 Individualism, A Reader, edited by George H. Smith and Marilyn Moore, narrated by James Foster. 7. From Two Discourses on Liberty, Nathaniel Niles Two Discourses on Liberty, 1774, American political writing during the founding era, 1760-1805, Volume I, edited by Charles S. Heineman and Donald S. Lutz, Indianapolis, Liberty Fund, 1983. The American statesman Nathaniel Niles, 1741-1828, was a graduate of Harvard and Princeton where he studied law, medicine and theology. Niles served Vermont in both the state and national legislatures. In the passage excerpted below from his political writings, Niles argues that social and political change begin with the individual. Sages are composed of seconds, the earth of sands, and the sea of drops, too small to be seen by the naked eye. The smallest particles have their influence. Such is our state that each individual has a proportion of influence on some neighbor at least. He, on another, and so on, as in a river, the following drop urges that which is before and everyone through the whole length of the stream has the like influence. We know not what individuals may do. We are not at liberty to lie dormant until we can at once influence the whole. We must begin with the weight we have. Should the little springs neglect to flow till a general agreement should take place, the torrent that now bears down all before it would never be formed. These mighty floods have their rise in single drops from the rocks which, uniting, creep along till they meet with another combination so small that it might be absorbed by the traveller's foot. These unite, proceed, enlarge, till mountains tremble at their sound. Let us receive instruction from the streams, and without discouragement, pursue a laudable plan. This has been Individualism a Reader, edited by George H. Smith and Marilyn Moore, narrated by James Foster. Copyright 2015 by the Cato Institute. Production Copyright 2015 by the Cato Institute.