II. _The claims of business and society are unfavorable to political
learning._--I assume it to be true of Massachusetts that the proportion
of freehold farmers to the whole population is gradually diminishing,
and that the amount of labor performed by each is gradually increasing.
From the settlement of the country to the commencement of the present
century, there was a great deal of privation, hardship, and positive
suffering; but the claim for continuous labor was not exacting.
The necessary articles of food and clothing were chiefly supplied from
the land, and the majority did not contemplate any great accumulation of
worldly goods, but sought rather to place their political and religious
privileges upon a sure foundation. Agriculture was in a rude state, and
consequently did not furnish steady employment to those engaged in it.
It is only when there are valuable markets, scientific, or at least
careful cultivation, and large profits, that the farmer can use his
evenings and long winters in his profession. These circumstances did not
exist until the present century; and we have thus in this discussion
found both the motive and the opportunity for political learning among
our ancestors.
It is also possible that the increased activity of business and business
men is unfavorable to those studies and thoughts that are essential to
political learning.
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