State and local
governments, and under the superintendence of State officers. The State
takes care of the defective classes, of the insane, paupers, etc.; and,
in general, performs all those ordinary duties concerning internal
affairs which are exercised by central governments.

Each State government has--

1. A Constitution.

2. A Legislature of two Houses.

3. An executive, composed of a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor (in
almost all cases), Secretary of State, Auditor, and a few other
officers.

4. A system of local government in counties, towns, cities, etc.

5. A body of State laws.

6. A judicial system of courts, from which no appeal can be had to
United States courts, except upon Federal questions.

7. A system of local taxation.

Each State government has all the rights usually pertaining to a
sovereign State, except--Those powers which the Federal
Constitution expressly forbids to the States.

3. Those powers which have in the Constitution been exclusively
given to the United States.

All States have public debts, which they may, and sometimes do,
repudiate. They can be sued only by other States. The Eleventh Amendment
declared that a citizen could not maintain a suit against a State. State
laws are binding only within the boundaries of the State enacting them.

_#State Constitutions.#_--As the Federal Constitution is the supreme law
of the United States, so the State constitution is the highest law of
the States. The Constitutions of the original thirteen States were
naturally formed after the model of the charters enjoyed by the New
England colonies. In the colonies of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and
Massachusetts their charters were adopted as constitutions without any
change, except, of course, the annulment of obedience to the English
king. All subsequent constitutions have been closely modeled after these
first thirteen. The Federal Constitution provides that all State
constitutions must be Republican in form. (For other conditions of
admission of territories as States, see subject "Territories.") The
modes of amendment of constitutions differ in different States, but in
all, amendment is much easier of accomplishment than in the case of the
Federal Constitution. This is shown by the fact that since 1776 there
have been adopted by the States one hundred and five complete
constitutions, and two hundred and fourteen partial amendm