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THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC

AND ITS GOVERNMENT

AN ANALYSIS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES
WITH A CONSIDERATION OF ITS FUNDAMENTAL

PRINCIPLES AND OF ITS RELATIONS TO

THE STATES AND TERRITORIES

BY

JAMES ALBERT WOODBURN

PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND POLITICS
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

SECOND, Revised, eDITION

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1916

COPYRIGHT, 1903

BY

JAMES ALBERT WOODBURN

COPYRIGHT, 1916

BY

JAMES ALBERT WOODBURN

90 VIMU
AIMGORLIAD

The knickerbocker Press, New York

271

IT

PREFACE

T is the purpose of this book and of its companion volume, Political Parties and Party Problems in the United States, to attempt an addition to the works designed for the encouragement of the study of American politics. This volume has to do with the original principles of the Republic as announced by the Fathers in the struggle for Independence, and with the principal institutions and organs of government created by the Constitution.

The greater part of this field has been traversed by many writers, and its principal subjects are treated of by all text-books on Civil Government. Most of the textbooks in Civics, however, have been, at least until very recently, class-room hand-books dealing very briefly and disconnectedly with a large variety of topics, and designed for young students in the first year of the high school, or below. Mr. Bryce's great work, The American Commonwealth, has done much during the last decade for the promotion of political education among American students and readers; and in our institutions of higher learning, where elective courses of considerable length are offered in political science and the study of the American Government, it has been indispensable, as it will probably continue to be in its special field for a generation to come. I wish to acknowledge my great indebtedness to Mr. Bryce for the constant use of his work in the classroom as well as in the preparation of this work; and if this volume should do anything toward promoting a larger

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use of The American Commonwealth and books of its kind-there are none of its rank-among high schools, academies, and colleges, it will not have been published in vain.

With a view to this larger study of American politics, and as leading up to it, it seems to me necessary to recognize that between the field for the elementary text-books in Civics and that of the advanced classes in the universities that call for special and extensive study in works like that of Mr. Bryce, there is an intermediate field. My effort has been to fill this gap, to provide an intermediate book for advanced courses in high schools or for elementary courses in the colleges. It is believed that in this field of Civics there are classes of students well prepared for more advanced work than is ordinarily pursued in high schools, whose interest will be more easily and effectively aroused and sustained by a somewhat elaborate discussion of the more important subjects in the study of the American Government and its principles. For this purpose it seems better to present more extensive treatment of fewer subjects than to reconsider the great variety of miscellaneous topics usually contained in the books on elementary Civics.

It is one of the first purposes of public education in America to induce the youth of the land to understand the Constitution of their country, the principles that underlie it, how it has grown, the perils that have threatened it, the wisdom and courage that have sustained it and made it great. This is to be learned chiefly from our country's history. It is a field of reading and study that should be inviting to all American citizens. It is my hope that this book may in some degree, for the sake of a higher citizenship, promote the study of history, politics, and the problems of government.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY, BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA,
January 20, 1903.

J. A. W.

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