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The American Commonwealth ReviewJames Bryce's "The American Commonwealth" is a basic text of American government and politics, one of three such texts, the others being Hamilton, Madison, and Jay The Federalist Papers (Signet Classics), and de Tocqueville Democracy In America (Complete). These three works, two by foreigners, form the groundwork of a basic understanding of the American system of government. Such an understanding is basic to good citizenship. The lack of such an understanding is sadly demonstrated every day by America's journalists, professors, politicians, and average citizens.
Reading Bryce's "Commonwealth" seems a formidable task at the beginning, since it is two volumes with a total of over 1600 pages. Yet once you begin, Lord Bryce's style is so natural, almost conversational, and the material so interesting to anyone with the slightest interest in American history and politics (and shouldn't that include every American citizen?), that it is actually a very easy book to read.
Bryce was Scottish, born in Belfast, Ireland. He became an attorney and a professor of law at Oxford, then a member of Parliament. He was Ambassador to the United States from 1907 to 1913, became a viscount in 1914. He was very well-traveled and well-known in the US, about as well-qualified as anyone could be to write a description of the American form of government. Because of his reputation as a friend of America he had an important influence on the US entry into World War One on the Allied side.
The first volume covers the national and state governments, the second volume covers the party system, public opinion, and various aspects of American political and social life. The first edition was published in 1888, and it was last revised in 1914. Over the years Bryce made many revisions as his observations and knowledge of America broadened and deepened.
Bryce explains exactly how American government works. A listing of some of the more significant chapters will give an idea of the subjects covered:
Chapter 3: The Origins of the Constitution
Chapter 8: Why Great Men are not Chosen President
Chapter 33: The Interpretation of the Constitution
Chapter 34: The Development of the Constitution by Usage
Chapter 53: Political Parties and Their History
Chapter 78: How Public Opinion Rules in America
Chapter 84: The Tyranny of the Majority
Chapter 85: The Fatalism of the Multitude
Of special interest are three appendices. The first is a review by Bryce of the predictions of Hamilton and de Tocqueville. The second is a review of "The American Commonwealth" written in 1889 by Woodrow Wilson when Wilson was a professor of political science at Weslyan University in Connecticut. The third is a review by Lord Acton.
Bryce believed that had the Constitution been put to a popular vote in 1787 it would never have passed. As it was, the only reason the Constitution gained popular support was because of the fear of foreign powers. As Bryce puts it, in the years following the Revolution and the collapse of the Articles of Confederation, Americans felt very vulnerable to foreign intervention:
"The fear of foreign interference, the sense of weakness, both at sea and on land, against the military monarchies of Europe, was constantly before the mind of American statesmen, and made them anxious to secure at all hazards a national government capable of raising an army and navy, and of speaking with authority on behalf of the new republic."
His comments on the relationship between the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the American people are very timely.
Of the Presidency he says, "The president has developed a capacity for becoming, in moments of national peril, something like a Roman dictator."
His description of the development of the political parties is equally timely, and is the best I have ever read.
Some final quotations from Bryce:
"Someone has said that the American government and Constitution are based on the theology of Calvin and the philosophy of Hobbes. This at least is true, that there is a hearty Puritanism in the view of human nature which pervades the instrument of 1787. It is the work of men who believed in original sin, and were resolved to leave open for transgressors no door which they could possibly shut. Compare this spirit with the enthusiastic optimism of the Frenchmen of 1789. It is not merely a difference of race temperaments; it is a difference of fundamental ideas."
He ends on this pessimistic note, echoing Benjamin Franklin:
"To expect any form of words, however weightily conceived, with whatever sanctions enacted, permanently to restrain the passions and interests of men is to expect the impossible. Beyond a certain point, you cannot protect the people against themselves any more than you can, to use a familiar American expression, lift yourself from the ground by your own bootstraps."
Highly recommended in this authoritative and economical edition.
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