The second department of government is called the executive department, and is also formed of persons who are elected by the people, and their business is to execute or carry out the laws.  Their duty is to see that every one who violates any law of the country or state is brought to punishment, and that the laws made for promoting the well-being and happiness of the people are carried out.

The third department of the government is the judicial department or the judiciary.  Its members are, in Virginia, chosen by the legislature.  Their duty is to administer the laws, that is to inquire into every case in which a person is accused of breaking the laws, and if a person is found to be guilty, to sentence him to the punishment which the law prescribes for the crime or offence he has committed.

In this book full particulars and explanations are given as to the formation of those three departments of government, the many duties assigned to each, and how those duties are performed.

In republics government is usually carried on according to the wishes of the majority of the people.  This is what is called majority rule.  At elections to form the legislative or executive department, different persons or candidates are proposed for each office, and the candidate who gets a majority of the votes is elected.  A candidate is a person who is proposed for election to some office.

Candidates for public offices are proposed or nominated at what are called conventions.  A convention is a meeting of electors, or voters, held for the purpose of agreeing upon or choosing persons to be candidates for office.  Conventions are called together and conducted by organizations known as parties or political parties.  There are usually at least two political parties in every country in which there is constitutional government.  Each of the parties nominates candidates at every election, and tries in every legitimate way to persuade the people to vote for its candidates.

The party whose candidates are elected is called the party in power.  This is what is known as party government.

It is good for the state that there should be political parties.  Each party closely watches the conduct of the other, and if the party in power make bad laws or execute the laws unfairly or unjustly, the party out of power appeals to the people by public speeches and by writing in newspapers, and does what it can to get the voters to vote against the party in power at the next election and turn it out of office.

Every citizen may join either of the parties he pleases, and so exercise his influence through conventions and elections to secure good government.  And it is the duty of every citizen to do this, for good government—­honest law-makers and honest administrators of the laws—­is one of the greatest blessings a state can have.  It is also the duty of young people to learn about the government and politics of their state, so that when they come of age they may be able to perform their part as citizens intelligently and well.