The permanence of our great country depends on our home governments; if we allow them to be mismanaged, the goverment at Washington will be affected by the misrule. Local goverment is the fountain; if this is polluted with corruption, the stream which finally flows into the National capital will be laden with corruption. It rests with the voter in the township precinct whether our beloved country shall endure.

The object of this union of States is strength. The single fiber of a rope has little power of resistance; but when all its fibers are twisted together, they can withstand much. A single State could not defend itself against a foreign power; but as it is now, when one is attacked, all are; and they all combine to resist the attack. If every State had the right to regulate foreign commerce and to erect custom-houses on its borders for the collection of taxes from the commerce of other States, strife and dispute would result. No doubt, if the Constitution had not been adopted and the Union formed, the American States would long ago have been broken up into as many different nations. We can give the object of the Union in no better way than it is given in the preamble of the Constitution, which says:

WE, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United States of America,

ANALYTICAL REVIEW.-What is the plan of the government of Pennsylvania? How is the power of the State localized and extended? What is the unit in our government? How are the township, borough and city related? Define function. What is a "town" in New England? Are townships of the same relative importance in different parts of the Union? How did the

units originate in different parts of the Union? What nationalities engaged in the first settlements? What effect would a mixture of nationalities naturally have on the formation of a government? Which were the three original counties? In what condition was Philadelphia before its consolidation? What place has the township in the structure of our government? What lessons are learned in the government of a township? What kind of men should rule a township? What do we owe to a township? Give illustrations of what we owe? What powers has a township? How are new ones formed? What is the relation of a township to the State? To the county? Has a county a legislative body? What are the artificial divisions of a State? The divisions of a county? Define the State? What is agreed to in the Constitution of the United States? On what does the permanence of our country depend? What is the object of the Union? Recite the preamble of the Constitution of the United States. Explain what "We," the first word of it,

means.

CHAPTER II.

THE HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF PENN

SYLVANIA.

"The Frame of Government."-What is known as the "Frame of Government," under which the Province of Pennsylvania was organized, was drawn up by William Penn, in England. He drew it up before the first company of colonists under his young friend, Mr. William Markham, the deputy governor, sailed for America, in April, 1681. This small party, which were to take possession of Penn's grant of land and prepare for his own coming the next year, all signed the "Frame of Government" before departing, and Penn himself signed it. The Spirit of the "Frame."-The spirit of Penn's "Frame

of Government" was thoroughly republican. "I will put the power with the people," he said. He had obtained his ideas of government from a man who was beheaded in England in the time of Charles II. on suspicion of planning the overthrow of monarchy and the establishment of a republic in its place. This man was Algernon Sidney. He was brave enough to say that the execution of Charles I. was "the most just and bravest action that was ever done in England or anywhere else." Fortunate it was for the Province of Pennsylvania that its founder had taken lessons from such a hero and patriot as the martyred Sidney!

In order to appreciate thoroughly the spirit which Penn breathed into the "Frame of Government," let us hear what he said in the preface :

"I know some say, 'Let us have good laws and no matter about the men that execute them.' But let them consider that, though good laws do well, good men do better; for good laws may want [be in need of] good men; but good men will never want good laws nor suffer [allow] ill ones.

At another place in the "Frame" are found these words, they have been inscribed on the walls of the corridor in old Independence Hall, side by side with the Declaration of Independence:

"Any government is free to the people under it, whatever be the form, where the laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws; and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy and confusion."

In speaking of the end of all government, he said it

is :

"To support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people from the abuse of power; that they may be free by their just obedience, and the magistrates honorable for their just administration; for liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery. To carry this evenness is partly owing to the constitution, and partly to the magistracy;

where either of these fail, government will be subject to convulsion; but where both are wanting, it must be totally subverted; then where both meet, the government is like to endure. Which I humbly pray and hope God will please to make the lot of Pennsylvania."

The Plan of the "Frame."-In 1682, Penn had the "Frame of Government" published. It consisted of twenty-four articles and forty laws. The government was vested in the Governor and the Freemen of the Province. The Freemen were to elect a Provincial Council and a General Assembly; the former was to consist of seventy-two members; and the latter, of all the Freemen the first year, and the next of two hundred of them, the number to be increased as the population increased. The Governor or his Deputy was to be the perpetual President of the Provincial Council and was to have a treble vote.

The Provincial Council.-The duty of this body was (a) to originate bills, (b) to see that the laws were executed, (c) to take care of the peace and safety of the Province, (d) to settle the location of the ports, cities, market towns, roads, and other public places, (e) to inspect the public treasury, (f) to erect courts of justice, (g) to institute schools, and (h) to reward the authors of useful discovery.

The General Assembly.-This body had no power to legislate and no privilege to debate. The bills originated and passed by the Provincial Council were presented to the General Assembly for approval or rejection; and all that the members had power to do was to say a plain Yes or No. They could name persons for sheriffs and justices of the peace for the Governor to select from, being obliged to name twice as many as were to be appointed. Amendments to the "Frame."-The "Frame of Govern

ment" could not be amended without the consent of the Governor or his heirs or his assigns and six-sevenths of the Freemen in both the Provincial Council and the General Assembly.

The First Assembly.-The First General Assembly met at Chester, in 1682, shortly after Penn's arrival. They discussed, amended and accepted the "Frame of Government" and its accompanying laws. To the latter they added twenty-one others, so that there were then altogether sixty-one laws on the statute books of the Province of Pennsylvania. Though more than two hundred years have passed since, yet our great Commonwealth is still governed by the "Great Law" enacted at Chester, modified of course to some extent, but not greatly.

Under the Crown of England.-From 1693 to 1694, Pennsylvania was under the Crown of England. George Keith, a Scotch Quaker, caused a disturbance in Pennsylvania by asserting that the Friends' doctrine of nonresistance forbade its adherents from holding office. He was put out of church, and fined by the Quaker magistrates for insolence. He went to England, took orders in the Episcopal church, and charged the Quaker magistrates with disloyalty to the Church of England. Without good reason, Penn, too, was suspicioned of disloyalty; and the Government of the Province was taken from him and given to Governor Fletcher, of New York. Penn's "Frame of Government was disregarded and the Assembly was modeled after that of New York. In the course of a year Penn was restored to favor, and he again became Governor of Pennsylvania, administering its af fairs through his friend, Deputy Markham.

Under Penn From 1694-1718.-The Assembly called by