ABSTRACT
This chapter explores George Herbert Mead's adherence during the war to the ideals of liberal institutions that he defends in England, France, and the United States. The world of Chicago pragmatism and international pacifism is revealed in a list of colleagues that Addams sent to her publisher in 1907. The world of Chicago pragmatism began to splinter in 1915 as Jane Addams became a world leader for women's pacifism, but the friends did not separate until 1916 when John Dewey began to push for America's entry into World War I. Mead followed the international pacifism literature and attendant conferences. He personally knew William James and Nicholas Murray Butler, and probably many of the participants at both conferences. Mead linked "Natural Rights and the Theory of the Political Institutions" in a liberal society. Mead traced the historical development of Western democracy and liberal rights, and he argued persuasively against the notion of rights residing in an individual.
