A history of the American nation . id Albert Gallatin at a later day, notonly we have neither Livingstons nor Rensselaers,^but from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the Ohio I do notknow a single family that has any extensive influence. An equal distribution of prop-erty has rendered everyindividual independent,and there is among ustrue and real people were sober-minded and other colonies werehasty, Pennsylvania wasdeliberate. To the morefiery colonies of the Southand North she seemed attimes phlegmatic and de-void of spirit. But Penn-sylvania cherished her lib-ertie
A history of the American nation . id Albert Gallatin at a later day, notonly we have neither Livingstons nor Rensselaers,^but from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the Ohio I do notknow a single family that has any extensive influence. An equal distribution of prop-erty has rendered everyindividual independent,and there is among ustrue and real people were sober-minded and other colonies werehasty, Pennsylvania wasdeliberate. To the morefiery colonies of the Southand North she seemed attimes phlegmatic and de-void of spirit. But Penn-sylvania cherished her lib-erties and knew how todefend them. If we should confine our attention solely to the centralgovernment of each colony, we should get but a faint idea ofthe political life of the American colonists. Rep-resentative assemblies were, as we have seen, alertand active; they show that the people were alive to politicalquestions. But the virility of American politics is perhaps evenmore clearly seen in the local organizations. There were three. The Birthplace of Benjamin Frank-lin IN Boston Political life. ^ Two of the great New York families. CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760 127 systems of local government: a, the town; h, the county; c, amixture of the two. The New England colonies had the town,the Southern colonies the county, and the middle colonies themixed system. The town grew up naturally in New England. The peopleof each small community looked after their common interests. All the little affairs of the neighborhood were themin(i°^°^ Concern of the town meeting;^ there was nothing beyond its reach. It sought to know the townsmind, and to declare it. Each man was entitled to take part inits sturdy discussions, and each was expected to bow to the deci-sion of the town. Selectmen were elected to have general chargeof town affairs; and a clerk,^ whose duties were various, and aconstable were also chosen. Besides these officers there weremany others, some of them regularly and annuall
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