Excerpt from State and Municipal Government in the United States

In spite of the importance and interest of international and national questions of policy and in spite of the rapidly widening sphere of federal legislation and administration the life of an American citizen is affected more often by the agencies of local government than by those of the national government. Under the protection of the Federal Constitution the life and property of the citizen are governed and protected by state, not federal, laws. In his political capacity the citizen takes part in both the federal and the local government in accordance with state regulations. Acting under the state laws are the particular political units in which the citizen may reside - the county, city, or town. To the authorities of these the citizen most fre quently looks for governmental support and regulation. Yet these local bodies are distinctly subordinate to and created by the authority of the state and are supervised and regulated by it.

It is the purpose of this book to discuss the organization, the distribution of powers and functions, and the operation of these agencies of local government. Other books have dealt with state government and state administration or with munici pal government and municipal administration, but this book covers both state and municipal government, treating the two as a single manifestation of local government. With this in mind the book has been divided into five parts. In Part I the federal system and the state constitutions as the fundamental basis of local government are discussed. Part II deals with the political system - the electorate in theory and in action, in primaries, in election campaigns, and in its direct action in the use of the initiative, referendum, and recall. Part III deals with state government - the different organs and the functions which these organs perform. State administration, which is rapidly being extended both directly and through the supervisory power of the state, is discussed in its various manifestations.

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