s greater than the sum of any one or more of its parts. Classical conservatism is philosophically akin to those views, which hold high in their esteem history and tradition as solid foundations for social promise and stability. Edmund Burke, a popular 17th century political theorist spoke favorably on a social and political culture that is subservient to the forces of history and tradition. Burke "insisted that [individuals share] a naked and shivering human nature [and] need such comfort and supports as can be provided by the established traditions of an old society"(Bredvold and Ross). For Burke, the preservation of, as well as prolonged respect for and adherence to, those laws, customs, and institutions established in the past is imperative for civil society to exist and endure. Burke is also stern in his classically conservative belief that the governing agent of society and those who are governed must enter into a contract where protection is offered in return for adherence to traditionally established laws and customs, implicit in a society's institutional framework. Burke asserts that this contract is "a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection[and exists] not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born"(Burke, 148). In this respect Burke implies a notion that this covenant between the governing and the governed is not something that is merely brought into existence by, nor capable of being abolished by, individual consent. Burke suggests that the whole of the contract is superior to that of the sum of any one or more of its existing parts.Particularly in the "Custom House" Hawthorne positively correlates this mentality with that of his Puritan forefathers. In commenting on his forefathers Hawthorne writes, "'What is he'? murmurs one gray shadow of my forefathers to the other. 'A wri...
