5. The United States Government has control of states and territories
6. Plants are divided into two groups: (1) the phanerogams, or flowering plants, and (2) cryptogams, or flowerless plants.
7. All phanerogamous plants consist of (1) root and (2) shoot; the shoot consisting of (a) stem and (b) leaf. It is true that some exceptional plants, in maturity, lack leaves, or lack root. These exceptions are few.
8. We may divide the activities of the government into: keeping order, making law, protecting individual rights, providing public schools, providing and mending roads, caring for the destitute, carrying the mail, managing foreign relations, making war, and collecting taxes.
B. Notice the following paragraphs, State briefly the divisions made.
+1. Plan of the Book.+—What is government? Who is the government? We shall begin by considering the American answers to these questions.
What does The Government do? That will be our next inquiry. And with regard to the ordinary practical work of government, we shall see that government in the United States is not very different from government in the other civilized countries of the world.
Then we shall inquire how government officials are chosen in the United States, and how the work of government is parceled out among them. This part of the book will show what is meant by self-government and local self-government, and will show that our system differs from European systems chiefly in these very matters of self-government and local self-government.
Coming then to the details of our subject, we shall consider the names and duties of the principal officials in the United States; first, those of the township, county, and city, then those of the state, and then those of the federal government.
Finally, we shall examine certain operations in the American system, such as a trial in court, and nominations for office, and conclude with an outline of international relations, and a summary of the commonest laws of business and property.