THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF OHIO. CHAPTER I. DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 1. A State is a body of persons living within a definite territory, and united under a permanent organization and common laws in order to promote their mutual safety and welfare. In thinking of a State four things must be considered: (1) A group of people (2) occupying a special tract of land, and (3) regulated in their relations to one another, and in their use and enjoyment of that land, by laws (4) made and enforced in accordance with a definite plan known as the constitution. The civil government of any State has to do with the people, the land, and the framing and operation of the constitution and laws. 2. The Land.-The situation, extent, and character of the land have a considerable influence on the government and laws of a State. A large State needs laws differing from those required by a small one; an agricultural region needs laws differing from those suited to a manufacturing district. A State with mineral resources may require special laws on that account; a sea-coast State and an inland State have not the same necessity for laws concerning commerce. These and similar facts not only occasion differences in the laws of various States, but—what is more important for our present study-often give rise to special provisions in the constitutions of the States, to special officers, and to peculiarities in the form and machinery of government. 3. The People.-In all free States the constitution and the laws are made by the people themselves or by persons chosen by them for that purpose. In a new State the constitution generally resembles in many ways the constitutions of the States from which the people of the new State have migrated. If they come from different States, as was the case with the early settlers of Ohio, they will be likely to frame a constitution combining ideas derived from each of these; so we shall not find the plan and machinery of Ohio's government exactly like those of any other State or country. Then, after the government has been organized, the laws will depend on the character, civilization, training, and needs of the people. The laws in France differ from those in America; those in Wyoming, from those in Ohio, because in both cases the people have neither the same ideas about laws, nor the need or desire for the same kind of laws. Thus it is important to know something about the people of a State in order to study intelligently their government. 4. The Constitution.-A constitution is a body of rules in accordance with which the government of a State and of its local subdivisions is carried on. It describes the framework or machinery of the government, the powers and duties of its officers, and usually the rights of the people. These rules can be changed only by the will of the people of the State, not by any officer nor by the legislature. The circumstances under which the constitution of a State is framed have an important bearing on its character and form and on the powers and duties of the DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 7 officers. The Constitution of Ohio, for example, gives to the governor far less power than is possessed by the governors of many other States. This came about because the governor of the Northwest Territory, from which Ohio was formed, just before the first Constitution of the State was framed, had seriously displeased the people by some of his official acts, and they decided not to give the governors of the new State the power to do some important acts usually performed by State governors. The previous territorial experience of a State, as well as the previous training of its people, has also great influence on its constitution. It is necessary, then, to know the history of a State from its beginning in order to understand fully its constitution and government. THE CIVIC HISTORY OF OHIO. 5. General Description of Ohio.-The State of Ohio lies between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, and midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River. The watershed between the lake, or St. Lawrence, system and the Mississippi system runs across the State in a southwesterly direction, dividing it into two unequal parts. In area it is one of the smaller States of the Union. It was originally almost entirely covered with forests, a considerable part of which still remain, while a |