Abstract
From the very beginnings of American history, the concept of merit has enjoyed a certain pride of place. It found a welcoming home in a new republican nation that, from its inception, had sought to proscribe the titles of nobility and other hereditary distinctions of social and political rank, as well as practices such as primogeniture and entail that had long been characteristic of European aristocratic society. But even the most equality-affirming republic would need to generate a pool of talented and effective leaders, a leadership class recruited and empowered for public service. It is not hard to see the considerable difference between the essential and institutional conceptualizations of merit, particularly if these two understandings are thought of as non-intersecting ideal types. Of course, they do frequently intersect, and even coincide, so that there is no reason why a "man of merit" might not also be a man who had straight As, a high IQ, and perfect SATs and GMATs.