another and the vestiges of the Middle Ages have been swept away by the World War. Even China and Japan have been revolutionized. The time has come to appraise anew American institutions; to search for the secret of their success, and ponder over the dangers and safeguards of the republic.

CHAPTER II

WHAT ARE "AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS"?

THE weakness and worthlessness of the first American government a Confederation from 1777 to 1787 confirmed Europe in its disbelief in popular sovereignty. And even when the American Constitution of 1787 was formulated and adopted, yet inasmuch as it gave all governmental power to the people acting through representatives and without king or nobles, Europe continued to look upon the innovation with scorn and contempt. That scorn and contempt has disappeared because America now has the least troubles of all.

This new form of government in America differed from all previous governments in certain fundamental respects, and those differences constitute largely what are known as "American Institutions." Those institutions Americans will fight for now and hereafter against internal or external foes. They may be summarized as follows:

(1) A written constitution.

(2) Popular sovereignty and a republic.

(3) Universal suffrage.

(4) A division of sovereign powers into federal and state.

(5) A supreme court with power to declare statutes void.

(6) Separation of the executive from the legislative branch

of the government.

(7) Universal common schools.

(8) Town meeting.

(9) Separation of the church from the state.

(10) Equality of opportunity.

The European question, what America amounts to other than wealth, is answered by these ten American institutions and by the further answer that Europe itself has originated no fundamental new institutions during the past one hundred and fifty years, but has merely followed and applied these American institutions. Furthermore, the American reveres these institutions, not only because they are his, but also because he believes they safeguard his liberty and personal independence better than by a monarch, nobility, or privileged class of any kind. Liberty and personal independence are weighty words. The world's history revolves around them. Individual liberty means the right to do as one likes, limited only by the equal rights of others. It includes religious liberty; security of the person, dwelling, and papers; liberty to work and contract and the protection of that right; liberty from illegal arrest; equality of opportunity; equal protection of the law; due process of law; protection of one's own property. It has taken thousands of years of the world's history to establish these rights. There have been many definitions of "liberty," and in fact they are found throughout history. Professor Sumner of Yale, as the result of a lifetime of study, reached the following conclusion: "If we try to formulate a true definition of civil liberty as an ideal thing towards which the development of political institutions is all the time tending, it would be this: Civil liberty is the status of the man who is guaranteed by law and civil institutions the exclusive employment of all his own powers for his own welfare." 1 Eliot says that "thoughtful democracy of today accepts absolutely Louis Pasteur's definition of freedom- a state in which every one is permitted to develop freely and to apply his utmost powers." 2

President

And secondly, the form of government best fitted to protect these rights has baffled the wisdom of ages. Are they protected best by absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, aristocracy, or popular sovereignty? As stated above, the European world

in 1776 believed only monarchy could give good government, and that belief favored absolute monarchy. Europe had drifted away from constitutional monarchy where the King was held in check by a legislature or constitution or independent aristocracy. Then came America and by new American institutions established popular sovereignty, reacting on Europe itself.

(1) A Written Constitution. The American Constitution is the first written constitution in the history of the world that has protected the fundamental rights and liberties of man, enumerated above, against the encroachments of the legislative, executive, or judicial departments of government or of all three combined. The framers of the Constitution were as fearful of an unbridled democracy - the absolute rule of the majority as they were of an unbridled monarchy or aristocracy. An unbridled legislature or executive leads to monarchy.

The American Constitution is the greatest of all American institutions. It has withstood all assaults, even those of war. It has been copied in different parts of the world. It is an American creation and has been extraordinarily successful. It still has to defend itself against theorists, revolutionizers, "uplift" sociologists, socialists, and red flaggers. It is abused by those who would reform the country by legislation. It is not understood by newcomers and is attacked by others. It is enshrined, however, in the hearts of the American people and will last while they last. Nor is it a copy of the British Constitution. Its main and fundamental features are original, as will be shown in the following pages. It arose from the sturdy and independent character of the people themselves of all thirteen colonies, each having its own provincial institutions and each familiar with their workings. It was and is the finished product of the greatest group of constructive statesmen ever assembled at any time or any place.

The British had not then and have not now any such protection. Their Constitution is unwritten. As Judge Cooley says,

"The weakness of an unwritten constitution consists in this, that it is subject to perpetual change at the will of the law-making power; and there can be no security against such change except in the conservatism of the law-making authority, and its political responsibility to the people, or, if no such responsibility exists, then in the fear of resistance by force." The American Constitution, on the contrary, is an impenetrable fortress guarding at the gates the rights of man. It is distinctively American. Fiske says that the constitution of Connecticut in 1639 was the first written constitution in the history of the world. More correctly, however, the "Encyclopædia Britannica" says that the Pilgrims on the Mayflower in November, 1620, "drew up and signed before landing a democratic compact of government which is accounted the earliest written constitution in history.' Breckinridge Long takes the same view when he says of the Pilgrim Covenant: "This was the first constitution in America. It was inaugurated and adopted by a body of individuals, of their own free will, to define and initiate a plan of government and to legalize the operation of the organs thereby created. It did not define the plan of government with any nicety but its definition was sufficient to give local sanction to the institution and operation of the organs created. It is not a product of a master statesman. It is a very simple statement of a plan." This compact of the Pilgrims signed on board the Mayflower on November 11, 1620, combined the signers "into a civill body politick ... to enacte, constitute and frame such just and equall, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete . . . unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." That was a written constitution. True, it was a pure democracy, the signers being the legislature and judiciary as a matter of course, and they proceeded to elect an executive, a Governor, but it embraced all powers and departments of government. The later written constitutions merely divided, defined, and limited those powers and departments.