The American citizen in Pennsylvania, the government of the state and of the nation

Preface

The purpose of this work is to present to the pupils in the public schools in the Commonwealth some practical information as to the rights and duties which belong to American citizenship. The study of civics is now receiving increased attention in our schools, particularly since the school laws require that teachers shall have a fair knowledge of civil government, including State and local government. In view of this legislation, a text-book to meet the needs of the schools should treat the local and State government as at least of equal importance with that of the Nation. It has been said that many a youth has grown to manhood with so little appreciation of the Commonwealth in which he lives as to regard it simply as a geographical division. The study of the State government and of the National Government are of equal importance.

The student of civil government should begin with that which is near at hand and of immediate interest, and proceed to that which is distant and of remote concern. He should not begin with that rare and precious afterthought and flower of government, the Constitution of the United States, but with the material forms that are close at hand. In connection with the ordinary lessons in reading, the children should be made acquainted with words suggesting civic ideas, as citizen, soldier, officer, law, justice, country, state, city, and nation. Then, in elementary lessons, the children should gain general notions of local government and organization,

6 PREFACE

the duties and rights of citizens, suffrage and elections, and kindred topics. Then should come a study of the organization of the State, — the legislative, the executive, and the judicial powers; and taxation, corporations, education, etc. Then may come the study of the political, legislative, administrative, and judicial organization of the United States as shown in the Constitution.

Let the teacher endeavor to contribute to the elevation of the pupil's ideal of citizenship, and thus labor for, the improvement of the quality of the citizen. The pupils should not only know something about the Government and their own relation to it as subjects and as sovereign-citizens, but, becoming filled with the spirit of good citizenship, should be led to the discipline and practice of the same. A boy, on his return from school at noon on election day, said to his father, "Papa, have you voted?" "No," said the father. "I did," responded the boy. To his surprise the father found that under the eye of the teacher an election had been held before the opening of school, and that after school the votes were to be counted, and the result announced. That was practical teaching. Similar devices may be used in illustrating many other points in practical civil government, and the primary ideas of government be developed from the very games of the children.

Much of the education which shapes a child for his duties as a man and a citizen is that which he gains from the influence of his home, and of the community in which he lives. The schools must do much more than enforce needed discipline, cultivate intellectual tastes, and instruct in the means for obtaining a livelihood. Manly and womanly honesty, generosity, virtue, and patriotism must be taught in every schoolroom in the land. Patriotism is the noblest

PREFACE 7

passion that animates man in his character as a citizen. We cannot hope to make radical changes in the lives and impulses of the multitudes that come to our land as a natural refuge from the tyranny of other countries; but the nature of our free institutions may be taught to the children, and thus the youth of the land may be trained and brought upward to intelligent thought and action in regard to patriotic citizenship. The theory upon which the public free school supported by the State rests is that it is absolutely necessary, in our system of popular government, that the voters should have intelligence enough to perform the requisite duty of voting. It is admitted that ability to read and write is essential to the exercise of citizenship in such a Government as ours. But if it is the duty of the State to give sufficient education to the voters to enable them to know for whom and for what they vote, then the State may logically go a step further and instruct them in the fundamental nature of their Government. There can be no knowledge more necessary to the voter than that of the real nature of the government he is called upon to help administer.

Intelligence is necessary somewhere in conducting any government; and a popular government resting upon universal suffrage certainly cannot be successful unless the voters are intelligent. But while people may inherit certain traditional notions of government, we cannot assume that anybody is born with a good working knowledge of the Constitution of the United States. Even if such knowledge were the birthright of the native-born, it cannot be assumed for the foreigner made a citizen, born and reared in conditions totally different from ours, nor for his children inheriting his' ideas, nor for the millions of colored citizens in the South. The girls and boys in our public schools need elementary in-

8 PREFACE

struction in the nature of our complex Government, in order that they may gain fundamental conceptions of what our Government really is, and of their own relation thereto. Considering how much is at stake, the State cannot more profitably spend its money than by making young citizens intelligent about their own Government and their own country. Mrs. Browning's words in Mother and Poet ring true to the heart of the mother and teacher, and to the sacredness and grandeur of the Nation as she sings: —

" To teach them — It stings there! — I made them indeed Speak plain the word country. I taught them, no doubt, That a country 's a thing men should die for at need."

The social value of education has received recent recognition through the idea that education is a preparation for citizenship. Individual and social welfare, happiness and righteousness, depend more largely than has ever before been acknowledged upon the relations existing between persons and classes in institutional life. This new aim requires that great attention be paid to the formation of character, social habits, altruistic and patriotic motives.

A. E. M.

State Normal School, Slippery Rock, Pa.

Contents

IAPTER PAGE

Preface. 5

I Society : Rights : Government 11

Chapter I Society: Rights: Government

Knowledge of Government. — An essential factor in securing our own happiness and that of those with whom we are associated is a knowledge of the nature and operation of the government under which we live. The great object of government is the securing of justice among men. In order that men may live in peace together, there must be laws restraining them from acts of injustice and protecting them in the enjoyment of their rights. The function of government is to make and execute such laws. The importance of a knowledge of government becomes very great to a citizen of a republic because he has a part in choosing those who make and execute the laws, and thus to some extent may justly be held responsible for the government.

Society. — Man is by nature a social being; that is, he has no natural desire to live alone, but rather to join other men and to associate with them. The simplest and most original association of human beings is found in the family, and this is the foundation of all society. Human interests cannot be solitary; any one interest is related to all others. So families unite to form groups or tribes or communities. The reason why human, beings unite to form groups is because of the feeling that only by means of a common order of communication and protection can the best interests of all be secured. These common purposes and bonds of nearness and intercourse give a group or community the qualities of a public alliance or union. Such a group is called a social unit ; and living in such a group or community constitutes a state of civil society.

Benefits of Civil Society. — One man can do very little alone, but when he unites his efforts with those of others he can accomplish great results. Yet each man must to a large extent have the care of himself. If every person were provided for from a common store, amassed by the labor of all, many, depending upon the labor of others, would not be industrious, and so the supplies would be decreased. The present arrangement obliges each man to provide for his own wants and those of his immediate family. Thus more is earned, and the general welfare is better promoted than if each labored directly for the benefit of all. But the direct benefits of a civil society are great and lasting. As for material advantages, we enjoy not only the fruit of our own labor, but, in large degree, that of the labors of others. Without civil society, man would remain in a state of ignorance, since each individual would be obliged to begin at the very beginning of all that has been done. But as society now is, each generation bequeaths an intellectual inheritance to its successor. Man is the heir of all the ages, and this makes progress possible. Separated from others, man would become fierce and savage ; brought into the society of others, his manners soften, and his moral and religious nature develops.

Grades of Culture. — Man is the only animal that is able to pass all barriers and to live in nearly every part of the earth. He is able to do this because, in addition to his really superior physical powers, he possesses high intelligence. He has overrun the earth and in a large measure subdued it, because he can think, plan, contrive, and reason. He makes other animals and the elements and forces of nature the servants of his will. In his higher stages of civil society, he no longer depends upon his own muscular strength nor upon that of animals; but by use of iron, steel, and other metals, he employs the greatest forces of nature.

The progress made by any group of men toward the attainment of permanent food supply, proper clothing, substantial dwellings, and power over the forces of nature furnishes a direct measure of their culture, and the grade or stage of society. Thus we consider as in the savage state all those who live chiefly by hunting and fishing, use rude implements, wear little clothing, and have no permanent dwellings. A grade higher, as in a state of barbarism, may be put those who use rude tools of metal, have domestic animals, weave cloth, and have houses; but who have not as yet learned the use of writing. This is the entering wedge of civilization, since writing is the means by which man transmits knowledge from one generation to another. Through the various grades of civilization man passes to the highest grade, in which the inventions and discoveries of mankind are in general placed at the service of all. Wherever these conditions prevail, the people are enlightened.

The Nation the Highest Community. — The highest community is the nation or state. It is a portion of mankind, united by firmly established organization, and limited to clearly defined country or territory. The human beings belonging to a nation are the people. The nation then, in this sense, is the body of inhabitants of the country, speaking the same language in general, and having common interests and the same history. These people obey the same laws, and recognize the same power and authority.

The Government. — The object of the people in entering into civil society is to promote their mutual safety and happiness. For this purpose they agree to be governed by certain established rules and principles. These rules for regulating the social affairs of men are known as laws. Man has a moral nature, that is, he has a sense of right and wrong, or the power to acquire it. He is a moral agent, and is therefore responsible for his actions. In order to secure to all men their individual and collective rights, a certain organization must be created, and certain officials appointed who shall be recognized by all as having the authority and the right to issue commands that should be enforced. Such an organization, and the rules and principles by which the people are regulated and controlled, is called a government; and the society in which such an organization has been instituted is called a state or body politic. The persons who administer the government, that is, those who make the laws and carry them into effect, are called the government.

Forms of Government. — Government is, then, the collective powers that administer public authority. In general terms there are but two great forms of government under which all kinds may be classed; namely, monarchies and republics. In a monarchy, whether kingdom or empire, the monarch exercises power as a personal right, transmitted by succession. But the state may have acquired a fundamental law called a constitution, and this defines the form of government and the rights of subjects. When the authority of a monarch is not limited by a constitution, the government is an absolute monarchy. When his authority is defined by a constitution, the government is a limited or constitutional monarchy. The word republic means a public thing — the government of all. A republic is a government in which the power to enact and administer the laws is exercised by representatives, who are persons elected by the people to act for them. Our form of government in the United States is therefore a republic. Yet not only the election of the representatives, but the adoption of the constitution itself is an act of the people ; therefore, since all power comes from the people, the form of government is also democratic,— thai being the term applied to a government in which the power rests directly with the whole people. Our nation is properly called a democratic republic, or a representative democracy. A pure democracy could exist only in a country of very limited extent.

A form of government in which the power is in the hands of a select few is called an aristocracy. There are no governments of this form in existence to-day, although most national governments exhibit aristocratic tendencies. In nearly all European countries one house of the legislative branch is composed of members who hold their seats on account of noble birth, thus admitting the aristocratic element into the government.

The Republican Form Superior. — A republic is the only form of government consistent with the recognition of the people as the source of power. It is preferable to any form of monarchy because, through the exercise of the right of suffrage, the people control their own affairs instead of submitting blindly to one person who is able to place his own interests above those of the nation. The heir of a good king may be incapable of governing well; but in a republic, the President is selected from the most able men. In a republic men are free citizens. The power of the law, sustained by public opinion, is much better than the power of the sword, sustained by the hand that wields it. The keynote of our government is expressed in the saying of Lincoln: "Ours is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

A Commonwealth. — The term commonwealth is often applied in a general sense to signify the state. The original word was commonweal, meaning strictly the common good or the common happiness. A state in which the people enjoy common rights and privileges is properly so called; hence the term commonwealth is sometimes used in speaking of the States of the Union. The term is used throughout the Constitution of Pennsylvania.

The Object of Government. — Aristotle says that a state or government is in a sense one of the works of nature, and that man is naturally a political animal. There have been, however, governments in the world for ages, but the truth in regard to the rights of man has not been long accepted. God has created in every individual certain inherent rights. All men are born with equal rights. To understand and to live this great truth is the privilege which the people of the United States hold by the law of the land. The primary object of all government is to secure to individuals and to nations their rights. Justice is therefore the fundamental idea of the state, and the great end of government.

The Rights of Man. — There are four great classes of rights and duties possessed by men as members of society. The government protects the individual in the exercise of these rights, and requires the performance of the equally important duties. The rights are classified as individual, social, political, and religious or moral.

Among the individual rights are the right to personal liberty, personal security, and the right to property. That which we have acquired by honest labor, or by other lawful means, is rightfully our own. We have also the right to be secure from injury to the body, or person, or good name ; also to the liberty of acting, moving, and speaking without unjust restraint, so long as we do not trespass upon the rights of others.

Social rights are those which are secured to a citizen through his relation as a member of the state or nation as a whole. The right of the child to receive an education is a social right; while upon the parent and the public is imposed the equal social duty to provide it. Society can exercise its undoubted right to see that laws are observed as to the preservation of the public health, cleanliness of streets, and the maintenance of public order. Should the rights and interests of an individual conflict with the needs of society, then the individual right yields to the higher right. This right of society, exercised through the state or a corporation in regard to property, is called the right of eminent domain.

Political rights are those which belong to the people in their political capacity. The right of the people to choose and establish for themselves a form of government, to adopt a constitution, and to elect persons to administer the laws, are examples of political rights. The right to vote at elections is a political right or privilege.

Political rights and duties are of such importance that powerful parties are organized to set forth their ideas, to give time and money for the support of these opinions, and to settle the questions which arise through the peaceful means of the elections or by the compulsion of the sword. Political rights and duties affect all our opinions concerning human laws.

Religious rights consist in the right of every individual to make known and maintain his religious opinions, and to worship God according to the dictates of his own con- Am. Cit. — 2 science. This is the right of conscience which is the voice of God in man. In the exercise of this right, however, a man may not abuse it by violating the rights of others, nor by disturbing the peace and order of society. Moral duties arise in connection with religious freedom. All good government tends to the preservation of the morals of the people.

Liberty, Civil and Religious. — Liberty is the privilege of being free to exercise our rights and to enjoy them. It is called civil liberty or religious liberty according to the kind of rights concerned. Thus, the free use and enjoyment of civil or political rights secured to us by the laws is called civil liberty. It implies freedom — that is, absence of physical or moral coercion. Civil liberty includes freedom of thought, of speech, and of the press; also freedom of locomotion, of assembly, and of the ballot. The freedom of religious opinion and worship is called religious liberty. The words right and liberty have not the same meaning. An individual may have rights which he is not at liberty to exercise.

Citizenship. — American citizenship is the state or condition of being vested with the rights and privileges of an American citizen. All men, women, and children born within the United States and subject to its jurisdiction, irrespective of age, sex, or condition, are presumptively citizens. Others may be admitted to citizenship through naturalization under general laws. Every citizen of the United States is also a citizen of the State in which he resides. Citizenship is hereditary; the children of citizens are citizens of the United States, even though they may have been born in a foreign country.

The people living in this country may be divided into two classes — citizens and aliens. The citizen is a member of the body politic, owes obedience to the government, has the full protection of the laws, and has such rights of holding office and voting as the Constitution allows. However, not all citizens are electors; an elector is a citizen who has the right to vote.

An alien is a person who owes allegiance to a foreign country, but enjoys such rights as the country in which he resides sees fit to grant to him. Among such rights usually granted may be named the power to acquire and own land. Strictly speaking, an alien cannot exercise political rights; but some States in the Union permit aliens, after a short residence therein, and after declaring their intention to become citizens, to exercise the elective franchise. When an alien is thus allowed to reside in the State, to hold property, and to vote, the distinction between him and a citizen is not very clear.

Indians who still retain their tribal relations are not citizens; and they are therefore only in a qualified sense subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

Naturalization. — An alien may become a citizen of the United States by naturalization. This makes him also a citizen of the State or Territory in which he resides, but it does not necessarily give him the right to vote. Naturalization is a Federal right, while the right to vote comes from the State and is a State gift. The chief requirements for naturalization are as follows: Five years' residence in the United States, and one year's residence in the State where the privilege is sought; two years' preliminary declaration of intention to become a citizen; evidence that the applicant has behaved as a man of good moral character, and is well disposed to the good order and happiness of the country; an oath to support the Constitution of the United States; the renouncing of allegiance to any foreign power, and of all titles of nobility. By virtue of the naturalization of parents, all their children living in the United States and under twenty-one years of age become citizens. A minor who has resided in the United States three years immediately before attaining his majority, may, after becoming of age and after five years' residence, including the three years of his minority, become a citizen by taking oath that for two years it has been his intention to become such. The naturalization of Chinese, Japanese, and others of the Mongolian race-group is prohibited by law. The rights of citizenship are forfeited by naturalization in a foreign country, or by desertion from military or naval service. A naturalized citizen is ineligible to the Presidency.

Population: Residence. — The population of the country may be distinguished as citizens, or inhabitants, or residents. Citizens are all persons born or naturalized within the United States and subject to its jurisdiction. Collectively they constitute the people or Nation. Inhabitants are all those who reside permanently in the country; the term includes citizens and aliens. The term residents is broader still; it includes not only inhabitants, but all sojourners, such as travelers, tourists, and others.

A matter of great importance in relation to citizenship is the question of residence or domicile. A residence or domicile is the place where a person intends to reside permanently. In a political sense the term residence is applied to the act or fact of dwelling or abiding in a place for some continuance of time. Under such circumstances a person is said to gain a residence in that place. A person can have but one place of residence, and temporary absence does not change it. A change of location, with the intention of permanently dwelling elsewhere, removes residence from one place to another. Residence regulates the exercise of certain political rights and privileges.

Students do not gain or lose a residence while attending school.

Patriotism. — Patriotism is the noblest passion that animates man in his capacity as a citizen. Love of country is natural, and has some of the qualities of an instinct, but is much greater than- any mere instinct or passion, since it may become a living principle or motive leading to heroic action. The noblest motive is the public good. Not only should the citizen protect his country from invasion, but he should maintain its laws and institutions in vigor and purity. Thus patriotism becomes the noblest and sublimest of all public virtues. The patriotism which, as a mighty force, moves armies into the battle lines in times of the Nation's peril is not a mere instinct, but a conviction; not a mere impulse, but a determination. It is a principle with all the white heat of passion: loyalty to liberty, and devotion to country.

We should study the history of our country, become familiar with the Nation's institutions, and take an active interest in its affairs. Nor should the closer local form of pride in the records of the Commonwealth which we call our own State be left uncultivated. Every glorious fact in its history should be emphasized, and the names and acts of its great men held in loving remembrance.

(To be answered from the preceding text, from part of Chapter XXXIII, from the definitions at the back of the book, and from independent thought and reading.)

Why is civil society necessary to mankind?

Define civics. What is the necessity of government ?

What division of governmental power was made in ancient times ?

Name the most common kinds of government.

Name and define the two fundamental forms of government.

What is the object of government? Where does the government obtain its power ?

Define law. What is a constitution ?

What is a democracy? What is a republic? Why may we call the United States a representative democracy or a democratic republic?

What principles of our government are illustrated in an election? In a jury trial? In the support of the public schools by taxation?

What great social right has the child? What is the corresponding social duty of the parent ?

Name the duty which corresponds to each of the rights of an American citizen.

What is a right? What is a duty? Name the different classes of civil rights, and define each.

What classes of people are citizens of the United States ?

What is the right of suffrage ? Is it a natural or a civil right ?

Define civil liberty. Define citizenship. Distinguish between right and liberty.

What is the difference between a pure democracy and a representative democracy?

Why is a pure democracy necessarily limited to a small territory and a small number of people?

Define and discuss eminent domain.

Name some of our civic duties.

Distinguish between social and political rights. What civil rights does the State guarantee?

In the earlier stages of social development how was crime punished ?

Give a brief resume of the nature and duties of citizenship.

Distinguish between an alien and a citizen.

What is the difference between an elector and a citizen ?

What rights may aliens exercise?

Are all citizens of the United States electors? Distinguish electors, inhabitants, residents, and citizens.

In a political sense, what is the meaning of the term residence ?

When are the rights of citizenship forfeited ?

What is the noblest passion that can animate the citizen?

Chapter II The Keystone State

importance: boundaries: early history

The Keystone State. — "Let what each man thinks of the state be written upon his brow" was one of Rome's famous inscriptions. The patriotic son of the grand old Commonwealth -of Pennsylvania has no reason to blush when he thinks of the record of his State. Pennsylvania was a most potent factor in the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Among the original States it stood with six free States to the north, and six slave States to the south, a true political "Keystone" to the arch of the Union. Every foot of the Commonwealth is historic ground. What need to go to classic Greece to seek for spots sacred to liberty ? The battles of Brandywine and Germantown were fought on its soil, and Valley Forge is within its limits. The graves at Gettysburg mark well the field on which, in one of the greatest battles of modern times, the armies of thirty-four States fought to decide the question of mankind's right to freedom.

Thus, when we realize the important place which the Commonwealth held in the Revolutionary War and in the Civil War, together with the part that its great men had in the establishment and government of the country, it certainly appears as the "Keystone State" in a much broader sense than that ordinarily indicated by the term.

In population and in wealth Pennsylvania is exceeded by

PENNSYLVANIA: IMPORTANCE 25

New York alone. Of the other States, 42 have less than half the population or wealth of Pennsylvania, while 21 have less than one fifth of its population. Only three States approach it in importance. The area is nearly as great as that of England, and is one eightieth of that of the United States. The population by the census of 1900 is 6,302,115. Under the Apportionment Act of 1901 Pennsylvania has 34 Electoral votes.