In spite of the numerous jealousies and rivalries among the various sections of the country, there were at work forces which tended to break down the spirit of localism or provincialism.
The feudal units grew through the lively localism of the Dark Ages, when hills without roads shut in a valley like a garrison.
And that very lively localism the Christian faith and affections encouraged led at last to an excessive and exclusive parochialism.
The localism did indeed produce that choice of territorial chieftains which came to be called Feudalism, and of which we shall speak later.
Even feudalism had involved a localism not without liberal elements, which lingered in the aristocratic system.
But the direct possession of man by man the same localism tended to destroy; though this negative influence upon it bears no kind of proportion to the positive influence of the Catholic Church.
By one of those curious jumbles by which Fate confuses mortals, the excuse for this defiance of Nationalism by Localism arose from a land investment by Marshall and his brother.
The Republican protagonists of Localism did not content themselves with the writing of enraged letters or the publication of flaming articles and books.
Maryland was to give Roane, Ritchie, and Taylor their cue to come upon the stage as the spokesmen of Virginia and the entire South, as the champions, indeed, of Localism everywhere throughout America.
For the time being, Marshall was defeated; Nationalism was prostrate; Localism erect, strong, aggressive.
The immediate occasion for the recrudescence of Localism was the Tariff.
Virginia, John Marshall stamped upon the brow of Localism the brand of illegality.
How Marshall met this recrudescence of Localism is the story of his closing years.
From this general welter of moral and economic debauchery, Localism had once more arisen and was eagerly reasserting its domination.
It is only by transcending this localism that we can hope for progress in Church or State--can hope to conquer the wars and fightings among our members that make peace impossible.
This infection oflocalism is not peculiar to any body of Christians.
The various bodies into which Christendom has been split up are infected with the same sort of localism as infects the state.
The transition from a question of selfish localism to one of national policy which should require the whole strength of the nation for its solution was under way.
Slavery and localism on the one hand, railway and nationalism on the other, were engaged in a vital struggle for recognition.
