COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY EVERETT KIMBALL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 224.9 JK274 The Athenæum Dress GINN AND COMPANY. PRO. PREFACE At the request of college instructors this book has been prepared to provide a study of the government of the United States (Federal, state, and local) in a single volume. It is based upon the author's volumes "The National Government of the United States" and "State and Municipal Government in the United States." It is, however, more than a mere abridgment. Although the previous volumes have been freely drawn upon, this volume has been prepared with a view to the limitations and necessities of a single volume. Little attempt has been made to treat general political science; and the account of the historical origins of our institutions has been reduced to the lowest terms, for it is believed that students obtain a better understanding of the principles of political science and the history of institutions from collateral readings in longer and more specialized treatises than from a brief condensation, which is all that a volume of this scope would be able to give on these subjects. In this volume the attempt is made to describe the salient features of our constitutional and political systems, with special stress upon their functioning. Although the constitutional basis of the institutions is studied and their composition described, constant effort is made to show how these institutions actually operate and are limited or expanded through the influence of the courts and political parties. Every effort is made to bring home very clearly the relation of the three spheres of governmentnational, state, and local-and the mutual dependence and interrelation of these spheres. Thus, although the volume is naturally divided into three parts, dealing with the national, state, and local government, these are viewed not as independent spheres of government, but as portions of the field in which the United States government operates through different agencies. EVERETT KIMBALL |