Exile in America: Political Expulsion and the Limits of Liberal Government

EXILE IN AMERICA: POLITICAL EXPULSION AND THE LIMITS OF LIBERAL GOVERNMENT A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Government By Briana L. McGinnis, B.A. Washington, DC April 22, 2015 Copyright 2015 by Briana McGinnis All Rights Reserved ii EXILE IN AMERICA: POLITICAL EXPULSION AND THE LIMITS OF LIBERAL GOVERNMENT Briana L. McGinnis, B.A. Thesis Advisor: Richard Boyd, PhD. ABSTRACT “Exile,” as a concept, remains largely neglected by political theory. Of the few pieces addressing it, most approach exile as a phenomenon peculiar to ancient cultures, or as a tool of the illiberal, even authoritarian, regime. But a survey of American history indicates that although communities may not openly ostracize, outlaw, or exile, they have not suppressed the desire to purge their membership rolls. Rather, they have become more adept at disguising it, draping illiberal exile practices in the language of law, consent, and contract. Perhaps it is the complexity of defining, and consequently recognizing, exile in the twenty-first century that leads us to regard it as a fringe occurrence. Nonetheless, exile is alive and well in the present day. This project has three aims. First, to offer a working conception of "exile" that clears away rhetorical confusion and returns the idea to the realm of the political. I explore exile as a political phenomenon, wherein the coercive power of government is used to expel members from their home communities for purposes of membership control. Second, to demonstrate that although it may have taken on a more mundane appearance in the democratic age, exile still exists at the sub-national (and, less commonly, at the national) level. Finally, the project situates exile in the particular context of America, where it continues to thrive despite its seeming incompatibility with liberal commitments to individual rights. Analyzing specific cases of political expulsion, both historical and current, reveals the purposes exile serves in liberal communities. While exile is not necessarily incompatible with fundamental liberal commitments (an opinion expressed by liberal thinkers like Constant, Locke, Tocqueville, and Burke), the uses to which exile has been put in the United States do not meet commitments to toleration and equality. This is, perhaps, why political expulsions have been concealed in the depoliticizing contexts of criminal, administrative, and civil law. The continued existence of exile in America, and its concealment, reveals deep tensions within the idea of “liberal community,” but also the persistence of a strong sense of community in twenty-first century America. iii This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Mike and Terry McGinnis, in gratitude for their invaluable support during the long process of writing it. My gratitude to everyone who has helped me along the way – to Gabriel Olearnik, Beth Mercurio, and Daniel Silvermint for generously offering their insightful and erudite comments on drafts, and to Frank Meyl for his advice and friendship, and for supplying vital moral support when I needed it most. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my friends in the Georgetown University political theory graduate program for their helpful advice, feedback, and camaraderie, especially Paula Olearnik, Aimee Barbeau, Gianna Englert, and Christopher Utter. Special thanks to Aimee, my cohort-mate and “second head” for the many of hours scholarly exchange and friendly encouragement, in person and via our long-standing Instant Message Colloquium. Many thanks to my committee members, Richard Boyd, Doug Reed, Josh Mitchell, and Rogers Smith, for their advice and guidance. With sincerest thanks, Briana L. McGinnis iv CONTENTS Introduction...................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I: Exile in the Illiberal Society ......................................................................... 35 Chapter II: Exile in the Proto-Liberal Society: The Transportation Project and Purifying the Body Politic ............................................................................................. 85 Chapter III: Moral Exile and Liberal Community ....................................................... 117 Chapter IV: Driving Out the Pollution: From the Acropolis to Arlington National Cemetery ....................................................................................................... 152 Chapter V: Sympathy, Liberal Community, and the Dark Side of Sharing ................ 197 Chapter VI: Exile and the Liberal Nation: Conflicts of Affect and Reason ................ 230 Conclusion: Political Expulsion and the Limits of Liberal Government...................... 282 Appendix: U.S. Banishments....................................................................................... 313 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 319 v INTRODUCTION “It is a mistake to regard exile as a milder penalty [than prison]…We shall see… exile tearing the father away from his children, the husband from his wife, the merchant from his business, forcing parents to abandon the education of their family or to commit it to mercenary hands, separating friend from friend, taking the old man from his accustomed way of life, the industrious man from his speculations, and talent from its labors… We shall see exile surrounded with disfavour, surrounding those it strikes with suspicion and mistrust…” Benjamin Constant, “Principles of Politics.”1 What is “Exile?” “Exile” is an ancient concept, originating in a variety of political practices aimed at punishing transgressions threatening to the common good, restraining the influential, and protecting the polity from instability or moral contamination. The term remains in common usage now, but it has become so loose as to virtually be without meaning, as the opening sentences of The Oxford Book of Exile unwittingly illustrate: Each of us is in exile: the thought is a hackneyed one, but it still retains a little force. We are exiles from our mother’s womb, from our childhood, from private happiness, from peace, even if we are not exiles in the more conventional sense of the word.2 What even the “conventional” sense of the term means, however, is not entirely clear. Roman Polanski, fleeing prosecution, has been referred to as living “in exile” in France, although American authorities certainly did not force him to leave – indeed, they actively seek his return. James Joyce, feeling his native Ireland to be a hostile environment for his particular style of writing, considered himself “exiled” in Zurich, despite being free to return home at any time. 1 In Benjamin Constant, Political Writings. Translated by Biancamaria Fontana (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988): 294. 2 The Oxford Book of Exile, Edited by John Simpson (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995): vii. 1 Other members of his “Lost Generation,” living as expatriates in Paris, famously considered themselves “in exile” as well. Yet Polanski could more accurately be called a “fugitive” than an “exile.” When Joyce and his fellow disaffected artists could return at will, what differentiates them from any other expatriate or visitor? The word “exile” summons romantic images of a great, persecuted individual, alienated from his homeland but determined to return. Perhaps it is this aspect of the term that led James Joyce to choose it over the rather less dramatic “expatriate.” The reality of forcible expulsion, as so many exile narratives reveal, is far from romantic, however. Ovid’s last writings alternate between lamenting the misery of being separated from his life and family in Rome and sad attempts to ingratiate himself to Augustus in the increasingly desperate hope of being allowed to return. Germaine de Staël’s exile account records her rage, isolation, and anxious sense of alienation from the social and historical context from which she drew much of her identity. Political exiles describe their experiences in language of fear, confusion, and longing – often experienced as a surprisingly intimate, personal sense of betrayal. Indeed, exile is a personal experience, a rare instance in which the government singles out an individual citizen, scrutinizes their character closely, and pronounces their continued membership intolerable. It is difficult to reconcile the accounts of “self-imposed exiles” like Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway with those of their forcibly expelled counterparts. Despite adopting the same language of “exile,” they simply do not describe the same phenomenon. Political exiles are forced from their communities and forbidden to return – it is the involuntary removal from the home community that defines the exile experience. 2 The term has lost its clarity in the present day, not only because of its frequent use as a rhetorical device, but also because the phenomenon’s appearance has become increasingly difficult to recognize in the age of the nation-state. Explicit banishment and exile practices now belonging to the realm of what Hannah Arendt terms “totalitarian or half-totalitarian regimes,” the lawful judicial exiles of ancient Athens, medieval England, and early modern Italy no longer exist in liberal societies.3 Refugees from conflict, those distancing themselves from an unwanted

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