A STUDY OF THE CONSTITUTION: ITS ORIGIN, TO DEMOCRACY 1 BY J. ALLEN SMITH, LL.B., PH.D. PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIEN UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTO Set up and electrotyped. Proted April, 1907. Reprinted March, 1911. Norwood Press : P t our system of government ensures the rule of the majority. It is this conservative approval of the Constitution under the guise of sympathy with majority rule, which has perhaps more than any thing else misled the people as to the real spirit and purpose of that instrument. It was by con stantly representing it as the indispensable means i of attaining the ends of democracy, that it came to be so generally regarded as the source of all that is democratic in our system of government. 1 It is to call attention to the spirit of the Constitution, its inherent opposition to democracy, the i obstacles which it has placed in the way of ma1 jority rule, that this volume has been written. The general recognition of the true character 1of the Constitution is necessary before we can fully understand the nature and origin of our political evils. It would also do much to strengthen and advance the cause of popular government by bringing us to a realization of the fact that the so-called evils of democracy are very largely the natural results of those constitutional checks on popular rule which we have inherited from the political system of the eighteenth century. The author acknowledges his indebtedness to his colleague, Professor William Savery, and to Professor Edward A. Ross of the University of Wisconsin, for many pertinent criticisms and suggestions which he has borne in mind while revising the manuscript of this work for publi cation. He is also under obligation to Mr. Edward Mc Mahon for suggestions and for some illustrative material which he has made use of in this volume. Seattle, Washington, J. ALLEN SMITH. |