Ahad Ha'am (Asher Ginsberg, 1856-1927) was an influential Zionist leader and publicist. This thesis explores his ideas on Zionism, the diaspora and American Jewishness. These views are put in comparison with those of his early American disciple, Israel Friedlaender (1876-1920). The negation of the exile has been a major part of Ahad Ha'am's thought, and his sporadic references to American Jewry are no exceptions. Despite this, Cultural Zionists in the United States, such as Friedlaender, were able to use his ideas as a basis for diaspora Zionism. The comparison between Ahad Ha'am and Friedlaender will show some of the early ways in which Ahad Ha'am's views were adapted in what was soon becoming the world's largest Jewish community.