The American Political Tradition

A detailed Summary of The American Political Tradition


The American Political Tradition, written by Richard Hofstadter, is an extremely influential book highlighting America's political past. Hofstadter wrote the book at the age of 27 and did not hesitate to include his rather strong ideals and beliefs. He rejected the progressive historians like Charles A. Beard and Carl Becker. He managed to point out flaws in virtually every revered political figure he came across; in his eyes it was difficult to be truly great.

As the political scientist Ira Katznelson has said, Hofstadter wrote The American Political Tradition during "dark times" for Enlightenment liberalism. Frightened by topics such as the possible revival of fascism and Soviet communism, Hofstadter joined the battle for liberalism's soul. In this book he warns of the dangers of turning the past into an ideological tool. He was reacting not just to the left and right-wing ideas of his own day but also to Charles Beard and other forerunners who had sought a "usable past" -- history that could be put in the service of social justice. Hofstadter preferred not to "use" the past but, as Christopher Lasch pointed out, to "assimilate" it -- to


Hofstadter believed Lincoln was "thoroughly and completely" the politician. He describes his political tendencies and habits, even from childhood. He goes on to point out that for a youth with such habits as listening to lawyers' arguments, the greatest opportunities were in the ministry, law, or politics. "As a politician, Lincoln was no maverick."

"Both historians and agitators are makers of myths, a fact of which Phillips was intensely conscious, but while few historians of the slavery controversy have had a reasoned philosophy of history, Phillips had a reasoned philosophy of agitation."

The spoilsmen arose during the Gilded Age, a time period in America in which politics was "dwarfed" by economic changes and in which the life of the country rests so completely in the hands of the industrial entrepreneur. Hofstadter calls these industrials audacious, exploitative, and said they behaved with "becoming vulgarity". He infers that these captains of industry seized the opportunities of the nation, managed its corruption and because of these people, the era took its tone and color. Yet he also goes on to say it would be a mistake to assume th

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Category: Politics

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