"The Mighty Waters of Democracy”: Thomas Chandler Haliburton on American Populism
On Nov 8
2016 reality-show star and billionaire Donald Trump won by a landslide the
presidency of the US. Despite the still-ongoing collective head-scratching over
the exact causes of the victory, nobody contests that the unlikely candidate
rode an unprecedented wave of populism and nationalism whose long-term
consequences remain to be seen. Trump’s anti-trade rhetoric in particular has
been met with unease in Canada, whose post-NAFTA economic fortunes are profoundly
enmeshed with those of the US. Until the December 19th Electoral
College vote, online debates continued around the question whether the electors
will go back to the role assigned to them by the Founders of the American
constitution and independently assess the suitability of the candidate, or merely
validate the popular vote in their states as in the past. Indeed, despite James
Madison’s trust in the power of constitutional checks and balances (like the
Electoral College), in recent history rarely has an elector failed to vote for
the candidate winning his or her state’s popular votes.
Canadian
concerns over American populism and its impact on existing institutions are not
new. In 1836, the conservative Nova
Scotian judge and writer Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796-1865) published The
Clockmaker, a volume of satirical sketches that rapidly became a surprising global success.[i]
Its
protagonist, Sam Slick, a charismatic and shrewd Connecticut Yankee, entertained
colonial audiences with the shortcomings of the American political model, while
ostensibly exalting “the greatest nation on the face of the airth, and the most
enlightened too.”[ii] Haliburton’s America sounds
hauntingly familiar. In the 1830s, the country was in the thralls of economic
and political turmoil, of virulent populism and anti-elite antipathy, all
punctuated by the extension of the franchise to white males, the expansion of
slavery, and the Indian Removal. Like other early Canadians, Haliburton was
watching with apprehension the chaotic political dramas unfolding next door, at
a time when British North America itself was debating responsible government
and elective councils. To be clear, Haliburton was never preoccupied with the
welfare of ordinary people; minority rights would have concerned him only if as
a white, propertied, and educated male he envisioned himself to be an endangered minority. His arguments against
American-style colonial reform were rooted in the belief that institutions not
only reflect the core values of the society that created them, they are also
instrumental in shaping its long-term evolution. Haliburton’s main focus was
the place of British North America in the larger imperial network. If American republican
institutions had gradually given rise to the unruly populism of the Jacksonian
years, what impact could more democratic institutions have on the fabric of
colonial society in British North America and on its loyalty to the Crown?
The US
was the only direct experience of republicanism most early Canadians would have
had. Yet the American federation with its endless squabbles over state rights
and its mobs was more a cautionary tale of republican centrifugal forces
gnawing at the fabric of society, than an inspiring one. Haliburton did not object
to American republicanism per se, but
to the spirit which infused it. To him, the seeds of a profound mistrust
towards any authority external to ‘the people’ were already present in the
American Revolution, despite the hierarchical view of society that the
Federalists subsequently promoted; Jacksonian populism and anti-elitism had
merely taken things one step further. Its all-pervasive leveling ethos had
degenerated into a tyranny of the majority and was endangering freedom itself.
One of the characters in The Clockmaker laments the loss of the ideals
of the Revolution: “Where now is our beautiful republic bequeathed to us by
Washington and the sages and heroes of the revolution? Overwhelmed and
destroyed by the mighty waters of democracy.” [iii]
[i] Haliburton published three
series of The Clockmaker, in 1836,
1838, and 1840.
[ii] Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker. Series One, Two, and Three,
George L. Parker, ed. (Ottawa:
Carleton University Press, 1995) 32. All further references will be to this
edition.
[iii] The Clockmaker 354.
[To read the rest of Dr. Godeanu-Kenworthy's post, head over to Borealia, please!
Next Spring preview post tomorrow,
Ben]
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