A

TEXT BOOK

ON

CIVIL GOVERNMENT

IN

THE UNITED STATES.

BY

GEORGE H. MARTIN,

TEACHER OF HISTORY AND CIVIL POLITY

IN

THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL,

BRIDGEWATER, MASS.

EDITION FOR THE WESTERN STATES.

PUBLISHED BY

A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY,

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO.

594512

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by

GEORGE H. MARTIN,

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

THE attention of teachers is invited to the five distinctive features of this book:

1. Its full statement of principles. A knowledge of these principles will be found of value not only in studying our own institutions, but also in studying ancient and modern history. They furnish a standard by which to test the various governments that have existed, and often explain the influence that those governments have exerted.

2. Its comprehensive plan, embracing the state, county, city, and town organizations, as well as that of the United States. As every citizen takes part more directly in the local administration than in that of the general government, he needs to understand the powers and relations of the state and municipal governments.

3. Its historical method. The endeavor has been to show not only what our free institutions are, but why they are, by tracing their development from germs in the early English constitution through the colonial and revolutionary periods of our own history.

4. Its topical arrangement. The teacher will find this a