Civil Government in the United States Considered With Some Reference to Its Origins

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, History, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book Civil Government in the United States Considered With Some Reference to Its Origins by John Fiske, Library of Alexandria
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: John Fiske ISBN: 9781465511447
Publisher: Library of Alexandria Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint: Language: English
Author: John Fiske
ISBN: 9781465511447
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint:
Language: English

Some time ago, my friends, Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., requested me to write a small book on Civil Government in the United States, which might be useful as a text-book, and at the same time serviceable and suggestive to the general reader interested in American history. In preparing the book certain points have been kept especially in view, and deserve some mention here. It seemed desirable to adopt a historical method of exposition, not simply describing our political institutions in their present shape, but pointing out their origin, indicating some of the processes through which they have acquired that present shape, and thus keeping before the student's mind the fact that government is perpetually undergoing modifications in adapting itself to new conditions. Inasmuch as such gradual changes in government do not make themselves, but are made by men--and made either for better or for worse--it is obvious that the history of political institutions has serious lessons to teach us. The student should as soon as possible come to understand that every institution is the outgrowth of experiences. One probably gets but little benefit from abstract definitions and axioms concerning the rights of men and the nature of civil society, such as we often find at the beginning of books on government. Metaphysical generalizations are well enough in their place, but to start with such things--as the French philosophers of the eighteenth century were fond of doing--is to get the cart before the horse. It is better to have our story first, and thus find out what government in its concrete reality has been, and is. Then we may finish up with the metaphysics, or do as I have done--leave it for somebody else. I was advised to avoid the extremely systematic, intrusively symmetrical, style of exposition, which is sometimes deemed indispensable in a book of this sort. It was thought that students would be more likely to become interested in the subject if it were treated in the same informal manner into which one naturally falls in giving lectures to young people. I have endeavoured to bear this in mind without sacrificing that lucidity in the arrangement of topics which is always the supreme consideration. For many years I have been in the habit of lecturing on history to college students in different parts of the United States, to young ladies in private schools, and occasionally to the pupils in high and normal schools, and in writing this little book I have imagined an audience of these earnest and intelligent young friends gathered before me. I was especially advised--by my friend, Mr. James MacAlister, superintendent of schools in Philadelphia, for whose judgment I have the highest respect--to make it a little book, less than three hundred pages in length, if possible. Teachers and pupils do not have time enough to deal properly with large treatises. Brevity, therefore, is golden. A concise manual is the desideratum, touching lightly upon the various points, bringing out their relationships distinctly, and referring to more elaborate treatises, monographs, and documents, for the use of those who wish to pursue the study at greater length

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Some time ago, my friends, Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., requested me to write a small book on Civil Government in the United States, which might be useful as a text-book, and at the same time serviceable and suggestive to the general reader interested in American history. In preparing the book certain points have been kept especially in view, and deserve some mention here. It seemed desirable to adopt a historical method of exposition, not simply describing our political institutions in their present shape, but pointing out their origin, indicating some of the processes through which they have acquired that present shape, and thus keeping before the student's mind the fact that government is perpetually undergoing modifications in adapting itself to new conditions. Inasmuch as such gradual changes in government do not make themselves, but are made by men--and made either for better or for worse--it is obvious that the history of political institutions has serious lessons to teach us. The student should as soon as possible come to understand that every institution is the outgrowth of experiences. One probably gets but little benefit from abstract definitions and axioms concerning the rights of men and the nature of civil society, such as we often find at the beginning of books on government. Metaphysical generalizations are well enough in their place, but to start with such things--as the French philosophers of the eighteenth century were fond of doing--is to get the cart before the horse. It is better to have our story first, and thus find out what government in its concrete reality has been, and is. Then we may finish up with the metaphysics, or do as I have done--leave it for somebody else. I was advised to avoid the extremely systematic, intrusively symmetrical, style of exposition, which is sometimes deemed indispensable in a book of this sort. It was thought that students would be more likely to become interested in the subject if it were treated in the same informal manner into which one naturally falls in giving lectures to young people. I have endeavoured to bear this in mind without sacrificing that lucidity in the arrangement of topics which is always the supreme consideration. For many years I have been in the habit of lecturing on history to college students in different parts of the United States, to young ladies in private schools, and occasionally to the pupils in high and normal schools, and in writing this little book I have imagined an audience of these earnest and intelligent young friends gathered before me. I was especially advised--by my friend, Mr. James MacAlister, superintendent of schools in Philadelphia, for whose judgment I have the highest respect--to make it a little book, less than three hundred pages in length, if possible. Teachers and pupils do not have time enough to deal properly with large treatises. Brevity, therefore, is golden. A concise manual is the desideratum, touching lightly upon the various points, bringing out their relationships distinctly, and referring to more elaborate treatises, monographs, and documents, for the use of those who wish to pursue the study at greater length

More books from Library of Alexandria

Cover of the book Songs of the West: Folk Songs of Devon and Cornwall Collected from the Mouths of the People by John Fiske
Cover of the book Annie Besant: An Autobiography by John Fiske
Cover of the book The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Study with the Text of the Folio of 1623 by John Fiske
Cover of the book Come Le Foglie by John Fiske
Cover of the book The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Complete by John Fiske
Cover of the book Les Vrais Sous-Offs: Réponse à M. Descaves by John Fiske
Cover of the book The Agrarian Crusade; A Chronicle of the Farmer in Politics by John Fiske
Cover of the book The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell by John Fiske
Cover of the book Tales from the German: Comprising Specimens from the most Celebrated Authors by John Fiske
Cover of the book Scenas Da Foz by John Fiske
Cover of the book Australian Legends by John Fiske
Cover of the book An Act in a Backwater by John Fiske
Cover of the book Old Hungarian Fairy Tales by John Fiske
Cover of the book Denounced: A Romance by John Fiske
Cover of the book Owen Hartley; or, Ups and Downs: A Tale of Land and Sea by John Fiske
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy