Considerations on Representative Government

Summary

Considerations on Representative Government, published in London in 1861, is John Stuart Mill's full treatment of how a free people should be governed. Written in the years of debate over a second Reform Act, it gathers ideas Mill had developed in Thoughts on Parliamentary Reform (1859) and in his reading of Thomas Hare's scheme of proportional representation. The library text is the complete work from Project Gutenberg, with Mill's preface and eighteen chapters. The first three chapters lay the foundation. Chapter I argues that forms of government are matters of choice, but only within limits: a people must be willing to accept a constitution, willing and able to keep it going, and able to do what it requires. Chapter II judges every government by two tests: how far it promotes the virtue and intelligence of the people, and how well it uses the good qualities they already have. Chapter III concludes that the ideally best government is representative, in which sovereignty rests with the whole community and citizens take an occasional part in public duties. Such government protects each person's rights by giving him a voice, and it forms an active, self-helping character instead of a passive one. Chapter IV admits that some peoples are not yet suited to it. Chapter V separates controlling the government from doing its work: a large assembly is unfit to draft laws or administer, but it should watch and check the executive, serve as the nation's Committee of Grievances and Congress of Opinions, and leave detailed lawmaking to a small commission of skilled drafters. Chapter VI names two dangers, a low level of ability in the representative body and legislation in the interest of a single class. The middle chapters are Mill's practical programme. Chapter VII argues for representing minorities in proportion to their numbers by Hare's system of personal representation. Chapter VIII asks for a very wide suffrage, with literacy and arithmetic required of voters, plural votes for the better educated, and votes for women, since sex is as irrelevant to political rights as height or hair colour. Later chapters prefer direct to indirect election, defend open voting as a public trust, examine the length of parliaments and pledges from members, and discuss second chambers. Chapters XIV and XV treat the executive, which should be appointed for skill and held responsible, and local government as a school of public spirit. Chapter XVI argues that free institutions require a shared national feeling; Chapter XVII examines federal unions such as the United States and Switzerland. Chapter XVIII discusses how a free state should govern its dependencies, distinguishing settled territories ripe for self-government from India, where Mill, a long-serving official of the East India Company, defended rule by an experienced administration accountable to Parliament.

Plot or Argument

• Preface and Chapter I: how far a constitution can be chosen

  Mill sets aside both the view that government is a pure invention and the view that it simply grows. A form of government suits a people only if they will accept it, do what is needed to preserve it, and fulfil its duties; a people who will not fight for liberty or who can be tempted to lay their liberties at the feet of a great man are not yet fit to keep it.

• Chapter II: the criterion of good government

  Order and progress are not separate tests. The first element of good government is the virtue and intelligence of the people, so the chief excellence of any institution is that it improves them, and the second is that it organizes the moral, intellectual and active worth already present so as to bring it to bear on public affairs.

• Chapter III: the ideally best form is representative government

  Even a good despotism leaves the people passive. Mill argues that rights are safe only when each person can stand up for them, and that the active, energetic character formed by self-government produces prosperity and growth. Since a large community cannot meet in person, the ideal is a representative system in which the whole people hold ultimate control and citizens share in public functions.

• Chapters IV–VI: conditions, functions and dangers

  Peoples without habits of obedience or self-reliance, or divided by local loyalties, may need other government for a time. A representative assembly should not govern or draft laws itself: it should control the government, publicize its acts, remove ministers who betray their trust, and serve as a forum for every opinion, with legislation drafted by a skilled Commission of Codification. Its dangers are general ignorance and class legislation, whether by the rich or by a numerical majority of manual labourers.

• Chapter VII: true and false democracy

  A democracy in which the majority takes every seat is false; a true one represents every section in proportion to its numbers. Mill explains Thomas Hare's plan, in which any candidate who gains a quota of votes from anywhere in the country is elected, and argues that it would bring able independent members into Parliament and protect minorities, including the educated, from being silenced.

• Chapter VIII: extension of the suffrage

  Mill wants nearly every adult to vote, because taking part in public affairs educates and because no class should be governed without a voice. Voters should be able to read, write and reckon, should pay some direct tax, and should not be living on parish relief. He proposes extra votes for those of proven education and holds that women should vote on the same terms as men.

• Chapters IX–XII: elections and members

  Mill rejects election in two stages, argues that voting is a trust exercised for the public and should therefore be done openly rather than by secret ballot, judges that, with a vigilant press, a term of less than five years would breed timid subservience and that the existing seven-year term is hardly worth altering, and holds that electors should choose members for their ability and character rather than bind them with pledges, while remaining free to choose someone who shares their convictions.

• Chapters XIII–XV: second chamber, executive and local bodies

  A second chamber is useful chiefly as a check on the majority's tendency to act without opposition, and Mill suggests one made of experienced public men. Executive offices should be held by single responsible persons; most officials should be appointed by competitive examination rather than elected. Local representative bodies handle local business and train citizens in public life.

• Chapters XVI–XVII: nationality and federation

  Representative government requires a united public opinion, which is hard to form among peoples who do not share fellow-feeling or language, so the boundaries of governments should generally coincide with those of nationalities. Federal unions such as the United States and Switzerland suit neighbouring communities that want common defence and trade but local self-government; Mill praises the American Supreme Court as arbiter between the Union and the states.

• Chapter XVIII: dependencies of a free state

  Mill distinguishes territories peopled largely by settlers of similar civilization, such as the British possessions in America and Australia, which should govern themselves, from India, which he judges not yet ready for representative institutions. For the latter he defends rule by trained, experienced administrators under parliamentary oversight, praises the record of the East India Company, and criticizes the transfer of its powers to a minister of the crown in 1858.

Characters

• John Stuart Mill, author

  Philosopher and India House official who argues for representative government as the form that best improves the people.

• Thomas Hare, reformer whose plan Mill champions

  Barrister whose Treatise on the Election of Representatives (1859) proposed the quota system of personal representation that Chapter VII explains.

• Alexis de Tocqueville, authority cited

  French writer whose Democracy in America Mill draws on for the educating effect of local self-government and the American federal system.

• Jeremy Bentham, influence

  Utilitarian philosopher whose concern with the sinister interests of rulers shapes Mill's account of class legislation.

• The East India Company, institution described

  The company Mill served for thirty-five years, whose government of India Chapter XVIII defends.

Lessons

• Institutions should make citizens better

  Mill's test of a government is not only whether it keeps order but whether it raises the virtue and intelligence of its people. Self-government is valuable because it draws citizens out of private concerns, gives them public duties, and forms an active rather than a passive character.

  • What two tests of good government does Chapter II propose?
  • Why does Mill think even a perfectly good despot would leave a people worse off in the long run?
  • What public duties, such as jury service or local office, does Mill think educate citizens?

• Control is different from administration

  Chapter V argues that a large elected assembly is good at watching, questioning and removing a government and at airing every opinion, but bad at drafting laws or managing affairs. Each body should do the work it is fitted for.

  • Why does Mill think a numerous assembly is unfit to draft detailed laws?
  • What does he mean by calling Parliament a Committee of Grievances and a Congress of Opinions?
  • Is talk in an assembly a waste of time, or a real service to the nation?

• Majorities and minorities

  Mill holds that a democracy which gives every seat to the majority leaves part of the people without a voice. His support for Hare's system and his worry about class legislation both aim at a government in which no single group, rich or poor, rules alone.

  • What is the difference, for Mill, between true and false democracy?
  • How would Hare's quota system work, and what does Mill expect it to accomplish?
  • What does Mill mean by class legislation, and why does he think every class is tempted to it?

• Voting as a public trust

  Mill treats the vote as a power over others that must be used for the public good. That is why he asks that voters be able to read, write and reckon, proposes extra votes for proven education, and argues that voting should be open to public view.

  • Why does Mill call voting a trust rather than a right to be used as one pleases?
  • What reasons does he give for open rather than secret voting, and what dangers does he admit?
  • What argument does Chapter VIII give for women's suffrage?

Context

Mill wrote after the Reform Act of 1832 had widened the British electorate to much of the middle class, and while governments and reformers debated extending it further to working men. Across Europe the revolutions of 1848 and the rise of Napoleon III's plebiscitary empire had raised questions about democracy and liberty, and Tocqueville's Democracy in America had made the American republic a subject of close study. The East India Company, which Mill had served since 1823, lost its government of India to the crown in 1858 after the rising of 1857.

Composition

Mill drew on his Thoughts on Parliamentary Reform (1859) and his review of Thomas Hare's Treatise on the Election of Representatives (1859). Considerations on Representative Government was published in London by Parker, Son, and Bourn in 1861, with further editions in Mill's lifetime. The library text is the Project Gutenberg edition, complete with preface, eighteen chapters and notes.

Reception

The book became a standard text on parliamentary government. Mill's case for proportional representation helped inspire later electoral reform movements, and as member for Westminster he moved in 1867 to amend the Reform Bill so that women could vote, an amendment that gained 73 votes. His proposals for plural voting and open voting found less support, and the secret ballot was adopted in Britain in 1872. Later readers have debated how Mill's democratic hopes fit with his concern for the influence of the educated, and how his chapter on dependencies relates to the rest of his liberalism; scholars have offered differing accounts of both.

Comparisons

• on-liberty

  On Liberty (1859) limits what society may do to the individual; Considerations (1861) designs the government that must respect those limits, and both books fear a uniform majority opinion.

• utilitarianism

  Utilitarianism ranks higher pleasures above lower ones and judges actions by their tendency to promote happiness; Considerations applies the same test to institutions, valuing those that improve the character and intelligence of citizens.

• the-subjection-of-women

  Chapter VIII's brief argument that sex is irrelevant to political rights is developed at length in The Subjection of Women (1869), written in the years when Mill pressed women's suffrage in Parliament.

• democracy-in-america

  Mill reviewed Tocqueville warmly and borrows from him the ideas that local institutions train citizens and that democratic majorities can press heavily on dissenting opinion; Chapter XVII uses Tocqueville's account of American federalism.

• the-federalist-papers

  Madison's Federalist 10 defends a large representative republic as a cure for faction; Mill shares the concern with factional majorities but seeks the remedy in proportional representation and a skilled, accountable executive.

• politics

  Aristotle asks whether the many judging together may be wiser than the few and prefers a mixed constitution; Mill's ideal of popular control joined to skilled administration is a nineteenth-century version of that balance.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The two criteria of good government in Chapter II, which Mill uses to judge every proposal later in the book.
• The contrast between the active and the passive character in Chapter III.
• The distinction in Chapter V between controlling the government and doing its work.
• Mill's two dangers in Chapter VI, and how Chapters VII and VIII try to answer them.
• The argument that voting is a trust, which explains both his literacy test and his preference for open voting.

Key terms and names

Representative government

Government in which the people, through deputies they periodically elect, hold the ultimate controlling power.

Class legislation

Laws made in the interest of one class against the general good, which Mill fears from any class that holds all power.

Personal (proportional) representation

Thomas Hare's plan in which any candidate who receives a quota of votes from anywhere in the country is elected, so that minorities win seats in proportion to their numbers.

Plural voting

Mill's proposal that persons of proven education or responsible occupation receive more than one vote.

Congress of Opinions

Mill's phrase for Parliament as the arena where every view in the nation can be stated and challenged.

Pledges

Promises demanded by electors that a member will vote a certain way, which Mill discusses in Chapter XII.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What three conditions does Chapter I say a people must meet before a form of government can suit them?
2. Comprehension What does Chapter V say a representative assembly should do, and what should it leave to others?
3. Comprehension What qualifications for voting does Chapter VIII propose, and what reasons does Mill give for them?
4. Interpretation Why does Mill prefer the active character to the passive, and how does that preference support representative government?
5. Interpretation How do Mill's proposals for proportional representation and plural voting try to balance majority rule with the influence of the educated?
6. Interpretation Mill calls voting a trust. How does that idea lead him to oppose the secret ballot?
7. Big Question Should government aim to make citizens better, or only to protect their rights?
8. Big Question Is a vote a right that belongs to each person, or a public duty that may carry conditions?

Faith Connections

• Exodus 18:13-26 (Scripture)

  Jethro counsels Moses to stop judging every case himself and to appoint able, trustworthy men over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Mill likewise argues that the sovereign body should not do all the work of government but should choose and supervise capable officers.

• Proverbs 11:14 (Scripture)

  'In the multitude of counsellors there is safety' expresses something like Mill's hope that Parliament, as a Congress of Opinions, would bring every view into open counsel.

• Acts 6:1-6 (Scripture)

  When a grievance arises in the early church, the apostles ask the whole community to choose seven men of good report to serve, while the apostles keep to prayer and the ministry of the word; the passage joins popular choice with a division of labour.

• Aristotle, Politics III.11 (Great Conversation)

  Aristotle's argument that the many, judging together, may be better judges than the few is an ancient source for Mill's trust in popular control combined with skilled administration.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: A government is good to the degree that it improves the virtue and intelligence of its people and uses their existing abilities well. Rights are secure only when each person can defend them, and public responsibilities form an active character. Therefore the best government is representative, with ultimate control in the whole people. But a representative system can fail through ignorance and class legislation, so it should leave skilled work to experts, represent minorities proportionally, and give weight to education.

Rhetorical device: concession and qualification. Mill repeatedly grants the strength of an objection before answering it: in Chapter X he admits that open voting exposes electors to pressure from landlords and employers, then argues that the duty of voting is a public trust that should be performed under the eye and criticism of the public.

Debate: Resolved: That votes should be cast openly rather than by secret ballot.

Memory Work

Instead of the function of governing, for which it is radically unfit, the proper office of a representative assembly is to watch and control the government

the most important point of excellence which any form of government can possess is to promote the virtue and intelligence of the people themselves.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Mill believes that taking part in government makes citizens better. Using Chapters II, III and XV, explain how he thinks participation educates, and evaluate whether his practical proposals serve that aim.

Comparison with On Liberty: On Liberty warns against the tyranny of the majority in opinion; Considerations proposes institutions for a democratic government. How do Mill's proposals in Chapters VII and VIII respond to the fears of On Liberty?

Medical Lens

A treatise on political institutions with no medical content. Mill's account of his own early depression appears in his Autobiography, not in this book.

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Run a mock election for a class council twice, once by simple majority in districts and once by a Hare-style quota, and compare which views end up represented.

• Dialogue

  Write a conversation between Mill and Madison on how a republic should protect minorities: Madison by size and the separation of powers, Mill by proportional representation.

• Essay

  Mill argued that voting should be public because it is a trust held for others. Present his argument and the strongest case for the secret ballot that Britain adopted in 1872.

• Fiction

  A working man in 1867 reads Chapter VIII aloud to friends at a mechanics' institute. Write the scene and their responses to Mill's literacy test and plural votes.

Further Reading

• Autobiography, John Stuart Mill

  Mill's own account of his education, his crisis, and the development of his political views.

• John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand, Richard Reeves

• Participation and Democratic Theory, Carole Pateman

  Discusses Mill's argument that political participation educates citizens.

• Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville

  The work on American democracy that most influenced Mill's thinking about local government and majority opinion.