Studies in Civics Part 9

Old England.--Not only our language but also very many of our political inst.i.tutions we have inherited from England. But the country now called by that name is not the real _old_ England. The fatherland of the English race is the isthmus in the northern part of Germany which we now call Schleswig. Here dwelt the old Angles or English. To the north of them in Jutland was the tribe called the Jutes, and to the south of them, in what we now call Holstein and Friesland, dwelt the Saxons. "How close was the union of these tribes was shown by their use of a common name, while the choice of this name points out the tribe which at the moment when we first meet them, in the fifth century, must have been the most powerful in the confederacy." [Footnote: Green's History of the English People.] Among themselves they bore in common the name of Englishmen.

Among the characteristics of those German ancestors of ours are the following: They were very independent; the free landholder was "the free-necked man." The ties of kins.h.i.+p were very strong. "Each kinsman was his kinsman's keeper, bound to protect him from wrong, to hinder him from wrong-doing, and to suffer with and pay for him if wrong were done."

[Footnote: Green's History of the English People.] They were very much attached to home. "Land with the German race seems everywhere to have been the accompaniment of full freedom.... The landless man ceased for all practical purposes to be free, though he was no man's slave." [Footnote: Green's History of the English People.] Among themselves they were quite social. Though tillers of the soil they lived, not isolated, but grouped together in small villages. This may have been partly for mutual protection. They were lovers of law and order.

The Towns.h.i.+p.[Footnote: See American Political Ideas, pp. 31-63.]--The derivation of the word "towns.h.i.+p" shows us to whom we are indebted for the inst.i.tution itself. The word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _tun-scipe_.

_Tun_ meant hedge, ditch or defense; and _scipe_, which we have also in landscape, meant _what may be seen_. Around the village before mentioned was the _tun_, and beyond were the fields and meadows and woodlands, the whole forming the tun scipe or towns.h.i.+p.

To administer justice and to take any other action for the common good, the freemen gathered in _folk-moot_ around the moot hill or the sacred tree.

Though the proceedings of these a.s.semblies differed in detail from those of our town meetings, both contain the great principle of local self government.

The County.[Footnote: See American Political Ideas, pp. 31-63.]--Although with us the state is divided into counties and the counties into towns, the order of formation was originally the other way. The towns are the oldest inst.i.tutions in our system. Later, from uniting forces in war came a union of action among adjoining towns during peace. Thus grew up what was called the Hundred.

When in the fifth century the English invaded Britain, many of the chieftains or military leaders rose to kings.h.i.+p over small areas. On the completion of the conquest these kings struggled among themselves for leaders.h.i.+p, until finally England became united into one kingdom, and the little kingdoms were reduced to s.h.i.+res ruled by earls. With the growth of the king's power, that of the underkings or earls grew less. Then other s.h.i.+res were formed, and this inst.i.tution became simply an administrative division. After the Norman conquest the French terms count and county came into use.

The earnest student will find both pleasure and profit in looking up the origin and history of the trial by jury, the criminal warrant, the writ of habeas corpus, bail, common law, the general rules of parliamentary practice, etc.

Town and County in America.--In New England the most important division of the state is the town; in the South it is the county.[Footnote: An excellent discussion of this may be found in "Samuel Adams, the Man of the Town Meeting," John's Hopkins University Studies in History, Volume II, Number 4.] In other states the relative importance of the two organizations depends upon the influence to which the state was most strongly subjected.

The reason for the difference is found in the character and circ.u.mstances of the early colonists.

In New England, the church was the center of the community. The severity of the climate and the character of the soil made it impracticable to cultivate large farms. The colonists had come mainly from the towns of England. These considerations and the presence of fierce and unfriendly Indians caused the settlers to group themselves into compact settlements.

Their self a.s.sertion prompted them, and their intelligence enabled them, to take active part in public affairs. Hence the importance of the town in New England.

In the South, the colonies were planted largely in the interests of the proprietaries. The leading spirits had been county gentlemen in England and they naturally favored the county system. The ma.s.s of the people were unaccustomed and indifferent to direct partic.i.p.ation in the government.

Again, the warm climate and fertile lands were favorable to large plantations and a dispersed population; so that the character of the people and the circ.u.mstances under which they lived were alike favorable to the establishment of the county system pure and simple. To quote the pithy statement of Professor Macy, "The southern county was a modified English s.h.i.+re, with the towns left out. Local government in New England was made up of English towns with the s.h.i.+re left out."

Subsequently counties were formed in New England for judicial purposes, but the towns retained the greater number of their functions; and in the south, the counties were afterwards subdivided into election and police districts, but the administrative power remained with the county.

The Middle States divided the local power between the town and the county.

Migration is chiefly along the parallels of lat.i.tude. And people from habit and instinct organize new governments largely on the plans to which they are accustomed. Hence we are not surprised to find that in the states formed south of the line of the Ohio, the county is the princ.i.p.al division; while in the northwestern states the town is the important factor. Though in the Northwest the county is more important than in New England, the influence of the towns in county affairs is generally maintained by the selection of members of the county board from the several towns.

Illinois is a good example of the truth of the generalizations at the beginning of the preceding paragraph. The state is very long and reaches far to the south. The southern part of the state was settled first, and almost pure county government prevailed. By and by the northern part began to settle, and it grew in population faster than the southern part. The town was introduced, and now prevails in all but a few counties.

Can you see the relation of these facts to the generalization? Can you tell where the people of the two sections of the state came from?

PART II.

THE STATE.

CHAPTER IX.

WHY WE HAVE STATES.

1. _Historical reason_. We have states now because we had such organizations at the time this government was established. The colonies, founded at different times, under different auspices, by people differing in religion, politics, and material interests, remained largely independent of each other during colonial times, and on separating from England became independent _states_.

2. _Geographical reason_. Different climatic and topographic conditions give rise to different industries, and therefore necessitate different regulations or laws.

3. _Theoretical reason_. The theory of our government is that of _decentralization of power_.[Footnote: There being a constant tendency to centralization, this thought should be emphasized. See Nordhoff's Politics for Young Americans. (71)] That is, we think it best to keep power as near as possible to the people. If a certain work can be accomplished fairly by individual enterprise, we prefer that it be done so rather than through any governmental agency. If work can be done by the town just as well as by the county, we a.s.sign it to the town. And as between the state and the general government, we a.s.sign no duty to the latter which can be performed as well by the former.

4. _Practical reasons_. There are many practical reasons. Among them may be mentioned the following:

We need the state as a basis for the apportionment of members of congress.

This is a federal republic, and representation in the national councils can be had only through statehood.

We need the state to establish a system of education, to control corporations, to put down riots when the local authorities cannot do so, to establish the smaller organizations, etc. These are some of the things referred to in paragraph three, which the state can do better than the general government.

There is in the state also a high court of justice to which cases may be appealed from the courts below.

HOW STATES ARE CREATED.

The "old thirteen" originated in revolution. They _declared_ themselves "free and independent states," and maintained the declaration by force of arms. Each became a state "in the Union" by ratifying the const.i.tution.

Under the const.i.tution states have been admitted into the Union on terms prescribed by congress. The plan in general is as follows:

1. When the number of people in a territory equals or nearly equals the number required to secure a representative in congress, the inhabitants thereof may pet.i.tion congress, through their delegate, for an act authorizing the formation of a state government.

2. If the pet.i.tion is granted, an "enabling act" is pa.s.sed. This usually defines the territory to be comprised in the new state, provides for the calling of a const.i.tutional convention, requires that the state government to be framed shall be republican in form, states the number of representatives in congress which the state shall have until the next census, and offers a number of propositions for acceptance or rejection by the convention. Among these are proposals giving land for the support of common schools and of a university, and for the erection of public buildings; and offering a portion of the net proceeds of the sale of public lands within the state for internal improvements. These offers are conditioned upon non-interference on the part of the state with the holding and selling by the United States of the lands within the state owned by the general government, and their exemption from taxation. The enabling act for Minnesota is given in the appendix, pp. 355-8. It is in a large measure typical. Students in most of the states can find the enabling act for their state in the legislative manual thereof.

Michigan, Kansas and Oregon formed their const.i.tutions without an enabling act.

3. The const.i.tutional convention provided for in the enabling act, having ascertained that it is the wish of the people to form a state, frames a const.i.tution and submits it to the people of the proposed state for adoption.

4. If it is adopted, [Footnote: Wisconsin rejected the const.i.tution of 1846, and New York that of 1867.] copies of the const.i.tution are sent to the president and to each house of congress.

5. If the const.i.tution framed is in accordance with our inst.i.tutions, it is accepted and the state is admitted. [Footnote: The acts of congress of 1866 and 1867, admitting Colorado, were both vetoed by president Andrew Johnson.]

Kentucky, West Virginia, Maine, California and Texas became states in the Union without having been territories. The first two were detached from Virginia, and the third from Ma.s.sachusetts, and admitted at once as states. California and Texas had been independent states before admission.

As typical of the mode of restoring the southern states to their old place in the Union, the act restoring Tennessee is given on page 358.

CHAPTER X.

STATE CONSt.i.tUTIONS.