The Government Class Book | Page 9

freemen meet in one
assembly to make and execute the laws. There were some such
governments in ancient Greece; but they necessarily comprised small
territories, scarcely more than a single town. The freemen of a state
could not all meet in a single assembly.
§9. The government of this country, though a government of the people,
is not one of the kind just described; it is a republic. A republic is a
government in which the power to enact and execute the laws is
exercised by representatives, who are persons elected by the people to

act for them. Yet, as not only the election of representatives, but the
adoption of the constitution or form of government itself is the act of
the people; and as, therefore, all power comes from the people, the
government is also democratic; and is properly called a _democratic
republic, or a representative democracy_.
§10. A republic is sometimes also called a commonwealth. Common
signifies general, and is applied to what belongs to or is used by the
people generally. Weal means welfare or happiness. Wealth also was
formerly sometimes used for weal. Hence commonwealth means
strictly the common good, or the common happiness. In a general sense
it signifies a state; but it is properly applied to a free state, one in which
the people enjoy common rights and privileges. Hence every state in
the union is a commonwealth or republic.

State Governments.
Chapter V.
The Nature and Objects of a Constitution, and the Manner in which it is
made.

§1. Of all the different forms of government which have existed, a
republican government, on the plan of that which has been established
in this country, is believed to be best adapted to secure the liberties of a
people, and to promote the general welfare. Under the reign of a wise
and virtuous ruler, the rights of person and property may be fully
enjoyed, and the people may be in a good degree prosperous. But the
requisite virtue and wisdom have seldom been found in any one man or
a few men. And experience has proved that the objects of civil
government may be best secured by a written constitution founded
upon the will or consent of the people.
§2. The word constitute is from the Latin, and signifies to set, to fix, to
establish. Constitution, when used in a political sense, means the

established form of government of a state. In a free government, like
ours, it is properly called the political law, being established by the
people as a body politic, or political body. (Chap. III, §5.) It is also
called the fundamental law, because it is the foundation of all other
laws of the state, which are enacted by the legislature for regulating
intercourse between the citizens, and are called the municipal or civil
law, and must conform to the fundamental, or political law.
§3. A constitution is in the nature of an agreement between a whole
community or body politic and each of its members. This agreement or
contract implies, that each one binds himself to the whole, and the
whole bind themselves to each one, that all shall be governed by certain
laws and regulations for the common good.
§4. The nature of a constitution will further appear from the manner in
which it is made. It is evident that a people, in establishing a
constitution, must have some right or authority to act in the business.
Whence this right is derived, we will not now stop to inquire. There is,
however, somewhere power to enact a law authorizing the people to
make a constitution and prescribing the manner in which it is to be
made.
§5. In forming a constitution, the people must act collectively. But their
number is too large to meet in a single assembly. Therefore they choose
a small number to act for them. One or more are chosen in each county,
or smaller district, and are called delegates. A delegate is a person
appointed by another with power to transact business as his
representative. The assembly composed of the delegates so elected, is
called convention; a name given to most public meetings other than
legislative assemblies. Delegate and representative are words of nearly
the same meaning. The latter, however, usually designates a person
chosen to assist in making the laws of the state.
§6. The rules agreed upon by the convention as a basis of government,
are arranged in proper form. The several portions relating to the
different subjects are called articles, and numbered; and the articles are
divided into sections, which also are numbered. But what has been thus
prepared by the convention is not yet a constitution. It is only a draft of

one, and can not become a constitution without the consent of