8. Arrange the mandatory functions of government in what you believe to be their order of importance and give reasons for your arrangement. 9. Can you name any characteristics of American government other than those given in the text? Do the following things distinguish American government from other governments: woman suffrage, an elective president, the absence of an hereditary nobility, two-chambered legislatures, a supreme court? 10. In what ways may direct government be better than representative government and in what respects not so good? (Consider such general problems as ensuring responsiveness to the will of the people, deliberation, the absence of corruption, educational value, and expense.) 11. What did President Wilson mean when he said that the world must be made “safe for democracy”? Can the world be safe for democracy while great and powerful monarchies remain? What changes in addition to the dethronement of the Kaiser did Americans consider essential in order to make Germany a democracy? 12. Argue against the proposition that the study of government is the study of a science. Topics for Debate 1. Written constitutions have been a hindrance rather than a help to the development of American democracy. 2. Andrew Jackson was more of a _democrat_ than Thomas Jefferson. 3. It is not right under any circumstances to subject a people to government without their own consent. #/ CHAPTER V THE CITIZEN, HIS RIGHTS AND DUTIES _The purpose of this chapter is to explain who are citizens, what their rights and duties are, and how training for citizenship is obtained._ [Sidenote: The old systems of oppression.] =What Civil Liberty Means.=—One of the best ways to get an appreciation or what civil liberty means is to read any book which describes the life of the French people before the Revolution. In those days men could be arrested without any reason, thrown into jail for months or years without trial, and their property confiscated. No one could travel from one part of the country to another without permission. There was no freedom of religion, no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press. Nothing could be printed without a license from the authorities. The farmer who brought his produce into town had to pay a toll on it. The workman, in order to follow his trade, was required to join a guild and pay a fee. The amount of taxes which every farmer or workman had to pay depended upon the will of the tax-collectors, who made a profit out of the taxes. Soldiers were billeted or boarded in the homes of the people and the king paid nothing for it. The masses of the people toiled hard in order that princes and noblemen might live in luxury. That was the Bourbon despotism of old France.