Just after midnight some morning early in October, when the first frosts of the season loosened the grasp of the nuts upon the limbs, parties of two or three boys might be seen rushing at full speed over the wet fields.  When the swiftest party reached a walnut tree, one of the number climbed up rapidly, shook off half a bushel of nuts and scrambled down again.  Then off the boys went to the next tree, where the process was repeated unless the tree was occupied by other boys doing likewise.  Nut hunters coming to the tree after the first party had been there, and wishing to shake the tree some more, were required by custom to pile up all the nuts that lay under the tree.  Until this was done, the unwritten law did not permit their shaking any more nuts on the ground.

So far this was a custom accepted by the boys because of its reasonableness.  But after a while, some members of this boy community thought to get ahead of the other members.  One night before frost came they secretly went to the woods and took possession of most of the nut trees by shaking them according to custom.  When this was discovered, some of the leaders of the community called A meeting of all the boys.  After discussing the matter thoroughly, they provided against a repetition of the trick by making A rule (passing a law) that thereafter the harvesting of nuts should not begin before A fixed date in October.

These boys acted very much as men have often acted under simple conditions of community life.  The New England “town meeting,” for example, is precisely the same thing as the boys’ meeting.

THE SECOND ELEMENT IN DEMOCRACY:  CONTROL BY THE PEOPLE

We shall study the organization and methods of lawmaking in later chapters.  At present we are merely noting why we have laws, and the fact that they are supposed to be made, directly or indirectly, by the people themselves.  And right here we see the second thing necessary to make a democracy.  On page 9 we saw that in a democracy all people have certain equal and “unalienable” rights, and that that community is most democratic that affords its members most nearly equal opportunity to enjoy these rights.  Now we see further that in a democracy the people make their own laws.  Moreover, the laws of a democracy control, not only the conduct of the people, but also the government itself.  The government of a democracy may do only those things, and use only those methods, for which the people give the authority.  It is only when government exercises power without control by the people that it becomes autocratic.

TWO HISTORIC DOCUMENTS

The purpose of our government is clearly stated in two historic documents.  One of these is the Declaration of Independence, which has already been quoted in Chapter I. The same quotation is given here with an additional sentence in italics: