Editorial note — Chapter V · : Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States—Part I
Henry Reeve translation
f [ See the Act of February 14, 1821, Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 551.]
g [ See the Act of February 20, 1819, Laws of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 494.]
h [ The council of the Governor is an elective body.] A twofold tendency may be discerned in the American constitutions, which impels the legislator to centralize the legislative and to disperse the executive power. The township of New England has in itself an indestructible element of independence; and this distinct existence could only be fictitiously introduced into the county, where its utility has not been felt. But all the townships united have but one representation, which is the State, the centre of the national authority: beyond the action of the township and that of the nation, nothing can be said to exist but the influence of individual exertion.