The Constitution the Parent of Parties chiefly in the evolution of bills of rights. The difference between theory and practice in government is well illustrated by comparing the national with any of the earlier State constitutions. The national Constitution originally contained no bill of rights. It was intended to be administrative, not theoretical, in character. It contains no definition of nationality; no definition of what is meant by "We, the people of the United States "; no definition of the exact relation between the Union and the States; no definition of the precise limits of State or Congressional legislation. Indeed, it is an instrument conspicuously lacking in what many might seek in the supreme law of the land. The omission of definitions has proved the wisdom of its makers and the opportunity of posterity. It has given ample scope to the American people to exercise their political genius in adjusting themselves to new industrial and political conditions. The Constitution never laid down hard and fast lines of civil procedure. Yet, chiefly because such fundamental provisions were lacking, the conduct of national politics fell inevitably into the hands of political parties, and government became an affair of administration. Parties did not exist in colonial times, and they are yet in the infancy of their power. They afford full opportunity for the genius of individuals, and are the responsible means by which a conscious people adjust themselves to changing conditions. A constitutional history of democracy in America is, therefore, a history of political and civil adjustments, usually recorded in laws and constitutions. The industrial and social forces which have determined the development of our institutions have determined the character of the law of the land. The first group is continental, comprising the constitutions of the Revolutionary era, coinciding nearly with the last twenty-five years of the eighteenth century. During the first half of the nineteenth century appear another group of constitutions, which record the first efforts of the American people to administer their theories of government in the light of a wider experience and under the compulsion and opportunities of a new industrial life. During this half-century the contending political systems of the country were exhaustively formulated, and attempt was made to solve in the forum problems later solved on the battle-field. From 1850 to 1876 was the era of a counter-revolution, during which public opinion formulated the thought of the new nation. Later constitutions are a recognition, by the people of the United States, of the true character of social efficiency of a national type. The people applied their notions not only by amending the national Constitution, but also by changing the constitutions of many of the States. After 1876, and during the remaining years of the nineteenth century, industrial reforms were attempted through the agency of these supreme laws. Industrial enfranchisement compelled a reorganization of the state, which was carefully recorded in its supreme law. Democracy is equally interested in the state and in The Altruism of Democracy the citizen. Until recent years it seemed interested in the citizen only. It tolerated the state as an evil necessary for his welfare. The history of democracy is, therefore, chiefly of the citizen: his theories, his complaints, his political strivings, his victories, his disappointments. The important chapters in that history are on the franchise, on representation, on the powers of public servants. The state, until recent years, has been conceived as a creation rather than an organism; as a compact rather than as an entity. Its functions are largely a discovery of the nineteenth century. Some may say that the modern state is not so much a discovery as a new resolution of social forces. Whatever be the form in which we cast the thought, the fact remains-and, in this country, is evidentafter comparing the last State constitutions with the first. If the change be evolution, it is from citizen to society; from the concept of government, as established solely for the benefit of the individual, to the concept of the community, the state as a being responsible to every citizen and to society. The state has rights which the individual is now bound to respect. Like him, it is, or should be, altruistic. As the centuries pass, the American commonwealths will revise their constitutions. Thus far there has been, on the average, a new State constitution every year since 1776. Propositions for new ones have been more frequent; amendments, a common occurrence. The ease with which amendments, revisions, or even new constitutions are secured, suggests that |