The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-10-27
Evolution Of Government in Anne
RIGA From l776.
A new CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY
Civil Institutions an Enduring Mo-
nurnent-Beginnin OF the Ten
dency for Democracy.

A Constitutional History of the
American People" from 1875 to 1850.
by Francis Newton Thorpe, is record
Of the evolution of government in the
United States since the Revolution, as
traced in the Federal and State con-
astitutions and their amendments. No
testimony could be more reliable, and
from it the author is able to show that
the growth Of political sentiment in
the Republic has steadily broadened
with the years, with a healthful and
patriotic trend, and general DISPOSE
ton to adhere to the fundamental pol
icies OF the Federal Constitution
mo one can go over the evidence"
says the author, land have his conf
dence shaken, in the fact that Ameri-
can civil institutions are an enduring
monument to the general amelioration
of the conditions OF human life which
characteriZes modern civilization, and
particularly the civilization of the last
century and half" a gradual growth
of the national idea is also noted-that
is, the steady disappearance Of isolat-
ed petty and antagonistic cOmmuni-
ties, and the slow but sure recOgni-
ton of the presence of an organic and
moral person which We call the Ma
ton"
The tendency toward democratic
government in the civilized world be-
gan after the discovery of the Western
Hemisphere by Columbus and the Re-
ell
at least, does not trace it beyond that
period. 1t might be expected that the
democratic idea would have developed
in Europe, but the free labor necessary
TO it's growth was lacking in the Old
World and had to be found in the
New. Democratic thought, however,
with free men as it center, was kept
alive by Old World philosophers Of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
who discerned in the future what their
own times lacked the confidence to ac-
compliSh Hume anticipated the
French revolution, MOnteSqulen the
democracy of today, and Franklin
something OF the administrative meth
DDS of popular government.
Rome evolved the idea of legal
body called a corporation; in this the
Teuton found the germ of civil govern
ment, while the Celt, adjusting himself
to the Roman military form, laid the
foundations of feudalism. Democracy
in America is the resultant of Roman,
Celtic and Teutonic ideas 1t is civil
composite. it's evolution being recorded
in a series of political adjustments.
These adjustments were dealt with in
the framing of our national Constitu-
ton. Few of the different parts of the
iorin hI1t ho
combina tiOn of them was new.
The New World was practically I'M
inhabited when made known to Eu-
rope. To redeem it from a state of
nature free labor was required, and
free labor necessitated democracy
There is need of more popular virtue
in a democratic than in mOnarchlcaI
form of government, and industry is
the leading factor in it. The American
Revolution was a war for free labor,
with political aims a mere secondary
consideration, and industrial adjust
ment is at the bottom of all vital
changes in our constitutional and ad
ministrativa methods. The Civil War
was one Of these processes of indus
trial adjustment. America was not
democracy until slavery was abolished
and with slavery in any form in the
Republic today democracy would be
but name.
AS stated in the beginning, the
author confines his view to the evolu-
ton of democracy in America to the
Testimony of Federal and State cOnsti-
buttons and their amendments, and to
a summary of the character and tend
ancies of their changes and adjust
ments from time to time. These con-
stitutions and their amendments are
unimpeachabIe records. One hundred
and sixteen constitutions have been
adopted since 1776, and it is shown
that a contest has been constant be-
tween conventional systems OF po1qcs
and men struggling for greater INDUS
trial freedom and that the gain has
been steadily with the latter
Running all through the Federal and
State constitutions and their amend
ments is an unbroken course OF poIlt-
zeal thought, as commentary, as II
were, on principles upon which the in
tegrity of our institutions depends. AT
the close of the last century they are
conspicuous in bills of rights; later
they exhibit a disposition TO deal with
administrative methods, national and
state. The history of American democ-
racy, therefore, is a history Of polit-
ical thought rather than OF indiv1du-
ais. If it lacks feudal interest it pos
sesses the charm of civil equity. 1t is
a history of the development Of equal
social opportunities. Looking back |
ward now we see how the crises in
American affairs have terminated in a
new enlightenment of public opinion
and in a more perfect understanding Of
the powers, the privileges and the
duties of men"
This political story Of the constitu- |
tions presents the American people
from a new point Of view.