Part 4

Out of this theory of a universal common law of nations have emerged the science of the Law of the State, which deals with the internal relations of states, and the science of International Law, which deals with the temporary relations between independent States. Why out of the same theory should there not emerge a science of the Law of Connections and Unions of States, based on the proposition that free statehood is the normal form of all community life and the right of all communities within proper limits on the surface of the earth, and which will deal with the permanent relations between free states, whether independent or not,--a science which will occupy the wide field of human relationships which lies between that now occupied by the science of the Law of the State and that now occupied by the science of International Law?

To those who regard all law as an aggregate of eternal and universal principles inhering in the nature of things, which are discoverable by man through revelation and reason, and who therefore regard all governmental action as the ascertainment and application of these principles, the conception of a common and universal Law of Connections and Unions of Free States and that of a common and universal International Law, are equally without difficulty. To those who regard all law as an act of human will supported by force, the conception of a common and universal Law of Connections and Unions of Free States and that of a common and universal International Law, are equally impossible; and indeed these persons are logically obliged to deny the existence of any common law of any kind. To those who occupy the middle ground and regard all law as in one aspect the ascertainment and application of eternal principles, and in another aspect an act of human will supported by force, the conception of a common and universal Law of Connections and Unions of Free States is less difficult than that of a common and universal International Law, for the former implies a Justiciar State which is capable of enforcing its decisions and dispositions, while the latter implies the non-existence of any political power capable of enforcing the action agreed or decided upon.

Fortunately, there is every evidence that at the present time this narrow political sect who believe that law is only a human edict supported by physical force,--this sect which had its origin in the dark decades of the nineteenth century when the materialistic philosophy prevailed--is dying out, under the influence of a general renaissance. There are, it is to be believed, many who will be ready and willing to accept as true the statement, which every student of political history must admit to be true, that the philosophy of the American Revolution was a religious philosophy. It is indeed perhaps not too much to say that the period of the American Revolution was the period in which both political and religious thinking reached the highest point, and that there is no question of government which has since arisen which was not either solved by the Revolutionary statesmen or put in the process of solution.

The political philosophy of the American Revolution has long been confused with that of the French Revolution. As matter of fact, they stand at opposite poles. Our philosophy was religious, the French non-religious. America had been peacefully assimilating, for a century and a half, the doctrines of the Reformation. France had been held for two centuries and a half in a condition of mediaevalism, and the principles of the Reformation had little hold among the people. When the Americans spoke, it was with the calm wisdom of free-men; when the French spoke, it was with the folly and excess of intellectual and spiritual slaves who had suddenly emancipated themselves. To the Americans, to whom government was the expression of the just public sentiment, government, equally with religion, was a necessary good; to the French, to whom government was the expression of the will of the majority, whether just or unjust, government was a necessary evil and religion an unnecessary evil. The French Revolution made itself felt, even in America, for a century. Till within recent years, its principles have obscured, though they have never wholly eclipsed, the principles of the American Revolution. But now there seems reason to believe that the French Revolution has spent its force, and that the influence of the American Revolution is growing daily stronger. Signs of this are the councils and conferences which are steadily increasing in number and in power, on the subject of arbitration as the peaceful means of settling questions growing out of the relations of communities, of states and of nations. Arbitration, whether between persons or between communities, states and nations, implies a universal and common law. Peace conferences can, it would seem, have no reasonable purpose and can hope to accomplish no permanent result, except as they attempt to substitute a universal and common law, supported by the public sentiment of the civilized world, for human edicts founded on human will and supported by physical force. The American System is but the establishment of interstate and international arbitration as the common and usual course of governmental action instead of as a voluntary or spasmodic manifestation of governmental will.

Only on the assumption of the existence of this universal common law can the relations between us and our Insular brethren be relations under law, for a written constitution between us and them is impossible. We realize, as Americans, that somehow these relations must be under law if they are to be according to the American System, for we know that there is no liberty except under law, and that the American System has, for its sole object, human liberty.

If we are right, the American people, in rejecting, as they have, the European terms "colony," "dependence" and "empire," and the theory which these terms symbolize, have been true to the American System. In substituting for these terms the American terms, "free state," "just connection" and "union" and the American theory which these terms symbolize, it is not necessary for us to alter in the least our established views concerning the Constitution as the supreme law of the Union. It is only necessary for us to realize that the Constitution is itself but one application of the great principles of the American System which, as the Supreme Court says, are "formulated" in it, and to proceed, by a new formulation or by adjudication, to apply these principles outside the present Union wherever American jurisdiction extends, in the confident belief that they can be applied universally, and that, wherever applied, they will bring the blessings of true liberty.

APPENDIX

THE AMERICAN SYSTEM

THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation--"

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

* * * * *

"We, therefore the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as Free and Independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which Independent States may of right do. And, for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

The Continental Congress. Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776.

THE ADOPTION OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM BY THE AMERICAN UNION IN ITS CONSTITUTION, AS APPLYING TO ITS EXTERNAL JUSTICIARY RELATIONS

"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America....

"The Executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America....

"The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States....

"The Judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.... The Judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority."

The Constitutional Convention. The Constitution of the United States, of September 17, 1787.

THE AMERICAN SYSTEM DIFFERENTIATED FROM THE EUROPEAN BY PRESIDENT WASHINGTON

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness--these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity....

"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct. And can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it?...

"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible....

"Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

"Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at anytime resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

"Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."