A State government is formed as follows:  The Governor of the Territory issues a proclamation declaring that on a certain date there shall be an election of delegates to a convention; such convention is to be held on a certain date.  These delegates are elected by a popular vote.  The members of the convention thus formed declare that they, on behalf of the people of the Territory, adopt the Constitution of the United States, and then proceed to draft a State constitution and government.  It is provided that this constitution shall be Republican in form, and make no distinction in civil and political rights on account of race or color, except for Indians not taxed:  that it shall not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the principles of the Declaration of Independence.  Perfect religious toleration must be guaranteed, all right or title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the Territory must be disclaimed and given over to the United States.  Provision must be made by the constitution for the establishment and maintenance of the system of public schools.

After adoption by the convention the constitution is offered to the people for ratification.  If it is ratified, the Governor certifies the fact to the President of the United States.  Provided the constitution is found to comply with all the conditions just mentioned, the President issues his proclamation declaring the ratification of the constitution, and upon the same day that the proclamation is issued the territory is deemed admitted by Congress into the Union as a State, on an equal footing with the original States, and entitled to representation in both houses of the Federal Congress.  The representatives and the Governor and other State officers are elected on the same day as that upon which the constitution is ratified by the people.

CHAPTER XIV.

State Governments.

The United States is a nation of forty-four federated States.  Each State has its own separate government, which is sovereign, except as to a few powers which have been granted to the United States government for general purposes.  Citizens of States are also citizens of the United States, and thus owe a double allegiance, namely, to the State in which they reside and to the United States.

These States vary in size from that of Texas, the largest, with an area of 265,780 square miles, to that of Rhode Island, the smallest, with 1,250; and in population from that of New York, with nearly six millions, to that of Nevada, with about forty-five thousand.  The largest State is greater than either France or the German Empire.

State governments are older than the Federal government, for it was by a grant by the States of certain of their powers that the United States government was created.  Each State is represented in Congress by two members in the Senate.  Members of the lower branch of the Federal legislature are apportioned among the States according to population.  As in the case of the United States, the powers of government are divided among three departments—­the executive, legislative, and judicial.