Giving in the United States: Generous Philanthropy in a Classic Liberal Regime

Abstract

One reoccurring theme pervades the evolution of the voluntary sector in the United States: a tension between the ideals of individual liberty and private initiative on the one hand, and a fear of concentrated, private power corroding democratic governance on the other hand. From the early years of the republic into the final quarter of the 18th century, voluntary associations were frequently viewed as instruments of private interests that posed a threat to the fledgling democracy. For example, future President James Madison warned the young nation to guard against the potential political influence of ‘factions,’ by which he meant ‘a number of citizens … who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest’ (Hamilton, Madison, & Jay, 1787–1788, p. 10). In the 19th century, however, the French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville commended US voluntary associations’ role in addressing public needs that in Europe would have been left to noblesse oblige, or to the responsibility of its aristocratic class (Tocqueville, 1848). Nevertheless, the early 20th century echoed 18th-century suspicions of private concentrations of wealth and influence, resulting in political opposition to the establishment of charitable foundations (Bremner, 1988; Hall, 2006). Yet shortly after, the income tax added an exemption for charitable contributions, in hopes of stimulating private largesse as the post-World War I economy reverted to peacetime.

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