Representative Government

The American experiment. - A few races qualified themselves for self-government. To establish that form of government was a long, hard struggle which culminated in the great American experiment. The United States set up a distinct and different form of government, the product of distinct racial stocks and centuries spent in learning the principles and art of self-government. In practice, our form of government is the most nearly perfect in securing individual rights and ensuring the blessings of liberty. It differs from previous forms in certain vital and fundamental principles which have come to be known as "American institutions." Among these is that of self-government by representation, which is "the golden mean between autocracy and democracy."