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the north with so imperceptible a slope that it may almost be said to form a level plain. Within the bounds of this immense tract of country there are neither high mountains nor deep valleys. Streams meander through it irregularly; great rivers mix their currents, separate and meet again, disperse and form vast marshes, losing all trace of their channels in the labyrinth of waters they have themselves created ; and thus, at length, after innumerable wind- ings, fall into the polar seas. The great lakes which bound this first region are not walled in, like most of those in the Old World, between hills and rocks. Their banks are flat, and rise but a few feet above the level of their waters ; each of them thus forming a vast bowl filled to the brim. The slightest change in the structure of the globe would cause their waters to rush either toward the pole or to the tropical sea. #
The second region is more varied on its surface, and better suited for the habitation of man. Two long chains of mountains divide it from one extreme to the other; the Allegany ridge takes the form of the shores of the Atlantic ocean ; the other is parallel with the Pacific.
The space which lies between these two chains of mountains contains 1,341,649 square miles.* Its surface is therefore about six times as great as that of France.
This vast territory, however, forms a single valley, one side of which descends gradually from the rounded summits of the Alle- ganies, while the other rises in an uninterrupted course toward the tops of the Rocky mountains.
At the bottom of the valley flows an immense river, into which the various streams issuing from the mountains fall from all parts. In memory of their native land, the French formerly called this river the St. Louis. The Indians, in their pompous language, have named it the Father of Waters, or the Mississippi.
The Mississippi takes its source above the limit of the two great regions of which I have spoken, not far from the highest point of the table-land where they unite. Near the same spot rises another river,f which empties itself into the polar seas. The course of the Mississippi is at first devious : it winds several times toward the
♦ Darby's " View of the United States." f Mackenzie's river.
19
north, whence it rose ; and, at length, after having been delayed in lakes and marshes, it flows slowly onward to the south.
Sometimes quietly gliding along the argillaceous bed whirl, na- ture has assigned to it; sometimes swollen by storms, the Missis- sippi waters 2,500 miles in its course.* At the distance of 1,36 1 miles from its mouth this river attains an average depth of fifteen feet; and it is navigated by vessels of 300 tuns burden for a course of nearly 500 miles. Fifty-seven large navigable rivers contribute to swell the waters of the Mississippi; among others the Missouri, which traverses a space of 2,500 miles ; the Arkansas of 1,300 miles ; the Red river 1,000 miles ; four whose course is from 800 to 1,000 miles in length, viz: the Illinois, the St. Peter's, the St. Francis, and the Moingona ; beside a countless multitude of rivu- lets which unite from all parts their tributary streams.
The valley which is watered by the Mississippi seems formed to be the bed of this mighty river, which like a god of antiquity dis- penses both good and evil in its course. On the shores of the stream nature displays an inexhaustible fertility ; in proportion as you re- cede from its banks, the powers of vegetation languish, the soil be- comes poor, and the plants that survive have a sickly growth. Tso- where have the great convulsions of the globe left more evident traces than in the valley of the Mississippi : the whole aspect ot the country shows the powerful effects of water, both by its fertility and by its barrenness. The waters of the primeval ocean accu- mulated enormous beds of vegetable mould in the valley, which they levelled as they retired. Upon the right shore of the river are seen immense plains, as smooth as if the husbandman had passed over them with his roller. As you approach the mountains, the soil becomes more and more unequal and steril ; the ground is, as it were, pierced in a thousand places by primitive rocks, which ap- pear like the bones of a skeleton whose flesh is partly consumed. The surface of the earth is covered with a granitic sand, and huge irregular masses of stone, among which a few plants force their growth, and give the appearance of a green field covered with the ruins of a vast edifice. These stones and this sand discover, on ex- amination, a perfect analogy with those which compose the arid and broken summits of the Rocky mountains. The flood of waters
Warden's " Description of the United States."
1-1 D
DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA.
BY
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE,
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, AND OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, ETC., ETC.
TRANSLATED BY HENRY REEVE, ESQ.
WITH AN ORIGINAL PREFACE AND NOTES BY
JOHN C. SPENCER,
COUNSELLOR AT LAW
FOURTH EDITION,
REVISED AND CORRECTED FROM THE EIGHTH PARIS EDITION.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
NEW YORK: J. & H. G. LANGLEY, 57 CHATHAM STREET
PHILADELPHIA:— THOMAS, COWPERTHWAITE, & CO. BOSTON:— C. C. LITTLE & J. BROWN.
1841.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841,
By J. & H. G. LANGLEY,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.
STEREOTYPED BY J. S. REDFIELD 13 CHAMBERS ST., NEW YORK.
ADVERTISEMENT.
In issuing this, the first complete and uniform edition of M. de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, the Pub- lishers avail themselves of the opportunity to state the advantages which the present possesses over previous editions of the work. Beside incorporating the addi- tional notes and emendations contained in the recent Paris edition, it includes an original and copious ana- lytical Index, and an explanatory Map combining the new Census of 1840, now for the first time published in this country. The sale of four large impressions of the first portion of the work in this country, and a much larger circulation of it in England and France, sufficiently attest the high estimation with which it has been regarded. The entire work is now stereotyped, having been carefully collated, and passed under a thorough revision, with a view of rendering it as per- fect as possible, and more befitting its character as the standard philosophical work on the genius of democ- racy, and for, what it is believed it will speedily become, a text-book of the schools, and a classic of the age.
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
The following work of M. De Tocqueville has attracted great attention throughout Europe, where it is universally regarded as a sound, philosophical, impartial, and remarkably clear and dis- tinct view of our political institutions, and of our manners, opin- ions, and habits, as influencing or influenced by those institutions. Writers, reviewers, and statesmen of all parties, have united in the highest commendations of its ability and integrity. The peo- ple, described by a work of such a character, should not be the only one in Christendom unacquainted with its contents. At least, so thought many of our most distinguished men, who have urged the publishers of this edition to reprint the work, and present it to the American public. They have done so in the hope of promo- ting among their countrymen a more thorough knowledge of their frames of government, and a more just appreciation of the great principles on which they are founded.
But it seemed to them that a reprint in America of the views of an author so well entitled to regard and confidence, without any correction of the few errors or mistakes that might be found, would be in effect to give authenticity to the whole work, and that foreign readers, especially, would consider silence, under such circumstances, as strong evidence of the accuracy of its statements. The preface to the English edition, too, was not adapted to this country, having been written, as it would seem, in reference to the political questions which agitate Great Britain. The publishers, therefore, applied to the writer of this, to furnish
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them with a short preface, and such notes upon the text as might appear necessary to correct any erroneous impressions. Having had the honour of a personal acquaintance with M. De Tocque- ville while he was in this country ; having discussed with him many of the topics treated of in this book ; having entered deeply into the feelings and sentiments which guided and impelled him in his task, and having formed a high admiration of his character and of this production, the writer felt under some obligation to aid in procuring for one whom he ventures to call his friend, a hearing from those who were the subjects of his observations. These circumstances furnish to his own mind an apology for undertaking what no one seemed willing to attempt, notwith- standing his want of practice in literary composition, and not- withstanding the impediments of professional avocations, con- stantly recurring, and interrupting that strict and continued examination of the work, which became necessary, as well to detect any errors of the author, as any misunderstanding or mis- representation of his meaning by his translator. If the same circumstances will atone in the least for the imperfections of what the editor has contributed to this edition, and will serve to mitigate the severity of judgement upon those contributions, it is all he can hope or ask.
The notes, which will be found at the end of the volume, are confined, with very few exceptions, to the correction of what appeared to be misapprehensions of the author in regard to some matters of fact, or some principles of law, and to explaining his meaning where the translator had misconceived it. For the latter purpose the original was consulted ; and it affords great pleasure to bear witness to the general fidelity with which Mr. Reeve has transferred the author's ideas from French into English. He has not been a literal translator, and this has been the cause of the very few errors which have been discovered : but he has been more and better : he has caught the spirit of M. De Tocquevillb, has understood the sentiment he meant to express, and has clothed it in the language which M. De Tocqueville would have
Vll
himself used, had he possessed equal facility in writing the English language.
There should have been references in the body of the work to the notes : but circumstances, beyond control, prevented. They are so few, however, that no great inconvenience will result from reading them detached from the subjects to which they relate.
Being confined to the objects before mentioned, the reader will not find any comments on the theoretical views of our author. He has discussed many subjects on which very different opinions are entertained in the United States ; but with an ability, a can- dour, and an evident devotion to the cause of truth, which will commend his views to those who most radically dissent from them. Indeed, readers of the most discordant opinions will find that he frequently agrees with both sides, and as frequently differs from them. As an instance, his remarks on slavery will not be found to coincide throughout with the opinions either of abolition- ists or of slaveholders : but they will be found to present a masterly view of a most perplexing and interesting subject, which seems to cover the whole ground, and to lead to the melancholy conclu- sion of the utter impotency of human effort to eradicate this acknowledged evil. But on this, and on the various topics of the deepest interest which are discussed in this work, it was thought that the American readers would be fully competent to form their own opinions, and to detect any errors of the author, if such there are, without any attempt by the present editor to enlighten them. At all events, it is to be hoped that the citizens of the United States will' patiently read, and candidly consider, the views of this accomplished foreigner, however hostile they may be to their own preconceived opinions or prejudices. He says : " There are certain truths which Americans can only learn from strangers, or from experience." Let us, then, at least listen to one who ad- mires us and our institutions, and whose complaints, when he makes any, are, that we have not perfected our own glorious plans, and that there are some things yet to be amended. We shall thus furnish a practical proof, that public opinion in this
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country is not so intolerant as the author may be understood to represent it. However mistaken he may be, his manly appeal to our understandings and to our consciences, should at least be heard. " If ever," he says, " these lines are read in America, I am well assured of two things : in the first place, that all who peruse them will raise their voice to condemn me ; and, in the second place, that very many of them will acquit me at the bottom of their consciences." He is writing on that very sore subject, the tyranny of public opinion in the United States.
Fully to comprehend the scope of the present work, the author's motive and object in preparing it should be distinctly kept in view. He has written, not for America, but for France. " It was not, then, merely to satisfy a legitimate curiosity," he says, " that I have examined America : my wish has been to find instruction, by which we might ourselves profit." — " I sought the image of democ- racy itself, with its inclinations, its character, its prejudices, and its passions, in order to learn what we have to hope or fear from its progress." He thinks that the principle of democracy has sprung into new life throughout Europe, and particularly in France, and that it is advancing with a firm and steady march to the control of all civilized governments. In his own country, he had seen a recent attempt to repress its energies within due bounds, and to prevent the consequences of its excesses. And it seems to be a main object with him, to ascertain whether these bounds can be relied upon ; whether the dikes and embankments of human contrivance can keep within any appointed channel this mighty and majestic stream. Giving the fullest confidence to his declaration, that his book " is written to favour no particu- lar views and with no design of serving or attacking any party," it is yet evident that his mind has been very open to receive impressions unfavourable to the admission into France of the unbounded and unlimited democracy which reigns in these United States. A knowledge of this inclination of his mind will neces- sarily induce some caution in his readers, while perusing those parts of the work which treat of the effects of our democracy
IX
upon the stability of our government and its administration While the views of the author, respecting the application of the democratic principle, in the extent that it exists with us, to the institutions of France, or to any of the European nations, are of the utmost importance to the people and statesmen of those countries, they are scarcely less entitled to the attention of Americans. He has exhibited, with admirable skill, the causes and circumstances which prepared our forefathers, gradually, for the enjoyment of free institutions, and which enabled them to sustain, without abusing, the utmost liberty that was ever enjoyed by any people. In tracing these causes, in examining how far they continue to influence our conduct, manners, and opinions, and in searching for the means of preventing their decay or destruction, the intelligent American reader will find no better guide than M. De Tocqueville.
Fresh from the scenes of the " three days" revolution in France, the author came among us to observe, carefully and critically, the operation of the new principle on which the happiness of his country, and, as he seems to believe, the destinies of the civilized world, depend. Filled with the love of liberty, but remembering the atrocities which, in its name, had been committed under former dynasties at home, he sought to discover the means by which it was regulated in America, and reconciled with social order. By his laborious investigations, and minute observations of the history of the settlement of the country, and of its progress through the colonial state to independence, he found the object of his inquiry in the manners, habits, and opinions, of a people who had been gradually prepared, by a long course of peculiar circumstances, and by their local position, for self-government ; and he has explained, with a pencil of light, the mystery that has baffled Europeans and perplexed Americans. He exhibits us, in our present condition, a new, and, to Europeans, a strange people. His views of our political institutions are more general, compre- hensive, and philosophic, than have been presented by any writer, domestic or foreign. He has traced them from their source,
Vol. I.— (2)
democracy — the power of the people — and has steadily pursued this foundation-principle in all its forms and modifications ; in the frame of our governments, in their administration by the dif- ferent executives, in our legislation, in the arrangement of our judiciary, in our manners, in religion, in the freedom and licen- tiousness of the press, in the influence of public opinion, and in various subtle recesses, where its existence was scarcely sus- pected. In all these, he analyzes and dissects the tendencies of democracy ; heartily applauds where he can, and faithfully and independently gives warning of dangers that he foresees. No one can read the results of his observations, without better and clearer perceptions of the structure of our governments, of the great pillars on which they rest, and of the dangers to which they are exposed : nor without a more profound and more intel- ligent admiration of the harmony and beauty of their formation, and of the safeguards provided for preserving and transmitting them to a distant posterity. The more that general and indef- inite notions of our own liberty, greatness, happiness, &c, are made to give place to precise and accurate knowledge of the true merits of our institutions, the peculiar objects they are calculated to attain or promote, and the means provided for that purpose, the better will every citizen be enabled to discharge his great political duty of guarding those means against the approach of corruption, and of sustaining them against the violence of party commotions. No foreigner has ever exhibited such a deep, clear, and correct insight of the machinery of our complicated systems of federal and state governments. The most intelligent Euro- peans are confounded with our imperium in imperio ; and their constant wonder is, that these systems are not continually jost- ling each other. M. De Tocqueville has clearly perceived, and traced correctly and distinctly, the orbits in which they move, and has described, or rather defined, our federal government, with an accurate precision, unsurpassed even by an American pen. There is no citizen of this country who will not derive instruction from our author's account of our national government,
XI
or, at least, who will not find his own ideas systematized, and rendered more fixed and precise, by the perusal of that account.
Among other subjects discussed by the author, that of the political influence of the institution of trial by jury, is one of the most curious and interesting. He has certainly presented it in a light entirely new, and as important as it is new. It may be that he has exaggerated its influence as " a gratuitous public school :" but if he has, the error will be readily forgiven.
His views of religion, as connected with patriotism, in other words, with the democratic principle, which he steadily keeps in view, are conceived in the noblest spirit of philanthropy, and cannot fail to confirm the principles already so thoroughly and universally entertained by the American people. And no one can read his observations on the union of " church and state," without a feeling of deep gratitude to the founders of our government, for saving us from such a prolific source of evil.
These allusions to topics that have interested the writer, are not intended as an enumeration of the various subjects which will arrest the attention of the American reader. They have been mentioned rather with a view of exciting an appetite for the whole feast, than as exhibiting the choice dainties which cover the board.
It remains only to observe, that in this edition the constitutions of the United States and of the state of New York, which had been published at large in the original and in the English edition, have been omitted, as they are documents to which every Ameri- can reader has access. The map which the author annexed to his work and which has been hitherto omitted, is now for the first time inserted in the American edition, to which has been added the census of 1840.
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In this edition the notes of the American editor are inserted in the body of the work, in immediate connexion with those parts of the text to which they refer, and are placed between brackets, to distinguish them from those of the author. A few verbal alter- ations have been made by another hand, where they seemed necessary to correct errors of the printer or translator.
In submitting this edition to the public, great gratification is felt at the evidence it affords of one mistake in our author's anti- cipations of the reception of his work by the American people. They have shown, that if they have tender and sensitive spots, they can patiently bear their being probed by a friendly hand.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Page
Preface by the American Editor - ... iii
Introduction .•• 1
CHAPTER I.
Exterior form of North America 17
CHAPTER II.
Origin of the Anglo-Americans, and its Importance in Relation to their future
Condition 26
Reasons of certain Anomalies which the Laws and Customs of the Anglo- Americans present 44
CHAPTER III.
Social Condition of the Anglo-Americans 47
The striking Characteristic of the social Condition of the Anglo-Ameri- cans is its essential Democracy 47
Political Consequences of the social Condition of the Anglo-Americans 55
CHAPTER IV.
The Principle of the Sovereignty of the People in America ... 57
CHAPTER V.
Necessity of examining the Condition of the States before that of the Union at
large 60
The American System of Townships and municipal Bodies • 61
Limits of the Townships 63
Authorities of the Township in New England 63
Existence of the Township 66
Public Spirit of the Townships of New England .... 68
The Counties of New England - 71
Administration in New England 72
General Remarks on the Administration of the United Stages - - - 81
Of the State 85
Legislative Power of the State 86
The executive Power of the State 87
Political Effects of the System of local Administration in the United States 88
CHAPTER VI.
Judicial Power in the United States, and its Influence on political Society - 101
Other Powers granted to the American Judges 107
XIV
Page CHAPTER VII.
Political Jurisdiction in the United States ...... 109
CHAPTER VIII.
The federal Constitution - .... .... 115
History of the federal Constitution 115
Summary of the federal Constitution 117
Prerogative of the federal Government ...... 11-9
Federal Powers ■ 121
Legislative Powers 121
A farther Difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives 124
The executive Power 124
Differences between the Position of the President of the United States and
that of a constitutional King of France 126
Accidental Causes which may increase the Influence of the executive Gov- ernment 130
Why the President of the United States does not require the Majority of
the two Houses in Order to carry on the Government ... 131
Election of the President 132
Mode of Election 137
Crisis of the Election 140
Re-election of the President 141
Federal Courts 146
Means or determining the Jurisdiction of the federal Courts • 148
Different Cases of Jurisdiction 150
Procedure of the federal Courts 156
High Rank of the supreme Courts among the great Powers of the State 159
In what Respects the federal Constitution is superior to that of the States 161 Characteristics which distinguish the federal Constitution of the United
States of America from all other federal Constitutions - - . 166 Advantages of the federal System in General, and its special Utility in
America 169
Why the federal System is not adapted to all Peoples, and how the Anglo- Americans were enabled to adopt it 177
CHAPTER IX.
Why the People may strictly be said to govern in the United States - - 184
CHAPTER X.
Parties in the United States -186
Remains of the aristocratic Party in the United States ... 191
CHAPTER XI.
Liberty of the Press in the United States ....... 194
CHAPTER XII.
Political Associations in the United States 204
CHAPTER XIII.
Government of the Democracy in America ... ... 213
Universal Suffrage 213
Choice of the People, and instinctive Preferences of the American Democracy 214 - Causes which may partly correct the Tendencies of the Democracy - 217 Influence which the American Democracy has exercised on the Laws rela- ting to Elections 221
Public Officers under the control of the Democracy in America - • 222
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Paob
Arbitrary Power of Magistrates under the rule of the American Democracy 225
Instability of the Administration in the United States .... 22S
Charges levied by the State under the rule of the American Democracy 230 Tendencies of the American Democracy as regards the Salaries of public
Officers 234
Difficulty of distinguishing the Causes which contribute to the Economy of
the American Government 237
Whether the Expenditure of the United States can be compared to that of
France 238
^-Corruption and vices of the Rulers in a Democracy, and consequent Effects
upon public Morality -• 243
Efforts of which a Democracy is capable 245
Self-control of the American Democracy 249
Conduct of foreign Affairs, by the American Democracy ... 251
CHAPTER XIV. What the real Advantages are which American Society derives from the Gov- ernment of the Democracy 257
General Tendency of the Laws under the Rule of the American Democra- cy, and Habits of those who apply them 257
Public Spirit in the United States ' 262
Notion of Rights in the United States 265
Respect for the Law in the United States - .... 268
Activity which pervades all the Branches of the Body politic in the United States ; Influence which it exercises upon Society . • . - 270
CHAPTER XV. Unlimited Power of the Majority in the United States, and its Consequences 275
How the unlimited Power of the Majority increases in America, the Insta- bility of Legislation inherent in Democracy - - - - 27S
Tyranny of the Majority 280
Effects of the unlimited Power of the Majority upon the arbitrary Author- ity of the American public Officers 2S3
Power exercised by the Majority in America upon public Opinion - 284
^Effects of the Tyranny of the Majority upon the national Character of the
Americans 287
The greatest Dangers of the American Republics proceed from the unlim- ited Power of the Majority 292
CHAPTER XVI.
Causes which Mitigate the Tyranny of the Majority in the United States - 295
Absence of central Administration - - 295
The Profession of the Law in the United States serves to Counterpoise the
Democracy 297
Trial by Jury in the United States considered as a political Institution 307
CHAPTER XVII. Principal Causes which tend to maintain the democratic Republic in the United
States 315
Accidental or providential Causes which contribute to the Maintenance of
the democratic Republic in the United States 316
Influence of the Laws upon the Maintenance of the democratic Republic
in the United States - 326
Influence of Manners upon the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States .... 327
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Page
Religion considered as a political Institution, which powerfully Contributes to the Maintenance of the democratic Republic among the Americans 328
Indirect Influence of religious Opinions upon political Society in the United , States , 331
Principal Causes which render Religion powerful in America - » 386
How the Instruction, the Habits, and the practical Experience of the Amer- icans, promote the Success of their democratic Institutions - - 343
The Laws contribute more to the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States than the physical Circumstances of the Country, and the Manners more than the Laws ...-...- 348
Whether Laws and Manners are sufficient to maintain democratic Institu- tions in other Countries beside America 353
Importance of what precedes with respect to the State of Europe - - 356
CHAPTER XVIII.
The present and probable future Condition of the three Races which Inhabit
the Territory of the United States 361
The present and probable future Condition of the Indian Tribes which In- habit the Territory possessed by the Union - .... 367 Situation of the black Population in the United States, and Dangers with
which its Presence threatens the Whites 386
What are the Chances in favour of the Duration of the American Union,
and what Dangers threaten it 413
Of the republican Institutions of the United States, and what their Chances
of Duration are 450
Reflections on the Causes of the commercial Prosperity of the United
States .... 457
Conclusion - - ..... 465
Appendix 475
INTRODUCTION.
Among the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. I readily discovered the pro- digious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws ; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed.
I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the govern- ment ; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the ordi- nary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce.
The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.
I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that I discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World presented to me. I observed that the equali- ty of conditions is daily advancing toward those extreme limits which it seems to have reached in the United States; and that the democracy which governs the American communities, appears to be rapidly rising into power in Europe.
I hence conceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader.
It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is go- ing on among us ; but there are two opinions as to its nature and consequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident, which as such may still be checked ; to others it seems irresistible, because it is
Vol. I.-A
the most uniform, the most afccient, and the faost permanent ten- dency which is to be found in history.
Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided among a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the in- habitants ; the right of governing descended with the family in- heritance from generation to generation ; force was the only means by which man could act on man ; and landed property was the sole source of power.
Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to exert itself; the clergy opened its ranks to all classes, ' to the poor and the rich, the villain and the lord ; equality pene- trated into the government through the church, and the being who, as a serf, must have vegetated in perpetual bondage, took his place as a priest in the midst of nobles, and net unfrequently above the heads of kings.
The different relations of men became more complicated and more numerous, as society gradually became more stable and more civilized. Thence the want of civil laws was felt ; and the order of legal functionaries soon rose from the obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to appear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons in their ermine and their mail.
While the kings were ruining themselves by their great enter- prises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money began to be perceptible in state affairs. The transactions of business opened a new road to power, and the finan- cier rose to a station of political influence in which he was at once flattered and despised.
Gradually the spread of mental acquirements, and the increas- ing taste far literature and art, opened chances of success to talent; science became the means of government, intelligence led to social power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the state
The value attached to the privileges of birth, decreased in the exact proportion in which new paths were struck out to advance- ment. In the eleventh century nobility was beyond all price ; in the thirteenth it might be purchased ; it was conferred for the first time in 1270 ; and equality was thus introduced into the govern- ment by the aristocracy itself.
In the course of these seven hundred years, it sometimes hap- pened that, in order to resist the authority of the crown or to di- minish the power of their rivals, the nobles granted a certain share of political rights to the people. Or, more frequently, the king permitted the lower orders to enjoy a degree of power, with the intention of repressing the aristocracy.
In France the kings have always been the most active and the most constant of levellers. When they were strong and ambitious, they spared no pains to raise the people to the level of the nobles ; when they were temperate or weak, they allowed the people to •rise above themselves. Some assisted the democracy by their tal- ents, others by their vices. Louis XI. and Louis XIV. reduced every rank beneath the throne to the same subjection ; Louis XV. descended, himself and all his court, into the dust.
As soon as land was held on any other than a feudal tenure, and personal property began in its turn to confer influence and power, every improvement which was introduced in commerce or manu- facture, was a fresh element of the equality of conditions. Hence- forward every new discovery, every new want which it engender- ed, and every new desire which craved satisfaction, was a step tow- ard the universal level. The taste for luxury, the love of war, the sway of fashion, the most superficial, as well as the deepest passions of the human heart, co-operated to enrich the poor and to empoverish the rich.
From the time when the exercise of the intellect became the source of strength and of wealth, it is impossible not to consider every addition to science, every fresh truth, and every new idea, as a germe of power placed within the reach of the people. Poetry? eloquence, and memory, the grace of wit, the glow of imagination, the depth of thought, and all the gifts which are bestowed by Providence with an equal hand, turned to the advantage of the democracy ; and even when they were in the possession of its ad- versaries, they still served its cause by throwing into relief the natu- ral greatness of man ; its conquests spread, therefore, with those of civilization and knowledge ; and literature became an arsenal, where the poorest and weakest could always find weapons to their hand.
In perusing the pages of our history, we shall scarcely meet with a single great event, in the lapse of seven hundred years, which has not turned to the advantage of equality.
The crusades and the wars of the English decimated the nobles, and divided their possessions ; the erection of communes introduced an element of democratic liberty into the bosom of feudal monar- chy ; the invention of firearms equalized the villain and the noble on the field of battle ; printing opened the same resources to the minds of all classes ; the post was organized so as to bring the same information to the door of the poor man's cottage and to the gate of the palace ; and protestantism proclaimed that all men are alike able to find the road to heaven. The discovery of America offered a thousand new paths to fortune, and placed riches and power within the reach of the adventurous and the obscure.
If we examine what has happened in France at intervals of fifty years, beginning with the eleventh century, we shall invariably perceive that a twofold revolution has taken place in the state of society. The noble has gone down on the social ladder, and the roturier has gone up ; the one descends as the other rises. Every half-century brings them nearer to each other, and they will very shortly meet.
Nor is this phenomenon at all peculiar to France. Whitherso- ever we turn our eyes, we shall discover the same continual revo- lution throughout the whole of Christendom.
The various occurrences of national existence have everywhere turned to the advantage of democracy ; all men have aided it by their exertions : those who have intentionally laboured in its cause, and those who have served it unwittingly — those who have fought for it, and those who have declared themselves its opponents — have all been driven along in the same track, have all laboured to one end, some ignorantly, and some unwillingly ; all have been blind instruments in the hands of God.
The gradual development of the equality of conditions is, there- fore, a providential fact, and it possesses all the characteristics of a divine decree : it is universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human interference, and all events as well as all men contribute to its progress.
Would it, then, be wise to imagine that a social impulse which dates from so far back, can be checked by the efforts of a genera- tion ? Is it credible that the democracy which has annihilated the feudal system, and vanquished kings, will respect the citizen and
the capitalist 1 Will it stop now that it has grown so strong and its adversaries so weak 1
None can say which way wc are going, for all terms of com- parison are wanting : the equality of conditions is more complete in the Christian countries of the present day, than it has been at any time, or in any part of the world ; so that the extent of what already exists prevents us from foreseeing what may be yet to come.
The whole book which is here offered to the public, has been written under the impression of a kind of religious dread, produced in the author's mind by the contemplation of so irresistible a revo- lution, which has advanced for centuries in spite of such amazing obstacles, and which is still proceeding in the midst of the ruins it has made.
It is not necessary that God himself should speak in order to disclose to us the unquestionable signs of his will ; we can discern them in the habitual course of nature, and in the invariable ten- dency of events ; I know, without a special revelation, that the planets move in the orbits traced by the Creator's finger.
If the men of our time were led by attentive observation and by sincere reflection, to acknowledge that the gradual and progressive development of social equality is at once the past and future of their history, this solitary truth would confer the sacred character of a divine decree upon the change. To attempt to check democ- racy would be in that case to resist the will of God ; and the na- tions would then be constrained to make the best of the social lot awarded to them by Providence.
The Christian nations of our age seem to me to present a most alarming spectacle ; the impulse which is bearing them along is so strong that it cannot be stopped, but it is not yet so rapid that it cannot be guided : their fate is in their hands ; yet a little while and it may be so no longer.
The first duty which is at this time imposed upon those who di- rect our affairs is to educate the democracy ; to warm its faith, if that be possible ; to purify its morals ; to direct its energies ; to substitute a knowledge of business for its inexperience, and an ac- quaintance with its true interests for its blind propensities; to adapt its government to time and place, and to modify it in com- pliance with the occurrences and the actors of the age. A 2
A new science of politics is indispensable to a new world. This, however, is what we think of least ; launched in the middle of a rapid stream, we obstinately fix our eyes on the ruins which may still be descried upon the shore we have left, while the cur- rent sweeps us along, and drives us backward toward the gulf.
In no country in Europe has the great social revolution which I have been describing, made such rapid progress as in France ; but it has always been borne on by chance. The heads of the state have never had any forethought for its exigences, and its victories have been obtained without their consent or without their knowl- edge. The most powerful, the most intelligent, and the most moral classes of the nation have never attempted to connect themselves with it in order to guide it. The people have consequently been abandoned to its wild propensities, and it has grown up like those outcasts who receive their education in the public streets, and who are unacquainted with aught but the vices and wretchedness of so- ciety. The existence of a democracy was seemingly unknown, when, on a sudden, it took possession of the supreme power. Everything was then submitted to its caprices ; it was worshipped as the idol of strength ; until, when it was enfeebled by its own excesses, the legislator conceived the rash project of annihilating its power, instead of instructing it and correcting its vices ; m at- tempt was made to fit it to govern, but all were bent on excluding it from the government.
The consequence of this has been that the democratic revolution has been effected only in the material parts of society, without that concomitant change in laws, ideas, customs, and manners, which was necessary to render such a revolution beneficial. We have gotten a democracy, but without the conditions which lessen its vices, and render its natural advantages more prominent ; and al- though we already perceive the evils it brings, we are ignorant of the benefits it may confer.
While the power of the crown, supported by the aristocracy, peaceably governed the nations of Europe, society possessed, in the midst of its wretchedness, several different advantages which can now scarcely be appreciated or conceived.
The power of a part of his subjects was an insurmountable bar- rier to the tyranny of the prince ; and the monarch who felt the almost divine character which he enjoyed in the eyes of the multi-
tude, derived a motive for the just use of his power from the re- spect which he inspired.
High as they were placed above the people, the nobles could not but take that calm and benevolent interest in its fate which the shepherd feels toward his flock ; and without acknowledging the poor as their equals, they watched over the destiny of those whose welfare Providence had intrusted to their care.
The people, never having conceived the idea of a social con- dition different from its own, and entertaining no expectation of ever ranking with its chiefs, received benefits from them without discussing their rights. It grew attached to them when they were clement and just, but it submitted without resistance or servility to their exactions, as to the inevitable visitations of the arm of God. Custom, and the manners of the time, had moreover created a spe- cies of law in the midst of violence, and established certain limits to oppression.
As the noble never suspected that any one would attempt to de- prive him of the privileges which he believed to be legitimate, and as the serf looked upon his own inferiority as a consequence of the immutable order of nature, it is easy to imagine that a mutual ex- change of good-will took place between two classes so differently gifted by fate. Inequality and wretchedness were then to be found in society ; but the souls of neither rank of men were degraded.
Men are are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience ; but by the exercise of power which they believe to be illegal, and by obedience to a rule which they con- sider to be usurped and oppressive.
On one side were wealth, strength, and leisure, accompanied by the refinement of luxury, the elegance of taste, the pleasures of wit, and the religion of art. On the other were labor, and a rude ignorance ; but in the midst of this coarse and ignorant multitude, it was not uncommon to meet with energetic passions, generous sentiments, profound religious convictions, and independent virtues.
The body of a state thus organized, might boast of its stability, its power, and above all, of its glory.
But the scene is now changed, and gradually the two ranks mingle ; the divisions which once severed mankind, are lowered ; property is divided, power is held in common, the light of intelli gence spreads, and the capacities of all classes are equally cultiva
ted ; the state becomes democratic, and the empire of democracy is slowly and peaceably introduced into the institutions and manners of the nation.
I can conceive a society in which all men would profess an equal attachment and respect for the laws of which they are the common authors ; in which the authority of the state would be respected as necessary, though not as divine ; and the loyalty of the subject to the chief magistrate would not be a passion, but a quiet and ra- tional persuasion. Every individual being in the possession of rights which he is sure to retain, a kind of manly reliance and re- ciprocal courtesy would arise between all classes, alike removed from pride and meanness.
The people, well acquainted with its true interests, would allow, that in order to profit by the advantages of society, it is necessary to satisfy its demands. In this state of things, the voluntary asso- ciation of the citizens might supply the individual exertions of the nobles, and the community would be alike protected from anarchy and from oppression.
I admit that in a democratic state thus constituted, society will not be stationary ; but the impulses of the social body may be regulated and directed forward ; if there be less splendour than in the halls of an aristocracy, the contrast of misery will be less fre- quent also ; the pleasures of enjoyment may be less excessive, but those of comfort will be more general ; the sciences may be less perfectly cultivated, but ignorance will be less common ; the im- petuosity of the feelings will be repressed, and the habits of the nation softened ; there will be more vices and fewer crimes.
In the absence of enthusiasm and of an ardent faith, great sacri- fices may be obtained from the members of a commonwealth by an appeal to their understandings and their experience : each individ- ual, vvill feel the same necessity for uniting with his fellow-citizens to protect his own weakness ; and as he knows that if they are to assist he must co-operate, he will readily perceive that his personal interest is identified with the interest of the community.
The nation, taken as a whole, will be less brilliant, less glorious, and perhaps less strong ; but the majority of the citizens will enjoy a greater degree of prosperity, and the people will remain quiet, not because it despairs of melioration, but because it is conscious of the advantages of its condition.
It* all the consequences el this state of things were not good or useful, society would at least have appropriated all sock as were useful ami good ; and haying once and tin- ever renounced the social advanl - s ;y, mankind would enter into possess
all the benefits which demo d afford.
But here it nun be asked what wo have adopted in the place of S institutions, those ideas, and those eustoms ot" our forefathers which we have abandoned.
The spell ot' royalty is broken, but it has not been succeeded by the laws ; the people have learned to despise all authority. But tear now ex - ;er tribute ot' obedieneo than
thai which was formerly paid
I perceive that we have destroyed those independe- which wei with tyranny single-handed ; but it s
tunent that has inherited the privileges of which families, corporations, and individuals, have been deprived j theweakn the whole community has, therefore, succeeded to that influence of a small b s which, if it retimes oppi
was oft or. . \ l
The division of property has lessened the distance which sep
ted the rich from the poor; but it would seem that the nearer they draw to each other, the greater is their mutual hatred, ami the more vehement the envy and the dread with which they other's claims to power ; the notion of right is alike insensible to both elasses, and force affords to both the only argument tor the present, and the only guarantee for the future.
The poor nam retains the prejudices of his forefathers without their faith, and their ignorance without their virtues; he has adopted the doetrine of self-interest as the rule of his aetions, with- out understanding the science which controls it, and his egotism is no less blind than his devotednoss was formerly.
If society is tranquil, it is not beoause it relies upon its strength and us v\ oil-being, but because it knows its weakness and its in- firmities : a single effort ma\ cost it its life; everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy enough to seok the euro; the desires, the regret, the sorrows, and the joys of the time, pro- duce nothing that is visible or permanent, like the passions of old
men whieh terminate in impotence.
We have, then, abandoned whatever advantages the old State of
9
10
things afforded, without receiving any compensation from our pres- ent condition ; having destroyed an aristocracy, we seem inclined to survey its ruins with complacency, and to fix our abode in the midst of them.
The phenomena which the intellectual world presents are not less deplorable. The democracy of France, checked in its course or abandoned to its lawless passions, has overthrown whatever crossed its path, and has shaken all that it has not destroyed. Its control over society has not been gradually introduced, or peace- ably established, but it has constantly advanced in the midst of dis- order, and the agitation of a conflict. In the heat of the struggle each partisan is hurried beyond the limits of his opinions by the opinions and the excesses of his opponents, until he loses sight of the end of his exertions, and holds a language which disguises his real sentiments or secret instincts. Hence arises the strange con- fusion which we are beholding.
I cannot recall to my mind a passage in history more worthy of sorrow and of pity than the scenes which are happening under our eyes ; it is as if the natural bond which unites the opinions of man to his tastes, and his actions to his principles, was now broken; the sympathy which has always been acknowledged between the feel- ings and the ideas of mankind, appears to be dissolved, and all the laws of moral analogy to be abolished.
Zealous Christians may be found among us, whose minds are nur- tured in the love and knowledge of a future life, and who readily espouse the cause of human liberty, as the source of all moral greatness. Christianity, which has declared that all men are equal in the sight of God, will not refuse to acknowledge that all citi- zens are equal in the eye of the law. But, by a singular concourse of events, religion is entangled in those institutions which democ- racy assails, and it is not unfrequently brought to reject the equality it loves, and to curse that cause of liberty as a foe, which it might hallow by its alliance.
By the side of these religious men I discern others whose looks are turned to the earth more than to heaven ; they are the partisans of liberty, not only as the source of the noblest virtues, but more especially as the root of all solid advantages ; and they sincerely desire to extend its sway, and to impart its blessings to mankind. It is natural that they should hasten to invoke the assistance of re-
11
ligion, for they must know that liberty cannot be established with- out morality, nor morality without faith ; but they have seen re- ligion in the ranks of their adversaries, and they inquire no farther; some of them attack it openly, and the remainder are afraid to de- fend it.
In former ages slavery has been advocated by the venal and slavish -minded, while the independent and the warm-hearted were struggling without hope to save the liberties of mankind. But men of high and generous characters are now to be met with, whose opinions are at variance with their inclinations, and who praise that servility which they have themselves never known. Others, on the contrary, speak in the name of liberty as if they were able to feel its sanctity and its majesty, and loudly claim for humanity those rights which they have always disowned.
There are virtuous and peaceful individuals whose pure morality, quiet habits, affluence, and talents, fit them to be the leaders of the surrounding population ; their love of their country is sincere, and they are prepared to make the greatest sacrifices to its welfare, but they confound the abuses of civilization with its benefits, and the idea of evil is inseparable in their minds from that of novelty.
Not far from this class is another party, whose object is to ma- teralise mankind, to hit upon what is expedient without heeding wrhat is just; to acquire knowledge without faith, and prosperity apart from virtue ; assuming the title of the champions of modern civilization, and placing themselves in a station which they usurp with insolence, and from which they are driven by their own un- worthiness.
Where are we then 1
The religionists are the enemies of liberty, and the friends of liberty attack religion; the high-minded and the noble advocate subjection, and the meanest and most servile minds preach inde- pendence ; honest and enlightened citizens are opposed to all prog- ress, while men without patriotism and without principles, are the apostles of civilization and of intelligence.
Has such been the fate of the centuries which have preceded our own? and has man always inhabited a world, like the present, where nothing is linked together, where virtue is without genius, and genius without honour ; where the love of order is confounded with a taste for oppression, and the holy rites of freedom with a
12
contempt of law ; where the light thrown by conscience on human actions is dim, and where nothing seems to be any longer forbidden or allowed, honorable or shameful, false or true 1
I cannot, however, believe that the Creator made man to leave him in an endless struggle with the intellectual miseries which sur- round us : God destines a calmer and a more certain future to the communities of Europe ; I am unacquainted with his designs, but I shall not cease to believe in them because I cannot fathom them, and I had rather mistrust my own capacity than his justice.
There is a country in the world where the great revolution which I am speaking of seems nearly to have reached its natural limits ; it has been effected with ease and simplicity, say rather that this country has attained the consequences of the democratic revo- lution which we are undergoing, without having experienced the revolution itself.
The emigrants who fixed themselves on the shores of America in the beginning of the seventeenth century, severed the democratic principle from all the principles which repressed it in the old com- munities of Europe, and transplanted it unalloyed to the New World. It has there been allowed to spread in perfect freedom, and to put forth its consequences in the laws by influencing the manners of the country.
It appears to me beyond a doubt, that sooner or later we shall arrive, like the Americans, at an almost complete equality of con- ditions. But I do not conclude from this, that we shall ever be necessarily led to draw the same political consequences which the Americans- have derived from a similar social organization. I am far from supposing that they have chosen the only form of govern- ment which a democracy may adopt ; but the identity of the effi- cient cause of laws and manners in the two countries is sufficient to account for the immense interest we have in becoming ac- quainted with its effects in each of them.
It is not, then, merely to satisfy a legitimate curiosity that I have examined America ; my wish has been to find instruction by which we may ourselves profit. Whoever should imagine that I have in- tended to write a panegyric would be strangely mistaken, and on reading this book, he will perceive that such was not my design : nor has it been my object to advocate any form of government in particular, for I am of opinion that absolute excellence is rarely to
13
be found in any legislation ; I have not even affected to discuss whether the social revolution, which I believe to be irresistible, is advantageous or prejudicial to mankind ; I have acknowledged this revolution as a tact already accomplished or on the eve of its ac- complishment ; and I have selected the nation, from among those which have undergone it, in which its development has been the most peaceful and the most complete, in order to discern its natural conse- quences, and, if it be possible, to distinguish the means by which it may be rendered profitable. I confess that in America I saw more than America ; I sought the image of democracy itself, with its in- clinations, its character, its prejudices, and its passions, in order to learn what we have to fear or to hope from its progress.
In the first part of this work I have attempted to show the ten- dency given to the laws by the democracy of America, which is abandoned almost without restraint to its instinctive propensities ; and to exhibit the course it prescribes to the government, and the influence it exercises on affairs. I have sought to discover the evils and the advantages which it produces. I have examined the pre- cautions used by the Americans to direct it, as well as those which they have not adopted, and I have undertaken to point out the causes which enable it to govern society.
It was my intention to depict, in a second part, the influence which the equality of conditions and the rule of democracy exercise on the civil society, the habits, the ideas, and the manners of the Americans ; I begin, however, to feel less ardour for the accomplish- ment of this project, since the excellent work of my friend and travelling companion M. de Beaumont has been given to the world.* I do not know whether I have succeeded in making known what I saw in America, but I am certain that such has been my sincere desire, and that I have never, knowingly, moulded facts to ideas, instead of ideas to facts.
Whenever a point could be established by the aid of written documents, I have had recourse to the original text, and to the most authentic and approved works.f I have cited my authorities
* This work is entitled, Marie, ou l'Esclavage aux Etats-Unis.
f Legislative and administrative documents have been furnished me with a degree of politeness which I shall always remember with gratitude. Among the American functionaries who thus favoured my inquiries 1 am proud to name Mr. Edward Living- ston, then Secretary of State, and late American minister at Paris. During my stay at the session of Congress, Mr. Livingston was kind enough to furnish me with the
Vol. I— B
14
in the notes, and any one may refer to them. Whenever an opinion, a political custom, or a remark on the manners of the country was concerned, I endeavoured to consult the most enlightened men I met with. If the point in question was important or doubtful, I was not satisfied with one testimony, but I formed my opinion on the evidence of several witnesses. Here the reader must necessarily believe me upon my word. I could frequently have quoted names which are either known to him, or which deserve to be so, in proof of what I advance ; but I have carefully abstained from this prac- tice. A stranger frequently hears important truths at the fireside of his host, which the latter would perhaps conceal even from the ear of friendship ; he consoles himself with his guest, for the silence to which he is restricted, and the shortness of the traveller's stay takes away all fear of his indiscretion. I carefully noted every conversa- tion of this nature as soon as it occurred, but these notes will never leave my writing-case ; I had rather injure the success of my state- ments than add my name to the list of those strangers who repay the generous hospitality they have received by subsequent chagrin and annoyance.
I am aware that, notwithstanding my care, nothing will be easier than to criticise this book, if any one ever chooses to criti- cise it.
Those readers who may examine it closely will discover the fundamental idea which connects the several parts together. But the diversity of the subjects I have had to treat is exceedingly great, and it will not be difficult to oppose an isolated fact to the body of facts which I quote, or an isolated idea to the body of ideas 1 put forth. I hope to be read in the spirit which has guided my labours, and that my book may be judged by the general impres- sion it leaves, as I have formed my own judgement not on any single reason, but upon the mass of evidence.
It must not be forgotten that the author who wishes to be under- stood is obliged to push all his ideas to their utmost theoretical con- sequences, and often to the verge of what is false or impracticable; for if it be necessary sometimes to quit the rules of logic in active
greater part of the documents I possess relative to the federal government. Mr. Livingston is one of those rare individuals whom one loves, respects, and admires, from their writings, and to whom one is happy to incur the debt of gratitude on far- ther acquaintance.
15
life, such is not the case in discourse, and a man finds that almost as many difficulties spring from inconsistency bf language, as usually arise from consistency of conduct.
I conclude by pointing out myself what many readers will con- sider the principal defect of the work. This book is written to favour no particular views, and in composing it I have entertained no design of serving or attacking any party : I have undertaken not to see differently, but to look farther than parties, and while they are busied for the morrow, I have turned my thoughts to the future.
DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA.
FIRST PART.
CHAPTER I.
EXTERIOR FORM OF NORTH AMERICA.
North America divided into two vast regions, one inclining toward the Pole, the other toward the Equator. — Valley of the Mississippi. — Traces of the Revolutions of the Globe. — Shore of the Atlantic Ocean, where the English Colonies were founded. — Difference in the Appearance of North and of South America at the Time of their Discovery- — Forests of North America. — Prairies. — Wandering Tribes of Natives. — Their outward Appearance, Manners, and Language. — Traces of an unknown people.
North America presents in its external form certain general features, which it is easy to discriminate at the first glance.
A sort of methodical order seems to have regulated the separation of land and water, mountains and valleys. A simple but grand ar- rangement is discoverable amid the confusion of objects and the prodigious variety of scenes.
This continent is divided, almost equally, into two vast regions, one of which is bounded, on the north by the arctic pole, and by the two great oceans on the east and west. It stretches toward the south, forming a triangle, whose irregular sides meet at length be- low the great lakes of Canada.
The second region begins where the other terminates, and in- cludes all the remainder of the continent.
The one slopes gently toward the pole, the other toward the equator.
The territory comprehended in the first regions descends toward B2 3
IS
the north with so imperceptible a slope that it may almost be said to form a level plain. Within the bounds of this immense tract of country there are neither high mountains nor deep valleys. Streams meander through it irregularly; great rivers mix their currents, separate and meet again, disperse and form vast marshes, losing all trace of their channels in the labyrinth of waters they have themselves created ; and thus, at length, after innumerable wind- ings, fall into the polar seas. The great lakes which bound this first region are not walled in, like most of those in the Old World, between hills and rocks. Their banks are fiat, and rise but a few feet above the level of their waters ; each of them thus forming a vast bowl filled to the brim. The slightest change in the structure of the globe wTould cause their waters to rush either toward the pole or to the tropical sea. #
The second region is more varied on its surface, and better suited for the habitation of man. Two long chains of mountains divide it from one extreme to the other; the Allegany ridge takes the form of the shores of the Atlantic ocean ; the other is parallel with the Pacific.
The space which lies between these two chains of mountains contains 1,341,649 square miles.* Its surface is therefore about six times as great as that of France.
This vast territory, however, forms a single valley, one side of which descends gradually from the rounded summits of the Alle- ganies, while the other rises in an uninterrupted course toward the tops of the Rocky mountains.
At the bottom of the valley flows an immense river, into which the various streams issuing from the mountains fall from all parts. In memory of their native land, the French formerly called this river the St. Louis. The Indians, in their pompous language, have named it the Father of Waters, or the Mississippi.
The Mississippi takes its source above the limit of the two great regions of which I have spoken, not far from the highest point of the table-land where they unite. Near the same spot rises another river,f which empties itself into the polar seas. The course of the Mississippi is at first devious : it winds several times toward the
* Darby's " View of the United States." f Mackenzie's river.
19
north, whence it rose ; and, at length, after having been delayed in lakes and marshes, it flows slowly onward to the south.
Sometimes quietly gliding along the argillaceous bed which na- ture has assigned to it ; sometimes swollen by storms, the Missis- sippi waters 2,500 miles in its course .* At the distance of 1,364 miles from its mouth this river attains an average depth of fifteen feet; and it is navigated by vessels of 300 tuns burden for a course of nearly 500 miles. Fifty-seven large navigable rivers contribute to swell the waters of the Mississippi ; among others the Missouri, which traverses a space of 2,500 miles ; the Arkansas of 1,300 miles ; the Red river 1,000 miles ; four whose course is from 800 to 1,000 miles in length, viz : the Illinois, the St. Peter's, the St. Francis, and the Moingona ; beside a countless multitude of rivu- lets which unite from all parts their tributary streams.
The valley which is watered by the Mississippi seems formed to be the bed of this mighty river, which like a god of antiquity dis- penses both good and evil in its course. On the shores of the stream nature displays an inexhaustible fertility ; in proportion as you re- cede from its banks, the powers of vegetation languish, the soil be- comes poor, and the plants that survive have a sickly growth. No- where have the great convulsions of the globe left more evident traces than in the valley of the Mississippi : the whole aspect of the country shows the powerful effects of water, both by its fertility and by its barrenness. The waters of the primeval ocean accu- mulated enormous beds of vegetable mould in the valley, which they levelled as they retired. Upon the right shore of the river are seen immense plains, as smooth as if the husbandman had passed over them with his roller. As you approach the mountains, the soil becomes more and more unequal and steril ; the ground is, as it were, pierced in a thousand places by primitive rocks, which ap- pear like the bones of a skeleton whose flesh is partly consumed. The surface of the earth is covered with a granitic sand, and huge irregular masses of stone, among which a few plants force their growth, and give the appearance of a green field covered with the ruins of a vast edifice. These stones and this sand discover, on ex- amination, a perfect analogy with those which compose the arid and broken summits of the Rocky mountains. The flood of waters
* Warden's " Description of the United States."
20
which washed the soil to the bottom of the valley, afterward car- ried away portions of the rocks themselves ; and these, dashed and bruised against the neighbouring cliffs, were left scattered like wrecks at their feet.*
The valley of the Mississippi is, upon the whole, the most mag- nificent dwelling-place prepared by God for man's abode ; and yet it may be said that at present it is but a mighty desert.
On the eastern side of the Alleganies, between the base of these mountains and the Atlantic ocean, lies a long ridge of rocks and sand, which the sea appears to have left behind as it retired. The mean breadth of this territory does not exceed one hundred miles ; but it is about nine hundred miles in length. This part of the American continent has a soil which offers every obstacle to the husbandman, and its vegetation is scanty and unvaried.
Upon this inhospitable coast the first united efforts of human in- dustry were made. This tongue of arid land was the cradle of those English colonies which were destined one day to become the United States of America. The centre of power still remains there ; while in the backward states the true elements of the great people, to whom the future control of the continent belongs, are secretly springing up.
When the Europeans first landed on the shores of the Antilles, and afterward on the coast of South America, they thought them- selves transported into those fabulous regions of which poets had sung. The sea sparkled with phosphoric light, and the extraordi- nary transparency of its waters" discovered to the view of the navi- gator all that had hitherto been hidden in the deep abyss.f Here and there appeared little islands perfumed with odoriferous plants, and resembling baskets of flowers, floating on the tranquil surface of the ocean. Every object which met the sight, in this enchanting region, seemed prepared to satisfy the wants, or contribute to the pleasures of man. Almost all the trees were loaded with nourish- ing fruits, and those which were useless as food, delighted the eye by the brilliancy and variety of their colours. In groves of fragrant
* See Appendix A.
t Malte Brun tells us (vol. v., p. 726) that the water of the Caribbean sea is so transparent, that corals and fish are discernible at a depth of sixty fathoms. The ship seemed to float in the air, the navigator became giddy as his eye penetrated through the crystal flood, and beheld submarine gardens, or beds of shells, or gilded fishes gliding among tufts and thickets of seaweed.
21
lemon-trees, wild figs, flowering myrtles, acacias, and oleanders, which were hung with festoons of various climhing-plants, covered with flowers, a multitude of birds unknown in Europe displayed their bright plumage, glittering with purple and azure, and mingled their warbling in the harmony of a world teeming with life and motion.*
Underneath this brilliant exterior death was concealed. The air of these climates had so enervating an influence that man, com- pletely absorbed by the present enjoyment, was rendered regardless of the future.
North America appeared under a very different aspect : there, everything was grave, serious, and solemn ; it seemed created to be the domain of intelligence, as the south was that of sensual de- light. A turbulent and foggy ocean washed its shores. It was girded round by a belt of granitic rocks, or by wide plains of sand. The foliage of its woods was dark and gloomy ; for they were composed of firs, larches, evergreen oaks, wild olive-trees, and laurels.
Beyond this outer belt lay the thick shades of the central forests, where the largest trees which are produced in the two hemispheres grow side by side. The plane, the catalpa, the sugar-maple, and the Virginian poplar, mingled their branches with those of the oak, the beech, and the lime.
In these, as in the forests of the Old World, destruction was perpetually going on. The ruins of vegetation were heaped upon each other ; but there was no labouring hand to remove them, and their decay was not rapid enough to make room for the continual work of reproduction. Climbing-plants, grasses, and other herbs, forced their way through the mass of dying trees ; they crept along their bending trunks, found nourishment in their dusty cavities, and a passage beneath the lifeless bark. Thus decay gave its assistance to life, and their respective productions were mingled together. The depths of these forests were gloomy and obscure, and a thou- sand rivulets, undirected in their course by human industry, pre- served in them a constant moisture. It was rare to meet with flowers, wild fruits, or birds, beneath their shades. The fall of a tree overthrown by age, the rushing torrent of a cataract, the low-
* See Appendix B.
22
ing of the buffalo, and the howling of the wind, were the only sounds which broke the silence of nature.
To the east of the great river the woods almost disappeared ; in their stead were seen prairies of immense extent. Whether nature in her infinite variety had denied the germes of trees to these fertile plains, or whether they had once been covered with forests, sub- sequently destroyed by the hand of man, is a question which nei- ther tradition nor scientific research has been able to resolve.
These immense deserts were not, however, devoid of human in- habitants. Some wandering tribes had been for ages scattered among the forest shades or the green pastures of the prairie. From the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Delta of the Mississippi, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, these savages possessed certain points of resemblance which bore witness of their common origin : but at the same time they differed from all other known races of men :* they were neither white like the Europeans, nor yellow like most of the Asiatics, nor black like the negroes. Their skin was reddish brown, their hair long and shining, their lips thin, and their cheek-bones very prominent. The languages spoken by the North American tribes were various as far as regarded their words, but they were subject to the same grammatical rules. Those rules differed in several points from such as had been observed to govern the origin of language.
The idiom of the Americans seemed to be the product of new combinations, and bespoke an effort of the understanding, of which the Indians of our days would be incapable. f
The social state of these tribes differed also in many respects from all that was seen in the Old World. They seemed to have multiplied freely in the midst of their deserts, without coming in contact with other races more civilized than their own.
Accordingly, they exhibited none of those indistinct, incoherent
* With the progress of discovery, some resemblance has been found to exist be- tween the physical conformation, the language, and the habits of the Indians of North America, and those of the Tongous, Mantchous, Moguls, Tartars, and other wander- ing tribes of Asia. The land occupied by these tribes is not very distant from Beh- ring's strait ; which allows ol the supposition, that at a remote period they gave inhabitants to the desert continent of America. But this is a point which has not yet been clearly elucidated by science. See Make Brun, vol. v. ; the works of Hum- boldt ; Fischer, " Conjecture sur l'Origine des Americains ;" Adair " History of the American Indians."
t See Appendix C.
23
notions of right and wrong, none of that deep corruption of man- ners that is usually joined with ignorance and rudeness among na- tions which, after advancing to civilization, have relapsed into a state of barbarism. The Indian was indebted to no one but him- self; his virtues, his vices, and his prejudices, were his own work ; he had grown up in the wild independence of his nature.
If, in polished countries, the lowest of the people are rude and uncivil, it is not merely because they are poor and ignorant, but that, being so, they are in daily contact with rich and enlightened men. The sight of their own hard lot and of their weakness, which are daily contrasted with the happiness and power of some of their fellow-creatures, excites in their hearts at the same time the senti- ments of anger and of fear : the consciousness of their inferiority and of their dependance irritates while it humiliates them. This state of mind displays itself in their manners and language ; they are at once insolent and servile. The truth of this is easily proved by observation ; the people are more rude in aristocratic countries than elsewhere ; in opulent cities than in rural districts. In those places where the rich and powerful are assembled together, the weak and the indigent feel themselves oppressed by their inferior condition. Unable to perceive a single chance of regaining their equality, they give up to despair, and allowT themselves to fall below the dignity of human nature.
This unfortunate effect of the disparity of conditions is not ob- servable in savage life ; the Indians, although they are ignorant and poor, are equal and free.
At the period when Europeans first came among them, the na- tives of North America were ignorant of the value of riches, and indifferent to the enjoyments which civilized man procures to him- self by their means. Nevertheless, there was nothing coarse in their demeanour ; they practised an habitual reserve, and a kind of aristocratic politeness.
Mild and hospitable when at peace, though merciless in war be- yond any known degree of human ferocity, the Indian would ex- pose himself to die of hunger in order to succour the stranger who asked admittance by night at the door of his hut — yet he could tear in pieces with his hands the still quivering limbs of his prisoner. The famous republics of antiquity never gave examples of more unshaken courage, more haughty spirits, or more intractable love
24
of independence, than were hidden in former times among the wild forests of the New World.* The Europeans produced no great impression when they landed upon the shores of North America : their presence engendered neither envy nor fear. What influence could they possess over such men as we have described ? The In- dian could live without wants, suffer without complaint, and pour out his death-song at the stake.f Like all the other members of the great human family, these savages believed in the existence of a better world, and adored, under different names, God, the Creator of the universe. Their notions on the great intellectual truths were, in general, simple and philosophical. J
Although we have here traced the character of a primitive peo- ple, yet it cannot be doubted that another people, more civilized and more advanced in all respects, had preceded it in the same regions.
An obscure tradition, which prevailed among the Indians to the north of the Atlantic, informs us that these very tribes formerly dwelt on the west side of the Mississippi. Along the banks of the Ohio, and throughout the central valley, there are frequently found, at this day, tumuli raised by the hands of men. On exploring these heaps of earth to their centre, it is usual to meet with human bones, strange instruments, arms and utensils of all kinds, made of a metal, or destined for purposes, unknown to the present race.
The Indians of our time are unable to give any information rela- tive to the history of this unknown people. Neither did those who lived three hundred years ago, when America was first discovered, leave any accounts from which even an hypothesis could be formed. Tradition — that perishable, yet ever-renewed monument of the pristine world — throws no light upon the subject. It is an un-
* We learn from President Jefferson's " Notes upon Virginia," p. 148, that among the Iroquois, when attacked by a superior force, aged men refused to fly, or to survive the destruction of their country ; and they braved death like the ancient Romans when their capital was sacked by the Gauls. Farther on, p. 150, he tells us that there is no example of an Indian, who, having fallen into the hands of his enemies, begged for his life ; on the contrary, the captive sought to obtain death at the hands of his conquerors by the use of insult and provocation.
f See " Histoire de la Louisiane," by Lepage Dupratz ; Charlevoix, " Histoire de la Nouvelle France ;" " Lettres du Rev. G. Hecwelder ;;' " Transactions of the Amer- ican Philosophical Society," v. i. ; Jefferson's " Notes on Virginia," pp. 135-190. What is said by Jefferson is of especial weight, on account of the personal merit of the writer, and of the matter-of-fact age in which he lived.
X See Appendix D.
25
doubted fact, however, that in this part of the globe thousands of our fellow-beings had lived. When they came hither, what was their origin, their destiny, their history, and how they perished, no one can tell.
How strange does it appear that nations have existed, and after- ward so completely disappeared from the earth, that the remem- brance of their very names is effaced : their languages are lost ; their glory is vanished like a sound without an echo ; but perhaps there is not one which has not left behind it a tomb in memory of its passage. The most durable monument of human labour is that which recalls the wretchedness and nothingness of man.
Although the vast country which we have been describing was inhabited by many indigenous tribes, it may justly be said, at the time of its discovery by Europeans, to have formed one great desert. The Indians occupied, without possessing it. It is by agricultural labour that man appropriates the soil, and the early inhabitants of North America lived by the produce of the chase. Their implaca- ble prejudices, their uncontrolled passions, their vices, and still more perhaps their savage virtues, consigned them to inevitable destruc- tion. The ruin of these nations began from the day when Euro- peans landed on their shores : it has proceeded ever since, and we are now seeing the completion of it. They seemed to have been placed by Providence amid the riches of the New World to enjoy them for a season, and then surrender them. Those coasts, so ad- mirably adapted for commerce and industry ; those wide and deep rivers ; that inexhaustible valley of the Mississippi ; the whole continent, in short, seemed prepared to be the abode of a great na- tion, yet unborn.
In that land the great experiment was to be made by civilized man, of the attempt to construct society upon a new basis ; and it was there, for the first time, that theories hitherto unknown, or deemed impracticable, were to exhibit a spectacle for which the world had not been prepared by the history of the past.
Vol. I.— C 4
26
CHAPTER II.
ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS AND ITS IMPORTANCE, IN RELATION TO THEIR FUTURE CONDITION.
Utility of knowing the Origin of Nations in order to understand their social Condition and their Laws.— America the only Country in which the Starting-Point of a great People has been clearly observable.— In what respects all who emigrated to British America were similar.— In what they differed.— Remark applicable to all the Euro- peans who established themselves on the shores of the New World.— Colonization of Virginia.— Colonization of New England.— Original Character of the first Inhab- itants of New England.— Their Arrival.— Their first Laws —Their social Contract. —Penal Code borrowed from the Hebrew Legislation.— Religious Fervour.— Repub- lican Spirit.— Intimate Union of the Spirit of Religion with the Spirit of Liberty.
After the birth of a human being, his early years are obscurely spent in the toils or pleasures of childhood. As he grows up, the world receives him, when his manhood begins, and he enters into contact with his fellows. He is then studied for the first time, and it is imagined that the germe of the vices and the virtues of his maturer years is then formed.
This, if I am not mistaken, is a great error. We must begin higher up ; we must watch the infant in his mother's arms ; we must see the first images which the external world casts upon the dark mirror of his mind ; the first occurrences which he beholds ; we must hear the first words which awaken the sleeping powers of thought, and stand by his earliest efforts, if wTe would under- stand the prejudices, the habits, and the passions, which will rule his life. The entire man is, so to speak, to be seen in the cradle of the child.
The growth of nations presents something analogous to this ; they all bear some marks of their origin ; and the circumstances which accompanied their birth and contributed to their rise, affect the whole term of their being.
If we were able to go back to the elements of states, and to ex-
27
amine the oldest monuments of their history, I doubt not that we should discover the primary cause of the prejudices, the habits, the ruling passions, and in short of all that constitutes what is called the national character : we should then find the explanation of certain customs which now seem at variance with prevailing man- ners, of such laws as conflict with established principles, and of such incoherent opinions as are here and there to be met with in society, like those fragments of broken chains which we sometimes see hanging from the vault of an edifice, and supporting nothing. This might explain the destinies of certain nations which seem borne along by an unknown force to ends of which they themselves are ignorant. But hitherto facts have been wanting to researches of this kind : the spirit of inquiry has only come upon communities in their latter days ; and when they at length turned their attention to contemplate their origin, time had already obscured it, or ignor- ance and pride adorned it with truth-concealing fables.
America is the only country in which it has been possible to study the natural and tranquil growth of society, and where the influence exercised on the future condition of states by their orio-in is clearly distinguishable.
At the period when the peoples of Europe landed in the New World, their national characteristics were already completely formed ; each of them had a physiognomy of its own ; and as they had already attained that stage of civilization at which men are led to study themselves, they have transmitted to us a faithful picture of their opinions, their manners, and their laws. The men of the sixteenth century are almost as well known to us as our contemporaries. America consequently exhibits in the broad light of day the phe- nomena which the ignorance or rudeness of earlier ages conceals from our researches. Near enough to the time when the states of America were founded to be accurately acquainted with their ele- ments, and sufficiently removed from that period to judge of some of their results. The men of our own day seem destined to see farther than their predecessors into the series of human events. Providence has given us a torch which our forefathers did not possess, and has allowed us to discern fundamental causes in the history of the world which the obscurity of the past concealed from them.
If we carefully examine the social and political state of America
28
after having studied its history, we shall remain perfectly con- vinced that not an opinion, not a custom, not a law, I may even say not an event, is upon record which the origin of that people will not explain. The readers of this book will find the germe of all that is to follow in the present chapter, and the key to almost the whole work.
The emigrants who came at different periods to occupy the ter- ritory now covered by the American Union, differed from each other in many respects ; their aim was not the same, and they governed themselves on different principles.
These men had, however, certain features in common, and they were all placed in an analogous situation. The tie of language is perhaps the strongest and most durable that can unite mankind. All the emigrants spoke the same tongue ; they were all offsets from the same people. Born in a country which had been agitated for centuries by the struggles of faction, and in which all parties had been obliged in their turn to place themselves under the protec- tion of the laws, their political education had been perfected in this rude school, and they were more conversant with the notions of right, and the principles of true freedom, than the greater part of their European contemporaries. At the period of the first emigra- tions, the parish system, that fruitful germe of free institutions, was deeply rooted in the habits of the English ; and with it the doc- trine of the sovereignty of the people had been introduced even into the bosom of the monarchy of the house of Tudor.
The religious quarrels which have agitated the Christian world were then rife. England had plunged into the new order of things with headlong vehemence. The character of its inhabitants, which had always been sedate and reflecting, became argumentative and austere. General information had been increased by intellectual debate, and the mind had received a deeper cultivation. While religion was the topic of discussion, the morals of the people were reformed. All these national features are more or less discoverable in the physiognomy of those adventurers who came to seek a new home on the opposite shores of the Atlantic.
Another remark, to which we shall hereafter have occasion to recur, is applicable not only to the English, but to the French, the Spaniards, and all the Europeans who successively established them- selves in the New World. All these European colonies contained
29
the elements, if not the development, of a complete democracy. Two causes led to this result. It may safely be advanced, that on leaving the mother-country the emigrants had in general no notion of superiority over one another. The happy and the powerful do not go into exile, and there are no surer guarantees of equality "^ among men than poverty and misfortune. It happened, however, on several occasions that persons of rank were driven to America by political and religious quarrels. Laws were made to establish a gradation of ranks ; but it was soon found that the soil of Ameri- ca was entirely opposed to a territorial aristocracy. To bring that refractory land into cultivation, the constant and interested exer- tions of the owner himself were necessary ; and when the ground was prepared, its produce was found to be insufficient to enrich a master and a farmer at the same time. The land was then natu- rally broken up into small portions, which the proprietor cultivated for himself. Land is the basis of an aristocracy, which clings to the soil that supports it ; for it is not by privileges alone, nor by birth, but by landed property handed down from generation to generation, that an aristocracy is constituted. A nation may present immense fortunes and extreme wretchedness ; but unless those for- tunes are territorial, there is no aristocracy, but simply the class of the rich and that of the poor.
All the British colonies had then a great degree of similarity at the epoch of their settlement. All of them, from their first begin- ning, seemed destined to behold the growth, not of the aristocratic liberty of their mother-country, but of that freedom of the middle and lower orders of which the history of the world has as yet fur- nished no complete example.
In this general uniformity several striking differences were how- ever discernible, which it is necessary to point out. Two branches may be distinguished in- the Anglo-American family, which have hitherto grown up without entirely commingling ; the one in the south, the other in the north.
Virginia received the first English colony ; the emigrants took possession of it in 1607. The idea that mines of gold and silver are the sources of national wealth, was at that time singularly preva- lent in Europe ; a fatal delusion, which has done more to empoverish the nations which adopted it, and has cost more lives in America, than the united influence of war and bad laws. The men sent to C2
30
Virginia* wore seekers of gold, adventurers without resources and without character, whose turbulent and restless spirits endangered the infant colony.! and rendered its progress uncertain. The arti- sans and agriculturists arrived afterward : and although they were
a more moral and orderly race of men. they were in nowise above the level of the inferior classes in England*! No lofty conceptions, no intellectual system directed the foundation of these new settle- ments. The colony was scarcely established when slavery was in- troduced.^ and this was the main circumstance which has exercised so prodigious an influence on the character, the laws, and all the future prospects of the south.
Slavery, as we shall afterward show, dishonours labour: it in- troduces idleness into society, and, with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It enervates the powers of the mind. and benumbs the activity of man. The influence of slavery, united to the English character, explains the manners and the social con- dition of the southern states.
In the north, the same English foundation was modified by the most opposite shades of character : and here I may be allowed to enter into some details. The two or three main ideas which con- stitute the basis oi the social theory of the United States were first ined in the northern British colonies, more generally denomi- nated the states of New England. || The principles of New Eng- land spread at first to the neighbouring states : they then passed successively to the more distant ones: and at length they imbued
• The charter granted by the crown of England, in 1609, stipulated, among other on*, that the adventurers should pay to the crown a tilth of the produce oi all gold and silver rames. See Marshall's •• Life ot Washington." vol. 1.. pp. 1S-66.
t A larce portion of the adventurers, says Stitb (History of Vhrgmia), were un- principled vouns men of family, whom their parents were glad to ship off. discharged servants, fraudulent bankrupts, or debauchees: and others of the same class, people more apt to pillage and destroy than to assist the settlement, were the seditious chiefs who easily led this band into every kind of extravagance and excess. See for the his- torv ot Virginia the following works : —
" Historv of Vr; n:a. from the first Settlements in the year 1624." by Smith.
•• History of Virginia," by William Stith.
•'" Historv of Virginia, from the earliest Period.*' by Beverley.
J It was not till some time later that a certain number of rich English capitalists came to fix themselves in the colony.
§ Slavery was mtroduced about the year 1620. by a Dutch vessel, which landed twenty negroes on the banks of the river James. See Chalmer.
|| The states of New England are those situated to the east of the Hudson : they are now six in number : 1. Connecticut : 2. Rhode Island : 3- Massachusetts : 4. Ver- mont ; 5. Xew Hampshire ; 6. Maine.
31
the whole confederation. They now extend their influence beyond its limits over the whole American world. The civilization of New England has been like a beacon lit upon a hill, which, after it has diffused its warmth around, tinges the distant horizon with its glow.
The foundation of New England was a novel spectacle, and all the circumstances attending it were singular and original. The large majority of colonies have been first inhabited either by men without education and without resources, driven by their poverty and their misconduct from the land which gave them birth, or by speculators and adventurers greedy of gain. Some settlements cannot even boast so honourable an origin; St. Domingo was founded by buccaneers ; and, at the present day, the criminal courts of England supply the population of Australia.
The settlers who established themselves on the shores of New England all belonged to the more independent classes of their na- tive country. Their union on the soil of America at once presented the singular phenomenon of a society containing neither lords nor common people, neither rich nor poor. These men possessed, in proportion to their number, a greater mass of intelligence than is to be found in any European nation of our own time. All, without a single exception, had received a good education, and many of them were known in Europe for their talents and their acquire- ments. The other colonies had been founded by adventurers with- out family ; the emigrants of New England brought with them the best elements of order and morality, they landed in the desert accompanied by their wives and children. But what most es- pecially distinguished them was the aim of their undertaking. They had not been obliged by necessity to leave their country, the social position they abandoned was one to be regretted, and their means of subsistence were certain. Nor did they cross the Atlantic to improve their situation, or to increase their wealth ; the call which summoned them from the comforts of their homes was purely in- tellectual ; and in facing the inevitable sufferings of exile, their object was the triumph of an idea.
The emigrants, or, as they deservedly styled themselves, the pilgrims, belonged to that English sect, the austerity of whose principles had acquired for them the name of puritans. Puritanism was not merely a religious doctrine, but it corresponded in many
32
points with the most absolute democratic and republican theories. It was this tendency which had aroused its most dangerous adver- saries. Persecuted by the government of the mother-country, and disgusted by the habits of a society opposed to the rigour of their own principles, the puritans went forth to seek some rude and un- frequented part of the world, where they could live according to their own opinions, and worship God in freedom.
A few quotations will throw more light upon the spirit of these pious adventurers than all we can say of them. Nathaniel Mor- ton,* the historian of the first years of the settlement, thus opens his subject : —
" Gentle Reader : I have for some length of time looked upon it as a duty incumbent, especially on the immediate successors of those that have had so large experience of those many memorable and signal demonstrations of God's goodness, viz, the first begin- ners of this plantation in New England, to commit to waiting his gracious dispensations on that behalf; having so many inducements thereunto, not onely otherwise, but so plentifully in the sacred Scriptures : that so, what we have seen, and what our fathers have told us (Psalm lxxviii. 3, 4), we may not hide from our children, showing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord ; that especially the seed of Abraham his servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen (Psalm cv. 5, 6), may remember his marvellous works in the beginning and progress of the planting of New Eng- land, his wonders and the judgements of his mouth ; how that God brought a vine into this wilderness ; that he cast out the heathen and planted it ; that he made room for it, and caused it to take deep root; and it filled the land (Psalm lxxx. 8, 9). And not onely so, but also that he hath guided his people by his strength to his holy habitation, and planted them in the mountain of his in- heritance in respect of precious gospel enjoyments : and that a£ especially God may have the glory of all unto whom it is most due; so also some rays of glory may reach the names of those blessed saints, that were the main instruments and the beginning of this happy enterprise."
♦ " New England's Memorial," p. 13 Boston, 1826. S*e also " Hutchinson's History," vol. ii., p. 440.
33
It is impossible to read this opening paragraph without an in- voluntary feeling of religious awe; it breathes the very savour of gospel antiquity. The sincerity of the author heightens his power of language. The band, which to his eyes was a mere party of adventurers, gone forth to seek their fortune beyond seas, appears to the reader as the germe of a great nation wafted by Providence to a predestined shore.
The author thus continues his narrative of the departure of the first pilgrims : —
" So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years ; but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. xi. 16), and therein quieted their spirits. When they came to Delfs-Haven they found the ship and all things ready ; and such of their friends as could not come with them, followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love. The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound among them ; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other's heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away that were thus loath to depart, their reverend pastor falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with wa- tery cheeks commended them with most fervent prayers unto the Lord and his blessing ; and then, with mutual embraces and many tears, they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them."
The emigrants were about 150 in number, including the women and the children. Their object was to plant a colony on the shores of the Hudson ; but after having been driven about for some time in the Atlantic ocean, they were forced to land on that arid coast
5
34
of New England which is now the site of the town of Plymouth. The rock is still shown on which the pilgrims disembarked *
" But before we pass on," continues our historian, " let the reader with me make a pause, and seriously consider this poor people's present condition, the more to be raised up to admiration of God's goodness toward them in their preservation : for being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectation, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns to repair unto to seek for succour ; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, sub- ject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts, and wilde men 1 and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not : for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object ; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weather-beaten face, and the whole country full of woods and thickets represented a wild and savage hue; if they looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world."
It must not be imagined that the piety of the puritans was of a merely speculative kind, or that it took no cognizance of the course of worldly affairs. Puritanism, as I have already remarked, was scarcely less a political than a religious doctrine. No sooner had the emigrants landed on the barren coast, described by Nathaniel Morton, than their first care was to constitute a society, by passing the following act :f —
"In the name of God, Amen! We, whose names are underwrit- ten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James, &c, &c.y having undertaken for the glory of God and advance-
* This rock is become an object of veneration in the United States. I have seen bits of it carefully preserved in several towns of the Union. Does not this sufficiently show that all human power and greatness is in the soul of man? Here is a stone which the feet of a few outcasts pressed for an instant, and this stone becomes famous ; it is treasured by a great nation, its very dust is shared as a relic ■ and what is become of the gateways of a thousand palaces ?
t " New England Memorial, 'r p. 37
35
ment of the Christian faith, and the honour of our king and coun- try, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Vir- ginia : do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid : and by virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony: unto which we promise all due submission and obedi- ence," &c*
This happened in 1620, and from that time forward the emigra- tion went on. The religious and political passions which ravished the British empire during the whole reign of Charles I., drove fresh crowds of sectarians every year to the shores of America. In Eng- land the stronghold of puritanism was in the middle classes, and it was from the middle classes that the majority of the emigrants came. The population of New England increased rapidly ; and while the hierarchy of rank despotically classed the inhabitants of the mother-country, the colony continued to present the novel spectacle of a community homogeneous in all its parts. A democ- racy, more perfect than any which antiquity had dreamed of, started in full size and panoply from the midst of an ancient feudal society.
The English government was not dissatisfied with an emigration which removed the elements of fresh discord and of future revolu- tions. On the contrary, everything was done to encourage it, and little attention was paid to the destiny of those who sought a shel- ter from the rigour of their country's laws on the soil of America. It seemed as if New England was a region given up to the dreams of fancy, and the unrestrained experiments of innovators.
The English colonies (and this is one of the main causes of their prosperity) have always enjoyed more internal freedom and more political independence than the colonies of other nations ; but this
* The emigrants who founded the state of Rhode Island in 1638, those who landed at New Haven in 1637, the first settlers in Connecticut in 1639, and the founders of Providence in 1640, began in like manner by drawing up a social contract which was submitted to the approval of all the interested parties. See " Pitkin's History," pp. 42, 47.
36
principle of liberty was nowhere more extensively applied than in the states of New England.
It was generally allowed at that period that the territories of the New World belonged to that European nation which had been the first to discover them. Nearly the whole coast of North America thus became a British possession toward the end of the sixteenth century. The means used by the English government to people these new domains were of several kinds : the king sometimes appointed a governor of his own choice, who ruled a portion of the New World in the name and under the immediate orders of the crown ;* this is the colonial system adopted by the other countries of Europe. Sometimes grants of certain tracts were made by the crown to an individual or to a company,! in which case all the civil and political power fell into the hands of one or more persons, who, under the inspection and control of the crown, sold the lands and governed the inhabitants. Lastly, a third system consisted in allowing a certain number of emigrants to constitute a political society under the protection of the mother-country, and to govern themselves in whatever was not contrary to her laws. This mode of colonization, so remarkably favourable to liberty, was adopted only in New England.J
In 1628,§ a charter of this kind was granted by Charles I. to the emigrants who went to form the colony of Massachusetts But, in general, charters were not given to the colonies of New Eng- land till they had acquired a certain existence. Plymouth, Provi- dence, New Haven, the state of Connecticut, and that of Rhode
* This was the case in the state of New York.
f Maryland, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, were in this situation. See Pitkin's History, vol. i., pp. 11-31.
J See the work entitled, " Historical Collection of State Papers and other Authen- tic Documents intended as Materials for a History of the United States of America, ," by Ebenezer Hazard, Philadelphia, 1792, for a great number of documents relating to the commencement of the colonies, which are valuable from their contents and their authenticity ; among them are the various charters granted by the king of England, and the first acts of the local governments.
See also the analysis of all these charters given by Mr. Story, judge of the supreme court of the United States, in the introduction to his Commentary on the Constitution of the United States. It results from these documents that the principles of represen- tative government and the external forms of political liberty were introduced into all the colonies at their origin. These principles were more fully acted upon in the North than in the South, but they existed everywhere.
§ See Pitkin's History, p. 35. See the History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, by Hutchinson, vol. i., p. 9.
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Island* were founded without the co-operation, and almost with- out the knowledge of the mother-country. The new settlers did not derive their incorporation from the head of the empire, although they did not deny its supremacy ; they constituted a society of their own accord, and it was not till thirty or forty years afterward, under Charles II., that their existence was legally recognised by a royal charter.
This frequently renders it difficult to detect the link which con- nected the emigrants with the land of their forefathers, in studying the earliest historical and legislative records of New England. They perpetually exercised the rights of sovereignty ; they named their magistrates, concluded peace or declared war, made police regula- tions, and enacted laws, as if their allegiance was due only to God.f Nothing can be more curious, and at the same time more instruct- ive than the legislation of that period ; it is there that the solution of the great social problem which the United States now present to the world is to be found.
Among these documents we shall notice as especially character- istic, the code of laws promulgated by the little state of Connecti- cut in 1650.J
The legislators of Connecticut§ begin with the penal laws, and, strange to say, they borrow their provisions from the text of holy writ.
" Whoever shall worship any other God than the Lord," says the preamble of the code, " shall surely be put to death." This is followed by ten or twelve enactments of the same kind, copied verbatim from the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Blasphemy, sorcery, adultery ,|| and rape, were punished with death ;
* See Pitkin's History, pp. 42, 47.
f The inhabitants of Massachusetts had deviated from the forms which are pre- served in the criminal and civil procedure of England : in 1650 the decrees of justice were not yet headed by the royal style. See Hutchinson, vol. i., p. 452.
| Code of 1650, p. 28. Hartford, 1830.
§ See also in Hutchinson's History, vol. i., pp. 435, 456, the analysis of the penal code adopted in 1648, by the colony of Massachusetts: this code is drawn up on the same principles as that of Connecticut.
|| Adultery was also punished with death by the law of Massachusetts ; and Hutch- inson, vol. i., p. 441, says that several persons actually suffered for this crime. He quotes a curious anecdote on this subject, which occurred in the year 1663. A married woman had had criminal intercourse with a young man; her husband died, and she married the lover. Several years had elapsed, when the public began to suspect the previous intercourse of this couple ; they were thrown into prison, put upon trial, and very narrowly escaped capital punishment.
Voi . I.— D
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an outrage offered by a son to his parents, was to be expiated by the same penalty. The legislation of a rude and half-civilized people was thus transferred to an enlightened and moral commu- nity. The consequence was, that the punishment of death was never more frequently prescribed by the statute, and never more rarely enforced toward the guilty.
The chief care of the legislators, in this body of penal laws, was the maintenance of orderly conduct and good morals in the com- munity : they constantly invaded the domain of conscience, and there was scarcely a sin which they did not subject to magisterial censure. The reader is aware of the rigor with which these laws punished rape and adultery ; intercourse between unmarried per- sons was likewise severely repressed. The judge was empowered to inflict a pecuniary penalty, a whipping, or marriage,* on the misdemeanants ; and if the records of the old courts of New Haven may be believed, prosecutions of this kind were not infrequent. We find a sentence bearing date the first of May, 1660, inflicting a fine and a reprimand on a young woman who was accused of using improper language, and of allowing herself to be kissed.f The code of 1650 abounds in preventive measures. It punishes idleness and drunkenness with severity .J Innkeepers are forbidden to fur- nish more than a certain quantity of liquor to each consumer ; and simple lying, whenever it may be injurious,^ is checked by a fine or a flogo-ing. In other places, the legislator, entirely forgetting the oreat principles of religious toleration which he had himself upheld in Europe, renders attendance on divine service compulsory,|| and goes so far as to visit with severe punishment,1T and even with
* Code of 1650, p. 48. It seems sometimes to have happened that the judge super- added these punishments to each other, as is seen in a sentence pronounced in 1643 (New Haven Antiquities, p. 114), by which Margaret Bedford, convicted of loose conduct, was condemned to be whipped, and afterward to marry Nicolas Jemmings her accomplice.
t New Haven Antiquities, p. 104. See also Hutchinson's History for several causes equally extraordinary.
t Code of 1650, pp. 50, 57.
§ Ibid, p. 64. H Ibid, p. 44.
IT This was not peculiar to Connecticut. See for instance the law which, on the 13th of September, 1644, banished the ana-baptists from the state of Massachusetts. (Historical Collection of State Papers, vol. i., p. 53S.) See also the law against the quakers, passed on the 14th of October, 1656. " Whereas," says the preamble, " an accursed race of heretics called quakers has sprung up," &c. The clauses of the statute inflict a heavy fine on all captains of ships who should import quakers into the country. The quakers who may be found there shall be whipped and imprisoned
39
death, the Christians who chose to worship God according to a ritual differing from his own.* Sometimes indeed, the zeal of his enactments induces him to descend to the most frivolous particulars : thus a law is to be found in the same code which prohibits the use of tobacco.f It must not be forgotten that these fantastical and vexatious laws were not imposed by authority, but that they were freely voted by all the persons interested, and that the manners of the community were even more austere and more puritanical than the laws. In 1649 a solemn association was formed in Boston to check the worldly luxury of long hair. J
These errors are no doubt discreditable to the human reason ; they attest the inferiority of our nature, which is incapable of laying firm hold upon what is true and just, and is often reduced to the alternative of two excesses. In strict connexion writh this penal legislation, which bears such striking marks of a narrow sectarian spirit, and of those religious passions which had been warmed by persecution, and were still fermenting among the people, a body of political laws is to be found, which, though written two hundred years ago, is still ahead of the liberties of our age.
The general principles which are the groundwork of modern constitutions — principles which were imperfectly known in Europe, and not completely triumphant even in Great Britain, in the sev- enteenth century — were all recognised and determined by the laws of New England : the intervention of the people in public affairs, the free voting of taxes, the responsibility of authorities, personal liberty, and trial by jury, were all positively established without discussion.
From these fruitful principles, consequences have been derived and applications have been made such as no nation in Europe has yet ventured to attempt.
In Connecticut the electoral body consisted, from its origin, of the whole number of citizens ; and this is readily to be understood,^
with hard labour. Those members of the sect who should defend their opinions shall be first fined, then imprisoned, and finally driven out of the province. (Historical Collection of State Papers, vol. i., p. 630.)
* By the penal law of Massachusetts, any catholic priest who should set foot in the colony after having been once driven out of it, was liable to capital punishment.
t Code of 1650, p. 96.
i New England's Memorial, p. 316. See Appendix E.
§ Constitution of 1638, p. 17.
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when we recollect that this people enjoyed an almost perfect equality of fortune, and a still greater uniformity of capacity.* In Connecticut, at this period, all the executive functionaries were elected, including the governor of the state.f The citizens above the age of sixteen were obliged to bear arms; they formed a na- tional militia, which appointed its own officers, and was to hold itself at all times in readiness to march for the defence of the country.J
In the laws of Connecticut, as well as in all those of New Eng- land, we find the germe and gradual development of that township independence, which is the life and mainspring of American liberty at the present day. The political existence of the majority of the nations of Europe commenced in the superior ranks of society, and was gradually and always imperfectly communicated to the different members of the social body. In America, on the other hand, it may be said that the township was organized before the county, the county before the state, the state before the Union.
In New England, townships were completely and definitively constituted as early as 1650. The independence of the township was the nucleus around which the local interests, passions, rights, and duties, collected and clung. It gave scope to the activity of a real political life, most thoroughly democratic and republican. The colonies still recognised the supremacy of the mother-country ; monarchy was still the law of the state ; but the republic was al- ready established in every township.
The towns named their own magistrates of every kind, rated themselves, and levied their own taxes. § In the townships of New England the law of representation was not adopted, but the affairs of the community were discussed, as at Athens, in the market-place, by a general assembly of the citizens.
In studying the laws which were promulgated at this first era of the American republics, it is impossible not to be struck by the re- markable acquaintance with the science of government, and the ad- vanced theory of legislation, which they display. The ideas there
* In 1641 the general assembly of Rhode Island unanimously declared that the government of the state was a democracy, and that the power was vested in the body of free citizens, who alone had the right to make the laws and to watch their execu- tion. Code of 1650, p. 70.
t Pitkin's History, p. 47. % Constitution of 1638, p. 12.
§ Code of 1650, p. 80.
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formed of the duties of society toward its members, are evidently much loftier and more comprehensive than those of the European legislators at that time : obligations were there imposed which were elsewhere slighted. In the states of New England, from the first, the condition of the poor was provided for ;* strict measures were taken for the maintenance of roads, and surveyors were appointed to attend to them ;f registers were established in every parish, in which the results of public deliberations, and the births, deaths, and marriages of the citizens were entered ;| clerks were directed to keep these registers ;§ officers were charged with the administration of vacant inheritances, and with the arbitration of litigated land- marks ; and many others were created whose chief functions were the maintenance of public order in the community.|| The law en- ters into a thousand useful provisions for a number of social wants which are at present very inadequately felt in France.
But it is by the attention it pays to public education that the original character of American civilization is at once placed in the clearest light. " It being," says the law, " one chief project of Satan to keep men from the knowledge of the Scripture by per- suading from the use of tongues, to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in church and common- wealth, the Lord assisting our endeavours, . . ."IT Here follow clauses establishing schools in every township, and obliging the in- habitants, under pain of heavy fines, to support them. Schools of a superior kind were founded in the same manner in the more populous districts. The municipal authorities were bound to en- force the sending of children to school by their parents ; they were empowered to inflict fines upon all who refused compliance ; and in cases of continued resistance, society assumed the place of the parent, took possession of the child, and deprived the father of those natural rights which he used to so bad a purpose. The reader will undoubtedly have remarked the preamble of these en- actments : in America, religion is the road to knowledge, and the observance of the divine laws leads man to civil freedom.
If, after having cast a rapid glance over the state of American society in 1650, we turn to the condition of Europe, and more es-
* Code of 1650, p. 78. t Code of 1750, p. 94.
§ Ibid, p. 86. £ See Hutchinson's History, vol. i., p. 455.
|| Ibid, p. 40. IT Code of 1650, p. 90.
D2 6
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pecially to that of the continent, at the same period, we cannot fail to be struck with astonishment. On the continent of Europe, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, absolute monarchy had everywhere triumphed over the ruins of the oligarchical and feudal liberties of the middle ages. Never were the notions of right more completely confounded than in the midst of the splendour and litera- ture of Europe ; never was there less political activity among the people ; never were the principles of true freedom less widely cir- culated; and at that very time, those principles, which were scorned or unknown by the nations of Europe, were proclaimed in the deserts of the New World, and were accepted as the future creed of a great people. The boldest theories of the human reason were put into practice by a community so humble, that not a states- man condescended to attend to it ; and a legislation without prece- dent was produced off-hand by the imagination of the citizens. In the bosom of this obscure democracy, which had as yet brought forth neither generals, nor philosophers, nor authors, a man might stand up in the face of a free people, and pronounce amid general acclamations the following fine definition of liberty :* —
" Nor would I have you to mistake in the point of your own liberty. There is a liberty of corrupt nature, which is affected both by men and beasts to do what they list ; and this liberty is incon- sistent with authority, impatient of all restraint; by this liberty, 1 sumus omnes deteriores ;' 't is the grand enemy of truth and peace, and all the ordinances of God are bent against it. But there is a civil, a moral, a federal liberty, which is the proper end and object of authority ; it is a liberty for that only which is just and good : for this liberty you are to stand with the hazard of your very lives, and whatsoever crosses it, is not authority, but a distemper thereof. This liberty is maintained in a way of subjection to authority ; and the authority set over you will, in all administrations for your good, be quietly submitted unto by all but such as have a disposition to shake off the yoke and lose their true liberty, by their murmuring at the honour and power of authority."
The remarks I have made will suffice to display the character of
* Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana, vol. ii., p. 13. This speech was made by Winthrop ; he was accused of having committed arbitrary actions during his magis- tracy, but after having made the speech of which the above is a fragment, he was acquitted by acclamation, and from that time forward he was always re-elected gov- ernor of the state. See Marshall, vol. i., p. 166.
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Anglo-American civilization in its true light. It is the result (and this should be constantly present to the mind) of two distinct ele- ments, which in other places have been in frequent hostility, but which in America have been admirably incorporated and combined with one another. I allude to the spirit of religion and the spirit of liberty.
The settlers of New England were at the same time ardent sec- tarians and daring innovators. Narrow as the limits of some of their religious opinions were, they were entirely free from political prejudices.
Hence arose two tendencies, distinct but not opposite, which are constantly discernible in the manners as well as in the laws of the country.
It might be imagined that men who sacrificed their friends, their family, and their native land, to a religious conviction, were ab- sorbed in the pursuit of the intellectual advantages which they purchased at so dear a rate. The energy, however, with which they strove for the acquirements of wealth, moral enjoyment, and the comforts as well as the liberties of the world, was scarcely in- ferior to that with which they devoted themselves to Heaven.
Political principles, and all human laws and institutions were moulded and altered at their pleasure ; the barriers of the society in which they were born were broken down before them ; the old principles which had governed the world for ages were no more ; a path without a turn, and a field without a horizon, were opened to the exploring and ardent curiosity of man : but at the limits of the political world he checks his researches, he discreetly lays aside the use of his most formidable faculties, he no longer consents to doubt or to innovate, but carefully abstaining from raising the cur- tain of the sanctuary, he yields with submissive respect to truths which he will not discuss.
Thus in the moral world, everything is classed, adapted, decided, and foreseen ; in the political world everything is agitated, uncer- tain, and disputed : in the one is a passive, though a voluntary obedience ; in the other an independence, scornful of experience and jealous of authority.
These two tendencies, apparently so discrepant, are far from conflicting; they advance together, and mutually support each other.
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Religion perceives that civil liberty affords a noble exercise to the faculties of man, and that the political world is a field prepared by the Creator for the efforts of the intelligence. Contented with the freedom and the power which it enjoys in its own sphere, and with the place which it occupies, the empire of religion is never more surely established than when it reigns in the hearts of men unsupported by aught beside its native strength.
Religion is no less the companion of liberty in all its battles and its triumphs ; the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims. The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law as well as the surest pledge of freedom.*
REASONS OF CERTAIN ANOMALIES WHICH THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS PRESENT.
Remains of aristocratic Institutions in the midst of a complete Democracy. — Why ? — Distinction carefully to be drawn between what is of Puritanical and what is of English Origin.
The reader is cautioned not to draw too general or too absolute an inference from what has been said. The social condition, the religion, and the manners of the first emigrants undoubtedly exer- cised an immense influence on the destiny of their new country. Nevertheless it was not in their power to found a state of things originating solely in themselves : no man can entirely shake off the influence of the past; and the settlers, unintentionally or involun- tarily, mingled habits and notions derived from their education and from the traditions of their country, with those habits and notions which were exclusively their own. To form a judgement on the Anglo-Americans of the present day, it is therefore necessary care- fully to distinguish what is of puritanical from what is of English origin.
Laws and customs are frequently to be met with in the United States which contrast strongly with all that surrounds them.
* See Appendix F.
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These laws seem to be drawn up in a spirit contrary to the prevail- ing tenor of the American legislation ; and these customs are no less opposed to the general tone of society. If the English colonies had been founded in an age of darkness, or if their origin was already lost in the lapse of years, the problem would be in- soluble.
I shall quote a single example to illustrate what I advance.
The civil and criminal procedure of the Americans has only two means of action — committal or bail. The first measure taken by the magistrate is to exact security from the defendant, or, in case of refusal, to incarcerate him : the ground of the accusa- tion, and the importance of the charges against him are then dis- cussed.
It is evident that a legislation of this kind is hostile to the poor man, and favourable only to the rich. The poor man has not always a security to produce, even in a civil cause : and if he is obliged to wait for justice in prison, he is speedily reduced to dis- tress. The wealthy individual, on the contrary, always escapes imprisonment in civil causes; nay, more, he may readily elude the punishment which awaits him for a delinquency, by break- ing his bail. So that all the penalties of the law are, for him, reducible to fines.* Nothing can be more aristocratic than this system of legislation. Yet in America it is the poor who make the law, and they usually reserve the greatest social advan- tages to themselves. The explanation of the phenomenon is to be found in England; the laws of which I speak are Eng- lish,f and the Americans have retained them, however repug- nant they may be to the tenor of their legislation, and the mass of their ideas.
Next to its habits, the thing which a nation is least apt to change is its civil legislation. Civil laws are only familiarly known to legal men, whose direct interest it is to maintain them as they are, whether good or bad, simply because they themselves are conver- sant with them. The body of the nation is scarcely acquainted with them : it merely perceives their action in particular cases ; but it has some difficulty in seizing their tendency, and obeys them without reflection.
* Crimes no doubt exist for which bail is inadmissible, but they are few in number, t See Blackstone ; and Delolme, book i., chap x
I have quoted one instance where it would have been easy to adduce a great number of others.
The surface of American society is, if I may use the expression, covered with a layer of democracy, from beneath which the old aristocratic colours sometimes peep.
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CHAPTER in.
SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
A social condition is commonly the result of circumstances, some- times of laws, oftener still of these two causes united ; but wher- ever it exists, it may justly be considered as the source of almost all the laws, the usages, and the ideas, which regulate the conduct of nations : whatever it does not produce, it modifies.
It is, therefore, necessary, if we would become acquainted with the legislation and the manners of a nation, to begin by the study of its social condition.
THE STRIKING CHARACTERISTIC OF THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS IS ITS ESSENTIAL DEMOCRACY.
The first Emigrants of New England. — Their Equality. — Aristocratic Laws introduced in the South. — Period of the Revolution. — Change in the Law of Descent. — Effects produced by this Change. — Democracy carried to its utmost Limits in the new States of the West. — Equality of Education.
Many important observations suggest themselves upon the social condition of the Anglo-Americans ; but there is one which takes precedence of all the rest. The social condition of the Americans is eminently democratic ; this was its character at the foundation of the colonies, and is still more strongly marked at the present day.
I have stated in the preceding chapter that great equality existed among the emigrants who settled on the shores of New England,
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The germe of aristocracy was never planted in that part of the Union. The only influence which obtained there was that of intel- lect ; the people were used to reverence certain names as the em- blems of knowledge and virtue. Some of their fellow-citizens ac- quired a power over the rest which might truly have been called aristocratic, if it had been capable of invariable transmission from father to son.
This was the state of things to the east of the Hudson : to the southwest of that river, and in the direction of the Floridas, the case was different. In most of the states situated to the southwest of the Hudson some great English proprietors had settled, who had imported with them aristocratic principles and the English law of descent. I have explained the reasons why it was impossible ever to establish a powerful aristocracy in A merica ; these reasons ex- isted with less force to the southwest of the Hudson. In the south, one man, aided by slaves, could cultivate a great extent of coun- try : it was therefore common to see rich landed proprietors. But their influence was not altogether aristocratic as that term is under- stood in Europe, since they possessed no privileges ; and the culti- vation of their estates being carried on by slaves, they had no tenants depending on them, and consequently no patronage. Still, the great proprietors south of the Hudson constituted a superior class, having ideas and tastes of its own, and forming the centre of political action. This kind of aristocracy sympathized with the body of the people, whose passions and interests it easily embraced ; but it was too weak and too short-lived to excite either love or ha- tred for itself. This was the class which headed the insurrection in the south, and furnished the best leaders of the American revo- lution.
At the period of which we are now speaking, society was shaken to its centre : the people, in whose name the struggle had taken place, conceived the desire of exercising the authority which it had acquired ; its democratic tendencies were awakened ; and having thrown off the yoke of the mother-country, it aspired to in- dependence of every kind. The influence of individuals gradually ceased to be felt, and custom and law united together to produce the same result.
But the law of descent was the last step to equality. I am sur- prised that ancient and modern jurists have not attributed to this law
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a greater influence on human affairs.* It is true that these laws belong to civil affairs : but they ought nevertheless to be placed at the head of all political institutions ; for, while political laws are only the symbol of a nation's condition, they exercise an incredible influence upon its social state. They have, moreover, a sure and uniform manner of operating upon society, affecting, as it were, generations yet unborn.
Through their means man acquires a kind of preternatural power over the future lot of his fellow-creatures. When the legislator has once regulated the law of inheritance, he may rest from his labour. The machine once put in motion will go on for ages, and advance, as if self-guided, toward a given point. When framed in a particular manner, this law unites, draws together, and vests property and power in a few hands : its tendency is clearly aristo- cratic. On opposite principles its action is still more rapid ; it di- vides, distributes, and disperses both property and power. Alarmed by the rapidity of its progress, those who despair of arresting its motion endeavour to obstruct by difficulties and impediments ; they vainly seek to counteract its effect by contrary efforts : but it grad- ually reduces or destroys every obstacle, until by its incessant ac- tivity the bulwarks of the influence of wealth are ground down to the fine and shifting sand which is the basis of democracy. WThen the law of inheritance permits, still more when it decrees, the equal division of a father's property among all his children, its effects are of two kinds : it is important to distinguish them from each other, although they tend to the same end.
In virtue of the law of partible inheritance, the death of every proprietor brings about a kind of revolution in property : not only do his possessions change hands, but their very nature is altered ; since they are parcelled into shares, which become smaller and smaller at each division. This is the direct, and, as it were, the physical effect of the law. It follows, then, that in countries where equality of inheritance is established by law, property, and espe- cially landed property, must have a tendency to perpetual diminu-
* I understand by the law of descent all those laws whose principal object it is to regulate the distribution of property after the death of its owner. The law of entail is of this number : it certainly prevents the owner from disposing of his possessions before his death ; but this is solely with a view of preserving thern entire for the heir. The principal object, therefore, of the law of entail is to regulate the descent of prop- erty after the death of its owner : its other provisions are merely means to this end.
Vol. I.— E 7
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tion. The effects, however, of such legislation would only be per- ceptible after a lapse of time, if the law was abandoned to its own working ; for supposing a family to consist of two children (and in a country peopled as France is, the average number is not above three), these children, sharing among them the fortune of both pa- rents, would not be poorer than their father or mother.
But the law of equal division exercises its influence not merely upon the property itself, but it affects the minds of the heirs, and brings their passions into play. These indirect consequences tend powerfully to the destruction of large fortunes, and especially of large domains.
Among the nations whose law of descent is founded upon the right of primogeniture, landed estates often pass from generation to generation without undergoing division. The consequence of which is, that family feeling is to a certain degree incorporated with the estate. The family represents the estate, the estate the family ; whose name, together with its origin, its glory, its power, and its virtues, is thus perpetuated in an imperishable memorial of the past, and a sure pledge of the future.
When the equal partition of property is established by law, the intimate connexion is destroyed between family feeling and the preservation of the paternal estate ; the property ceases to repre- sent the family ; for, as it must inevitably be divided after one or two generations, it has evidently a constant tendency to diminish, and must in the end be completely dispersed. The sons of the great landed proprietor, if they are few in number, or if fortune befriend them, may indeed entertain the hope of being as wealthy as their father, but not that of possessing the same property as he did ; their riches must necessarily be composed of elements differ- ent from his.
Now, from the moment when you divest the land-owner of that interest in the preservation of his estate which he derives from association, from tradition, and from family pride, you may be cer- tain that sooner or later he will dispose of it ; for there is a strong pecuniary interest in favour of selling, as floating capital produces higher interest than real property, and is more readily available to gratify the passions of the moment.
Great landed estates which have once been divided, never come together again ; for the small proprietor draws from his land a bet-
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ter revenue in proportion, than the large owner does from his ; and of course he sells it at a higher rate * The calculations of gain, therefore, which decided the rich man to sell his domain, will still more powerfully influence him against buying small estates to unite them into a large one.
What is called family pride is often founded upon an illusion of self-love. A man wishes to perpetuate and immortalize himself, as it were, in his great-grandchildren. Where the esprit defamille ceases to act, individual selfishness comes into play. When the idea of family becomes vague, indeterminate, and uncertain, a man thinks of his present convenience ; he provides for the establish- ment of the succeeding generation, and no more.
Either a man gives up the idea of perpetuating his family, or at any rate he seeks to accomplish it by other means than that of a landed estate.
Thus not only does the law of partible inheritance render it difficult for families to preserve their ancestral domains entire, but it deprives them of the inclination to attempt it, and compels them in some measure to co-operate with the law in their own extinction.
The law of equal distribution proceeds by two methods : by act- ing upon things, it acts upon persons ; by influencing persons, it affects things. By these means the law succeeds in striking at the root of landed property, and dispersing rapidly both families and fortunes.f
Most certainly is it not for us, Frenchmen of the nineteenth cen- tury, who daily behold the political and social changes which the law of partition is bringing to pass, to question its influence. It
* I do not mean to say that the small proprietor cultivates his land better, but he cultivates it with more ardour and care ; so that he makes up by his labour for his want of skill.
f Land being the most stable kind of property, we find, from time to time, rich indi- viduals who are disposed to make great sacrifices in order to obtain it, and who wil- lingly forfeit a considerable part of their income to make sure of the rest. But these are accidental cases. The preference for landed property is no longer found habitual- ly in any class but among the poor. The small land-owner, who has less information, less imagination, and fewer passions, than the great one, is generally occupied with the desire of increasing his estate ; and it often happens that by inheritance, by marriage, or bv the chances of trade, he is gradually furnished with the means. Thus, to balance the tendency which leads men to divide their estates, there exists another, which incites them to add to them. This tendency, which is sufficient to prevent estates from being divided ad infinitum, is not strong enough to create great territo rial possessions, certainly not to keep them up in the same family.
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is perpetually conspicuous in our country, overthrowing the walls of our dwellings and removing the landmarks of our fields. But although it has produced great effects in France, much still remains for it to do. Our recollections, opinions, and habits, present pow- erful obstacles to its progress.
In the United States it has nearly completed its work of de- struction, and there we can best study its results. The English laws concerning the transmission of property were abolished in almost all the states at the time of the revolution. The law of entail was so modified as not to interrupt the free circulation of property* The first having passed away, estates began to be par- celled out ; and the change became more and more rapid with the progress of time. At this moment, after a lapse of little more than sixty years, the aspect of society is totally altered ; the families of the great landed proprietors are almost all commingled with the general mass. In the state of New York, which formerly con- tained many of these, there are but two who still keep their heads above the stream ; and they must shortly disappear. The sons of these opulent citizens have become merchants, lawyers, or physi- cians. Most of them have lapsed into obscurity. The last trace of hereditary ranks and distinctions is destroyed — the law of par- tition has reduced all to one level.
I do not mean that there is any deficiency of wealthy individuals in the United States ; I know of no country, indeed, where the love of money has taken stronger hold on the affections of men, and where a profounder contempt is expressed for the theory of the per- manent equality of property. But wealth circulates with incon- ceivable rapidity, and experience shows that it is rare to find two succeeding generations in the full enjoyment of it.
This picture, which may perhaps be thought overcharged, still gives a very imperfect idea of what is taking place in the new states of the west and southwest. At the end of the last century a few bold adventurers began to penetrate into the valleys of the Missis- sippi, and the mass of the population very soon began to move in that direction : communities unheard of till then were seen to emerge from their wilds : states, whose names were not in existence a few years before, claimed their place in the American Union ; and in
• See Appendix G.
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the western settlements we may behold democracy arrived at its ut- most extreme. In these states, founded off hand, and as it were by chance, the inhabitants are but of yesterday. Scarcely known to one another, the nearest neighbours are ignorant of each other's history. In this part of the American continent, therefore, the population has not experienced the influence of great names and great wealth, nor even that of the natural aristocracy of knowledge and virtue. None are there to wield that respectable power which men willingly grant to the remembrance of a life spent in doing good before their eyes. The new states of the west are already in- habited ; but society has no existence among them.
It is not only the fortunes of men which are equal in America; even their aquirements partake in some degree of the same uniformi- ty. I do not believe there is a country in the world where, in pro- portion to the population, there are so few uninstructed, and at the same time so few learned individuals. Primary instruction is within the reach of everybody ; superior instruction is scarcely to be obtained by any. This is not surprising ; it is in fact the necessary consequence of what we have advanced above. Almost all the Americans are in easy circumstances, and can therefore obtain the first elements of human knowledge. .
In America there are comparatively few who are rich enough to live without a profession. Every profession requires an apprentice- ship, which limits the time of instruction to the early years of life. At fifteen they enter upon their calling, and thus their education ends at the age when ours begins. Whatever is clone afterward, is with a view to some special and lucrative object ; a science is taken up as a matter of business, and the only branch of it which is at- tended to is such as admits of an immediate practical application.
[This paragraph does not fairly render the meaning of the author. The original French is as follows : —
" En Amerique il y a peu de riches ; presque tous les Americains ont done hesoin d'exercer une profession. Or, toute profession exige an appren- tissage. Les Americains ne peuvent done donner a la culture generate de l'intelligence que les premieres annees de la vie : a quinze ans, ils entrent dans une carriere : ainsi leur education fink le plus souvent a l'epoque ou la notre commence."
What is meant by the remark, that " at fifteen they enter upon a career, and thus their education is very often finished at the epoch whenourscom- mences," is not clearly perceived. Our professional men enter upon their
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course of preparation for their respective professions, wholly between eigh- teen and twenty-one years of age. Apprentices to trades are bound out, ordinarily, at fourteen, but what general education they receive is after that period. Previously, they have acquired the mere elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic. But it is supposed there is nothing peculiar to America, in the age at which apprenticeship commences. In England, they commence at the same age, and it is believed that the same thing occurs throughout Europe. It is feared that the author has not here ex- pressed himself with his usual clearness and precision. — American Editor.']
In America most of the rich men were formerly poor : most of those who now enjoy leisure were absorbed in business during their youth; the consequence of which is, that when they might have had a taste for study they had no time for it, and when the time is at their disposal they have no longer the inclination.
There is no class, then, in America in which the taste for intel- lectual pleasures is transmitted with hereditary fortune and leisure, and by which the labours of the intellect are held in honour. Ac- cordingly there is an equal want of the desire and the power of application to these objects.
A middling standard is fixed in America for human knowledge. All approach as near to it as they can; some as they rise, others as they descend. Of course, an immense multitude of persons are to be found who entertain the same number of ideas on religion, his- tory, science, political economy, legislation, and government. The gifts of intellect proceed directly from God, and man cannot pre- vent their unequal distribution. But in consequence of the state of things which we have here represented, it happens, that although the capacities of men are widely different, as the Creator has doubt- less intended they should be, they are submitted to the same me- thod of treatment.
In America the aristocratic element has always been feeble from its birth ; and if at the present day it is not actually destroyed, it is at any rate so completely disabled that we can scarcely assign to it any degree of influence in the course of affairs.
The democratic principle, on the contrary, has gained so much strength by time, by events, and by legislation, as to have become not only predominant but all-powerful. There is no family or corporate authority, and it is rare to find even the influence of in- dividual character enjoy any durability.
America, then, exhibits in her social state a most extraordinary
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phenomenon. Men are there seen on a greater equality in point of fortune and intellect, or in other words, more equal in their strength, than in any other country of the world, or, in any age of which history has preserved the remembrance.
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE ANGLO- AMERICANS.
The political consequences of such a social condition as this are easily deducible.
It is impossible to believe that equality will not eventually find its way into the political world as it does everywhere else. To conceive of men remaining for ever unequal upon one single point, yet equal on all others, is impossible ; they must come in the end to be equal upon all.
Now I know of only two methods of establishing equality in the political world : every citizen must be put in. possession of his rights, or rights must be granted to no one. For nations which have arrived at the same stage of social existence as the Anglo- Americans, it is therefore very difficult to discover a medium be- tween the sovereignty of all and the absolute power of one man : and it would be vain to deny that the social condition which I have been describing is equally liable to each of these consequences.
There is, in fact, a manly and lawful passion for equality, which excites men to wish all to be powerful and honoured. This pas- sion tends to elevate the humble to the rank of the great ; but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom. Not that those nations whose social condition is democratic naturally despise liberty ; on the contrary, they have an instinctive love of it. But liberty is not the chief and constant object of their desires ; equality is their idol : they make rapid and sudden efforts to obtain liberty, and if they miss their aim, resign themselves to their disappointment ; but nothing can satisfy them except equality, and rather than lose it they resolve to perish.
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On the other hand, in a state where the citizens are nearly on an equality, it becomes difficult for them to preserve their independence against the aggressions of power. No one among them being strong enough to engage singly in the struggle with advantage, nothing but a general combination can protect their liberty : and such a union is not always to be found.
From the same social position, then, nations may derive one or the other of two great political results ; these results are extremely different from each other, but they may both proceed from the same
cause.
The Anglo-Americans, are the first who, having been exposed to this formidable alternative, have been happy enough to escape the dominion of absolute power. They have been allowed by their circumstances, their origin, their intelligence, and especially by their moral feeling, to establish and maintain the sovereignty of the people.
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CHAPTER IV.
THE PRINCIPLE OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE IN AMERICA.
It predominates over the whole of Society in America. — Application made of this Principle by the Americans even before their Revolution. — Development given to it by that Revolution. — Gradual and irresistible Extension of the elective Qualification.
Whenever the political laws of the United States are to be dis- cussed, it is with the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people that we must begin.
The principle of the sovereignty of the people, which is to be found, more or less, at the bottom of almost all human institutions, generally remains concealed from view. It is obeyed without be- ing recognised, or if for a moment it be brought to light, it is has- tily cast back into the gloom of the sanctuary.
" The will of the nation" is one of those expressions which have been most profusely abused by the wily and the despotic of every age. To the eyes of some it has been represented by the venal suffrages of a few of the satellites of power ; to others, by the votes of a timid or an interested minority ; and some have even discov- ered it in the silence of a people, on the supposition that the fact of submission established the right of command.
In America, the principle of the sovereignty of the people is not either barren or concealed, as it is with some other nations ; it is recognised by the customs and proclaimed by the Jaws ; it spreads freely, and arrives without impediment at its most remote conse- quences. If there be a country in the world where the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people can be fairly appreciated, where it can be studied in its application to the affairs of society, and where its dangers and its advantages may be foreseen, that country is as- suredly America.
I have already observed that, from their origin, the sovereignty of the people was the fundamental principle of the greater number of the British colonies in America. It was far, however, from then
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* exercising as much influence on the government of society as it now does. Two obstacles, the one external, the other internal, checked its invasive progress.
It could not ostensibly disclose itself in the laws of the colonies which were still constrained to obey the mother-country ; it was therefore obliged to spread secretly, and to gain ground in the pro- vincial assemblies, and especially in the townships.
American society was not yet prepared to adopt it with all its consequences. The intelligence of New England, and the wealth of the country to the south of the Hudson (as I have shown in the preceding chapter), long exercised a sort of aristocratic influence, which tended to limit the exercise of social authority within the hands of a few. The public functionaries were not universally elected, and the citizens were not all of them electors. The elec- toral franchise was everywhere placed within certain limits, and made dependant on a certain qualification, which was exceedingly low in the north, and more considerable in the south.
The American revolution broke out, and the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people, which had been nurtured in the town- ships, took possession of the state : every class was enlisted in its cause ; battles were fought, and victories obtained for it ; until it became the law of laws.
A scarcely less rapid change was effected in the interior of society, where the law of descent completed the abolition of local influences.
At the very time when this consequence of the laws and of the revolution became apparent to every eye, victory was irrevocably pronounced in favour of the democratic cause. All power was, in fact, in its hands, and resistance was no longer possible. The higher orders submitted without a murmur and without a struggle to an evil which was thenceforth inevitable. The ordinary fate of fal- ling powers awaited them ; each of their several members followed his own interest ; and as it was impossible to wring the power from the hands of a people which they did not detest sufficiently to brave, their only aim was to secure its good-will at any price. The most democratic laws were consequently voted by the very- men whose interests they impaired : and thus, although the higher classes did not excite the passions of the people against their order, they accelerated the triumph of the new state of things ; so that, by a singular change, the democratic impulse was found to be
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most irresistible in the very states where the aristocracy had the firmest hold.
The state of Maryland, which had been founded by men of rank, was the first to proclaim universal suffrage,* and to introduce the most democratic forms into the conduct of its government.
When a nation modifies the elective qualification, it may easily be foreseen that sooner or later that qualification will be entirely abolished. There is no more invariable rule in the history of so- ciety : the farther electoral rights are extended, the more is felt the need of extending them ; for after each concession the strength of the democracy increases, and its demands increase with its strength. The ambition of those who are below the appointed rate is irritated in exact proportion to the great number of those who are above it. The exception at last becomes the rule, concession follows conces- sion, and no stop can be made short of universal suffrage.
At the present day the principle of the sovereignty of the people has acquired, in the United States, all the practical development which the imagination can conceive. It is unencumbered by those fictions which have been thrown over it in other countries, and it appears in every possible form according to the exigency of the occasion. Sometimes the laws are made by the people in a body, as at Athens ; and sometimes its representatives, chosen by univer- sal suffrage, transact business in its name, and almost under its immediate control.
In some countries a power exists which, though it is in a degree foreign to the social body, directs it, and forces it to pursue a certain track. In others the ruling force is divided, being partly within and partly without the ranks of the people. But nothing of the kind is to be seen in the United States ; there society governs itself for itself. All power centres in its bosom ; and scarcely an indi- vidual is to be met with who would venture to conceive, or, still more, to express, the idea of seeking it elsewhere. The nation participates in the making of its laws by the choice of its legisla- tors, and in the execution of them by the choice of the agents of the executive government ; it may almost be said to govern itself, so feeble and so restricted is the share left to the administration, so little do the authorities forget their popular origin and the power from which they emanate.f
* See the amendments made to the constitution of Maryland in 1801 and 1809. f See Appendix H.
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CHAPTER V.
NECESSITY OF EXAMINING THE CONDITION OF THE STATES BEFORE THAT OF THE UNION AT LARGE.
It is proposed to examine in the following chapter, what is the form of government established in America on the principle of the sovereignty of the people ; what are its resources, its hinderances, its advantages, and its dangers. The first difficulty which presents itself arises from the complex nature of the constitution of the United States, which consists of two distinct social structures, con- nected, and, as it were, encased, one within the other ; two gov- ernments, completely separate, and almost independent, the one fulfilling the ordinary duties, and responding to the daily and in- definite calls of a community, the other circumscribed within certain limits, and only exercising an exceptional authority over the general interests of the country. In short, there are twenty-four small sovereign nations, whose agglomeration constitutes the body of the Union. To examine the Union before we have studied the states, would be to adopt a method filled with obstacles. The Federal government of the United States was the last which was adopted ; and it is in fact nothing more than a modification or a summary of those republican principles which were current in the whole community before it existed, and independently of its exist- ence. Moreover, the federal government is, as I have just observed, the exception ; the government of the states is the rule. The author who should attempt to exhibit the picture as a whole, before he had explained its details, would necessarily fall into obscurity and repetition.
The great political principles which govern American society at this day, undoubtedly took their origin and their growth in the state. It is therefore necessary to become acquainted with the state in order to possess a clew to the remainder. The states which at
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present compose the American Union, all present the same features as far as regards the external aspect of their institutions. Their political or administrative existence is centred in three foci of action, which may not inaptly be compared to the different nervous centres which convey motion to the human body. The township is the lowest in order, then the county, and lastly the state ; and I pro- pose to devote the following chapter to the examination of these three divisions.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF TOWNSHIPS AND MUNICIPAL BODIES.
Why the Author begins the Examination of the political Institutions with the Town- ship.— Its existence in all Nations. — Difficulty of establishing and preserving Inde- pendence.— Its Importance. — Why the Author has selected the township System of New England as the main Object of his Inquiry.
It is not undesignedly that I begin this subject with the town- ship. The village or township is the only association which is so perfectly natural, that wherever a number of men are collected, it seems to constitute itself.
The town, or tithing, as the smallest division of a community, must necessarily exist in all nations, whatever their laws and cus- toms may be : if man makes monarchies, and establishes republics, the first association of mankind seems constituted by the hand of God. But although the existence of the township is coeval with
• [It is by this periphrasis that I attempt to render the French expressions " Com- mune" and " Systeme Communal." I am not aware that any English word precisely corresponds to the general term of the original. In France every association of hu- man dwellings forms a commune, and every commune is governed by a maire and a conseil municipal. In other words, the mancipium or municipal privilege, which be- longs in England to chartered corporations alone, is alike extended to every commune into which the cantons and departments of France were divided at the revolution. Thence the different application of the expression, which is general in one country and restricted in the other. In America, the counties of the northern states are divided into townships, those of the southern into parishes ; beside which, municipal bodies, bearing the name of corporations, exist in the cities. I shall apply these several expressions to render the term commune. The word " parish," now cGmmonly used in England, belongs exclusively to the ecclesiastical division ; it denotes the limits over which a parson's (persona ecclesia or perhaps parochianus) rights extend.- Translator's Note.]
Vol. I.— F
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that of man, its liberties are not the less rarely respected and easily destroyed. A nation is always able to establish great political assemblies, because it habitually contains a certain number of indi- viduals fitted by their talents, if not by their habits, for the direc- tion of affairs. The township is, on the contrary, composed of coarser materials, which are less easily fashioned by the legislator. The difficulties which attend the consolidation of its independence rather augment than diminish with the increasing enlightenment of the people. A highly-civilized community spurns the attempts of a local independence, is disgusted at its numerous blunders, and is apt to despair of success before the experiment is completed. Again, no immunities are so ill-protected from the encroachments of the supreme power as those of municipal bodies in general : they are unable to struggle, single-handed, against a strong or an enterpri- sing government, and they cannot defend their cause with success unless it be identified with the customs of the nation and supported by public opinion. Thus, until the independence of townships is amalgamated with the manners of a people, it is easily destroyed ; and it is only after a long existence in the laws that it can be thus amalgamated. Municipal freedom eludes the exertions of man ; it is rarely created ; but it is, as it were, secretly and spontaneously engendered in the midst of a semi-barbarous state of society. The constant action of the laws and the national habits, peculiar cir- cumstances, and above all, time, may consolidate it ; but there is certainly no nation on the continent of Europe which has experi- enced its advantages. Nevertheless, local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Municipal institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science ; they bring it with- in the people's reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but with- out the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty. The transient passions, and the interests of an hour, or the chance of circumstances, may have created the external forms of independence ; but the despotic tendency which has been repel- led will, sooner or later, inevitably reappear on the surface.
In order to explain to the reader the general principles on which the political organizations of the counties and townships of the United States rest, I have thought it expedient to choose one of the states of New England as an example, to examine the mech-
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anism of its constitution, and then to cast a general glance over the country.
The township and the county are not organized in the same man- ner in every part of the Union ; it is, however, easy to perceive that the same principles have guided the formation of both of them throughout the Union. I am inclined to believe that these principles have been carried farther in New England than else- where, and consequently that they offer greater facilities to the observations of a stranger.
The institutions of New England form a complete and regular whole ; they have received the sanction of time, they have the support of the laws, and the still stronger support of the manners of the community, over which they exercise the most prodigious influence ; they consequently deserve our attention on every account.
LIMITS OF THE TOWNSHIP.
The township of New England is a division which stands between the commune and the canton of France, and which corresponds in general to the English tithing, or town. Its average population is from two to three thousand ;* so that, on the one hand, the inter- ests of the inhabitants are not likely to conflict, and, on the other, men capable of conducting its affairs are always to be found among its citizens.
AUTHORITIES OF THE TOWNSHIP IN NEW ENGLAND.
The People the Source of all Power here as Elsewhere. — Manages its own Affairs. — Nd Corporation. — The greater part of the Authority vested in the Hands of the Selectmen. — How the Selectmen act. — Town-Meeting. — Enumeration of the public Officers of the Township. — Obligatory and remunerated Functions.
In the township, as well as everywhere else, the people is the only source of power ; but in no stage of government does the body of
* In 1839, there were 305 townships in the state of Masschusetts, and 610,014 inhab- itants ; which gives an average of about 2,000 inhabitants to each township.
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citizens exercise a more immediate influence. In America, the peo- ple is a master whose exigences demand obedience to the utmost limits of possibility.
In New England the majority acts by representatives in the con- duct of the public business of the state ; but if such an arrangement be necessary in general affairs, in the township, where the legisla- tive and administrative action of the government is in more imme- diate contact with the subject, the system of representation is not adopted. There is no corporation ; but the body of electors, after having designated its magistrates, directs them in everything that exceeds the simple and ordinary executive business of the state.*
This state of things is so contrary to our ideas, and so different from our customs, that it is necessary for me to adduce some exam- ples to explain it thoroughly.
The public duties in the township are extremely numerous and minutely divided, as we shall see farther on; but the large propor- tion of administrative power is vested in the hands of a small num- ber of individuals called " the selectmen."!
The general laws of the state impose a certain number of obli- gations on the selectmen, which they may fulfil without the au- thorization of the body they govern, but which they can only neg- lect on their own responsibility. The law of the state obliges them, for instance, to draw up the list of electors in their townships ; and if they omit this part of their functions, they are guilty of a misdemeanor. In all the affairs, however, which are determined by the town-meeting, the selectmen are the organs of the popular man- date, as in France the maire executes the decree of the municipal council. They usually act upon their own responsibility, and merely put in practice principles which have been previously recog- nised by the majority. But if any change is to be introduced in
* The same rules are not applicable to the great towns, which generally have a mayor, and a corporation divided into two bodies ; this, however, is an exception which requires the sanction of a law. See the act of 22d February, 1822, for appointing the authorities of the city of Boston. It frequently happens that small towns as well as cities are subject to a peculiar administration. In 1832, 104 townships in the state of New York were governed in this manner. — Williams's Register.
t Three selectmen are appointed in the small townships, and nine in the large ones, See " The Town Officer," p. 186. See also the principal laws of the state of Massa- chusetts relative to the selectmen : —
Act of the 20th February, 17S6, vol. i., p. 219 ; 24th February, 1796, vol. i., p. 48S, 7th March, 1801, vol. ii., p. 45 ; 16th June, 1795, vol. i., p. 475 ; 12th March, 1S08, vol, ii., p. 1S6 ; 28th February, 1787, vol. i., p. 302 ; 22d June, 1797, vol. i., p. 539.
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the existing state of things, or if they wish to undertake any new enterprise, they are obliged to refer to the source of their power. If, for instance, a school is to be established, the selectmen convoke the whole body of electors on a certain day at an appointed place ; they explain the urgency of the case ; they give their opinion on the means of satisfying it, on the probable expense, and the site which seems to be most favourable. The meeting is consulted on these several points ; it adopts the principle, marks out the site, votes the rate., and confides the execution of its resolution to the selectmen.
The selectmen have alone the right of calling a town-meeting ; but they may be requested to do so : if the citizens are desirous of submitting a new project to the assent of the township, they may demand a general convocation of the inhabitants ; the selectmen are obliged to comply, but they have only the right of presiding at the meeting.*
The selectmen are elected every year in the month of April or of May. The town-meeting chooses at the same time a number of municipal magistrates, who are intrusted with important admin- istrative functions. The assessors rate the township ; the collectors receive the rate. A constable is appointed to keep the peace, to watch the streets, and to forward the execution of the laws ; the town-clerk records all the town votes, orders, grants, births, deaths, and marriages ; the treasurer keeps the funds ; the overseer of the poor performs the difficult task of superintending the action of the poor laws ; committee-men are appointed to attend to the schools and to public instruction ; and the road-surveyers, who take care of the greater and lesser thoroughfares of the township, complete the list of the principal functionaries. They are, however, still farther subdivided ; and among the municipal officers are to be found parish commissioners, who audit the expenses of public wor- ship ; different classes of inspectors, some of whom are to direct the citizens in case of fire ; tithing-men, listers, haywards, chimney- viewers, fence-viewers to maintain the bounds of property, timber- measurers, and sealers of weights and measures.f
There are nineteen principal offices in a township. Every in-
* See laws of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 150. Act of the 25th March, 1786.
f All these magistrates actually exist ; their different functions are all detailed in a book called, "The Town Officer," by Isaac Goodwin, Worcester, 1827; and in the Collection of the General Laws of Massachusetts, 3 vols., Boston, 1S23.
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habitant is constrained, on pain of being fined, to undertake these different functions ; which, however, are almost all paid, in order that the poorer citizens may be able to give up their time without loss. In general the American system is not to grant a fixed salary to its functionaries. Every service has its price, and they are re- munerated in proportion to what they have done.
EXISTENCE OF THE TOWNSHIP.
Every one the best Judge of his own Interest. — Corollary of the Principle of the Sovereignty of the People.— Application of these Doctrines in the Townships of America. — The Township of New England is Sovereign in that which concerns itself alone ; subject to the State in all other Matters.— Bond of Township and the State.— In France the Government lends its Agents to the Commune.— In America the Reverse occurs.
I have already observed, that the principle of the sovereignty of the people governs the whole political system of the Anglo-Ameri- cans. Every page of this book will afford new instances of the same doctrine. In the nations by which the sovereignty of the people is recognised, every individual possesses an equal share of power, and participates alike in the government of the state. Every individual is therefore supposed to be as well informed, as virtuous, and as strong, as any of his fellow-citizens. He obeys the government, not because he is inferior to the authorities which conduct it, or that he is less capable than his neighbour of govern- ing himself, but because he acknowledges the utility of an associa- tion with his fellow-men, and because he knows that no such as- sociation can exist without a regulating force. If he be a subject in all that concerns the mutual relations of citizens, he is free and responsible to God alone for all that concerns himself. Hence arises the maxim that every one is the best and the sole judge of his own private interest, and that society has no right to control a man's actions, unless they are prejudicial to the common weal, or unless the common weal demands his co-operation. This doctrine is universally admitted in the United States. I shall hereafter ex-
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amine the general influence which it exercises on the ordinary actions of life : I am now speaking of the nature of municipal bodies.
The township, taken as a whole, and in relation to the govern- ment of the country, may be looked upon as an individual to whom the theory I have just alluded to is applied. Municipal independ- ence is therefore a natural consequence of the principle of the sovereignty of the people in the United States : all the American republics recognise it more or less; but circumstances have pecu- liarly favoured its growth in New England.
In this part of the Union the impulsion of political activity was given in the townships ; and it may almost be said that each of them originally formed an independent nation. When the kino-s of England asserted their supremacy, they were contented to assume the central power of the state. The townships of New England remained as they were before ; and although they are now subject to the state, they were at first scarcely dependant upon it. It is important to remember that they have not been invested with privi- leges, but that they seem, on the contrary, to have surrendered a portion of their independence to the state. The townships are only subordinate to the state in those interests which I shall term social as they are common to all the citizens. They are independent in all that concerns themselves ; and among the inhabitants of New England I believe that not a man is to be found who would acknowl- edge that the state has any right to interfere in their local interests. The towns of New England buy and sell, prosecute or are indicted augment or diminish their rates, without the slightest opposition on the part of the administrative authority of the state.
They are bound, however, to comply with the demands of the community. If the state is in need of money, a town can neither give nor withhold the supplies. If the state projects a road, the township cannot refuse to let it cross its territory ; if a police regu- lation is made by the state, it must be enforced by the town. A uniform system of instruction is organized all over the country, and every town is bound to establish the schools which the law ordains. In speaking of the administration of the United States, I shall have occasion to point out the means by which the townships are com- pelled to obey in these different cases : I here merely show the ex- istence of the obligation. Strict as this obligation is, the govern-
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ment of the state imposes it in principle only, and in its perform- ance the township resumes all its independent rights. Thus, taxes are voted by the state, but they are assessed and collected by the township ; the existence of a school is obligatory, but the town- ship builds, pays, and superintends it. In France the state collect- or receives the local imposts ; in America the town collector re- ceives the taxes of the state. Thus the French government lends its agents to the commune ; in America, the township is the agent of the government. The fact alone shows the extent of the differ- ences which exist between the two nations.
PUBLIC SPIRIT OF THE TOWNSHIPS OF NEW ENGLAND.
How the Township of New England wins the Affections of its Inhabitants. — Difficulty of creating local public Spirit in Europe. — The Rights and Duties of the American Township favorable to it. — Characteristics of Home in the United States. — Mani- festations of public Spirit in New England. — Its happy Effects.
In America, not only do municipal bodies exist, but they are kept alive and supported by public spirit. The township of New England possesses two advantages which infallibly secure the at- tentive interest of mankind, namely, independence and authority. Its sphere is indeed small and limited, but within that sphere its action is unrestrained; and its independence would give to it a real importance, even if its extent and population did not en- sure it.
It is to be remembered that the affections of men are genera.^ turned only where there is strength. Patriotism is not durable in a conquered nation. The New Englander is attached to his township, not only because he was born in it, but because it constitutes a strong and free social body of which he is a member, and whose government claims and deserves the exercise of his sagacity. In Europe the absence of local public spirit is a frequent subject of regret to those who are in power ; every one agrees that there is no surer guarantee of order and tranquillity, and yet nothing is
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more difficult to create. If the municipal bodies were made pow- erful and independent, the authorities of the nation might be dis- united, and the peace of the country endangered. Yet, without power and independence, a town may contain good subjects, but it can have no active citizens. Another important fact is, that the township of New England is so constituted as to excite the warm- est of human affections, without arousing the ambitious passions of the heart of man. The officers of the county are not elected, and their authority is very limited. Even the state is only a second-rate community, whose tranquil and obscure administration offers no in- ducement sufficient to draw men away from the circle of their in- terests into the turmoil of public affairs. The federal government confers power and honour on the men who conduct it ; but these individuals can never be very numerous. The high station of the presidency can only be reached at an advanced period of life ; and the other federal functionaries are generally men who have been favoured by fortune, or distinguished in some other career. Such cannot be the permanent aim of the ambitious. But the township serves as a centre for the desire of public esteem, the want of ex- citing interests, and the taste for authority and popularity, in the midst of the ordinary relations of life : and the passions which commonly embroil society, change their character when they find a vent so near the domestic hearth and the family circle.
In the American states power has been disseminated with ad- mirable skill, for the purpose of interesting the greatest possible number of persons in the common weal. Independently of the electors who are from time to time called into action, the body politic is divided into innumerable functionaries and officers, who all, in their several spheres, represent the same powerful corpora- tion in whose name they act. The local administration thus affords an unfailing source of profit and interest to a vast number of in- dividuals.
The American system, which divides the local authority among so many citizens, does not scruple to multiply the functions of the town officers. For in the United States it is believed, and with truth, that patriotism is a kind of devotion which is strengthened by ritual observance. In this manner the activity of the township is continually perceptible ; it is daily manifested in the fulfilment of a duty, or the exercise of right ; and a constant though gentle
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motion is thus kept up in society which animates without disturb- ing it.
The American attaches himself to his home, as the mountaineer clings to his hills, because the characteristic features of his country are there more distinctly marked than elsewhere. The existence of the townships of New England is in general a happy one. Their government is suited to their tastes, and chosen by themselves. In the midst of the profound peace and general comfort which reign in America, the commotions of municipal discord are infrequent. The conduct of local business is easy. The political education of the people has long been complete ; say rather that it was complete when the people first set foot upon the soil. In New England no tradition exists of a distinction of ranks ; no portion of the commu- nity is tempted to oppress the remainder ; and the abuses which may injure isolated individuals are forgotten in the general content- ment which prevails. If the government is defective (and it would no doubt be easy to point out its deficiencies), the fact that it really emanates from those it governs, and that it acts, either ill or well, casts the protecting spell of a parental pride over its faults. No term of comparison disturbs the satisfaction of the citizen : England formerly governed the mass of the colonies, but the people was always sovereign in the township, where its rule is not only an ancient, but a primitive state.
The native of New England is attached to his township because it is independent and free : his co-operation in its affairs ensures his attachment to its interest ; the well-being it affords him secures his affection ; and its welfare is the aim of his ambition and of his future exertions ; he takes a part in every occurrence in the place ; he practices the art of government in the small sphere within his reach ; he accustoms himself to those forms which can alone ensure the steady progress of liberty ; he imbibes their spirit ; he acquires a taste for order, comprehends the union of the balance of powers, and collects clear practical notions on the nature of his duties and the extent of his rights.
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THE COUNTIES OF NEW ENGLAND.
The division of the counties in America has considerable analogy with that of the arrondissements of France. The limits of the counties are arbitrarily laid down, and the various districts which they contain have no necessary connexion, no common traditional or natural sympathy ; their object is simply to facilitate the admin- istration of public affairs.
The extent of the township was too small to contain a system of judicial institutions ; each county has, however, a court of justice,* a sheriff to execute its decrees, and a prison for criminals. There are certain wants which are felt alike by all the townships of a county ; it is therefore natural that they should be satisfied by a central authority. In the state of Massachusetts this authority is vested in the hands of several magistrates who are appointed by the governor of the state, with the advicef of his council.! The officers of the county have only a limited and occasional authority ? which is applicable to certain predetermined cases. The state and the townships possess all the power requisite to conduct public business. The budget of the county is only drawn up by its officers. and is voted by the legislature^ There is no assembly which directly or indirectly represents the county ; it has, therefore, prop- erly speaking, no political existence.
A twofold tendency may be discerned in the American constitu- tions, which impels the legislator to centralize the legislative, and to disperse the executive power. The township of New-England has in itself an indestructible element of independence ; but this distinct existence could only be fictitiously introduced into the county, where its utility had not been felt. All the townships united have but one representation, which is the state, the centre of the national authority : beyond the action of the township and that of the nation, nothing can be said to exist but the influence of individual exertion.
* See the act of 14th February, 1821. Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 551. f See the act of 20th February, 1819. Laws of Massachusetts, vol. ii., p. 494. j The council of the governor is an elective body. § See the act of 2d November, 1791. Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 61.
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ADMINISTRATION IN NEW ENGLAND.
Administration not perceived in America.— Why ?— The Europeans believe that Lib- erty is promoted by depriving the social Authority of some of its Rights ; the Americans, by dividing its Exercise.— Almost all the Administration confined to the Township, and divided among the town Officers.— No trace of an administrative Hierarchy to be perceived either in the Township, or above it. — The Reason of this. How it happens that the Administration of the State is uniform.— Who is empow- ered to enforce the Obedience of the Township and the County to the Law. — The introduction of judicial Power into the Administration. — Consequence of the Exten- sion of the elective Principle to all Functionaries.— The Justice of the Peace in New England.— By whom Appointed.— County Officer.— Ensures the Administration of the Townships. — Court of Sessions.— Its Action. — Right of Inspection and Indict- ment disseminated like the other administrative Functions. — Informers encouraged sy the division of Fines.
Nothing is more striking to a European traveller in the United States than the absence of what we term government, or the ad- ministration. Written laws exist in America, and one sees that they are daily executed ; but although everything is in motion, the hand which gives the impulse to the social machine can no- where be discovered. Nevertheless, as all people are obliged to have recourse to certain grammatical forms, which are the founda- tion of human language, in order to express their thoughts ; so all communities are obliged to secure their existence by submitting to a certain portion of authority, without which they fall a prey to anarchy. This authority may be distributed in several ways, but it must always exist somewhere.
There are two methods of diminishing the force of authority in a nation.
The first is to weaken the supreme power in its very principle, by forbidding or preventing society from acting in its own defence under certain circumstances. To weaken authority in this manner is what is generally termed in Europe to lay the foundations of freedom.
The second manner of diminishing the influence of authority does not consist in stripping society of any of its rights, nor in paralysing its efforts, but in distributing the exercise of its privi- leges among various hands, and in multiplying functionaries, to each of whom the degree of power necessary for him to perform
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his duty is intrusted. There may he nations whom this distribu- tion of social powers might lead to anarchy ; but in itself it is not anarchical. The action of authority is Indeed thus rendered less irresistible, and less perilous, but it is not totally suppressed.
The revolution of the United States was the result of a mature and deliberate taste for freedom, not of a vague or ill-defined cra- ving for independence. It contracted no alliance with the turbu- lent passions of anarchy; but its course was marked, on the con- trary, by an attachment to whatever was lawful and orderly.
It was never assumed in the United States that the citizen of a free country has a right to do whatever he pleases : on the contrary, social obligations were there imposed upon him more various than anywhere else; no idea was ever entertained of attacking the principles, or of contesting the rights of society ; but the exercise of its authority was divided, to the end that the office might be powerful and the officer insignificant, and that the community should be at once regulated and free. In no country in the world does the law hold so absolute a language as in America ; and in no country is the right of applying it vested in so many hands. The administrative power in the United States presents nothing either central or hierarchical in its constitution, which accounts for its passing unperceived. The power exists, but its representative is not to be discerned.
We have already seen that the independent townships of New England protect their own private interests ; and the municipal magistrates are the persons to whom the execution of the laws of the state is most frequently intrusted.* Beside the general laws, the state sometimes passes general police regulations ; but more commonly the townships and town officers, conjointly with the jus- tices of the peace, regulate the minor details of social life, accord- ing to the necessities of the different localities, and promulgate such enactments as concern the health of the community, and the
* See "The Town Officer," especially at the words Selectmen, Assessors, Col- lectors, Schools, Surveyors or Highways. I t:il<c one example in a thousand: thp state prohibits travelling on a Sunday ; the tything-men, who are town-officers, are especially charged to keep watch and to execute the law. See the laws of Mas- sachusetts, vol. i., p 410.
The selectmen draw up the lists of electors for the election of the governor, and transmit the result of the ballot to the secretary of the state. See act of 24th Feb. 1796 ; lb., vol. i., p. 488.
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peace as well as morality of the citizens.* Lastly, these munici- pal magistrates provide of their own accord and without any dele- gated powers, for those unforeseen emergencies which frequently occur in society. f
It results from what we have said, that in the state of Massa- chusetts the administrative authority is almost entirely restricted to the township,| but that it is distributed among a great number of individuals. In the French commune there is properly but one official functionary, namely, the maire ; and in New England we have seen that there are nineteen. These nineteen functionaries do not in general depend upon one another. The law carefully prescribes a circle of action to each of these magistrates ; and within that circle they have an entire right to perform their functions independently of any other authority. Above the town- ship scarcely any trace of a series of official dignities is to be found. It sometimes happens that the county officers alter a de- cision of the townships, or town magistrates,^ but in general the authorities of the county have no right to interfere with the author- ities of the township,|| except in such matters as concern the county.
The magistrates of the township, as well as those of the county, are bound to communicate their acts to the central government in a very small number of predetermined cases.H But the central
* Thus, for instance, the selectmen authorize the construction of drains, point out the proper sites for slaughter-houses and other trades which are a nuisance to the neighbourhood. See the act of 7th June, 1785 ; Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 193.
f The selectmen take measures for the security of the public in case of contagious disease, conjointly with the justices of the peace. See the act of 22d June, 1797 ; vol. L, p. 539.
| I say almost, for there are various circumstances in the annals of a township which are regulated by the justice of the peace in his individual capacity, or by the justices of the peace, assembled in the chief town of the county ; thus licenses are granted by the justices. See the act of 2Sth Feb., 17S7 ; vol. i., p. 297.
§ Thus licenses are only granted to such persons as can produce a certificate of good conduct from the selectmen. If the selectmen refuse to give the certificate, the party may appeal to the justices assembled in the court of sessions ; and they may grant the license. See the act of 12th March, 180S ; vol. ii., p. 186.
The townships have the right to make by-laws, and to enforce them by fines which are fixed by law ; but these by-laws must be approved by the court of sessions. See the act of 23d March, 1786 ; vol. i., p. 254.
|| In Massachusetts the county-magistrates are frequently called upon to investigate the acts of the town-magistrates ; but it will be shown farther on that this investiga- tion is a consequence, not of their administrative, but of their judicial power.
IT The town committees of schools are obliged to make an annual report to the secretary of the state on the condition of the school. See the act of 10th March, 1827; vol. iii., p. 183.
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government is not represented by an individual whose business it is to publish police regulations and ordinances enforcing the execu- tion of the laws ; to keep up a regular communication with the officers of the township and the county ; to inspect their conduct, to direct their actions, or to reprimand their faults. There is no point which serves as a centre to the radii of the administration.
What, then, is the uniform plan on which the government is conducted, and how is the compliance of the counties and their magistrates, or the townships and their officers, enforced ? In the states of New England the legislative authority embraces more subjects than it does in France; the legislator penetrates to the very core of the administration ; the law descends to the most minute de- tails ; the same enactment prescribes the principle and the method of its application, and thus imposes a multitude of strict and rigor- ously denned obligations on the secondary functionaries of the state. The consequence of this is, that if all the secondary functionaries of the administration conform to the law, society in all its branches proceeds with the greatest uniformity ; the difficulty remains of compelling the secondary functionaries of the administration to conform to the law. It may be affirmed that, in general, society has only two methods of enforcing the execution of the laws at its disposal ; a discretionary power may be intrusted to a superior functionary of directing all the others, and of cashiering them in case of disobedience ; or the courts of justice may be authorized to inflict judicial penalties on the offender : but these two methods are not always available.
The right of directing a civil officer pre-supposes that of cashier- ing him if he does not obey orders, and of rewarding him by pro- motion if he fulfils his duties with propriety. But an elected ma- gistrate can neither be cashiered nor promoted. All elective functions are inalienable until their term is expired. In fact, the elected magistrate has nothing either to expect or to fear from his con- stituents ; and when all public offices are filled by ballot, there can be no series of official dignities, because the double right of com- manding and of enforcing obedience can never be vested in the same individual, and because the power of issuing an order can never be joined to that of inflicting a punishment or bestowing a reward.
The communities therefore in which the secondary functionaries
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of the government are elected, are perforce obliged to make great use of judicial penalties as a means of administration. This is not evident at first sight ; for those in power are apt to look upon the institution of elective functionaries as one concession, and the sub- jection of the elective magistrate to the judges of the land as an- other. They are equally averse to both these innovations ; and as they are more pressingly solicited to grant the former than the latter, they accede to the election of the magistrate, and leave him independent of the judicial power. Nevertheless, the second of these measures is the only thing that can possibly counterbalance the first ; and it will be found that an elective authority which is not subject to judicial power will, sooner or later, either elude all control or be destroyed. The courts of justice are the only pos- sible medium between the central power and the administrative bodies : they alone can compel the elected functionary to obey, without violating the rights of the elector. The extension of judicial power in the political world ought therefore to be in the exact ratio of the extension of elective offices ; if these two insti- tutions do not go hand in hand, the state must fall into anarchy or into subjection.
It has always been remarked that habits of legal business do not render men apt to the exercise of administrative authority. The Americans have borrowed from the English, their fathers, the idea of an institution which is unknown upon the continent of Europe : I allude to that of justices of the peace.
The justice of the peace is a sort of mezzo termine between the magistrate and the man of the world, between the civil officer and the judge. A justice of the peace is a well-informed citizen, though he is not necessarily versed in the knowledge of the laws. His office simply obliges him to execute the police regulations of so- ciety ; a task in which good sense and integrity are of more avail than legal science. The justice introduces into the administration a certain taste for established forms and publicity, which renders him a most unserviceable instrument of despotism ; and, on the other hand, he is not blinded by those superstitions which render legal officers unfit members of a government. The Americans have adopted the system of English justices of the peace, but they have deprived it of that aristocratic character which is discernible in the
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mother-country. The governor of Massachusetts* appoints a cer- tain number of justices of the peace in every county, whose functions last seven years.f He farther designates three individuals from among the whole body of justices, who form in each county what is called the court of sessions. The justices take a personal share in public business ; they are sometimes intrusted with admin- istrative functions in conjunction with elected officers ;$ they some- times constitute a tribunal, before which the magistrates summarily prosecute a refractory citizen, or the citizens inform against the abuses of the magistrate. But it is in the court of sessions that they exercise their most important functions. This court meets twice a year in the county town ; in Massachusetts it is empowered to enforce the obedience of the greater number§ of public officers.|| It must be observed that in the state of Massachusetts the court of sessions is at the same time an administrative body, properly so called, and a political tribunal. It has been asserted that the county is a purely administrative division. The court of sessions presides over that small number of affairs which, as they concern several townships, or all the townships of the county in common, cannot be intrusted to any one of them in particular.1T In all that concerns county business, the duties of the court of sessions are therefore purely administrative ; and if in its investigations it occa-
* We shall hereafter learn what a governor is : I shall content myself with remark- ing in this place, that he represents the executive power of the whole state.
f See the constitution of Massachusetts, chap, ii., § 1 ; chap, iii., § 3.
$ Thus, for example, a stranger arrives in a township from a country where a con- tagious disease prevails, and he falls ill. Two justices of the peace can, with the assent of the selectmen, order the sheriff of the county to remove and take care of him. Act of 22d June, 1797 ; vol. i., p. 540.
In general the justices interfere in all the important acts of the administration, and give them a semi-judicial character.
§ I say the greater number because certain administrative misdemeanors are brought before the ordinary tribunals. If, for instance, a township refuses to make the neces- sary expenditure for its schools, or to name a school-committee, it is liable to a heavy fine. But this penalty is pronounced by the supreme judicial court or the court of common pleas. See the act of 10th March, 1827; laws of Massachusetts, vol. iii., p. 190. Or when a township neglects to provide the necessary war-stores. Act of 21st February, 1822 ; Id., vol. ii., p. 570.
|| In their individual capacity, the justices of the peace take a part in the business of the counties and townships. The more important acts of the municipal govern- ment are rarely decided upon without the co-operation of one of their body.
IT These affairs may be brought under the following heads : 1. The erection of pris- ons and courts of justice. 2. The county budget, which is afterward voted by the state. 3. The assessment of the taxes so voted. 4. Grants of certain patents. 5. The laying down and repairs of the county roads.
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sionally borrows the forms of judicial procedure, it is only with a view to its own information,* or as a guarantee to the community over which it presides. But when the administration of the township is brought before it, it almost always acts as a judicial body, and in some few cases as an administrative assembly.
The first difficulty is to procure the obedience of an authority so entirely independent of the general laws of the state as the town- ship is. We have stated that assessors are annually named by the town-meetings, to levy the taxes. If a township attempts to evade the payment of the taxes by neglecting to name its assessors, the court of sessions condemns it to a heavy penalty.! The fine is levied on each of the inhabitants ; and the sheriff of the county, who is an officer of justice, executes the mandate. Thus it is that in the United States the authority of the government is mysteriously concealed under the forms of a judicial sentence; and its influence is at the same time fortified by that irresistible power with which men have invested the formalities of law.
These proceedings are easy to follow, and to understand. The demands made upon a township are in general plain and accurately defined ; they consist in a simple fact without any complication, or in a principle without its application in detail.J But the difficulty increases when it is not the obedience of the township, but that of the town officers, which is to be enforced. All the reprehensible actions of which a public functionary may be guilty are reducible lo the following heads : —
He may execute the law without energy or zeal ;
He may neglect to execute the law ;
He may do what the law enjoins him not to do.
The last two violations of duty can alone come under the cogni- zance of a tribunal ; a positive and appreciable fact is the indispen-
* Thus, when a road is under consideration, almost all difficulties are disposed of by the aid of the jury.
f See the act of 20th February, 1786 ; laws of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 217.
% There is an indirect method of enforcing the obedience of a township. Suppose that the funds which the law demands for the maintenance of the roads have not been voted ; the town-surveyor is then authorized, ex officio, to levy the supplies. As he is personally responsible to private individuals for the state of the roads, and indictable before the court of sessions, he is eure to employ the extraordinary right which the law gives him against the township. Thus by threatening the officer, the court of sessions exacts compliance from the town. See the act of 5th March, 1787 ; laws of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 305.
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sable foundation of an action at law. Thus, if the selectmen omit to fulfil the legal formalities usual at town elections, they may be condemned to pay a fine ;* but when the public officer performs his duty without ability, and when he obeys the letter of the law with- out zeal or energy, he is at least beyond the reach of judicial in- terference. The court of sessions, even when it is invested with its administrative powers, is in this case unable to compel him to a more satisfactory obedience. The fear of removal is the only check to these quasi offences ; and as the court of sessions does not origi- nate the town authorities, it cannot remove functionaries whom it does not appoint. Moreover, a perpetual investigation would be necessary to convict the subordinate officer of negligence or luke- warmness ; and the court of sessions sits but twice a year, and then only judges such offences as are brought before its notice. The only security for that active and enlightened obedience, which a court of justice cannot impose upon public officers, lies in the pos- sibility of their arbitrary removal. In France this security is sought for in powers exercised by the heads of the administration ; in America it is sought for in the principle of election.
Thus, to recapitulate in a few words what I have been show- ing :—
If a public officer in New England commits a crime in the exer- cise of his functions, the ordinary courts of justice are always called upon to pass sentence upon him. •
If he commits a fault in his official capacity, a purely adminis- trative tribunal is empowered to punish him ; and, if the affair is important or urgent, the judge supplies the omission of the func- tionary.f
Lastly, if the same individual is guilty of one of those intangible offences, of which human justice has no cognizance, he annually appears before a tribunal from which there is no appeal, which can at once reduce him to insignificance, and deprive him of his charge. This system undoubtedly possesses great advantages, but its execution is attended with a practical difficulty which it is im- portant to point out.
* Laws of Massachusetts, vol. ii., p. 45.
t If, for instance, a township persists in refusing to name its assessors, the court of sessions