Conceived in Liberty Volume 2 - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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Birth into one of the ruling families was almost essential to the making of a political career in eighteenth-century Virginia. A man inherited local prominence from his father or uncle in much the same way that he inherited land and slaves and social position. It is difficult to recall the name of any Virginian of the Revolutionary generation who rose to high office without the aid of influential relatives.* In contrast to the other offices that were appointive, the powerful House of Burgesses was elected democratically by the citizens. But various not-too-subtle devices were employed to ensure oligarchic control of the results. For one thing, the voting, as was usual in that era, was by open oral declaration in front of the oligarchically selected sheriff and not by secret ballot. One common device was for the leading planters of the locality to be called upon first to declare their votes; the lesser folk of the county well understood their role. In addition, the sheriff, an appointee of the oligarchic county court, had complete power to set the dates and times of the poll and to open or close it at his whim. Furthermore, he had the power to decide which voter was properly qualified. As an extra lagniappe for the large planters, everyone could vote in any county in which he held a sufficient amount of land. In addition to these devices, which wrapped the rule of oligarchy in a cloak of democratic procedure, there applied the general truths of the rule of oligarchy within the democratic form, such truths as were analyzed by the great political theorist Gaetano Mosca. As Mosca wrote: In all societies . .. two classes of people appear—a class that rules and a class that is ruled. The first class always is the less numerous, performs all political functions, monopolizes power and enjoys the advantages that power brings, whereas the second, the more numerous class, is directed and controlled by the first in a manner that is now more or less legal, now more or less arbitrary and violent, and supplies the first, in appearance at least, with material means of subsistence and with the instrumentalities that are essential to the vitality of the political organism What happens in other forms of government—namely that an organized minority imposes its will on the disorganized majority—happens also and to perfection but under the appearances of the contrary under a representative system. When we say that the voters "choose" their representatives, we are using a language that is very inexact. The truth is that the representative has himself elected by the voters and if that phrase should seem too inflexible and too harsh to fit some cases, we might qualify it by saying that his friends have him elected.... The political mandate has been likened to the power of attorney that is familiar in private law. But in private relationships delegations of power and capacities always presuppose that the principal has the broadest freedom in choosing his representative. Now in practice in popular elections that freedom of choice, though complete theoretically, necessarily becomes null not to say *lbii., p. 74. 81
ludicrous. If each voter gave his vote to the candidate of his heart we may be sure that in almost all cases the only result would be a wide scattering of votes. When very many wills are involved, choice is determined by the most various criteria, almost all of them subjective, and if such wills were not coordinated and organized it would be virtually impossible for them to coincide in the spontaneous choice of one individual. If his vote were to have any efficacy at all, therefore, each voter is forced to limit his choice to a very narrow field, in other words, to a choice among the two or three persons who have some chance of succeeding; and the only ones who have any chance of succeeding are those whose candidacies are championed by groups, by committees, by organized minorities.* *Gaetano Mosca, The Ruling Class (New York: McGraw-Hill Co., 193S), pp. 50, 154. 82
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CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY VOLUME II
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CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY VOLUME II "SAL
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By Liberty, I understand the power
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22. Slavery in South Carolina 97 23
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fruits of liberty and production. P
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Introduction The Colonies in the Ei
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PART I Developments in the Separate
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General Court, representing the vie
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chusetts Bay. Mather, Willard, and
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Half-Way Covenant, eliminating the
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widened his focus to society and go
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Libertarianism in Rhode Island Thou
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Land Tenure and Land Allocation in
Page 27 and 28: ing a separate absentee oligarchy,
Page 29 and 30: New Hampshire Breaks Free Conflicts
Page 31 and 32: The Narragansett Planters Another i
Page 33 and 34: 7 New York Land Monopoly As early a
Page 35 and 36: manor (the "highland patent") began
Page 37 and 38: ecame mainly squabbles of family an
Page 39 and 40: Crown and for Robert Livingston to
Page 41 and 42: 8 Slavery in New York Of all the No
Page 43 and 44: Roman Catholic priest found in the
Page 45 and 46: arms, and threatened Coxe with assa
Page 47 and 48: twenty of the rioters for high trea
Page 49 and 50: Hunter Morris sailed to London to p
Page 51 and 52: The first great wave of Ulster Scot
Page 53 and 54: idled, and therefore few Ulstermen
Page 55 and 56: While the great bulk of Pennsylvani
Page 57 and 58: scouts and Indian fighters. And by
Page 59 and 60: (Nova Scotia). The Assembly, urged
Page 61 and 62: 13 The Emergence of Benjamin Frankl
Page 63 and 64: and influential men. Hardly had Fra
Page 65 and 66: getting ready to strike a mortal bl
Page 67 and 68: uncollectible quitrents. The upshot
Page 69 and 70: farmers, in contrast, retired from
Page 71 and 72: pains, jeered and cursed at every s
Page 73 and 74: 15 The Virginia Land System The Sou
Page 75 and 76: first imported Germans were Swiss,
Page 77: 16 The Virginia Political Structure
Page 81 and 82: British merchant-creditors, that is
Page 83 and 84: 18 Slavery in Virginia As tobacco p
Page 85 and 86: the free Negroes [that the Assembly
Page 87 and 88: defeated the Tuscaroras, captured o
Page 89 and 90: collection of the rents. All in all
Page 91 and 92: 21 Royal Government in North Caroli
Page 93 and 94: and taxes ceased to be paid through
Page 95 and 96: whites, whereas Negro slaves outnum
Page 97 and 98: esult could only be a rout. Fifty o
Page 99 and 100: colony and thrust into Florida by 1
Page 101 and 102: 24 The Land Question in South Carol
Page 103 and 104: wicke, Izard, and Middleton. (Gover
Page 105 and 106: upon the Westo Indians in 1680, the
Page 107 and 108: colony in Gualé (to be called "Geo
Page 109 and 110: his chief ally, Viscount Percival,
Page 111 and 112: Since the funds all came philanthro
Page 113 and 114: the Assembly who did not have at le
Page 115 and 116: the Jews from the colony. Particula
Page 117 and 118: would shut off an expected flow of
Page 119 and 120: Courtesy of The New-York Historical
Page 121 and 122: New York Public Library Robert Walp
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26 Inflation and the Creation of Pa
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paper made a compulsory medium for
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As befitted their undeveloped econo
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violation of the law, the Assemblie
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pounds; for then no one would have
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price of silver in New England shil
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followed each new emission of paper
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in Massachusetts. In 1744, the tota
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If merchants were the leaders in ag
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27 The Communication of Ideas: Post
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None of these actions and restricti
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censorship through licensing of the
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sick wife; the lower house finally
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indeed for a despotically inclined
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egard to the laws." And the laws, l
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indefinitely and to ignore any writ
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his guilt was sentenced to the pill
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By the first decades of the eightee
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29 The Great Awakening Into this re
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University, which stressed evangeli
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In New Jersey the battle between th
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individualist, rationalist, and Arm
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isters were to be fined or expelled
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petition, but wiser heads prevailed
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Briant's essay led to a wave of Arm
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inant. Like their counterparts in A
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Meanwhile, similar protests were gr
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The great impact of John Woolman is
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tation, but all the time that they
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32 The Beginning of the Struggle ov
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grand design for an American establ
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opinion to open them again; and Wil
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oretical articulation and groundwor
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ights to popular government. There
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keep this property, exchange it for
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authority; that is, they are void;
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great for the sake of the public, a
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work of his hands are properly his
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PART III Relations with Britain
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decisions of governor and Council t
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of the Assemblies, which won for th
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purchasers or English shippers. Tob
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American woolens, the industry was
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twelve-inch diameters or more (but
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place, a virtual monopoly of the na
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The Walpoles were willing to appeas
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England had attacked France in two
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Spain in October 1739. A new wave o
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in England over the unexpected capt
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still held several British officers
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or Assembly, took the lead in this
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37 Early Phases of the French and I
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ginia, in particular, began to pres
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All in all, nearly one million, fiv
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iver." Only North Carolina voted su
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itterly, denouncing it as "against
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cajoling the Virginia Assembly into
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38 The Persecution of the Acadians
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four prisoners had been "guilty of
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tion of the New Brunswick area. Nai
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quered Quebec later in the war, man
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Indian tribes to join the French si
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against Fort Duquesne with a force
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40 The American Colonies and the Wa
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was the English army, and that if t
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England had long been the major opp
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41 Concluding Peace Although the co
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ing the French fort at Louisbourg.
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manuscript of Henry McCulloh, a Bri
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In the meanwhile, Pitt's acceptance
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William Burke's Examination of the
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The immigrants arrived in midsummer
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liament. Enjoying the blessings of
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known to historians. The definitive
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Land-grabbing and Indian conflicts
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considerable historical controversy
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The best '::story of eighteenth-cen
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Index Abercromby, James, 247 abolit
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Burling, William, 175 Burr, Aaron,
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Duane, James, 41 Duane manor, 39 Du
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Hawley, Thomas, 36 Hayward, John, 1
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Maine, 55, 211; settlement of, 140
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pamphlets, 64, 66, 131, 132, 146, 1
Page 295 and 296:
St. John, James, 104-105 salutary n
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Virginia, 54, 118, 154, 235, 243, 2
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