Civil Government of Virginia | Page 6

of the Electoral College do not meet all together to elect
the President and Vice-President. The electors of each State meet in the
capital of their own State in January after they are elected, and vote by
ballot for President and Vice-President. after which they send lists to
the President of the United States Senate showing how they have voted.
Those lists are examined in the Senate and the votes counted. Then the
candidates who have received the votes of a majority of the Electoral
College are declared elected.
QUESTIONS.
1. From whom are the powers of government derived?

2. What are magistrates?
3. For what is government instituted?
4. What are fundamental principles?
5. What is the Bill of Rights?
6 What is a constitution?
7. What is trial by jury?
8 Tell what you understand by freedom of elections, freedom of speech,
freedom of the press, and religious freedom
9. Tell the difference between civil rights and political rights.
10. What are public privileges?
11. What is involuntary servitude?
12. Define PRIVATE PROPERTY.
13. Who is entitled to vote, and who is eligible to office?
14. What is a citizen?
15. How may one become a citizen?
16. Define the terms BRIBERY, EMBEZZLEMENT, TREASON,
FELONY, PETIT LARCENY, and DUEL.
17. What are jurors?
18. When are the elections for State officers held?
19. How are elections conducted?
20. Define BALLOT, POLLS, and BOOTH.
21. What are State officers?
22. What is a corporation?
23. What is the meaning of QUALIFIED?
24. How many senators and representatives in Congress is the State
entitled to?
25. How many votes is the State entitled to in the Electoral College?
26. What is the Electoral College?
27. How do the electors choose the President and Vice-President of the
United States?

II.
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.
The legislative power of the commonwealth is vested in a General
Assembly consisting of a Senate and House of Delegates.
LEGISLATIVE POWER is the power to legislate or make LAWS,
hence the General Assembly is the LEGISLATURE of Virginia.

COMMONWEALTH, which means COMMON WELL-BEING, or
common good, is a name sometimes given to a State or country which
has a republican form of government--that is, a government in which
the people are the supreme power, and in which all the people have
common (that is, equal) interests and common rights. CONSISTING
means formed or made up of.
A DELEGATE is a person appointed or elected by others to do
business for them as their representative. The members of the House of
Delegates are elected by the people of the State to represent and act for
them in the business of making laws.
The Senate.
Number. There are forty Senators, from thirty-nine senatorial districts.
The Lieutenant-Governor is the presiding officer.
Elected. By the people; one-half being chosen every two years until the
general election in 1907. At that time, and every four years thereafter,
the entire senate will be chosen at one time for a term of four years.
Qualifications. A Senator must be an actual resident of the district for
which he is elected; must be legally qualified to vote for members of
the General Assembly; must hold no salaried office under the State
government.
Powers. Shall select its own officers; choose from its own body, in the
absence of the Lieutenant-Governor, or when he exercises the office of
Governor, a president PRO TEMPORE; confirms or rejects
nominations; has sole power to try impeachment.
SENATORIAL DISTRICTS are the districts into which a State is
divided for the election of senators. There are thirty-nine districts in
Virginia, and each of them elects one senator, except the district formed
of Richmond and the County of Henrico, which elects two.
PRESIDING OFFICER is a person who PRESIDES or acts as
president or chairman in any assembly or meeting.
A candidate for the Senate must be LEGALLY QUALIFIED TO
VOTE for members of the General Assembly. This means that he must
be a citizen of the United States, a resident of Virginia for two years,
and have the other legal qualifications of voters as required by the
Constitution.
PRO TEMPORE is a Latin phrase meaning FOR THE TIME--that is,
for a short time or temporarily. The Senate elects one of its own

members to preside PRO TEMPORE if the lieutenant-governor happen
to be absent, or when he is called upon to act as governor. (See under
Powers and Duties of governor, page 28.) The Senate has the power to
CONFIRM OR REJECT NOMINATIONS. Many public officers of the
State are appointed by the governor, but when he nominates or
NAMES a person for a public office he sends the nomination to the
Senate, and it may confirm--that is, approve of--the nomination, or it
may reject it. If it should reject the nomination, the person nominated