A REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT

After a declaration of rights, which all state constitutions contain, the constitution is concerned chiefly with the organization, powers and duties of the government.  Each state may organize its government as it sees fit, provided only that it is “republican” in form as required by the federal Constitution (Art.  IV, sec. 4).  This means that it must be a form of representative self-government.

SEPARATION OF POWERS

While the state governments differ from one another in matters of detail, the general plan is the same in all.  Each consists of three branches:  the legislative branch for lawmaking; the executive branch for law enforcement and administration; and the judicial branch for the interpretation of the laws and for the administration of justice in accordance with the law.  These three branches are organized on the principle of a separation of powers, to prevent encroachment by one upon the powers of the others, and to make each a check upon the powers of the others.

In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them; to the end it may be a government of laws, and not of men. [Footnote:  Constitution of Massachusetts, Part I, Art.  XXX.]

Investigate and report on: 

The meaning of “a government of laws, and not of men.”

The entrance of your state into the Union.

The history of your present state constitution.

The powers surrendered by your state when it entered the Union.

Compare the length of your state constitution with that of the federal Constitution.

The principal parts of which your constitution is composed.

Number of amendments to your state constitution.  When the latest amendments were adopted and why.

The declaration of rights in your state constitution.

Checks exercised by the legislature upon the executive and judicial branches; by the executive upon the legislative and judicial branches; by the judicial upon the legislative and executive branches.

THE GOVERNOR

The chief executive officer of the state is the governor, who is elected by the people for a term which varies, in the different states, from one to four years.  It is his duty to see that the laws of the state are faithfully executed.  The constitution makes him the commander-in-chief of the state militia, which he may call upon to enforce the laws or to quell disorders.  It also gives him the power to pardon persons convicted of crime, in the exercise of which power he is sometimes assisted by a special board of pardons and sometimes by the legislature; but the consideration of the pleas of such persons and their friends for pardon often consumes much of his time.