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"Who Are the True Conservatives?": a Critical History of American Conservatism in the Nineteenth Century

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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2017 "Who Are The True Conservatives?": A Critical History Of American Conservatism in The Nineteenth Century Danielle Meryn Holtz University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the American Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Holtz, Danielle Meryn, ""Who Are The True Conservatives?": A Critical History Of American Conservatism in The Nineteenth Century" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2344. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2344 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2344 For more information, please contact [email protected]. "Who Are The True Conservatives?": A Critical History Of American Conservatism in The Nineteenth Century Abstract This dissertation explores the elaboration of “conservative” thought in the United States from its genesis in eighteenth-century transnational moral philosophy and bio-medical research to its expression in national conflicts vo er race and slavery, empire and expansion, immigration and naturalization, and free trade and market capitalism from the 1820s through the 1850s. Looking at competing groups of public intellectuals, politicians, activists, radicals, and religious leaders who defined themselves or their positions as “conservative” in the nineteenth-century United States, it argues that American “conservatives” developed a radically adaptive system of meaning that can only be understood within the contemporaneous development of conservative schema internationally. This intervention connects American conservatism to the organismic ontology of the state as a naturally progressing, living system, with its hybrid philosophical genesis in British sentimental theory and continental theories of organic generation and reproduction. The contest to represent the “true conservatism” of the country reflected a struggle over the nature of the United States as an organically unified society with a system of laws, government, and behavior that naturally developed to suit that society. This long history of conservatism establishes the integral link between historical conservatism and contemporary racial nationalism and opens up an avenue for inquiry into the role that biology played in shaping America’s socio-political imaginary and its political and institutional genealogy. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group History First Advisor Walter McDougall Keywords conservative, democracy, organic, politics, slavery, United States Subject Categories American Studies | History | United States History This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2344 “WHO ARE THE TRUE CONSERVATIVES?”: A CRITICAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Danielle M. Holtz A DISSERTATION in History Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 Supervisor of Dissertation ______ __ _____________ Walter McDougall Professor of History and the Alloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations Graduate Group Chairperson ______ __ _____________ Peter Holquist, Associate Professor of History, Graduate Group Chair Dissertation Committee Kathleen M Brown, David Boies Professor of History Warren Breckman, Rose Family Endowed Term Professor Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, Merle Curti Associate Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison ii For Ruthellen Levenbaum Holtz iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the long course of writing this dissertation, I have incurred many debts. First and foremost, I would like to thank my primary adviser, Walter McDougall, who transformed my understanding of American nationalism and its function as a civil religion, all while patiently supporting every winding turn in my intellectual development. Thank you to Warren Breckman, who opened my eyes to the study of an entirely different continent’s worth of history, guided me through my transition to become a transnationalist, and introduced the nuance in my conceptual history. Thank you Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen for helping me to deepen my approach to intellectual history and propelling me to engage a broader range of historiographies and sources. I would especially like to thank Kathy Brown, who generously gave of her time and her intelligence and who introduced me to new worlds. Three other historians served an essential part in my scholarship and helped me to figure out where I fit. Thank you Bruce Kuklick, Sally Gordon, and Ron Granieri. I would also be remiss not to thank Rogers Smith, David Eisenhower, and Tom Childers, mensches all, for giving their time, energy, and resources; as well as Stephanie McCurry and Steve Hahn, who both welcomed my questions and gave liberally in return. I have been incredibly fortunate in my scholarly community, many of whom volunteered to read early iterations, conference test-runs, and rough drafts. These benevolent scholars include Christopher Nichols (whose mentorship I would not trade for any number of previously-undiscovered primary sources that prove my dissertation), David Sehat, Kevin Schultz, Bryn Upton, Michelé Prince, Oliver Rollins, and Eric iv Fleming, along with the communities at SHAFR, the USIH, and MITH, and the rock stars at Van Pelt Library, especially Nick Okrent and Brian Vivier. I have also been surrounded by an unrivalled cohort of strong, brilliant, and thoughtful peers with whom I formed a succession of reading groups. I completed this dissertation because Matthew Kruer, Justin Simard, Elizabeth Della Zazzera, Emma Teitelman, and Lori Dagger walked in front of and beside me the whole way. A special shout-out, as well, goes to Mitch Fraas, who, in addition to being an incomparable friend and indispensable resource, undertook the saintly task of double-checking my footnotes and bibliography. And to the Begosh-Snows for elephant pats and Oggie goggles. And to the kids at Good Karma Café—you know who you are. Not lastly, but ultimately, I would like to thank my families by blood and my families by choice. I offer this dissertation to you, in the hopes that we can build a better world together. And, finally, if I had known that this process would lead me to Craig Franson, I would have undertaken it sooner. He is my in-house Romanticist, my co-conspirator, my primary interlocutor, and also my editor. The next round is on me. I would like to dedicate this dissertation to the memory of my mother, Ruthellen Levenbaum Holtz, who stood up for justice during the riots at the University of Buffalo and then wrote a sourced and documented, fifteen-page letter (with charts) home to her parents to explain the stand she had chosen to take in history. In a small way, history brings me back to you. Thank you. v ABSTRACT “WHO ARE THE TRUE CONSERVATIVES?”: A CRITICAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Danielle M. Holtz Walter McDougall This dissertation explores the elaboration of “conservative” thought in the United States from its genesis in eighteenth-century transnational moral philosophy and bio- medical research to its expression in national conflicts over race and slavery, empire and expansion, immigration and naturalization, and free trade and market capitalism from the 1820s through the 1850s. Looking at competing groups of public intellectuals, politicians, activists, radicals, and religious leaders who defined themselves or their positions as “conservative” in the nineteenth-century United States, it argues that American “conservatives” developed a radically adaptive system of meaning that can only be understood within the contemporaneous development of conservative schema internationally. This intervention connects American conservatism to the organismic ontology of the state as a naturally progressing, living system, with its hybrid philosophical genesis in British sentimental theory and continental theories of organic generation and reproduction. The contest to represent the “true conservatism” of the country reflected a struggle over the nature of the United States as an organically unified society with a system of laws, government, and behavior that naturally developed to suit that society. This long history of conservatism establishes the integral link between vi historical conservatism and contemporary racial nationalism and opens up an avenue for inquiry into the role that biology played in shaping America’s socio-political imaginary and its political and institutional genealogy. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... III ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. V INTRODUCTION: A RIPPLE APPEARS ON THE SURFACE ............................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1: VITAL POLITICS .................................................................................................. 34 THE BODY AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS ..................................................................................................... 39 PHILOSOPHIE FÜR DIE WELT : MORAL SENSE AND EPIGENESIS IN GERMANY ............................................. 55 THE IMPERIAL AND NATIONAL SPECIES OF GOVERNMENT
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