2. The reform of the primary. Ashley, American Federal State, §§ 549-551. 3. Election reform - the trend toward democracy. Ruppenthal, J. C., in Annals Amer. Academy of Pol. Science, 28 (1906), 411–441. 4. What proportion of the possible voters actually vote? Hart, Practical Essays on Government, pp. 20–57. 5. Conducting a campaign. Review of Reviews, 14 (1896), 550– 559, 22 (1900), 549-562, 30 (1904), 289–298. 6. Comparison of English and American elections. Brooks, S., in Harper's Magazine, 101 (1900), 329–344. 7. Police control of an election. Andrews, A. D., in Scribner's Magazine, 23 (1898), 131-146. 8. The national committee. Machinery, 65-86. Macy, Party Organization and 9. State party organization. Macy, Party Organization, 96–110. 10. Political corruption and reform. wealth, II, Chapters LXVII and LXVIII. Questions Bryce, American Common 1. Name the chief county officials that are chosen by popular vote; the town officials; the city officials. What important offices connected with each of these governments are filled by appointment ? 2. Learn, if possible, how many primaries were held by each political party last year in your precinct. Were they well attended? 3. Are direct primaries used in this State ? If so, for what offices? To what extent is the method used now for local officials? for State officials? for U. S. senators (compare § 301) ? 4. In what voting precinct do you live? Give its boundaries. Where is the usual polling place? How many votes were cast within the precinct at the last election ? What classes of persons are ex 5. Who may vote in this State? pressly excluded from voting? What length of residence for voters is required in the precinct? in the county ? in the State? 6. On what day are congressmen elected? members of the state legislature? the governor of the State? the county officials? the mayor of the city? How long are the polls kept open? 7. Has a political party control of this State? of this city? What proportion of state legislators belong to each party ? How long since any other party had a majority in your State? Do a fair proportion of the voters of your locality vote independently in local elections? 8. Is there a civil service commission in this State? in this city? Does either control many offices? PART I STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHAPTER III HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 45. Introduction. · The state and local governments that we have Continuity to-day are in form not very different from the governments which of develexisted in the different colonies before we became independent of opment. Great Britain. The chief difference is that whereas most of the officials were appointed then, they are now elected; that is, the governments have become more democratic. The beginning of the local governments can, however, be traced through many changes from the Important earliest semi-democratic Teutonic settlements in England. The most periods of important periods for both the local and the central governments of change. the States were (1) the seventeenth century, in which English local government with important modifications was transplanted to America and the colonial governments were developed into real governments with distinct executive, legislative, and judicial departments; and (2) the changes in the half century following independence when the original States remodeled their old colonial governments and new States in the West adopted forms of local and central governments even more like those of the present. LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN AMERICAN COLONIES 46. Self-government in England (1600).1 The first colonists Self-governwho came to America from the rural districts of England had been ment in the parishes. 1 Before the Norman Conquest England was governed in towns by town meetings of all freemen able to bear arms, in hundreds composed of several towns, which had courts composed of representatives from the towns, and in shires, each of which had an alderman and a shire court composed of representatives from the hundreds. As the kings became more powerful, these local officials and bodies were no longer elected. The name county came into use in place of shire, while the parishes corresponded fairly well to the older towns. Fiske, Civil accustomed to take a fairly active part in local government in their Government parishes before leaving the mother country. In most of their parishes, in U.S., those who paid rates or taxes were allowed to elect the parish officers, 36-39. and to decide how much money should be expended within the parish. The chief officials, called vestrymen, had charge of most local affairs, both church and secular. Besides these, however, there were local police officers known as constables, and the overseers of the poor, the latter being chosen quite frequently by the vestrymen. Medley, Eng. Const'l 404. County officials and government. Fiske, Civil Medley, Influence of the geography upon government. Hinsdale, Am. Gov't, §§ 74-79. Mace, Method in History, 93-103. Puritan migration and govern ment. Since the king appointed most of the county officers, the people had much less to do with the government of the English counties than with that of the parishes. The chief officials were the sheriff, who executed the decrees of the courts and attended to financial matters; the lordlieutenant, who was the king's military representative in the county, and in charge of the militia; and the justices of the peace, who not only had the power to try cases as a court or as individual justices, but made local laws, looked after the highways and bridges, and supervised the action of the parish authorities. On account of the number of its tasks, the government of the counties was of the greatest importance, but the people had practically no share in the county government, although the king usually selected the officials from the landholding aristocracy of the respective counties. 47. The Early Settlements in Virginia. - The first permanent English settlements in America were made in what is now the State of Virginia, beginning in 1607. It was not long before the growing of tobacco became the chief industry of the colony. As the valleys were broad and fertile, and slow-flowing, navigable rivers were numerous, each tobacco plantation had its own wharf from which its tobacco could be shipped direct to England. Towns were therefore small and few in number, the population being scattered over a wide area. This produced two important results. (1) Since people did not live close together, county government was necessary, whereas parish government was not, and the county government was practically modeled after that of England, with justices of the peace and sheriffs appointed by the governor instead of the king, the government was very undemocratic in character. (2) The large estates developed an aristocracy of landowners, who in time gained the right to nominate certain persons for vacancies in the county offices, the governors selecting one of the nominees. 48. The Local Government established in Massachusetts. Massachusetts and, in fact, most of New England was settled by Puritans who came to this country in order that they might escape the arbitrary government of Charles I and his ministers. Between 1630 86-93. Fiske, Civil Gov't, 16-31 and 1640 the Church of England tried to make the methods of con- Mace, ducting church services more elaborate and more uniform throughout Method in History, England. This was so distasteful to the Puritans that many entire congregations emigrated to America. On the shores of the numerous Massachusetts harbors, or in the narrow valleys, these congregations located, each with a settlement of its own. The homes of the members were clustered around the meeting-house, and all were surrounded by a stockade to protect them from the Indians. Town meetings were held frequently at the church to look after both religious and town business, all of the church members being allowed to take part. So these Massachusetts towns were from the first little democracies, in which each man had a voice and a vote in regard to subjects so dissimilar as the election of a pastor and the building of a bridge. Their government in colonial times was not greatly different from that of the New England towns to-day (§ 63). 49. The Township-county Government of the Middle Colo- The New nies. — The middle colonies either came under English rule or were York settled so much later than those of New England and the South that supervisor system. their local government was largely an imitation of and a combination of those in use to the north and south of them. In New York, the colony was divided into counties before townships were created. The latter had town officers and town meetings, but many of the duties performed in New England by the selectmen were in New York assigned to a county board composed of one supervisor elected from each township. In Pennsylvania, the township was introduced even later than in New York. It never obtained a very strong hold, for most of the duties connected with local government were intrusted to a board of three county commissioners elected by the voters of the whole county - the only really democratic county government of colonial times. THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONIES 50. Classes of Colonies. There were three classes of English colonies in America: (1) the Royal, in which the governor was appointed directly by the King, and over which the King had direct and very great control; (2) the Proprietary, the governors of which were selected by proprietors, to whom the King had granted the land within the colony and certain privileges over its government; and (3) the Charter colonies, each of which continued to be governed in accordance with charters given them by English kings. The two purely charter colonies - Connecticut and Rhode Island were virtually Goodnow, trative Law The Pennsylvania commissioner system. Howard, Local Const'l Hist., 373-387. The three classes of colonies. Classificain 1760. Powers of the gov ernor. Greene, Prov. Governor, 202205. Hart, Contemporaries, II, Nos. 5460, 65-66. Term of the governor. Upper house of the legislature. Lower house of the legislature. little republics, for the people elected the governors as well as the legislatures, whereas in the other colonies, the upper houses of the legislatures (except in Massachusetts), the governors, and the judges were chosen without consulting the people, and could not be removed or controlled by the people. Most of the colonies, however, had charters during the early part of their history, so that practically all had had some experience with these fundamental written laws which later grew into the written constitutions now found in all of the States. In 1760, the only pure Charter colonies were Connecticut and Rhode Island. Massachusetts approached the Charter form, but had a governor appointed by the Crown. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland were Proprietary; the rest were Royal. 51. The Colonial Government.-The powers of the governor varied considerably in the different colonies, being greater in the Royal than in the Charter colonies. He had very great power in legislation, for he usually appointed the upper house of the legislature, and might be able to decide how many members each county or town should send to the lower or popular house of the legislature. Moreover, he had at all times an absolute veto upon any bills passed by both houses. He usually summoned and dissolved the legislature. All judges and most other colonial officials were appointed by the governor. He had charge of the military forces, the disposal of public lands and of many other important subjects that we should now leave entirely to the legislature. These powers were theoretical rather than practical, especially during the later colonial period. In the Royal and Proprietary colonies, the governors held office as long or as short a time as the King or proprietors wished, just as the judges of the same colonies held office during the pleasure of their respective governors. In the Charter colonies, the usual term for the governors was one year, but as reëlection was the rule, the governors remained in office longer than the ordinary royal representative. Except in three colonies,1 the legislatures were composed of two houses. The upper houses, which were small, acted both as part of the legislatures and as governors' councils. In most of the colonies, the members of the upper houses were appointed by the governors, although in Connecticut and Rhode Island they were chosen by the people, and in Massachusetts by the lower house. The members of the lower houses of the legislatures, known as the assemblies, were everywhere elected for a term of one year by the voters of the colonies. Only a small proportion of the population voted at all, however, as the colonial laws required that a man be a 1 Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Georgia. |