Characteristics assigned to America\u27s classical liberal ideology-rugged individualism, market capitalism, egalitarianism in the sense of equality of opportunity, and fierce hostility toward centralized federalism and socialismare particularly appropriate for fathoming Alberta\u27s political culture. In this article, I contend that Alberta\u27s early American settlers were pivotal in shaping Alberta\u27s political culture and that Albertans have demonstrated a particular affinity for American political ideas and movements. Alberta came to resemble the liberal society in Tocqueville\u27s Democracy in America: high status was accorded the selfmade man, laissez-faire defined the economic order, and a multiplicity of religious sects competed in the market for salvation.1 Secondary sources hint at this thesis in their reading of the papers of organizations such as the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) and Alberta\u27s Social Credit Party.2 This article teases out its hypothesis from such secondary sources and covers new ground in linking the influence of Americans to Alberta\u27s exceptionalism in Canadian politics, the province where federal and provincial conservative parties have been strongest and where resistance to federal intrusions has been the most vigorous in English Canada. Alberta has been Canada\u27s maverick province, more receptive to neoliberalism (or what many term neoconservatism) than the Canadian norm
