Here, also, is another authority. I quote a Virginia writer on Government,--John Taylor, of Caroline:--
“The end of the guaranty is ‘a republican form of government.’ The meaning of this expression is not so unsettled here as in other countries, because we agree in one descriptive character as essential to the existence of a republican form of government. _This is representation. We do not admit a government to be even in its origin republican, unless it is instituted by representation_; nor do we allow it to be so, unless its legislation is also founded upon representation.”[154]
I close this array, illustrative of opinion, with the words of Daniel Webster, in harmony with the rest:--
“Now, fellow-citizens, I will venture to state, in a few words, what I take these American political principles in substance to be. They consist, as I think, in the first place, in the establishment of popular governments on the basis of representation.… _This representation is to be made as equal as circumstances will allow._”[155]
Then again, on another occasion, he said:--
“This is the true idea of a State. It is an organized government, representing _the collected will of the people_, as far as they see fit to invest that government with power.”[156]
Thus, at every stage, from the opening, when Otis announced the master principle, “Taxation without representation is Tyranny,” all along to Daniel Webster, we find “Representation” an essential element in the American definition of republican government.
4. From authoritative opinions I pass to _public acts_, which testify to the true idea of republican government. These are of two classes: first, by the United States, in their collective character; and, secondly, by the States individually.
Looking at the States in their collective character, we find that at the adoption of the National Constitution they refused to recognize any exclusion from the elective franchise on account of race or color. The Fathers knew too well the requirements of a republican government to sanction such exclusion. Recognizing Slavery as a transitory condition, soon to cease, they threw over it a careful oblivion; but they were none the less jealous of the rights of all freemen. _The slave did not pay taxes_, and, so far as he was a person and not property, he was part of the family of his master, by whom he was represented, so that in his case the commanding principle of the Revolution was not disturbed. But, becoming a freeman, the slave stepped at once within the pale of taxation, and therefore necessarily of representation, since the two are inseparable. And this consideration was the guide to our fathers.