IN CIVIL GOVERNMENT; INCLUDING A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE OF THE LAWS. SHOWING THE RIGHTS, DUTIES, AND RESPONSIBILITIES, OF CITIZENS IN THE AN OUTLINE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. ADAPTED TO THE CAPACITIES OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH, AND BY ANDREW W. YOUNG, Author of the "Science of Government," "The Statesman," etc. REVISED AND ADAPTED TO THE NEW CONSTITUTION. BUFFALO: PUBLISHED BY PHINNEY & CO. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1856, by PHINNEY & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District of New York. C. E. FELTON, PREFACE. NOTWITHSTANDING the number and variety of class-books that have sought and gained admittance into our public schools, the study of our civil polity has not yet been encumbered with treatises on this most important science. While much has been done, during the last quarter of a century, by voluntary effort as well as by legislation, to diffuse the benefits of a practical education, it is remarkable that the science of government has hitherto received so little attention. To secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity, was the leading object of the people of the United States in ordaining and establishing the constitution. That this constitution is fully adequate to the objects of its formation, has been satisfactorily proved by the experience of more than half a century. Whether the blessings of civil and religious freedom which our system of government is so happily adapted to secure shall be enjoyed by our posterity, will depend essentially upon what shall be done to qualify the rising generation of American youth for the duties and responsibilities of freemen. The destinies of this great and growing republic will, in a few years, be committed to those who are now receiving instruction in our public schools. How important, then, that the course of education pursued in these institutions, should embrace the study of the principles of civil government, especially of that government in which our youth will so soon be called to take a part! Our government is in theory a government of the people; to be such in fact, the people must know how to govern. The right of selfgovernment can be valuable only as it is exercised intel 390954 higently. Questions of public policy involving constitutional principles, and even liberty itself, are not unfrequently deeided by popular suffrage; and without a thorough knowl edge of our constitutional jurisprudence, the very object of free government may be defeated, and the people become their own oppressors. A fundamental principle of our government is equality. At the ballot-box, the constitution recognizes no distinction or preference. It secures to all classes of our citizens-the humblest and the most exalted-the poor and the richan equal measure of political power. Hence all should be equally capable of exercising this power with wisdom and effect. The study of political science should be commenced early. Children should grow up in the knowledge of our republican institutions. The provisions of our state and national constitutions should be to them as familiar as the spelling-book; yet thousands of our young men reach their majority, who have never given these constitutions so much as a single reading; and who assume the high prerogatives of freemen without knowing what the vast responsibilities of a freeman are! Can our liberties be safe in such hands? Can parents reconcile it with an enlightened sense of justice to their country to turn their sons upon the community thus unprepared to discharge their political duties? If ever the great body of the people are to be qualified for the business of self-government, our common schools must be relied on as the principal means. In these institutions, probably nine-tenths of our citizens receive all their education. A science, therefore, the knowledge of which is so essential to our political prosperity, should be taught in every common school. Influenced by these considerations, the compiler prepared, a few years since, his "Introduction to the Science of Government." The circulation which that work has received, affords evidence that the importance of this science is be ginning to be appreciated. The object of the work was declared to be, "to supply a deficiency in the course of education." The belief was entertained and expressed, that it would be found well adapted to the condition of our common schools; and that the several subjects of which it treated were made "intelligible to those who were of suitable age and capacity to be benefited by the study of this science. The fact, however, has been ascertained by experience, that youth have the "capacity" to comprehend the principles of civil government at a much earlier "age" than that to which that work is adapted: and hence it is used by a small portion only of those who may be benefited by the study. The primary design of the present work is, therefore, to supply a deficiency still remaining; and it is confidently believed, that it may be profitably studied by children of ordinary intelligence, at the age of ten years. In the author's endeavor so to simplify and illustrate certain subjects as to meet the capacities of children, some may discover what may be deemed an excessive attempt at simplicity of expression. Those, however, who have been engaged in the instruction of youth, are aware that there is little danger of aiming too low. A very common defect of many valuable works is, that they do not descend to the comprehension of those for whose benefit they are designed. It will be seen that this work differs from the former, in respect to both the plan and the matter. The "Science of Government" being adapted alike to all the states, a particular description of the government of no state could be given in that work. It is designed to instruct our citizens in the principles of civil government in general, and particularly in "the constitutional and civil jurisprudence of the United States." The work now offered is emphatically a book of the government of the state of New York. Besides a general view of the extensive machinery of our state government, it contains, as its title indicates, an abstract of the statutes of the state, from which the citizen may learn his rights, responsibilities, and duties, as a member of the civil community. It contains also an outline of the government of the United States, showing the nature and objects of the Union, the relations which the state and national governments bear to each other, the powers of the general government, and the organization of its several departments. |