LECTURES

ON THE

CONSTITUTIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN

AND THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Published by Request.

OF THE

CONSTITUTIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN

AND THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

IN SIX LECTURES.

Peter Fricand

By P. F. AIKEN, ADVOCATE.

"If circumspection and caution are a part of wisdom, when we work only upon
inanimate matter, surely they become a part of duty too, when the subject of our demo-
lition and construction is not brick and timber, but sentient beings, by the sudden
alteration of whose state, condition, and habits, multitudes may be rendered miserable."
BURKE.

LONDON:

LONGMAN AND CO.; HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.

BRISTOL STRONG. EDINBURGH BLACKWOOD AND SON.

CONTENTS.

LECTURE I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Discovery of America and contemporaneous events-

Common origin of the British and American people

and their institutions-Primitive character of the

colonists and their final separation from the mother

country-important differences in the condition of the

two nations-The American constitution was planned

by Congress, is a legislative experiment, and is not

a precedent to be followed by this country

LECTURE II.

Page

PROVINCIAL INSTITUTIONS-OUTLINE OF AMERICAN

CONSTITUTION.

Close resemblance between the municipal and provincial

institutions of England and America-Outline of the

American constitution-The federal government of

the United States-If at the æra of the French Revo-

lution and of the new constitution of America, Great

Britain had been a republic, could she have preserved

her freedom?.

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