Carl Lotus Becker (September 7, 1873 – April 10, 1945) was an American historian who studied the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...

in America and Europe.

Life

He was born in

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States census the population was 67,314, making it the List of cities in Iowa, eighth-most populous city in the st ...

. He enrolled at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in 1893 as an undergraduate, and while there, he gradually gained an interest in studying history. Remaining for graduate work, Becker studied under

Frederick Jackson Turner Frederick Jackson Turner (November 14, 1861 – March 14, 1932) was an American historian during the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison until 1910, and then Harvard University. He was known primarily for his front ...

, who became his doctoral adviser there. Becker received his Ph.D. in 1907. Becker taught at Pennsylvania State College, Dartmouth, and Minnesota. He was Professor of History at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

from 1902 to 1916. He then became John Wendell Anderson Professor of History in the Department of History at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

from 1917 to 1941. He was elected a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1923 and a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1936. Becker died in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

. Cornell has recognized his work as an educator by naming one of its five new

residential college A residential college is a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship ...

s the Carl Becker House.

Writing

Carl Becker's 1915 ''The Beginnings of the American People'' is often cited for a description of "colonial merchants" as "sunshine patriots." The "sunshine patriot" only appeared once in this book, and that in a quotation from Thomas Paine's first '' American Crisis'' essay, which concluded a series of parallelisms that in turn presaged the introduction of General

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

to the narrative. In this particular passage, Becker attempted to illustrate the "profound disillusionment" of the early years of the Revolutionary War, demonstrated by how "drudgery in obscure committee rooms was valued above declamation...the practical sense of Robert Morris counted for more than the finished oratory of Richard Henry Lee...when a febrile enthusiasm for liberty and the just rights of humanity seemed strangely transformed into the sordid spirit of the money-changer... nd finallythe times that tried men's souls, when 'the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot...shrinks from the service of his country, but he that stands...deserves the love of man and woman.' " The "sordid money-changer" was as guilty of an ebbing of revolutionary sentiments as "the sunshine patriot," but Becker did not explicitly define the latter as the former.

''The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers'' (1932)

Becker is best known for ''The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers'' (1932), four lectures on

The Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a European intellectual and philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empirici ...

delivered at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. According to

Peter Gay Peter Joachim Gay ( né Fröhlich ; June 20, 1923 – May 12, 2015) was a German-American historian, educator, and author. He was a Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for ...

in 1957:

Its urbane and acidulous dissection of the philosophes has had great and lasting influence; few recent books on European intellectual history have been as widely read and as generously received. It is that rare work of scholarship that is also a work of literature--a masterpiece of persuasion that has done more to shape the current image of the enlightenment than any other book. Despite the skepticism of some professional historians, its witty formulations have been accepted by a generation of students and borrowed in textbook after textbook.

Becker's assertion that philosophies, in the "

Age of Reason The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a European intellectual and philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empiric ...

," relied far more upon

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

assumptions than they cared to admit, has been influential, but has also been much attacked, notably by

. Interest in the book is partly explained by this passage (p. 47): This isolation of vocabularies of the epoch chimes with much later work, even if the rest of the book is essayistic in approach. Certain scholars consequently classify Becker as a "relativist." This "

relativism Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to absolute objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assess ...

" was more akin to "

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...

" ("pragmatic relativism") as well as Saussurean linguistics and diachrony. Johnson Kent Wright writes: According to American historian and cultural critic Morris Berman, ''The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers'' “has never been surpassed as an analysis of modernity.”

Political views

Interviewed for the pamphlet ''Writers Take Sides: Letters about the War in Spain from 418 American Authors'' Becker supported the Spanish Republicans."400 To 1 Against Franco"
''

The Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper and also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely read. It was purchased by the ...

'', May 17, 1938. He also stated his opposition to

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

in general. In 1910, Carl Becker assessed Progressive Era Kansas

Americanization Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of the American culture and economy on other countries outside the United States, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, technology ...

, which included state temperance amendments and legislation, as an "individualism of conformity, not of revolt." Becker added that this "individualism lsomeans the ability of the individual to succeed," infusing early twentieth-century "Kansans" with "hair-triggered" vigilance that found "expression in the romantic devotion of people to the state, in a certain alert sensitiveness to criticism from outside." In addition, Becker attempted to sustain, rather than relativize, John Dewey's "effective freedom" and "negative freedom" in polities that attempted to advance both, usually under the rubric of a

Progressive Era The Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) was a period in the United States characterized by multiple social and political reform efforts. Reformers during this era, known as progressivism in the United States, Progressives, sought to address iss ...

variant of proto- Crocean

social liberalism Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

. The dreaded "proto-" derives from Becker's arguments for

prior to the 1922 publication of his first (in a series) of reviews on Crocean philosophy. Dewey advocated for early-20th-century

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

in Europe prior to the 1920s, but Becker's perspectives on the

endorsement as well as variegated notions of

market socialism Market socialism is a type of economic system involving social ownership of the means of production within the framework of a market economy. Various models for such a system exist, usually involving cooperative enterprises and sometimes a mix ...

during this period remain subjects of scholarly inquiry. For his part, Dewey's "negative freedom" did not exclude ideas on degrees of

free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

s (which myriad

socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

chastised and chastise him for). These contentions presaged fascist exploitation of Crocean philosophy and the eponymous philosopher's condemnation of the same. Becker did address the multivalent consequences of "free trade" ideas in history, but decidedly argued that these ideas ran counter to the aspirations of

representative democracy Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a type of democracy where elected delegates represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies func ...

. In his 1919 free trade in ideas dissent for '' Abrams v. United States'', at the height of the

First Red Scare The first Red Scare was a period during History of the United States (1918–1945), the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of Far-left politics, far-left movements, including Bolsheviks, Bolshevism a ...

, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., held that a dichotomous understanding of

"negative freedom," between

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

in society on the one hand, and degrees of "free trade" in private as well as public economic sectors on the other, could still potentially result in the latter branch shaping, and even subsuming, the former branch. After the Holmes dissent, Becker began to study conflicts over natural rights philosophy in United States history. James Ceaser argues that Becker ultimately found "natural rights" to be "meaningless" in the "modern world." In his 1922 ''The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas'', for example, Becker concluded that debates over establishing "authority" in "essential natural rights," while crucial for the "emotional inspiration" and "justification" of the "Founding," nevertheless had been rendered "meaningless" by attempts to enumerate seemingly countless natural rights ("What were they? Was there any sure way of finding out?") and by the "harsh realities of the modern world"—the "trend of action," "trenchant scientific criticism," and "temporary hypotheses" inherent in nationalism, industrialism, and an "aggressive imperialism." Given that Becker did not examine

federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

, he did not fully explicate the legal history of the Ninth Amendment in addressing the former dilemma. Becker continued criticizing natural rights philosophy revivals in his 1932 ''The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers'' but both implicitly and explicitly indicated that such ideas could not be effaced from polities past, present, and future. Becker subsequently turned to examining enumerated natural rights as

within the changes and continuities that underpinned the Atlantic history of his previous

and, at the end of the interwar period, his endorsement of a United States variant of early-20th-century

. Alexander Jacobs contends that in Becker's later writings, such as the 1936-41 essays collected in ''New Liberties for Old'' and the 1944-45 ''Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life'', Becker found "democracy" to be the preferred mode of government if "traditional democratic ideology" sought to "secure these values with a 'minimum of coercion." But Becker attempted to balance his history of

with an analysis of welfare states, the latter endeavor undermining his "post-progressive" disenchantment: "what the common man needs is the opportunity to acquire by his own effort, in an occupation for which he is fitted, the economic security which is essential to decent and independent living." Becker further identified four models of (federal) statist "collectivism" and rejected "Socialism, Communism, ndFascism," yet endorsing "what for lack of a better term we may call Social Democracy." He described the "Social" in his U.S. variant of early-20th-century

as "whatever restrictions of economic enterprise may be necessary for the economic welfare of the people as a whole." His role (if any) in the founding of the

Liberal Party of New York The Liberal Party of New York is a political party in New York (state), New York. Its political platform, platform supports a standard set of socially liberal policies, including abortion rights, increased spending on education, and universal h ...

, a haven for social democrats in its early "left of left" years, remains a subject of scholarly inquiry. Becker's Progressive-Era

and his endorsement of "post-progressive"

, advancing both

and the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...

in the absence of Communism as well as myriad degrees of free markets, faced challenges similar to that of Crocean philosophy. His guarded criticism of US engagement in the Second World War, however, stemmed more from regrets over the

and his qualified support for the

Preparedness Movement The Preparedness Movement was a campaign led by former Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Leonard Wood, and former President Theodore Roosevelt to strengthen the United States Armed Forces, U.S. military af ...

than from concerns about the exploitation of rational-critical dichotomies in notions of "negative freedom" as well as, in turn, the

conceptual bifurcation of "negative freedom" and "effective freedom." In 1944, lectures delivered at the University of Michigan, published posthumously at the end of the following year, Becker proposed what has been described as a positive notion of public responsibility and provided a summation of his years of studying the history of civil liberties in the United States, including the Second Amendment. "Take first the civil liberties," Becker averred, for "all of these (with the possible exception of the right to bear arms, which seems now advantageous chiefly to gangsters) are, in respect to the end contemplated, invaluable and should be preserved." That exception, though, would undoubtedly prove significant because "one may well ask whether they dditional civil libertiesare defined in the bill of rights with sufficient care to attain the end desired in the complex social conditions of the modern world." In a dénouement to another aspect of his historiography, the ailing Becker distinguished his previous "pragmatic relativism" from a possible

factual A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...

and

epistemic Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowledg ...

"relativist philosophy with which he had previously been identified"---the same "relativist philosophy" that a growing chorus of twenty-first-century scholars speculate his historical interpretations ultimately fell prey to. Becker believed that particular "relativist trend" in scholarship would facilitate "anti-intellectualism" and sowed the seeds of

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

. In one of his last major pieces of writing, he observed that "the anti-intellectual relativist trend of thought reaches a final, fantastic form: truth and morality turn out to be relative to the purposes of any egocentric somnambulist who can succeed, by a ruthless projection of his personality, in creating the power to impose his unrestrained will upon the world." Over sixty years later, in a final twist of irony, one of his posthumous critics offered a countervailing argument for "totalitarian" figures pursuing "perfectionist ideas" within, rather than "relativizing," a conceptual category of "positive liberty."

Works

*
The History of Political Parties in the Province of New York, 1760–1776
' (1908) *
Kansas
' (1910) *
The Beginnings of the American People
' (1915) *
The Eve of the Revolution
' (1918) *
America's war aims and peace program
', editor (1918) *
The United States: An Experiment in Democracy
' (1920) *
The Declaration of Independence—A Study in the History of Political Ideas
' (1922, 1942) * ''Our Great Experiment in Democracy'' (1924) * ''The Spirit of '76'' (with G.M. Clark and W.E. Dodd) (1926) * ''Modern History'' (1931) *

' (1931) * ''The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers'' (1932) * ''Progress and Power'' (1936) * ''Story of Civilization'' (with Frederic Duncalf) (1938) * ''Modern Democracy'' (1941) * ''New Liberties for Old'' (1941) * ''Cornell University: Founders and the Founding'' (1943) * ''How New Will the Better World Be?—A Discussion of Post-War Reconstruction'' (1944) * ''Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life'' (1945) * ''Freedom of Speech and Press'' * "What are Historical Facts" * ''Benjamin Franklin'', published in 1946, after Becker's death

Quotes

*"The temperament, the objects and the methods of a

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his overthrow in 194 ...

, a

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, a

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

represent everything that I most profoundly despise". *"Freedom and responsibility." This saying, from a 1943 lecture, has been frequently misquoted. When Cornell memorialized Becker by naming a residential college in his honor, the university commissioned a large stone placard to be affixed to the building's entryway reading "FREEDOM WITH RESPONSIBILITY".

References

External links

* Historiographical Blurb and JSTOR listin

* * * *'' ttps://www.academia.edu/9101433/The_Origin_and_Development_of_Carl_Beckers_Historiography The Origin and Development of Carl Becker’s Historiography' {{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Carl L. 1945 deaths 1873 births American anti-communists American social democrats Cornell University Department of History faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Historians of the United States Writers from Waterloo, Iowa Presidents of the American Historical Association University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Historians from Iowa Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Members of the American Philosophical Society Progressivism in the United States