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PART FIRST.

PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.

CHAPTER I.

Government. Capacity of Man for Society, and for Civil Government.

§1. GOVERNMENT is the exercise of authority, or direction and restraint exercised over the actions of men. In a political sense, it signifies that form of fundamental rules by which a nation or state is governed, or by which the members of a body politic are to regulate their social actions. It means also the administration of public affairs, according to established constitutions, laws, and usages: and sometimes it signifies the persons or officers who make and administer the laws of a state or nation.

§2. Government presupposes that man is a social being. He is fitted, by the laws of his nature, for society and for civil government and laws. The Creator has so formed man, that he is dependent upon his fellow man. He stands in need of the assistance of creatures like himself, to preserve and protect his own being, and to enjoy the life of a rational animal. Nature has given to men the advantages of reason and speech, or at least the faculty of acquiring them by intercourse with their fellow beings. By conversing with each other, they are enabled to improve their reason and knowledge, and to find methods of supplying their wants, without that natural strength which is given to other animals.

§3. That mankind are by nature designed for society, may be inferred also from their disposition to associate with

EXERCISES.-§ 1. What is government? § 2, 3. Wherein consist

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