Civil Government of Virginia | Page 2

school, too, and in all business establishments there must be
government. The teachers direct the work in their classes, giving orders
to the pupils as to what lessons they must study and how they must
study them. In the store and factory there is a manager or master who
directs the business. If there were no managers or masters there would
be nothing but disorder and confusion.
We can see therefore how necessary government is, and we can
understand why it is that there must be government in the country or
state in which we live. There must be laws to direct men how they must
behave towards one another and to punish those who do wrong. And
there must be people to make the laws and people to see that they are
carried out.
This is CIVIL GOVERNMENT. The word CIVIL means pertaining to
the state, or to the relations between citizens and the state, and the word
STATE means the whole community or body of people living under

one government.
There are different kinds of government in different countries. In some
countries the government is monarchical--that is, under one person, a
king or emperor--and in some countries it is republican.
A republican government, or a republic, is a government in which the
chief power is exercised not by one person but by all the people. The
government of the United States is a republican government. The
government of Virginia is a republican government. The head of the
state under a republican form of government is elected by the people.
The government in a republic is usually divided into three parts or
DEPARTMENTS. One department makes the laws. This is called the
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT or the legislature. It is formed of a
certain number of persons who are elected at certain times, by the
people, and who meet to make laws that are necessary for the good of
the state or country.
The second department of government is called the EXECUTIVE
DEPARTMENT, and is also formed of persons who are elected by the
people, and their business is to execute or carry out the laws. Their duty
is to see that every one who violates any law of the country or state is
brought to punishment, and that the laws made for promoting the
well-being and happiness of the people are carried out.
The third department of the government is the JUDICIAL
DEPARTMENT or the judiciary. Its members are, in Virginia, chosen
by the legislature. Their duty is to administer the laws, that is to inquire
into every case in which a person is accused of breaking the laws, and
if a person is found to be guilty, to sentence him to the punishment
which the law prescribes for the crime or offence he has committed.
In this book full particulars and explanations are given as to the
formation of those three departments of government, the many duties
assigned to each, and how those duties are performed.
In republics government is usually carried on according to the wishes
of the majority of the people. This is what is called MAJORITY RULE.
At elections to form the legislative or executive department, different
persons or candidates are proposed for each office, and the candidate
who gets a majority of the votes is elected. A candidate is a person who
is proposed for election to some office.
Candidates for public offices are proposed or nominated at what are

called CONVENTIONS. A convention is a meeting of electors, or
voters, held for the purpose of agreeing upon or choosing persons to be
candidates for office. Conventions are called together and conducted by
organizations known as PARTIES or POLITICAL PARTIES. There
are usually at least two political parties in every country in which there
is constitutional government. Each of the parties nominates candidates
at every election, and tries in every legitimate way to persuade the
people to vote for its candidates.
The party whose candidates are elected is called THE PARTY IN
POWER. This is what is known as PARTY GOVERNMENT.
It is good for the state that there should be political parties. Each party
closely watches the conduct of the other, and if the party in power
make bad laws or execute the laws unfairly or unjustly, the party out of
power appeals to the people by public speeches and by writing in
newspapers, and does what it can to get the voters to vote against the
party in power at the next election and turn it out of office.
Every citizen may join either of the parties he pleases, and so exercise
his influence through conventions and elections to secure good
government. And it is the duty of every citizen to do this, for good
government--honest law-makers and honest administrators of the
laws--is one