But the king wished their counsel and advice, and perhaps
the presence of a popular body, to enable him to make greater headway
against the feudal barons in the aristocratic and hereditary branch of
the legislature. In process of time these knights and burgesses assumed
more and more a popular character, and became, by degrees, the guardians
of popular rights. The people through them obtained protection against
the encroachments of the crown and the aristocracy, till in our day they
are understood to be the representatives of the people, charged with the
protection of their rights. With us it was always just so.
Representation has always been of this character. The power is with the
people; but they cannot exercise it in masses or _per capita_; they can
only exercise it by their representatives. The whole system with us has
been popular from the beginning.
Now, the basis of this representation is suffrage. The right to choose
representatives is every man's part in the exercise of sovereign power;
to have a voice in it, if he has the proper qualifications, is the
portion of political power belonging to every elector. That is the
beginning. That is the mode in which power emanates from its source, and
gets into the hands of conventions, legislatures, courts of law, and the
chair of the executive. It begins in suffrage. Suffrage is the
delegation of the power of an individual to some agent.
This being so, then follow two other great principles of the American
system.
Pages:
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
1434
1435
1436
1437
1438
1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453