The new republic. Founded on the natural and inalienable rights of man, and containing the outlines of such a government as the patriot fathers contemplated and formulated in the Declaration of independence when struggling for liberty

Front matter

THE NEW REPUBLIC.

FOUNDED ON THE

NATUEAL AND INALIENABLE EIGHTS OP MAN,

Contents

PAGE.

To the Reader 5

The Presentment 11

Chapter I. Definitions

" 'Tis coming up the steeps of time,

And this old world is growing brighter ; We yet may see its dawn sublime, For high hopes make the heart throb lighter."

Government in the sense of political science is an agreement, expressed or implied, to conform to certain regulations by a body of people having common interests and a common country. It is based on man's social nature and mutual wants ; and has for its object the regulation and protection of its citizens in the full and free exercise of their natural rights, privileges, and opportunities.

Some uniformity and concert of action, some common sentiment finding expression in law and the various institutions of a country, are indispensable to the very existence of society. This truth has given rise to the adage, " Bad government is better than no government."

Government, being a national association founded on mutual interests and mutual dependencies — an organized system of procedure — and necessary to secure these interests and the benefits of co-operation in the pursuit of mutual advantages, requires legislative and executive powers.

When these powers are exercised in the interest of a few, who, by the force of custom and false education, hold the many in subjection, such government is Despotism ; when they are exercised by the people through an organized system of representation, such government is & Republic.

These two modes of government constitute the base upon which all the various forms of government among mankind are founded. The one is based upon assumed, usurped, vested power ; the other upon natural rights. The former demands submission to superiors, the latter obedience to well-regulated institutions ; the one for the aggrandizement of the few, the other embraces the good of all.

(1) A republican government is founded upon the natural rights of the people, and has for its sole object the regulation of those rights and the protection of the people in their full and free exercise.

(2) Human rights are based upon the necessities and requirements of life, and consist in a natural claim to the means of obtaining them ; the essential conditions of which are personal liberty, physical sustenance, and mental freedom.

(3) As life is of divine origin, so are the rights necessary to maintain it: and those means by which all its purposes are accomplished are equally divine. These rights are inalienable, and as sacred as life itself, because their full and free exercise is essential to the accomplishment of life's purposes.

(4) The right to live carries with it the right of personal liberty, the means of subsistence, and the development and culture of all the intellectual, moral, esthetic, and spiritual powers and capabilities of the individual ; and as all have the right equally to live, so all have the right equally to its prerogatives, means, and possibilities.

(5) Since the capacity to enjoy liberty, to acquire the means of subsistence, and the natural capacity for mental development and spiritual culture are within certain limits, with the free exercise of these natural rights, the status of the individual in such conditions, physically, intellectually, morally, and spiritually, would correspond with such capacity ; and equality of conditions within these limits would be established in a government founded on natural rights. In other words, the status of equality would be commensurate with the natural capacity of the people in the full and free enjoyment of such rights. As the limits in physical stature, strength, and endurance are comparatively narrow, with like development and culture, all the mental attributes would be within the same narrow limits, and natural equality would be the result.

The struggles and miseries of life have arisen chiefly from the denial of these natural rights ; and the usurpation of powers founded on the idea of a divine right to rule still prevails in all civilized countries, under the name of vested rights. Whenever natural rights have asserted their claiftis, " vested rights," holding the supremacy, have overpowered them, and thus kept mankind in submission.

Contending usurpers have involved nations in war, either to support dynasties or for conquest ; and the wealth produced by the toiling millions has been squandered to satisfy the demands of ambitions pomp, luxury, and avarice. These are the fruits of despotism.

On the other hand, under a government that secures the exercise and enjoyment of natural rights, each one would hold and enjoy the wealth he produces. The result would be the prosperity, advancement, and happiness of the people ; whereas, the result of " vested rights," exercised by the few, is war, with all its attendant evils, the burdens of which are borne by the people, but the glory, wealth, and power go to the few ; incessant toil, poverty, and slavery of the many, and idleness, luxury, and dominion to the few.

Thus it is seen that usurped powers vested in governments, formulated in constitutions, commanding obedience by the authority of law, and exercised for the benefit of the usurpers, must antagonize natural rights, and the results are inordinate wealth, tyranny, and oppression on the one hand ; and poverty, debt, ignorance, crime, degradation, and misery on the other.

In our country, all vested powers, derived from the idea of a divine right to rule, have been proscribed in the Federal Constitution, but have been more than supplied by powers vested in corporations for private enterprise, under the authority granted by law, which have usurped and now exercise the sovereign functions of government for their sole use and benefit, and by their power dictate all the affairs of government and control all its sources of wealth. A government thus based upon assumed vested rights can

20 THE NEW EEPUBLIC.

never be u a government of the people, for the people, by the people." Power emanating from the people, and delegated to their representatives for exercise, must remain under the people's control and subject to their will.

" Government is nothing more than a national association, and the object of this association is protection, as well individually as collectively. Every man wishes to pursue his occupation and to enjoy the fruits of his labors and the produce of his property in peace and safety, and with the least possible expense. When these things are accomplished, all the objects for which government ought to be established are answered." — Paine's Mights of Man.

There is but one general principle that distinguishes freedom from slavery, which is, that all vested power is to the people a species of slavery, the degree of which corresponds with that" of the power vested and exercised ; and delegated power truly and faithfully exercised in a government is freedom within the scope of popular government. The power is in the people, not in their public servants ; in those who pay, and not in those who are paid.

The prevalent idea is that the government is the power and the people are subject to it ; whereas, the true idea is that the people are sovereign, and that the government is the prescribed means for regulating their rights and protecting them in the exercise of them, and their official agents are subject to their control. A simple application of this idea will determine whether our government is a republic or not. If the greatest good is secured to the greatest number ; if the subdivision of land is so regulated and occupancy so protected that all citizens who desire it may have homes upon it ; if all who produce wealth can hold and enjoy it; if transportation, travel, and communication for intelligence are secured at the cost of service; if in elections the voice of the people is fairly expressed; if the burden of revenue is borne by all according to their ability to pay ; if labor and capital are united in one common interest ; if social and educational institutions secure to the people the greatest blessings they are capable of giving — then we have a republican government.

Such was the government contemplated a hundred years ago by the patriots. Inspired by the love of liberty and the divine heritage of human rights, they struggled with almost superhuman efforts, endured indescribable hardships, and made heroic sacrifices to gain for themselves and transmit to posterity the highest and noblest of earthly blessings — liberty, equality, fraternity, justice, secured by popular government.

But before such government could be fully formulated and set in operation, and during its brief existence, by the intrigues and machinations of the enemies of free government, its aims were diverted and its purposes defeated.

To show how far popular rights have been usurped, the following instance is given : In the last Congress an amendment to the post-office bill was offered, which provided, first, for an amendment to the charters of the Union and Central Pacific railroads ; and second, for the reduction of compensation for carrying the mails on old-subsidy-and-land-grant railroads to fifty per cent of the rate paid on roads built by private capital. The arguments in support of the amendment were, that as the government had virtually built these roads by donating to corporations land and subsidy bonds amply sufficient in amount to cover all costs of construction and equipments, it had the right to demand the transportation of the mails over them at cost.

But the argus eyes of corporations saw that it would never do to acknowledge the right or power of the government to lay its finger upon a corporate prerogative, no matter how justly or how much the public good demanded it ; so through its Democratic mouth-piece, Abram S.

Hewitt (son-in-law of the venerable Peter Cooper), in a tone of holy horror it wanted to know " if the House felt prepared to begin the work of confiscating private property, which, when once approved by a vote of the House, would proceed with fearful strides until it ended in a logical result — communism."

Through its Republican organ, Mr. Caswell, it was more defiant, and declared that the amendment would be inoperative, as it was a blow at the vested rights of those corporations, " which could not be taken away or invaded by Congress"

Any regulation for the reduction of rates for transportation on those roads which were virtually built by the people is declared " confiscation of private property," resulting in " communism."

This from the Democratic side of corporate power; on the Republican side, "a blow at the vested rights of corporations, which could not be taken away or invaded by Congress " !

The definitions here presented show the necessity and importance of the people in taking immediate and determined action in the establishment of a government in which they will realize the blessings that justice, equality, and liberty give. The time must be near at hand, when the people, whose rights have been denied and their powers usurped by a confederation of corporations, will arise in their might, arouse their slumbering energies, and resolve that to secure the natural and inalienable rights theywill demand such a government as will secure them ; " laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and

' happiness Where a long train of abuses

and usurpations, having invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them to absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and provide new guards for their future safety." This right, this duty, is as sacred and binding now as it was a hundred years ago

The issues now involved are essentially the same; we have, however, this advantage: the foundation which they established, the Declaration of Independence, and the ballot, with which we may regain our liberties. The foundation is acknowledged by all, and the ballot is in the hands of enough to express the intelligence and enforce the will of the people, which constitute the power of the government. It only remains to test that intelligence and moral force of the people's will, for there is no obstacle that intelligence and moral power cannot overcome.

Chapter II. Outlines Of The New Republic

" What constitute a state?

Men, high-minded men, With powers as far above dull brutes endued,

Men who their duties know.

But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain;

Prevent the long-aimed blow, And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain ; —

These constitute a state."

A government founded on the natural rights of the people must have a system by which their will can be fully and fairly expressed.

This requires political jurisdictions of two kinds ; for organizations, like individuals, must have prescribed limits. First, primary, in which the people have direct and personal control over their local affairs. By this local government, the construction of roads, bridges, and the erection of buildings for public use, as schools, lyceums, and for public entertainment, conducting educational matters and all domestic affairs, are under the direct control of the people. The administration of justice in all civil and criminal matters, the abatement of nuisances and all other 2 concerns of a local character, are managed directly by the people in their local jurisdictions.

Second, representative, because of the extent of country and population, and the common interests arising from the combinations of local governments, the powers are delegated to agents who represent the people in their interests.

Sovereign control is to be exercised in these jurisdictions in matters pertaining to them respectively : in local, by the people direct ; in the representative, by delegates elected by the people.

The primary jurisdictions extend to convenient limits, and unite to form county jurisdictions whose interests will be served by representatives. This is the first representative jurisdiction.

Another, embracing the State, also represented by delegates elected by the people, would be the second. This body of delegates will have charge of all the interests of the State, and tha regulation of all affairs in which the people of the State have a common interest.

The highest representative jurisdiction will embrace the whole country, and the delegates for it will be elected by the people of the respective States, and their powers and duties will embrace all the interests of the people in the capacity of a General Government.

Each of these jurisdictions will exercise a separate and independent sovereignty. Sovereignty pertains to unity, and each unit has sovereignty over its own interests. In all that belongs to a primary jurisdiction, its sovereignty is distinct and complete, and does not conflict with any other. So of a county, a state, or the nation.

The sovereign powers of the nation will be exercised by a legislative and executive department, which will be prescribed by a constitution, which will also contain provisions for other offices in the government, and for the election of officers, prescribing their duties and relations to their constituents.

The state governments will be constructed on like principles, with sovereign powers co-extensive with their respective jurisdictions.

The county governments will be merely administrative, and their sovereign powers will be commensurate with their respective jurisdictions.

Primary jurisdictions will regulate all local affairs within the limits of the state and national government.

Thus a scheme of government simple in its construction and easy of comprehension will secure all the purposes for which popular government is instituted, originating directly from the people and under their absolute control ; the powers delegated will return to the people at the expiration of the term of office.

Having outlined the general system of republican government, the most important subjects for consideration are the qualifications of citizens and the modes of election. The character of a government is that of the people composing it. If they have no true conception of just government, no just government can exist. The powers of government are inherent in the people, and for the purpose of exercise, are intrusted or delegated to some of their number. If these powers are so conferred as to be controlled by the delegates and beyond control or recall by the people, republican government ceases and is changed to despotism.

The first qualification of a citizen is a willingness to concede to others all that he demands for himself. This implies justice and equality, without which republican government cannot exist.

The second qualification for citizenship is a disposition and determination, at all times and in all places, to support the rule of the majority, when fairly and properly expressed. This is the authority of government.

The third qualification is intelligence and moral appreciation. A clear comprehension of the principles of government and its purposes, and the duties of the citizen, are indispensable. This is the power of the government.

The fourth qualification embraces those attributes that fit the individual for the social duties of life, for government is a national association. These constitute the benefits of government, for it is by it that they are enabled to become general.

These qualifications are required of all, regardless of sex. The rights of women are equal with those of men. Since government is founded on rights, it becomes as necessary to one sex as to the other ; for the question of sex does not involve that of rights.

The power for good is the love of those attributes that secure it, applied by the guidance of wisdom. This power is all-sufficient for man's purposes. It will overthrow despotism and corruption ; it will emancipate the people from ignorance, poverty, crime, and misery. It will bring to realization the dreams of the philosopher and the hopes of the humanitarian.

It is attainable, not by conquest, but by the exercise of those attributes that constitute the true citizen, through the instrumentality of the ballot.

It comes not with the sound of the trumpet and the clash of arms, but by the gentle and peaceful exercise of thought. It is ours when we command it, without cost or sacrifice, and of more value than wealth and pomp and dominion combined. Justice is its basis, equality its condition, and liberty, peace, and prosperity its blessings.

All it asks is the liberty of appearing ; all it needs is the appreciation of the people. But so deeply rooted are the existing systems of the governments of the world, and so strongly have tyranny, the reverence for antiquity, and the slavery of fear wrought upon men, that it is difficult to overcome their influence. To eradicate error or remove prejudice is more difficult than to instill truth and inspire confidence in receptive minds. To realize this truth is the first step in this great work, and no greater or more important work can engage the mind and labor of man.

Having outlined the general system of republican government and the qualifications of its citizens, it is important to consider a just method of election. The voice of the people must be fairly and honestly expressed. In order to do this, the representatives must be elected by the people in their respective jurisdictions, without regard to lines of subdivision ; that is to say, all the officers of a county must be voted for without respect to district lines, those of a state regardless of county lines, and those of the nation irrespective of state lines.

One month before the final election, let there be held a primary election, with all the binding force and safeguards that the law can give. Let each voter express his or her choice for a candidate for office freely ; and let there be as many candidates as the people desire to vote for. When these votes have been officially canvassed and reported, let all candidates be dropped except those having the highest number of votes aggregating a majority of the party voting for them. At the final election, each party will unite on one or more candidates who will be the choice of the majority of his party.

Where a number of officers of the same kind are to be elected, as supervisors, commissioners, and legislators, let the number of votes in the jurisdiction be divided by the number of officers to be elected, and the quotient be termed a quota. When a candidate receives a quota of votes, let him be declared elected. Then each party will concentrate its whole force on as many candidates as it can elect, for more than that would defeat its candidates. Thus each party would have a proportional representation.

With a government thus founded, constructed, and represented, the people of the United States would be the most powerful, prosperous, and happy nation on the globe, requiring neither strife nor blood to attain such conditions.

One hundred years of experience, with the aid of history and the present condition of existing nations, ought to be a sufficient guide to that happy consummation.

Wisdom, justice, and humanity dictate it; advancing civilization requires it ; and an enslaved, robbed, and impoverished people demand it. To break this thralldom and maintain popular freedom is the first and most important duty, and the highest privilege of this oppressed, impoverished, and enslaved people.

Let all who think, who love liberty, justice, and humanity, resolve to accomplish this great work ; and the toiling millions, struggling in their poverty and now sinking into pauperism, with grateful voices will bless the workers ; coming generations will sing their praises, and the glory of a moral heroism far surpassing any displayed on the field of battle will give worth and splendor to the names of those who did it.

THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 33

Chapter III. A Brief Reyiew Of The Struggle For Liberty

"The man that is not moved at what he reads, That takes not fire at their heroic deeds, Unworthy of the blessings of the brave, Is base in kind, and born to be a slave."

The love of liberty is inherent in every sentient being. The condition of liberty is essential in the accomplishment of life's purposes. In the wilds of the new continent, and yielding to the impulse of freedom, the colonists were not slow in developing its spirit and enjoying the sweets of unrestrained activity. But the tyranny that drove them from their native land followed them to their new homes, and with insatiable lust sought to replace its shackles upon them. For more than a hundred and fifty years this struggle went on. Inspired only by avarice and the love of dominion, Great Britain resorted to every means for her own aggrandizement at the expense of the colonists. And yet the colonists maintained a loyalty to the mother government with wonderful pertinacity. But the accumulation of wrongs proved too much for even such loyalty. 2*

The colonies were made a source of immense revenue to the mother country, and the struggle to throw off British tyranny was as intense and determined as the spirit of the colonists had been patient and indulgent ; and the long contest ended in the acknowledgment of the independence of the United States by Great Britain in 1783.

It was not until 1754 that any effort was made to confederate the colonies for mutual defense. In that year, the first movement for a confederation of interests in the colonies was made for defense against the threatened invasion of the French and in support of the home government. The next was in 1765, in which a Declaration of Eights was published, but nothing further was done. The first suggestion of an independent movement was made in 1774, and the first Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia in September of that year ; and in October following a Declaration of Eights appeared, in which natural rights were considered to some extent, and representation in their colonial government demanded, and a protest against certain usurpations. The result was expressed in the following words :

" 1. To enter into a non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement or association.

" 2. To prepare an address to the people of

THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 35

Great Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of British America.

u 3. To prepare a loyal address to his Majesty, agreeable to resolutions already entered into."

But the stirring events that intervened between that act and July, 1776, prepared the people for that grandest of all Declarations. For sublimity and heroism it transcends anything ever accomplished by man ; and for the interests involved in humanity no deeds of men approach it. " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." The necessary condition of equality is justice, and justice among men precludes the necessity of charity, for those only require charity who suffer from injustice.

" That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." Bold and sacrilegious is the power that deprives them of these rights. Emanating from a divine source, they are themselves divine, and their deprivation by force or fraud is a crime.

" That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men." This is the legitimate object of government.

" Deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed." All power derived from other sources is despotism. Consent implies volition, and a government sustained by such power must necessarily be free.

" That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it."

This is the right of all rights. It protects the people from the odious charge of revolution in any change of government they see fit to make. It is as legitimate to alter or abolish a government as to enact laws in support of it.

"To institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

By this declaration the right to build up in any form u most likely to affect their safety and happiness is conceded.'' It ignores all authority outside of the people, and leaves them free at any time to " alter or abolish " and institute a new government.

Upon these principles a government was partially founded, but in the pressure of events and the condition of the country, it was for a time left incomplete. Sovereignty is an essential condition of complete unity.

In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation. It was a compact of States ; it was not national. It served, however, to tide over the struggle and set the people upon an independent basis. It was required to exer-

THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. dT

cise sovereign functions of a national character. It was not endowed with that sovereignty. It needed completing, and had it been clothed with national sovereignty, the inestimable blessings of free government would have been secured to the American people, just as these principles were, as ratified in 1778.

In the Articles of Confederation the States were regarded as beinu endowed with absolute sovereignty, and the Confederation as an agreement to " be inviolably observed by every State." A government that extends its jurisdiction over the whole in all matters which concern the interest of the whole, or which relates to intercourse with other powers with which it is connected, must possess sovereignty over the acts it is required to perform and the interests it is required to protect. This defect in the then existing form of o-overnment led to a call for a revision and amendinent of the Articles of Confederation, the history of which will be presented in the next chapter.

Thus the struggle for liberty ended in a brief but brilliant victory. Its fruit, which promised to nourish the famishing millions, was turned to bitter ashes, which only impoverishes by its hollow pretensions.

While liberty itself is lost, the name remains, and since its blessings have never been felt by this generation, its value is not estimated. Incessant toil and privation stultify the mental powers and impoverish the spirit.

A condition that requires the whole time and energy to procure the necessary means of subsistence defeats the very purposes for which life is given.

The true purpose of life is to develop and cultivate to their highest capacity all the powers and attributes of body and mind, thus rounding out the individual to full and harmonious proportions ; but this is impossible under existing conditions, because the whole energies are exhausted in procuring a bare subsistence.

This condition is virtually slavery — a condition incompatible with the purposes of life and the happiness of mankind. The attainment of liberty which involves the reconstruction of government is the work of the people, without which life and the pursuit of happiness are but idle dreams.

Chapter IV

HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, AND AX ACCOUNT OF THE LEADING MEN WHO ADVOCATED AND WHO OPPOSED IT.

** God of mercy ! must this last ?

Is tills land preordained For the present, as in the past.

And the future, to be chained ;

To be ravaged, to be drained, To be robbed, to be spoiled,

To be hushed, to be whipped,

Its soaring pinions to be clipped, And its every effort foiled ? "

There has been no period in the history of the world in which popular government was so nearly in the balance as in 1787, when the Federal Constitution was framed and adopted by the convention in old " Liberty Hall."

Long years of struggle for liberty, with varying success, had prepared the friends of freedom throughout the world for a determined resistance to the encroachments" of usurped rights, and strike a blow that would effectually destroy its power on American soil, and give civil liberty an abiding place for all time to come.

Only in their possession for a brief period, and before the plan for preserving it could be matured, the " eternal vigilance " so strenuously urged by its master spirit was relaxed, and the opportune moment was seized by the supporters of aristocratic government, who decided the fate of that memorable struggle, until the accumulating evils of vested powers in giant corporations will drive the people to another revolution, unless the wisdom and resolution of the present generation shall, by peaceful means, avert so terrible a calamity.