THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 125, June 7, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ORIGINS & DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN LIBERALISM:
TWO NEW BOOKS ON WOODROW WILSON
By The Claremont Institute
WOODROW WILSON & THE IDEOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF CENTRALIZED BIG GOVERNMENT & THE LIBERAL ADMINISTRATIVE
STATE IN AMERICA: WILSON'S PROGRESSIVISM & THE PROGRESSIVE ERA OF AMERICAN POLITICS AS FORERUNNERS OF
MODERN AMERICAN LIBERALISM & THE STATIST POLICIES PURSUED BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
FULL STORY:
The story of big government in America begins in the Progressive Era, stretching from the 1880s through World War I. Enamored with
19th-century European historicist philosophy and unwilling to hold any truths as self-evident, American Progressives thought the
natural right principles of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution represented the greatest obstacle to
political "progress" and "evolution." In place of the U.S. Constitution, Progressivism proposed an administrative state whose purpose
would be the unending quest of evolutionary "progress" and whose powers therefore would be unlimited.
More than anyone, Woodrow Wilson advanced the new Progressive theory of human nature and human institutions and the
corresponding Progressive critique of the principles of the American Founding and the Founders' Constitution. Wilson, who was
President of Princeton University and of the American Political Science Association before becoming President of the United States,
was the first American national chief executive to openly criticize the U.S. Constitution, once comparing it to "political witchcraft." So
hostile was he to the self evident truths of the Founding that, in a 1911 address, he remarked, "if you want to understand the real
Declaration of Independence, do not repeat the preface."
Wilson, above all others, deserves credit for the notion that the Constitution is a "living" or "evolving" document. As he wrote in 1908:
"Government is not a machine, but a living thing. It falls, not under the theory
of the universe, but under the theory of organic life. It is accountable to Darwin."
Insisting that the Constitution does not contain any theories or principles, Wilson argued that the Constitution has a "natural
evolution" and is "one thing in one age, another in another." "Living political constitutions," he wrote, "must be Darwinian in structure
and in practice."
In the course of the 20th century and continuing into the 21st century, Wilson's interpretation of the Constitution has served the cause
of big government, eventually dropping the self-description of "Progressive" for the more marketable label "Liberal." But whether they
call themselves Progressives or Liberals, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, the advocates of big government are unified in
their belief that the principles of the Founding are irrelevant and the meaning of the Constitution can be easily stretched to justify any
exercise of governmental power.
Americans who want to recover limited government, or constitutional government, must confront the ideas of Woodrow Wilson. To
facilitate that civic education, we are proud to announce two new books by Claremont Institute Fellow, R. J. Pestritto. In Woodrow
Wilson and the Roots of American Liberalism, Dr. Pestritto offers a penetrating account of Wilson's historicist political philosophy
and its influence for American politics. Woodrow Wilson: The Essential Political Writings is the first one-volume collection of
Wilson's seminal political works and will be especially useful for educators who teach Wilson and Progressivism in the classroom.
Both books are now available. We encourage our friends and supporters to purchase and read them, equipping them with knowledge
of the intellectual foundation of modern Liberalism. Without this knowledge, no successful strategy can be formulated for dismantling
the Liberal administrative state and restoring the principles and institutions of American constitutional government.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
The foregoing article was originally published in the June 2, 2005, issue of Precepts, a publication of the Claremont Institute for
the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. The Claremont Institute, a Conservative political, cultural, and educational
organization in the U.S.A., describes its central purpose as the mission "to restore the principles of the American Founding to their
rightful, preeminent authority in our national life." Committed to American constitutionalism and republicanism as well as representative
democracy, the Institute's mission statement declares: "America's Founders endowed our Republic with sound principles and a
framework for governing that is unmatched in the history of mankind. The prosperity and freedom of America can only be made secure
if they are guided by a return to these basic principles as our country enters the 21st. century."
The Claremont Institute is located at
937 West Foothill Boulevard, Claremont, California, 91711.
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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