[Sidenote: Town-meetings in New York.] [Sidenote: The county board of supervisors.] New York had from the very beginning the rudiments of an excellent system of local self-government. The Dutch villages had their assemblies, which under the English rule were developed into town-meetings, though with less ample powers than those of New England. The governing body of the New York town consisted of the constable and eight overseers, who answered in most respects to the selectmen of New England. Four of the overseers were elected each year in town-meeting, and one of the retiring overseers was at the same time elected constable. In course of time the elective offices came to include assessors and collectors, town clerk, highway surveyors, fence-viewers, pound-masters, and overseers of the poor. At first the town-meetings seem to have been held only for the election of officers, but they acquired to a limited extent the power of levying taxes and enacting by-laws. In 1703 a law was passed requiring each town to elect yearly an officer to be known as the "supervisor," whose duty was "to compute, ascertain, examine, oversee, and allow the contingent, publick, and necessary charges" of the county.[4] For this purpose the supervisors met once a year at the county town. The principle was the same as that of the levy court in Delaware. This board of supervisors was a strictly representative government, and formed a strong contrast to the close corporation by which county affairs were administered in Virginia. The New York system is of especial interest, because it has powerfully influenced the development of local institutions throughout the Northwest. [Footnote 4: Howard, _Local Const. Hist_., i. 111.] QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. 1. Describe the early local government of eastern South Carolina. 2. Describe the early local government of western South Carolina. 3. Explain the difference. 4. What effort was made in 1768 to put a stop to lynch law? 5. What difficulties arose from the attempted adjustment of 1768? 6. What compromises were made between the two sections down to the time of the Civil War? 7. What changes have been made in local government since the Civil War? 8. Mention a peculiarity of the South Carolina county. 9. Compare its size with that of counties in other states. 10. What disadvantage is due to this great size? 11. What was the earliest form of civil community in Maryland, and from what source did it come? 12. Trace the development of the hundred in accordance with the following outline:-- a. Intermediate groups between clans and tribes. b. Illustrations from Greece and the North American Indians. c. The Roman century and the German hundred. 13. Describe the English hundred in the tenth century. 14. Describe the hundred court. 15. Describe the Maryland hundred and its decay. 16. What is the relation of the Delaware hundred to the county? 17. Describe the Delaware levy court.