Civil Government in the United States Considered with Some Reference to Its Origins. Fiske John
everybody; and if it were unavoidable, it would be better that great national governments need never be formed. But it is not unavoidable. There is one way of escaping it, and that is to give the little government of the town some real share in making up the great government of the state. That is not an easy thing to do, as is shown by the fact that most peoples have failed in the attempt. The people who speak the English language have been the most successful, and the device by which they have overcome the difficulty is REPRESENTATION. The town sends to the wider government a delegation of persons who can represent the town and its people. They can speak for the town, and have a voice in the framing of laws and imposition of taxes by the wider government.
[Sidenote: Shire-motes.] [Sidenote: Earl Simon's Parliament.] In English townships there has been from time immemorial a system of representation. Long before Alfred's time there were "shire-motes," or what were afterwards called county meetings, and to these each town sent its reeve and "four discreet men" as representatives. Thus to a certain extent the wishes of the townsfolk could be brought to bear upon county affairs. By and by this method was applied on a much wider scale. It was applied to the whole kingdom, so that the people of all its towns and parishes succeeded in securing a representation of their interests in an elective national council or House of Commons. This great work was accomplished in the thirteenth century by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and was completed by Edward I. Simon's parliament, the first in which the Commons were fully represented, was assembled in 1265; and the date of Edward's parliament, which has been called the Model Parliament, was 1295. These dates have as much interest for Americans as for Englishmen, because they mark the first definite establishment of that grand system of representative government which we are still carrying on at our various state capitals and at Washington. For its humble beginnings we have to look back to the "reeve and four" sent by the ancient townships to the county meetings.
[Sidenote: Township as unit of representation.] The English township or parish was thus at an early period the "unit of representation" in the government of the county. It was also a district for the assessment and collection of the national taxes; in each parish the assessment was made by a board of assessors chosen by popular vote. These essential points reappear in the early history of New England. The township was not only a self-governing body, but it was the "unit of representation" in the colonial legislature, or "General Court;" and the assessment of taxes, whether for town purposes or for state purposes, was made by assessors elected by the townsfolk. In its beginnings and fundamentals our political liberty did not originate upon American soil, but was brought hither by our forefathers the first settlers. They brought their political institutions with them as naturally as they brought their language and their social customs.
[Sidenote: The Russian village community; not represented in the national government.] Observe now that the township is to be regarded in two lights. It must be considered not only in itself, but as part of a greater whole. We began by describing it as a self-governing body, but in order to complete our sketch we were obliged to speak of it as a body which has a share in the government of the state and the nation. The latter aspect is as important as the former. If the people of a town had only the power of managing their local affairs, without the power of taking part in the management of national affairs, their political freedom would be far from complete. In Russia, for example, the larger part of the vast population is resident in village communities which have to a considerable extent the power of managing their local affairs. Such a village community is called a mir, and like the English township it is lineally descended from the stationary clan. The people of the Russian mir hold meetings in which they elect sundry local officers, distribute the burden of local taxation, make regulations concerning local husbandry and police, and transact other business which need not here concern us. But they have no share in the national government, and are obliged to obey laws which they have no voice in making, and pay taxes assessed upon them without their consent; and accordingly we say with truth that the Russian people do not possess political freedom. One reason for this has doubtless been that in times past the Russian territory was the great frontier battle-ground between civilized Europe and the wild hordes of western Asia, and the people who lived for ages on that turbulent frontier were subjected to altogether too much conquest. They have tasted too little of civil government and too much of military government—a pennyworth of wholesome bread to an intolerable deal of sack. The early English, in their snug little corner of the world, belted by salt sea, were able to develop their civil government with less destructive interference. They made a sound and healthful beginning when they made the township the "unit of representation" for the county. Then the township, besides managing its own affairs, began to take part in the management of wider affairs.
QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS.
1. Obtain the following documents:—
a. A town warrant.
b. A town report.
c. A tax bill, a permit, a certificate, or any town paper that
has or may have an official signature.
d. A report of the school committee.
If you live in a city, send to the clerk of a neighbouring town for a warrant, inclosing a stamp for the reply. City documents will answer most of the purposes of this exercise.
Make any of the foregoing documents the basis of a report.
2. Give an account of the following:—
a. The various kinds of taxes raised in your town, the amount of each
kind, the valuation, the rate, the proposed use of the money, etc.
b. The work of any department of the town government for a year, as, for
example, that of the overseers of the poor.
c. Any pressing need of your town, public sentiment towards it, the
probable cost of satisfying it, the obstacles in the way of meeting
it, etc.
3. A good way to arouse interest in the subject of town government is to organize the class as a town-meeting, and let it discuss live local questions in accordance with articles in a warrant. For helpful details attend a town-meeting, read the record of some meeting, consult some person familiar with town proceedings, or study the General Statutes.
To insure a discussion, it may be necessary at the outset for the teacher to assign to the several pupils single points to be expanded and presented in order.
There is an advantage in the teacher's serving as moderator. He may, as teacher, pause to give such directions and explanations as may be helpful to young citizens.
The pupils should be held up to the more obvious requirements of parliamentary law, and shown how to use its rules to accomplish various purposes.
4. Has the state a right to direct the education of its youth? If the state has such a right, are there any limits to the exercise of it? Does the right to direct the education of its youth carry with it the right to abolish private schools?
5. Is it wise to assist private educational institutions with public funds?
6. Ought teachers, if approved, to be appointed for one year only, or during good behaviour?
7. What classes of officers in a town should serve during good behaviour? What classes may be frequently changed without injury to the public?
8. Compare the school committee in your own state (if it is not Massachusetts) with that in Massachusetts.
9. Illustrate from personal knowledge the difference between real estate and personal property.
10. A loans B $1000. May A be taxed for the $1000? Why? May B be taxed for the $1000? Why? Is it right to tax both for $1000? Suppose B with the money buys goods of C. Is it right to tax the three for $1000 each?
11. A taxpayer worth $100,000 in personal property makes no return to the assessors. In their ignorance the assessors tax him for $50,000 only, and the tax is paid without question. Does the taxpayer act honourably?