been used to block the popular will: the Fourteenth
Amendment inserted after the Civil War to protect the civil rights of the
poor freedmen has, for instance, been used more to protect business corpor-
ations against public control.®
But when all this is said, it docs not give more than one side of the cult
of the Constitution. The common American is not informed on the tech-
nicalities and has never thought of any great difference in spirit between
the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. When he worships
the Constitution, it is an act of American nationalism, and in this the
American Creed is inextricably blended. The liberal Creed, even in its
dynamic formulation by Jefferson, is adhered to by every American. The
unanimity around, and the explicitness of, this Creed is the great wonder of
America. The “Old Americans,” all those who have thoroughly come to
identify themselves with the nation—^which are many more than the Sons
and Daughters of the Revolution—adhere to the Creed as the faith of their
ancestors. The others—the Negroes, the new immigrants, the Jews, and
other disadvantaged and unpopular groups—could not possibly have in-
vented a system of political ideals which better corresponded to their
interests. So, by the logic of the unique American history, it has developed
that the rich and secure, out of pride and conservatism, and the poor and
insecure, out of dire need, have come to profess the identical social ideals.
The reflecting observer comes to feel that this spiritual convergence, more
than America’s strategic position behind the oceans and its immense materia]
resources, is what makes the nation great and what promises it a still greater
future. Behind it all is the historical reality which makes it possible for
the President to appeal to all in the nation in this way: “Let us not forget
that we are all descendants from revolutionaries and immigrants.”
8. The American Conception of Law and Order
While the Creed is important and is enacted into law, it is not lived up
to in practice. To understand this we shall have to examine American
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