PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

~Ob
Origin oj Ciruil Government.
dominion. The f.rst was, that of a parent over his
young children: this that of an ancestor presiding
over hi& ad ult descc~ndants.
Although the ori ginal progenitor was the centre
of the union to his posterity, yet it is not probable
that the association would be immediately or altogether
dissolved by his death. Connected by habits
of intercourse and affection, and by some common
righ(s, necessities and interests, they would consider
themselves as allied to each otller in a Jlearer degree
than to the rest of the species. Almost all would
be sensible of an incljnation to contillue in the socie ..
ty in which they had been brought up; and experiencing,
as they soon would do, many inc()nvenienc~s
from the absence o_f that authority \vhich their com­
JIlon ancestor exerci~ed, especially in deciding their
disputes, and directing their operations in matters
in which it was necessary to act in conjunction, they
might be induced to supply his place by a formal
choice of a su~cessor~ or rather might \villingly, and
f\lmost imperceptibl)T transfer their obedience to some
one of the family, who, by his age or services, or by
th~_ part he possessed in the direction of their affairs
during the life-time of the parent, had already taught
them ~o respect Qis advice, or to attend to his com·
mands; or lastly, the prospect of these inconvenien.
ces might prompt the first ancestor to appoint a successor,
apd his posterity, from the same nlotive, \\nited
u'ith an habitQ~1 deference to the ancestor's au­
~}-lority, might receive the ~ppointmcnt with sub:oo
rt1i&si9n. lIere then we have a tribe or clan incorporated
under one chief. Such communities might
be increased bv considerable number~, and fulfil
J
the purposes of civil union without any other or
more regular ~onvention, constitution, or form of
government, than wh~t we have described. Every
branch which was slipped off from the primitive
~tock, and removed to a distance from it, would in
like lDanner take r')ot, and grow into a separate
clan. Two or three of these clans were frequently,
we 11lC1Y suppose, united into one. Marriage, con ..