THE POLITICAL CLASS BOOK; INTENDED TO INSTRUCT THE HIGHER CLASSES IN SCHOOLS IN THE ORIGIN, NATURE, AND USE OF POLITICAL POWER. "Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, pros- "Ignorantia legum neminem excusat; omnes enim præsumuntur eas nôsse, quibus omnes consentiunt." BY WILLIAM SULLIVAN COUNSELLOR AT LAW. WITH AN APPENDIX UPON STUDIES FOR PRACTICAL MEN; WITH NOTICES OF BOOKS SUITED TO THEIR USE. BY GEORGE B. EMERSON. LL.D. New Edition, WITH AMENDMENTS AND ADDITIONS, BOSTON: RICHARDSON, LORD AND HOLBROOK, 1831. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the seventh day of January, A. D. 1831, and in the fiftyfifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, WILLIAM SULLIVAN and GEORGE B. EMERSON, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as authors and proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "The Political Class Book; intended to instruct the Higher Classes in Schools in the Origin, Nature, and Use of Political Power. 'Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people;and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man.' Mass. Bill of Rights. 'Ignorantia legum neminem excusat; omnes enim præsumuntur eas nosse, quibus omnes consentiunt.' By William Sullivan, Counsellor at Law.-With an Appendix upon Studies for Practical Men; with Notices of Books suited to their Use. By George B. Emerson. New Edition, with Amendments and Additions." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an act, entitled, "An Act supplementary to an act, entitled, 'An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned;' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching histori cal and other prints." JNO. W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. PRESENTED TO THE American Antiquarian Society, By ISAIAH THOMAS, ESQ. Worcester, Oct 7th 18? INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION. THE people of the United States have undertaken to preserve and transmit civil and religious liberty, and the blessings of life, by the administration of just and equal laws, made in conformity to written constitutions, voluntarily adopted. There must be, somewhere, an authority competent to judge whether such laws are so administered. This authority resided in those who instituted our governments. It passed to their successors. It resides, always, in those who compose the political community. This community has not only the exclusive right to judge whether power, established for its benefit, is constitutionally exercised, but also the absolute right to amend, and even to abolish, an existing system, and substitute any other. Such sovereign power implies knowledge of the subjects to which it is to be applied; and, as there is no distinction in the political rights of the members of the community, every citizen, who has attained to the age of twenty-one years, is entitled to all the rights of citizenship, and is held |