Australia and the World Past and Present

A common narrative of American history is this: that when Europeans arrived in North America, they brought death and destruction to the native peoples they found there. They embarked on a westward expansion, taking land, felling forests and decimating bison herds.

They instituted a system of widespread slavery, placing Africans uprooted from their homelands into repressive forced labour. Formal slavery may have been abolished, but the effects of that institution are still felt today and are reflected in myriad metrics. African Americans and other minorities are over-represented when it comes to poverty.

The American corporation became the central feature of American economic activity. Business practices were cutthroat. The ruthless were rewarded and there was little safety net for those who lost out. And the losers of the economy were regarded as morally weak – their economic position was thought to reflect their own moral state.

Railways became regional monopolies. Standard Oil, founded by John D. Rockefeller, came to control over 90% of oil refining in the US. Predatory pricing was not unknown to the company. It was only in 1911 that it was broken up into smaller companies like Exxon, Mobil and Chevron.

From the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, Western Union dominated the telegraph industry. It acquired nearly all competitors and was used by major newspapers and governments, giving it unmatched power.

The U.S. advanced westwards and southwards taking land by force from Spain and from Mexico. It then became and imperial power in its own right, capturing overseas possessions.

It started throwing its weight around in Latin America, sometimes helping to overthrow democratically elected governments in favour of repressive dictators more favourable to the U.S. The U.S. championed mass consumerism, a rabid individualism, a narcissistic culture and exported it to the world. It was “Bold and the Beautiful” culture. That TV soap opera depicts beautiful people, wearing beautiful clothes, in plush office settings but never actually doing any work. All the while, they are engaged in petty relationship disputes.

So, this is the narrative.

But, it possible to construct a very different narrative about America. One which drew on European influences that were arguably much more positive.

The U.S. took English Common Law and transformed it into U.S. Constitutional Law.

When the U.S. adopted its own Constitution, such a document was a rarity in the world.

Laws were to be subject to judicial review. The degree of the power held by the Supreme Court was an innovation at the time.

The U.S. became the world’s first constitutional republic with strong judicial oversight.

The U.S. took European Enlightenment ideals like those of Locke, Montesquieu and Rosseau and developed them into American political ideals. This is reflected in the American ideal of “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The phrase is most closely associated with Thomas Jefferson. But it was building on the writings of John Locke who used the term “life, liberty and property.” It is interesting that Jefferson chose to substitute happiness for property. We can ask which one Americans value more today and whether they are living up to the spirit Jefferson’s line.

The U.S. was to be a federal republic based on natural rights.

A theoretical theory of the separation of powers was made into a working governmental machine. Theory was transformed into large-scale practice.

On the religious front, European Protestant dissent, Puritanism and Anglicanism morphed into American religious pluralism. The U.S. established no national church, as reflected in the First Amendment.

In the realm of commerce, the U.S. took the ideas of Adam Smith and Dutch and British commercial traditions and developed them into American capitalism.

Things were done on a large scale in the U.S. The corporation became the core unit of economic activity, increasingly so over time.

The spirit of the entrepreneur took off nowhere more than in the U.S.

There was also a large focus on industry and manufacturing. One of the reasons that the Union was able to prevail over the South in the Civil War was that the Union was dominated by industry whereas the South had an agrarian character. The industrial base of the North contributed to its strength. Industry trumped agriculture.

The U.S. drew upon Greco-Roman architecture as an inspiration for its own civic architecture.

The U.S. Capitol is a good place to see this.

The Supreme Court is one example.

It can even be seen reflected in the facades of banks, schools and courthouses and contributes towards a “national civic brand.”

Republican political theory evolved into American federalism.

In the American system, we find dual sovereignty between state and federal governments. There are written guarantees of state autonomy.

The U.S. was not the first constitutional republic.

Early examples are the Roman Republic (509-27 BCE), various Italian city states, the Dutch Republic (1581-1795) and the English Commonwealth (1649-1660).

But it was the first to have a defined separation of powers and the first to establish judicial review.

The U.S. is the oldest, continuously operating federal republic. Not a bad effort.

Newtonian physics, British and German chemistry and French mathematics morphed into American technological culture.

In the U.S., basic science was transformed into large-scale technology – the telegraph, mass electrification, computing and aviation.

American society became one in which applied invention was central national identity.

American culture was an culture of innovation.

In America, business and capital combined with science in powerful ways. These also combined with another essential ingredient – education.

The way in which higher education developed in America is an interesting case.

The university as an institution has a remarkably long history in Europe. And it was expressed differently in different regions.

We start with the Bologna model, founded around 1088. The impetus for this model began with students. Groups of students got together and determined that they required a teacher. They would search for prospective candidates. They would hire and fire. In the Bologna system, teachers were accountable to the students. Power resided with students, not with professors or administrators.

There was a standardised degree structure.

The central area of study in the Bologna system was law.

The next model to consider was the Paris model, founded in the mid-12th century.

It focused on the disciplines of theology, philosophy and arts.

These universities were faculty-run and usually sat under ecclesiastical authority.

The Paris model became the template for most northern European universities.

The Oxford model was founded around 1096.

It was similar to the Paris model in terms of curricula and faculty.

But it had more autonomy form religious authorities.

It later developed the idea of having different colleges (residential communities).

Crucially, in the Medieval period, all 3 models focused on teaching, not on research. That is a period of around 600 years. Universities taught established knowledge. Another key objective was to train professionals – doctors, lawyers etc.

A profound change took place in the 19th century. It occurred in Europe, but in another location. From 1810, German universities began pursuing the idea that they should not only be disseminating existing knowledge, but professors should be actively engaged in creating new forms of knowledge. Institutions pivoted more strongly towards research and the Humboltonian model of tertiary education was born.

So how did all of this play out in the U.S.?

In the U.S. we see that a kind of hybrid model developed.

In the 1600s and 1700s, Ivy League universities were most heavily influenced by the Oxford model. However, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Humboltonian model held more sway.

As a result, US institutions are some of the most research-intensive in the world.

Places like Harvard, Yale and Princeton, MIT and UC Berkeley focus heavily on research.

Faculty promotion depends on publications and citations.

PhDs are built around original research.

Not all universities in the U.S. are the same. Although the top tier focuses on research, community colleges are entirely teaching-focused.

In the U.S., an entrepreneurial business culture combined with applied science and a higher education system based on research to produce the technological powerhouse of the modern age. This helps to account for America’s incessant innovation culture.

The literary traditions of Europe evolved into American mass culture. British novels and European theatre converted into new forms and contributed towards the rise of Hollywood and mass-market publishing. New genres such as Western literature arose. Once established on home soil, American culture crossed borders and become arguably the most influential popular culture of modern times.

Anglo-European political rights fed into American civil rights movements. Specific documents like the English Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man fed into the fight for abolition, demands for woman’s suffrage and the Civil Rights Movement. Many of the principles were embedded in the U.S. Constitution.

There is no single story of America. The connections between ideas and traditions in Europe and the U.S. are like a spider’s web – many and interconnected.

You can construct a narrative that is largely positive or one that is predominantly negative. It all depends on which strands you choose to include and those you elect to leave out.