Herbert Spencer Quotes
If men use their liberty in such a way as to surrender their liberty, are they thereafter any the less slaves? If people by a plebiscite elect a man despot over them, do they remain free because the despotism was of their own making?
Spencer, Herbert. The Man Versus the State. Williams and Norgate, 1884, p. 81.
This illustrated the problem with Nazi Germany where Hitler was elected by the people. In a Constitutional democracy such as the United States, when an elected President attempts to cut away constitutionally insured freedoms, there is public opinion, the press, a Congress and a Supreme Court to check him as occurred in the George W. Bush Administration over wiretapping, torture, and handing of war captives. These were checked, but they were minor and trivial compared to Nazi Germany’s abuse of freedom. In Germany, Hitler weakened or destroyed all those who might check his power and therein lies the essential difference. The despot must eliminate or weaken the checks on him. In the American democracy, the Congress finally checked John Adams’ Alien & Sedition Act as did public opinion by turning him out of office after one term. But in each case, in democracy or dictatorship, the same argument is often made if the elected leader impinges on some freedoms: it is legitimate because he represents the will of the people. Spencer and many others have always disagreed.
This quotation is historically important because Davis clearly states the reason for the rebellion of the South. The anti-slave states were growing at a greater rate than the slave states and despite the greater voting power that a southerner had (a result of the 3/5 count of slaves for census purposes, and the Senate), the handwriting was on the wall and the majority of the United States was against the vicious institution of slavery and would make it unprofitable, impossible and/or illegal in the coming years. Southern slavery advocates saw this as a “tyranny of the majority” and therefore took up arms. In the early 20th century, apologists for the Southern rebellion tried to promote the idea that there were reasons other than slavery, but this quotation and the resolutions of the states who withdrew from the Union make it clear that the right to maintain slavery was the only significant issue. In that sense it was a States’ Rights issue, but the South was opposed to States’ Rights when it came to States refusing to return fugitive slaves when Federal Law required such under the Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision.
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism whereby superior physical force shapes history. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in Principles of Biology (1864) after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. The term strongly suggests natural selection, yet Spencer saw evolution as extending into realms of sociology and ethics, so he also supported Lamarckism.
