Virginia influenced the colonies that lay
south of her, so that the county type was found also in the Carolinas
and Georgia. In the middle colonies there existed both counties and
towns, and here there was a much more equal division of powers between
these organizations. Hence we call theirs the _mixed_ or
_township-county type_ of local government.
Local Government in the West.--The people who migrated to the new
States west of the Alleghenies carried with them the forms of local
government which have just been described as growing up in the colonies.
This statement needs some modification, for nowhere in the West was the
pure town type adopted. Everywhere in the North we find the mixed type,
while the Southern States have, in general, the county type. In the
latter the county commissioners, elected at large or from precincts,
together with other county officers, exercise most of the local powers
of government.
Two Forms in the North.--In the greater number of the States that
have the mixed type, the county is governed by a board of commissioners
elected by either of the methods just mentioned as prevailing in the
South.
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