Developing the "idea of photography" in the American context. In the U.S., the link of photography to democracy was explicitly claimed, and often brilliantly expressed. The development of this idea in the U.S. went beyond the scope of its initial formulation, and of what we normally understand by "idea". I argue that in the U.S., the idea of photography has translated into a full-fledged political tradition, because photography has been adopted as topic of general interest, a public affair or res publica.