One nation is often said to be ahead of other nations in its attainments. The first or simplest state of society, known to our annals, is the savage state, where the members of it subsist in almost complete isolation and independence. Indeed, the bonds of union between them are so rude, that they can hardly be said to possess society at all. They are rather an aggregation, like the particles of a mineral, than a society, like the elements of a plant. Of course, it is in vain to look for any social organization among these solitary roamers of the wilderness.
Men unite in certain family compacts for mutual defence and assistance.
Then the barbaric nation arises, where the patriarch of one united family grows into the king or monarch of many united families. The savage horde , before merged into the patriarchal clan , is further consolidated into the barbaric nation . The rude and arbitrary regulations of the previous state are converted into settled laws and a constitutional polity. The adjustment of the power of the government, and the relations of different classes of the people to each other, become more compact, and at the same time more complex. Men are brought into more intimate connections, get more and more, mutually dependent, have broader interests in common, and act more frequently in concert.