Problems in American Democracy | Page 7

the seeds of national greatness planted in America?
9. Who were the first really tenacious settlers on the Atlantic seaboard?
10. Outline the growth of the English colonies.
11. Upon what does our chief claim to national greatness depend?
REQUIRED READINGS
1. Williamson, _Readings in American Democracy,_ chapter i.
Or all of the following:
2. Bogart, _Economic History of the United States,_ chapter ii.
3. Coman, _Industrial History of the United States,_ chapter i.

4. Huntington and Gushing, _Principles of Human Geography,_
chapters i and xii.
5. Smith, _Commerce and Industry,_ introduction.
QUESTIONS ON THE REQUIRED READINGS
1. Discuss the statement, "Civilization is a product of adversity."
(Smith, page 2.)
2. What is the effect of tropic abundance upon civilization? (Smith,
page 2.)
3. What is the relation of efficiency to climate? (Huntington and
Cushing, page 6.)
4. In what way is civilization related to density of population?
(Huntington and Cushing, page 10.)
5. What is an ideal climate, and where is such a climate found?
(Huntington and Cushing, page 254.)
6. How does national progress depend upon beasts of burden? (Smith,
page 8.)
7. Name some of the political motives of colonization in America.
(Bogart, pages 29-30.)
8. Name the chief religious motives of colonization. (Bogart, page 30.)
9. What were the chief economic motives of colonization? (Bogart,
pages 31-34.)
10. Why did the English finally prevail in the struggle for the Atlantic
seaboard? (Coman, pages 19-21.)
TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT
I
1. Check up your own experience carefully in order to determine during
what season of the year you work most effectively. What light does
your answer throw upon Topic 5?
2. To what extent is the climate of your section favorable to an
energetic life? To what extent, if to any, is it discouraging to initiative
and ambition?
3. Trace the influence of the geography of your section upon the
economic life of your community.
4. The nature of civilization.
II
5. Relation of civilization to climate. (Huntington, _Civilization and
Climate,_ pages 148-182.)

6. The relation of cheap food to the growth of population. (Carver,
_Sociology and Social Progress,_ pages 235-243.)
7. The effect of desert life upon health and spirits. (Carver, _Sociology
and Social Progress,_ pages 273-275.)
8. Effect of the climate of North America upon persons of European
descent. (Bullock, _Selected Readings in Economics,_ pages 1-22.)
9. The influence of the Appalachian barrier upon American colonial
history. (Semple, American History and Its Geographic Conditions
chapter iii.)
10. The Spanish in America. (Consult any standard history text.)
11. The French in America. (Consult any standard history text.)
12. The Dutch in America. (Consult any standard history text.)
13. The English in America. (Consult any standard history text.)
14. The qualities of an ideal people. (Carver, _Elementary Economics,_
chapter iv.)

CHAPTER II
THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
11. THE NATURE OF GOVERNMENT.--A government may be
defined as an agency through which the purposes of a state or nation
are formulated and carried out. This agency develops where men live in
groups. One of the chief objects of government is to adjust individual
interests, or, to say the same thing in slightly different words, to control
members of the group in their social relations.
Where groups are small and culture is at a low level, government may
consist in little more than the arbitrary rules of a self-appointed
chieftain. From this stage there are numerous gradations up to the great
complex governments of the leading nations of to-day. With the origin
and general development of government we are not here concerned,
and we may accordingly confine our attention to those types of modern
government which throw light upon the development of American
democracy.
12. THE ABSOULUTE MONARCHY.--An absolute monarchy may

be defined as a government in which supreme power or sovereignty is
lodged in one individual. This monarch holds his position for life,
generally with hereditary succession. Often the absolute monarchy
arose out of the ancient chieftainship, when, as the result of territorial
expansion and cultural development, the chief of a group of tribes
became the king of a settled and civilized people. The absolute
monarchy existed in most of the countries of Europe previous to the
end of the eighteenth century. In its most extreme form the absolute
monarchy rested upon the claim of the monarch that he ruled by "divine
right," _i.e.,_ that God had authorized him to rule. France in the era of
Louis XIV is one of the best known examples of a modern nation ruled
by a "divine right" monarch.
13. THE LIMITED MONARCHY.--When a monarch has been
restricted in his powers a limited or constitutional monarchy is said to
exist. Almost always the establishment of a limited monarchy has been
preceded by a series of struggles between king and people. In many
cases