OUR GOVERNMENT. HOW IT GREW, WHAT IT DOES, AND HOW IT DOES IT BY JESSE MACY, A.M. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE IN IOWA COLLEGE BOSTON GINN AND COMPANY 1886 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by JESSE MACY, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. J. S. CUSHING & Co., PRINTERS, BOSTON. '5'311 30 ошу PREFACE. A CHILD who has been well instructed in geography knows already something about a school district and other local governments around him; he has some knowledge of the state and of the United States. This book is designed to extend the knowledge of all these institutions and teach something of their relations to each other. The civil institutions of our entire system are so related that no one of them can be thoroughly understood without a knowledge of all. The institutions directly affecting the citizen in his ordinary civil relations are those chiefly of the state and the local governments within it. Many useful lessons in civil government may be learned from the state alone; yet the action of the state is in some cases conditioned upon the action of the general government. On the other hand, to limit instruction in civil government to the Constitution of the United States presents more serious difficulties. The Constitution assumes the existence of the states and provides for a supplementary government. It cannot be rightly understood without a knowledge of the lass 5-4-31 IWN states. To attempt to teach the federal Constitution without this knowledge results naturally in the teaching of error. The order of topics here presented is such that the institutions nearest, and naturally most familiar, shall receive special attention first. In this part of the work a direct study of the actual institutions of the locality is intended. The different states and different parts of the same state furnish a variety of agencies. It is from the direct observation and study of actual governmental institutions that a real knowledge is derived. Books are useful as they stimulate and guide observation and assist in interpretation. In a review of the book it may be well to reverse the order, and present first the relation of the federal government to the topic under discussion, using the Constitution of the United States and the state constitution as texts for study. The "suggestions" appended to some of the chapters are to be regarded as suggestions merely. The actual experience of teachers will be the best guide as to the most profitable lines for further inquiry. GRINNELL, Iowa, May, 1886. J. MACY. Governmental Institutions. Early Town Organiza- tion. Tun-scipe. The Hundred. Saxon Conquest. Kings Preserva- PAGE General Gov- Albany Con- Local Government in the South. The New England Town. Conditions Favorable to Liberty. ernment in Each Colony. Connecticut. vention. The Cause of the Revolution. One General Government needed. Its Constitution. Comparison be- |