Two Colonial Models, Still Shaping Government Today
New England's town meetings and Virginia's county courts were two different colonial answers to the same question: how do you govern a place too small and too local for a distant legislature to manage directly? Both models survived, spread unevenly across the country, and still shape how local government works today.
Most American local government looks less like a city council chamber and more like this: a handful of neighbors, meeting above the volunteer fire department, running the place they live in.
Sources & Further Reading
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Census of Governments
- National League of Cities, Principles of Home Rule for the 21st Century
- ICMA (International City/County Management Association), History of Council-Manager Government
- Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, Dillon's Rule
- California Legislative Analyst's Office, Common Claims About Proposition 13
- Public Policy Institute of California, Proposition 13: 40 Years Later
- City of Staunton, Virginia, Government History
This page draws on the U.S. Census Bureau's Census of Governments, the National League of Cities' research on home rule, the International City/County Management Association's history of council-manager government, Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute on Dillon's Rule, and California's Legislative Analyst's Office and Public Policy Institute of California on Proposition 13. Government counts and elected-official figures reflect the most recently published Census of Governments data as of this writing and are updated by the Bureau roughly every five years.