American Political Ideas Viewed from the Standpoint of Universal History | Page 2

the better
understand the true significance of the history which English-speaking
men have so magnificently wrought out upon American soil.
In dealing concisely with a subject so vast, only brief hints and
suggestions can be expected; and I have not thought it worth while, for
the present at least, to change or amplify the manner of treatment. The
lectures are printed exactly as they were delivered at the Royal
Institution, more than four years ago. On one point of detail some
change will very likely by and by be called for. In the lecture on the
Town-meeting I have adopted the views of Sir Henry Maine as to the
common holding of the arable land in the ancient German mark, and as
to the primitive character of the periodical redistribution of land in the
Russian village community. It now seems highly probable that these
views will have to undergo serious modification in consequence of the
valuable evidence lately brought forward by my friend Mr. Denman
Ross, in his learned and masterly treatise on "The Early History of
Landholding among the Germans;" but as I am not yet quite clear as to
how far this modification will go, and as it can in nowise affect the
general drift of my argument, I have made no change in my incidental
remarks on this difficult and disputed question.
In describing some of the characteristic features of country life in New
England, I had especially in mind the beautiful mountain village in
which this preface is written, and in which for nearly a quarter of a

century I have felt myself more at home than in any other spot in the
world.
In writing these lectures, designed as they were for a special occasion,
no attempt was made to meet the ordinary requirements of popular
audiences; yet they have been received in many places with
unlooked-for favour. The lecture on "Manifest Destiny" was three
times repeated in London, and once in Edinburgh; seven times in
Boston; four times in New York; twice in Brooklyn, N.Y., Plainfield,
N.J., and Madison, Wis.; once in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia,
Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Milwaukee;
in Appleton and Waukesha, Wis.; Portland, Lewiston, and Brunswick,
Me.; Lowell, Concord, Newburyport, Peabody, Stoneham, Maiden,
Newton Highlands, and Martha's Vineyard, Mass.; Middletown and
Stamford, Conn.; Newburg and Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Orange, N.J.; and
at Cornell University and Haverford College. In several of these places
the course was given.
PETERSHAM, _September 13, 1884_.

CONTENTS
I.
_THE TOWN-MEETING._
Differences in outward aspect between a village in England and a
village in Massachusetts. Life in a typical New England mountain
village. Tenure of land, domestic service, absence of poverty and crime,
universality of labour and of culture, freedom of thought, complete
democracy. This state of things is to some extent passing away.
Remarkable characteristics of the Puritan settlers of New England, and
extent to which their characters and aims have influenced American
history. Town governments in New England. Different meanings of the
word "city" in England and America. Importance of local
self-government in the political life of the United States. Origin of the

town-meeting. Mr. Freeman on the cantonal assemblies of Switzerland.
The old Teutonic "mark," or dwelling-place of a clan. Political union
originally based, not on territorial contiguity, but on blood-relationship.
Divisions of the mark. Origin of the village Common. The
_mark-mote_. Village communities in Russia and Hindustan.
Difference between the despotism of Russia and that of France under
the Old Régime. Elements of sound political life fostered by the
Russian village. Traces of the mark in England. Feudalization of
Europe, and partial metamorphosis of the mark or township into the
manor. Parallel transformation of the township, in some of its features,
into the parish. The court leet and the vestry-meeting. The New
England town-meeting a revival of the ancient mark-mote.
Vicissitudes of local self-government in the various portions of the
Aryan world illustrated in the contrasted cases of France and England.
Significant contrast between the aristocracy of England and that of the
Continent. Difference between the Teutonic conquests of Gaul and of
Britain. Growth of centralization in France. Why the English have
always been more successful than the French in founding colonies.
Struggle between France and England for the possession of North
America, and prodigious significance of the victory of England.
II.
THE FEDERAL UNION.
Wonderful greatness of ancient Athens. Causes of the political failure
of Greek civilization. Early stages of political aggregation,--the
hundred, the [Greek: _phratria_], the _curia_; the shire, the deme, and
the pagus. Aggregation of clans into tribes. Differences in the mode of
aggregation in Greece and Rome on the one hand, and in Teutonic
countries on the other. The Ancient City. Origin of cities in Hindustan,
Germany, England, and the United States. Religious character of the
ancient city. Burghership