HAR- Copyright, 1903, BY LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. All rights reserved ROBERT DRUMMOND, PRINTER, NEW YORK. ΤΟ Frank Wakeley Gunsaulus, D.D., PRESIDENT OF THE ARMOUR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED PREFACE THE study of political theories seems to be attracting considerable attention at present, a number of able writers, such as Dunning, Willoughby, Merriam, Osgood, and others having recently made contributions to this branch of research. Political theories are not only of theoretical interest, but have at times greatly influenced historical development. This is true in marked degree of those ideas whose genesis is traced in the following pages. They have been put forward repeatedly as a protest against oppression and arbitrary power. Their greatest influence, however, has made itself felt since the American Revolution. They have in large measure contributed to make our American political institutions what they are to-day. They are often spoken of as American principles. Though they did not originate in this country, they were here for the first time incorporated in the political programme of a great nation, and have been more completely realized here than in any other country. The following dissertation was begun at the suggestion of Professor Max Lenz of the University of Berlin. It was originally my intention to limit my study to a consideration of the relation between the principles of the French Revolution as expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the principles of the American Revolution, as expressed in the State papers of that time, especially in the Bills of Rights of the individual States. The recent monograph of Professor Jellinek of Heidelberg, entitled Die Erklärung der Menschen- und Bürgerrechte, translated into English by Professor Farrand, does not seem to me to be entirely satisfactory. Jellinek conveys the impression that the French Declaration of the Rights of Man is a literal transcription of clauses contained in the Bills of Rights of the American States. He fails to show how the French people became acquainted with the principles contained in the American Bills of Rights. He does not consider the discussions that took place in the Constituent Assembly on the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The very fact that these discussions lasted longer than a month and that more than a score of drafts were considered, proves, it seems to me, that a literal transcription of the Bills of Rights is out of the question. In tracing the genesis of the American Bills of Rights, Jellinek overrates the influence of the struggle for religious toleration and undervalues the influence of the theory of Natural Law. Though differing from Professor Jellinek on many points, I do not agree with the view taken by E. Boutmy of the French Institute, who fiercely attacks Jellinek in an article to be found in the Annales des Sciences Politiques of the 15th of July, 1902, in which he argues against any American influence whatever, attributing the origin of the Declaration to Rousseau's influence, and considering that document to be an exclusively French production. Though acknowledging the fact that the people of France, yes, of all the civilized countries of Europe, were well acquainted with the political principles in question before the American Revolution occurred, it seems to me that the American people first |