Preface counties feels its power. Democracy has so revised its ideals that it seems to have passed through a peaceful revolution. The details of this revolution are recorded in the later chapters of the second volume. An examination of the evidence there presented shows the truth and the insight of Emerson's observation, that society is ever in a state of flux. Constitutions and laws, usually placed as permanent landmarks on the civil estate, appear and disappear like the species in the organic world. Even our constitutions of government prove the law of evolution. Many concepts of the Fathers have been revised; some have been abandoned. It is a wise generation that knows itself and its own. From the evidence presented in these volumes it must be admitted that the changes wrought in American civil life during these seventy-five years indicate that the American people became liberal and altruistic as they became a power among the nations of the world, and that our constitutional history is of a constituency that has grown humane as it has become conscious of its responsibilities. CONTENTS Two large processes to be worked out in the evolution of The forerunners of representative government in America Racial influences on the State. Democracy in America a resultant Government a problem of adjustments The blending of industry and politics Politics vs. Industry . The age of discontent in democracy Its principles, according to Webster Education the guardian of public safety The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries compared True character of the democracy of the eighteenth century The transition, in this country, from ancient egoism to Development of constitutional government in America Conspicuous omissions in the national constitution. 21 28 In the closing years of the seventeenth century America gave little promise of becoming a continent of common- Authorities for opinions respecting the evolution of govern- Forces contending for supremacy The survival of free institutions. Birth of a continental spirit in America The struggle between absolutism and individualism Montesquieu's influence in America 30-32 Liberality of Vermont respecting other than the white race. 55 The guarantee of rights. . Contents Reforms and new precedents. Effort to make constitutional provisions permanent . The States were making the first attempt in history to define The qualifications of members of the Assembly State and national sovereignty John Adams, the father of the public school The most artificial part of the system, the Senate Senatorial apportionment. The Senate a discovery in politics Qualifications of the governor |