Civil Government in the United States

Civil Government in the United
States

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Civil Government in the United
States
Considered with Some Reference to Its Origins, by John Fiske This
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Title: Civil Government in the United States Considered with Some
Reference to Its Origins
Author: John Fiske
Release Date: February 25, 2004 [EBook #11276]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES CONSIDERED
WITH SOME REFERENCE TO ITS ORIGINS

BY
JOHN FISKE
[Greek: Aissomai pai Zaevos Heleutheroiu, Imeran eurnsthene
amphipolei, Soteira Tucha tiv gar en ponto kubernontai thoai naes, en
cherso te laipsaeroi polemoi kagorai boulaphoroi.]
PINDAR, Olymp. xii.
Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and
great!... Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee. Our hearts, our hopes,
our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with
thee,--are all with thee!
LONGFELLOW.

1890
BY JOHN FISKE.
Dedication This little book is dedicated, with the author's best wishes
and sincere regard, to the many hundreds of young friends whom he
has found it so pleasant to meet in years past, and also to those whom
he looks forward to meeting in years to come, in studies and readings
upon the rich and fruitful history of our beloved country.
PREFACE.
Some time ago, my friends, Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
requested me to write a small book on Civil Government in the United
States, which might be useful as a text-book, and at the same time
serviceable and suggestive to the general reader interested in American
history. In preparing the book certain points have been kept especially
in view, and deserve some mention here.
It seemed desirable to adopt a historical method of exposition, not
simply describing our political institutions in their present shape, but
pointing out their origin, indicating some of the processes through
which they have acquired that present shape, and thus keeping before
the student's mind the fact that government is perpetually undergoing
modifications in adapting itself to new conditions. Inasmuch as such
gradual changes in government do not make themselves, but are made
by men--and made either for better or for worse--it is obvious that the

history of political institutions has serious lessons to teach us. The
student should as soon as possible come to understand that every
institution is the outgrowth of experiences. One probably gets but little
benefit from abstract definitions and axioms concerning the rights of
men and the nature of civil society, such as we often find at the
beginning of books on government. Metaphysical generalizations are
well enough in their place, but to start with such things--as the French
philosophers of the eighteenth century were fond of doing--is to get the
cart before the horse. It is better to have our story first, and thus find
out what government in its concrete reality has been, and is. Then we
may finish up with the metaphysics, or do as I have done--leave it for
somebody else.
I was advised to avoid the extremely systematic, intrusively
symmetrical, style of exposition, which is sometimes deemed
indispensable in a book of this sort. It was thought that students would
be more likely to become interested in the subject if it were treated in
the same informal manner into which one naturally falls in giving
lectures to young people. I have endeavoured to bear this in mind
without sacrificing that lucidity in the arrangement of topics which is
always the supreme consideration. For many years I have been in the
habit of lecturing on history to college students in different parts of the
United States, to young ladies in private schools, and occasionally to
the pupils in high and normal schools, and in writing this little book I
have imagined an audience of these earnest and intelligent young
friends gathered before me.
I was especially advised--by my friend, Mr. James MacAlister,
superintendent of schools in Philadelphia, for whose judgment I have
the highest respect--to make it a little book, less than three hundred
pages in length, if possible. Teachers and pupils do not have time
enough to deal properly with large treatises. Brevity, therefore, is
golden. A concise manual is the desideratum, touching lightly upon the
various points, bringing out their relationships distinctly, and referring
to more elaborate treatises, monographs, and documents, for the use of
those who wish to pursue the study at