It must be kept in mind that this is not the only kind of local government known in the constitutional law and practice of the United States. There is, and always has been, since the establishment of the federal system in 1789, for the larger part of the population which declared united independence of Great Britain in 1776, another kind of local government for a part of the United States, a local government which is not self-government, a local government which is but an agency of the central Government. In fact, there have been at times three kinds of local government in the political system of the United States, viz., local government by the executive department of the central Government--that is, local government by executive discretion, martial law--local government as an agency of the legislative department of the central Government--that is, Territorial government--and "State" government. That is to say, since 1789 the whole of the United States, territorially, has never been under the federal system of government, but has _always_ been partly under federal government and partly under the exclusive government of Congress, and has _sometimes_ been partly under federal government, {3} partly under the exclusive government of Congress, and partly under the exclusive government of the President. [Sidenote: Local government under the Constitution of the United States.] The Constitution of the United States recognizes and provides for all three of these species of local government, and vests in Congress the power of advancing the population of a district, the confines of which district shall be determined by Congress itself, from the lower to the higher forms of local government. While the Constitution does not expressly impose upon Congress the duty of making or permitting the change from one kind of local government to another, it impliedly indicates that Congress shall determine the kind of local government which the population of any particular district shall enjoy in accordance with the conditions prevailing, at any given moment, among them. If the maintenance of law and order requires the immediate exercise of military power, Congress may, and should, permit the continuance of the President's discretionary government. If, on the other hand, this is not necessary, Congress may, and should, confer civil government, under the Territorial form, and when the population of a Territory shall have become ripe for local self-government and capable of maintaining it, Congress may, and should, allow the Territory to become a "State" of the Union, a Commonwealth. [Sidenote: "State" destructibility in the system of federal government.] [Sidenote: The effect on "State" existence of the renunciation of allegiance to the Union.]