232 



said, therefore, that the great civil war was but a logomachy, or fighting 

 about a word. 



Other causes doubtless concurred in bringing on the war, such as slavery 

 and the tariff; for it cannot be doubted, on tlie one hand, that, with those 

 in the South who owned slaves, the protection of tlieir property was a 

 strong motive, or, on the other, that, with a large, wealthy and influential 

 class at the North, the preservation of a market was an equally control- 

 ling consideration. But no one who is familiar with the history of the 

 contest, and especially with opinion and sentiment, as it existed both at 

 the North and the South immediately before the war, can doubt that the 

 paramount issue in the minds of the great mass of honest people was the 

 relative supremacy of the federal and the State governments, or that this 

 question originated in the absurd doctrinaire notion of the indivisibility of 

 sovereignty, or, in fine, that this notion was the ultimate cause of the war. 



§ 14. Of the Historical Origin of the Slate. 



The subject of the historical origin of the State — whicli must not be 

 confounded with what may be called its causal origin, or raison d'etre, or 

 cause of existence of the State — a very difTerent subject — is one of 

 great interest ; but its consideration does not belong to the theory of the 

 State, except in so far as it may serve to illustrate or verify the principles 

 involved in the discussion. A brief consideration of it will therefore be 

 sufficient. 



With regard to modern States, we are, in general, able to trace back 

 the history of each to its origin ; but this is uoi true of the ancient States, 

 whose beginnings are shrouded in the mists of antiquity. All, therefore, 

 that we can know of the origin of the primitive State, with the exception 

 of a few historical facts, is confined to such inferences as may be drawn 

 from the nature of man ; but from tliis, the general course of the original 

 genesis and development of the State is sufficiently obvious. The primi- 

 tive society is the family ; and out of this, even in the absence of other 

 supervening causes, must inevitably grow, as from a germ, the larger 

 society, which we call the State, whether the village or tribe, the city 

 or the nation. Other causes may indeed concur in the development of 

 the State, the chief of which is war or conquest ; but without these the 

 same course of development must inevitably take place. 



§15. Of the Causal Origin, or Raison d' &tre of the State. 



Hence, therefore, passing to the causal origin, or raison d'etre of the 

 State, it is evident that it does not need the refined hypothesis of a social 

 contract, or of direct divine appointment, to justify its existence, but it is 

 to be regarded as a naturally existing phenomenon, in the same sense as 

 man himself exists. Hence, also, it seems to be an absurdity to speak, as 

 many do, of "the State of nature," as opposed to the social State ; f<n- the 

 social State is, in fact, the natural State of mankind, and the State of 



