CHAPTER V

THE PROBLEMS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

the young

25. Washington's charge to the nation 1 New prob- When, on April 30, 1789, the Federal Constitution was put into lems arise

operation with George Washington as first President, the United to confront

States of America took on a new lease of life. But though the trials American

of the critical period" gradually declined and finally disappeared, nation.

other problems confronted the young nation. These were the prob-
lems of a newly created state, projected suddenly into the family
of nations, and obliged, because of this new position, to grapple
with numerous foreign as well as purely domestic issues. No one
comprehended more clearly than George Washington the content
and significance of these problems, and no one more earnestly urged
their solution. At the conclusion of his second term of office, Washing-
ton addressed a solemn farewell to the American people, notifying
them of his decision not to accept a third term, and protesting his
devotion to the nation. The following are extracts from the remainder

of his Farewell Address:
Washington ... Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your
believes it
his duty to

welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension make cer

I of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like tain recom

the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend mendations to the to your frequent review, some sentiments, which are the result of American

much reflection. These will be offered to you with the more people.

freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of
a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias
his counsel.

The unity of government, which constitutes you one people, is
also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the
1 From George Washington, Farewell Address.

edifice of your real independence; the support of your tranquillity at home; your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity in every shape of that liberty which you so highly prize. Toward the preservation of your government, and the permanency He warns

against of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily

innovations discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. .

Let me now ... warn you in the most solemn manner against and party the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. ... The al-Ispirit ternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension . . . is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction . . . turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. ... The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political The check

and balance power has been evinced by experiments ancient and mod

system. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them.

Promote as an object of primary importance, institutions Public for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the struc

Opinion. ture of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit..

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate He warns peace and harmony with all. . . . [But] against the insidious wiles against

foreign of foreign influence ... the jealousy of a free people ought to be influences constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the baneful foes of republican government. Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate our

ern.

selves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. ...

The preser

26. Jackson on the aims of government1 The two

The issues of American political life changed markedly in characgreat

ter and content in the four decades which followed the Farewell Adproblems facing

dress of Washington. Nevertheless, when on March 4, 1833, Andrew Jackson

Jackson began his second term as President of the United States, in 1833:

| he believed that the two greatest problems facing him were those

with which Washington had been familiar: First, the preservation of the rights of the several states, and second, the preservation of the integrity of the Union. In his second inaugural address, Jackson referred to these problems in the following language:

In the domestic policy of this Government there are two vation of

objects which especially deserve the attention of the people and states' rights and their representatives, and which have been and will continue to the integ

be the subjects of my increasing solicitude. They are the preservarity of the Union. tion of the rights of the several states and the integrity of the Union. Duty of These great objects are necessarily connected, and can only be obeying

attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of each within its the laws.

appropriate sphere in conformity with the public will constitutionally expressed. To this end it becomes the duty of all to yield a ready and patriotic submission to the laws constitutionally enacted, and thereby promote and strengthen a proper confidence in those institutions of the several states and of the United States which the people themselves have ordained for their own government.

My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the destruction of our state governments or the annihilation of their control over the local concerns of the people would lead directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism and

military domination. The double Solemnly impressed with these considerations, my countrymen duty which

will ever find me ready to exercise my constitutional powers in the President. arresting measures which may directly or indirectly encroach upon the rights of the states or tend to consolidate all political power in the General Government.

But of equal, and, indeed, of incalculable, importance is the union of these states, and the sacred duty of all to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support of the general government in the exercise of its just powers.

Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved; without union they never can be maintained. ... The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. ...

The time at which I stand before you is full of interest. The / He pleads eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the exist- for the co

operation ing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of the practicability of our of the federal system of government. Great is the stake placed in our

people. hands; great is the responsibility which must rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world. Let us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the lessons they inculcate. . .

1

27. Lincoln on the spirit of lawlessness While Andrew Jackson was still serving his second term as Presi- Lincoln dent of the United States, a young man in Springfield, Illinois, was

before the

Springfield aiding in the organization of a “Young Men's Lyceum for Mutual Lyceum. Improvement.” This was Abraham Lincoln. In 1837, when only twenty-eight years of age, Lincoln addressed this lyceum on the subject of the perpetuation of our political institutions. The following are extracts from this speech:

In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the Favored American people, find our account running under date of the nine- position

of the teenth century of the Christian era. We find ourselves in the peace- American ful possession of the fairest portion of the earth as regards extent people. of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty than any

of which the history of former times tells us.
1 From the Sangamon (Illinois) Journal, February 3, 1838.

a

The duty of We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the the present

legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in generation contrasted the acquisition or establishment of them; they are a legacy bewith the duty of the queathed to us by a once hardy, brave and patriotic, but now lamented early and departed, race of ancestors. Theirs was the task (and nobly American

they performed it) to possess themselves of this goodly land, and to patriots.

uprear upon its hills and in its valleys a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours only to transmit these the former unprofaned by the foot of an invader, the latter undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation — to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, imperatively require us faithfully to perform.

How, then, shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect

the approach of danger? ... Danger of I

answer, If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it canlawlessness.

not come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die by suicide. I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is even now something of ill omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country. . .

Here, then, is one point at which danger may be expected. The remedy! The question recurs, “How shall we fortify against it?” The for law

answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every lessness.

well wisher to his posterity swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. .. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; . . . let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in the courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of he nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. ..

While ever a state of feeling such as this shall universally or even very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt to subvert our national freedom.