In treating the several questions which the preparation of this
volume has brought up, in their connection, and in the light of
first principles, I have changed or modified, on more than one
important point, the views I had expressed in my previous
writings, especially on the distinction between civilized and
barbaric nations, the real basis of civilization itself, and the
value to the world of the Graeco-Roman civilization. I have
ranked feudalism under the head of barbarism, rejected every
species of political aristocracy, and represented the English
constitution as essentially antagonistic to the American, not as
its type. I have accepted universal suffrage in principle, and
defended American democracy, which I define to be territorial
democracy, and carefully distinguish from pure individualism on
the one hand, and from pure socialism or humanitarianism on the
other.
I reject the doctrine of State sovereignty, which I held and
defended from 1828 to 1861, but still maintain that the
sovereignty of the American Republic vests in the States, though
in the States collectively, or united, not severally, and thus
escape alike consolidation and disintegration. I find, with Mr.
Madison, our most philosophic statesman, the originality of the
American system in the division of powers between a General
government having sole charge of the foreign and general, and
particular or State governments having, within their respective
territories, sole charge of the particular relations and
interests of the American people; but I do not accept his
concession that this division is of conventional origin, and
maintain that it enters into the original Providential
constitution of the American state, as I have done in my Review
for October, 1863, and January and October, 1864.
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