INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN GOVERNMENT PART I THE NATURE AND PROBLEMS OF GOVERNMENT CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: THE STUDY OF GOVERNMENT The This volume is designed for use in introductory courses in political science in American colleges and universities. authors, therefore, feel safe in assuming that most persons who take it up will already have an elementary knowledge of many matters with which it deals. Such readers will have learned in some degree from their study of American history and civics, or from observation, how our national constitution was framed and adopted, upon what principles it is based, what we mean by the doctrine of separation of powers, how the president is elected, how the houses of Congress are composed and what are some of the things that they can do, what the courts are for, how a bill is passed in a state legislature, who collects the state taxes, what the duties of the sheriff are, what commission government is, how the public schools are supported, how a jury is made up, what the coroner has to do and why he rarely does it well. All of these interesting things one may know, however, in a general way without having gained a broad grasp upon the historical development, the successes and failures, and the practical problems of our government, such as present-day conditions demand of intelligent and responsible citizens. We come now, therefore, to a broader and a more detailed study, with more background, more comparison, more attempt at interpretation. There will be no lack of new facts to learn; the oldest, most experienced, and most observant statesmen in Washington find something new, and perhaps something puzzling, in our governmental system every year, and almost every day. But we shall make no effort to amass facts -at all events data of a statistical nature-for their own sake; rather, our emphasis will be upon principles, methods, problems, tasks, and occasionally theories. The pur pose of this book CHAP. Background for the study of American govern ment Reasons for studying govern ment This leads us to say that we shall begin at a point which, at first glance, appears far afield. Indeed, for a time we shall seem to be rather cavalierly ignoring our subject altogether. The reason is that the sort of study of American government which we have in view presupposes a body of knowledge which the student who uses this volume can hardly be expected to possess; and the building up of this knowledge must be our first concern. To be more specific, we must prepare our minds for an illuminating and profitable analysis of our American system of government by looking somewhat closely into the nature of government in general, and of the state as an institution shaped by human experience in widely separated lands and ages. How did men come to be grouped and organized in states? What are a state's necessary features or attributes? What is the difference between a state and a nation? How did government arise? What are the various kinds of states and of governments? What do we mean by the term "sovereignty," which looms large on almost every page of our national history? What are the objects of government? What is law, and what are its sources? When and how was the principle of representation introduced? What is the difference between a constitution and a statute? It does not have to be argued that if we can get some clear notions on these matters, and others of the kind, we shall be able to view our American plan of government with a perspective and a grasp that will add much to the profitableness of our study. Having laid this foundation, we shall be prepared to consider in some detail the origins of our American political ideas, usages, and organizations; to trace, in the large, the evolution of our governmental system from 1789 to the present day; to describe the national, state, and local governments as they now operate, not failing to take note of significant developments during the Great War and the ensuing period of reconstruction; and to analyze the machinery and activities of political parties-organizations which are hardly the less important because among us they work mainly outside, rather than, as in England, mainly inside, the governmental system. Whenever specially instructive, comparisons will be drawn between American and English, French, Swiss, and other foreign political forms and practices. Why study government at all? There are at least three good reasons. The first is that the building up and carrying on of governmental systems is one of the most universal and absorbing I of human activities. Aristotle said that man is a political animal; CHAP. and certainly no one can go far toward understanding human history and achievement without taking account of political organization and life. As an historical and social phenomenon, government would be decidedly interesting, even if it did not touch us personally at all. But the second reason for studying government is that all of us live under governmental organization of some kind, and that the conditions of our existence are largely determined by the form which this organization takes. Government envelops us as does the air we breathe. It is government that constructs our highways, builds our schoolhouses, lays our sidewalks, guards us against contagious diseases, protects us when we travel abroad, delivers our letters, hears and adjusts our complaints against our neighbors, safeguards our lives and property. When a man votes, pays his taxes, buys a box of cigars, marries, is divorced, goes into bankruptcy, ships a consignment of goods, inherits an estate, brings a law-suit, has a deed recorded, purchases a postage stamp, deposits money in a bank, or indeed receives or pays out money in any form, he is dealing-though he may not stop to think about it—with government, or acting under regulations that government has laid down. That the citizen should be fully informed upon the history, organization, functions, and workings of the government or governments which hold the power of life and death over him hardly requires argument. But there is a third and stronger reason for the study of government. In the United States, and happily in most parts of the world today, it is the people who govern. It is for the enfranchised citizen himself to say what laws shall be made and who shall make them, what taxes shall be levied, how the revenues shall be spent, how large an army shall be maintained, what regulations shall be imposed upon commerce and business, whether officers shall be subject to popular recall, what powers the state governor and the state legislature shall have, whether the foreignborn shall be allowed to vote before they are naturalized, what shall be the nation's policy toward Mexico. Government is, in most countries, what the people make it. If it is wasteful, corrupt, arbitrary, the masses can no longer lay the blame on a king, or on his ministers, or on a ruling aristocracy. They are themselves the rulers. They do not ordinarily, it is true, make laws, administer, and judge directly. But they frame, or assent to, the Responsi the people character government bility of for the of their CHAP. I Relation of constitutions under which governments are organized, and they choose the law-makers and many of the administrators and judges. The fundamental object of the study of government is, therefore, not mental training, nor yet the mere acquisition of interesting and valuable information, but the promotion of intelligent and responsible citizenship. Books and courses of study pertaining to government are ment" (or commonly listed under the general head of "political science," "govern political science) to other studies: 1. Sociology 2. Economics which may be conveniently defined as the organized body of knowledge pertaining to the state; and it will be well before going farther to take brief account of the relation which this subject of study bears to some others in the so-called "social science" group. The fundamental social science is sociology, which analyzes and describes in a systematic way the life of men in groups or aggregates. Thus conceived, sociology embraces the larger part of history, almost all of political science and political economy, the whole of law, and much of religion. Obviously, the subject is too vast to be mastered by any single man or limited group of men. Hence scholars have established certain boundaries which, although somewhat shifting, give sociology, for working purposes. a more restricted scope and preserve for the more specialized social sciences a recognized field and position. It thus comes about that the sociologist yields to the political scientist the observation and interpretation of such of the social relationships of men as are of a distinctly political character. The sociologist delves into the organization of primitive society, studies the clan and the tribe and the race, traces the development of customs and manners, views the rise of labor systems, watches the growth of religions, measures the advance of general culture, seeks out the laws of population; but he gives attention only incidentally to the forms and conduct of government. The political scientist, on the other hand, limits his studies to political thought and action, and therefore to those divisions of mankind which are in a relatively advanced stage of civilization. Another social study to which political science bears close relation is political economy, or economics. From the days of Aristotle to the eighteenth century political economy was, indeed, conceived of as a part of the science of the state. The subject, as understood nowadays, deals with the individual and social activities of man in the production, consumption, and distribution of goods and services. In so far as these activities are subject to I government regulation, the field of economics overlaps that of CHAP. political science. The amount of such regulation is steadily increasing; the two fields grow less separable, rather than more so. One has only to think of taxation, regulation of commerce, labor legislation, workingmen's insurance, banking, currency, and the control of immigration to be impressed with the extent to which the economist and political scientist must nowadays work together. Political science is also closely related to history. An Eng- 3. History lish historian of the last generation was fond of saying that "history is past politics and politics present history." Literally understood, the statement is not true; history is a great deal more than politics, and a considerable portion of politics (or political science)-especially on the speculative side-is not history. None the less, history acquaints us with the experience of men in all lands and ages; and in so far as that experience is political, the record of it becomes an indispensable basis of political science. In turn, political science, by bringing together the data of history, interpreting the past in a philosophic spirit, and determining the legal and governmental conditions that make for human progress, furnishes history one of its main reasons for being. "History without political science," says another English scholar, "has no fruit; political science without history has no root."1 REFERENCES J. W. Garner, Introduction to Political Science (New York, 1910), Chap. I. W. W. Willoughby and L. Rogers, Introduction to the Problem of Government R. G. Gettell, Introduction to Political Science (Boston, 1910), Chap. I. H. G. James, "The Meaning and Scope of Political Science," Southwestern L. S. Rowe, "Problems of Political Science," Annals Amer. Acad. Polit. and W. W. Willoughby, The Nature of the State (New York, 1896), Chap. I. 1J. Seeley, Introduction to Political Science, 4. |