The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-20

l..
Mr.. Ford finds IL easy to demonstrate tina
many of our political methods which are re-
garded as distinctively American really origi
mated in England. but died out there and sur.
vlved in the New World. For example. the
American practice which requires representa-.
tives In Congress or in the State Legislature;
to be inhabitants Of the districts from which
they are returned was an ancient usage in Eng.
land. In early times the Kings writ, OK.
pressly confirmed by a statute. ordered that
none but resident burgesses should be sent &c
the House Of Commons. The law was disre.
garded and became a dead letter in Eng.
land; transplanted to America. 1t lived
and fourished. Again. the Introduction OF
the ballot on this side OF the Atlantic may be
looked upon as the fruition of ideas which in
England fell upon stony ground. but which
found a fertile soil in the New World. Among
the reformatory projects with which the politi-
cal theorists of the seventeenth century busted
themselves the ballot occupied q conspicuous
place. Apolitical tract published in the time OF
William and Mary refers to the use of the
ballot as being then an old custom in the
borough Of Huntington. Hampshire. This
was. however. an exception which was des-
tined to pass away. and the ballot was not es-
tablished in England until the Australian sys-
tenn was adopted in 1872. In the American
colonies. on the other hand. the mode Of
voting by ballot took root at an early
period. It figured in the philosophical
constitutions devised in the seventeenth
century for the proprietary colonies of South
Carolina. West Jersey and Pennsylvania. Even
before the formal introduction OF the ballot in
any of the colonies q practice had sprung up
in Virginia and in New England Of sending
votes in writing to avoid the trouble of personal
attendance at elections. This practice was sup
pressed in Virginia at an early date. but it was
methodizod into a regular system throughout
New England. where elections came to be
known as proNinEs." because the votes Of the
freemen were given by proxy. by means Of
voting papers. At the time of the Revolution
such papers were in use not only throughout
New England. but also in Pennsylvania, Della
ware and south Carolina. On the other hand,
New Jersey and North Carolina. which
had. at one time. used the ballot. had.
by that date. adopted the English sys-
TEN Of viva voce voting, which also
prevailed in New York. Maryland. Virginia and
Georgia. 1t is likewise shown by Mr.. Ford
that party organization. whose astonishing de-
velopment since the adoption Of the Constitu-
ton has sometimes caused it to be regarded as
peculiar TO the politics Of the Republic. is itself
an outgrowth of colonial politics. Its begin
nings were common to England and America,
In 1863. during the excitement over the
famous Middlesex election. the holding Of
mass meetings became a political custom in
England. and many reform associations were
organized. To keep up communication with
one another they appointed committees on
correspondence. With these movements the
American Wings were in hearty sympathy.
Before the year was out, the South
Carolina assembly had an angry contest
with the provincial council because the
latter refused to concur in n grant
of 10000 pounds. colonial currency, as a con-
tribution to the funds OF the English Constitu-
tional Society. In 1771 Samuel Adams wrote to
Arthur Lee OF Virginia. then in London and
active in politics there as a supporter of John
Wilkes, proposing that committees should be
formed in the colonies to correspond with the
Society Of the Supporters OF the Bill of Rights"
in England Toward tine close of the following
year. the Boston town meeting took The lead in
banding together all the Massachusetts town
meetings by means OF such committees Of cor
respondence. Soon afterward. intercolonial
committees OF correspondence were organized
under the headship Of the Virginia House of
Burgesses. Mr.. Ford points out that these
committees are the lineal predecessors Of our
State central committees.
Still another feature Of modern political
methods which was derived from colonial poll
ti'D - WV iHS l. llS III ulE Ill
New England long before the Revolution. The
historian William Gordon. writing in 1774.
said that the system had been in operation
fifty years before that time. An entry of Feb
ruary. l773. in John Adams's diary presents a
picture curiously modern. He records that
this day | learned that the Caucus Club meets
at certain times In the garnet OF Tom Dawes.
the Adjutant OF the Boston regiment. He has
a large house. and he has a movable partition
in his garrett. which he takes down. and the
whole club meets in one room. There they
smoRe tobacco till you cannot see from one
end Of the room to the other. There they
drink flip, l suppose. and there they choose a
mode rator. who puts questions to the vote
regularly. and selectmen. assessors. col
lectors. fire wards. and representatives are
regularly chosen before they are chosen in
the town." During the Revolutionary period.
however. constitutional means Of popular
participation in the conduct OF government
were SO undeyeloped that party. considered ms
an agency of political control. denoted little
more than n connection Of interest among the
gentry. John Adams admits that. even In
caucus-ruled Boston, three rich merchants.
Thomas Hancock. Charles Apthorp and
Thomas Green, when united, could carry any
election almost unanimously. Ho remarks
that half a dozen, or, at most, a dozen. fami-
lies had always controlled Connecticut The
course OF New York politics was determined by
the attitude Of the great families. the Living
stons. the SchuyIers and the ClIntons on the
one side. and the DE LanceyS on the other. In
the South political power depended almost
wholly on social influence and family connec-
ton. There are still to be found isolated dis
tricts. particularly in the South, whr.h repro
duce TO a notable degree the social conditions
which obtained everywhere east Of the Allie
ghanies at the Revolutionary period, Among
the inhabitants of such a locality will be- en-
an abundance Of political prejudice
combined with very little knowledge. II the
basis Of Il current opinion be investigated. It
will be discovered to consist OF popular con
ldence in the local magnate from which il was
derived. The phenomenon Is illustrated in am
quoted by Mr., Ford from the Marquis
de Chastellux. who visited the United states in |
l7SO-S2, Gov. Benjamin Harrison Of Virginia