University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons CUREJ - College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal College of Arts and Sciences 4-9-2020 Dignity in America: The Role of an Idea During the American Enlightenment Zachary R. Koslowski University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/curej Part of the American Politics Commons, and the Political Theory Commons Recommended Citation Koslowski, Zachary R., "Dignity in America: The Role of an Idea During the American Enlightenment" 09 April 2020. CUREJ: College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal, University of Pennsylvania, https://repository.upenn.edu/curej/253. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/curej/253 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dignity in America: The Role of an Idea During the American Enlightenment Abstract Dignity ideas are experiencing a renaissance in modern American politics. Political leaders on the left and the right have invoked “human dignity” in efforts to justify their candidacies, their policies, and the political, economic, and sociocultural stories they wish to tell about the United States. There is, however, a lack of treatment of these profoundly influential dignity ideas in political science literature. This thesis aims to correct this by demonstrating the centrality of dignity during the American Founding era and the “American Enlightenment” period more broadly. Along with liberalism and civic republicanism, this thesis documents the rise of “dignitarianism” as a new, distinct American political tradition. The interplay of dignitarian thinking with the liberal and republican traditions, along with strong influences from Enlightenment rationalism and Judeo-Christian theologies, yielded correlated strands of dignity thought: namely, “individual dignity” and “national dignity.” Using rich qualitative analysis of primary documents, supplemented by secondary literature, this thesis will argue that these conceptions of dignity played a powerful role in influencing oundingF Americans’ views on equality and individual rights – specifically, freedom of conscience, free speech, privacy values, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment – and the relationship of the citizenry to the nation. National dignity in particular played the strongest role in this latter development, informing American federalism, foreign policy, expansionism, and the treatment of citizens and non-citizens at home. At its best, national dignity advanced individual dignity claims in shows of solidarity, and served as a constructive tool for the building of a new nation. All too often, however, national dignitarianism succumbed to the allures of imperialism and rankism, dehumanizing citizens and non-citizens alike in the name of “national dignity.” The lessons of dignitarianism in the Founding era offers insights into contemporary dignity demands fueled by raging income inequalities, senses of political helplessness, and toxic, narrow nationalisms. Keywords dignity, dignitarianism, individual dignity, national dignity, liberalism, republicanism, american enlightenment, american founding, rankism, political science, social sciences, Politcal Science, Social Sciences, Rogers M Smith, Smith Rogers M Disciplines American Politics | Political Science | Political Theory This article is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/curej/253 Dignity in America: The Role of an Idea During the American Enlightenment By Zachary R. Koslowski Advisor: Professor Rogers M. Smith This Thesis is Submitted in Fulfillment Of Bachelor of Arts Degree Department of Political Science with Distinction College of Arts and Sciences University of Pennsylvania 2020 Koslowski 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 2 Introduction | The Politics of Dignity 3 - 16 Chapter One | Liberty, Equality and Dignity 17 - 52 Chapter Two | Our Source of National Purpose 53 - 90 Conclusion | Dignity at the Founding and Today 91 - 96 Acknowledgements 97 Bibliography 98 - 111 Koslowski 2 Abstract Dignity ideas are experiencing a renaissance in modern American politics. Political leaders on the left and the right have invoked “human dignity” in efforts to justify their candidacies, their policies, and the political, economic, and sociocultural stories they wish to tell about the United States. There is, however, a lack of treatment of these profoundly influential dignity ideas in political science literature. This thesis aims to correct this by demonstrating the centrality of dignity during the American Founding era and the “American Enlightenment” period more broadly. Along with liberalism and civic republicanism, this thesis documents the rise of “dignitarianism” as a new, distinct American political tradition. The interplay of dignitarian thinking with the liberal and republican traditions, along with strong influences from Enlightenment rationalism and Judeo-Christian theologies, yielded correlated strands of dignity thought: namely, “individual dignity” and “national dignity.” Using rich qualitative analysis of primary documents, supplemented by secondary literature, this thesis will argue that these conceptions of dignity played a powerful role in influencing Founding Americans’ views on equality and individual rights – specifically, freedom of conscience, free speech, privacy values, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment – and the relationship of the citizenry to the nation. National dignity in particular played the strongest role in this latter development, informing American federalism, foreign policy, expansionism, and the treatment of citizens and non-citizens at home. At its best, national dignity advanced individual dignity claims in shows of solidarity, and served as a constructive tool for the building of a new nation. All too often, however, national dignitarianism succumbed to the allures of imperialism and rankism, dehumanizing citizens and non-citizens alike in the name of “national dignity.” The lessons of dignitarianism in the Founding era offers insights into contemporary dignity demands fueled by raging income inequalities, senses of political helplessness, and toxic, narrow nationalisms. Key Words dignity, dignitarianism, individual dignity, national dignity, liberalism, republicanism, American Enlightenment, American Founding, rankism, Political Science, Social Sciences Disciplines American Politics, Political Theory Koslowski 3 Introduction The Politics of Dignity As the 2010s came to a close, commentators have labeled the decade as one of growing anxiety, unraveling institutions, dissonant politics, and the “decade of distrust.”1 Fear has tyrannically dominated analysis of politics. Certainly, there is reason for alarm: right-wing populism has swept Europe and the United States; economic and political inequality are soaring; and the cause of human rights, the bedrock of the modern liberal world order, faces its greatest challenges since the Cold War as a rising number of nations embrace authoritarianism in the name of “the people.”2 In the United States, as in Hungary, Poland and India, there are concerns of the rise of “illiberal democracy.” The Ukraine scandal and the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, in particular, have tested faith in the rule of law. All the while, right-wing populists and authoritarians have dehumanized religious minorities, refugees, and immigrants as “out” groups.3 American politics has always had illiberal traditions souring the hopes of “liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness.” As Rogers Smith, Ezra Klein, the editor of Vox, and 1 “How Will History Books Remember the 2010s?” Politico Magazine. December 27, 2019. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/12/27/how-will-history-books-remember-the-2010s-089796.; Kakutani, Michiko. “The 2010s Were the End of Normal.” The New York Times. December 27, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/27/opinion/sunday/2010s-america-trump.html. 2 Wolf, Martin. “The rise of the populist authoritarians.” Financial Times. January 22, 2019. https://www.ft.com/content/4faf6c4e-1d84-11e9-b2f7-97e4dbd3580d. 3 Rubin, Jennifer. “A timely victory for the rule of law.” The Washington Post. December 11, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/11/win-rule-law/; Judis, John B. The Populist Explosion. (Columbia Global Reports: New York, 2016). pp. 69-71. Koslowski 4 many others have pointed out, the United States has a history riddled with contradictions. White supremacy, Anglo-Saxonism, social and racial Darwinism, and male hegemony have justified laws and politics that exclude individuals based on rank, gender, race, sexual orientation, faith or class.4 Now, as Governor Mario Cuomo put it in the 1984 Democratic National Convention, the country feels less like a “shining city on a hill” and more like a “tale of two cities,” divided and polluted.5 There is, however, cause for hope. The harm that stems from inequalities and a sense of powerlessness has propelled vulgar populisms, but it itself provides a window into better understanding American politics and the institutions that now seem to be teetering. That wounded feeling, as Francis Fukuyama argues in his book Identity, is dignity. Dignity, he argues, is tangible. It is part of that “inner self” which demands recognition and a sense of worth through political, economic, and cultural or normative institutions.6 This demand for recognition has grown since the Enlightenment. In the American context, these “dignity demands”