Community Civics and Rural Life Part 60

Explain.

Difference between a charter and a const.i.tution.

Number of incorporated towns and cities in your county.

Cooperation (or friction) between urban and rural districts in your county.

Organization of village, borough, or town government in your county.

Difference between the "town" as referred to in the last part of this chapter and the "town" as described in the first part.

Services in incorporated towns and villages in your county that are not performed by the county or township governments for rural residents.

How a village or town is incorporated in your state.

Town manager form of government in your state. Its advantages.

READINGS

State Const.i.tution.

County Government and County Affairs in North Carolina, North Carolina Club Year Book 1917-1918 (The University of North Carolina Record, Extension Series No 30, Chapel Hill, N.C. ).

County Government, ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol XLVII, May, 1913. (36th and Woodland Ave, Philadelphia.)

Publications of the New York Short Ballot a.s.sociation, 381 Fourth Ave, New York City.

Fairlie, J.A., Local Government in Counties, Towns, and Villages (The Century Co.).

Mobilizing the Rural Community, by E.L. Morgan, Extension Bulletin No. 23, Ma.s.sachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, Ma.s.s.

In LESSONS IN COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL LIFE:

Series B: Lesson 19, The commission form of government and the city manager.

Hart, A.B., Actual Government, Part IV, Local government in action.

Reed, T.H., Form and Functions of American Government, Part iv, Local government.

CHAPTER XXVI

OUR STATE GOVERNMENTS

SOURCE OF GOVERNING POWER

When the thirteen original states were colonies, they derived their governing powers from CHARTERS granted to them by the king, as cities and some counties are granted charters by the state.

When they won their independence the people of each state subst.i.tuted a CONSt.i.tUTION for the charter; the difference between a charter and a const.i.tution being that the former is given TO the people by some higher authority, while the latter is adopted BY the people themselves. All of our states alike, whether created before or after the Union was formed, are self-governing under const.i.tutions of their own making.

Counties and towns, cities and villages, have no powers of self- government except those granted to them BY THE STATE. The national government, also, may exercise only such powers as are given to it by the people VOTING AS STATES. Each state, on the other hand, is self-governing in its own right, and may exercise through its government any power whatever, excepting only those which it voluntarily surrendered upon entering the Union. (See pp. 94, 449; also Const.i.tution, Art. I, Sec. 10 and Art. IV.)

THE STATE CONSt.i.tUTION

The state const.i.tution is the supreme law of the state and is supposed to represent the direct voice of the people. Since the Union was formed, state const.i.tutions have been framed by conventions of delegates elected especially for the purpose, and in most cases have been submitted to the people for their ratification. Amendments may be proposed either by such conventions or by the state legislatures, but they must also be ratified by the people. Some of the states have completely revised their const.i.tutions several times, and amendments have been very numerous.

CAUSE OF LENGTH OF STATE CONSt.i.tUTIONS

State const.i.tutions are long doc.u.ments, containing a great deal of detail regarding the organization and powers of government. In this respect they differ from the national Const.i.tution, which is brief and speaks in broad, general terms. Recent const.i.tutions are longer than earlier ones, partly because there is a greater variety of problems to be dealt with, but also because of a growing tendency to limit the powers of legislatures and administrative officers.

A REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT

After a DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, which all state const.i.tutions contain, the const.i.tution is concerned chiefly with the organization, powers and duties of the government. Each state may organize its government as it sees fit, provided only that it is "republican" in form as required by the federal Const.i.tution (Art.

IV, sec. 4). This means that it must be a form of representative self-government.

SEPARATION OF POWERS

While the state governments differ from one another in matters of detail, the general plan is the same in all. Each consists of three branches: the legislative branch for lawmaking; the executive branch for law enforcement and administration; and the judicial branch for the interpretation of the laws and for the administration of justice in accordance with the law. These three branches are organized on the principle of a SEPARATION OF POWERS, to prevent encroachment by one upon the powers of the others, and to make each a check upon the powers of the others.

In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them; to the end it may be a government of laws, and not of men.

[Footnote: Const.i.tution of Ma.s.sachusetts, Part I, Art. x.x.x.]

Investigate and report on:

The meaning of "a government of laws, and not of men."

The entrance of your state into the Union.

The history of your present state const.i.tution.

The powers surrendered by your state when it entered the Union.

Compare the length of your state const.i.tution with that of the federal Const.i.tution.

The princ.i.p.al parts of which your const.i.tution is composed.

Number of amendments to your state const.i.tution. When the latest amendments were adopted and why.

The declaration of rights in your state const.i.tution.

Checks exercised by the legislature upon the executive and judicial branches; by the executive upon the legislative and judicial branches; by the judicial upon the legislative and executive branches.

THE GOVERNOR

The chief executive officer of the state is the governor, who is elected by the people for a term which varies, in the different states, from one to four years. It is his duty to see that the laws of the state are faithfully executed. The const.i.tution makes him the commander-in-chief of the state militia, which he may call upon to enforce the laws or to quell disorders. It also gives him the power to pardon persons convicted of crime, in the exercise of which power he is sometimes a.s.sisted by a special board of pardons and sometimes by the legislature; but the consideration of the pleas of such persons and their friends for pardon often consumes much of his time.