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general duties does each have? Is the town board a legislative or an executive body? (3) Is there a town meeting? If so, what business does it transact? Did you ever attend one?

3. Study the organization of a village government. In what respects does it differ from the town government ? Why?

4. What is the area and population of the county in which you live? What is the county seat? Have you visited the county buildings? Who has charge of them?

5. How many townships are there in your county? Estimate the total number of local officers. How many counties are there in your State? Are they generally regular or irregular in shape? Compare counties of other States. (See Atlas.)

6. Make a list of your county officers, the length of term and salary of each. What are the principal duties of each ? 7. Is the county board elected on the commissioner plan or the supervisor plan?

8. To which type of local government does the system of your State most nearly conform? Account for its origin. 9. In some States more than one system of local government is in operation. Account for this. Bryce, I, 572 (600-601).

CHAPTER II

STATE GOVERNMENTS

As town and county governments in the thirteen colonies were modelled upon ideas and practices derived from England, so the central government of each colony took form upon the plan of England's central government. And this plan may be seen to-day in the governments of our States and in that of the United States: all have the division into three departments--legislative, executive, and judicial—the legislature generally being composed of two branches. There were many variations among the colonies in the details of government, but at the time of the Revolution there was one important point of likeness: viz., each had an elective representative assembly. Moreover, it had become established in practice that the assembly should legis- Colonial late upon matters affecting the internal welfare of the colony, and especially that it should exercise the vital function of levying taxes. Thus was erected in each colony the form of a free government, while the habit of self-government became established through the neglect of England to interfere seriously with the powers exercised by the colonial assemblies.

legislatures.

tion of

We may further analyze colonial governments by classifying them upon the basis of the method by Classificawhich the governor obtained his office. There were colonies. three forms: Republican, the people electing the governor (Connecticut and Rhode Island); Proprietary,

Written

constitutions.

Origin of

State constitutions.

Constitutional

conventions.

the governor appointed by the proprietor (Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware); Royal, the king appointing the governor (the eight remaining colonies).

The Revolution transformed the colonies into States, the new State governments being formed in 1776 and the next few years. * It was natural that each of the thirteen original States should build its government upon the basis of a written constitution, for the colonial assemblies and officers had become accustomed to exercising their powers under the superior authority of their charters. So in each State a written constitution seemed necessary as a fundamental law, outlining the framework of State government. The constitution of a State, then, is its supreme law, so far as purely State authority is concerned. All laws must conform to its provisions; all officers take oaths to support it. The first duty of the State judiciary is to see that all official acts stand in conformity with it.

The States admitted into the Union after the adoption of the Federal Constitution (1789) used that instrument as a model to some extent. But still greater was the influence of the old State constitutions upon the settlers from the East who were so rapidly building the new commonwealths of the West. So, while the constitutions of all the present States show, by their great similarity, their common origin, there are variations that may be traced backward along lines of westward migration to their sources in the original States.

State constitutions have generally been made in State conventions composed of delegates chosen for that purpose. In some States new constitutions have been made in this way to supersede old ones. When an entirely new constitution has not been considered necessary, amendments have been adopted; these have been framed either by the State legislature or by a State convention. In most cases, whether in the adoption of a constitution or of an * Connecticut and Rhode Island continued their charters in force as constitutions.

For the limitations of State and national authority see Chapter XXX, Section II,

amendment, a vote of the people is an important step in the proc-
ess.*
So it may be said that State constitutions proceed from the

people.

State

tions.

The contents of State constitutions may be grouped under three heads. 1. The Bill of Rights, which is patterned after the earliest State constitutions and the first eight amendments to the Federal Constitution. By these Analysis of provisions the fundamental civil rights of citizens are se- constitucured, such as the right of free petition and assemblage, fair trial by jury, exemption from unjust searches and seizures, freedom of religious worship, and freedom of speech and of the press. 2. The outline of the frame of government, showing the organization of the legislative, executive and judicial departments, with general provisions as to their powers and the manner in which they are to be exercised. 3. Miscellaneous provisions. In recent years there is a marked tendency to increase the number of subjects treated in the State constitutions and to make more detailed regulations. Some new constitutions are of much greater length than the old ones, and are really general laws rather than mere frames of government. As a consequence, the powers of State legislatures are curtailed.t

lature.

State constitutions confer all the law-making powers upon the legislatures. These bodies do not attempt to The legisexercise all such powers, but delegate local authority to other legislative bodies in school districts, villages, towns, cities, and counties. The county board and the city council, for example, are legislative bodies, but they derive all their powers from general or special laws framed by the State legislature. State legislatures are

* This was not the case in the adoption of their constitutions by the thirteen original States (except Massachusetts); nor in the adoption of new constitutions recently by South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana. † See discussion of limitations on legislatures, pp. 12 and 13.

The committee system.

Restric

tions upon

ures.

invariably composed of two houses-the Senate and the House of Representatives or Assembly. The first of these houses has a smaller number of members than the second; the members have longer terms than in the lower house, and the qualifications for membership may be higher. Members of the legislature are chosen from districts, and the redistricting of a State is made necessary at stated times by the shifting of population. This is done by an apportionment act. An especially unfair apportionment is called a "gerrymander" (see pp. 153, 154). In all but six States* the sessions of the legislature are biennial; formerly annual sessions were more common. Methods of procedure are quite similar in all legislatures. When a bill is introduced in either house it is put at once into the hands of a committee, where it remains until it is reported back to the house. In the meantime the committee has almost absolute power over the bill-to amend it slightly or radically, to substitute a new bill in its place, or to neglect to report it. Only a few important bills are debated in either house. The passage by both houses and signing by the governor are the necessary steps by which a bill becomes a law.

No State constitution attempts to give a list of the powers of the State legislature, but there is always a list of limitations upon its authority and upon the privileges of its members. These restrictions may be legislat- grouped under several heads. 1. They may limit the length of sessions and the method of paying members. 2. Special, local, and private legislation are prohibited upon certain subjects (such as city and corporation charters) and carefully guarded upon others. 3. All financial legislation, such as taxation, and the borrowing and appropriation of money, must be enacted under

*These are South Carolina, Massachusetts, Georgia, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey.

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