In the performance of these various functions the American people seem to have thought it quite unnecessary for the county to be supplied with the proper apparatus for doing its own policy making. Or, to look at the matter from the other side, they deemed it quite appropriate that the policy-making part of the state government, which is the legislature, should not control the hands and feet, which in matters of local concern consist of the county officials. Elaborate general laws were enacted to prescribe in minute detail the daily round of routine of each officer. Why should he or why should the people think? It was not the purpose of the state that they should. And without thinking, there could be no differences of opinion; without differences of opinion, no “issues”; without issues, no real politics. CHAPTER III A CREATURE OF TRADITION It all came about in this way: The first settlers in the permanent Virginia colony found a climate that was mild and a soil that was fertile. Numerous rivers radiating through the country furnished a natural means for transportation. Indians were not a serious menace. The settlers themselves were of the landed gentry, closely identified with the established English Church. Out of such a combination a very definite polity inevitably grew. The people were destined to spread themselves far and wide; agriculture was to be their chief pursuit; little government would be needed and the forms and substance of democracy would have at best a slow growth. For many years the local government consisted primarily of small groups of settlements which were called hundreds or parishes and were presided over by a vestry of “selected men.” When the plantations were large and scattered, government was sometimes supplied by the owners themselves. But in 1634 in Virginia, the example of English institutions took firmer root and eight shires or counties were formed and made the unit of representation in the colonial assembly and for purposes of military, judicial, highway and fiscal administration. The officers were the county lieutenant (the militia officer), the sheriff (who acted as collector and treasurer), justices of the peace and coroners. All were appointed by the governor of the colony on the recommendation of the justices, and the latter thus became a self-perpetuating body of aristocratic planters controlling the county administration. This body of appointed justices constituted the county court, which to this day in some of the southern states is not only a judicial body, but also corresponds to the board of supervisors or the county commissioners in other localities.