Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III STATE GOVERNMENT Under the Constitution of the United States each state is guaranteed a republican form of government. One state is very much like another in its political features. The state form of government may be said to have had its beginning in 1619, when the first legislature in America met in Jamestown, Virginia, the cradle of the nation. This grew into the general assembly ofVirginia, which met through most of the colonial period at Williamsburg. Colonial Courthouse at Williamsburg (Designed by Sir Christopher Wren) All states except Louisiana have laws based on the English law. Louisiana was settled by the French and has held to many of the old French customs and laws since it was bought in 1803 by the United States. These laws do not conflict with the Constitution. By an Amendment to the Constitution it was declared that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people." There are some matters, such as taxation, public debts, citizenship, suffrage, elections, militia, and eminent domain, concerning which both the Federal and state governments pass laws. The states may not make treaties, make money, use the credit of the United States or make laws allowing people to break contracts. POLITICAL FEATURES OF A STATE There are certain principles which are the same for each of the forty-eight states in the Union: 1. Each has a republican form of government. 2. Each has a written constitution. 3. The constitution of each must conform to the Constitution of the United States. 4. Each has the three departments of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. 5. Each has a legislature, sometimes called the gen... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.