What makes a commonwealth immortal?

1. WHAT HE SAID (the record)

Record ledger

• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that a commonwealth is afflicted with anarchy and ends in tyranny due to continual feud between the senat and the people, leading to frequent changes in government. He argues that this instability prevents a commonwealth from being immortal. (key quote above) [1]
• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that a commonwealth becomes immortal by being an equal government with no internal factions that can disturb it with sedition, and by being framed in such a way that no man or men under it can have the interest or power to cause its dissolution. He argued that such a government, like the one described in his Oceana, cannot be conquered from without because it has no internal divisions. "The perfection of government is such a libration in the frame of it, that no man or men under it can have the interest, or (having the interest) can have the power to disturb it with sedition." [2]
• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that a commonwealth is immortal if it is void of any contradiction or inequality, as such a government has attained full perfection and lacks internal causes of dissolution. "Now this is certain, That frame of government which is void of any contradiction, or any inequality, is void of all internal causes of dissolution, and must, for so much as it imbraces, have attain'd to full perfection." [3]
• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that a commonwealth rightly ordered is altogether incapable of sedition and dissolution from any internal cause. He argues this based on two maxims: the government must be void of contradiction or inequality, and no group with interest can have power to disturb it, and vice versa. "But I am the more confirm'd by the assaults of Mr. Wren, to have no less than demonstrated in the propos'd model, that a commonwealth rightly order'd is altogether incapable of sedition, and so consequently of dissolution, that is, from any internal cause." [4]
• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that a commonwealth becomes immortal when its orders (or rules) do not interfere or jostle with one another, as such interference leads to the dissolution of the commonwealth. He argues that if these orders are carefully examined and found not to conflict, they create a perfect and potentially immortal commonwealth. "For as such orders jostling, or coming to jostle one another, are the certain dissolution of the commonwealth; so taken upon the proof of like experience, and neither jostling, nor shewing which way they can possibly come to jostle one another, they make a perfect, and (for aught that in human prudence can be foreseen) an immortal commonwealth." [5]
• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that a commonwealth could be made immortal by establishing a sovereign power in four thousand select men and their heirs forever, creating a great council of these men, electing a duke for life with specific powers and limitations, and structuring the commonwealth to be defensible against external threats through strategic city placement and a standing army. These elements, according to Harrington, would ensure the longevity and security of the commonwealth. [6]
• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that a commonwealth can be immortal if it is rightly instituted without contradiction or inequality, as such a commonwealth would not swerve from its principles. He argues that a commonwealth swerves only through its institution or by external causes, not internal ones. "a commonwealth that is rightly instituted can never swerve, nor one that is not rightly instituted be secur'd from swerving by reduction to her first principles" [7]
• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that a commonwealth can be made immortal by being founded upon an equal agrarian system, which ensures justice and equality, and that such a system is the necessary dissolution of monarchy and the life and soul of a commonwealth. "And the king that faithfully judges the poor, his throne shall be establish'd for ever; much more the commonwealth, seeing that equality which is the necessary dissolution of monarchy, is the generation, the very life and soul of a commonwealth." [8]
• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that an equal commonwealth, defined by an equal agrarian system and structured into three orders (senate, people, magistracy) with equal rotation or interchangeable election through the people's suffrage given by the ballot, is the foundation for an immortal commonwealth. He argues that such a system is exemplified in his work 'Oceana.' "AN equal commonwealth is a government establish'd upon an equal agrarian, arising into the superstructures or three orders, the senat debating and proposing, the people resolving, and the magistracy executing, by an equal rotation, or interchangeable election, thro the suffrage of the people given by the ballot." [9]
• BELIEF (undated): James Harrington believed that an equal commonwealth is the only one that is without flaw and contains the full perfection of government, which leads to domestic peace and tranquillity, and thus avoids perpetual strife between different parties. "But in an equal commonwealth there can be no more strife than there can be overbalance in equal weights; wherfore the commonwealth of Venice, being that which of all others is the most equal in the constitution, is that wherein there never happen'd any strife between the senat and the people." [10]

What cuts against it

• The contrary-evidence entries are already in the record ledger above: [1], [2], [3], [4].

2. HOW IT APPLIES (reasoning; inference is marked)

1. James Harrington believed that a commonwealth can be immortal if it is founded on an equal agrarian system, which ensures justice and equality. "And the king that faithfully judges the poor, his throne shall be establish'd for ever; much more the commonwealth..." [8]

2. He argued that such a system is the necessary dissolution of monarchy and the life and soul of a commonwealth. [8]

3. An equal commonwealth, structured into three orders (senate, people, magistracy) with equal rotation or interchangeable election through the people's suffrage given by the ballot, is the foundation for an immortal commonwealth. "AN equal commonwealth is a government establish'd upon an equal agrarian..." [9]

4. He believed that an equal commonwealth is the only one that is without flaw and contains the full perfection of government, which leads to domestic peace and tranquillity. "But in an equal commonwealth there can be no more strife..." [10]

5. He argued that a commonwealth becomes immortal by being an equal government with no internal factions that can disturb it with sedition, and by being framed in such a way that no man or men under it can have the interest or power to cause its dissolution. "The perfection of government is such a libration in the frame of it..." [2]

3. HIS TAKE

Record coverage: DIRECT

James Harrington directly addressed the question of what makes a commonwealth immortal. He argued that an equal commonwealth, founded on an equal agrarian system and structured into three orders with equal rotation or interchangeable election through the people's suffrage, is the foundation for an immortal commonwealth. He believed that such a system would ensure justice and equality, and that it would be the necessary dissolution of monarchy and the life and soul of a commonwealth. He also argued that an equal commonwealth is the only one that is without flaw and contains the full perfection of government, which leads to domestic peace and tranquillity.

Extrapolation: James Harrington believed that an equal commonwealth, structured into three orders with equal rotation or interchangeable election through the people's suffrage, is the foundation for an immortal commonwealth. He argued that such a system would ensure justice and equality, and that it would be the necessary dissolution of monarchy and the life and soul of a commonwealth. He also believed that an equal commonwealth is the only one that is without flaw and contains the full perfection of government, which leads to domestic peace and tranquillity.

Competing readings: The record shows a belief that a commonwealth can be immortal if it is founded on an equal agrarian system and structured into three orders with equal rotation or interchangeable election through the people's suffrage. However, the record also shows a belief that a commonwealth is afflicted with anarchy and ends in tyranny due to continual feud between the senat and the people, leading to frequent changes in government. [1]

Confidence: High, as the record directly addresses the question and provides clear and consistent evidence of Harrington's beliefs.