Louis Hartz
Born in 1919
Louis Hartz was an American political scientist known for his influential work on American exceptionalism.
His seminal book, "The Liberal Tradition in America" (1955), argued that American political development occurred within a Lockean liberal consensus, shaped by the absence of a feudal past and the values of early settlers.
Hartz sought to explain the failure of socialism in America, attributing it to the pervasive acceptance of classic liberalism.
He rejected Marxism and developed the concept of "fragments" to explain how settler colonies maintained ideologies from their founding period.
Hartz's work remains significant in understanding American political thought, despite criticisms of its limitations.
