one members of the ship Mayflowersigned the com-
pact. It formed the basis of the Plymouth (Massachu-
setts) government for 10 years and the foundation of
later government covenants in New England.
Further Reading
Heath, D. Mourt’s Relation. Cambridge, Mass.: Applewood
Books, 1963.
McCarthyism
A term named after U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, sig-
nifying any persistent and unfair persecution of politi-
cal opponents, especially COMMUNISTSor LEFTISTS.In
the 1950s, Senator McCarthy, a REPUBLICANfrom Wis-
consin, accused the U.S. State Department of harbor-
ing communists and SOCIALISTSwho were undermining
U.S. foreign policy during the cold war. As chairman of
the Senate permanent investigations subcommittee,
McCarthy conducted hearings that accused a wide
range of U.S. civil servants, academics, and media Hol-
lywood figures of pro-Communist, anti-American sub-
versive activity. This caused widespread panic in the
United States and enormous suspicion of anyone on
the LIBERAL LEFT.
McCarthyism has come to mean any hysterical,
unprofessional, unfair accusation and persecution of
others for political reasons. McCarthyism can be prac-
ticed by the whole range of IDEOLOGIES, from CONSERVA-
TIVE RIGHTto Liberal Left. The U.S. Supreme Court has
upheld the FIRST AMENDMENT right to free speech
against McCarthyite extremist persecution.
McWilliams, Wilson Carey (1933– ) Ameri-
can political philosopher, academic, and scholar on
religion and politics
Most famous for his writings on FRATERNITY, especially
his book The Idea of Fraternity in America,McWilliams
is an internationally renowned scholar on AMERICAN
POLITICAL THEORY, CLASSICAL political philosophy, and
religion and politics. His approach is almost equally
beholden to PLATO, ARISTOTLE, St. AUGUSTINE, and John
CALVIN. He illuminates U.S. political culture in terms of
the competing theoretical strains in the United States,
especially MODERN LIBERALISMversus Protestant CHRISTI-
ANITY. Of a caliber of Alexis de TOCQUEVILLE’s Democ-
racy in America,with the humor of Mark Twain, and
the sensitivity of DANTE, McWilliams’s insights into the
profound questions of political life have made him a
modern-day prophet.
McWilliams has taught at Rutgers University, Yale,
and Harvard. His many graduate students in poli-
tical theory occupy academic positions around Amer-
ica and the world. Known as a deeply committed
teacher and mentor, McWilliams effectively founded a
school of U.S. political thought without intending to
do so.
An active member of the DEMOCRATIC PARTYand a
prominent PRESBYTERIAN churchman, McWilliams is
highly regarded in academic, political, and ecclesiasti-
cal circles. In 1989, he received The John WITHERSPOON
Award from the New Jersey Committee for The
Humanities.Further Readings
McWilliams,Wilson Carey, and Gibbons, Michael T. eds.The
Federalists, the Antifederalists, and the American Political
Tradition. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group,
1992.
McWilliams, Wilson Carey. The Idea of Fraternity in America.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.
———. The Politics of Disappointment: American Elections
1976–94.Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House, 1995.
———. “The Wearing of Orange.” Worldview 26(March 1983).Medieval political theory
The political ideas in Western Europe from approxi-
mately the fall of the Roman Empire (A.D. 500) to the
Protestant REFORMATION and MODERNITY (A.D. 1500).
Much of the political thought of the Middle Ages con-
cerns competing images of JUSTICEand claims to STATE
power of the CATHOLICChurch, the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE,
feudal kings and princes, CORPORATISM, and popular
SOVEREIGNTY.
The Early Middle Ages (A.D. 500–1000) saw the
destruction of Roman LAWand EMPIREwith its universal
worldly AUTHORITYand the rise of an alternative CHRIS-
TIANpolitical philosophy (St. AUGUSTINE) of the Two
Cities (City of God and City of Man). The Roman
Catholic Church provided some semblance of unity
and order in Europe and preserved remnants of civil
justice and moral codes. The centralization of power in
the bishop of Rome (pope) replicated the Roman CAE-
SARbut with transcendent religious authority. An early
political conflict at this time was between this central-
ized church and the decentralized barbarian kingdoms.
The Catholic Church attempted to extend a uniformMedieval political theory 205