The government of the people of the United States

Front matter

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Preface

American constitutions, I have attempted to divide the subject all along between institutional and constitutional government. Movements in population, immigration, education, habits of thought among the people of various parts of the country, inventions, discoveries, religion and public morality have been considered as factors equally potent with formal constitutions and the enactments of legislative bodies in determining the character of our Government.

It is more desirable to understand the principles underlying civil life and their development and applications in society than to memorize discordant political facts. The peculiar claim of popular government to universal authority is its identification with the great principles of civilization. It claims to be founded upon the rights of man and the principles of human nature. Wherever the principles of popular government are illustrated in our governments, I have attempted to assert either directly or by implication the principle involved.

The land as a factor in government is presented somewhat fully. Our land system and our land acquisitions are shown by maps. A few engravings from celebrated paintings have been introduced to aid in impressing on the mind some of the greatest events in human history. The Charter of King John, the Declaration of Independence — of which a fac-simile is given — the Mayflower Compact, and the Emancipation Proclamation are events in the story of popular government. With one exception these events occurred on American soil. The illustrations and the events to which they refer intimate my desire to develop as plainly as possible the idea of sequence, progress, liberalization in thought and action, human enfranchisement

6 PREFACE.

and civilization as the chief characteristics of the nations of modem times. The limits of the book prevent me from doing more than suggest the wealth of illustration of the amelioration of men and manners which may be traced in the supremacy of modern laws, in modern charities and in the attitude of the modern mind toward all problems of society and government.

Although the chapters are paragraphed and separately numbered for convenience in class use, they are written to read as if unbroken by special headings. The heavy type shows the thought of the paragraph, and, before studying a chapter, it may be read through aloud as an unbroken whole, omitting the titles to paragraphs. Numerous foot-notes and tables illustrate applications of principles referred to in the body of the book.

Nothing in government is meaningless ; we live amidst

an intense political life. As the face on the postage-stamp

signifies an executive power delegated by the people, so

upon examination will many common civil phenomena

illustrate profound principles in popular government. The

book is sent forth with the earnest hope that it may help

those who read it to understand more perfectly the rights

and the duties of American citizenship.

FEANCIS NEWTON THORPE.

University of Pennsylvania t \ Philadelphia, Pa. >

Part I. The Foundations Of Government

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Four Stages of Society . 11

II. The Four Groups of Eights 20

III. The Story of Political Eights in England ... 26

IV. The Story of Political Eights in Colonial Amer-

ica 40

V. The American Constitutions 61

Part II. Local Government

I. The People and their Home Affairs: the Township, Town, County, City, State, and Territory 84

Part III. The Nation

I. The Making of the Nation . . - 118

II. The People and the Land 127

III. The Law-makers and the Laws 139

IV. What Congress may do ... 152

V. Powers Denied to Congress and to the States . 164

VI. The President of the United States 172

VII. The Executive Departments 183

VIII. The Courts of Justice 194

IX. The People and the Money 207

X. The People in Politics 214

XL The Citizen 226

XII. The Nation 231

Part IV. State Papees

CHAPTEK PAGE

I. The Mayflower Compact 239

II. The First Declaration of Eights 241

III. The Declaration of Independence 244

IV. The Articles of Confederation 250

V. The Constitution of the United States 263

VI. The Emancipation Proclamation 287

The Australian Ballot System 300

Questions Developing the Government of the

State, County, City, Township, Town, etc. . . . 302

Problems in Civil Government 304

Questions for Debate 306

Index 307

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Great Seal of the United States Frontispiece.

King John Signing Magna Charta 34

Signing the Mayflower Compact 49

Adoption of the Declaration of Independence .... 62

The State-House in Philadelphia 74

President Lincoln Beading the Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet 126

Map showing Public Domain and Acquisition of Territory 128

The Capitol Building at Washington 139

The Supreme Court of the United States 203

Liberty Enlightening the World 225

Fac-simile of the Declaration of Independence .... 214

Part I. THE FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT

Man is bom a citizen. — Aristotle.

The fundamental law of rights is, be a person, and respect others as persons.— Mulford.

Society is marching with long strides toward

democracy Is it a good? Is it an evil? I

know little enough; but it is, in my opinion, the inevitable future of humanity.— Count Cavour.

The village, or township, is the only association which is so perfectly natural that wherever a number of men are collected it seems to constitute itself. -De Tocqueville.

To the people we come sooner or later ; it is upon their wisdom and self-restraint that tlte stability of the most cunningly devised scheme of government will in the last resort depend— Bryce.

i

CIVIL GOVERNMENT.

Chapter I The Four Stages Of Society

1. CIVIL INSTITUTIONS.— The laws, customs and occupations of a people comprise their civil institutions. Human interests are not solitary. One interest is related to all others. If we were to journey over the earth, visiting its different peoples, we might at first think that the civil institutions of the many peoples we saw were too different for any kind of classification ; by a closer examination we would discover four classes of human society — savages, herdsmen, husbandmen and manufacturers.

2. Savages. — The peoples whose chief occupation is hunting comprise the savage tribes of the six continents. They have customs simple and rude, and laws few and cruel. The boundaries of the land over which they seek their supplies are in constant dispute between the tribes. Each tribe is a collection of kindred families, and is governed by a man famed both as hunter and as warrior. His will, so far as he can enforce it, is law. The symbol of his authority is a spear or a club.

3. Life and Language. — Hunting supplies savages with food and clothing. They suffer from many diseases which do not seriously endanger a civilized community. Their language is unwritten, usually abounds in guttural sounds, has few words, not usually more than three hundred, and these are not inflected so as to express shades of thought. Their language is composed of nouns and

u verbs, with few if any other parts of speech. The nouns rudely name the plain objects of the senses ; their words do not express exact qualities or quantities. Taken singly, the words have little if any meaning. The people have few and crude ideas.

4. Superstitions.— Savages are extremely superstitious and easily terrified by the phenomena of nature. They people the world with demons, and their customs are demoniac, and frequently degrading. They do not understand the causes and the nature of common things.

5. Character. — The habits, customs, superstitions and manner of life of savage tribes indicate their true character. Life among them is unsafe ; morality too often unknown ; physical strength, the sole basis of right ; government, the uncertain and brutal exercise of physical power and the sullen and unwilling obedience of the jealous and the weak.

6. Herdsmen. — A larger group of peoples keep flocks and herds, and by means of these provide for themselves food and clothing. The area and boundaries of the land required by their cattle vary. Herdsmen follow the grass ; it is the source of their wealth. They are wanderers and dwell in tents, but their laws and customs are less rude than those found among hunting tribes. They practice simple arts and make many articles required by their manner of life. They have a greater variety of food than savages, and many desires unknown to savage life. Butter and cheese are made by them in a simple way. The art of curing leather begins among them. They have their wealth for exchange, and thus obtain many articles which they cannot make for themselves.

7. Government among Them. — Their ruler is the oldest living father of a family, and the symbol of his authority is a shepherd's staff. The laws among them grow out of their occupations. Their laws have reference chiefly to two objects — the protection of life and of prop-

THE FOUR STAGES OF SOCIETY.

erty. Savages have no property that can be called wealth, nor can the savage accumulate wealth. He cannot keep his game ; he makes nothing ; at death his hunting equipment is usually buried with him. The herdsman has many cattle, and at his death some one must care for them. Naturally, the members of his own family succeed to his wealth, and his personal authority also descends to his personal representative or heir, who is usually his eldest son.

8. Laws of Property Begin.— Thus laws of the inheritance of property originate among herdsmen. This property is movable, or, as we now say, personal. Land becomes a thing of value, and land-laws originate in the use of the land for grazing. ^Vater, in the form of brooks, wells and springs, becomes the subject of customary rights. As a well is dug by severe labor, he who digs a well has a right to it for his family and his flocks.

9. Language and Ideas. — Herdsmen have more words in their language and more ideas than have savages. Shepherds are often in one locality for a long time ; they watch their flocks night and day; they observe the course of nature and discover its regularity. They were the first to study the motions of the heavenly bodies, and they fancied that they saw familiar forms among the stars. Lions and wolves were there chasing cattle and sheep, and to the constellations of the stars they gave names. Centuries have

- 1. but the names given to the stars by the shepherds still cling to them. Thus the science of astronomy began. The language of shepherds expresses their ideas. One of the oldest poems in the world, the book of Job, describes the customs, the laws and the character of a people who were shepherds in Mesopotamia, one of the early homes of our own civilization.

10. Life and the Recognition of Rights. — Herdsmen have many more interests than savages, because they have more ideas and objects of desire obtained by labor. Such objects constitute wealth. Government among them recognizes and protects life and property and the comfort of man. The patriarch has more cares than the chieftain. It is a principle of government that as the interests of men increase and as they secure wealth by their own labor, government becomes more complex, or, as we are accustomed to say, has more departments; for a primary object of government is to secure to individuals and to nations their rights.

11. Importance of Rights. — A right is the most important possession a person can have. Human rights are the realities which government is instituted to protect. The word "right" has more meaning than any other word used in governmental affairs, and we shall constantly have occasion to investigate its signification. When we understand what rights exist in a country, we know exactly what is the government of the people of that country.

12. Effect of the Recognition of Rights. — The immediate effect of the recognition of rights is the exercise of government to protect them. A denial of a right is a wrong, and the suspension of a right, if not justifiable, is a crime.

13. Husbandmen. — The peoples who cultivate the soil outnumber all others. They live in fixed homes; they divide the land and mark its boundaries with care. To remove a landmark confuses many interests and endangers rights, and is a crime ; for the tiller of the ground is obliged to feed and clothe himself and his family by his own labor on a definite piece of ground, and if the boundaries are disturbed unlawfully the living of the family is in danger.

14. Crimes. — Among the herdsmen the stealing of cattle is a crime, because the living of the family is thereby endangered. The tiller of the ground must be protected from similar injury, and his wealth is a definite area of ground. Land-laws thus become more definite among those who practice agriculture; many customs and law?

THE FOUR STAGES 0* SOCIETY.

peculiar to an agricultural people would not arise among herdsmen. Each state of society has its legal system that is founded upon its own character. Different civil institutions, becoming different systems of government, thus spring up in the world.

15. Superior Knowledge required in Agriculture. — The farmer is obliged to understand the nature of crops, soils, culture and harvesting. He requires many tools for which the savage or the herdsman could have no use. He must understand the laws of nature so as to be able to make a living. His wants are more numerous than those of the savage or the herdsman. His ideas outnumber those of the other two classes. His language reflects his mind and contains many words. His interests are fourfold : those pertaining to his labor ; those pertaining to the control of his fellows; those relating to his conduct toward men ; and those relating to the God whom he worships.

16. Manufacturers. — A fourth group of peoples are engaged in making objects of desire, and thus they are closely related to the herdsmen and to the tillers of the soil. Labor creates rights and transforms raw material, such as the skins and the wool produced by the herdsmen and the agricultural products of the husbandmen, into articles adapted to many human uses. The making of objects requires a large amount of knowledge in the maker. He has many ideas, and his language contains many words, unknown to the savage or the herdsman. With increased knowledge comes the division of labor and the recognition of industrial rights. New industries are created, old industries are improved. Simple tools are displaced by complicated machinery that never wearies and that rapidly transforms raw material into finished articles. In every step of this process rights are concerned. The forms of wealth multiply, so that they can scarcely be counted. The manufacturer depends upon the productions of farming and of herding for material used in his labor. His rights are therefore closely connected with the rights of other men. He must build machines, erect suitable buildings, provide material, employ craftsmen, manage industrial enterprises, understand industrial conditions, satisfy the desires of men for material wealth created by human labor, and exercise freely all his rights, in order that the desires of men may be satisfied.

IT. Laws and Customs pertaining" to Industry. — A manufacturing community develops habits or customs that are recognized by experience to be favorable or unfavorable to industry. Thus, government that protects the rights of manufacturers and all those associated with them in the making of objects must conform to these customs and enact suitable laws.

18. Civilized Peoples have a Variety of Interests. — In a civilized country the interests of the herdsman, of the tiller of the soil and of the manufacturer may be found in a single community and even in a single person. The farmer tills his ground and at the same time keeps cattle and sheep. Near by is the town in which the manufacturer maintains his plant — i. e. his factory and all its interests. A community has at the same time the interests of the three classes of peoples. Rights thus may imply the interests of the husbandman, of the herdsman and of the manufacturer. Every department of life is affected by the recognition or the suppression of these rights.

19. Effect Seen in Society. — As ideas increase among men, language increases, until there may be, as in our own tongue, more than one hundred thousand words. Every right creates a custom, and the custom may become a law. A custom is only a way of doing, and a law is a rule of action prescribed by a supreme power, declaring how, when, where and by whom a thing shall or shall not be done.

THE FOUR STAGES OF SOCIETY. 17

20. Commerce. — With the increase of the wealth of individuals and of nations, and with the recognition of rights among them, exists a commerce both in ideas and in things. Articles are produced, transported, exchanged and consumed. The star-clusters that seemed like sheep and oxen and lions to the shepherds become the lighthouses of the sky, and guide ships laden with precious cargoes from port to port, from continent to continent. Men become more closely associated; they supply each other's wants. Their interests become complex, and sometimes it is impossible to separate them. The herdsman, the former, the merchant, the railroad, the steamship, the miner, the manufacturer, the workingman, — all and each represent a mass of interests and a body of rights. To further these interests and to secure these rights governments are instituted among men ; customs grow into laws, and laws and customs grow into that supreme law or chief custom of all — Government

21. Importance of Government. — We see plainly, then, that the meaning of government is exceedingly large, because it concerns itself with every human interest. We see that customs and laws and language and government are closely connected with the occupations of "the people. The occupations affect the government, and the government affects the occupations.

22. Different Forms of Government. — Different forms of government exist, because the ideas of men differ as to the best manner of managing their own interests. Peoples who have many wants and who are able to satisfy them by intelligent labor are civilized — i. e. they have become citizens. The word "citizen" is companion to tbe word "right," and like it has a profound meaning. Indeed, so important is the signification of this word that individuals and nations, in order to obtain the realization of the full rights of the citizen, have made costly sacrifices. The rights of the citizen are made precious to us by the lofty sacrifices of human life in order that men and women and children may have their inborn rights freely, fully and at all times.

A theocracy is a government in which the rulers are priests who claim to be under the immediate direction of God. The government of the ancient Jews was a theocracy.

A monarchy is a government in which the supreme power resides in a single person, usually called a king. If his power is limited by laws, the government is a limited monarchy ; if all power proceeds from him, the government is an absolute monarchy. Modern kingdoms are limited monarchies, except Russia and Turkey, which are absolute monarchies.

An aristocracy is a government controlled by a few men distinguished for rank, wisdom and wealth. Venice was an aristocracy during the Middle Ages.

A democracy is a government by the people in person. Rhode Island was a democracy for a brief time*

A republic is a representative democracy. Our States and the United States have a republican form of government.

23. Sanctity of Government. — The interests of a people are so closely blended with their government that government becomes the supreme interest of the people ; its character is sacred, because its preservation concerns the lives and the property of all who compose the nation. Therefore the attempt to overthrow the prevailing government is a crime against the nation. This crime is called treason, and is punishable with death.

Sometimes a government is successfully overturned and remodelled with the consent of the people who compose it. A successful change in the government amounts to a revolution, such as occurred in this country in 1776. But

THE FOUR STAGES OF SOCIETY. 19

all thoughtful men agree that governments long established are not to be overturned for light and passing reasons, else all stability in human affairs would disappear and fickle-minded people would cause perpetual confusion in the world by the constant change in governments. The people have the right to alter or amend their own government in a peaceful way, as was done in this country in 17S9.

24. The True Basis of Government. — When we look a little closer for the foundation of government, we discover that it exists in the nature of men themselves. The rights of persons give occasion for government. Individuals have by nature desires, wills, ideas, character, and upon these, government is founded. The natural rights of men, women and children as citizens are called civil rights. Some citizens have other rights which are called political rights. The right to personal security is a civil right, and is common to all citizens ; the right to vote is a political right, and is possessed by qualified persons called electors. But the true basis of government is persons, not things.

Chapter II. The Four Groups Of Rights

25. Men Differ concerning" Rights. — We might think that every man could guard his own rights, and that in this way the rights of all would be protected. But men differ among themselves in their opinions about their rights : this difference of opinion is natural to men, and must always be taken into account in human affairs. Government is based upon men as they are ; it is a formidable reality. If only a few men lived in the world, in a simple way of life, isolated from each other, they might possibly be able to protect their own interests, but they could not realize their own rights. Men cannot live in isolation ; association is necessary, and this necessity gives rise to human society.

26. Rights of Society. — The word {l society" is also an important word. Individuals have rights as individuals ; they also have rights to and in association, called the rights of society. The relation of the individual to society is that of the part of a living organism to the whole of the organism. An individual is a part of society, and is incomplete outside of it. The political rights of an individual are largely fixed by his relations to society.

27. Rights and Duties Related. — Every right, whether of the individual or of society, implies a duty. Every duty implies a right. A duty is the exercise of a right. The words right, citizen, society, and duty are of intense interest to civilized people ; they stand for ideas and principles of primary importance to human beings.

The rights of individuals and of society give rise to that

THE FOUR GROUPS OF RIGHTS. 21

kind of knowledge called political. The word " political " originally meant urban, or pertaining to the city, because people are closely associated in a city and are compelled to recognize their own rights and those of others. Cities have served a peculiar office in discovering the rights of men, and many of the cities of England maintained the rights of the citizens when these rights were lost in the rural districts. Cities have preserved human liberties.

The duties of individuals and of society give rise to that knowledge which we call moral. The word " moral " implies the idea of conduct or custom of doing, judged by the standard of human welfare and of Divine law. A man is a political being because he has rights; he is a moral being because he has duties.

28. Individuals and Society. — Government protects a person in his rights and requires him to perform his duties. The character of society is the character of the individuals who compose it. Bad men make bad society. Government must therefore address itself directly to individuals, must have power over them, and must depend upon them for its authority and for its character. We are individually a part of the government, and should know our rights and perform our duties. The neglect to do so endangers the government and wrongs us individually. The rights now so common among us are ours only after the greatest struggles that the world has seen.

29. Natural Rights. — We do not inherit rights ; they are inherent ; God creates them in every person. There have been L r overnments in the world for ages, but the truth that ail men are born with equal rights has been accepted less than a hundred years. To understand and to live this truth is the privilege of the world to-day. We of the United States have this privilege by the law of the land. But because we have more rights than any other nation, we have more duties. American citizens have rights and duties unknown to the people of Europe. Yet many institutions common among us began long ago in Europe.

30. Foreigners become Citizens. — Several hundred thousand Europeans come to the United States every year for permanent homes. They are chiefly from England, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia. They have caused those sections of the United States where they are most thickly settled to take on a character peculiar to themselves ; some parts of the United States are Germanic, some are Scandinavian, some are Italian, in many of their prevailing customs. The African race has been in this country since 1619. Africans and Europeans and some Asiatics are made welcome by our government, and by conforming to the laws they have become American citizens. They learn the rights and the duties of American citizenship by actual practice. Serious social problems constantly arise ; but the experience of the past encourages us to believe that we shall be able to solve these problems by earnestly grappling with them in the recognition of our rights and the performance of our duties.

The Four Groups op Rights.

31. Industrial Rights. — The citizen has the right and the duty to support himself and those dependent upon him by honorable labor : such rights and duties are called Industrial. These are many and of first importance. Within this group fall all the rights of laborers, operatives and of makers of things of every description. Industrial rights and duties affect the business, the material interests of the household, and the productive interests of the country — the farms, manufacturing plants, the wages of men, women and children, the hours of labor, the means of transportation, such as railroads, canals, steamship lines, express companies and common carriers. Industrial rights and duties also extend to society at large. America has vast industrial relations with other countries ; we use arti-

.

THE FOUR GROUPS OF RIGHTS. 23

cles produced in foreign lands, and they use articles made by us. Our industrial interests comprise a large portion of our wealth, and government guards them with extreme care. 32. Political Rights. — The citizen has also opinions as to what he himself and society should do and what ideas should be supreme in the state. These ideas of control or government are called political ideas. His political ideas are his own property, and he has the right to express them and to carry them into effect with the aid of his fellow-citizens, provided that neither he nor they do or suffer wrong. His right is to do unto others as he would have them do unto him. Men are always trying to enforce their ideas upon others — i. e. to govern them. In this second group of rights and duties are all those rights of opinion concerning government, such as, what kind of government is best ; how government should be administered ; who should exercise authority ; where that authority should be located. Political rights and duties affect all our opinions about human laws, the nature of public offices and the character of public officers. Political rights and duties are concerned when public servants are chosen, such as school-directors and assessors, tax-collectors and judges, governors and senators, members of Congress or the President of the United States. Political rights and duties are concerned in such ordinary and important matters as the carrying of the mails ; the material, the quality, the quantity and the denominations of our money ; the fixing of county, State and national boundaries ; the support of an army and of a navy ; and they are concerned also in such seemingly trivial matters as the shape, color and value of a postage-stamp and the selection of the man's face upon it. These rights and duties are of such importance that men organize powerful political parties to maintain their opinions, give their energies, time and money for the support of these opinions, and seek peaceful solution of governmental problems by elections, or compel, the solution of them by wars and treaties. The political rights and duties of individuals have assumed so much importance in this country that they are often said to be the supreme interests of the citizen. But they are only one of a group of rights of equal interest with other rights.

33. Social Rights. — An American citizen is also part of society ; he has social rights and duties. These are of a comprehensive character, because they affect the nation as a whole. Social rights and duties are concerned in the establishment of all kinds of schools for the benefit of the public ; for the reformation of criminals ; in the maintenance of asylums for the aid of the afflicted, such as the blind and the insane. Society is interested in the preservation of health and public comfort, public order, good roads and bridges, clean and passable streets, safe public and private buildings, the lighting of public places, the removal of all substances that may poison the air we breathe or the water we drink. These rights and duties are liable to be neglected, although they are commonly admitted to be of vast importance. The welfare of society is often of greater moment than the comfort of an individual. When the interests of the individual and of society conflict, the individual must yield to society if society insists upon the yielding. This right of society is called the right of eminent domain.