The local

and the colonial institutions were, of course, brought from England. The legislative branch comprises a Senate and House of Representatives, which together make the laws to meet the needs of the people. The executive branch consists of the governor and other officers entrusted with the enforcement of the laws passed by the legislature. The judicial branch, comprising a supreme court and other inferior courts, interprets the laws, and applies them to special cases in which disputed rights are involved.

The local governments are the governments of the governments. various districts into which the territory of the State is divided. These governments belong to two groups, rural and urban. The former comprises counties and townships; the latter, cities and villages. The officers of both these groups belong to the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of their respective local governments. Thus we see that the scheme of threefold division of powers is carried out consistently in the work of local administration as in that of the government of the State itself. The officers of local districts are, however, something more than mere local functionaries. Their districts are administrative divisions of the State, in which the general laws of the Commonwealth must be applied. It is, therefore, a part of the business of the local officers to enforce the State laws in their districts. In this sense they are agents of the State, and hence on taking office they are required to take an oath to support the constitution and laws of the State.

General features.

We have now summed up the general features of the political organization under which we live. We have seen that the republican form of our institutions involves the expression of the people's will by means of

the ballot; that the various powers are divided between the central government and the local governments; that the functions of both central and local governments are entrusted to three sets of officers representing the people; and that the local officers deal not merely with the interests of their own districts, but assist in administering the general laws of the State. We shall next take up these various structural features for more detailed consideration.

Citizens.

CHAPTER IV

CITIZENSHIP AND THE SUFFRAGE

26. REFERENCES

Wilson, The State, secs. 1119-1125 (on citizenship under the State and under the Nation); Johnson, Cyclopedia, "Citizenship," "Naturalization;" Lalor, Cyclopaedia of Political Science, "Naturalization;" Bryce, American Commonwealth, II., Part III., "The Party System;" Hart, Actual Government, ch. 4, "Suffrage and Elections," ch. 5, “The Party and the Ma chine;" Lawton, The American Caucus System; Remsen, Pri mary Elections (Questions of the Day Series); also Suffrage and the Ballot; Dallinger, Nominations for Elective Office; McMillan, The Elective Franchise in the United States; Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, ch. 17, “Expression of the Popular Will;" Woolsey, Political Science, Part III., ch. 3, "State, Sovereignty, People;" Goodnow, Politics and Administration, ch. 9, “Responsibility of Parties;" Bluntschli, Theory of the State, Eng. trans., Book VII., "Sovereignty and its Organs, Public Services and Public Officers;" Wigmore, The Australian Ballot System.

Constitution of the United States, Amendment XIV. § 1; Constitution of Ohio (1851), Art. V., “Elective Franchise;" Bates, Annotated Statutes of Ohio, I., 1616-1716, "Elections."

27. CITIZENSHIP

We speak of "the people" as the source of political power in the State. But we are well aware, if we reflect a moment, that we do not mean all of the people when we thus speak. Would it be correct to substitute "citizens" for "the people"? Let us see. Citizens are

persons who, either by birth, or by a legal process, called

naturalization, come to owe allegiance to the government, and are entitled to protection from it. This definition makes no distinction as regards age, sex, or color. It does, however, distinguish between native-born and naturalized citizens. The former are persons born within the State, of parents subject to the authority of the State. The latter are persons of foreign birth who have acquired by due process of law the same rights and immunities as belong to native-born citizens.

The Federal Government has not left the regulation Double of citizenship altogether to the individual States. It citizenship. has enacted a general law in regard to naturalization. Furthermore, the Federal Constitution says that every citizen of the United States, native or naturalized, is also a citizen of the State in which he lives.1 Thus it recognizes a sort of double citizenship, corresponding to the double character of the government. The citizen is under the protection of both the Federal and the State government, he owes allegiance to both, and must obey the laws of both. As the State is subordinate to the United States, so the citizen's allegiance to the former is subordinate to his allegiance to the latter.

28. THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE

between

All of the citizens of the State are entitled to civil Difference rights, that is, the rights which the law affords in respect "citizens" to their persons and property. The power to vote is and "voters.” not included here, and must be set down as a political privilege. This privilege is conferred only on those persons designated in the constitution and in laws consonant therewith. These persons are the qualified vot

1 Constitution of the United States, Amendment XIV. § 1.

Qualifications of

voters.

Extension of the franchise.

ers. They form "the political basis of government,' and may be regarded as the political agents of the whole people.

The constitution of Ohio confers the suffrage on every white male citizen of the United States, who has attained the age of twenty-one years, has been a resident of the State one year next preceding the election, and of the county, township, or ward, such time as the law provides.1 The period of residence fixed in law for the smaller political areas is thirty days for the county, and twenty days for the township. This safeguards the ballot by giving time for a person to become known, and by preventing people from moving into a doubtful district for a few days in order to decide an election. Students in institutions of learning and inmates of charitable institutions who fulfill the residence requirements mentioned above, and are of legal age, are entitled to vote in the ward and precinct where they reside, if they so desire. In general it may be said that the place of voting in the case of such persons is determined by their choice of residence. The only persons who are excluded from the privilege of voting are idiots, insane persons, and persons convicted of an infamous crime.2

The restrictions implied in the words "white" and "male" no longer hold. The franchise was extended to colored men by the adoption of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution in 1868 and 1870 respectively. It was further extended to women in school elections in 1894. The law now provides that women who possess the qualifications required of men, and are native-born or are the wives or daughters of

1Constitution of Ohio (1851), Art. V. §§ 1, 2.

Ballot Election Laws of Ohio, 1901, pp. 56, 57.