The President's Conciliatory Policy-The Stalwarts-Civil Service Re- Garfield's Inaugural Address-Extra Session of the Senate-"Stalwarts" and "Half-breeds"-"Regulars" and "Independents"-The "Conti- nentals" and the "Wolfe Men"-The Re-Adjusters-The Assassina- tion of President Garfield-Arthur's Accession-Boss Rule-The Star AMERICAN POLITICS. CHAPTER I. LOCAL COLONIAL POLITICS. 1607-1776. LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. A system of local self-government was in operation among the Anglo-Saxons during the period of their history as a distinct people. Their subjugation by the Normans in 1066 modified the system, but did not destroy it. The people slowly acquired power and gradually obtained important accessions from the crown, three of which, the Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, and the Bill of Rights, have been styled the bulwarks of English liberty. These have shaped the destiny of America. The English colonists who founded the thirteen original colonies during the one hundred and twenty-six years following the settlement of Jamestown, brought with them the idea of local self-government, under which they had lived in the parent country. They occupied the coast from Florida to Nova Scotia, and lived under such governments as circumstances required. Some of the colonies in their incipient stages, such as Plymouth and Rhode Island, were pure de mocracies; but when the growth of population prevented this, the form of government became representative. English sovereigns established over the colonies three kinds of government—the charter, the proprietary, and the royal. This was done, in some instances, at the date of settlement; in others, at a later period. Under these forms, the thirteen colonies became permanent, each independent of the others, and managing its own affairs. Every colony had matters connected with its management, in which the people were interested, and about which they would express their opinion. The discussion of these things developed a local politics, and served to educate the people in the most desirable forms of government and the best modes of civil administration. The colonial governments were similar, in that each had a governor and a general assembly, consisting of a council, which constituted the upper house, and a lower house elected by the people. Though these things were common, there were differences in their organization. CHARTER GOVERNMENTS. The charter governments were those modeled according to the provisions of the charters granted by the British crown. A charter served as a constitution to the colony that possessed it, and allowed the people to be represented in the government, a matter upon which the colonists insisted, claiming they should enjoy all the rights and privileges of Englishmen. The demand for representation was so great that every colony had a colonial legislature modeled after that of the parent country. The local political questions under charter governments usually involved matters pertaining to citizenship, religious toleration, and the right of suffrage. In Massachusetts, Roger Williams and his earnest followers were denied the right of citizenship, Quakers were persecuted, and no person could become a freeman unless he were a member of some church in the colony. ROYAL GOVERNMENTS. In the provincial or royal governments, the king appointed the governor and a council that formed the upper house of a legislature, the lower house consisting of representatives chosen by the colonists. The governor, whose instructions were received from the king, had a negative on all proceedings of the assembly, and could dissolve them at pleasure. The authority of the legislature extended to the making of local laws not in conflict with the laws of England; but all laws enacted by the legislature were subject to ratification or disapproval by the English sovereign. "The governor and council had power to establish courts, appoint judges, raise troops for defense, and exercise martial law in time of invasion, war, and rebellion. All real power was thus in the hands of the king, or of those holding office at his will." Though deprived of power in a great measure, the people possessed the forms of liberty, and freely discussed all matters connected with the government of their colony. Political matters in provincial governments pertained principally to arbitrary rule and exactions of the governor, freedom of the press, and the question of franchise. In Virginia, Governor Harvey was deposed, and Puritans were prohibited from holding any office of government. In New York, the colonists contended a number of years before they obtained an assembly; but the most noted contest between the people and the governor was the trial of Zenger, an editor, who had been arrested for freely expressing his opinion on matters of government. PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENTS. A proprietary government was under a proprietary, who appointed the governor, provided for a legislature, and sus tained toward the people a relation similar to that of the crown in the royal governments. Local politics differed but little from that under provincial governments. In Carolina, the original form of government, under Locke's Grand Model, was resisted till its abrogation was made a necessity, and two governors were banished for their tyrannical proceedings. In New Jersey, the colonists refused to pay quit-rents to the proprietors; while in Maryland, the vital struggle lay between the Catholics and Protestants, on the questions of religious toleration and the right of suffrage. The actual power possessed by the people was in many cases very small; but each colony, having a colonial legislature modeled upon Parliament, was "rendered familiar with elections, and with legislative and judicial proceedings." The forms of liberty brought the reality, and trained the colonists to the exercise of independence. PARTY NAMES IN COLONIAL TIMES. In the earliest era of colonization, political parties contended on American soil. Party organizations did not exist as in after times; but the people held two distinct political opinions, one portion favoring kingly prerogative and distrusting the capacity of man for self-government; the other portion advocating the rights of the people and confiding in the capacity of man for self-government. The former division may be called the "court party," the latter the "popular rights party;" names sufficiently comprehensive to embrace all that is included under them. These appellations are arbitrary, being selected because of their fitness to designate those political divisions that existed for a time without a name, and in different sections under different names. After the accession of William and Mary, 1688, the political affairs of England absorbed much of the attention of the Americans, and the party names of whig and tory, used in England, |