THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


11. THE NATURE OF GOVERNMENT.--A government may be defined as an
agency through which the purposes of a state or nation are formulated
and carried out. This agency develops where men live in groups. One of
the chief objects of government is to adjust individual interests, or,
to say the same thing in slightly different words, to control members
of the group in their social relations.

Where groups are small and culture is at a low level, government may
consist in little more than the arbitrary rules of a self-appointed
chieftain. From this stage there are numerous gradations up to the
great complex governments of the leading nations of to-day. With the
origin and general development of government we are not here
concerned, and we may accordingly confine our attention to those types
of modern government which throw light upon the development of
American democracy.

12. THE ABSOULUTE MONARCHY.--An absolute monarchy may be defined as a
government in which supreme power or sovereignty is lodged in one
individual. This monarch holds his position for life, generally with
hereditary succession. Often the absolute monarchy arose out of the
ancient chieftainship, when, as the result of territorial expansion
and cultural development, the chief of a group of tribes became the
king of a settled and civilized people. The absolute monarchy existed
in most of the countries of Europe previous to the end of the
eighteenth century. In its most extreme form the absolute monarchy
rested upon the claim of the monarch that he ruled by "divine right,"
_i.e.,_ that God had authorized him to rule. France in the era of