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CHAPTER X

THE GENERAL WELFARE

1

THERE remains to be considered only one of the purposes which the people of the modern commonwealth are united in seeking to accomplish. This, according to the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, is to promote the general welfare. The general welfare, however, like the other ends which the modern commonwealth is designed to serve, is difficult to define.

functions

In former times the most important function of the The state, which would properly have fallen under the head of religious promoting the general welfare, was the care of religion. of the state This function was clearly expressed in several of the declarations of rights which were adopted by the original States at the time of the American Revolution. It was strongly emphasized in the declaration of rights which formed part of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, the latest and most deliberately prepared of the original State constitutions. The subject of religion is first treated in the second article of that declaration, immediately following that in which all men were declared to have been born "free and equal," and to possess "certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights." "It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society," the article declares, “publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the Universe." And it concludes by laying down the principles of freedom of conscience and of worship. No person should be restrained from worshiping God in the manner "most

Religious liberty

lutionary declarations of rights

agreeable to the dictates of his conscience," provided he in the Revo- did not disturb the public peace or interfere with others in their religious worship. These liberties thus became a part of the general juristic liberty of citizens of Massachusetts. In all the original States the ideas of religious and political liberty became more closely associated than they had ever been in England.

The public support of religion

Effect of separation of church and state on the religious activities of the modern

commonwealth

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But the Massachusetts declaration did not stop there. The third article proceeds to declare furthermore that "as the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality; and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community but by the institution of the public worship of God, and of public instructions in piety, religion, and morality: Therefore the people of this commonwealth have a right to .. make suitable provision . . . for the institution of the public worship of God. "This article concluded by asserting the right of the people to make provision also for religious education, and to "enjoin upon all the subjects an attendance upon the instructions of the public teachers aforesaid . . if there be any on whose instructions they can conscientiously and conveniently attend." This was a moderate statement of the religious function of the state, as formerly understood.

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But people's opinions concerning the relations between church and state changed. In the United States the predominant opinion no longer deems it either necessary or proper that the state should undertake to care for the religious interests of the people beyond protecting the adherents of each religion from undue interference by adherents of others. What constitutes undue interference -where, for example, the line should be drawn between tolerable propaganda by adherents of one sect among the members of another and that which is intolerable-is a

problem of domestic tranquillity. It has to be dealt with, like other phases of the liberty of public discussion, under the police power. The welfare power of the state has been in effect curtailed by the separation of state and church. In Massachusetts, the last of the States to give up a state church, the third article of the original declaration of rights was, repealed in 1833 and the commonwealth discontinued the public support of religious worship and religious education. But the second article remains to the present day, a noble memorial of the importance which good citizens may still be supposed to attach to the practice of their religion. The predominant opinion in all states where the distinction between church and state is clearly recognized now obliges governments to refrain from systematic efforts to promote the general welfare by directly participating in the maintenance of religion. But even in these states, as has been pointed out,' religious observances have generally been preserved in the conduct of public affairs, and in many other states the care of religion continues to be an important public enterprise. In the modern commonwealth, however, such arguments as those set forth in John Locke's Letters on Toleration tend to exclude the promotion of the strictly spiritual interests of men from the field of governmental action.

2

educational

state

In modern commonwealths the foremost function, which The clearly falls within the scope of the welfare power, is the functions care of education. The educational function of the state, of the like the religious, has been the subject of much controversy, but, as the emphasis upon the latter has declined, that on the former has risen. Some of the reasons for this are closely connected with the nature of the modern commonwealth.

1 See ante, p. 117.

Effect of the

sentiment

of

nationality
on the
educational
activities
of the
modern

common

wealth

Democracy and

education

One cause of the growth of opinion in modern times favorable to the support and control of education by the state has been the rise of the sentiment of nationality. Nationalism became a powerful political force partly because education had become more popular and at the same time more liberal in character. Many writers have pointed out the similarity between the modern national state, especially the Kulturstaat, and the ancient Greek Commonwealth. As one writer has put it, the national state is the city-state, "writ large." Few statesmen have better appreciated the importance of a importance of a public system of education than those of the Greek city-states, and never have political scientists laid more stress on educational policies than the Greek thinkers of classical antiquity. Lycurgus is equally renowned for the form of government which he established in ancient Sparta and for the Spartan system of education. Plato was more interested in the education of the Guardians of his ideal Republic than in the organization of the public offices and the distribution of powers. The system of education, he believed, was the essence of the constitution. Aristotle prefaces his discussion of education in the Politics with an argument for public control which is still the best vindication of the educa tional policy of modern national states.1

A more important cause of the growth of modern opinion favorable to state education has probably been the progress of democracy. The adaptation of education. to the form of government contributes greatly to the permanence of the constitution and to the stability of the state itself. The ancient Greek political scientists understood this clearly. "The best laws," Aristotle wrote, "though sanctioned by every citizen of the state, will be of no avail unless the young are trained by habit and education in the spirit of the constitution."2 And he went on to say that

1 Politics, book VIII, chapter 1.
2 Ibid., book v, chapter 9, § 12.

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in democratic states the education must be democratic, in oligarchical states, oligarchical, in character. "For there may be want of self-discipline in states as well as in individuals. Now, to have been educated in the spirit of the constitution is not to perform the actions in which oligarchs or democrats delight, but those by which the existence of an oligarchy or of a democracy is made possible. Whereas among ourselves," he added, "the sons of the ruling class in an oligarchy live in luxury, but the sons of the poor are hardened by exercise and toil, and hence they are both more inclined and better able to make a revolution." In the modern world the importance of a democratic system of education for the preservation of democracy has been recognized in democratic states. Popular education, even if originally instituted under religious influences or in response to nationalistic impulses, has been carried on in the service of democracy.

idealistic

theory of

the state

A third cause of the more favorable opinion in modern Influence times toward state education has been the greater influ- of the ence of the idealistic theory of the state. This theory has tended to raise the dignity of the modern state, as compared with the feudal and territorial states which preceded it, and to broaden the prevailing ideas concerning the activities which states might properly undertake in order to promote the general welfare. This effect has been particularly manifest in the field of education. Rousseau, whose writings on education profoundly influenced the development of modern educational ideals and policies, was a strong advocate of state education. When Robespierre and other French Revolutionists who were of Rousseau's way of thinking came into power, one of their most cherished projects was a national system of education. Rousseau's ideas, indeed, went further, extending to a state religion as well as a system of state education, but the revolutionary Convention's experiments with

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