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Excerpts from Politics for Young Americans, ©1875 Charles Nordhoff

The following excerpts are gleaned from The 1875 Civics textbook, Politics for Young Americans, ©1875 Charles Nordhoff, that was taught to sixteen year-old students both at home and in public school of its day.

While it is an old book, it does embrace fundamental, common sense concepts of Civics, Civic Duty, and Citizenship that are tried and tested and transcend the bounds of time.

Page numbers will be referenced at the end of each citation.

“To be a good citizen means not merely that you shall give such prudent obedience to the laws as would keep you out of jail. It means that you shall in all parts of your life live moderately and virtuously; that you shall “love your neighbor as yourself,” and therefore do him no wrong; that you shall pursue your aims in life with such moderation as to avoid interfering with the happiness of others; that you shall endeavor by your actions, whenever occasion serves, to benefit your fellow-men: for selfishness breeds selfishness, covetousness corrupts those who behold it, and liberty can only be maintained among a people who practice self-sacrifice, and to whom a virtuous life seems more important than selfish success.” - pp. 13-14.

“Laws should be few in number and simple in structure; they should rigidly avoid granting special privileges or immunities to individuals, but should be general in their application; and they ought never to interfere with the liberty of men to move about peaceably from place to place; to discuss freely public affairs and questions; to engage in whatever honest occupation pleases them; to produce whatever seems to them most suitable; and to exchange what they have produced where they please, and for what they most desire.” - p. 15

“Governments may be said to be necessary evils, their necessity arising out of the selfishness and stupidity of mankind.” - p. 15

“In reading history, you will discover that the less intelligent and more selfish a nation was, the more despotic was its government, and the more arbitrary and vexatious its laws; and that as the general average of virtue and intelligence in a nation increased, in the same degree its government and laws became milder and more just. It is equally true that a nation which has enjoyed an excellent government may, by the corruption of its morals, and the consequent increase of selfishness and ignorance, lose this, and have imposed on it a worse, and even the worst form of government. Thus I wish you to believe that it is only by maintaining, and even elevating, the standard of virtue and intelligence among our people that we can preserve our free institutions.” p. 16

“The primary and necessary functions of any government are to maintain the peace and to administer justice, which means to protect the orderly and law-abiding part of the people in the enjoyment of life and property and against the attacks of the disorderly and law-breaking…

...Where the average of virtue, intelligence, and self restraint is high among a people, their government needs to interfere but little in their affairs. Where this average is low, government always interferes more, by means of police, armies, and vexatious regulations…

...the common excuse for a despotism is that it is necessary to maintain order; which nevertheless it does not maintain, except temporarily, and at the monstrous cost of increasing the ignorance and helplessness and diminishing the virtue and public spirit of the nation, and thus in the end increasing tremendously the causes of disorder.” - p. 17

“Rulers are only men; the possession of power easily demoralizes the best and wises of men; and no ruler will long be just, efficient, honest, or respectable, who does not feel and fear the force of public indignation; nor will rogues fear the laws, unless they are assured that the mass of citizens will vigorously demand the prompt enforcement of laws…

...Back of all laws and all authority must lie a belief that in the last resort every citizen will defend his own rights. You can not put a corporal’s guard at every man’s door. The thief or robber at bottom never fears the law and the government nearly as much as he does the right arm of courage of the man he seeks to injure…

...desperadoes were encouraged in their careers by the quiet submission of their victims. They did not greatly fear the law; and a single shot from a brave citizen would have checked them more immediately than the whole power of the government unsupported by the citizens…

...Where the people are careless, and submit readily to wrong, the law soon falls into disrepute, rights are invaded, and disorders are encouraged.” - pp. 19-21

“It is of the utmost importance to the perpetuity of free government that the people should be left to do for themselves whatever they can, without the interference of the government.” - p. 23

“Free government is troublesome to its citizens, because it imposes upon every man duties of a public nature, to which he must give time and intelligent thought. In the measure that all the people thus give up time and thought to their political duties, in the same degree will their government be justly and honestly administered. Gross selfishness, such as leads men to abandon their political and public duties, in order to devote their whole time and energies to their own affairs or pleasures, is therefore, as I have already several times pointed out to you, a disgraceful and dangerous vice in the citizen of a republic.” - p. 25

“Minors, or persons under age, and paupers are not allowed to vote because they are dependent; and it is presumable that they would vote under coercion, and not according to their independent judgment. Moreover, a person incapable of managing his private business ought not to have a voice or influence in public affairs.” - p. 36

“The chief object of a constitution is to limit the power of majorities.” - p. 41

“Our Congress and Legislatures do not pretend to be collections of the ablest men in the nation. They are representative bodies; and the delegates are supposed to represent the constituencies. Of course you are to understand that a representative is not a mere delegate to utter the voice of his constituents. He is sent to exercise his independent judgment on pending questions, and not to record what their whims or temporary passions may dictate. He is their wise man, and not their slave.” - p. 44

“A certain degree of intelligence is necessary to make a man a good citizen of a free state.” - p. 46

“Whatever you earn or produce or create by your labor or ingenuity or forethought, or all combined, is your property; it belongs to you, because you have taken the trouble to produce it; and you have the right to do with it what you will. You may, for instance consume or waste it all.

If you produce more than you consume, what remains over is still your own property, to which you have the exclusive right against other persons. This surplus which remains over in your hands is called capital. Ignorant persons misuse this word, and imagine a capitalist to be one who has accumulated some vague but large amount of property. I want you to understand that this is a foolish limitation of the meaning of this word.” - p. 54

“...the government , at a mint, assays the gold and silver, purifies them, and by a mark on each coin denotes its fineness and weight. That is to say, it certifies that a silver dollar, or a gold five-dollar piece, really contains a dollar’s worth of silver or five dollar’s worth of gold…

...But it is evident that this does not give the government a right to debase the coinage, by certifying that to be a dollar which contains less than a dollar’s worth of gold or silver, for this would be to cheat the people; still less can it affix arbitrary denominations to thins, as pieces of birch-bark, or of paper, and command them to be accepted as money, or make them a legal tender as we say, for this would be to authorize one citizen to swindle another. All that the government does in coining is for the general convenience to declare the purity and certify the actual weight of a piece of metal.” - pp. 60-61

“A bank note is note money; on the contrary, it is only a promise to pay money.” - p. 74

“That it is not a function of law to prevent a man injuring himself - else the government would have to interfere in every act of our lives: but only to prevent him from injuring others; and that finally, a law prohibiting the sale and use of an article in universal demand can not be carried into effect without vexatious and justly hateful searches in private houses and interference with individual desires and tastes.” - p. 112

“Corporations are called in law “artificial persons,” which means that they have no natural existence, but are the creatures of law.” - p. 115

“In all the constitutions, Federal and state, the people have reserved to themselves certain rights and immunities, which none of their governments are allowed to interfere with; and it is important that you should understand these.

As an American citizen, you are a free man; and no one has a right to enslave your person, except for crime, or which you must first be convicted, upon a fair trial in open court; or to take from you your property, except by due process of law.” - p. 127

“It is your right to expose the folly or injustice of a law, to demand its repeal, and to try to get a majority to repeal it.” - p. 128

“It is your duty, if you are a man, to serve in the militia, if the law commands it; and every American voter ought to have a sufficient knowledge of the manual and use of arms to enable him to act efficiently if called out as part of the posse comitatus to put down a riot…

...It is your duty, if your party nominates a bad man, to vote against him, and thus keep the public and general good before your eyes, and set an example of true public spirit before your fellows…

...It is your duty to watch the conduct of public officers, to see that they perform their duties and observe their constitutional limitations; and if they do not, then it is your duty to help to expose them, and at the elections to punish them. For it is only by such vigilance that a nation can preserve its liberties unimpaired.” - p. 129

“...the people, rightly instructed, always favor the right.” - p. 136

“A strong and able minority is a very important part of a legislative body. Its office there is to examine and criticize the propositions and acts of the party in power; to scrutinize its expenditures; to expose its inefficiency, its usurpations of power; to ridicule its blunders; and to oppose all attempts at bad legislation. Where a minority is strong in votes, and has able leaders, the first effect of its vigilance is to make the party in power more careful in administration and legislation, and thus to benefit the country…” - p. 137

“In our political system cities have become the strongholds of misrule. This arises from two causes: first, the city government concerns itself more intimately with the lives of the inhabitants than any other, wherefore there is a proportionately greater possibility of corruption and maladministration; second, city charters, almost without exception, subdivide power and responsibility among boards or commissions, and thus disable the people from discovering the authors of corruption and misrule, and from punishing them even if they are known.” - p. 138

“The fundamental and most vital principle underlying our political system is that called DECENTRALIZATION, by which the duties imposed by the people upon their rulers are divided among several distinct governments, each acting independently in its sphere, but all subordinate to one general or organic law, called with us the Federal Constitution, and so arranged as to work harmoniously for a common purpose.” - p. 147

“...it has been noticed that as we increase in population there is an increasing propensity to impose more upon the Federal Government, and to take from the powers of the local governments. This all wise citizens ought to resist, for as we increase in population it is necessary that we shall even add to the number of objects over which the people shall determine and rule in the local governments…

...It is in this direction that wise citizens will strive to guard against future dangers. The inconveniences, the temporary maladministration and above all the apparent carelessness with which the people condone blunders in their public servants, need not give you occasion for gloomy forebodings. Our people are naturally inattentive to minor details in their governments. They forgive much to their rulers, if only they are convinced that these have an honest desire to serve the public. They are slow to lose their faith in old public servants, and especially in a political party which has once secured their confidence by conspicuous good service.” - p 148