e attempts
at centralization are weak and unproductive. The great authorities of
the State have the right of watching and controlling the subordinate
agents, without that of rewarding or punishing them. The same individual
is never empowered to give an order and to punish disobedience; he
has therefore the right of commanding, without the means of exacting
compliance. In 1830 the Superintendent of Schools complained in
his Annual Report addressed to the legislature that several
school-commissioners had neglected, notwithstanding his application,
to furnish him with the accounts which were due. He added that if this
omission continued he should be obliged to prosecute them, as the law
directs, before the proper tribunals.]

[Footnote k: Thus the district-attorney is directed to recover all fines
below the sum of fifty dollars, unless such a right has been specially
awarded to another magistrate.--Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 383.]

[Footnote l: Several traces of centralization may be discovered in
Massachusetts; for instance, the committees of the town-schools are
directed to make an annual report to the Secretary of State. See Laws of
Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 367.]

Of The State

I have described the townships and the administration; it now remains
for me to speak of the State and the Government. This is ground I may
pass over rapidly, without fear of being misunderstood; for all I have
to say is to be found in written forms of the various constitutions,
which are easily to be procured. These constitutions rest upon a simple
and rational theory; their forms have been adopted by all constitutional
nations, and are become familiar to us. In this place, therefore, it
is only necessary for me to give a short analysis; I shall endeavor
afterwards to pass judgment upon what I now describe.

Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States--Part III

Legislative Power Of The State

Division of the Legislative Body into two Houses--Senate--House of
Representatives--Different functions of these two Bodies.

The legislative power of the State is vested in two assemblies, the
first of which generally bears the name of the Senate. The Senate is
commonly a legislative body; but it sometimes becomes an executive
and judicial one. It takes a part in the government in several ways,
according to the constitution of the different States; *m but it is in
the nomination of public functionaries that it most comm