The Theory of Social Revolutions
Adams, Brooks, 1848-1927
English
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THE THEORY OF SOCIALREVOLUTIONS
BY
BROOKS ADAMS
COPYRIGHT, 1923,
By THE ATLANTICMONTHLY COMPANY.
COPYRIGHT, 1913,
By THE MACMILLANCOMPANY.
PREFATORY NOTE
The first chapter of the following book was published, in substantially itspresent form, in the Atlantic Monthly for April, 1913. I have to thankthe editor for his courtesy in assenting to my wish to reprint. The otherchapters have not appeared before. I desire also to express my obligations to mylearned friend, Dr. M.M. Bigelow, who, most kindly, at my request, read chapterstwo and three, which deal with the constitutional law, and gave me the benefitof his most valuable criticism.
Further than this I have but one word to add. I have written in support of nopolitical movement, nor for any ephemeral purpose. I have written only toexpress a deep conviction which is the result of more than twenty years ofstudy, and reflection upon this subject.
BROOKS ADAMS.
QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, May 17, 1913.
CONTENTSI. THE COLLAPSE OFCAPITALISTIC GOVERNMENTII. THE LIMITATIONSOF THE JUDICIAL FUNCTIONIII. AMERICAN COURTS AS LEGISLATIVE CHAMBERS
IV. THE SOCIALEQUILIBRIUMV. POLITICAL COURTSVI. INFERENCESINDEX [not included in this etext]
THE THEORY OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS
CHAPTER I
THE COLLAPSE OF CAPITALISTIC GOVERNMENT
Civilization, I apprehend, is nearly synonymous with order. However much wemay differ touching such matters as the distribution of property, the domesticrelations, the law of inheritance and the like, most of us, I should suppose,would agree that without order civilization, as we understand it, cannot exist.Now, although the optimist contends that, since man cannot foresee the future,worry about the future is futile, and that everything, in the best possible ofworlds, is inevitably for the best, I think it clear that within recent years anuneasy suspicion has come into being that the principle of authority has beendangerously impaired, and that the social system, if it is to cohere, must bereorganized. So far as my observation has extended, such intuitions are usuallynot without an adequate cause, and if there be reason for anxiety anywhere, itsurely should be in the United States, with its unwieldy bulk, its heterogeneouspopulation, and its complex government. Therefore, I submit, that an hour may
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