THE PROBLEM OF THE FAMILY 711 



soldier a new force in war as compared with the mounted officer and 

 his retainers. The discovery of America opened a new field to 

 individual enterprise. And a little later the impulse to modern 

 science was given by the beginnings of the method of scientific 

 study. 



Within the last two centuries individualism received another 

 impetus. The ethical philosophy of Locke made its mark on the 

 theology of New England. It powerfully affected the political 

 thinking of the times. Rousseau and Jefferson either directly or 

 indirectly felt its profound influence. And through its effect on 

 the theology of New England it came to mold in some degree the 

 thinking of the political leaders of the American Revolution. The 

 war of American Independence was fought on the rights of the indi- 

 vidual. Blackstone is an example of the influence of individualism 

 in law and Adam Smith of its power in the new science of political 

 economy. Priestley and Franklin may be noted in the realm of 

 natural science. And we should not overlook the results of the 

 inventions of the period. The coming of the power loom and the 

 spinning-jenny, also in the latter part of the eighteenth century, led 

 to the transfer of labor from the home to the factory. 



The early half of the nineteenth century witnessed another series 

 of events in the same direction. The spread of the Sunday-school 

 relieved the home of much of its responsibility for the religious train- 

 ing of the young, and the growth of the public school system had 

 a similar effect in another direction. Perhaps a better statement 

 would be that the rise of these two institutions withdrew attention 

 from the home as a source of education and unconsciously prevented 

 its development as an educational force. The great revival work 

 of the first half of the last century and the tendency of the general 

 work of the churches had the same effect. It was a century of the 

 device and use of societies of the communal form and not one that 

 attended directly to the home. 



Then followed the temperance reformation, based on the rescue of 

 persons one by one by the individual pledge, the anti-slavery reform 

 founded on the rights of the individual, and the woman's rights 

 movement, which w T as another application of the same principle. 

 The use of steam power in manufacture, in transportation, and in 

 printing, the invention of the uses of electricity, and the great migra- 

 tion to the west in this period all aided the movement of forces 

 making for individualism and supporting it. America has felt the 

 force of this movement beyond any other country, both for good and 

 for evil. The United States have been the very centre of this stream 

 of modern civilization. The problem is, therefore, more acute here 

 than anywhere else. The subject is a most serious one. What has 

 been done towards its treatment? 



