Bluntschli: Theory of the State, pages 82-102.
Mulford: The Nation, pages 37-60.
Bagehot: Physics and Politics, pages 81-155.
Usher: Rise of the American People, pages 151-167, 182-195, 269-281.
CHAPTER XLI[ToC]
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE PEOPLE AS A NATION
319. The Reality of the Nation.—Ordinarily the individual is not pressed upon heavily by his national relationships. He is conscious of them as he reads the newspaper or goes to the post-office, but except at congressional or presidential elections they are not brought home to him vividly. He thinks and acts in terms of the community. The nation is an artificial structure and most of its operations are centralized at a few points. The President lives and Congress meets at the national capital. The departments of government are located there, and the Supreme Court holds its sessions in the same city. Here and there at the busy ports are the custom-houses, with their revenue officers, and at convenient distances are district courts and United States officers for the maintenance of national order and justice. The post-office is the one national institution that is found everywhere, matched in ubiquity only by the flag, the symbol of national unity and strength. But though not noticeably exercised, the power of the nation is very real. There is no power to dispute its legislation and the decisions of its tribunals. No one dares refuse to contribute to its revenues, whether excise tax or import duties. No one is unaware that a very real nation exists.