Democracy: An American Novel
Encyclopedia
Democracy: An American Novel is a political novel written by Henry Brooks Adams and published anonymously
in 1880
. Only after the writer's death in 1918 did his publisher reveal Adams's authorship although, upon publication, the novel had immediately become popular. Contemporaneous conjecture placed the book under the joint authorship of Clarence King, John Hay and Henry Adams and their spouses who lived side by side on H street in Washington DC and were collectively sometimes called "the Five of Hearts." (Biography of John Hay Vol. II William Roscoe Thayer/Clara S. Hay Houghton Mifflin New York 1915)
In January 2005, the Washington National Opera
premiered Democracy: An American Comedy, an opera
by Scott Wheeler
and Romulus Linney
based upon Henry Adams' book.
Democracy is a novel about political power
, its acquisition, use and abuse
. It is set at the beginning of a new administration
, with the election campaign just over and the new President of the United States
just having been elected. However, all the characters depicted are entirely fictitious. The new president's Christian name is Jacob, while his full name is never revealed. In a 1961 foreword to the novel, Henry D. Aiken states that the U.S. president of the novel "bears some resemblance to Andrew Johnson
, to Garfield, and to Grant
". Dates are never mentioned either, but internal evidence (at one point a 25-year-old woman says that she was "almost an infant" during the Civil War
) suggests it is set in the late 1870s.
who, five years ago and in quick succession, lost her husband and her baby, she used to be "a rather fast New York girl" before her marriage but now is virtually unable to get over the great loss she has suffered.
Bored stiff by New York society, Madeleine Lee decides to go to Washington
to be close to the hub of politics. Together with her sister Sybil Ross, she arrives in the capital, and in no time her salon becomes the meeting place of important people in the city. Although she has no intention whatsoever of becoming romantically involved, from among the group gathering around her two men emerge who would very much like to marry her: John Carrington, who is truly and deeply in love with her; and Silas P. Ratcliffe, whose marriage to Madeleine Lee would help him advance his political career.
Over the months, Madeleine Lee gets more and more insight into the machinations at the centre of political life. Seeing his chances fade, Ratcliffe devises a sophisticated scheme to get rid of John Carrington: he secures a post abroad for his rival, who, as the job is rather well-paid and his family have not enough money, cannot but accept the offer. Step by step, Ratcliffe manoeuvres Madeleine Lee into a difficult position in which he thinks the only choice left to her will be to marry him. Carrington, however, has left behind a sealed letter in which he accuses Ratcliffe of being corrupt. In particular, he accuses him of having taken graft during the election campaign eight years ago. All evidence, Carrington adds, has been destroyed, so it is his word against Ratcliffe's. The latter of course denies all allegations, but Madeleine Lee is so shocked at the revelation that she turns down Ratcliffe's proposal of marriage. Furious, Ratcliffe leaves Madeleine's house, only to be accosted and ridiculed by his arch-enemy Baron Jacobi, the Bulgaria
n minister. There even ensues a brief scene of physical violence between the two, but at the very last moment Ratcliffe, whose career would be ruined otherwise, is able to keep his wrath in check.
Disillusioned by politics, Madeleine Lee now wants to go abroad, preferably to Egypt
. Sybil, who has become Carrington's confidante, writes him a letter in which she tells him he should try again to win her sister's heart once they have returned from their tour.
". However, what she encounters both in her parlour and elsewhere is an ill-assorted group of men corrupted by greed, money and power; protégés and office-seekers; and, generally, people who, for various reasons, are wholly unsuited for any political office.
Her suitor, 50-year-old Silas P. Ratcliffe, is a case in point. A former governor of Illinois
, he now serves as Senator
from that state but is toying with the idea of running for president in four years' time. A widower, he thinks it may be helpful to have a loving and caring wife at his side and focuses his attention on Madeleine Lee. He views politics from its practical side only: Frankly admitting that, for him, the pleasure of politics lies in the possession of power, he categorically denies the existence of anything remotely resembling political philosophy
.
Ratcliffe is presented as a "practical man" with very little general knowledge or learning. He may "know" his political business, but that seems to be worlds apart from academic knowledge or the ability to reason theoretically. Reflecting upon his career and his ambitions for the future, Ratcliffe admits that he goes to church mainly because he needs the churchgoers' votes. Once in church, however, his mind regularly wanders off, and he thinks about politics only.
Yet Ratcliffe is proud of himself and his achievements: as a lobbyist, he has often been able in the past to bring together hostile interests and to combine them to (almost) everyone's advantage. Accepting the good as well as the evil things in life, he rephrases the old (but wrong) dictum that the end justifies the means by stating that "if virtue won't answer our purpose, we must use vice, or our opponents will put us out of office." When Mrs. Lee asks him, "Are we for ever to be at the mercy of thieves and ruffians? Is a respectable government impossible in a democracy?", Ratcliffe's reply is as pragmatic as it is simple: "No representative government can long be much better or much worse than the society it represents. Purify society and you purify government."
In Democracy, the newly-elected President of the United States is depicted as the epitome of provincialism, incompetence and corruption
. Aged 60, he is an ex-governor, but basically "a plain Indiana
farmer", one of "nature's noblemen". One of his nicknames is "Old Granite" and, just because it sounds similar, "Old Granny". Already at the first evening reception they give at the White House
, the president and his wife are ridiculed as "automata", as wooden puppets, and as "aping royalty
". The president's wife is at least as bad and unsuitable for the job as First Lady
as her husband is for that of president, the only driving forces behind her actions being envy, jealousy, and the will to exercise and demonstrate her newly found power.
On March 4, the inauguration of the new president takes place. The president's plan concerning his arch-enemy (although of the same party) Ratcliffe is that he "must be made to come into a Cabinet
where every other voice would be against him." But very soon, it turns out that the president's plan has backfired and that he is becoming increasingly dependent on Ratcliffe, who is even commissioned to write the president's Inaugural address. One of the programmatic promises of the new president during the election campaign was that there would be no "wholesale removals from office". But this is exactly what happens: All the President's friends are "stuffed in somewhere", whereas the few able and competent "office-seekers" do not get jobs in the new administration.
A considerable part of the novel is dedicated to the discussion of topical political issues, including universal suffrage
("Democracy asserts the fact that the masses are now raised to higher intelligence than formerly"), communism
(used synonymously with "anarchism
"), Darwinism
and, generally, whether the future is something one should be looking forward to. As Mrs. Lee puts it, "Half of our wise men declare that the world is going straight to perdition; the other half that it is fast becoming perfect. Both cannot be right. [...] I must know whether America is right or wrong."
Opposed to reform
in general, Ratcliffe does not have any faith in the "new dogma
s" such as science or the theory of evolution
, succumbing to the common misconception that what it is all about is that man "descended from monkeys". He emphasizes man's "divine nature" (rather than his human nature
) where there is no place for survival of the fittest
, while at the same time arguing like one of "nature's true noblemen", a kind of noble savage
indigenous to North America. As one such specimen, he brings every discussion down to his level.
Mrs. Lee refuses his proposal in the end and she goes to Egypt to get away from the corrupt world.
Anonymous work
Anonymous works are works, such as art or literature, that have an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author. In the United States it is legally defined as "a work on the copies or phonorecords of which no natural person is identified as author."...
in 1880
1880 in literature
The year 1880 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*Henry Adams - Democracy: An American Novel *Rhoda Broughton - Second Thoughts*Wilkie Collins - Jezebel's Daughter...
. Only after the writer's death in 1918 did his publisher reveal Adams's authorship although, upon publication, the novel had immediately become popular. Contemporaneous conjecture placed the book under the joint authorship of Clarence King, John Hay and Henry Adams and their spouses who lived side by side on H street in Washington DC and were collectively sometimes called "the Five of Hearts." (Biography of John Hay Vol. II William Roscoe Thayer/Clara S. Hay Houghton Mifflin New York 1915)
In January 2005, the Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera
The Washington National Opera is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F...
premiered Democracy: An American Comedy, an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
by Scott Wheeler
Scott Wheeler (composer)
Scott Wheeler is an American concert-music composer, born February 24, 1952, in Washington, D.C., now based in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 1989, he has been on the faculty of Emerson College in Boston, where he has co-directed the music theater program...
and Romulus Linney
Romulus Linney (playwright)
Romulus Zachariah Linney IV was an American playwright and professor.-Life and career:Linney was born in Philadelphia, the son of Maitland Clabaugh and Romulus Zachariah Linney III. His great-grandfather was Republican Congressman Romulus Zachariah Linney. Linney was raised in Boone, North...
based upon Henry Adams' book.
Democracy is a novel about political power
Political power
Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...
, its acquisition, use and abuse
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
. It is set at the beginning of a new administration
Administration (government)
The term administration, as used in the context of government, differs according to jurisdiction.-United States:In United States usage, the term refers to the executive branch under a specific president , for example: the "Barack Obama administration." It can also mean an executive branch agency...
, with the election campaign just over and the new President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
just having been elected. However, all the characters depicted are entirely fictitious. The new president's Christian name is Jacob, while his full name is never revealed. In a 1961 foreword to the novel, Henry D. Aiken states that the U.S. president of the novel "bears some resemblance to Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
, to Garfield, and to Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
". Dates are never mentioned either, but internal evidence (at one point a 25-year-old woman says that she was "almost an infant" during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
) suggests it is set in the late 1870s.
Brief outline of the plot
Madeleine Lee, the daughter of an eminent clergyman, is a woman of independent means. Now a 30-year-old widow from New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
who, five years ago and in quick succession, lost her husband and her baby, she used to be "a rather fast New York girl" before her marriage but now is virtually unable to get over the great loss she has suffered.
Bored stiff by New York society, Madeleine Lee decides to go to Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to be close to the hub of politics. Together with her sister Sybil Ross, she arrives in the capital, and in no time her salon becomes the meeting place of important people in the city. Although she has no intention whatsoever of becoming romantically involved, from among the group gathering around her two men emerge who would very much like to marry her: John Carrington, who is truly and deeply in love with her; and Silas P. Ratcliffe, whose marriage to Madeleine Lee would help him advance his political career.
Over the months, Madeleine Lee gets more and more insight into the machinations at the centre of political life. Seeing his chances fade, Ratcliffe devises a sophisticated scheme to get rid of John Carrington: he secures a post abroad for his rival, who, as the job is rather well-paid and his family have not enough money, cannot but accept the offer. Step by step, Ratcliffe manoeuvres Madeleine Lee into a difficult position in which he thinks the only choice left to her will be to marry him. Carrington, however, has left behind a sealed letter in which he accuses Ratcliffe of being corrupt. In particular, he accuses him of having taken graft during the election campaign eight years ago. All evidence, Carrington adds, has been destroyed, so it is his word against Ratcliffe's. The latter of course denies all allegations, but Madeleine Lee is so shocked at the revelation that she turns down Ratcliffe's proposal of marriage. Furious, Ratcliffe leaves Madeleine's house, only to be accosted and ridiculed by his arch-enemy Baron Jacobi, the Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n minister. There even ensues a brief scene of physical violence between the two, but at the very last moment Ratcliffe, whose career would be ruined otherwise, is able to keep his wrath in check.
Disillusioned by politics, Madeleine Lee now wants to go abroad, preferably to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Sybil, who has become Carrington's confidante, writes him a letter in which she tells him he should try again to win her sister's heart once they have returned from their tour.
Major themes
When, on December 1, Madeleine Lee boards the train that takes her from New York to the capital she wants to find "the mysterious gem which must lie hidden somewhere in politicsPolitics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
". However, what she encounters both in her parlour and elsewhere is an ill-assorted group of men corrupted by greed, money and power; protégés and office-seekers; and, generally, people who, for various reasons, are wholly unsuited for any political office.
Her suitor, 50-year-old Silas P. Ratcliffe, is a case in point. A former governor of Illinois
Governor of Illinois
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
, he now serves as Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from that state but is toying with the idea of running for president in four years' time. A widower, he thinks it may be helpful to have a loving and caring wife at his side and focuses his attention on Madeleine Lee. He views politics from its practical side only: Frankly admitting that, for him, the pleasure of politics lies in the possession of power, he categorically denies the existence of anything remotely resembling political philosophy
Political philosophy
Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...
.
Ratcliffe is presented as a "practical man" with very little general knowledge or learning. He may "know" his political business, but that seems to be worlds apart from academic knowledge or the ability to reason theoretically. Reflecting upon his career and his ambitions for the future, Ratcliffe admits that he goes to church mainly because he needs the churchgoers' votes. Once in church, however, his mind regularly wanders off, and he thinks about politics only.
Yet Ratcliffe is proud of himself and his achievements: as a lobbyist, he has often been able in the past to bring together hostile interests and to combine them to (almost) everyone's advantage. Accepting the good as well as the evil things in life, he rephrases the old (but wrong) dictum that the end justifies the means by stating that "if virtue won't answer our purpose, we must use vice, or our opponents will put us out of office." When Mrs. Lee asks him, "Are we for ever to be at the mercy of thieves and ruffians? Is a respectable government impossible in a democracy?", Ratcliffe's reply is as pragmatic as it is simple: "No representative government can long be much better or much worse than the society it represents. Purify society and you purify government."
In Democracy, the newly-elected President of the United States is depicted as the epitome of provincialism, incompetence and corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
. Aged 60, he is an ex-governor, but basically "a plain Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
farmer", one of "nature's noblemen". One of his nicknames is "Old Granite" and, just because it sounds similar, "Old Granny". Already at the first evening reception they give at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, the president and his wife are ridiculed as "automata", as wooden puppets, and as "aping royalty
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
". The president's wife is at least as bad and unsuitable for the job as First Lady
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
as her husband is for that of president, the only driving forces behind her actions being envy, jealousy, and the will to exercise and demonstrate her newly found power.
On March 4, the inauguration of the new president takes place. The president's plan concerning his arch-enemy (although of the same party) Ratcliffe is that he "must be made to come into a Cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
where every other voice would be against him." But very soon, it turns out that the president's plan has backfired and that he is becoming increasingly dependent on Ratcliffe, who is even commissioned to write the president's Inaugural address. One of the programmatic promises of the new president during the election campaign was that there would be no "wholesale removals from office". But this is exactly what happens: All the President's friends are "stuffed in somewhere", whereas the few able and competent "office-seekers" do not get jobs in the new administration.
A considerable part of the novel is dedicated to the discussion of topical political issues, including universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
("Democracy asserts the fact that the masses are now raised to higher intelligence than formerly"), communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
(used synonymously with "anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
"), Darwinism
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
and, generally, whether the future is something one should be looking forward to. As Mrs. Lee puts it, "Half of our wise men declare that the world is going straight to perdition; the other half that it is fast becoming perfect. Both cannot be right. [...] I must know whether America is right or wrong."
Opposed to reform
Reform movement
A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes...
in general, Ratcliffe does not have any faith in the "new dogma
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...
s" such as science or the theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, succumbing to the common misconception that what it is all about is that man "descended from monkeys". He emphasizes man's "divine nature" (rather than his human nature
Human nature
Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally....
) where there is no place for survival of the fittest
Survival of the fittest
"Survival of the fittest" is a phrase originating in evolutionary theory, as an alternative description of Natural selection. The phrase is today commonly used in contexts that are incompatible with the original meaning as intended by its first two proponents: British polymath philosopher Herbert...
, while at the same time arguing like one of "nature's true noblemen", a kind of noble savage
Noble savage
The term noble savage , expresses the concept an idealized indigene, outsider , and refers to the literary stock character of the same...
indigenous to North America. As one such specimen, he brings every discussion down to his level.
Mrs. Lee refuses his proposal in the end and she goes to Egypt to get away from the corrupt world.
Quotes
- "Any woman will, under the right conditions, marry any man at any time, provided her 'higher nature' is properly appealed to."
- "Men are creatures made for women to dispose of."