Our civic image and our governments

Front matter

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CHAPTER I. — Divine Government 15 II. — Self-Government 21

III. — Fundamental Elements of a Lofty Character and Good

Citizenship — The Laws, or Concepts of Life 31

IV. — Human and Civic Growths — The Use of Talents 40

V. — Patriotism 50

VI. — Universal Brotherhood 65

VII. — Our Country and Home 71

VIII. — Free Government, Education, and the Public School 77

IX. — Civil Government of the United States 87

X. — Thirty-two of the Steps and Causes in the Making of

the Constitution 98

XI. — The National Government 134

XII. — The Law-Making Department — The Composition, Work,

and Organization of the Two Houses of Congress 140

XIII. — How Laws are Made — Public Opinion, Political Parties,

and Artificial Laws — How an Idea Became a Law, 164

XIV. — The Powers of Congress 177

XV. — Legislative Prohibitions and State Limitations 199

XVI. — The Executive Department 207

XVII.— The Judicial Department 234

XVIII. — The Right to Amend the Constitution and the Amendments 259

XIX. — The State and Local Governments 272

XX. — Municipal Government 286

Index 335

OUR STATUTES.

Preface

The individual citizen has been one of the central thoughts in the preparation of this book. A "government of the people by the people and for the people," has been constantly before the author in his efforts to prepare this course of study in civic character building and civil government. The law of God is higher than the law of man. It is above the king's commands. Man was made by God in his own image. Governments were made by man in man's image.

Our government grew out of character. It sprang from the lives of men. Its organization was the result of conscience implanted in man and of character developed by him. Patriotism and character are closely related terms.

An earnest attempt has been made in this book to place upon the hearts of the people the responsibility of being citizens of the United States. The only thing new or original the author claims is in bringing man closer to government and government closer to man; in showing the close analogy between individual character and national character; and in pointing out the likeness of the form of our government to the nature and being of man — of self-government to civil government. The study of civil government is usually regarded as a dry and uninteresting subject. The author has endeavored in the preparation of this course of study to make it an interesting and readable, as well as a logical, treatise upon the subject of governments. While it is impossible to give a publication of this kind the thrilling interest that characterizes some books, yet it is earnestly hoped that the attention of the reader will be held.

Whoever opens this book with a view of reading its pages and noting the parallel between soul government and civil government, will find it to his interest to study carefully the accompanying chart. It suggests more than it tells in words. It is an outline of the contents of the book. It is a part of this preface. As far as the author knows, this is the first book on Civics that has been highly illustrated.

This publication is respectfully submitted to the public with the hope that it will be valuable in building a righteous citizenship and in bringing the people to a better understanding and a higher appreciation of their government.

HENRY HARDIN CHERRY.

Bowling Green, Ky., November 16, 1905.

"The strength is in the men, and in their unity and virtue, not in their standing room. A little group of wise hearts is better than a wilderness of fools, and only that nation gains true territory which gains itself. . -. . Remember, no government is ultimately strong, but in proportion to its kindness and justice; and that a nation does not strengthen by merely multiplying and diffusing itself. ... It multiplies its strength only by increasing as one great family, in perfect fellowship and brotherhood. . . . Make your national conscience clean, and your national eyes will soon be clear." — John Ruskin.

THE

This Chart shows the consecutive order in which each Form of Gove the relation and similarity of Divine, Self, National, State, and City Gove frequently while he is reading this book, the cnart and its explanations flio

CONSCIENCE introduces man to God and connects the American Re ter is a stroke of an artist who is constructing a civic brotherhood. God through the people. Trace the conscience line in the illustration and note il

GODS STATUTES

' *£/ .£ V MANS STATUTES

THE J OF

NATIdk ir

Divine Government. — All rightful powers of government come from God. Book for the consideration of men.

"If we abide with the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all

Self Government. — The soul is the real man behind his mask of flesh, center of individual life, and it should keep in touch with God. Conception law-interpreting power of self-government. The book of laws one ma"kes for s viduality.

National Government. — The Constitution of the United States is the suflni national government, the President is the law-enforcing, and the Federal Cou a government whose form exhibits the image of man. It is a reflection of his ilk pressive of the character of its people." The national statutes are enacted bfljlie

State Government. — The State Constitution is made in the civic image of Assembly, or Legislature, is the law-making, the Governor is the law-enforcin Constitution was ordained under the authority of the National Constitution I h State and are subject to the sovereignty of the National Constitution. The S es

City Government — The Charter is the Constitution of municipal govern the Mayor the law-enforcing, and the City Court or Courts the law-interpretii be found to depend upon the character. of the body of the people inhabiting

The city statutes are enacted by the city government.

THE THREE I

Trace the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Lines through each! City Governments.

HART, aient is treated in "Our Civic Image and our Governments." It shows also ments. There are Five Books of Statutes. Before the student reads and lould have thoughtful attention.

Dlic to eternity. Every stroke of conscience in its work of building charac- Deaks to the individual through the conscience and to the government 16 relation that exists between God, conscience and the people.

rod is the beginning of all government and life. The Holy Bible is the first

prospering, but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority r glory in profound obscurity." — "Webster, has within it the elements of a complete government. Conscience rs in the

the law-making power, Will is the law-enforcing power, and Reason is the 3 self or soul government discloses the real man and determines his indi-

me law of the national government. Congress is the law-making power of are the law-interpreting. The fundamental law of our country establishes : jre and a concrete expression of his soul. "The laws of a country are exj le national government.

! pe National Constitution, and is the supreme law of the State. The General ind the State Courts are the law-interpreting power of State government. The the people of the State. State laws reflect the life of the citizens of the >p| statutes are enacted by the State government.

i it. The Council, or the Council and Board of Aldermen, is the law-makingr n iepartment of city government. The justice of local or municipal laws wi' -e city. As they are it will be. It will be an embodiment of themselves.

PARTMENTS.

vision of the Chart, and notice the similarity of Self, National, State and

CHAPTER I.

'Out of the shadows of night The world rolls into light; It is daybreak everywhere."

GODS STATUTES

Origin of Government.— "There

is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God."

The social compact and the elements of government are planted* within the human breast by Him.

Government is the natural product of the state of man; therefore, government has a divine origin. The corporate people are the State; and the government is the instrument to do the necessary work of human society.

God.— No nation has character and power unless its people are "poor in spirit" and cry aloud to the Incomprehensible, Omnipotent, All-wise, and Omnipresent God for help, guidance, and wisdom. All we have and all we enjoy come from God. His spirit in the individual conscience is the still small voice which addresses and inspires, which ennobles and enlarges human life and action. God should be exalted and glorified by all governments; in the president's message, constitution, and statute; by legislature, court, and citizen. Allegiance to God and the Bible makes Christians of Americans. Loyalty to the Constitution of the United States makes them patriots. Love of country is shown not so much by Fourth of July celebrations and victories upon battlefields as upon the closeness of the people to God. Thomas Jefferson said in his second inaugural address, when he accepted the presidency of the United States :

"I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are; who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with His providence, and our riper years with His wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join with me in supplications, that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils and prosper their measures, that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations,"

God in Nature? — There are many sources of information by which we may study the attributes of Deity and glorify His name. The soul, the Bible, and the great Book of Nature offer

us opportunities to know Him.

God is in Nature.

Nature appeals to the whole being of man; and, if man is in proper communication with Nature, he hears the voice of God. Teachers and parents have great opportunities to lead young people to see and to know God in Nature, and they fall short of their duty unless they do a work of this kind. Professor Swing says: "By the time the child is live years old, the world ought to be known to it only as the noble land of God — a vast park made by the Almighty, in whose praises every bird sings a song and every flower flaunts its colored flag. One by one should come to

Whitefield's Bible, kept in the Vestry of the "Old South,''

Newburyport.

DIVINE GOVERNMENT.

II this little mind the truths of love, justice, and duty."

God's Statutes.— The Bible is God's law. It is His word. It has prompted good government, good laws, and the best literature of the English tongue. It has touched every condition of human life and made righteousness possible to man. It is the mold and standard which statesmen use to make governments, congresses and legislatures to make laws, churches to make Christians, authors to make the best literature, and the people to make patriots. Paul said: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

The Moral Law. —Man's duty to his fellowmen and to his God is prescribed by the Moral Law.

This law is set forth in the Ten Commandments. It commands us, with other things, to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The law of nature, which emanates from the perfect conscience, is the same as the moral law. The government which most nearly conforms to the moral law is the most perfect form of government. The Christian theory of life is the bedrock of our republic. The citizen

Henry Clay.

THE BIBLE.

Henry Clay, in one of his famous addresses, spoke of God and patriotism in the following' language. "That patriotism which, catching its inspirations from the immortal God, and leaving at an immeasurable distance all lesser, grovelling, personal interests and 'feelings, animates and prompts to deeds of self-sacrifice, of valor, of devotion, to death itself — that is public virtue. That is the noblest and sublimest of all public virtues."

Patrick Henry, in one of his addresses, used the following words. "Children, if I could will you the religion of the Bible, it would make you all rich; but, if I could will you the whole world without it, you would still be poor."

John Quincy Adams said: "So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hopes that they will prove useful citizens to their country, and respectable members of society."

Dr. J. G. Holland wrote: 'When the people of France pulled down both God and the Church, and set up Reason in their place, all the infernal elements of human nature held their brief high carnival. That one brief experiment should be enough for a thousand worlds. through countless years."

who is building his personal character after the model of Christ is constructing in its broadest and highest meaning an American patriot. Mr. John Bright wrote: "I believe there is no permanent greatness to a nation except it be based upon morality. I do not care for military greatness or military renown. I care for the condition of the people among whom I live. . . . Crowns, coronets, mitres, military display, the pomp of war, wide colonies, and a huge empire are, in my view, all trifles, light as air, and not worth considering, unless with them you can have a fair share of comfort, contentment, and happiness among the great body of the people. Palaces, baronial castles, great halls, stately mansions, do not make a nation. The nation in every country dwells in the cottage ; and unless the light of your Constitution can shine there, unless the beauty of your legislation and the excellence of your statesmanship are impressed there on the feelings and conditions of the people, rely upon it you have yet to learn the duties of government. . . . May I ask you, then, to believe, as I do most devoutly believe, that the moral law was not written for men alone in their individual character, but that it was written as well for nations, and for nations great as this of which we are citizens? If nations reject and deride that moral law, there is a penalty which will inevitably follow. . . . We have experience, we have beacons, we have landmarks enough. We know what the past has cost us, we know how much and how far we have wandered, but we are not left without a guide. . . . We have the unchangeable and eternal principles of the moral law to guide us, and only so far as we walk by that guidance can we be permanently a great nation, or our people a happy people."

A Christian Nation. — It is true that this is not a Christian nation in the sense of any definite legal enactment by the people declaring it in sympathy with any established church, or by naming any certain creed or doctrine as its belief. But it is Christian in the sense that it is founded upon the principles taught by the Founder of all true religion. Its

Constitution, laws, purpose, and policy accord with principles set forth by the Great Teacher.

Besides, it has historically developed along these lines. The Mayflower 1 Compact recited that its colonial standard was "for the glory of God and for the advancement of the Christian faith." The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut recited that they were established "to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, which we now profess." The majority of our State Constitutions, together with the written declarations of personal rights emanating from the hundreds of patriotic associations and conventions held prior to the ordaining of the Constitution, recognized God, and declared that all that was done was for His glory. The noble patriots who led in the establishment of our government never failed to ask His guidance in their efforts to perform the duties of any public office or trust imposed upon them. Washington, and all the patriots whose illustrious names sanctify American history, asked God's direction in the conventions of independence and upon battlefields.

Christianity is the corner-stone of our government. Its principles permeate every part of our national life. We have no established church; we make no special recognition of any denomination or religion; but we do recognize Christ's idea of the sovereignty of the soul and the freedom of individual conscience. All this seems to be a sufficient warrant for calling this country a Christian nation. Our government enforces no religion; it makes no religious demands; but the heart of the nation has recognized Christianity from the beginning of independence down to the present day. "Vindicating the right of individuality even in religion, and in religion above all, the new nation dares to set the example of accepting, in its relations to God, the principle first divinely ordained in Judea. It left the management of temporal things to the temporal power; but the American Constitution, in harmony with the people of the several States, withheld from the federal government the power to invade the home of reason, the citadel

DIVINE GOVERNMENT.

of conscience, the sanctuary of the soul ; and not from indifference, but that the infinite spirit of eternal truth might move in its freedom and purity and power."

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

Define divine government.

Who is the author of government?

Give the origin of government.

What is the State?

Do the principles of the American government exalt God?

Is this necessary? Why?

Name and explain some of the sources through which we may study Deity.

What benefits may be derived from the study of Nature?

What value is the Bible to the republic?

What is the Moral Law?

Is the United States a Christian nation?

Name a few of the principles of civil government that harmonize with the

principles laid down by Christ.

What relation exists between the Church and the State?

QUESTION FOR DEBATE.

Resolved, That the citizen who does not believe in the existence of God can not be a consistent patriot of the United States government.

Chapter II. Self-government

"Real glory springs from the conquest of ourselves, and without that the conqueror is naught but the veriest slave."

The greatest battles fought and victories won were not witnessed by armies of men on the battlefield, nor are they recorded on the pages of history; but they were fought and won by man in his struggles for supremacy in self-control. The greatest foes we have to meet and conquer are within us, and they must be subdued by our efforts to secure this highest attribute of manhood.

Every man who is disciplining himself and building a symmetrically developed, rounded, self-controlled character with creative power and individuality is prosecuting a relentless warfare in the soul's world. Not every man who lives under a free government is a freeman. A person may be a citizen of. the United States, and, at the same time, a slave chained and oppressed by his own appetites. Liberty is allegiance to God and the law that enlarges and broadens human life. A country is free when its laws make every citizen a sovereign being possessing the elements of self-

John Milton.

John Milton, the lofty thinker and poet, in speaking of the personal freedom of man, said: "Real and substantial freedom proceeds from within and not from without, and depends not upon the terror of the sword, but on sobriety of conduct and integrity of life. Such liberty is the fruit of "justice, of temperance and unadulterated virtue, and can not be taken away by treachery or intimidation.

Unless the horizon of the mind is cleared of the mist of superstition which arises from ignorance, you will always have those who will bend your necks to the yoke as if you were brutes; who will put you up to the highest bidder as if you were booty made in war. and will find an exuberant source of wealth in your ignorance and superstition. You. therefore, who wish to be free, cease to be fools, and learn to be wise."

SELF-GOVERNMENT.

government, and offer him a chance to do his best and to develop his highest possibilities.

In God's Image. — "God created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him." God, in endowing man with a soul, gave each of His children the power of selfdirection. If man remembers constantly that he reflects the image of God, it creates within hiin a higher self-respect and estimate of his own capacity, and it causes him to take a deeper interest in his work. A great man never forgets that he was created great, and he never loses an opportunity to put the largeness of his own nobility and creation into his daily thought and chosen work. "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet — all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O, Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth."

The Soul is the seat of character and the beginning of government. It is the supreme law of self-government. A great man and a true patriot are governed spirits. Every great deed begins in the soul. Man first rules his spirit, and then he achieves.

Character and patriotism can not be bestowed upon man, but they must be achieved by him through soul-government. A noble and useful life depends on the investment of our talents. The theory upon which a republic is built takes into consideration mind-

"He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city."

SELF-GOVERNMENT.

investment and makes the righteous man the natural aristocrat of a republic. When our forefathers called a court, consisting of God and conscience, and presented the nobility of man, the tyrants who ruled the people without their consent were stripped of their artificial authority, and human liberty was given an asylum in which to dwell. Plutocracy and caste vanished, and the civic brotherhood of man was established.

The Road to Power.— The soul is the government's richest asset. Great men are made from the energy of the soul, and great governments and just laws spring from noble men. The road that leads to power runs through the mind, the heart, and the body of the child. All governmental leaks begin in the soul. Every low ideal, selfish thought, defective judgment, and unstable will of the human mind is a leak.

Every mind that is enslaved by the appetites, that moves in disorder, and that thinks inaccurately is an expense and a cause of friction in the machinery of government. The making of a strong selfhood and an unselfish citizen depends upon the nature of the laws or concepts enacted in the soul, and a wise government will

Edward Everett.

Mr. Edward Everett, in speaking- of the soul, said:

"What! Feed a child's body, and let his soul hunger; pamper his limbs, and starve his faculties?

"What! Plant the earth, cover a thousand hills with your droves of cattle, pursue the fish to their hiding-place in the sea, and spread out your wheat fields across the plain, in order to supply the wants of that body, which will soon be as poor and senseless as the poorest clod, and let the pure, spiritual essence within you, with all its glorious capacities for improvement, languish and pine?

"What! Build factories, turn in rivers upon the waterwheels, unchain the imprisoned spirits of steam, to weave a garment for the body, and let the soul remain unadorned and naked?

"What! Send out your vessels to the farthest ocean, and make battle with the monsters of the deep, in order to obtain the means of lighting up your dwellings and workshops, and prolonging the hours of labor for the meat that perisheth, and permit that vital spark, which God has kindled, which he has intrusted to our care to be fanned into a bright and heavenly flame — permit it. I say, to languish and go out?"

employ the economy offered through a complete training and development of the citizen. The dollar appropriated and used in the interest of a righteous citizenship is an investment that closes governmental leaks and increases spiritual power and material wealth in the government of the people. Education in its broadest meaning is the oculist; the soul is the eye; and any government that fails to employ the oculist invites blindness and ruin. "Books, schools, education, are the scaffolding, by the means of which God builds up the human soul." The bulwark of American liberty is spiritual thought. The government's richest gold mine is the human mind.

Governmental Repressiveness. — A good government seeks to govern less by aiding the citizen to govern himself more. If men would only cease to build prisons within themselves, governments would be less repressive, and we should have but little if any use for jails, penitentiaries, and criminal statutes. But as long as men fail to rule themselves we must have laws to repress crime and prisons for criminals. As we control ourselves and advance toward a higher civilization, public schools, colleges, universities, churches, libraries, and other character-making institutions will grow more numerous and their work will become more effective. At the same time saloons, jails, penitentiaries, and criminals will diminish in number, and much of the money that is now used to repress the undisciplined spirit of men will be invested for a symmetrical and universal education of the citizen. The reader must not conclude, however, that government and law are for the good only. They are for both good and bad men. If all the people who constitute the government were noble men, we would still need a government through which to administer the general welfare.

Conscience. — The reader will observe from the illustration on the next page that conscience is represented in the center of the individual life.

This conscience, this moral sense, if properly used, and if the right standard has been placed before it, defines our duty and becomes a compass and a guide to a noble and useful life.

SELF-GOVERNMENT.

"Conscience is the champion of justice."

"A sound conscience is a brazen wall of defense."

"Happy is he who walks attended by that strong champion, conscience."

"Conscience guides me; but what guides conscience is now the inquiry. It will be seen that as the Ego is not a system or a principle but a personality, so that which should rule conscience must not be abstractions or systems, but a personality — God." "There is a God above the soul."

Our conscience is an accurate register of our moral nature and worth. What is true with the individual is true with the nation.

When we weigh the aggregate conscience of all the people composing our nation, we determine the moral value and power of our government. A man without an educated moral conscience, a nation without a civic moral conscience, will perish. Make the individual life moral and strong, and you enrich national life. Arouse the dormant, quicken the sluggish, sharpen the blunted, and "resurrect" the dead conscience of the individual citizen, and you build character and enlarge our national existence.

Conscience Our Anchor. — Conscience is our national anchor that holds us close to God and the right. The voice, "I ought," which cries aloud in the cultivated soul, is a national asset, and upon it rests the future perpetuity of our government. When the President writes his message and performs other executive duties, when Congresses and General Assemblies convene to enact laws, when judges render decisions, when jurors write verdicts, when the officer accepts the public trust, when the citizen casts his ballot, when the minister holds up the perfect life, when the teacher instructs the class, when the blacksmith hammers out the horseshoe, or whatever we do in life, however humble, each of us should hear the still, small voice, "I ought,'- prompting us to do our duty and give to our countrv a well-done work and an honest service.

SELF-GOVERNMENT.

Horace Mann.

Copyright by E, A. Perry, Maiden, Mass.

Conscience and Social Problems.— What we shall do with the questions that relate to capital and labor and all other matters that concern the welfare of society must be solved by a quickened conscience of a righteous citizenship. Lowell evidently considered the voice of conscience a leading factor in the solution of all problems. He said: "Our healing is not in the storm nor in the whirlwind. It is not in monarchies nor aristocracies. But it will be revealed by the still, small voice that speaks to our conscience and heart, prompting us to wider and wiser humanity."

Universal Peace and Conscience. — The champion of universal fellowship and justice is the voice of the conscience that speaks from the hearts of the people of the world. Armies and navies will be needed in securing the highest civilization until, each government establishes its authority upon nature's law and offers its subjects an opportunity to develop the highest culture and self-control. They will be needed until a world's conscience proclaims the establishment of personal liberty and the reign of peace in the individual lives of all the people of the world. The natural universal Peace Congress is composed of all the people of the earth, and its power to secure tranquillity depends upon the moral and intellectual wealth of each member composing