It is designed in the bibliographical notes to indicate some authorities to which reference may be made for greater detail than is possible in an elementary work like the present. It is believed that the notes will prove a help to teacher and pupil in special investigations, and to the reader who may wish to make selections from excellent sources for purposes of self-culture. It is hardly necessary to add that it is sometimes worth much to the student to know where valuable information may be obtained, even when it is not practicable to make immediate use of it. Certain books should always be at the teacher's desk during the instruction in civil government, and as easily accessible as the large dictionary; as, for instance, the following: The General Statutes of the state, the manual or blue-book of the state legislature, and, if the school is in a city, the city charter and ordinances. It is also desirable to add to this list the statutes of the United States and a manual of Congress or of the general government. Manuals may be obtained through representatives in the state legislature and in Congress. They will answer nearly every purpose if they are not of the latest issue. The _Statesman's Year Book_, published by Macmillan & Co., New York, every year, is exceedingly valuable for reference. Certain almanacs, particularly the comprehensive ones issued by the New York _Tribune_ and the New York _World_, are rich in state and national statistics, and so inexpensive as to be within everybody's means. TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT.--As to the causes of the American revolution, see my _War of Independence_, Boston, 1889; and as to the weakness of the government of the United States before 1789, see my _Critical Period of American History_, Boston, 1888. As to the causes of the French revolution, see Paul Lacombe, _The Growth of a People_, N.Y., 1883, and the third volume of Kitchin's _History of France_, London, 1887; also Morse Stephens, _The French Revolution_, vol. i., N.Y., 1887; Taine, _The Ancient Regime_,--N.Y., 1876, and _The Revolution_, 2 vols., N.Y., 1880. The student may read with pleasure and profit Dickens's _Tale of Two Cities_. For the student familiar with French, an excellent book is Albert Babeau, _Le Village sous l'ancien Régime_, Paris, 1879; see also Tocqueville, _L'ancien Régime et la Révolution_, 7th ed., Paris, 1866. There is a good sketch of the causes of the French revolution in the fifth volume of Leeky's _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_, N.Y., 1887; see also Buckle's _History of Civilization_, chaps, xii.-xiv. There is no better commentary on my first chapter than the lurid history of France in the eighteenth century. The strong contrast to English and American history shows us most instructively what we have thus far escaped. CHAPTER II. THE TOWNSHIP. Section 1. _The New England Township_.