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Uncle Tom’s Cabin vocabulary
333 vocabulary words, including people, places, music, artists, etc.
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selectman
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Definition:Defn: One of a board of town officers chosen annually in the New England States to transact the general public business of the town, and have a kind of executive authority. The number is usually from three to seven in each town. The system of delegated town action was then, perhaps, the same which was defined in an "order made in 1635 by the inhabitants of Charlestown at a full meeting for the government of the town, by selectmen;" the name presently extended throughout New England to municipal governors.Noah Webster. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)---The function of the board of selectmen differs from state to state, and can differ within a given state depending on the type of governance under which a town operates. Selectmen almost always serve part-time, with a token or no salary. It is the chief executive branch of local government in the open town meeting form of government.The basic function consists of calling town meetings, proposing budgets to Town Meeting, setting public policy, calling elections, licensing, setting certain fees, overseeing certain volunteer and appointed bodies, and creating basic regulations.text from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike
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Uses:
an't you going to do anything about it?" said Miss Ophelia. "Haven't you got any selectmen, or anybody, to interfere and look after such matters?"
"It's commonly supposed that the property interest is a sufficient guard in these cases. If people choose to ruin their own possessions, I don't know what's to be done.
Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin
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we run the government like a New England township. Perfect democracy. As long as we’re relatively small, it’ll work fine. Only instead of a board of selectmen we’ll have seven … representatives, I guess.
Stephen King. The Stand (1990)
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