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10 VIMU

JKII

1927/

COPYRIGHT, 1927,

BY

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

Printed in the United States of America

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To

MY WIFE

664295

PREFACE

In order to avoid the monotony of details and the dryness of mere descriptions, it seems wise to require a certain amount of collateral reading of a high order in connection with an introductory study of the national government. Government is a living organism, and it has been operated by great men who have possessed the ability to describe to the generality of citizens the true picture of its operation. Too frequently, however, the student in an introductory course in American Government is likely to escape without having made an acquaintance with these great political leaders, or without having read some of their admirable, even classic, opinions. No student of literature can thus avoid Shakespeare, or Browning, or Milton.

These selections, therefore, have been made with the view to bringing the student or general reader into contact with many of the significant men who have either occupied the governmental stage or who have been peculiarly situated or fitted to depict the important phases of American politics. An acquaintance with government artists through their spoken or written words, distinguished by their clarity, their penetrating insight, and by their authority and prestige, should reveal to the reader the real value of governmental institutions, just as good literature reveals the soul and life of a people.

I have attempted to make selections which will be helpful and clarifying, and which at the same time are more or less classic, in that they may be called standards of reference. Although the details of government are con

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