Parke Godwin

“ And so too man, whose outset and lowest state after birth is that of the flabby, puling, defenceless, unknowing, almost unconscious infant, becomes in his highest state—each step being marked by a more and more complete organic development—the giant, whose single arm levels the mountains, whose far-reaching intellect discovers worlds millions of miles away in the depths of space, whose imperious will uplifts and dashes together nations in tempestuous conflicts. ”

“ What are the marks and sign of this progress We answer, the same as have been shown to exist in the natural world,—the successive steps of nations or societies to a more and more perfect organization.
The first or simplest state of society, known to our annals, is the savage state, where the members of it subsist in almost complete isolation and independence. Indeed, the bonds of union between them are so rude, that they can hardly be said to possess society at all. They are rather an aggregation, like the particles of a mineral, than a society, like the elements of a plant. ”

“ He is poor, dependent, and half-wild; his own farmer, miller, merchant, mechanic, and governor. He builds his own house, raises his own wheat, makes his own tools, keeps his own store, argues his own causes, teaches his own school. He is without society,—the merest fraction of man. ”

“ Is it extravagant to anticipate a time when the tendency to union shall have been perfected; when the whole organization of society shall have been rendered more compact and harmonious? Will God suddenly suspend the great law of providential development?
Organization is not life, but it is the sign of life; and the degree and perfection of organization is the test of life. [1] ”

“ At a subsequent period in the formation, these points condense, and fill out, when a chick is formed, having a remote resemblance to a bird, but without plumage; too weak to move, and not very pleasing to the sight. In the end, as the organization is perfected, this chick grows into the imperial eagle, whose pinions waft him across the loftiest Alleganies, and whose eye gazes undaunted into the mid-day sun. ”

“ But, after a time, the people rise into greater power as an element of government, which assumes a more definite and responsible shape; industry and wealth, which serve to bind distant nations, are prodigiously developed; men unite more closely, not merely for purposes of Avar, but to cultivate the innumerable arts of peace; laws are digested into complete systems; the industrial and social relations and interests of various classes are consolidated; all the arrangements of society grow more intimate and complex. ”

“ The progress of nature, therefore, from one kingdom to another, from a lower rank in creation to a higher, consists in a gradual passage from a loose and irregular organization to one more complicated and concentric. ”

“ IV.—ORGANIZATION.
Society cannot remain stationary. It must either go forward or backward. It is a living organism, composed of living active members, who are always doing something, both in their individual and collective capacities. Every act done, either by individuals or by the social body, has some influence on the existing state of society; advances or obstructs the general movement; makes a portion of mankind better or worse ”

“ We have seen that one invariable characteristic attends all the developments of the natural world, in their transitions from a lower to a higher place; and the next question is, Whether the same characteristic does not accompany the advances of society? History shows us conclusively, that nations and bodies of men are in a process of constant change; and it is universally conceded, also, that in many respects this change has been for the better. The passage from barbarism to civilization is called a social advancement. One nation is often said to be ahead of other nations in its attainments. ”

“ The universal life of man has more aims in common; all the members of the state feel more closely bound to each other, and act more often and more in concert for comprehensive ends. This state of society is the one in which we live, and is denominated Civilization. It is the last term to which society has yet attained. ”

“ The greatest of men is known, in that he is the most highly organized of men. The progress of each of us towards a nobler standard of humanity is marked by the growing perfection of our organisms. When we raise ourselves to higher intellectual power, we feel that our intellectual forces have been trained, disciplined, adjusted, or, in a word, organized. When we reach loftier moral eminences, we feel that we have received fresh accessions of strength, chiefly through the better organization of our spiritual powers. ”

“ By this is meant, that a thing or movement is greater or less, better or worse, an advance or a retrogradation, just in the degree in which the organization of its parts is more or less perfect. If it has no organization, it exists on an exceedingly low plane of creation, in fact, on the very lowest plane; but the more complete, intricate, and perfect its organization, the more eminent, excellent, and good it is. ”

“ So, in the vegetable kingdom, mosses and lichens, which are found growing loosely upon the rocks, are among the simplest, and therefore lowest, elements of it; while among the highest is the firm-knit and lordly oak, whose organization has given it a grace of outline which painters envy, and a strength of structure that defies the blasts of a hundred years. ”

“ Then, the animal kingdom, still composed of the same essential matter, shows a still more compact structure, still more perfect forms ; and its parts are bound by higher powers of attraction, which even resist the attractions of the lower spheres, till man, finally, the summit of all the kingdoms, though made up of the same materials, walks abroad the most complex and concentrated of all structures, the most harmonious and beautiful of all forms. ”

“ The question at this day is, whether men have even here reached the limit of social progress; whether the principle of social organization is susceptible of any higher applications than it has hitherto received; whether our civilization is the last stage of social improvement ”

“ Or take, finally, the animal kingdom, with its first rude specimens of animals, almost formless, almost without parts and without powers as the oyster; and ascend gradually through worms, reptiles, fishes, birds, quadrupeds, up to man, do we not find one invariable character of progress all along the ascent, in the increasing compactness, delicacy, and finish of the organization? ”

“ There is great talk, too, everywhere, of the progress of the human species; of the improvement of society; of the gradual advancement of man to a more elevated existence. What does such language mean? ”

“ Simply, because the organization in these cases respectively is more and more complete. The mineral kingdom is a mere aggregation or conglomeration of particles held together by the simplest power of attraction; as any one may discover, who takes a friable stone in his hand, or knocks a gem into pieces with a hammer. Again, the vegetable kingdom, though composed essentially of the same matter as the earthy, exhibits a more compact structure and more perfect forms. Its members cannot be fried in the hands, nor broken by a hammer. ”

“ The wild and roaming independence of the savage is surrendered for more compact and regular social relations. Then the barbaric nation arises, where the patriarch of one united family grows into the king or monarch of many united families. ”

“ At each step, the relations of the people have extended, multiplied, and complicated. Their union has been strengthened; they have been brought nearer together; they have had more interests and more labors in common; isolation has given place to concentration; rude independence to regulated dependence; the centrifugal tendency of individuals restrained by the centripetal tendencies of society ”

“ Our extensive Western frontier is a cradle of infant commonwealths. The whole process of social growth is there laid open to us, as natural growth was in the patent hatching machine, or Eccolobean, exhibited a few years since. ”

“ The adjustment of the power of the government, and the relations of different classes of the people to each other, become more compact, and at the same time more complex. Men are brought into more intimate connections, get more and more mutually dependent, have broader interests in common, and act more frequently in concert. ”

“ From time to time, the union is rendered more definite and complete, a regular code of laws determines the relations of the respective communities and of their members respectively, and a constitutional government is finally instituted. ”

“ The first possibility of improvement which comes to him is when he is joined by a few other persons, who relieve him at once of a portion of the laborious tasks and anxieties he was before compelled to undertake, and whose very presence acts upon him as stimulus to a more wholesome activity. ”

“ Men unite in certain family compacts for mutual defence and assistance. The will of the patriarch is constituted a species of common law; the ties of consanguinity give rise to more or less compact settlements ”

“ Accordingly, they lend a hand to each other in felling forests, erecting houses, and cutting roads. As the population multiplies, the occasions for their mutual assistance increase. They combine their judgments and energies for a greater variety and a more extensive range of purposes. ”

“ They discuss plans of general usefulness; they lay out streets for their little town; they put up a church and a school-house; they club their funds for the purchase of a library; they organize societies for mutual improvement ”

“ The functions of these, he finds, are better discharged by some of his neighbors, who are willing to exchange the results of their labors for the products of his, whereby he gets more for a less exertion. ”