The Rise of the Republic of the United States (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1872. Excerpt: ... dictions of statesmen and the theories of speculative inquirers, that a great nation, when duly prepared for the task, is capable of self-government; or, in other words, that a purely republican form of government can be formed and maintained in a country of vast extent, peopled by millions of inhabitants."1 The republican government was a success, because in its operation it met the needs of the two fundamental conditions of American political life, diversity and union, as correlative forces--on the one hand, the development of the commonwealth or the State; and, on the other, of the union or the nation. Lord Brougham appreciated the difficulty of framing an organic law prescribing the degrees of power which independent authorities, acting on the same people, might exercise without antagonism; securing efficiency to the general government, while leaving unimpaired the powers of the States. After analyzing the Constitution, he pronounced the "means devised the very greatest refinement in social policy to which any state of circumstances has given rise or to which any age has given birth." 2 When this problem was solved, the Republic attained a firm foundation. It has been said that " no greater problem in statesmanship remains to be solved and no greater contribution to civilization to be made." 3 The advance in political science, however, did not stop with the achievement of the founders of the Republic; but there can be no question respecting the value of this division of power as a conservative force. It is the equilibrium of the system. It is the hope and guaranty of its permanency. It is the mission of the Republic to present the example of a polity, as an instrument to promote the common good, free from centralism on the one hand, and on the other f...