THE

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT.

INTRODUCTION.

THE SCIENCE OF POLITICS.

REFERENCES.

I. WORKS ON POLITICS.—Aristotle, The Politics; Burgess, Polit ical Science and Constitutional Law, Part I., Books I., II.; Pollock, Introduction to the History of the Science of Politics; Sidgwick, Elements of Politics; Wilson, The State, I., II.; Woolsey, Political Science; Lieber, Civil Liberty and Self-Government. See also the articles on Political Science and Politics, Nature and Character of, in Lalor's Cyclopædia of Political Science, etc.

II. THE STATE, DEFINITIONS OF.-Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, Chap. I.; Phillimore, Commentaries Upon International Law, Part I., Chap. I.; Wheaton, Elements of International Law, Part I., Chap. II.

III. ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.-Fiske, American Political Ideas, etc.; Freeman, History of Federal Government, etc., Chap. II.; Hart, Introduction to the Study of Federal Government.

IV. ON CONSTITUTIONS.-Cooley, Comparative Merits of Written and Prescriptive Constitutions (reprinted from Harvard Law Journal); Jameson, The Constitutional Convention, Chaps. I.-III. ; Tiedeman, The Unwritten Constitution of the U. S.

V. SOCIOLOGY.-Small and Vincent, Introduction to the Study of Society.

I.

I. SOCIETY.

Min a Social Being.—It is a famous saying of Aristotle's that man has a social instinct planted in him by nature. The meaning of this saying is, that men tend to live together and to depend upon one another. In all ages and countries we find them sharing

a more or less common life. They cannot make progress, be happy, or in the end even exist otherwise. There are indeed men called hermits, who bury themselves in the solitude of some forest or desert, mountain or island. But these men are always few in number; besides, they are born and reared in society, and they either return to it, or they become more and more like the animals in their way of living, and finally die alone. Men cannot live separate and apart; they must obey their social nature and live together, or they will lose their humanity. As Aristotle says: "The individual when isolated is not self-sufficient; and therefore he is like a part in relation to the whole. But he who is unable to live in society, or who has no need, because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god; he is no part of a state.”1 Or, as another writer puts it: "A man would no more be a man if he lived alone in the world, than a hand would be a hand without the rest of the body."

2. Society Defined.-Men living together in human relations constitute society in the general sense of the term. The men so living in any region or district form a society. But since these local societies are also connected; since they have much in common; and since men have one social nature, we also use the word in the broadest sense, and speak of the human race as forming one society. Social means pertaining to society. The science of society is called Sociology. The Latin verb sociare means to meet together, to associate; the noun socius, a fellow or sharer, an associate or companion; and societas, from which society is derived, a union, communion, or association. The great ends or objects of society are two in number, and must be carefully defined.

3. Rights and Duties.—Men have rights that they should enjoy, and duties that they ought to perform. They are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness so long as they properly conduct themselves. They must also regard the lives, liberty, and happiness of their fellows. Securing to men their rights and compelling them to perform their duties, together constitute the maintenance of jus tice. But since some men, left to themselves, will not do justice, there must be in society some authority or power that will look after the matter and see that justice is done. Accordingly, justice is the first duty of society. As Aristotle says: "Justice is the bond of men in states, and the administration of justice, which is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in political society."

4. Social Progress.-The well-being of society - particularly advanced society—requires a great many things to be done that are not embraced in justice. Roads and bridges must be built and kept

1 I. 2. 15.

in order; harbors and lighthouses must be constructed; letters and newspapers must be carried from place to place; schools and education must be furnished; the arts, sciences, and good morals must be fostered. Nor can these things be provided by single men, or by a few men associated together, even if they are disposed to provide them; they call for the united strength of the community. Hence the promotion of its own progress is the second duty of society.

II. GOVERNMENT.

5. The Office of Government.—Government is the instrument or agent which society uses directly to secure these ends, viz., justice and progress. On the one side, government consists of customs, rules, or laws commanding what society wishes to have done and forbidding what it does not wish to have done; on the other, it consists of rulers or officers whose business it is to have these rules or laws enforced. It is easy to see what would be the result if a society were without government. Not only would progress be impossible, but society could not exist. First would come anarchy, or that social state in which every man does as he pleases, and then destruction. Society and social order go together. Government is a universal fact. Man, society, and government are always found together; these are the broadest terms in the vocabulary of political science. A group of savages eating shell-fish on the seashore has no written laws, no legislature, no courts, no president; but it has some customs that take the place of laws, and a head, as the father of the family or the chief of the tribe, who sees that these customs are enforced. Government will always be rude and simple when society is rude and simple, but there will be government. Aristotle says: "Man is more of a political animal than bees or any other gregarious animals." Govern and governor are from the Latin gubernare and gubernator, which primarily mean to steer a ship and a pilot or

steersman.

6. Government Coercive.-Government then is coercive by its very nature. Its first duty is to compel obedience to its mandates. A government that is not obeyed is no government at all. This coercive power comes from society; whenever it is necessary government has the right, and is in duty bound, to summon to its aid all the powers that society possesses to secure its ends. This it does in the name of society and for its defense.

7. Politics Defined.-Politics, or Political Science, relates to the principles of government. It is the same thing as the science of covernment. It is also the same thing as political philosophy. -ness indeed we conceive of political philosophy as dealing with

the more speculative and theoretical aspect of Politics. In its broadest scope, this science is a view of society considered under its governmental aspects. Sir Frederick Pollock says its field comes into view when, passing by such related sciences as political economy and ethics, "" we come to consider man, not only as a member of society, but as a member of some particular society, organized in a particular way, and exercising supreme authority over its members; in other words, when we consider man as a citizen, and the citizen in his relations to the state." He mentions as the natural heads of this science, "the foundation and general constitution of the state," "the form and administration of government," "the principles and method of legislation," and the "state as a single and complete unit of a high order, capable of definite relations to other like units.”1 The present treatise will not deal with the Science of Politics as thus outlined. It is not a general contribution to political philosophy. It deals with a specific and concrete theme rather than with a general and abstract one. Nevertheless, it will conduce to clearness and strength of treatment to devote the preliminary pages to defining the leading terms of the science.

III. THE STATE AND THE NATION.

8. The State.—Mr. Wheaton, following Cicero and most modern jurists, defines a state as a body politic, or society of men united together for the purpose of promoting their mutual advantage by their combined strength.' "2 Professor Burgess says it is "a particular portion of mankind viewed as an organized unit."3 Such a society occupies its own territory and is called sovereign. Mr. Wheaton remarks that this definition excludes all corporations, both public and private, that the state itself creates, such as the London and Plymouth Companies, to be mentioned hereafter. It excludes all voluntary associations of robbers and pirates, and all hordes of wandering savages not yet formed into a settled society. The definition also excludes the States of the American Union, because they are not sovereigns in the sense of International Law. The United States, France, Germany, and Russia are states in that sense.

9. The Nation.-By its etymology the term nation belongs to the science of ethnology rather than to the Science of Politics. It comes from the Latin verb nascor, to be born, and has primary reference to birth or race kinship. In this view a nation is properly one people, having a common ancestry and descent, a common language,

1 Page 8.

2 Part I., Chap. II.

3 Vol. I., p. 50.