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the same history. These people obey the same laws, and recognize the same power and authority.

The Government. The object of the people in entering into civil society is to promote their mutual safety and happiness. For this purpose they agree to be governed by certain established rules and principles. These rules for regulating the social affairs of men are known as laws. Man has a moral nature, that is, he has a sense of right and wrong, or the power to acquire it. He is a moral agent, and is therefore responsible for his actions. In order to secure to all men their individual and collective rights, a certain organization must be created, and certain officials appointed who shall be recognized by all as having the authority and the right to issue commands that should be enforced. Such an organization, and the rules and principles by which the people are regulated and controlled, is called a government; and the society in which such an organization has been instituted is called a state or body politic. The persons who administer the government, that is, those who make the laws and carry them into effect, are called the government.

Forms of Government.-Government is, then, the collective powers that administer public authority. In general terms there are but two great forms of government under which all kinds may be classed; namely, monarchies and republics. In a monarchy, whether kingdom or empire, the monarch exercises power as a personal right, transmitted by succession. But the state may have acquired a fundamental law called a constitution, and this defines the form of government and the rights of subjects. When the authority of a monarch is not limited by a constitution, the government is an absolute monarchy. When his authority is defined by a constitution, the government is a limited or constitutional mon

archy. The word republic means a public thing-the government of all. A republic is a government in which the power to enact and administer the laws is exercised by representatives, who are persons elected by the people to act for them. Our form of government in the United States is therefore a republic. Yet not only the election of the representatives, but the adoption of the constitution itself is an act of the people; therefore, since all power comes from the people, the form of government is also democratic,—that being the term applied to a government in which the power rests directly with the whole people. Our nation is properly called a democratic republic, or a representative democracy. A pure democracy could exist only in a country of very limited extent.

A form of government in which the power is in the hands of a select few is called an aristocracy. There are no governments of this form in existence to-day, although most national governments exhibit aristocratic tendencies. In nearly all European countries one house of the legislative branch is composed of members who hold their seats on account of noble birth, thus admitting the aristocratic element into the government.

The Republican Form Superior.-A republic is the only form of government consistent with the recognition of the people as the source of power. It is preferable to any form of monarchy because, through the exercise of the right of suffrage, the people control their own affairs instead of submitting blindly to one person who is able to place his own interests above those of the nation. The heir of a good king may be incapable of governing well; but in a republic, the President is selected from the most able men. In a republic men are free citizens. The power of the law, sustained by public opinion, is much better than the power of the sword,

sustained by the hand that wields it. The keynote of our government is expressed in the saying of Lincoln: "Ours is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

A Commonwealth. The term commonwealth is often applied in a general sense to signify the state. The original word was commonweal, meaning strictly the common good or the common happiness. A state in which the people enjoy common rights and privileges is properly so called; hence the term commonwealth is sometimes used in speaking of the States of the Union. The term is used throughout the Constitution of Pennsylvania.

The Object of Government.-Aristotle says that a state or government is in a sense one of the works of nature, and that man is naturally a political animal. There have been, however, governments in the world for ages, but the truth in regard to the rights of man has not been long accepted. God has created in every individual certain inherent rights. All men are born with equal rights. To understand and to live this great truth is the privilege which the people of the United States hold by the law of the land. The primary object of all government is to secure to individuals and to nations their rights. Justice is therefore the fundamental idea of the state, and the great end of government.

The Rights of Man.-There are four great classes of rights and duties possessed by men as members of society. The government protects the individual in the exercise of these rights, and requires the performance of the equally important duties. The rights are classified as individual, social, political, and religious or moral.

Among the individual rights are the right to personal liberty, personal security, and the right to property. That which we have acquired by honest labor, or by other lawful

means, is rightfully our own. We have also the right to be secure from injury to the body, or person, or good name; also to the liberty of acting, moving, and speaking without unjust restraint, so long as we do not trespass upon the rights of others.

Social rights are those which are secured to a citizen through his relation as a member of the state or nation as a whole. The right of the child to receive an education is a social right; while upon the parent and the public is imposed the equal social duty to provide it. Society can exercise its undoubted right to see that laws are observed as to the preservation of the public health, cleanliness of streets, and the maintenance of public order. Should the rights and interests of an individual conflict with the needs of society, then the individual right yields to the higher right. This right of society, exercised through the state or a corporation in regard to property, is called the right of eminent domain.

Political rights are those which belong to the people in their political capacity. The right of the people to choose and establish for themselves a form of government, to adopt a constitution, and to elect persons to administer the laws, are examples of political rights. The right to vote at elections is a political right or privilege.

Political rights and duties are of such importance that powerful parties are organized to set forth their ideas, to give time and money for the support of these opinions, and to settle the questions which arise through the peaceful means of the elections or by the compulsion of the sword. Political rights and duties affect all our opinions concerning human laws.

Religious rights consist in the right of every individual to make known and maintain his religious opinions, and to worship God according to the dictates of his own conAm. Cit.-2

science. This is the right of conscience which is the voice of God in man. In the exercise of this right, however, a man may not abuse it by violating the rights of others, nor by disturbing the peace and order of society. Moral duties arise in connection with religious freedom. All good government tends to the preservation of the morals of the people.

It

Liberty, Civil and Religious.-Liberty is the privilege of being free to exercise our rights and to enjoy them. is called civil liberty or religious liberty according to the kind of rights concerned. Thus, the free use and enjoyment of civil or political rights secured to us by the laws is called civil liberty. It implies freedom-that is, absence of physical or moral coercion. Civil liberty includes freedom of thought, of speech, and of the press; also freedom of locomotion, of assembly, and of the ballot. The freedom of religious opinion and worship is called religious liberty. The words right and liberty have not the same meaning. An individual may have rights which he is not at liberty to exercise.

Citizenship.-American citizenship is the state or condition of being vested with the rights and privileges of an American citizen. All men, women, and children born within the United States and subject to its jurisdiction, irrespective of age, sex, or condition, are presumptively citizens. Others may be admitted to citizenship through naturalization under general laws. Every citizen of the United States is also a citizen of the State in which he resides. Citizenship is hereditary; the children of citizens are citizens of the United States, even though they may have been born in a foreign country.

The people living in this country may be divided into two classes-citizens and aliens. The citizen is a member of the body politic, owes obedience to the government, has

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