Chapter I: Preface

This text-book begins "at home." The starting-point is the family, the first form of government with which the child comes in contact. As his acquaintance with rightful authority increases, the school, the civil district, the township, the county, the State, and the United States are taken up in their order.

The book is especially intended for use in the public schools. The plan is the simplest yet devised, and is, therefore, well adapted to public school purposes. It has been used by the author for many years, in public schools, normal schools, and teachers' institutes. It carefully and logically follows the much praised and much neglected synthetic method. All students of the science of teaching agree that beginners in the study of government should commence with the known, and gradually proceed to the unknown. Yet it is believed this is the first textbook that closely follows this method of treating the subject.

The constant aim has been to present the subject in a simple and attractive way, in accordance with sound principles of teaching--that children may grow into such a knowledge of their government that the welfare of the country may "come home to the business and bosoms" of the people.

The recent increase of interest among the people upon the subject of government is a hopeful sign. It will lead to a better knowledge of our political institutions, and hence give us better citizens. Good citizenship is impossible unless the people understand the government under which they live.

It is certainly strange that every State in the Union maintains a system of public schools for the purpose of training citizens, and that the course of study in so many States omits civil government, the science of citizenship.

The author's special thanks are due Hon. Joseph Desha Pickett, Ph.D., Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, for the suggestion which led to the preparation of the work and for excellent thoughts upon the plan. The author also desires to confess his obligation to President James K. Patterson, Ph.D., and Professor R. N. Roark, A.M., of the Kentucky State College, Lexington, for valuable suggestions as to the method of treatment and the scope of the book.

The author has derived much assistance from the many admirable works upon the same subject, now before the country. But he has not hesitated to adopt a treatment different from theirs when it has been deemed advisable. He submits his work to a discriminating public, with the hope that he has not labored in vain in a field in which so many have wrought.

ALEX. L. PETERMAN.

A FEW WORDS TO TEACHERS.

1. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY.--Every school should teach, and every child should study, the principles of our government, in order:

1. That by knowing his country better he may learn to love it more. The first duty of the school is to teach its pupils to love "God, home, and native land."

2. That the child may learn that there is such a thing as just authority; that obedience to it is right and manly; that we must learn to govern by first learning to obey.

3. That he may know his rights as a citizen, and, "knowing, dare maintain;" that he may also know his _duties_ as a citizen, and, knowing, may perform them intelligently and honestly.

4. That he may understand the sacredness of the right of suffrage, and aid in securing honest elections and honest discharge of official duties.

5. That he may better understand the history of his country, for the history of the United States is largely the history of our political institutions.

2. ORAL INSTRUCTION.--There is no child in your school too young to learn something of geography, of history, and of civil government.

These three subjects are so closely related that it is easier and better to teach them together. All pupils not prepared for the text-book should, at least on alternate days, be instructed by the teacher in a series of familiar talks, beginning with "The Family," and proceeding slowly to "The School," "The Civil District or Township," "The County," "The State," and "The United States." In this system of oral instruction, which is the best possible preparation for the formal study of civil government, the plan and outlines of this book may be used by the teacher with both profit and pleasure.

3. PROPER AGE FOR STUDY OF THE TEXT-BOOK.--The plan and the style of this book are so simple that the subject will be readily understood by pupils reading in the "Fourth Reader." Even in our ungraded country schools the average pupil of twelve years is well prepared to begin the study of the text-book in civil government. It is a serious mistake to postpone this much neglected subject until a later age. Let it be introduced early, that the child's knowledge of his government may "grow with his growth, and strengthen with his strength."

4. TWO PARTS.--It will be observed that the book is divided into two parts: the former treating the subject concretely, the latter treating it abstractly.

Beginners should deal with things, not theories; hence, the abstract treatment of civil government is deferred until the pupil's mind is able to grasp it.

For the same reason, definitions in the first part of the book are few and simple, the design of the author being to illustrate rather than to define; to lead the child to see, rather than to burden his mind with fine-spun statements that serve only to confuse. In an elaborate work for advanced students the method of treatment would, of course, be quite different.

5. TOPICAL METHOD.--The subject of each paragraph is printed in bold-faced type, thus specially adapting the book to the topical method of recitation. This feature also serves as a guide to the pupil in the preparation of his lesson.

6. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.--In deference to the best professional thought, the author has omitted all questions upon the text, knowing that every live teacher prefers to frame his own questions. The space usually allotted to questions upon the text is devoted to suggestive questions, intended to lead the pupil to think and to investigate for himself.

The author sincerely hopes that the teacher will not permit the pupil to memorize the language of the book, but encourage him to express the thought in his own words.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE FAMILY.

Introductory; Definition; Purposes; Members; Rights; Duties; Officers; Powers; Duties; Responsibility; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER II.

THE SCHOOL AND SCHOOL DISTRICT.

Introductory; Definition and Purposes; Formation; Functions; Members; Children; Rights; Duties; Parents; Rights and Duties; Government; Officers; Appointment; Duties; Teacher; Powers; Duties; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER III.

THE CIVIL DISTRICT.

Introductory; Civil Unit Defined; General Classes; Civil District; Number; Size; Purposes; Government; Citizens; Rights; Duties; Officers; Justice of the Peace; Election; Term of Office; Duties; Constable; Election; Term of Office; Duties; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER IV.

THE TOWNSHIP, OR TOWN.

Introductory; Formation; Number; Size; Purposes; Citizens; Rights; Duties; Government; Corporate Power; Officers; Legislative Department; People; Trustees; Executive Department; Clerk; Treasurer; School Directors; Assessors; Supervisors; Constables; Other Officers; Judicial Department; Justices; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER V.

THE COUNTY.

Introductory; Purposes; Formation; Area; County Seat; Government; Corporate Power; Departments; Officers; Legislative Department; County Commissioners, or Board of Supervisors; Executive Department; County, Attorney, or Prosecuting Attorney; County Superintendent of Schools; Sheriff; Treasurer; Auditor; County Clerk, or Common Pleas Clerk; Recorder, or Register; Surveyor; Coroner; Other Officers; Judicial Department; County Judge, or Probate Judge; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER VI.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS--VILLAGES, BOROUGHS, AND CITIES.

The Village or Borough; Incorporation; Government; Officers; Duties; The City; Incorporation; Wards; City Institutions; Finances; Citizens; Rights and Duties; Government; Officers; Duties; Commission Plan of City Government; Recall; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER VII.

THE STATE

Introductory; Definition; Formation of Original States; Admission of New States; Purposes; Functions; Institutions; Citizens; Rights; Duties; Constitution; Formation and Adoption; Purposes; Value; Contents; Bill of Rights; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER VIII.

THE STATE--(_Continued_).

Government Departments; Legislative Department; Qualifications; Privileges; Power; Sessions; Functions; Forbidden Powers; The Senate; House of Representatives; Direct Legislation; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER IX.

THE STATE--(_Continued_).

Executive Department; Governor; Term; Qualifications; Powers; Duties; Lieutenant-Governor; Secretary of State; Auditor; Comptroller; Treasurer; Attorney-General; Superintendent of Public Instruction; Other Officers; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER X.

THE STATE--(_Continued_).

Judicial Department; Purposes; Supreme Court; District, or Circuit Court; Territories; Executive Department; Legislative Department; Judicial Department; Representation in Congress; Laws; Local Affairs; Purposes; Hawaii and Alaska; District of Columbia; Porto Rico and the Philippines; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XI.

THE UNITED STATES.

Introductory; Formation; Form of Government; Purposes; Functions; Citizens; Naturalization; Rights; Aliens; Constitution; Formation; Necessity; Amendment; Departments; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XII.

THE UNITED STATES--(_Continued_).

Legislative Department; Congress; Privileges of the Houses; Privileges and Disabilities of Members; Powers of Congress; Forbidden Powers; Senate; House of Representatives; The Speaker; Other Officers; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XIII.

THE UNITED STATES--(_Continued_).

Executive Department; President; Qualifications; Election; Inauguration; Official Residence; Dignity and Responsibility; Messages; Duties and Powers; Cabinet; Department of State; Diplomatic Service; Consular Service; Treasury Department; Bureaus; War Department; Bureaus; Military Academy; Navy Department; Naval Academy; Post-Office Department; Bureaus; Interior Department; Department of Justice; of Agriculture; of Commerce; of Labor; Separate Commissions; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XIV.

THE UNITED STATES--(_Continued_).

Judicial Department; Jurisdiction of U.S. Courts; Supreme Court of the United States; Jurisdiction; Dignity; United States Circuit Courts of Appeals; United States District Court; Court of Customs Appeals; Court of Claims; Other Courts; Term of Service; Officers of Courts; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XV.

GOVERNMENT.

Origin and Necessity; For the People; Kinds; Forms of Civil Government; Monarchy; Aristocracy; Democracy; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XVI.

JUSTICE.

Rights and Duties; Relation of Rights and Duties; Civil Rights and Duties; Industrial Rights and Duties; Social Rights and Duties; Moral Rights and Duties; Political Rights and Duties; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XVII.

LAW AND LIBERTY.

Origin; Kinds of Law; Courts; Suits; Judges; Grand Jury; Trial Jury; Origin of Juries; Officers of Courts; Legal Proceedings; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XVIII.

SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS.

Suffrage; Importance; Elections; Methods of Voting; Officers of Elections; Bribery; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XIX.

THE AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM,

Origin; In the United States; Principles; Requirements; Voting; Advantages; Forms of Ballots; In Louisville; In Massachusetts; In Indiana; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XX.

PARTIES AND PARTY MACHINERY.

Origin; Necessity; Party Machinery; Committees; Conventions; Calling Conventions; Local and State Conventions; National Convention; Platform; Nominations; Primary Elections; Caucuses; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XXI.

LEGISLATION.

Bills; Introduction; Committees; Reports; Amendments; Passage; Suggestive Questions

CHAPTER XXII.

REVENUE AND TAXATION.

Revenue; Taxation; Necessity of Taxation; Direct Taxes; Indirect Taxes; Customs or Duties; Internal Revenue; Suggestive Questions

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

INDEX

ELEMENTS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT