ItaHSiilMiilifll iiiiiiBiBii«ti ttlHHKH13 v.|| ^:^^^N vJ ) muili ^^ 11 lurmHir ii THE Pennsylvania Charter instance was a desire for liberty and the opportunity to get ahead, in other words, individual freedom. From the very first a marked change in the man- ners and ideals of the colonists began to show itself. The early settlers brought with them few men of rank, and society was more or less on a level. Moreover, owing to the great expanse of country, men could move about freely seeking larger opportunities. When a bond-servant had finished his term of service, he could strike out for himself and become a man among men. The necessity for labor with the hands proved to be a great leveller and in a marked degree helped the growth of the democratic spirit. In all of the colonies, the clearly defined practice of managing the affairs common to all by some sort of legislative assembly was adopted. The men of each colony claimed the hard-won political rights of Eng- lishmen, especially the right to control taxation. The 56 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY colonial assemblies more or less regularly imposed the taxes and in general had a voice in making the laws. As a consequence, the colonists were independent and self-reliant. It was, in fact, this dominating desire to manage their own affairs that led to the break with England. PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT, 1607-1732 The settlement of Virginia was begun in 1607 by " sundry knights, gentlemen, merchants, and other ad- venturers " sent out by the London Company whose charter placed the government of the colony in the hands of a " careful and understanding council," nomi- nated by the King. In 1619, the Virginia House of Burgesses held the first legislative assembly in Amer- ica. This Assembly, which was the direct ancestor of all of the free assemblies of America, was composed of delegates elected from each of the eleven boroughs of the colony, and was a miniature House of Commons for Virginia. One Jefferson, whose descendant, Thomas Jefferson, a century and a half later wrote the charter of the United States of America, was a member. The delegates who made up this first as- sembly were not from the rank and file of the people, but were men of wealth and position. This aristo- cratic county family system developed the great Vir- ginia leaders of Revolutionary times — the Washing- tons, the Lees, the Randolphs. But the very year that saw the beginning of free institutions in America also witnessed the introduction of human slavery into the same colony, for in 1619, a cargo of twenty slaves was brought from Africa by a Dutch trading vessel and sold to the Virginia planters. Virginia continued to develop her independent spirit GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA 57 although she had much trouble with tyrannical gov- ernors. The most noted of these was Governor Berkeley, a stubborn reactionary, who for nearly thirty-five years opposed popular government in the colony. On one occasion it is said that he thanked God that there were no free schools in Virginia as there w^ere in New England, nor any printing press, " because," he said, " too much education leads to sedi- tion." But the Virginian colonists conducted their individual affairs with a healthy independence, as the hand of the royal governor was not strong enough nor- long enough to restrict daily life on the scattered planta- tions. During the Stuart period, owing to civil strife in England, a large number of Englishmen came to live in Massachusetts. In 1620, the Pilgrims — one hundred men, women and children — landed at Plymouth Rock after having drawn up the Mayflower Compact, in which they agreed solemnly and mutually to combine themselves into a body that would make all laws for the general good of the colony. In a word, they pledged themselves to obey whatever laws they them- selves should make. Beginning ten years later, between 1630 and 1640, ten thousand Puritans came* from England to escape the tyranny of Charles I. They settled at Boston, Cambridge, Charleston, and other small towns situated about Massachusetts Bay. The members of these The Seal of tfie State of Virginia Designed hy George Mason 58 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY separate settlements, usually made up of a minister and his congregation, gathered in their meeting-houses not only for worship but for the conduct of worldly af- fairs. When the people came together for other than religious purposes, the gathering was a town-meeting. The unit, whether of Church or State, was called a township. By the time of the Revolution, Massachusetts had become a group of little, self-governing republics in which all the people, with certain restrictions, had a direct voice in affairs both civil and religious. The legislative assembly for the entire colony was made up of delegates to the " General Court," a body that cor- responded in many ways to the Virginia House of Bur- gesses. " Church and State " in the minds of the Puritans of Massachusetts were indissolubly united. Education was attended to primarily because, as mem- bers of the Church, the communicants must be ready to vote intelligently and to hold office. This made it nec- essary that everyone should know how to read the Bible. " Common " schools were therefore established for all the children, and " Latin " schools for prospective ministers. It was in the democratic features of its government that Massachusetts differed greatly from the " county family " feature of Virginia. VV^hile Virginia bred leaders, Massachusetts and the other New England colonies developed sturdy popular interest in govern- ment and a practice in popular control which later stood the United States in good stead. When trouble with England drew toward the point of eruption, be- tween 1765 and 1775, Massachusetts and Virginia formed the outer sides of the great wedge which was to push royal authority from the thirteen colonies. GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA 59 In Massachusetts, the clash of ideals concerning the right of suffrage led to the founding of new colonies. Governor Winthrop and the other founders of Mas- sachusetts feared a real democracy, believing that only the best trained men were wise and good enough to govern. Therefore they set up what really amounted to an aristocratic form of government, in which a little Courtesy of Charles Scribner's Sons Hooker's Emigration to Connecticut body of seven or eight men imposed taxes, made laws, and ruled the colony. The Reverend Thomas Hooker, pastor of Newton, held the more democratic view that the whole people ought to be governed by the whole people, provided they belonged to the Church. The strife w^as heated and finally in 1636, Thomas Hooker led his own and several other congregations to the Connecticut Valley, a land of reputed fruitful- ness and promise. Here, in 1639, the citizens of three 60 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY neighboring towns met and agreed to govern them- selves by *' The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut," a written constitution under which only church mem- bers were allowed to vote and to hold office. This was the first time in the history of government that a com- monwealth was established by a written constitution. With a delightfully democratic carelessness, the docu- ment failed to mention the name of King in any part of its quaint and precise wording. About the same time that Connecticut was settled, Roger Williams, a minister of Salem, was driven out of Massachusetts because he believed in the separation of Church and State and preached this " heretical " doctrine. To free himself from persecution, he bought a piece of land from the Indians and founded Provi- dence. Here flocked persons of various heterodox re- ligious views — among them Anne Hutchinson who could not agree with the Puritan ministers on questions of theology and who practised woman's rights by freely criticizing and discussing these matters in public. A charter was granted in 164?3, which gave the inhabi- tants " full power and authority to rule themselves, as, by voluntary consent of all or the greater part of them, they shall find most suitable to their estate or condition." As no mention of religious test was made, it is needless to say that the Rhode Island Colony grew apace. Maryland, under the Catholic Lord Baltimore, be- gan its existence as an organized colony in 1634, with a liberal charter which was the first to allow religious freedom. Among the people of Lord Baltimore's colony, a fierce spirit of political liberty was combined with an ingrained respect for law and a strong tend- GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA 61 ency to work out results not by violence but by de- bate. New York, first set- tled by the Dutch, be- cause of toleration in religious matters, soon became a place of refuge for the perse- cuted of all nations. By 1643, eighteen dif- ferent languages were spoken in the streets of New York. The form of government was a representative assembly. In 1683, New York was trans- ferred to the English and James II closed the assembly, placing New Y^ork under a royal governor. The Carolinas have a curious and interest- ing governmental his- tory. With astonish- ing generosity, Charles II by a magnificent gesture granted the land to a group of friends who employed the English philosopher, John Locke, to draw up a form of government. Locke wrote an elaborate plan called " The Fundamental Constitutions " for the Carolinas, which divided the land into provinces, counties, signiories, and precincts. By this plan, the Statue of Roger Williams 62 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY lords, whom the proprietors had the right to create under the name of landgraves and caciques, were to own the land and govern it arbitrarily, without the co- operation of the common people. There were to be as many landgraves as there were counties and twice as many caciques and no more. There were to be leet-men and leet-women, bound for all generations to the land of their caciques. Eight supreme courts to deal judg- ment, capped the whole fabric. This outrageous docu- ment was formally accepted by the " proprietors " as fundamental law for the wilderness of the Carolinas. As might have been expected, the people refused to be governed by this ridiculous constitution which became the subject of dispute for fifty years. The first settlers of Georgia came in 1732. They were released English debtors who, considered incap- able of taking part in the government, were ruled by a board of trustees. Slavery and rum were prohibited and religious freedom, except for Catholics, was per- mitted. By 1752 there were three thousand four hun- dred white people in Georgia and one thousand one hundred blacks. By the time of the founding of Georgia, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania all had some form of legislative assembly, meeting more or less regularly.. These three complete the list of the thirteen original colonies. In 1648, the first attempt at union of the colonies was made by Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecti- cut, and New Haven when they formed " The United Colonies of New England " to protect themselves against the Indians and the Dutch traders on the Hud- son. Rhode Island was left out because of her " irre- ligious " tendencies. This federation was made with- GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA 63 out asking anyone's permission, the document explain- ing that they took this Hberty " by reason of the sad distractions in England." The New England Confed- eration is of great interest, as the first league of Amer- ican colonies made for a common purpose. After the Restoration of the Stuarts in 1660, Charles II sent a royal governor. Sir Edmund Andros, to rule over New England, New York, and New Jersey. Considering the colonial charters too liberal, Andros attempted to seize them, but the precious documents were in some cases conveniently lost. The Connecti- cut charter was hidden in a hollow tree, the famous Charter Oak. The early colonials were bent on " hoarding the mouldy parchments," which guaranteed their liberties. And so the story of the thirteen colonies goes — ■ in some features alike, in others widely differing, but all with the same practice of popular control of govern- ment and all disciplined by contests with royal gov- ernors. THE BREAK WITH ENGLAND During all this time of settlement the colonies were not one in sympathy or spirit. They had grown up as separate and distinct commonwealths, and lacked any close bond of interest or government. But there were movements toward federation and during the years of the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the peo- ple of the colonies grew to have mutual respect for each other while at the same time leaders were de- veloped, who a few years later, took the first steps toward independence. The beginning of the strife that led to the final break between the thirteen colonies and England fol- 64. AMERICAN DEMOCRACY lowed this war. It was not a sudden thing — this breaking away from the mother country. It was rather due to a gradual change in ways of living and thinking and to differences in governmental institu- tions that had been transplanted to America. In America the tendency had set toward greater democ- racy ; all the people were workers, who either actually toiled with their hands or were in administrative posi- tions directing the work of others. There was no strictly leisure class. It must be remembered also, that by the time of the Revolutionary War there were various nationalities in the colonies — Scotch, German, French, Portuguese, Swedes, and a large number of Irish. This mixture of liberty-loving people had a great effect on the develop- ment and spirit of American institutions. The old bottles of Constitutional forms, brought over from England, held the wine of a new nationalism, flavored and warmed by the composite essence of many other than English strains. There was, moreover, among the colonists, even from the very beginning, a remarkable manifestation of in- ventiveness. This characteristic has persisted so con- tinuously that the United States, as a nation, may be said to possess the art of finding a way to do things. Added to this original power of invention was a cer- tain childlike daring and absence of fear that caused the colonists to rush into new situations in spite of evi- dent peril and cost. These traits of character have helped to make the American a different type from the European. In England, at this time, a great number of people were discontented as well as unrepresented in govern- ment. Parliament was in the hands of a narrow aris- GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA 65 tocracy which did not or could not get the point of view of the colonists. In fact, by 1770, England and America had grown so far apart that they could no longer understand each other. What followed was in- evitable. The people in the thirteen colonies had lived too freely and fully to be bound by laws not of their own malr After an engraving by J. Rogers from the Talleyrand miniature 134 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY the agricultural South advocated free trade. By the close of Jackson's first term, the Republican- Democrats had become simply Democrats, a name which they have since that time retained. By this time the National Republicans formed a new party, standing for principles similar to those of the Federalists. After a time, members of the new party called themselves Whigs. The Whig party, of which for many years Henry Clay was the leader, stood for a strong Federal Gov- ernment, a liberal construction of the Constitution, per- manent internal improvements, a protective tariff, and the national bank. The Democrats, on the whole, stood for the Union, which had already been attacked by Calhoun and the believers in nullification, but they op- posed a high tariff, internal improvements, and the national bank ; they advocated government directl} under the control of the people. The Whigs succeeded in electing William Henry Harrison in 1840 but failed to carry out their program because of Harrison's early death. By 1840, the slavery question, which had always had its influence came openly to the front and a new politi- cal party, whose chief plank was opposition to slavery, grew out of the old Whig and Democratic parties. The leaders in this movement named the organization the Liberty party but later called themselves the Free Soil party. Finally in 1854, the Whig party having in turn gone to pieces, the Republican party held its first national convention. Many anti-slavery Democrats joined the new party which demanded that slavery be prohibited in the territories and that Kansas be admitted as a free state. At the second national convention of the Re- publican party in 1860, the platform declared against GREAT NATIONAL MOVEMENTS 135 slavery in the territories, and stood for a protective tariff and free homesteads. " The agricultural South and the industrial North were pitted against each other with the free farmers of the West holding the balance of power." Since the War of Secession, the Democratic and Re- publican parties have stood in the main for the princi- ples on which they were formed, old planks dropping out of their platforms as they became dead issues while new ones were added as new conditions arose. The Democrats stand for low tariff, greater popular con- trol, and against imperialism or annexation by con- quest; the Republicans for high tariff, for an imperial- istic policy, and generally for a narrower control of the government. The Republican party held unbroken power from the time of the War of Secession to 1885. Since that time McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft have been Repub- lican Presidents ; Cleveland and Wilson, Democratic Presidents. In 1912 the Republican party split and the Progres- sive party, headed by Theodore Roosevelt, was formed. This party endorsed presidential primaries, the initia- tive and referendum, popular election of United States senators, the short ballot, woman suffrage, legislation in favor of labor, a minimum wage for women and child- ren, protection of working people, and regulation of monopolies and trusts. In fact, the party made a de- termined effort to out-democrat the Democrats. The Democrats at the same period stood for a down- ward revision of the tariff, a tax on incomes, regulation of trusts and monopolies, labor legislation, and federal reserve banks to reduce the power of the great banking 136 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY centers. Both parties made a bid for the labor vote which now holds the balance of power. In 1912 the Democrats succeeded in getting most of the labor votes with the result that Woodrow Wilson was elected Presi- dent. Short-lived, small parties have been formed during late years but have not been able to gain many offices. The farming interests of the West have several times organized themselves for the sake of gaining political recognition. The first was the Greenback party which had a brief career during the late 70's. The Populist party, which came into life in 1892 on a free silver plat- form, was at one time able to muster a million votes, but soon declined. Its present descendent is the Non-Parti- san Le'ague which though not ye't recognized as a na- tional party has gained control in North Dakota where it is trying out some interesting experiments in state control of industries and public service utilities. The Prohibition party w^as never able to elect its can- didates to office in any great numbers, but that it has had a telling influence on the popular mind is clearly evidenced by the 18th amendment to the Constitution. The Socialist party which has existed as a national party for a number of years, has not been able to make much of an impression on national politics. Many of the votes it counts are votes of protest against the poli- cies and control of the two old parties. In 1920 the Farmer-Labor party was launched. It is made up largely of persons who are discontented with the present conduct of our government, but are not ready to subscribe to Socialistic doctrine. In their 1920 conventions the Socialists and the Farmer-La'bor parties both put forth platforms advocating greater popular control of economic and governmental affairs. GREAT NATIONAL MOVEMENTS 137 Political parties have had a great influence on the development of the government of the people. They have both helped and hindered. While they have been a powerful means of educating the people in the practice of carrying on government, they have also sometimes retarded progress. Thousands of voters have been party men, pure and simple : they were born Democrats or Republicans and they died Democrats or Republi- cans bequeathing their political faith to their sons. Measures proposed by one party, no matter how com- mendable, are generally opposed and frequently defeated by the other party, with seeming disregard for the wel- fare of the country as a whole. The candidates for office set up by either party have been savagely reviled by the members of the other and vital issues are often clouded by prejudice and party feeling. On the whole, however, political parties have done much towards the development of political democracy. In the heat and conflict of debate new and better ideas spring into life. The great questions which are to be decided are advertised, and in the long run, measures that are for the common good are agreed to by the majority of the people and made the law of the land. SLAVERY The slavery question is bound up almost inseparably with political parties, the industrial revolution, the westward movement, and other great features of our national life. Though as a political question, slavery is dead, the negro question is yet unsolved. Slaves were introduced into the South primarily to perform menial agricultural labor in that warm climate. Later, for many years, slavery existed in all of the thirteen states. When the Constitution was adopted, it was thought that slavery would die out of itself as it had .138 AMERICAN DExMOCRACY already begun to die out in the North. But the inven- tion of the cotton-gin and the consequent increase in cotton production gave new Hfe to slavery in the South so that although the slave-trade was abolished in 1808, by 1860 there were about four million slaves in the United States. At first slavery did not show itself openly as an influence on politics, but it was not long until it began to divide the North and the South. Although one of the compromises of the Constitution had settled the question of representation in Congress, the question as to whether the federal government or the state govern- ments should regulate slavery in the new states and in the territories soon began to be fiercely debated. The discussion of the right of Congress to prohibit slavery " forever " north of the 36-30 line resulted in bitter sectional strife. Texas was admitted as a slave state, California as a free state; Utah and New Mexico were left to decide the matter for themselves; the Northern people refused to assist in capturing slaves; the South succeeded in getting the Fugitive Slave Law passed; the question of tlie admission of Kansas and Nebraska as slave or free states arose ; and the struggle for that territory between the North and the South began. In the meantime, the Abolitionist movement was well under way, and compromises for a time delayed open war. The South attempted to annex Cuba that addi- tional slave territory might be added to the United States. Finally, it became evident to thoughtful peo- ple that the country could not exist " half slave and half free." Not long after that, the War of Secession settled the question of slavery in the United States for- ever. Since the abolition of slavery, the United States has GREAT NATIONAL MOVEMENTS 139 had the still unsettled negro question to deal with. After Emancipation, the negroes, no longer slaves, were found utterly untrained and unfit to earn their living independently, or to use their vote intelligently. The politicians in the North wished to give the negro the vote at once. The people in the South, who naturally look upon the black man as an inferior, have made laws that have kept the vote from most of the negroes, in Courtesj' of Allyn and Bacon TusKEGEE Institute, Alabama Founded by Booker T. Washington for the advancement of the colored race. Spite of the fact that the Thirteenth Amendment freed the slaves, the Fourteenth Amendment made them citi- zens and gave them civil rights, and the Fifteenth Amendment forbade disfranchisement " on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Prop- erty, educational, and other restrictions have deprived most of the negroes in the South of the ballot. 140 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY The negro question is still one of the urgent questions for the United States to solve. Opinion is divided as to how it should be settled. Whatever is finally done for the negroes, no one should oppose meas- ures to bring about a good degree of education, both industrial and cultural. Justi'ce demands nothing less, as justice demands a prompt and fair adjustment of this vexed problem. THE TARIFF The tariff has been a live issue since the first tariff measure was attempted in 1781. At that time a flat tax of five per cent, was proposed on imported articles for three distinct purposes : to pay the national debt, to pay the Continental army, and to carry on the gov- ernment. In other words, the tariff was originally in- tended to be " for revenue only." The measure was rejected because under the Articles of Confederation it required the consent of every state, and Rhode Island refused consent as she was well satisfied with her own tariff laws by means of which she was exacting toll from her neighbors. The first tariff act was passed in 1789 as one of Alexander Hamilton's great financial measures. It was designed to pay the national debt, to carry on the government, and to encourage and protect manufac- tures — that is, it was a tariff both " for revenue " and " for protection." It provided a duty on all foreign vessels, on various foreign goods — wines, tea, silk, sugar — at varying rates. At once a division of opinion arose as to whether Congress or the states had the authority to regulate tariff for protection. Henry Clay, called the father of the protective tariff, was responsible for the tariff of 1816, the first definitely GREAT NATIONAL MOVEMENTS 141 protective measure which laid an import tax on cottons, woolens, and manufactured iron. At that time there was a real need of protection to American manufac- tures because of the " dumping " of foreign goods, which had accumulated during the War of 1812, on American markets. In the South, John C. Calhoun, a Republican-Democrat of South Carolina, favored the tariff because he thought it would affect the cotton market favorably ; Daniel Webster, a Federalist of Massachusetts who represented a commercial and ship- ping business, opposed it because he felt that any tariff would tend to restrict commercial relations with Eu- rope. Later the North and South reversed positions. In the main, the agricultural South has favored a low tariff because it had no manufactures that needed pro- tection but desired imported articles at the lowest pos- sible prices, while the manufacturing North has sought a high tariff that would protect its growing industries from foreign competition. From this it is seen that the protective tariff was favored by the interests that would be helped by protection. The tariff for protection, called the American Sys- tem, increased in favor as a national policy, until the " Tariff of Abominations " of 1828, passed largely as a political measure to make President John Quincy Adams unpopular, raised the average of taxed articles forty- nine per cent. It had the desired effect and Jackson was elected President. This extreme measure opened up the question of " nullification " ; for South Carolina, refusing to pay the unreasonable rates, began to pre- pare for war. By this time New England with its large manufacturing interests, was in favor of a protective tariff, while the South, largely dependent upon Europe for its farm machinery, and other manufactured goods. 142 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY was hotly opposed to It. To prevent a rupture, Clay stepped in with the compromise tariff of 1833 which greatly reduced rates on imported articles ; whereupon South Carolina repealed her Nullification Ordinance. A period of low tariff followed until the duties were more moderate than they had been in 1816. In Polk's administration (1844-1848), the tariff sank so low that it was merely a measure for carrying on the gov- ernment. In Buchanan's administration (1857-1861), the first tariff measure since 1816, not affected by poli- tics, was passed. During the War of Secession, an increase of duties came about as a natural result of the need of money to carry on the war and of the influence of profiteering fi- nancial leaders. As a consequence, protection ran riot ; every one who asked protection got it. The tariff act passed during the war forms the basis of the present tariff system. After the war internal taxes were re- duced and tariff duties increased. The tariff question was the leading issue between the Democratic and Republican parties from 1870 to 1911. Since that time, though it is by no means dead, ques- tions of Capital and Labor have in a measure crowded the tariff issues out of the public mind. During that period though tariff rates fluctuated, on the whole, the great industries were adequately protected. In Cleveland's first term (1884-1888), an unsuc- cessful attempt was made to reduce the tariff; in Harri- son's administration (1888-1892), the McKinley bill brought the acme of high protection in which the con- sumer paid the bill. Efforts have of late been made to find out whether there is any real need of a burdensome tariff. Other sources of revenue have been provided such as the corporation tax, and the inheritance tax. GREAT NATIONAL MOVEMENTS 143 President Taft tried to bring about Canadian " reci- procity," by which natural productions would be ex- changed between the United States and Canada with- out duties. This measure was opposed by the farmers of the Northwest and, as a consequence, party lines were thrown into confusion. In Canada the party that supported reciprocity was defeated and the bill never came up in the Canadian Parliament. In President Wilson's administration, the Underwood-Simmons tariff bill became a law and the tariff was reduced on many important commodities. To make up for the loss, a tax on incomes was levied after an amendment to the Constitution made such a levy possible. The tariff question which began when a revenue meas- ure with incidental protection for infant industries was passed, has grown from a small and comparatively simple factor in American government to one of im- mense importance and bewildering complications. The North, being chiefly engaged in manufacturing, has stood largely for high tariff; the South, mainly agri- cultural, has been solidly for low tariff, until the recent introduction of manufacturing into that section. As the West developed, its population was divided on the tariff question, according to whether it was engaged in agriculture or in manufacturing. The question in the main has been one of self-interest. In general, the Democrats, have stood for low tariff, and the Republicans for high tariff. During the last thirty years there has been a growing suspicion that the tariff is manipulated by the money power of the country for selfish ends. At the present time, party lines are not strictly drawn on the tariff issue. Many Republicans are losing their devotion to high tariff rates, while, on the other hand, many Democrats no GREAT NATIONAL MOVEMENTS 145 longer stand for tariff for revenue only, but for a mod- ified form of protection. THE WESTWARD EXPANSION AND FREE LAND The Westward movement, which was caused by the fact that toward the West free land was to be had for the taking, has had a definite and direct influence on the growth of political and social democracy. Although ?*4 * iV^ Going West the colonists who came over from Europe left be- hind them much of the paraphernalia of rank and class, they brought with them much more of it than is de- sirable in a country where the people rule. In the South particularly, labor of the hands was looked upon as degrading ; even in " democratic " New England, the tradesman and his wife always went to the inn-kitchen, while the " gentry " sedately passed to the parlor. 146 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY But when the pioneers passed over the mountains or through the gaps into Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and be- yond, social distinctions fell ofF at once. Everybody was forced to labor with his hands, and the settlers naturally fell into the habit of lending aid to each other when help was needed, as in " raising " a house, husking corn, and at haying and harvest time. Men be- came truly " fellow-men " in the days of pioneer settle- ments. The fact that every man owned his own land made for sturdy independence and honest pride in possession. The independent western pioneers showed a remarkable community spirit in working out questions for the com- mon good. From the beginning, the life and practice of the western country influenced politics. As the states beyond the Alleghanies were admitted to the Union, they came in with liberal constitutions granting religious freedom and wide suff'rage. The new common- wealths did not copy eastern politics ; they set up a jmuch more simple machinery of government. The westerners distrusted the moneyed people of the East, whom they believed were somehow getting rich on government money at Washington. They kept their few officers — sheriffs, county treasurers, and land- agents — constantly rotating, as they believed in pass- ing good things around. This new spirit, working against the life job in politics, continued to grow until the election of Andrew Jackson disturbed the tradition that the Secretary of State should succeed to the President's chair and gave the last blow to the already tottering Virginia dynasty. The more real democracy which resulted had in it, however, much of prejudice and perhaps justified dis- trust. The West continued for many years to be " dis- GREAT NATIONAL MOVEMENTS 147 graced " politically. The homestead law of 1862, per- mitting settlers to take up farms without cost, gave great impetus to Western emigration. The West has remained " the land of the liberal air " ; the man from the West is free from many of the narrowing traditions of the man from the Eastern sea-board. Farmers' sons become lawyers, physicians, professors, business men, as well as farmers, and the mingling of '' cousins," city-bred and country-bred, cultured and home-spun, on an equal social footing, helps to break down " caste." The most remarkable and influential feature of west- ern expansion has been the fact that the movement has continued. After one generation had cleared the for- ests and settled cities at one place, the next generation has moved Westward. " This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion Westward with its new opportunities, furnish the forces dominating American character." LABOR The growth of democracy has been powerfully influ- enced by the industrial revolution and the increase in the number of skilled and unskilled laborers. Although probably the greater number of people in the colonies were engaged in agricultural pursuits at the time of the Revolution, a healthy growth had begun in manufac- turing and ship-building. In all likelihood, however, the United States would have remained an agricultural country had it not been for the industrial revolution caused by the invention of machinery. The introduc- tion of steam and iron together in manufacturing, caused the rapid rise of factories, and the resulting em- ployment of hundreds of thousands of unskilled laborers tended toward greater democracy. 148 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY Laboring men from the very beginning performed their share in bringing about democratic institutions. The Sons of Liberty who paraded the streets in the days of the Stamp Act wefe working men — laborers and artisans. The mechanics of Boston, though outside of the meeting, had an intelligent understanding of the ad- vantages of adopting the Constitution in 1787, as did the plainly clad farmers from up-State, who sat within. The pump-makers and ship-chandlers of New York were vociferous in their approval of the Constitution. Few of these men had the right to vote when the Con- stitution was set up, yet they helped the movement to- ward freedom in a very real way. When Capital began to be powerful and oppressive, the laborers and working-men formed themselves into labor unions. For this action they were punished and the unions broken up. A well-defined labor movement in the earlier half of the nineteenth century had been al- most forgotten until its records were recently unearthed by an industrious investigator. These early labor as- sociations stood for a platform that included universal education at the state's expense, a ten-hour day, the right to combine, abolition of imprisonment for debt, exemption of a laboring man's home and tools from seizure for debt, and a more liberal national land policy. After the great influx of foreign laborers, suffrage was by degrees extended to take in all male citizens of the United States. When the working-people began to ask for schools for their children, it was considered a very radical and unreasonable demand, as a school at the public expense was looked upon as a charity school attended only by paupers. The influence of the early labor movements on educa- tion and politics has been almost lost sight of because of GREAT NATIONAL MOVEMENTS 149 the moral stress of the slavery question, which absorbed the attention of the country for half a century. With- in the last twenty years, however, labor has become a force to be reckoned with in politics. The laborer has assumed a more dignified position since his cause has been taken up by the great political leaders, who see that the party that is destined to live must have the support of labor. Socialism has had its influence on the labor question and while many employers still deny the right of the laborers to organize, it is coming to be accepted that labor is not a commodity that can be bought and sold and that laborers have the right to be safeguarded in health and morals. Some beginnings of a labor party have been made but, at present, it is likely that the labor unions and laboring men will continue to throw their influence with the political party that seems the most progressive. Since the war, a number of advanced labor programs have been put forth, one of which lays down the prin- ciple that in some way the tools of the laborers — in other words, the manufacturing plants — must pass into the control of the workmen, that they may share in the profits of the industries and have a voice in reg- ulating the conditions of labor. Thinking people every- where are looking for a better adjustment between capi- tal and labor to be realized by a greater democratiza- tion of industry. THE GROWTH OF EDUCATION Education has had a marked influence on the devel- opment of the American government. In the colonial days in New England, while common schools were estab- lished that the children of church-members might learn to read the Bible, only the most elementary education 150 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY was furnished for those who did not expect to enter the ministry or the learned professions. For such select pupils the Latin schools were the paths to the colleges, which at first, were merely theological schools. Girls received scarcely any formal education. In the South where the people lived on scattered plantations, the sons of the wealthy planters had private tutors while the poor people had no schools whatever. The first schools at public expense were pauper schools in which children received a meager education. By 1830 the labor unions began to agitate for public schools from which the stigma of charity should be removed. Such schools were established by degrees, though for a long time there was no connecting link between the elemen- tary schools and the colleges except the private acad- emy and the private Latin preparatory school. Early in the nineteenth century, academies — again for boys only — began to be opened in various parts of the country. Though these schools were originally in- tended to give preparation for college, the curriculum was generally more practical than that of the Latin school. Presently female seminaries for wealthy girls who showed an aptitude or desire for education came into existence. Though the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 specifi- cally encouraged education and provided that one sec- tion of each township should be public school land, there were no public schools in the United States up to 1830. Thomas Jefferson, a century ahead of his time, had attempted to establish in Virginia a complete school system from the primary grades through the university. His plan had failed because the people were not ready for such a step. In fact, during the first fifty years of the Republic, no one was interested in popular edu- GREAT NATIONAL MOVEMENTS 151 cation. The school lands in each township were not properly used; and therefore they were not much help to education. The University of Virgixia The finest example of classical architecture in America. To this work Jefferson devoted forty years of his thought and the last years of his life. He devised tlie entire system of instruction and every feature of administration. The University of Virginia has no President hut instead an elected Chairman; it has no set course of study, each student follows any line he chooses, degrees being granted after examinations; the faculty assumes that every student is a man of honor, the student body looks after delinquencies. To- day the University of Virginia is, to a great degree, the embodi- ment of Jefferson's views. By 1860, the first public high schools for boys were set up; these high schools had no connection with the primary system nor with the universities. Michigan was the first state to have a complete school system in- 152 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY eluding the primary grades, the high school, and the college. Since the War of Secession, and especially within the last thirty years, schools have grown all over the country — public, private, parochial. Almost every state has its state university; every town of any size has a high school ; thousands of academies, business col- leges, parochial and convent schools, junior colleges and senior colleges have arisen almost over night. Rural education, though by no means adequately provided for, has taken great strides since the institution of con- solidated schools. Vast sums of money are spent for educational purposes, yet, in spite of that fact, whole sections of the country, particularly in the South, are practically without the means of education. The great public school system of the United States, taking in as it does the children of the native born and alien, rich and poor, cultured and unlettered, has been a true forum of democracy from which has come an aristocracy not of blood or wealth but of intellect. Nor should the work done by private and parochial schools be minimized. Hundreds of thousands of young Americans, native and foreign-born or of foreign-born parents have been trained in good citizenship in these schools. The spirit and influence of the training re- ceived in our public and private schools of all kinds in obedience to law and respect for constituted authority have been revealed in the records of the Great War. To-day the schools of America stand as a bulwark against the untried revolutionary movements that are threatening the peaceful development of the govern- ment of the United States. CHAPTER VIII THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN Immortal things have God for architect, And men are but the granite He lays down. John Boyle O'Reilly. When one lOoks over the list of American statesmen and tries to select the one who has had the greatest in- fluence in making the United States what it is to-day, he immediately sees that such a selection is impossible. No one man's statement of principles or rules of pro- cedure can be said to be the Bible of Americanism. In a sense, every American has given a shaping touch to his country's ideal. From the beginning, even be- fore the Revolution, there were marked divergences in political principles, which, at times, threatened to dis- rupt the new United States. But with the setting up of the Constitution, order was brought into being, because of the possession of a framework of funda- mental law sufficiently strong and sufficiently elastic to bear the strain of carrying on the government. Though each great American who engaged in the business of making America what she is to-day left on the country's institutions something of himself, that something was not altogether the result of his personal opinions or of his individual set of principles. His work has remained because in public life he clearly ex- pressed something that has been accepted by the greater number of American citizens as a part of the ideal of government or policy. In other words, each 153 THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 155 leader helped to crystallize the half-conscious ideals of American people into tangible and easily under- stood doctrines and to carry them into general prac- tice. On the shining roll of honor stand the names of the men who may be called in deed and truth builders of American democracy: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Marshall, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Abraham Lincoln. Though the list might be extended, it could not be reduced by the re- moval of even one of these names, because these men above all others have left easily recognizable marks on the government of the United States. Other men — statesmen, soldiers, and public servants — will be long remembered for gallant deeds and worthy conduct, but these in a peculiar way stand before all others, because they helped to make clear and unquestionable the prin- ciples of government which have come to embody the American ideal. GEORGE WASHINGTON George Washington may truly be called " the Father of his Country." The name as applied to him is no empty title. No other man during the life of our nation has done so much as he did, in so many fields, over so long a period of time. The eloquent and cour- ageous Patrick Henry rendered great service for de- mocracy by molding public opinion at the beginning of the national period, as did James Otis and Samuel Adams ; Schuyler and Greene were valiant generals, who helped to carry the Revolution to a victorious finish ; Franklin labored untiringly in foreign courts and in the 156 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY American assemblies of freedom ; John Marshall ex- pounded the Constitution for the first forty years of its life, convincing men that it would work in actual practice; Hamilton used his gifts of mind in framing and explaining the Constitution and setting up the financial system of the country. Each of these men was a leader in one or more particular lines, but George Washington played an active part in all of these fields and in each did notable work. He was in the thick of American affairs during the French and Indian war ; as commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Army, he proved himself to be a great military leader; with calmness and dignity, he presided over the Constitu- tional Convention and held the balance true ; as the first President of the United States, he performed the delicate task of setting the machinery of the govern- ment in motion ; under his eye, the financial credit of the country was established; he settled the policy of our foreign relations by taking a new and original attitude in his definition and practice of neutrality toward foreign powers engaged in war with one an- other; and when he was about to retire from office, in a wise and eloquent appeal, he pointed out the dangers of the future, and warned the young republic against " permanent alliances " that might hamper the develop- ment of the American ideal of government. Washington carried out every duty with a dignity and tolerant breadth of vision that has become a part of the American attitude of mind and rule of conduct. No American should neglect Washington's Inaugural nor his Farewell Address. Both set forth clearly de- fined principles and sensible warnings applicable to our own time. In the Farewell Address, Washington THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 157 exalts the name of America ; urges the preservation of the Union as a whole, looks forward to close com- munication between the East and the West by land and water, warns against " overgrown military estab- lishments," which he regards " as unauspicious to lib- erty " ; urges in every untried extension of government "fair and full experiment'"'^ and denounces "mere speculation " in such cases as " criminal." He says in plain and familiar language, " The Basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.^' He denounces " all combinations and associations, under whatsoever plausible character, with real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular delib- eration and action of constitutional authorities,''' He urges the importance of " institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge," and he says that " reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national mo- rality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles." He warns the young republic against insidious foreign influence as baneful to republican government, but en- joins the keeping of " engagements " with perfect good faith. In his Farewell Address — " These counsels of an old and affectionate friend " — there is scarcely a word that is not valuable to the thinking American of to-day. In the closing paragraphs he urges " harmony and liberal intercourse " with all nations, " consulting the natural course of things'' Time has proved that many of his fears were unfounded, that some of the policies recommended by him have outlived their day, but time has also proved that, after all these years, though the American ideal has become enlarged and broadened, 158 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY its fundamental • principles, as set forth by George Washington, remain unchanged. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Benjamin Franklin, another worker in many fields, was a pioneer American, who entered the struggle for Benjamin Franklin the establishment of the new nation at the very first. He drafted the rejected Albany Plan of Union in 1764; he was one of the committee that drew up the Declara- tion of Independence ; he was our foreign representative during the Revolutionary War, and, by his earnest efforts, won France to our aid ; he helped to make the THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 159 treaty of peace that closed the war ; and, in his extreme age, he sat in the Constitutional Convention, where he did much to maintain harmony in that sometimes harshly discordant group of earnest men. He was a believer in the capability of the people to carry on a government and urged the educational value of the franchise on the masses. Franklin left the impres- sion of his personal character on American institutions — s'omething of his self-control, good humor, modesty, and pervasive wit. Above all, his practical common sense and native shrewdness have gone into the texture of the American spirit. Franklin was neither eloquent nor brilliant, but he was always sane, reasonable, sincere, and practical,, looking on life from the generous' point of view made possible by a keen sense of humor. THOMAS JEFFERSON Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, was another builder of the American ideal. The great document that is the best exposition of his fundamental beliefs is not only a piece of sound political wisdom, but its wording and form make it a notable literary production. Though a man of wealth and inherited social position, he was opposed to rule by a class. He felt that the laws of one generation should not impose burdens on following generations. Like Samuel Adams, he believed in the intelligence, fairness, and generosity of the people ; so much so that he was called all manner of names because he held " leveling " views, " a democratic scribbler," being one of the epithets hurled at him. When the Constitution began to operate he became a supporter of States Rights and upheld the doctrine of " nullification " be- 160 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY cause he feared the tyranny of a strong central gov- ernment. He thought that the best government governs the least and that the world is too much con- trolled by governmental authority. Into the famous Ordinance for the government of the Northwest Terri- tory, he wrote a clause providing for religious free- dom, another for the encouragement of public educa- tion, and a third prohibiting slavery in that great public area. In 1805 he negotiated the Louisiana Pur- chase, by which the Territory of the United States was increased one-third. He founded the University of Virginia, one of the most remarkable institutions in the United States. Jefferson led the group that op- posed the policies of Hamilton ; he is looked upon as the founder of the Democratic party. ALEXANDER HAMILTON Alexander Hamilton, Jefferson's political opponent, was in many respects the greatest constructive states- man that America has produced. He was one of the framers of the Constitution and joint-author with Mad- ison of the Federalist papers which even Jefferson — naturally not over-anxious to praise Hamilton — pro- nounced the best commentary on the principles of gov- ernment ever written. Hamilton opposed States Rights and the rule of the common people and firmly upheld a strong federal government to be controlled by the well-educated and the wealthy. He had strong lean- ings toward a monarchial form of government and if he had had his way, Washington would have been sad- dled with the title, " His Highness, the President of the United States and Protector of the Liberties of the Same." THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 161 But Hamilton made up for what the democratically- minded consider the error of his ways by his sound financial policy which strengthened the central govern- ment and set it upon a firm basis. He first insisted on the prompt payment of the United States' debt and then proposed that the Federal Government take over the debts of the sepa- rate states. As soon as this was' done, the Federal Government assumed greater strength and force, because the American citizens to whom the states owed debts were eager to su]) port the . govern ment that proposed to pay them. Hamilton also helped to establish a great National Bank in which the govern- ment was a sharehold- er and director. He claimed that the pow- er to establish such a bank was given to Congress by a " loose " construction of the famous elastic clause. Thomas Jefferson, who was in Washington's cabinet with Hamilton, opposed Hamilton's reading of the clause as a dangerous precedent, saying that " necessity is a tyrant's plea." Nevertheless, Jefferson at a later date was com- James Madison The Father of the Constitution. Author of the "Journal of the Con- stitution " and of the " Federated Papers." 162 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY pelled to invoke the elasticity of the same clause when he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase. Hamilton not only established a strong financial system, but he al- so helped infant industries by introducing a protective tariff. As may well be imagined, Hamilton and Jeffer- son were not an " harmonious concert of powers " in Washington's cabinet. Doubtless, the first President was much relieved when Jefferson resigned the port- folio of State. JAMES MADISON James Madison of Virginia, the fourth President of the United States, is not so attractive and spirited a figure as either Jefferson or Hamilton, yet his services to his country — often quiet and unpretentious — were of tremendous value. In intellectual power, Madison was surpassed by no other President before or since his time. He was not a mere party leader, but a man of large view, sympathetic understanding, and inde- pendent mind. His secret Journal of the Constitution and the Federalist papers, showed an unselfish devo- tion to this country unsurpassed by that of any other American patriot. Madison rightly opposed as unconstitutional the Alien and Sedition laws passed by the Federalists under John Adams. The " Alien Act " empowered the Presi- dent to remove from the country any alien whom he considered " dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States." The " Sedition Act " provided for a fine and imprisonment for writing or publishing any article intended to bring the government officials into contempt or disrepute. The Constitution expressly forbade abridgment of the freedom of speech and press. THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 163 Because of these oppressive laws, the famous " Ken- tucky Resolutions," declaring that a state had the right to nullify an act of Congress, were adopted under the leadership of Madison and Jefferson. Virginia passed a similar protest phrased more moderately. The Ken- tucky Resolutions mark the beginning of the nullificp- tion struggle. JOHN MARSHALIi John Marshall, another native of Virginia, was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for the thirty-four years from 1801 to 1836. Naturally, his decisions had more influence in fixing the meanings of the Constitution than those of any other man who has sat on the Supreme Bench. He had done good work before he became Chief Justice ; for to Marshall and Madison, more than to any others, belongs the dis- tinction of securing the adoption of the Constitution by the Virginia state convention. Marshall's argu- ments in reply to Patrick Henry's eloquently expressed views against the adoption of a national Constitution were particularly telling. During Marshall's long term as Chief Justice, he upheld the Federalist theorists, who believed in a strong national government as opposed to state supremacy. He dominated the courts by his great learning, his masterful power of analysis, and his clearness of state- ment. He secured for the Supreme Court the pro- found respect with which it is still regarded; he ex- pounded the Constitution so as to make clear for the first time the nature of the national government ; and he forecast the line along which the nation was to pro- ceed, not only in judicial matters but in material de- 164 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY velopment. He placed on a firm footing the principle of judicial supremacy over the laws of the national legislature. Marshall's contribution to international law was great, although that feature of his work has but recently been appreciated. His famous Dart- mouth Case deci- sion, which held that the Constitution for- bade the impairment of contracts, has of late been seriously questioned, as has the wisdom and jus- tice of his interpreta- tion that the Supreme Court is entirely and clearly superior to the Legislative body. Whatever may be the final verdict on such questions, John Marshall's services in helping to stabilize our government will make him remem- James Monroe As agent for Jeifefson he negoti- ated the Louisiana Purchase; under the influence of J. Q. Adams he pro- mulgated the Monroe Doctrine. bered as' one of the great builders of the American ideal. JAMES MONROE James Monroe of Virginia was President of the United States from 1817 to 1825, during the period of political harmony known as the " Era of Good Feeling." He was of Jefferson's party, being one of the men who THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 165 negotiated the Louisiana Purchase. He was opposed by no candidate, the Federalist party having committed unintentional political suicide in the famous Hartford Convention of 1814, where some of its leaders tried to put local industrial interests ahead of the best interests of the nation at large. But if Monroe's administration was undisturbed within, it was troubled from without by the fear of the intervention of European nations in American affairs. The great nations of Europe which had united in the Quadruple Alliance were about to interfere with certain South American colonies that had broken away from Spain. To prevent such inter- ference, Monroe made a declaration in his message to Congress which has become famous as the " Monroe Doctrine " of history. The " doctrine " set forth that thereafter no Euro- pean power had a right to lay hands — either by way of interference, or by way of colonization — on any land on the western side of the Atlantic. In other words, the United States assumed the role of big brother to the rest of the New World with the exception, of course, of Canada and a few well-behaved colonies in the West Indies and South America which were under European domination. This mere expression of atti- tude on the part of the United States has ever since Monroe's time acted as a deterrent on European aspi- rations for new colonies in America. The Monroe Doc- trine is Monroe's great contribution to the i^merican policy. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, who probably was responsible for the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine, was Monroe's Secretary of State. He is 166 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY usually thought of as a disagreeable combative person- ality, because he was independent enough to break over the lines of political party. This characteristic was illustrated strikingly when as a United States Senator during Jefferson's administration, he upheld the Louis- iana Purchase, though he was a Federalist. Again, he voted for laws that laid restrictions on New England trade and so brought the wrath of the whole Federalist party about his ears. When Adams became President, he took up the ques- tion of internal improvements at national expense. This was a Federalist policy and like the protective tariff, one of the " burning " issues involving the ques- tion of a loose or a strict construction of the Constitu- tion. Adams's party held that the elastic clause gave the government power, among other things, to make internal improvements extending from one state to an- other, to impose a tariff for protection, and to charter a National Bank as had been done by Hamilton. These questions were made the issues at the next elec- tion and the Federalists, with Adams as their leader, were defeated. Adams, unlike other ex-presidents, re-entered national politics by becoming a member of the House of Repre- sentatives. Up to this time he had not been particu- larly interested in slavery, but when the Southern congressmen succeeded in passing the " gag rule " which provided that all petitions concerning slavery should be " laid on the table " without being printed or discussed, Adams's ire was aroused. He stoutly maintained that such a rule cut off the inalienable " right of petition," long a traditional right of Eng- lish-speaking people. In season and out, he kept up THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 167 his attack until he had aroused the country. In 1844, the gag rule was abandoned. In 1836, Adams declared in Congress that if ever the slave states threatened war, the national government could interfere in any way that military policy might suggest. Again in 1812, he voiced the startling prin- ciple that in case of armed rebellion, the President, as commander-in-chief of the army, had power to order the emancipation of slaves. At the time he was hooted at, but in 1863 Abraham Lincoln stood firmly upon this principle when he issued the Emancipation Procla- mation. Adams died at his work in the very House of Representatives where he had often stood alone in de- fense of the principles of democracy. ANDREW JACKSON Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, President of the United States from 1829 to 1841, unlike the presidents who had preceded him, was a man of humble birth and without education or other cultural advantages. Jef- ferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams, were all university-bred, scholar-statesmen, members of the " upper " classes. Jackson was a popular hero after the battle of New Orleans because of his record in the War of 1812 and as an Indian fighter in Florida. His election marked the rise of the " common " people to a new power, and was made possible by certain constitu- tional changes that had gradually come about in state governments, among which were the removal of property qualifications, direct election of governors, popular elec- tion of judges in the courts, and the removal of religious tests for suffrage. Besides these political changes, a social change had taken place favoring greater democ- 168 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY racy, and demonstrating that the people were at last the " Sovereign People." Democracy was finding its p'ower, and Jacksonian democracy, which taught that the people might govern as much as they pleased, was shown to be of a different quality from Jeffersonian democracy, which taught that the people ought to be governed as little as possible. Jackson greatly en- larged the pernicious " spoils system " by placing his political adherents in all fed- eral offices, small as well as large. He did this on the seemingly sound principle that rotation in office was salutary for democ- racy. He may have thought he was im- proving public serv- ice by a " clean sweep." He could hardly have realized that when used as a method of paying po- litical debts, the spoils system becomes thoroughly vicious. But if Jackson lacked political foresight on the spoils system, he' was on firm ground on the question of nullifi- cation. Since he had opposed the high tariff of 1828, South Carolina expected his support when Hayne made the speech which brought the " Liberty and Union " Andrew Jackson He advanced Popular Government and supported the Federal Union THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 169 reply from Webster, and was sorely disappointed when he took an unalterable stand for the Union. When South Carolina threatened to secede, Jackson met the issue squarely and made ready to use force. He broke up the national bank, for which he has been severely blamed, although present opinion seems to incline toward approval of Jackson's policy. Looking at his work as a whole, Andrew Jackson must be considered one of the commanding figures in American History. HENRY CLAY Henry Clay of Kentucky must not be omitted from this enumeration of the Builders of Democracy. He was a signer of the Treaty of Paris, after the War of 1812. He used his great influence in eradicating Euro- pean control from American countries, thus upholding the Monroe Doctrine and establishing our foreign policy. This service, though perhaps his greatest per- manent contribution to the American ideal, had been obscured by his work as peace-maker between the warring camps of States Rights and Union. He used all of the power of his splendid personality to bring the contending forces together by compromising their differences on slavery and the tariff. He thus staved off the War of Secession for thirty years. If Henry Clay had not lived, it is doubtful whether there would be a United States of America as we know it. His sin- cere " I would rather be right than be president " is a true reflection of his character. DANIEL WEBSTER Daniel Webster's name invariably brings to mind the impressive scene in the United States Senate when that 170 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY superb orator drew hims'elf together and delivered his great reply to Senator Hayne's speech in support of nullification. In words of living beauty, ending with the matchless peroration which concluded with the words, " Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable," he convinced the nation that lasting unity was essential to the common good. Years have passed since Webster's day; the War of Secession has been fought ; for- tunately the Union has been preserved. While thousands of influences contributed to this happy out- come, no single one was so great in its eff'ect as that golden speech of the " Ex- pounder of the Con- stitution," which clarified the ideals of the nation on this fundamental q u e s - tion. It created a strong feeling in fa- vor of the Union. In 1850, Webster yielded to a compromise with the South, a change of front that was never understood and consequently never quite forgiven. It is possible that he was angling for the presidential nomination, but whatever the cause of his yielding, it is a fact that his attitude on the compromise of 1850 probably pushed back" the War of Secessioip^ for ten j^ears and thus con- Daniel Webster His great work was to make strong the feeling for union THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 171 tributed to the preservation of the Union by giving a longer time for sentiment in favor of a united nation to become more thoroughly crystallized. ABRAHAM LINCOLN All the men who were makers of America's des- tiny up to Abraham Lincoln's time, had striven man- fully, through good and evil report, to work out a prac- tical form of government based on sound principles that would conserve their rights to all men. They had wrought to so carry on the government that the inter- ests of all the people might be served well ; they had engaged in political struggles in the confines of their own country and they had striven in foreign wars. There had been days of trial and days of peace, but they never had felt the framework of the government giving way beneath their feet. To Abraham Lincoln was reserved the supreme task of upholding the principles upon which the United States of America was founded while a great and ter- rific civil war was in progress. Lincoln saw each side of the controversy with understanding sympathy, but his decision fell on the side which has preserved the Union. Long before he had said '' This govern- ment cannot exist, half slave and half free " ; yet he had hoped that he would not be forced to the extreme meas- ure of emancipating the slaves. But when he became convinced that in order to save the Union he must crush slavery, he did not shrink from what he conceived to be his duty. On the field at Gettysburg, in the most lucid Eng- lish passage that America can boast, he uttered those words that have become the accepted formula of Amer- ican democracy. " Four score and seven years ago " 172 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY runs the Gettysburg address which ends with the high resolution, " that government of the people, for the peo- ple, and by the people shall not perish from the earth." Of all the great American statesmen Abraham Lincoln comes nearest to the universal heart. His words are a text which contain the best expression of the American Ideal. When the War of Secession was over, no treaty was deemed necessary. Lee's surrender closed the terrible struggle to preserve an indissoluble Union. The vic- torious North did not demand a punitive peace; no reparation, no indemnities were exacted ; no bloodshed by legal execution was made to pay the price of the civil strife. The question of the Union was settled forever ; States Rights bowed to Federal Power ; " other persons " ceased to be slaves. The obscure lines of the Constitution had been interpreted, not by the Supreme Bench, but by the deciding force of a sanguinary con- flict. The Constitution no longer admitted of possible misinterpretation ; its commentaries were complete. A new order of things may arise which will necessitate a change in the instrument of our government, but never again will it be necessary to go through the terrors of civil war to decide what the lines of the Constitution mean. THE MIRACLE OF DEMOCRACY In this brief survey of some of the builders of the American ideal, there is revealed a body of in- spiring truth. The men who have had the greatest influence in shaping the American ideal of govern- ment, came, as it were, from the seven corners of the globe, from no one station in life, from no one party. Virginia gave more than her share — Wash- THE GREAT AMERICAN STATESMEN 173 ington, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, and Monroe ; Massachusetts gave John Quincy Adams ; Pennsyl- vania, Franklin ; New York is proud of her adopted son, Hamilton ; Tennessee of the sturdy commoner, Andrew Jackson; Kentucky, the border state, was a fitting home for the peacemaker, Clay ; granite-ribbed New Hampshire produced Webster ; and the great Lincoln hailed from Illinois. Fortune was careless as to the early advantages of these men. Washington, a landed gentleman, was the servant of all; Thomas Jefferson, the owner of a patri- archal estate, was a most ardent believer in the men of the people ; Hamilton, the Federalist, thrown on his own resources at thirteen, set up our sound financial system, and with Madison, an Anti-Federalist, wrote the great state papers that helped to make the Con- stitution the law of the nation ; Andrew Jackson, dem- ocratic in principles and a tyrant in actions, stood the unabashed equal of any potentate; Lincoln, the son of poverty and toil, saved the Union and freed the slaves. These men are the product of American democracy. Nor can any one set of political theories account for the individual legacy left to America by these builders of democracy. Jefferson, a Republican-Democrat, and a believer in States Rights, dealt the first blow at slav- ery ; Jackson, a Democrat, was the champion of the Union against nullification ; Lincoln, a Republican, " with malice toward none," understood the South even while he carried on the war against her. What these men wrought that was good for the country has ad- hered; what was unworthy has fallen away or been shaken off by the winnowing of time. We remember them only for their part in making the American Ideal. CHAPTER IX AUTHORS WHO HELPED TO MAKE THE AMERICAN IDEAL The ideal of America — the ideal of a " well-regulated liberty," che ideal of brotherhood, by which every man is our neighbor — is a noble one. The future of American literature must depend largely upon the faithfulness of the American people to their national ideals. H. S. Pancoast. Americans have always been a reading people. The printed word whether in the transitory form of tracts or pamphlets or periodicals, or in the more permanent form of books, has, therefore, exerted a potent influ- ence upon American life and character. COLONIAIi AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIODS American literature naturally divides itself into periods corresponding with the historical development of the country. The writings of the colonial period which consisted largely of historical records, letters of love and friendship, diaries and journals, elegiac poems, and chronicles of human experience were nearly all written in a religious tone, especially when the writers were Puritans. The contrast between the atmosphere of New England and Virginia may be seen by compar- ing the sober, austere, and gloomy writings of the Puritan, William Bradford, with the gay, entertaining, and hopeful work of the Cavalier, William Byrd of Virginia. 174 176 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY As nearly all of the early political leaders in Amer- ica were lawyers, oratory was the great moulding force of American life from the days of the Stamp Act to the War of Secession. During that time, when questions of state were debated by the representatives of the peo- ple in open assembly, by farmers and townsfolk on the village green, and by learned and unlearned alike, there was developed a body of intelligent citizens devoted to free government. All Americans are familiar with cer- tain history-making orations. James Otis's speech con- demning the Writs of Assistance, in which John Adams said American independence was born, is one of the great early American orations. Patrick Henry's " Liberty or Death " speech was another. George Washington's " Farewell Address " has proved a text- book for Americans. Andrew Jackson's Second Inau- gural stands the wear of time with Daniel Webster's immortal " Reply to Hayne." The oration most widely known is the briefest and most perfect of them all, the " Gettysburg Address " of Abraham Lincoln. The most notable writer of Revolutionary days was Thomas Jefferson. He has left his " Autobiography and Letters," besides the " Declaration of Independence." In 1774 he wrote a " Summary View of the Writers of America," an exposition of America's position, so con- vincing and so well stated that Edmund Burke, because of it, was inspired to write his great oration " On Con- ciliation with America." In that master pronounce- ment of Burke's he says of the American colonists : " In no country in the world is the law so general a study — all who read — and most do read — endeavor to obtain some smattering of that science. I have been told by eminent booksellers that in no branch of business, after AMERICAN AUTHORS 177 tracts of popular devotion, were so many books as those of law exported to the plantations." Much of the Revolutionary War writing was in the form of doggerel ballads ; every event was sung in verse and eagerly devoured by ardent partisans. Moore's " Songs and Ballads of the American Revolution " and Sergeant's " Loyalist Poetry of the Revolution " con- tain much interesting material showing contrasting points of view. Benjamin Franklin left as a literary legacy liis " Au- tobiography " and " Poor Richard's Almanack." Franklin was practical rather than sesthetic and his work helped to form the American ideal which is a satis- factory combination of the practical and the idealistic. Nor must the " Federalist Papers " of Hamilton and Madison be forgotten. Those essays, out of all the thousands of pamphlets written at the time of " the tumult of the truth " caused by the discussion of the ratification of the Constitution, are the only ones that have lived. They have been remembered because they are great literature as well as sound constitutional law. None of the orators and political writers of the Revolutionary period ever dreamed that what they said and wrote w ould go down as American literature ; they wrote out of the fullness of their convictions — to urge to action, to persuade, to convince, to secure for them- selves and, their fellow colonials an unfettered chance to forward and control their own interests. But often their words caught the fire of a great ideal and they, being men of learning and taste, wrote in forms so fitting to the subject that their works have become part of America's permanent literary inheritance. 178 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY BUILDERS OF THE AMERICAN IDEAL. Among the makers of distinctly American literature may be placed the names of Bryant, Irving, Cooper, Mark Twain, Longfellow, Whittier, Hawthorne, Lowell, Holmes, Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Lanier. All of these writers may fairly be said to have laid moulding hands upon the American ideal. Edgar Allan Poe is here omitted because, though perhaps America's great- est musician in words, his work, with negligible excep- tions, lacks the moral significance which marks the work of the great American poets. THE NEW YORK WRITERS William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) was a Puritan in his poetry. He was intensely American always and his work profoundly influenced our national life in its early days. Many of his poems reflect his sincere love of country and of her spirit of freedom; much of his poetry is religious and frankly didactic, as he intended it to be. " Thanatopsis " with its " So live that when thy summons comes," and " To a Waterfowl," have been the inspiration and the comfort of thousands of Amer- icans ; the " Forest Hymn," " The Prairie," " To a Fringed Gentian," " The Song of Marion's Men," " Evening Wind " and " Robert of Lincoln," all speak of the land of America. His poem, " The Antiquity of Freedom," voices in a poet's words what we believe concerning the right of a man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Bryant has a forceful message to all Americans. The first American to receive notice in Europe was Washington Irving (1783^1859). Through Irving, AMERICAN AUTHORS 179 America entered into the splendid fellowship of contem- porary English literature. Irving's work was read with delight by Englishmen in the day of Byron and Scott. Moreover, Irving brought back from his so- journ in England and Spain something of foreign culture which helped the new republic to feel at home in Europe. Irving has endeared the Hudson River to all Americans by his " Legend of Sleepy Hollow " and " Rip Van Winkle." He made Americans know rural England in " Bracebridge Hall " and " Tales of a Traveller." Nor did he confine himself to literary sub- jects. He wrote a biography of George Washington, long considered the standard life of the first President of the United States. In the genial temper of his writ- ing, Irving expressed the trait of kindhness, which has been and still remains a national characteristic. James Fenimore Cooper ((1789-1851) told his tales freely, abundantly, joyously, showing in the very prod- igality of his powers, a certain American generosity of spirit. He wrote " The Spy," and the great series of Leather Stocking Tales. Though Cooper idealized the Indian, he made him real and substantial. He was true to human nature and showed a fine and just appre- ciation of upstanding manhood in the unmistakable courage and courtesy of all his characters. His books are wholesome; they are filled with the smell of the pines, the crackle of burning brush, the ripple of the waters of river and lake, and the story of the brave deeds of hardy men and gentle, though rather colorless, women. The real American has something of the rugged courage and innate courtesy of Cooper's crea- tions. The days of strenuous conflict preceding the War of 180 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY Secession produced little enduring literature ; " Uncle Tom's Cabin " alone remains to mark that troubled time. NEW ENGLAND WRITERS Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) wrought consistently for America during a long life, helping in his own way to build the American ideal. He visited Europe and brought back to us the culture of the older nations, the poetry and lore of the Scandinavian coun- tries, of Germany, and of Spain. He helped to make America a little less provincial and thus brought closer the time of a real " Federation of the World." Longfellow's subjects were largely American; his "Evangeline," "Hiawatha," "Tales of a Wayside Inn," with its " Paul Revere's Ride," his " Courtship of Miles Standish," all these have helped to make Amer- ica realize herself. It is said that " The Courtship of Miles Standish " has awakened more interest in the Pilgrims than all the histories that have been written on the subject. Longfellow, perhaps more than any other poet, has placed his mark on American life. He wrote not for a select few but for all his countrymen. He remains the household poet, the poet of the young. "The Ladder of St. Augustine," "The Builders," " Excelsior," " Morituri Salutamus," with its splendid closing lines, march sturdily, though not, perhaps, as captains of the line, with " Ulysses," " Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," " Say not the Struggle Naught Availeth ! " and the songs of faith and courage of other poets. It is recorded that the sad heart of Lincoln found the relief of tears on reading the lines beginning — " Thou too sail on, oh ship of state," which Longfellow AMERICAN AUTHORS 181 had written in 1840. In 1843 Longfellow voiced his view of slavery in " The Witness " and in the prophetic *' Warning." When the War came, he could not sing. The cause of abolition found one ardent advocate among American writers in the Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier. Whittier's poems, dealing with slavery, began in 1833 and continued until the close of the War of Secession. They form a running commen- tary on the events of that time and are written with a fiery eloquence of which the reader of " Maud Muller " and " Snowbound " would scarcely suspect Whittier ca- pable. No American can afford to neglect this poetic record of a patriot's feelings as aroused by national events. They are the expression of the ideals of justice on which our country was founded. Whittier wrote " Ichabod," a poem of stern rebuke to Daniel Webster for upholding the Compromise of 1850. Thirty ^^ears later in " The Lost Occasion," the poet expressed re- gret that Webster had not lived to make his last days glorious in defense of the Union. Whittier's poetry is beautiful and inspiring yet always wholesome. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), poet and essay- ist, has left his mark on the American ideal. Much of his work is distinctly American. " The American Scholar," called by Holmes " our intellectual Declara- tion of Independence," is a plea for a breaking away from the traditional European models and standing on our own feet as the freemen of a new world. His " Self-Reliance " calls on the young American to hoe his own row in life. He exalted sturdy independence of the individual. The philosophy of life set forth in Emerson's prose has made America known the world over. His poetry, though not so great in bulk as his prose, is fine and beautiful. The familiar lines from 182 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY '' Concord Hymn," " Here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world," give the history and outcome of the American Revolution. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) impresses one as a plain get-at-able American, a man of affairs, a family physican, a hail-fellow-well-met, and, at the same time, a poet of no mean ability. He is never too learned to be understood, never so much in earnest as to make one uncomfortable. He wrote on many dis- tinctly American subjects, dealing with events in our history and occurrences of every-day life. He was genial and yet earnest. His " Chambered Nautilis " touches a high mark in American literature. Holmes could be fiery with indignation as his outburst at the propose destruction of the gallant war-ship — the Constitution — shows. Of Holmes' poems, " The Last Leaf " was Lincoln's favorite. James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), poet, essayist, and diplomat, was perhaps, the most consciously " American " of American writers. He was a teacher of democracy; he held the American ideal of jus- tice and fair play; he believed in the dignity and sincerity of American scholarship. He helped to found and firmly establish the Atlantic Monthly/. He was no calm on-looker at the slavery struggle, nor at the obvious injustice of the Mexican War. " The Biglow Papers," America's best political satire, written in Yankee doggerel, criticises the aims of the war. " The Present Crisis " contains the ideals of all free- dom-loving men. Lowell's best-known poem, " The Vis- ion of Sir Launfal," teaches the brotherhood of men in a simple and beautiful way. "The Commemoration Ode " contains two great passages, the tribute to Lin- coln, and the closing invocation, which begins: AMERICAN AUTHORS 183 " O Beautiful ! my Country ! ours once more ! " Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) wrote of the America of the seventeenth century. " The House of the Seven Gables," " Twice Told Tales," " Mosses from an old Manse," "The Scarlet Letter," and "The Blithedale Romance" are all on American subjects. Though in much of his work, Hawthorne writes of the stern and gloomy Puritan, the tone is generally cheer- ful, optimistic, and inspiring. His " Great Stone Face " has had a very real influence on the lives of many American boys and girls. MARK TWAIN, WALT WHITMAN AND SIDNEY LANIER Samuel L. Clemens (1855-1910), America's beloved " Mark Twain," is more than a humorist. A hater of sham and hypocrisy, he sought every opportunity to strip it of its robes of pretence. His writings dis- tinctly reflect American life, especially the more rugged phases of it. His wit, though penetrating, is kindly. He uses ridicule without showing bitterness. Mark Twain stood for simple, open manhood; he hated pre- tended worth even when it was buttressed by wealth and power. By many Mark Twain is considered our most distinctly American literary product. Walt Whitman (1819-1892), primitive, and self- assertive, is the uncouth laureate of democracy. Con- troversy rages as to whether his was the poetic gift, whether he wrote merely for an age or for all time. It is doubtful whether he will ever be read by a large audience; his work is not read by many; but he did express a lasting conception of true democracy — an ideal that is like a strong wind blowing off* the grassy prairies. He stands for brotherhood, for the simple, unafraid dignity of man as he is created by God, en- 184 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY dowed with what God has given him, whether strong or weak, gifted or dull. Whitman preached the gospel of the essential worth of each man as he is, strong at his own task and conscious of his worth, in his own place and in his own way doing his share for the great democracy. All Americans read and know Whitman's ^' Oh Captain, My Captain," " Pioneers, Oh Pioneers ! " " I hear America Singing," and " The Prayer of Co- lumbus." The best expression of his idea of democracy is in " Thou Mother of an Equal Brood," which, though ovcrboastful, is prophetic and exalted. Of Whitman's work it may be said that, like the work of every other builder of democracy, what is worthless will drop off, what is worth while will pass into the general conception of the national ideal. Sidney Lanier (1842-1881) was born in the South; fought in the Confederate army during the War of Secession; spent time in a military prison; became first flutist in a Baltimore orchestra ; was a lecturer on literary subjects at Johns Hopkins; and, after a vain struggle against ill health, died at the age of thirty- nine. Lanier, though not well known even to Amer- icans, is one of America's purest and sweetest singers, a master of music who through toil and pain, gave forth poetry rare in its beauty of thought and form. Lanier's poetry, like Poe's, was wrung from his soul, but unlike Poe's, it was not distorted in thought and feeling by passion and despair. He never forgot the moral significance of art ; in his mind the right alone could be beautiful. In his work is expressed the rare combination of rigid devotion to duty and the joyous delight in the color and beauty of life and the world about him. In Lanier's poetry will be found no AMERICAN AUTHORS 185 trace of the rancor of the war in which he fousrht on the losing side. His " Centennial Cantata," written in celebration of the birth of American Independence, sets forth what is perhaps the best statement of the Amer- ican ideal of progress toward democracy that has ever been put into words. MORE RECENT WRITERS This list of American writers is by no means com- plete ; there are names not mentioned here which will not be forgotten. There are chroniclers and singers of the South — George Cable, Thomas Nelson Page, and Father Ryan ; singers of the middle West — Riley, Hamlin Garland, and Booth Tarkington; of the far West — Joachim Miller, Helen Hunt Jackson, Bret Harte, and Frank Norris ; and many others, name crowding on name, not all shining with equal luster, but all representing some vital aspect of American life and thought. THE HISTORIANS In a study of American writers who helped to build the American idea, the influence of American historians must not be forgotten. Prescott, Motley, Parkman, Bancroft, John Fiskc, McMaster, and the more recent historians have done signal service in helping to develop and give permanence to the American ideal. Even when the subjects were not strictly national, when they have been concerned with the chronicles of other peo- ples, they have expressed the American point of view and thus have helped the forward march of government by the people. No one who seeks to find the true meaning of America will fail to search the pages of the histories written by Americans. 186 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY INFLUENCE ON NATIONAL THOUGHT The possession of these American writers — • our very own — gives Americans a place in the world of thought and feeling. The lives and works of these men have illuminated with a warm radiance the spots where they have lived and the places where they have laid the scenes of their songs and stories. They have been our real teachers of geography and history; without their aid we could not see the living map of our country nor the animated chronicle of our days. We know places, towns, and cities, and rivers, and mountains. North and South, East and West, because they have been made familiar by the writings of Americans. Longfellow has made Cambridge, the Craigie House, Harvard College, the village of Grand Pre, and the Savannahs of Louisiana, visible and real to us ; Whit- tier suggests Fredericksburg, the Rocks of Rivermouth, Marblehead, and New England country life in summer loveliness as well as when " Snow Bound " ; Irving has made the Hudson country, our country, as he has brought Westminster Abbey, Abbotsford, and Strat- ford-on-Avon to America's doors. This suggestion might be continued to Bret Harte and the Western camps, to Hamlin Garland and the life of the prairie farm, to George Cable and old New Orleans, to Lanier and the Southern marshes of Glynn. The knowledge of these men and their works gives to our own country form and place and extent and reality, makes us aware of ourselves, and of our nation's manifest destiny. For we have climbed with the " youth who bore 'mid snow and ice," the banner of inspiration; we have held with Lowell " the Heritage " which any man might wish to hold in fee ; we have pursued the *' shapes that flit before " with Whittier ; we have hastened downward to AMERICAN AUTHORS 187 the plains where duty calls with Lanier; and, though we lingered with poor Poe in the " Ghoul-haunted Wood- land of Wier," it was for the sake of the magic he made and not in doubt and black despair. America has up to the present time reflected, and at the same time in a measure created, the healthfulness, sanity, moral rectitude, and spiritual exaltation of her writers, singers, story-tellers, chroniclers, and commen- tators. The future of American literature depends upon the American people themselves. If America re- mains true to her national traditions and ideals, if she refuses to let commercialism dominate her life and her law, the coming period of leisure and comfort will find expression for the spirit of American democracy in writings that will be truly national and at the same time a part of the literature which embraces all the written " things worthy to be remembered " by the people of the world. CHAPTER X THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND AFTERWARDS The representatives shall pronounce in unison, in the name of the French people, the oath to live free or to die. Constitution of 1791. The great wheel of political revolution began to move in Amer- ica. Here its rotation was guarded, regular, and safe. Trans- ferred to the other continent, from unfortunate but natural causes, it received an irregular and violent impulse; it whirled along with fearful celerity; until at last, like the chariot-wheels in the races of antiquity, it took fire from the rapidity of its own motion, and blazed onward, spreading conflagration and terror around. Daniel Webster (Bunker Hill Oration). Any attempt to trace the development of popular government would be incomplete without a survey of the French Revolution, that great eruption of popular discontent which shook Europe to its foundation in the last years of the eighteenth century. It was a movement toward government by the people in marked contrast to the slow-footed, ponderous growth toward democracy which took place in England and America. The French Revolution was not the result of changes accumulating one at a time, but of the explosion of pent- up forces which, denied natural expression, broke loose in uncontrolled fury. This terrific upheaval took place between 1789 and 1800. In that short period, the ancient autocracy of France was overthrown; a new government of the people was set up; the king and the queen were be- 188 190 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY headed ; the old order of society was demolished ; the calendar was revised andi renamed; and religion was abolished. While all this was going on, practically the whole of Europe had taken up arms against France. After several years of war at home and abroad, the revolu- tionary government was overthrown ; the leaders of the movement were executed ; and, in the reaction that took place, France, exhausted and confused, fell under the sway of Napoleon Bonaparte. In bare outline that was what happened. The French Revolution set free forces that make for the government of the people, yet its excesses checked the steady normal growth of democratic insti- tutions and lost to the cause of democracy the support of liberal-minded people the world over who were shocked at the wild lengths to which the revolution went. CAUSES OF THE FRENCH KEVOLUTION While the people of England, century after century, were struggling to force from the reluctant hands of her despotic kings and of her unreasoning aristocracy the right of political freedom, the people of the neighbor- ing country of France appear to have been in a state of political inactivity. The king was the ruling power to such an extent that Louis XIV might well have said, " I am the state." Louis XIV ruled from 1643 to 1715, the seventy-two years coinciding with the Eng- lish periods of Charles I, the Commonwealth and Crom- well, Charles II, James II, William of Orange and Mary, and Queen Anne. During this time, England went through a Civil War; set up a republic; saw the Restoration of the Stuarts; and finally the establish- ■« ' C5 CO 1^ W S; CO r 192 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY ment of a King subject to Parliament. In France, during the same period, the rulers governed as they pleased. The " Grand Monarche " increased the power and prestige of France among European countries and dazzled his people bj national glory. The government grew to be a highly centralized monarchy with the King and his executive council in absolute control. The court of France, brilhant and extravagant, needed large sums of money to support its state, and the King and council fixed the taxes, levied the army, drew up " edicts " — as the laws were called — and ruled France without reference to the needs or desires of its people. The taxes were unreasonable and unbearable. One of them — the gahelle — not only placed a tax on salt, but forced people to buy salt whether they used it or not ; another — the courvee — was a road tax which compelled peasant-farmers to leave their work in the fields for many days in order that they might make the highways smoother for the carriages of the rich ; and a third, an especially hateful tax — the taille — was imposed not only on land, but on all manner of indus- try. The nobles and clergy were exempt from paying any taxes. The long and extravagant reign of Louis XIV was followed by that of Louis XV (1715-1774). In his reign things went from bad to worse with the people. Finally when Louis XVI (1784-1792) came to the throne, the trouble reached its height. France was al- most bankrupt and the young King, finding it neces- sary to take extraordinary measures to relieve the sit- uation, decided to call an election of the ancient and obsolete French legislative assembly, the Estates Gen- eral. 194 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY THE ESTATES GENERAL, 1789 The Estates General had not been summoned since 1614, 175 years before. During all that time, the French people had had no regular training in carrying on government, but there had grown up " a widespread feeling of intense protest against the unjust taxes that were laid on peasants on the one hand, and against the privileges of the upper classes on the other. The French people were not so beaten down and degraded as it is sometimes supposed; indeed, the very fact that they protested so vehemently argues that they were in- telligent and courageous and that they were not at star- vation's door. At least two-fifths of the soil of France belonged to the peasants, and the people of the towns — the burghers — though they possessed little land, contributed much the larger portion of the nation's cap- ital. Upon the burghers — or bourgoisie, as they were afterward called — that is upon the bankers, lawyers, physicians, capitalists, merchants, contractors, and high-grade craftsmen, the leadership of the French Revolution fell. While the King was preparing for the meeting of the Estates General, he invited the people to send writ- ten statements containing suggestions for reform. Thousands of these " cahiers," which were nothing more than lists of grievances, were sent in. These proved a powerful educational force, as they set the people to thinking independently about ways of reform. Louis XVI lived to rue the day that he invited the people to give open voice to their wrongs. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY The Estates General represented the three estates of the realm, — the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. 196 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY When it assembled trouble at once arose as to whether it should sit as one great body in which each individual had a voice or whether each estate should vote as a unit. The third estate, made up largely of lawyers, after a sharp contest with the King and the nobles, ad- journed to a neighboring tennis-court and, constituting itself as the " National Assembly," took a solemn oath not to dissolve until a constitution for France had been made. The frightened King tried to disperse the Assembly by force of arms, whereat the people of Paris on July 14, 1789, rose in wild excitement and battered down the fortress known as the Bastile. Since that time, July 14 has been celebrated by the French as their national holiday. From this time on events moved rapidly in a double line. The Assembly continued its work with steadiness and sanity, placing Lafayette in command of the Na- tional Guard ; the people of Paris and the other large cities throughout the kingdom organized themselves as " communes " and took the control of local government into their own hands. Henceforward, the " com- munes " of France figure as vital factors in the history of the nation. A period of confusion and terror now set in, the people becoming possessed by an unreasonable and un- reasoning fear. This undefined, overpowering terror spread throughout the country and relieved itself by the wholesale burning of chateaux. A series of crimes followed, which terrified the already frightened nobles almost to distraction. The maddened people declared that they would no longer pay taxes, tithes, or rents. The National Assembly felt that it must do some- thing to pacify and satisfy the people. Tlie nobles who had remained in the Assembly took the lead in a 198 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY display of heroic self-sacrifice, voluntarily laying down their ancient privileges: tithes and exemptions from taxes were done away with ; the hated "taille" was abolished " forever," and all citizens were made eligible to office. THE CONSTITUTION OF 1791 Before this, the Assembly had drawn up a constitu- tion known in history as the Constitution of 1791. It opened with the famous " Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen " which was suggested to the Assembly by the customary Bill of Rights found in the American State Constitutions. Notable among its clauses are these : " Men are born equal in rights and should re- main so." " Law is the expression of the will of the people." *' Each citizen has a right to a share in mak- ing it." " It must be the same for all." " Society has the right to call for an account from every public agent of its administration." It provided that the representatives in unison, in the name of the French people take "the oath to live free or to die." The Constitution of 1791 provided for a limited monarchy. The civil rights of the people were secured, and equality before the law was established ; hereditary titles and special privileges were abolished. Yet in spite of the high-sounding phrases of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, there was no intention of universal suffrage, no practical government by the peo- ple. By the restriction of suffrage to those who paid taxes equal to three days' labor, the government was left in the hands of the middle class. By a further gradation according to wealth, members of the lowest class could vote, those of the second class could hold minor political positions, but only the members of the THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 199 third or most wealthy class could be chosen for the higher offices. The legislature was to consist of one chamber to be renewed every two years. A strictly constitutional King whose veto could be over-ridden by three legislative affirmations was to be the chief executive. By the mistake of making unwise and arbi- trary laws concerning the Church, the Revolution lost the support of the 46,000 village priests who from the first had stood with the liberals. The King signed the new Constitution, but he continued to muddle mat- ters hopelessly until the radical element became in- furiated at certain ill-advised acts of his and the Na- tional Guard was forced to quiet the Paris mob. THE KING AND THE NEW ASSEMBI.Y After completing its work, the National Assembly broke up and gave way to an elected assembly provided by the new Constitution. The elections returned an almost entirely new assembly composed of ardent young lawyers and other inexperienced young men who made inflammatory speeches expressing the most advanced and revolutionary views. The assembly ordered the " emigres " — the nobles who had fled the country — to come back to France under penalty of death ; it also ordered all the priests who would not accept the arrangements of the new Constitution to be deported. A confusing time of civil and religious unrest followed until the Assembly felt that some move must be made to unite the warring factions. They hit upon a for- eign war as an effective means of bringing about na- tional unity. In the furtherance of this design, they found an excuse for a war with Austria, which they forced the helpless and bewildered Louis XVI to declare. Louis XVI had signed the Constitution of 1791 with 200 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY mental and spoken reservations. Soon after the decla- ration of war, the King in an ill-timed spirit of inde- pendence vetoed some measures passed by the Assembly and dismissed his ministry. The Paris mob rose with furious clamor and invaded the Tuileries. They rushed into the presence of the royal family, dragged out the frightened King, put a red cap on his head, and made him drink the health of the new regime. This act of disrespect and irreverent violence toward the King led the neighboring countries to act. Prus- sia joined Austria against the French. The leaders of the Paris mob, notably Danton, a prominent Radical, now determined to depose the King. In a short time the Tuileries was attacked again, the King was sus- pended, and a new Constitution was ordered drafted. THE REIGN OF TERROR Then it was that the Legislative Assembly gave way to the Convention for forming a new Constitution ; and the Reign of Terror began. Events moved rapidly. Monarchy was abolished September 25, 1792, the Year One, according to the new French calendar; a republic was established ; three thousand suspected citizens were thrown into prison by the Paris mob ; an army was raised; the invading enemies were promptly repelled; and the Convention sent out proclamations to all the people of Europe calling upon them to cast off their " tyrants." After months of imprisonment and hu- miliation, the King was tried and, as Citizen Louis Capet, was condemned as a traitor and executed. The English liberals, men like Burke who had ap- plauded the first movements of the Revolution, were horrified at the extravagant violence of the Convention THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 201 and lost faith in the capability of the people to rule. Gouverneur Morris, the American minister to France, was thoroughly disgusted with the " French madmen." But the Convention went on, declaring war on England, Holland, and other countries, until France was at war with all her neighbors. The furious career of the Revo- lution was for a moment somewhat checked by the com- bined efforts of the other European rulers who got their heads together and seriously planned the partition of France. At this threat the Convention put the government into the hands of a Committee of Public Safety with unlimited powers. They proposed to crush the des- potism of kings by a despotism of power. A group of ultra-revolutionists, called the Mountain, headed by Danton, Robespierre, and St. Just, and supported by the Commune of Paris took things into their own hands. They said the ignorant people, though well intentioned, would lead the country back to slavery if they were not checked. All over the country civil war threatened. The peas- ants of La Vendee rose against the Republic, refusing to fight for a government that had killed their King and exiled their priests. Marseilles and Bordeaux were indignant at the treatment of the moderate revolution- ists. Besides this, the Allies were attacking the fron- tiers of France ; the English took Valenciennes and, later on, Dunkirk, while the Prussians were advancing in Alsace. But the Committee of Public Safety pulled them- selves together with marvelous energy, and their depu- ties aroused the patriotism of the raw recruits. The civil revolt in La Vendee was put down with terrific 202 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY severity, 2,000 Vendean peasants being shot or drowned in the Loire. Lyons was bombarded and cap- tured and 2,000 of its inhabitants were massacred. The Committee of Public Safety carried out these atrocities openly and consciously, in an effort to strike terror into the enemies at home and abroad. Mean- while the guillotine was set up in the Place de la Revo- lution, and its terrible work was begun. A Revolu- tionary tribunal was instituted in Paris and sympa- thizers with emigres or royalty — in fact, all who were not ardent supporters of the Revolution — were thrown into prison. Marie Antoinette, the deposed Queen, was publicly executed amid the jeers of the Paris mob. Day after day the tumbrils rattled by and the nobles of France paid the penalty of their inheritance. The Reign of Terror was not a wanton display of blood-letting. It was a deliberate attempt to gain the ends desired by "frightfulness," a method that has been used from time immemorial when war is being waged. It is customary to designate the slaughter of citizens by a revolutionary power as the " Red Terror," and that by a constituted authority as the '"White Terror." Both are coldly calculated to win ends by means of force and fear. After the first wave of the Reign of Terror had spent its force, the dominating spirits of the Committee of Public Safety began to fall out with one another, and it was not long until one after the other mounted the steps of the guillotine. In less than a year the Revolutionary leaders followed. In a remarkably short time the Revolutionary clubs were closed and the Con- vention found itself in danger of being turned out by the friends of monarchy. Soon the wealthier classes of Paris organized and prepared to resist the destruc- THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 203 tion of their property. The fury of the Revolution had begun to abate, the pendulum had swung to its limit, and was ready for a return to the other extreme of its arc. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE In desperation the Convention turned to the army to save it from annihilation, choosing for a leader a small, easy-going young Corsican officer who had been working in a clerical position in Paris. This young man was Napoleon Bonaparte. He turned the cannon of the Swiss guard into the streets leading to the Tuileries and mowed down the royalists with grape shot. The reactionaries were completely routed and the way was opened for the daring ambitions of the quiet young officer who dreamed of conquest and made his dreams come true. Popular government in Europe was materially checked by the wars waged on that continent from 1795 to 1815. Napoleon played havoc with the countries of Europe, he " tore up the map " of the great part of that continent, and made himself and his next of kin kings and princes from Italy to t4ie Scandinavian pen- insula. But for all Napoleon's brilliant career, for all the glory he brought to France and to himself, Waterloo came on June 18, 1815, and with it the final downfall of the great Emperor of the French. Napoleon established and made permanent the ideas of the Revolution along orderly, institutional lines, so that, while it must be admitted that he was a despot in every sense of the word, it must also be conceded that it took a Napoleon and a Napoleonic era to fix and establish equality in the eyes of the law, and nationality, if not liberty, in place of the indifferent herding to- 204 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY gether under one ruler of various peoples with no racial bond. But Napoleon's greatest contribution to the world was the unsurpassed system of laws called the Code Napoleon, which has remained the law, not only of France but of practically all Europe, excepting Eng- land and Russia. It must always be remembered that though Napoleon destroyed political liberty, he pre- served equality before the law; and by instituting a fairer distribution of taxes removed the disproportion- ate burden from the poorer classes and placed it on abler shoulders. THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 1815 In 1814, the kings and princes whom Napoleon had placed upon European thrones, tumbled down amidst the general upheaval caused by his Russian campaign and his exile to the island of Elba. At once, the gov- ernments of the countries ho had conquered reestab- lished themselves on their former royal seats. When Louis XVIII became King of France, the people seem to have made no resistance, largely because they did not know how to resist effectively. With Napoleon out of the way, the rulers of Europe assembled behind locked doors at Vienna to undertake the delicate and dangerous task of smoothing out and remaking the rumpled map of Europe on an autocratic foundation. They based their decisions on the prin- ciple of " legitimacy " — that is, on hereditary right to throne and territory. They seemed never to have heard anything about " the consent of the governed." The words " constitution " and " revolution " were wiped out as being unfit to be used. The Congress was a remarkably selfish and undemocratic assembly. No THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 205 commoners were there ; no representatives of the peo- ple ; no mind filled with a wish to bring about a j ust and lasting peace for the sake of people who had borne the brunt of the wars. On the contrary, the Congress of Vienna was made up of Kings and representatives of Kings, the one thought in the mind of each being to get all he possibly could by fair means or foul. The leading spirit of this gathering was the Aus- trian Prime Minister, Metternich, whose main idea was to get things back where they were before the French Revolution. England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, the leading powers, agreed before the meeting as to the claims which each should press. After the Con- gress opened, the lesser powers were allowed to agree to the previously arranged plans. The members of the Congress acted like highway robbers over a pile of booty ; they simply carved states into slices and dis- tributed them about regardless of the nationality or the wishes of the inhabitants. Germany, which had consisted of over three hun- dred states, was consolidated into thirty-eight states ; Prussia got a slice on the Rhine as well as Pomerania and a large part of Poland ; Russia was awarded Fin- land, a nation entirely alien ; Sardinia, the largest state of Italy, came away much displeased because Austria had secured most of the territory that Sardinia wanted. Not being greedy, Switzerland was satisfied with a guar- antee of neutrality. Denmark was not let off with a whole skin as she was compelled to give Norway to Sweden because Sweden had lost Finland. Norway objected, and drew up a Constitution, but on being al- lowed to have a separate government, she accepted Sweden's King as a ruler. Belgium was not on the map in 1815, for, regardless of the objection of the in- 206 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY habitants, the territory now occupied by Belgium was made part of the Netherlands. By far the larger part of Poland went to the Czar of Russia. To keep away from contact with France, looked upon as a hot-bed of revolution, Metternich consolidated Austria's pos- sessions and annexed certain Italian States north of the Adriatic, thus making " unredeemed Italy " one of the sore spots of Europe. England, as pay-master of the Allies, was in a posi- tion to get what she asked. She added the island of Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope to her already ex- tensive foreign holdings, so that at the close of the Con- gress of Vienna, the British Empire led the world in colonial possessions. The Congress of Vienna did not try to make any plan that recognized the claims of nationality; in fact, it failed utterly to recognize any such claim. But the spirit of nationality continued to grow until to-day, at the close of the Great War, there is manifest a wide- spread and intense impulse of the peoples naturally re- lated to join themselves into independent nations. At the conclusion of its conference, which had been interrupted by Napoleon's escape from Elba, his last attempt to dominate Europe, and his final de- feat at Waterloo, the Congress of Vienna summed up its deliberations, treaties, and arrangements in the " Final Act," which was issued for convenient reference. Presently the European monarchs and plenipotentia- ries returned to their various countries, climbed upon their uneasy thrones, or into their insecure cabinets, devoutly hoping that an era of peace had begun. They set about ruling as if nothing had happened, as if there had been no French Revolution, no Napoleonic Wars, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 207 no new birth of the spirit of nationality. Their recent painful experience had taught them nothing, nor did they pay any heed to the Industrial Revolution — al- ready well under way — which, as the result of the in- troduction of machinery, was beginning to decrease the workmen's wages. The rulers ignored the fact that the people were de- sirous of greater freedom. Each government tried to make itself strong by open treaties and secret under- standings. They tried to set up a " Balance of Power " which would keep any one nation of Europe from becoming so powerful that it would be a danger to the others. The Congress decided to have regular meetings " for the repose and prosperity of nations and for the furtherance of the peace of Europe." In reality the purpose was to keep Europe under this control. THE RETURN OF THE BOURBONS, 1815 After Napoleon, France went back to the Bourbons and the " legitimate " monarchy under Louis XVIII. The French Revolution was apparently repudiated, and governments seemed to sHp back into their old grooves. Not only in France but throughout the continent, the excesses of the Revolution had frightened men at the possibilities of what might happen when the people assumed control of the state, with the result that for a number of years thereafter any evident movements look- ing toward more democratic ideals were for a time promptly crushed. But underneath the surface, popu- lar discontent with existing conditions was at work, setting up the slower yet surer process of education in the place of revolution, while across the sea, in 208 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY America, the constant reminder of what men could do by way of self-government gave promise of a better day. As might have been expected the people of France did not remain contented. Though Louis XVIII had granted a Constitution, they were not satisfied. When Charles X, who succeeded Louis XVIII, had no mind to rule tamely as a constitutional monarch, but set out to rule as he pleased. Revolution at once began to make headway. The elections of 1830 brought into the Chamber of Deputies a great number opposed to the King. Charles sought to overcome this difficult situa- tion by suspending liberty of the press, reducing the number of voters, and virtually destroying the last vestige of popular government. REVOLUTIONS OF 1830 Then came the July Revolution of 1830 with Paris as the center of activity. Charles X hastily abdicated and in short order the crown went to another Bourbon, Louis Phillippe, the " Citizen King." He paraded his democratic leanings as he went about among the people, dressed as a well-to-do merchant might dress and car- rying a green umbrella as a sign of his liberal ideas. But 1830 did not liberate France, although the tri- color of the French Revolution took the place of the white and gold fleur-de-lis of the Bourbons. Political liberty was not much advanced; the power passed even more completely into the hands of the middle class bankers, speculators, manufacturers, merchants — the " bourgeoisie". Though the sovereignty of the peo- ple was proclaimed, it was in reality the will of only eighty thousand voters out of a population of thirty million. The same restlessness that brought about the Revo- THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 209 lution of 1830 was stirring in other parts of Europe. Belgium, which the Congress of Vienna had added to William of Orange's Netherland dominions, was able by July, 1831, to throw off the yoke of the Netherlands, draw up a constitution based on the sovereignty of the people, and elect Leopold of Coburg as King. In Eng- land the " First Reform Bill " was passed in 1832, al- though Wellington, then Prime Minister, in the face of rotten and pocket boroughs and the unrepresented thousands in manufacturing towns, had insisted that the existing representation in England could not be improved upon. In fact by this time, liberal parties had developed in almost all the countries of Europe. These parties accepted the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Because of the great changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution, many thinkers began to speculate on a possible com- plete reorganization of society and. to many. Social- ism, which first appeared between 1830 and 1848, pre- sented itself as a new method of solving the question of justice to all men. REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 The next great wave of republicanism in Europe was felt in the year of revolutions, 1848. France then saw the establishment of the Second Republic. The Citizen King had kept himself in favor for eighteen years, his ministry ruling the country by organized bribery. In the meantime, things were going from bad to worse for the working-class. Finally the King abdicated, the gov- ernment was overthrown and a National Assembly was elected by universal manhood suffrage to draw up a Constitution providing for a Republic. As a result of closing the National Workshops which had been set up. 210 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY hundreds of thousands of workmen were thrown on the streets. Then followed a period of dire confusion and misery which was brought to an end by the bullets and bayonets of the soldiers. Twenty thousand men per- ished, four thousand citizens were transported, thirty newspapers were suppressed, and the leaders of the op- position were imprisoned. The revolt was put down but at a cost of a lasting hatred between working-men and capitalists. In November 1848 a new Constitution was promul- gated and the elections took place. Among the candi- dates was Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon I. His chief asset was his name — but it served to elect him. After a few years, by a sudden political move, he appealed to the people to confirm him as President for ten years. Seven and a half million out of eight million voted " yes " to the question he put to them. A few years later, following his great uncle's example, he made himself Emperor Napoleon III and began to rule as a benevolent despot, the government slipping back into the old grooves of absolute monarchy. The year 1848 saw most remarkable revolutionary movements all over Europe. Like the visible shaking of an earthquake, the entire continent felt the impulse to- ward political freedom. In some countries the move- ment took definite shape and showed some real promise of change, but in all cases, except in France, practically nothing in the way of more democratic government came at that time. The influence of the popular dis- content, of course, remained. The Hungarians and the Bohemians made vigorous efforts to shake off Austrian rule, but the Bohemians were crushed by a military force and the Hungarians were likewise overpowered so that their independence was put off for twenty years THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 211 longer. In Germany, the Frankfort Convention of 1848 met to draw up a Constitution for a United Ger- many. But because of the influence of Austria the work of the Convention was repudiated. On the whole the Revolutions of 1848 did little more than register popular discontent. The day of libera- tion was postponed. The rulers of Europe, unable to read the meaning of these upheavals, congratulated themselves on their victory over the revolutionists. Switzerland was the one lone republic that remained in Europe. England had a limited monarchy ; but the England of 1848 was not the England of 1914. Greece had won her independence from Turkey in 1829 and had established a little kingdom of her own. Bel- gium, although a monarchy, had a liberal Constitution, one of the provisions of which being compulsory voting- The Constitution of Spain had a like provision. All the other states of Europe were monarchies of a greater or less degree of absolutism. Thousands of the people of European countries de- siring relief from the heavy burdens of autocracy and hearing of the land of freedom across the Atlantic, col- lected their few possessions and set out for the United States of America, a land that was indeed a land of promise to them. Among these were the best and most ambitious of all nationalities who, because of poverty had little chance for progress in the lands from which they came but who saw in this free country — their free country — an opportunity and a hope. CHAPTER XI THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY There was a time, not long ago when German theorists, men who could not or would not learn the lessons of history, in their chagrin longed for a future which would set German life free from Prussian militarism. The present has taught them the les- son which the past could not teach, for to-day it is by militarism that not only the liberty, but the future of the German nation itself is upheld and we come to recognize its proper character without reserve; then it will be discovered where its weakness and where its strength lies. Then it can assert before the world that its greatest strength which has stood the test of the past and the present, is to be found in that which in the hour of direct need and danger saved the life of Germany: German militarism. " Imperial Germany ," written in 1916 by Former Chancellor von Bvlow. The government of the United States can be more clearly understood by comparing it with a government conducted on principles that are in strong contrast with the American idea of rule by the people ; one that works on the principle that the heads of governments derive their powers not from the consent of the governed but from a sovereign power that comes with birth. Such a government is generally termed an Autocracy. Rus- sia up to March, 1917, was an Autocracy; Germany until November, 1918, was in its essence an Autocracy. As it was against the German Empire that the United States was arrayed in the Great War, some knowledge of the development of the government and ideals of that country may well become a part of the American citi- zen's equipment. 212 THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 213 EARLY HISTORY OF GERMANY Although the primitive form of self-government com- mon to all European countries appeared at an early date in Germany, and while local self-government has always flourished there, national self-government never developed on German territory. National unity, be- gun in the great tribal assemblieSw gradually gave way to the domination of a brood of petty princes un- til, finally, anything like a national assembly died out. By the year 800, Charlemagne had united the territory now occupied by Germany, France, the kingdom of Austria, and a part of Italy into one great empire. This great and good monarch was crowned Emperor of the Romans, and thus was made the beginning of what later became the Holy Roman Empire. After Charlemagne's death, his vast empire was divided among his three sons. The eastern part in time became Austria; the central part, at first extending across the Alps and into Italy, Germany ; and the western division, France. Germany soon broke up into small kingdoms, principalities, and free towns. At one time there were upward of 1800 separate Germanic sovereignties each directly or indirectly under an abso- lute ruler. In the course of years, the larger states of Germany, together with Germanic Austria, formed a league of nations " neither holy nor Roman nor an empire," which was nevertheless called the Holy Roman Empire. The only bond of union that held together this shape- less confederation was the person of the Emperor, who was elected by the leagued sovereigns. The Emperor was usually of the royal family of Amstria, the famous Hapsburg dynasty, which for one thousand years con- 214 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY tinued the dominant power, until pushed out of the im- perial league by the HohenzoUerns, an aggressive Prus- sian famil}^, which, beginning in 1192 with the insig- nificant Mark Brandenburg, had developed the king- dom of Prussia. NAPOI.EON AND GERMANY The Holy Roman Empire continued its uncertain existence until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Napoleon, claiming not divine right to arbitrate the fate of nations, but simply the right of his " tal- ents," played havoc with the Hapsburgs and Hohen- zoUerns in his astounding upsetting of the European chess-board. He tossed about Germany's three hun- dred states without regard to the desires of rulers or peoples and reduced their number to about forty. Napoleon was especially hard on Prussia, which had risen to a position of dominance under Frederick, the Great Elector (1640-1688). His great-grandson was Frederick the Great (1740-1786), a military genius, who made his country strong for the sake of making his throne strong. Frederick the Great was a most thorough cynic, utterly disbelieving in truth and loyalty in individuals, and grimly using his subjects of " fools and paupers." Under Frederick, Prussia became a pure Autocracy, in which the prince with his ministers and officers ruled without restraint from any assembly of subjects. As a result of Napoleon's outrageous treatment of Germany, the spirit of nationality was awakened. Once aroused it was kept alive by the memory of the march and counter-march of the French Emperor's armies across German territory. Napoleon battered down the Holy Roman Empire when he consolidated all the THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 215 German states — wisely omitting Prussia and Austria — into the " Confederation of the Rhine," with him- self as Protector. MOVEMENTS TOWARD UNITY After Napoleon's downfall, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 set up a Germanic Confederation, a " loose league " of the sovereigns of thirty-eight states with a Federal Diet which met at Frankfort and was presided over by the Austrian representative. " It was not a government at all ; it was a polite and ceremonious way of doing nothing." It was a government somewhat like the one the thirteen colonies attempted to carry on under the Articles of Confederation. The states, not the people, were represented; there was no federal executive, the member states carried out the decrees only if they wished to do so. There was no federal army. No fundamental change could be made except by unanimous consent. This possibility of one vote's power to block any proposed concerted action was termed the " liberum veto." Moreover the Federal Constitution was built on no idea of German unity, nor did it provide any method of giving political edu- cation to the middle class of Germany. Unlike the peo- ple of the United States, the German people had not been free to develop a government for themselves ; they had been and continued to be hampered by the outworn customs and the outlawed claims of rulers who held that the King was the source of government. But there was a constant growth of liberal senti- ment, led by broad-minded men who wished to see a united yet free and democratic Germany. The}^ wanted the institutions of republican countries — ' a legislature controlling the budget, a free press, trial 216 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY by jury, a system of local self-government linked to the central government, an independent judiciary, and a national guard which would place control in the hands of the people. The efforts of these liberals were hin- dered by the narrow selfishness of the princes of the states, each of whom wished to keep all his kingly pre- rogatives and privileges and feared that he would be robbed of certain inherited honors and powers, if a real German union should be brought about. But in spite of the German sovereigns, during the first half of the nineteenth century, several well-defined attempts at uniting Germany under a liberal form of government were made. THE CONSTITUTION OF 1848 Though little was accomplished by these movements, the desire for constitutional liberty was kept alive. Germany felt the Revolutions of 1848 to such a degree that Frederick William IV, King of Prussia, a mean and timid soul, allowed a National Assembly of six hun- dred delegates, elected by universal suffrage from all the German states, to meet in convention at Frankfort, for the purpose of drawing up a Constitution. The Convention was made up of men who, though they had met for the final organization of the German Gov- ernment in the name of the German people, had no real authority. The assembly could lay plans, but the government alone could pass upon them. After some difficulty as to membership in the proposed union, it was finally decided to include only Prussia and the states that had belonged to the German Confederation of the Rhine of 1815. This omission of Austria re- lieved Prussia of the only rival that she feared. When the Constitution was finally completed, the im- THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 217 perial diadem was offered to Frederick William IV. But by this time, Frederick had secured the backing of the ruler of Austria, who had been busy gaining the support of the princes of southern Germany. Em- boldened by this sympathy, he refused the crown, in- dignantly denying the right of the Frankfort assembly — a mere gathering of representatives of the people — to bestow any such honor. He would take the crown from no such unauthorized body, saying that in his opinion, the princes of Germany alone had the right to offer to any one the headship of the empire. After an unsuccessful attempt at founding a repre- sentative government, the National Assembly went home discouraged and confounded. Their failure can- not be laid to their lack of a practical plan. The Con- stitution they prepared was the work of high-minded and able men, who believed the German people capable of working out a government on the principle of fair- dealing to all men. Its failure, may be laid rather to the lack of an army and executive machinery of gov- ernment with which to carry forward the decision of the Convention. Many of the men of the Frankfort Assembly lost heart, and despairing of success in their native land, left Germany for other lands, great num- bers of them coming to the United States. A short time after the Frankfort Assembly broke up, Frederick W^illiam IV, frightened by the popular un- rest, submitted a Constitution of his own for the gov- ernment of Prussia, although he had once indignantly said that he would never allow a sheet of paper to make its paragraphs the rulers. He still held that the sov- ereign power resided in the King, but he admitted that the King might, if he wished, allow the people to share in the government. This Constitution of 1849, with a THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 219 few unimportant changes, remained the Constitution of Prussia up to 1918. Under it a Prussian parliament called the Landtag was established. RISE OF PRUSSIA Though Austria had dominated Germany, she was not to continue to exercise supremacy ; for soon, PruS' sla, under the Chancellorship of Bismarck, the most skilful and powerful statesmen of modern times, bc' gan to assume a dominating position. At the time of the advent of Bismarck In the diplomatic circles of Europe, Germany was composed of thirty-eight states, each with an independent sovereign. Among these states an intricate system of duties for exports and imports existed, to the economic detriment of all. In 1834, a " Zollverein," or tariff-union, had been formed, the effect of which on profits had been marvelous. This commercial affiliation was the forerunner of political union and was a long step toward a real unification of the Germans. In 1861, William I became King of Prussia and set out as a practical ruler. He so organized the army that there were soon, either in active service or in the reserves, four hundred thousand men ready at the call to arms. William I lengthened the compulsory term for active service to four years and the reserve term to three years, so that seven of the best years of all German men were devoted to military training. This system was so effective in making a great army that it became the basis of military service in nearly all Eu- ropean countries. BISMARCK MAKES A GERMAN EMPIRE William I had hardly come to the throne when he got Into a deadlock with the Landtag over army 220 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY appropriations, which needed to be greatly increased to enable him to carry out his plans. In this strait the King appointed Bismarck Chancellor. Bismarck was a Junker, that is, a landed gentleman of East Prussia ; he was an intolerant aristocrat, but he was bent on making a united Germany, with Prussia as the controlling state. With this end in view, the new Chan- cellor began to increase the power and prestige of Prussia. As the first necessary step, he humiliated Austria in a war which he provoked in 1866. This done, he cut off all political connection with that coun- try. By a war of conquest which he made to seem a war of defense, he annexed not only Danish Schleswig- Holstein, but Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and the free city of Frankfort. The people of these territories were thenceforward to be Prussians in language, cus- toms, and law, although none of the annexed communi- ties had been consulted as to their wishes. In 1867, the time being ripe for such a move, William I and the rulers of the North German States formed the North German Federation under the guiding hand of Bismarck. After the sovereigns had agreed upon a constitution, it was submitted to a provisional Reichs- tag elected by the people of all the states. This as- sembly did little but ratify the proposed scheme of government; when the majority disagreed with Bis- marck, the majority yielded. For instance, the Reichs- tag voted for a responsible ministry and payment of members, but, as Bismarck was opposed to both ideas, neither principle was put into the Constitution. The North German Federation was so planned that when the southern states — Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden, and South Hesse — knocked at the door for ad- mission into the German union at the close of the THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 221 Franco-Prussian War of 1871, they were accommo- dated without any change in the original document. The door opened easily and the North German Feder- ation became the German Empire, with Bismarck's Constitution as the fundamental law and the King of Prussia as the Kaiser of Germany in perpetuity. The contrast between the origin of the German Constitution and the origin of the Constitution of the United States of America is striking. The American document was drawn up by men tried in war and in peace and skilled in the affairs of practical government ; it was in the main based on a series of compromises made to satisfy the needs and wishes of the people of divergent occupations and modes of living. It was wrought out by the best minds of America and before being put into operation, it was sent back to the states for ratification. During the period of ratification, it underwent the keen and pitiless criticism both of men who had worked to frame it and of men who sought to destroy it. After much public discussion it was ac- cepted and set up as the fundamental law of the United States of America. All this happened eighty years be- fore the formation of the North German Confederation. THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT The government of Germany up to the last months of 1918 was a federation like that of the United States, consisting of twenty-five states and one imperial terri- tory, Alsace-Lorraine. There were four kingdoms, eighteen duchies, and three republics — the city states of Bremen, Hamburg, and Liibeck. Whoever was King of Prussia was the Kaiser of Germany. The laws of the realm were made by two bodies, a sort of King's council, composed of delegates appointed by the princes 222 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY of the various states and called the " Bundesrat,'* and an assembly elected by the people, called the " Reichs- tag." All taxes were voted by the Reichstag. The chief minister of the realm, the " Chancellor," was ap- pointed by the Kaiser and presided over the Bundes- rat. At a casual glance this may seem a democratic ar- rangement, resembling in many ways the scheme of government which holds in the United States of Amer- ica. In reality it was far from democratic in its in- tent or in its working out. The Bundesrat, as inter- preted by Bismarck and apparently accepted by the Germans, was the seat of imperial sovereignty. In other words the Government of Germany derived its " just " powers from a council made up of representa- tives of the princes of the sovereign states which com- posed Germany. Its members were instructed dele- gates appointed for life by the sovereign princes of the various states of Germany to represent their inter- ests in the empire. Unlike the usage of the Senate of the United States, the German states did not have equal votes. There were fifty-eight members. Of these Prussia had seventeen; no other state had more than six, while seventeen had only one vote. The delegates for each state voted as a solid block and as directed by the king of that state. Fourteen votes against any measure vetoed it. Thus it is easy to see that the controlling power of the Bundesrat was lodged in the King of Prussia. All laws for the Empire were initiated in the Bundesrat be- cause, as the Reichstag of itself was powerless to make laws over the veto of the larger body, it was useless for the popular assembly to attempt to force measures. The Chancellor, the vital center of the imperial admin- THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 223 istration, was responsible to the Emperor who need give an account of his acts to nobody. Thus the Chan- cellor was " the responsible proxy of an irresponsible emperor." All the debates of the Bundesrat being secret, no part of its proceedings ever went into the newspapers, and consequently little was heard of it. It did its work quietly and effectively. While nominally the Emperor had no veto on the proceedings of the Bundesrat, he possessed the sub- stance of that power for he controlled at least twenty votes, whereas fourteen could hold back any measure. The Germans were in the habit of calling this method of conducting the business of the nation a " govern- ment by experts." The Reichstag consisted of three hundred ninety- seven five-year members, elected by men over twenty-five years of age. This body voted the appropriations pro- posed by the Bundesrat, but, failing to approve the proposed budget, the taxes of the year previous were continued until new ones were granted. The imperial treasury therefore was never in danger of becoming empty. The Reichstag had no control over the Chan- cellor ; its disapproval, expressed by a vote of " lack of confidence," could not shake him from his seat. It was rendered still less useful by the distribution of repre- sentation which had not been changed since 1870. Such rapidly increasing cities as Berlin kept their 1870 representation, as did East Prussia where the popula- tion was for a long time unchanged. ' The Emperor appointed the Chancellor from among the Prussian delegates to the Bundesrat ; the Chancellor in turn appointed all the heads of bureaus and minis- ters. The Emperor could at his pleasure dissolve the Reichstag; he was commander-in-chief of the army and 224 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY navy; he could declare a war of defense. Under the Bismarckian policy, it may be added that no Ger- man war ever was " offensive." No machinery existed whereby the Emperor of Germany could be impeached, as he owed his 'position to God alone. At his corona- tion William I said, as he placed the crown upon his own head, " The crown comes only from God, and I have received it from his hands." The Emperor had almost absolute control over for- eign relations ; he could make or break foreign treaties without the slightest knowledge of the Reichstag. In short, by masterly state-craft, Bismarck succeeded in establishing a seemingly constitutional government which in reality gave absolute power to the man who was at one and the same time the King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany. Every suggestion of real par- liamentary control was avoided ; the Reichstag had no hold on the government ; it had only the negative power of refusing to pass laws. THE KINGDOM OF PRUSSIA The real source of the Emperor's great power lay in his control of Prussia, the very heart of the German Empire. Prussia contained two-thirds of the terri- tory and of the population of Germany. The Land- tag of Prussia consisted of two chambers — the house of Lords (Herrenhaus) and the house of Representa- tives (Abgeordnetenhaus). The " governments," that is, the King, over whom the legislature had no control, initiated all the proposed laws. The composition of the Herrenhaus was left to royal ordinances. If the Herrenhaus should oppose the measures of the King, he could create new lords to carry his plans through. The Herrenhaus had a veto power over the legisla- THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 225 tion approved by the " popular " house ; the King an absolute veto on any measure passed by the entire Landtag. The people of Prussia were granted universal man- hood suffrage with peculiar conditions attached to the privilege. Every man over twenty-five had the right to vote for the members of the lower house. But all taxable property, all the material wealth of the Prus- sians — land, money, and personal possessions — was put into one great heap and divided into three even parts. The combined owners of each part paid an equal amount of taxes and were given an equal number of delegates in the house of representatives. Thus the great land owners, four per cent, of the whole Prussian population, paid one-third of the taxes and elected one-third of the legislators ; the wealthy middle class, fourteen per cent, of the population, paid one-third of the taxes and elected the second third ; and finally, the working classes, eighty-two per cent, of the people, paid the remaining third of the taxes and elected the remain- ing one-third of the legislators. This was the Prus- sian system of electing a " popular " body. To this was added one last straw for breaking down the rule of the people — the method of voting was by the liv- ing voice, because, stated the law, " nothing is so in- dispensable to a free people as the courage to express one's conviction publicly." How such an absolute government as that of the Ger- man Empire grew up and continued to exist in the midst of the growing democracy of Western Europe is a question that might well be asked. A direct and simple answer is not easily given because the question involves a very complex, many-angled series of situa- tions. In Germany, as in every other country, the ac- 226 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY tual process of government is hard to understand. It refuses to be put into a set of rules. Autocratic Ger- many had its decidedly democratic features ; demo- cratic France is by no means a true democracy ; the United States of America has its autocratic economic system. Though there doubtless were many causes that „ contributed to establishing the autocratic militaristic 1 system of Germany, there is no doubt that Bismarck and the Bismarckian policy had more influence than all other causes put together. After the days of the French Revolution, after the scourge of Napoleon, the spirit of nationality coupled with the spirit of growing democracy animated the Ger- man people, who longed for a united Germany with liberal institutions. But when the Congress of Vienna made the settlement of Germany under the Federal Con- stitution, the spirit of liberty was thwarted. Yet in spite of this check, the movement toward constitutional government went steadily on. By 1848 the universities of Germany had united the German people in thought and ideals, and South Germany was ready for changes directed by popular will. But militaristic Prussia barred the way to unity on a liberal basis, though even Prussia might have been converted to the movement that was sweeping western Europe had not Bismarck come into power at the time that he did. Just when William I of Prussia was ready to yield to the pressure of the Landtag, Bismarck, as Chancellor, took the reins of government. MILITARISM The Iron Chancellor came to his affice with a defi- nite end in view. He, as well as the German progres- sives, wished to see a strong united Germany, but he THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 227 scorned the popular will and refused to be led by " un- instructed majorities." For a number of years he played a desperate game with the public opinion of Prussia and all Germany against him. But he stuck to the task he had set himself. His plan was to unite Germany with Prussia, not Austria, as the controlling state. The Prussian army was to be the mighty in- strument by which the union was to be effected. B«5- marck never lost sight of this clearly defined purpose. By means of successive and successful wars waged in alleged defense of the Fatherland, he brought all the states of Germany under one banner with the King of Prussia as the " War Lord " and Kaiser of the Ger- man Empire. Bismarck himself said that the liberals paved the way for German unity, but that the Prus- sian army by force of arms made German unity a real- ity. It was the pride and exultation of victory that brought the great mass of the German people to ac- cept Bismarck's leadership. From the time of the establishment of the German Empire, the German Government became fixed on the foundations laid by Bismarck as an autocratic gov- ernment supported by a great army. Bismarck made Germany a united nation on his own terms and by methods that he conceived to be justifiable. He de- clared his belief that the unity of Germany was not to be brought about by parliamentary debates but by " blood and iron." He believed that the will power of the nation would not be strengthened by strife between ruler and people but " by the clash of German pride, honor, and ambition against the foreign power." When Bismarck found it possible, he worked with a majority; when the majority went against the govern- ment, he over-rode it or worked to bring about a new THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 229 majority which would support his policy. And Bis- marck's policy succeeded. Not only was it a fact that the newly nationalized Germany was prospering in every way — materially, intellectually, and scientifically — but it soon came to pass that under Bismarck's suc- cessors the German Empire was a powerful and ag- gressive nation, carrying on definite plans of expansion in all parts of the world. GERMAN THEORY OF THE STATE Out of national pride, fostered by undoubted suc- cesses at home and abroad in every branch of endeavor, out of the strength and power exercised by the Ger- man Government there grew up a new ideal of the state. Bismarck's principles of diplomacy seemed to prove the ideal true. In this view, the state was thought to be an mstitution apart from the people, who existed only to make the state strong. The state came first, as individuals received their rights from the state. This theory seems to have been accepted by the aris- tocratic and militaristic classes of society. It was held and taught by German leaders of thought. For forty years the brilliant von Treitschke, professor of history in the University of Berlin, expounded this view of the state to the young men who crowded to his lecture room, until it became familiar and seemed plausible. Accord- ing to von Treitschke, the state, being above the people, is bound by no moral law ; its first duty is to be power- ful. A state has no right to exist unless it can main- tain itself against foreign aggression. Self-determina- tion and self-direction could never be permanently ac- corded to weak and insignificant nations, no matter how strong might be their claims to nationhood. Von Treitschke believed that the lives of nations were guided THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 231 by the principle that might makes right, that in the struggle for existence the weakest must of necessity go to the wall. Bismarck himself had held that good- will, which he conceded to be everything in matters of morality, was of little or no importance in the life of a nation; that ability was the only thing that counted. As in this view the first duty of the state is to be powerful, it followed that every citizen must share in making the state irresistible in war. Universal military service was necessary. To be good soldiers, citizens must be physically strong, they must be protected in life and limb. Hence followed much legislation to insure safety of person and compensation for accidents. Moreover a state founded on such principles must re- move its citizens from the fear of an unprovided old age ; hence there were instituted old-age pensions and state insurance. To make the Germans the very best feeders of the state, an effective system of government control of edu- cation, of politics, and of agricultural development was put into operation. Every human being in the entire country was card-catalogued ; every industry, every oc- cupation, every skill was listed, rated, and reduced to a matter of figures ; a minute summary of the dimen- sions of every house was in the hands of the govern- ment. The Germans lived and breathed to order and by orders, thus exemplifying the fact that routine is the only safeguard of the people under a perfect autoc- racy. In a word, efficiency became the German gov- ernmental and household god. In searching for the reasons explaining why Germany kept her undemocratic form of government while the rest of Europe was moving toward democracy, three facts merit consideration. In the first place, G'^rmany 232 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY had become a united nation under the lead of mihtaris- tic, autocratic Prussia, and because the Prussian army had made Germany a nation, the army became the visi- ble expression of the German national spirit. As may readily be seen, the army was anything but helpful to the growth of democracy. In every German home a living unit of the German army was seated at the hearth- stone. Fathers and sons were German soldiers, either active or in the reserve, and they were imbued with the necessity of a great army of " defense." Moreover, the new German nation was prosperous al- most beyond belief. The country was rapidly growing rich. The government helped in every possible way, even giving financial aid to industries that were in need of funds. German schools, compulsory and regu- lated by government, were considered the best in the world. Germany took the lead in science, a degree from a German University being a coveted prize. DEMOCRACY IN GERMANY Finally, the demands of democracy were partially satisfied by the exercise of local self-government. In municipalities and towns, the people had the control- ling voice. German towns were models for imitation by the whole world. From the cities of the United States, of England, of South America, of Australia, came junketing aldermen to study German municipal methods that they might imitate them in their home cities. As a matter of fact, the. German Government was not so undemocratic as one would have expected to find it under the bureaucratic system of the Empire. The people of Germany were listened to by the government and public opinion had great influence in determining THE GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY 233 general policies. A member of the Reichstag could openly speak his mind in the sanctuary of that assem- bly. As a consequence, the Reichstag has been the forum of many varying opinions and the utterances of its members have influenced the poHtical parties of Germany deeply. Even Bismarck had to yield when he found that he could not stamp out the Catholics, and to get the best of the Socialists he had to rob them of their thunder by instituting the very reforms they advocated. This brief discussion of the German Government and ideal should help Americans to understand more clearly the democratic ideal on which the government of the United States is founded. Our country fought to overthrow autocracy ; to strike a death blow at mil- itarism in the hands of an absolute ruler. These pur- poses were acclaimed again and again by the Allies as well as by the United States. If the world has been made safe for democracy^ the price was not too great. One thing is sure, the world will never stay safe for democracy unless the people themselves are deter- mined that it shall be so. CHAPTER XII REVOLUTIONARY THEORIES OF GOVERN- MENT AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS Here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead nor to tolerate error so long as reason is left free to combat it. Thomas Jefferson. Truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; error ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to con- tradict them. Thomas Jefferson (Statute of Religious Freedom). If it is necessary to study the former autocratic gov- ernment of Germany in order to get a clear notion of the principles underlying the government of the United States, it is vastly more important, for the same rea- son, to examine the revolutionary theories of govern- ment and economic relations which advocate the entire reconstruction of the social and political order as a means of correcting the injustices and inconsistencies that exist in society. For, while the autocracy of Ger- many is in all probability permanently overthrown, the standards of revolution are attracting many adherents and are influencing the thought of the world. All the revolutionary theories that are agitating the world to-day look to the ages-old idea of communism as the cure for existing evils. Communism is that sys- tem of economics which advocates the abolition of pri- vate property and the introduction of common owner- ship of goods, at least as far as capital or the means of 234 REVOLUTIONARY THEORIES 235 production is concerned. This basic theory is the source of an innumerable variety of plans, some of them mild, some extremely drastic, for the regeneration of so- ciety and government so that exact justice will be real- ized by everybody. From the most ancient times there have been set up, at intervals, certain partially communistic systems and institutions. For instance in Jerusalem, near the be- ginning of the Christian era, a voluntary Christian communism, based on true charity and equality, was undertaken. But none of these attempts long suc- ceeded, because they proved unworkable, and for the purposes of the American of to-day their consideration may be disregarded. It is far more important now to center attention on the modern revolutionary theories that have their roots in the great development of in- dustry which began in the latter part of the eighteenth century. At that time a movement started which re- sulted in the division of society into the ranks of capital and labor, or, as the social-revolutionary puts it, the " proletariat," the homeless, floating population of our great cities ; and the " bourgeoisie," the capitalists who have worked up from what was formerly the middle class to a controlling position in the economic world. Among the most active present-day revolutionary movements are Socialism and Anarchism. Other mani- festations variously called Bolshevism, Syndicalism, and I. W. Wism are the offspring of the one or the other or of both of these parent theories. The task of gain- ing an understanding of the confused and confusing masses of written material that have to do with the the- ory and practice of these revolutionary principles is not an easy one. One may read books by socialists and an- archists, by anti-revolutionists and middle-of-the-road 236 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY writers, and yet remain in the outer dark. In the words of an ardent American revolutionist, there " is the most difficult confusion of bedfellows to disentangle limb from limb, smooth out and lay on their pillows so that one can see them." But as revolutionists are all about us, it becomes an imperative duty to at- tempt to find out something of the beliefs, aims, and pro- grams of the various groups that are in general terms called by others and by themselves " revolutionary." SOCIALISM Socialism first appeared about one hundred years ago when the wretched condition of the working classes, caused by the invention of machinery and consequent introduction of the factory system, called for measures of relief. The first socialists are not considered really such by their modern offspring, who characterize the early ideals and the attempts at realizing them in actual practice as unscientific and " Utopian," — In fact, as thoroughly unpractical and silly. They look upon such persons as Robert Owens, the rich English manu- facturer, who, in order to work out his communistic theories, founded an unsuccessful cooperative colony at New Harmony, Indiana, as benevolent but hopelessly visionary. Modern or " scientific " Socialism was founded by Karl Marx (1818-1883) who, though a native of Ger- many, spent most of his life in England, where he wrote " Das Capital " (Capital), the bible of socialism. The cardinal doctrines of modern socialism appear in the " Communistic Manifesto " which Marx and his friend Engles published in 1848, the year of European revolu- tions. This " Communistic Manifesto," one of the great documents of the revolutionists, was destined to REVOLUTIONARY THEORIES 237 become the creed of the greatest international political movement the world had ever seen. Marx based his theory of Socialism on two main " dis- coveries — " the " materialistic conception of history " and the secret of the growth of capital by means of " surplus-value." Through these two " discoveries," according to the disciples of Marx, socialism became a " science." " The materialistic conception of history " is some- times called '' economic determinism." These two mouth-filling phras