his citizenship. Many of these rights are discussed in later chapters, but it may not be amiss to mention that no nation confers on its citizens greater political privileges than does ours, nor is there any other country where a citizen may speak, write, worship, or act with the same freedom as in the United States of America. Nowhere is life considered more sacred or the rights of property treated with such consideration. Truly it is, as we have long believed, a land of the free, and our gratitude for this freedom, without blinding us to our national faults or to the defects of our government, should make us serve our country to the best of our ability. TEXT QUESTIONS I. Give the distinction between personal and public needs. 2. Why must public needs be satisfied before we can satisfy personal needs? 3. Give the definition of government and explain all of its provisions. 4. What are the three departments of government and what does each do? 5. Why do we have written constitutions? What double purpose do they serve? 6. How is the national legislative department composed? Who is the chief executive official of the national government, the state government, the local governments? 7. Name the different forms of local government. 8. What is the chief difference between the national, state, and local governments? 9. Who are citizens? 10. Why should foreigners be allowed to become citizens? II. How are aliens naturalized? repre 12. Look up the definitions of the following words: “ sentatives" (§ 2), "organization" (§ 2), "departments" (§ 4), 66 "machinery" ($ 5), "authority" (§ 5), "document" (§ 5), anarchy" (§ 5), “tyranny” (§ 5), “convention" (§ 7), “menace" (§ 11), "sovereign" (§ 11), "renounces " (§ 11). [Use your dictionaries to learn the meaning of all other words in this chapter or in later chapters which you do not understand; a few are given in this and a few succeeding chapters only.] 13. Explain the meaning of the following words or expressions: "permanent and responsible organization" (§ 2), “interpreting the law" (§ 4), “machinery" of government (§ 5), "inherent authority" (§ 5), "popular vote" (§ 8), "naturalization" (§ 11), "allegiance" (§ 11), "political privileges" (§ 12). [Dictionaries may help some in learning the meaning of these terms, but the best way of understanding them is to read the sentence in which they occur, noting carefully the connection in which they are used.] SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS 1. Name other personal needs besides those mentioned in § 1. 2. Give additional examples of public needs. 3. Why is protection of ourselves and our property more necessary than roads? 4. Name some of the essential duties of government and some of those less necessary. (Consult Ashley's "American Government,” §§ 2, 3.) 5. Why do we need national, state, and local governments? 6. What do you know about Washington? Where is our state capital? Do we live at the county seat? If not, how far from it? 7. What other government buildings have you seen besides those mentioned in § 9? Do all of these belong to the local government ? 8. What is meant by a “federal system" of government ? (Ashley, "American Government,” § 11.) 9. How many members of this class are citizens? Are any of them naturalized citizens ? 10. Give the principal rights and duties of citizens. (Hart, "Actual Government,” § 10.) II. How might the government be "restricting the liberty of the people" (§ 5)? |