THE CITIZEN'S LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS, POLITICS, AND SOCIOLOGY EDITED BY RICHARD T. ELY, PH.D., LL.D. PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, THE SPIRIT OF AMERICAN THE CITIZEN'S LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS, 12mo. POLITICS, AND SOCIOLOGY Half Leather $1.25 net, each MONOPOLIES AND TRUSTS. BY RICHARD T. ELY, PH.D., LL.D. THE ECONOMICS OF DISTRIBUTION. By JOHN A. HOBSON. WORLD POLITICS. By PAUL S. REINSCH, PH., D.LL.B. ECONOMIC CRISES. BY EDWARD D. JONES, PH.D. OUTLINES OF ECONOMICS. By RICHARD T. ELY. GOVERNMENT IN SWITZERLAND. By JOHN MArtin Vincent, PH.D. ESSAYS ON THE MONETARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. BY CHARLES J. BULLOCK, PH.D. SOCIAL CONTROL. By EDWARD A, Ross, PH.D. HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES. By JESSE MACY, LL.D. MUNICIPAL ENGINEERING AND SANITATION. BAKER, PH.B. By M. N. DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL ETHICS. By JANE ADDAMS, LL.D. COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. BY PAUL S. REINSCH, PH.D., LL.B. AMERICAN MUNICIPAL progress. By CHARLES ZUEBLIN, B.D. IRRIGATION INSTITUTIONS. By ELWOOD MEAD, C.E., M.S. RAILWAY LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES. THASAR H. MEYER, PH.D. By BAL STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, By RICHARD T. ELY. PH.D., LL.D. THE AMERICAN CITY. BY DELOS F. WILCOX, PH.D. MONEY. BY DAVID KINLEY, PH.D. THE FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY. BY EDWARD A. Ross. PH.D. By FRANK W. BLACKMAR, COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. BY PAUL S. REINSCH, PH.D., LL.B AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS. By HENRY C. TAYLOR, M.S.AGR., PH.D. SOME ETHICAL GAINS THROUGH LEGISLATION. ENCE KELLEY. By FLOR INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS ORGANIZATION. BY SAMUEL E. SPARLING, PH.D. THE NEWER IDEALS OF PEACE. BY JANE ADDAMS, LL.D. THE SPIRIT OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. By J. ALLEN SMITE, LL.B., PH.D. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64-66 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK The Spirit of American A STUDY OF THE CONSTITUTION: ITS ORIGIN, TO DEMOCRACY BY J. ALLEN SMITH, LL.B., PH.D. PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. All rights reserved HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY JOHN GRAHAM BROOKS COPYRIGHT, 1907 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Printed April, 1907 THE MASON-HENRY PRESS PREFACE It is the purpose of this volume to trace the influence of our constitutional system upon the political conditions which exist in this country to-day. This phase of our political problems has not received adequate recognition at the hands of writers on American politics. Very often indeed it has been entirely ignored, although in the short period which has elapsed since our Constitution was framed and adopted, the Western world has passed through a political as well as an industrial revolution. In the eighteenth century the majority was outside of the pale of political rights. Government as a matter of course was the expression of the will of a minority. Even in the United States, where hereditary rule was overthrown by the Revolution, an effective and recognized minority control still survived through the property qualifications for the suffrage and for office-holding, which excluded a large proportion of the people from participation in political affairs. Under such conditions there could be but little of what is now known as democracy. Moreover, slavery' continued to exist upon a large scale for nearly |