It is not useful, but hurtful, that the
constitution of the country should declare ignorance to be entitled to
as much political power as knowledge. The national institutions should
place all things that they are concerned with before the mind of the
citizen in the light in which it is for his good that he should regard
them: and as it is for his good that he should think that every one is
entitled to some influence, but the better and wiser to more than
others, it is important that this conviction should be professed by
the State, and embodied in the national institutions. Such things
constitute the spirit of the institutions of a country: that portion
of their influence which is least regarded by common, and especially
by English, thinkers; though the institutions of every country, not
under great positive oppression, produce more effect by their spirit
than by any of their direct provisions, since by it they shape the
national character. The American institutions have imprinted
strongly on the American mind that any one man (with a white skin)
is as good as any other; and it is felt that this false creed is
nearly connected with some of the more unfavourable points in American
character. It is not small mischief that the constitution of any
country should sanction this creed; for the belief in it, whether
express or tacit, is almost as detrimental to moral and intellectual
excellence any effect which most forms of government can produce.
Pages:
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211