NCJ Number
59605
Date Published
1925
Length
11 pages
Annotation
THE ATTITUDES OF EARLY 19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN FARMERS TOWARD THE LAW ARE DISCUSSED IN A CHAPTER FROM A BOOK PUBLISHED IN 1925.
Abstract
RESPECT FOR LAW WAS IN IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN THE EARLY FARMER'S CONCEPTION OF DEMOCRACY. FARMERS REALIZED THAT, IF DEMOCRACY WAS TO ENDURE, THERE WOULD HAVE TO BE SOME RESTRAINT ON THE HUMAN WILLFULNESS THAT WAS SO PRONOUNCED IN THEIR ACTIVE, AGGRESSIVE LIVES. UNDERLYING THE FARMER'S RESPECT FOR THE LAW AND DEMAND THAT IT BE ENFORCED WAS A PROPENSITY FOR RIGOROUS SELF-RESTRAINT. THERE WAS ALSO A TENDENCY AMONG RURAL CITIZENS TO RELY ON RULES, REGULATIONS, PROVERBS, AND FORMULAS OF ALL KINDS, AND TO REGARD ALL LAWS AS UNCHANGEABLE AND OF UNIFORM IMPORTANCE. FARMERS HAD A KEEN REGARD FOR PERSONAL LIBERTY AND A DEEP-SEATED FEAR OF GIVING TOO MUCH POWER TO THE STATE. YET THEY THOUGHT OF THEIR GOVERNMENT AS AN OVERWHELMING AUTHORITY AGAINST WHICH INDIVIDUALS HAD NO REDRESS. RURAL CITIZENS HAD DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE CRIMINAL AND CIVIL FUNCTIONS OF THE LAW. IN CRIMINAL CASES, THE LAW AND THE JUDGE WERE OBJECTS OF FEARFUL REGARD, AND PERSONS FOUND GUILTY WERE ABHORRED. BECAUSE THEFT WAS RELATIVELY RARE, EVEN THE PETTY THIEF WAS THE OBJECT OF FAR GREATER SCORN THAN WAS THE MAN CONVICTED OF ASSAULT AND BATTERY. IN CIVIL CASES, THE LOSING PARTY AND HIS FRIENDS WERE MORE LIKELY TO TAKE ISSUE WITH THE JUDGE AND SET OUT TO DEFEAT HIM IN THE NEXT ELECTION. THE LOSER IN A CIVIL CASE WAS THE OBJECT OF SYMPATHY, BUT NOT SCORN. THE LEVEL OF CIVIL LITIGATION, WHICH WAS QUITE HIGH IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY, DECLINED AS FARMERS BECAME LESS ACQUISITIVE AND SELF-SEEKING AND MORE DEPENDENT ON THE GOODWILL OF THEIR NEIGHBORS.