JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIESINHISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor

History is past Politics and Politics present History--_Freeman_

NINTH SERIESI-II

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATIONOF THEUNITED STATES

BY

WESTEL W. WILLOUGHBY, A. B. _Fellow in History_

AND

WILLIAM F. WILLOUGHBY, A. B. _U. S. Department of Labor_

1801

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Chapters. 

I. Preface

II. Government Monarchy Absolute Limited Aristocracy Democracy Republic Popular Government

III. Functions of Government Necessary Optional

IV. Colonial Governments: Their Relation to Each Other, and to England Provincial Proprietary Charter

V. Steps Toward Union--Articles of Confederation New England Confederation Albany Convention Stamp Act Congress First Continental Congress Second Continental Congress Articles of Confederation Elements Tending to Separation and to Union Purposes of the Confederation Scheme of Government under the Articles Defects of the Articles

VI. Adoption of the Constitution The Constitutional Convention Arguments For and Against Adoption

VII. Presidential Succession

VIII. Election of Senators

IX. Congressional Government

X. Cabinet and Executive Departments State Department Treasury Department War Department Navy Department Interior Department Commissioner of Land Office Commissioner of Pensions Commissioner of Patents Commissioner of Indian Affairs Bureau of Education Commissioner of Railroads Geological Survey Superintendent of the Census Post Office Department Department of Justice Department of Agriculture Department of Labor Interstate Commerce Commission Fish Commission Civil Service Commission Government Printing Office National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and Bureau of Ethnology Librarian of Congress

XI. The Federal Judiciary Federal Judicial System District Courts Circuit Courts Jurisdiction

XII. Ordinance for Government of the Northwest Territory

XIII. Government of Territories Admission of a Territory as a State

XIV. State Governments State Constitutions State Legislatures State Executives State Judiciary

XV. Local Government In New England In the South In the West

XVI. City Government

XVII. Government Revenue and Expenditure Federal Government State and Local Taxes Expenditures Maryland Baltimore

XVIII. Money Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates Silver Dollars and Silver Certificates Subsidiary and Minor Coins Treasury Notes Notes of National Banks

XIX. Public Lands of the United States Educational Grants Land Bounties for Military and Naval Service Land Grants to States for Internal Improvement Sale of Public Land Under Pre-emption Acts Under Homestead Acts Under Timber Culture Act Certain Lands to States Grants to Pacific and other Railroads

XX. Reconstruction

XXI. Party Machinery

XXII. National Conventions and Presidential Campaigns History and Development of the National Convention Method of Procedure

XXIII. Introduction to the Study of the History of Political Parties in the United States

Bibliographical Note

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATIONOF THE UNITED STATES. 

CHAPTER I. 

Preface. 

These chapters were originally prepared for and used as a manual in thepublic schools of the District of Columbia. In a revised and amplifiedform they are now published as one of Johns Hopkins University Studiesin History and Politics. 

The aim of this revision is to furnish assistance to students beginningthe study of the history and practical workings of our politicalinstitutions. It is not the purpose to furnish a complete text-book uponthe government of the United States and its administration, but, by aclear, concise statement of the salient points of our federal system, and a description of the actual workings of the characteristic featuresof our institutions, to give to the student a better understanding ofthe manner in which the same are administered, than is to be obtainedfrom the ordinary text-books on Civil Government. 

These Outlines are intended as an aid to both teacher and pupil, and foruse in a class whose members are already familiar with the leadingevents and names in United States history. The work is intended tofurnish such supplementary information as can be obtained only withgreat difficulty by most teachers, and which for the most part cannot beobtained at all by the pupils. 

The authors have endeavored to make prominent the fact that our presentform of government is far from being contained in the writtenconstitution of 1787, and consequently, that a study of that instrumentalone will give a very inadequate idea of our government as it is. Theconstitution was but a foundation upon which to build a government. 

Nothing like an analysis or commentary upon the constitution of theUnited States is here attempted. The public is already well suppliedwith books covering that ground. History proper, except as showing thebasis and reason for the establishment of our institutions, has likewisefound no place here. 

The book is to be used chiefly as a manual, to supply information thatwould otherwise need to be dictated by the instructor. The Outlines arein many particulars merely suggestive. Many topics are simply mentioned, which the teacher must elaborate and explain at greater length. 

Lastly, though this book does not pretend to give a connected account ofour administration or politics, yet the subjects have been carefullyarranged in such an order as would most naturally be followed in acourse to which the work is intended to be an aid. 

CHAPTER II. 

Government. 

From the earliest times of which history furnishes authentic record, andin all countries inhabited by man, people have found it necessary tobind themselves together by civic regulations so that certain things maybe done by all in common--in short, to establish some form ofgovernment. 

Now, as has always been the case, there are certain things which, fromtheir very nature, cannot be left to each individual to do, or not todo, as he may choose, or to do in his own way. First of all, there isthe necessity of some means by which the weak may be protected from thestrong. The individual must be protected in his life and liberty, andthere must be some guarantee to him, that if he is industrious theenjoyment of the product of his labor will be secured to him. Humannature being imperfect, disputes and injustice are sure to arise. Hencecomes the necessity of some power above the citizens and able to commandtheir obedience, some power that can administer justice according to therights and not according to the strength of individuals. 

To thus control the actions of individuals, this power above thecitizens, this government, must possess functions of three kinds. First, legislative power, or power to declare the rules of conduct to which thecitizen must conform; second, judicial power, or power to interpret anddeclare the true meaning of these rules, and to apply them to theparticular cases that may arise; and third, the executive power, orpower to carry into execution these laws, and to enforce the obedienceof the citizens. 

To the student nothing could be more interesting and instructive, thanto trace how, as tribes and nations have progressed in civilization, government has advanced in its development. How, as men have progressed, first from the condition of savage hunters to the roving feeders offlocks, then to tillers of the soil with fixed places of abode, andfinally to builders of cities teeming with trade, commerce andmanufactures; how as men have thus improved in civilization and materialwell-being, their mutual duties and common interests have become moreand more important and numerous, and government as controlling theseinterests and duties, has developed in form and improved in structureuntil it has become an all-powerful, complex machine, controlling inmany ways the actions, and even the lives of its citizens. 

For thousands of years, governments have been developing and changing inform and functions, and a very large part of the history of the nationsof the globe is identified with the history of the development andchanges of their governments. As new conditions and needs have arisen, governments have adapted themselves to them. In some cases this has beendone peacefully, as in England, and in others violently, byrevolutionary means, as in France. In some cases functions previouslyexercised have been relinquished, in others, new powers have beenassumed; but in the majority of cases, the change has been merely in themanner of exercising this or that power. 

All peoples have not the same characteristics, nor have they developedunder the same conditions of climate, soil or situation. Differentnations have, therefore, developed for themselves different forms ofgovernment. Yet these governments, however different in their structuresand administration, are in all cases distinctly referable to four welldefined types: Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy, and the Republic. _#Monarchy. #_--A monarchy is a nation at whose head is a personal ruler, called King, Emperor, or Czar, who has control of the government, appoints the principal officers of state, and to whom in theory atleast, these appointees are responsible for their actions. Thus England, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and others are monarchies. The sovereignholds his position for life, and usually acquires his throne byinheritance. Where the crown is nominally elective, as in England, kingship is practically hereditary, the regular line of descent beingdeparted from only upon rare occasions. 

The amount of power actually exercised, the responsibility borne by thesovereign varies widely in different countries, and upon the basis ofthese differences monarchial forms of government are classified underthe two heads, Absolute and Limited Monarchies. 

_#An Absolute Monarchy. #_--An absolute monarchy is one in which thesovereign or ruler is possessed of supreme power and authority, andcontrols absolutely, without limitation or interference, all the powersof government. His word is law and requires not the sanction of thepeople. His commands are absolute and require not the formality ofjudicial procedure, and are not necessarily in conformity with existinglaws. Implicit obedience to his commands, however arbitrary, may bedemanded, and there is no appeal. These are, theoretically, the powersof the absolute monarch. Practically, however, he is constrained to keepwithin fair bounds of justice and good policy, lest his subjects begoaded to rebellion and revolution. The absolute form of monarchy existsto-day in the empires of Russia and Turkey. 

_#A Limited Monarchy. #_--A limited monarchy is one in which theruler, though at the head of the government, is not absolute, but islimited in his powers by the action of a body of men, selected by thepeople, who make the laws by which the nation is to be governed. Therespective rights and powers of the sovereign and of the law-makingbody, are determined by a collection of rules, written or unwritten, collectively known as the constitution. The constitution contains thefundamental law of the land. All acts of the government to be valid, must be constitutional, that is to say, in conformity with the ruleslaid down in the constitution. For this reason limited monarchies arealso known by the name of Constitutional Monarchies. 

England is the most conspicuous example of a limited or constitutionalmonarchy. In consideration of our former connection with her, and theextent to which we have derived our ideas of government from herpolitical institutions, it will be of great assistance to us if we stopfor a moment to consider her government, before proceeding to a study ofour own. 

The sovereign of England is termed King or Queen. Originally possessedof almost absolute power, the English ruler, at the present daypossesses very little actual power and influence, much less in fact thanthe people of the United States have entrusted to their President. Theconstitutional history of England is largely the narrative of thesuccessive steps by which the people have wrested from royal hands andtaken under their own control, the powers of government. 

The rights of the English people in the participation of their owngovernment are not contained in the written document, such as we possessin our constitution, but rest upon established custom and precedent, andvarious charters wrested from their kings. 

The English Parliament, or, to speak more exactly, the lower branch ofthe Parliament, called the House of Commons, rules the English people. The Parliament or law-making branch of the English government, isdivided into two houses, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The House of Lords is, as its name denotes, composed mainly of membersof the noble families of England, who owe their seat in that body to thechance of birth. Theoretically possessed of powers of legislation equalto those exercised by the lower and more numerous branch (the Commons), the Lords have in reality but a small voice in the control of publicaffairs. The House of Commons is composed of members elected by thepeople. In this body reside almost all the powers of government. Itsacts require the assent of the House of Lords and of the King, but thisassent is almost wholly formal. The sphere of legislation allowed theEnglish Parliament is unlimited, differing in this respect fundamentallyfrom our Congress, which is limited in its legislative field by theConstitution. From the English Parliament is selected the "Cabinet"consisting of the principal executive officials, who guide the House inits legislation, and at the same time conduct the executive affairs ofthe nation. These ministers, as they are called, are appointed by theking from the party in the majority in the House of Commons. They areresponsible to that body for all their actions, and retain their officesonly so long as they retain the confidence and good will of the Commons. 

_#An Aristocracy. #_--An aristocracy is a government in the hands of aselect few, called the aristocracy, who transmit this authority to theirchildren. There are to-day no aristocratic governments proper, thoughmany nations exhibit aristocratic tendencies. In nearly all of theEuropean countries, one branch, at least, of their legislatures iscomposed of members holding their seats on account of noble birth, thusadmitting the aristocratic element into their governments. 

_#Democracy. #_--A pure democracy is a government in which all the peoplerule directly, meeting in popular assemblies in which is determined bythe votes of the majority how the government is to be administered. Thisform of government is obviously possible only in very small communities. Several of the Grecian states governed themselves after this manner. Noperfect example of a nation with this form of government can be said toexist at this time. The nearest approach to pure democracy is found incertain cantons of Switzerland. The Roman historian Tacitus tells usthat the early Germans governed themselves in a purely democraticmanner, and the first governments of several of our American colonieswere of the democratic type. When we come to the study of localgovernment in the United States we shall see the democratic formfollowed in the New England Town Meetings. 

_#Republic. #_--A republic is a democracy adapted by means of theintroduction of the representative principle, to the government of alarge and widely separated people. Under this form of government thepeople rule themselves, not directly, as in a democracy, but throughagents or representatives of their own selection. The participation ofthe people in their own government consists therefore merely in thechoice of officers to represent them and carry out their wishes. Thereexist at present several republics, the tendency seeming to be fornations to approach more nearly this form of government. France hasbeen, since 1870, the best European example of a republic. Our owngovernment--the United States of America--is to us the most interestingand important example of a republic. 

_#Popular Government. #_--By the word 'popular' is meant, of or by thepeople, and by popular government is to be understood a government inthe administration of which the people as a whole participate. Everychange by which new and greater political powers are given into thehands of the common people is considered a step towards the fullrealization of popular government. During the last one hundred yearsgreat strides have been made in this direction by all European nationsexcept Turkey and Russia. The extent to which this movement towardspopular control of government can be safely and successfully carried isa question of very great importance. To a very large extent it dependsupon the intelligence, previous training, and natural political abilityof the people who are to be entrusted with their own government. 

CHAPTER III. 

The Functions of Government. 

Broadly speaking, the functions performed by government are of athreefold order: the establishment, interpretation, and enforcement oflaws. A division of government into three branches is thus called for:the legislative, the judicial and the executive. The manner in whichthese departments are related to each other, the extent to which theyare vested in the same hands, and the degree in which they are separatefrom each other and independent in their workings, differ in differentcountries. In England, as we have seen, the executive and legislativefunctions are closely united. In our government, as we shall see when wecome to consider its structure, complete independence of the threedepartments has been aimed at. 

All statesmen agree that a good government should possess ample power tointerpret its own laws, and sufficient strength to fully enforce them. When we come, however, to the question of what are the proper subjectsfor control by government, and what for free management by individuals, we reach a subject upon which writers and thinkers have been unable toagree. 

Under the great question, over how broad a field it is expedient andright to extend the activities of government, are embraced many of thegreat topics at present agitating the public mind. Difference upon thispoint has been one of the underlying causes of the existence ofpolitical parties in the United States, and has furnished one of thereal springs of our history. Communism, socialism, and anarchy, may beembraced under this question. This it is that makes the study of theprinciples of government, especially in the United States, so importantto every one who would understand the political life around him, and beable to form an intelligent decision upon the questions of the day. Shall the nation or the state own and manage the railroads, thetelegraph lines, and the canals? Shall education receive the support ofthe state? Shall the employment of women and children in mines andfactories be regulated by law? Shall the city own its own streetrailways, its markets, its water and gas supply, its telephones, and itswater fronts? Shall this or that duty be delegated to the city or to thestate, or shall it be left to the chance performance of individuals orcorporations? These are some of the many questions of supreme importancethat meet us at every point, and the better we understand the truenature and structure of our government, the better shall we be able togive intelligent answers. 

Among the many functions of government, there are many so obviouslynecessary to the existence of a nation, however organized, that there isno discussion concerning the expediency of their exercise by the state. We may, therefore, group governmental duties under two heads: thenecessary, and the optionable; or, as Professor Wilson has named them, the _Constituent_ and the _Ministrant_. [1] Under the first head isembraced all those functions which _must_ exist under every form ofgovernment; and under the second title those "undertaken, not by way ofgoverning, but by way of advancing the general interests of society. "The following is Professor Wilson's classification:

 _#I. The Necessary or Constituent Functions. #_--

 (1). The keeping of order and providing for the protection of persons and property from violence and robbery. (2). The fixing of the legal relations between man and wife, and between parents and children. 

 (3). The regulation of the holding, transmission, and interchange of property, and determination of its liabilities for debt or for crime. 

 (4). The determination of contract rights between individuals. 

 (5). The definition and punishment of crime. 

 (6). The administration of justice in civil causes. 

 (7). The determination of the political duties, privileges, and relations of citizens. 

 (8). Dealings of the state with foreign powers; the preservation of the state from external danger or encroachment, and the advancement of its intellectual interests. 

 _#II. Optional or Ministrant Functions. #_

 (1). The regulation of trade and industry. Under this head we must include the coinage of money, and the establishment of standard weights and measures, laws against forestalling, engrossing, the licensing of trades, etc. , as well as the great matters of tariffs, navigation laws, and the like. 

 (2). The regulation of labor. 

 (3). The maintenance of thoroughfares, including state management of railways, and that great group of undertakings which we embrace within the comprehensive terms 'Internal Improvements, ' or 'The Development of the Country. '

 (4). The maintenance of postal and telegraph systems, which is very similar in principle to (3). 

 (5). The manufacture and distribution of gas, the maintenance of water-works, &c. 

 (6). Sanitation, including the regulation of trades for sanitary purposes. 

 (7). Education. 

 (8). Care of the poor and incapable. (9). Care and cultivation of forests and like matters, such as stocking of rivers with fish. 

 (10). Sumptuary laws, such as 'prohibition' laws. 

Under this second head have been included by no means all of thefunctions whose exercise by the government has been attempted orproposed, but they show the principal ones, and serve to indicate thenature of the optional field of governmental activity. 

[Footnote 1: Wilson, _The State_, Section 1232. ]

CHAPTER IV. 

Colonial Governments; Their Relation to Each Other, and to England. 

To understand clearly the early history of our country; to appreciatethe reasons for the grievances of the colonists against their mothercountry; and to gain an intelligent idea of the events of that mostcritical period of our history, when the colonies, then free, were indoubt as to the nature of the federal government they should adopt;properly to understand all these facts, it is of essential importancethat we should gain a correct knowledge of the condition of the coloniesduring those times, their relations to one another, their governmentalconnection with and attitude towards England. 

The thirteen American colonies, which in 1775 dared defy the might ofGreat Britain, and which in a stubborn struggle were able to win theirindependence, were settled at various times, and by colonists actuatedby widely different motives. At the time of the beginning of theirresistance to the oppressive acts of their mother country, they were, intheir governments, entirely separate from and independent of each other. "Though the colonies had a common origin, and owed a common allegianceto England, and the inhabitants of each were British subjects, they hadno direct political connection with each other. Each in a limited sense, was sovereign within its own territory.... The assembly of one provincecould not make laws for another.... As colonists they were also excludedfrom all connection with foreign states. They were known only asdependencies. They followed the fate of their mother country both inpeace and war.... They could not form any treaty, even among themselves, without the consent of England. "[1]

[Footnote 1: Story's _Commentaries on the Constitution_, Vol. I, p. 163. ]

All the colonies did not bear the same relation to the Englishgovernment. Owing to the different manner in which the right ofsettlement, and occupancy of the soil had been obtained from the king, the colonies had obtained different rights of government, and wereplaced under different obligations to the crown. There came thus to bethree types of colonial governments; the provincial or royal, theproprietary, and charter governments. 

_#I. Provincial Colonies. #_--Those colonies which possessed a provincialform of government were royal colonies, being governed almost entirelyby England, as she governs many of her colonies to-day. At the head ofeach was a Governor appointed by the King of England. He was assisted bya council, also appointed by the king. The constitution and laws forthis form of government were contained in the commission and instructiongiven to the Governor by the English government. By them the Governorwas empowered to summon a representative assembly. The legislative bodyconsisted, then, of the Governor, his council, appointed by the king, and a lower house elected by the people. The Governor had the right ofveto, and the power to dissolve the assembly. The legislature could makelaws, provided they were not repugnant to the laws of England. Theselaws were subject to the approval of the Crown. The governor, with theadvice of his council, could erect courts, appoint judges, levy forces, etc. From the highest courts in all the colonies an appeal lay to theEnglish King in Council. 

_#II. Proprietary Colonies. #_--The English King often gave toindividuals large tracts of land in the New World. In addition toownership of the soil, was given in many cases the right to establishcivil government. These proprietors had all the inferior royalties andsubordinate powers of legislation. The proprietor could appoint ordismiss the governor, he could invest him with the power to convene alegislature, with power to veto its acts according to his wishes, and toperform all other powers of a governor. All laws made, those of Marylandexcepted, were subject to the approval of the English Crown. 

_#III. Charter Colonies. #_--Colonies under this form of government wereso called from their possessing constitutions for their generalpolitical government. These written constitutions were charters obtainedfrom the King, in which were granted to the people of the colony certainprivileges and rights of self-government which the English governmentcould not justly take away from them. One of the unjust acts that didmuch to arouse the colonists to resistance, was the attempt of theEnglish government in 1774, to annul the charter of Massachusetts by theRegulation Act. In this act was contained a precedent that (as Curtissays) "justly alarmed the entire continent, and in its principleaffected all the colonies, since it assumed that none of them possessedconstitutional rights which could not be altered or taken away by an actof Parliament. " The charters were very liberal, granting almost entireself-government. As in the royal colonies, the executive was a governor, and the law-making branch a legislature of two houses. 

In Massachusetts the governor was appointed by the Crown, and had a vetopower. The Council or upper branch of the legislature was chosenannually by the lower house, but the governor had a right of veto ontheir choice. The lower house was elected by the people. In Connecticutand Rhode Island the governor, council, together with the assembly werechosen annually by popular vote, and all officers were appointed bythem. In these two the governor had no right of veto, and the lawsbefore going into execution did not require the royal approval. 

Seven of the original colonies began under proprietary governments--NewYork, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North and South Carolina, Maryland andNew Jersey. Of these, four--New York, New Jersey, North and SouthCarolina--became eventually provincial colonies, and Maryland was at onetime a proprietary. 

Three of the colonies, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, weresettled under charters that were never surrendered. Three others, Virginia, Georgia and New Hampshire possessed charters for a while, buteventually became royal colonies. 

Notwithstanding these diversities of government that have been pointedout, there were many features common to all the colonies. All consideredthemselves dependencies of the British Crown. All the colonists claimedthe enjoyment of the privileges and rights of British-born subjects, andthe benefit of the common law of England. The laws of all were requiredto be not repugnant to, but, as nearly as possible, in conformity withthe laws of England. In all the colonies local legislatures existed, atleast one branch of which consisted of representatives chosen by thepeople. 

The general condition of the colonies at the time of the outbreak of theRevolutionary War, so far at least as concerns their governments, hasnow been given. What were the grounds upon which the colonists justifiedtheir resistance to the acts of English government?

In the first place, they claimed that their rights were received from, and their allegiance was due to the King, not to the Parliament. Thecolonists said the King was the only tie that bound them to England;that Parliament was composed of representatives from England alone, andtherefore had powers of legislation only for England. Later, however, itwas conceded that in matters of general interest to the whole UnitedKingdom, Parliament might exercise control, but that concerning allmatters of domestic and internal interest, and of concern only tothemselves, it was the right of their own legislatures to legislate, andthat under this head came taxation. 

Says Story:[1] "Perhaps the best summary of the rights and libertiesasserted by all the colonies is contained in the celebrated declarationdrawn up by the Congress of nine colonies assembled at New York inOctober, 1765 (Stamp Act Congress). That declaration asserted that thecolonists 'owe the same allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain that isowing from his subjects born within the realm, and all due subordinationto that august body, the parliament of Great Britain, ' That thecolonists 'are entitled to all the inherent rights and liberties of his(the King's) natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain. That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and theundoubted rights of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them butwith their own consent given personally or by their representatives. 'That the 'people of the colonies are not, and from their localcircumstances cannot be represented in the House of Commons of GreatBritain. That the only representatives of these colonies are personschosen by themselves therein; and that no taxes ever have been or can beconstitutionally imposed upon them but by their respective legislatures, and that trial by jury is the inherent and invaluable right of everyBritish subject in these colonies. '"

[Footnote 1: _Commentaries_, Vol. I, p. 175. ]

In opposition to these views, the English government held thatParliament had the authority to bind the colonies in all matterswhatsoever, and that there were no vested rights possessed by thecolonies, that could not be altered or annulled if Parliament sodesired. 

At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, complete independence was notclaimed by the colonies. It was not until July 4, 1776, that they weredriven to a declaration of full and entire independence andself-government. By this declaration the colonies threw off theircolonial character, and assumed the position of states. This they did bysimply taking into their own hands the powers previously exercised bythe English King and Parliament. In the state constitutions which manycolonies formed during the year, their old colonial forms of governmentwere closely followed. Connecticut and Rhode Island, in fact, merelydeclared their allegiance to England absolved, and retained unchangedtheir old charters as their fundamental law. In Connecticut no otherstate constitution was adopted until 1818, nor in Rhode Island until1842. 

CHAPTER V. 

Steps Toward Union. --Articles of Confederation. 

Previous to 1774 the thirteen English colonies in America had had nopolitical or governmental connection with each other. Any attempt ontheir part to unite without the consent of the English King orParliament would have been considered an act beyond their powers and asinsubordination towards the English government. 

_#New England Confederation. #_--In 1643 there was formed a union of thefour colonies of Connecticut, New Hampshire, Plymouth, and MassachusettsBay, termed the "New England Confederation, " which lasted forty years;but this was merely a union for mutual protection against their commonfoes, the French, the Dutch, and the Indians, and not for jointlegislation or government. It was a defensive alliance. 

_#The Albany Convention. _#--(Franklin's Plan. ) In 1754, however, therewas held a meeting of the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, calledthe "Albany Convention, " in which was proposed a union of all thecolonies under one government. Benjamin Franklin, the chief promoter ofthis scheme, drew up an elaborate constitution which was to be adopted. According to this plan there was to be a chief executive, elected by theking, and a council of 48 members, to be chosen by the legislatures ofthe several colonies. This scheme failed to obtain either the consent ofthe king or of the colonies themselves. It was too much of a union tosuit the king, and not enough for the colonies. _#The Stamp ActCongress. #_--The indignation aroused by the attempt of England to taxher colonies without allowing them a voice in the Parliament whichimposed such taxes, gave rise in 1765 to a meeting of delegates fromeight of the colonies. This assembly was called the "Stamp ActCongress. " The obnoxious Stamp Act was repealed, but England continuedto impose other taxes. 

_#First Continental Congress. #_--An invitation was sent out by Virginiato all the colonies, calling a meeting of delegates to consider whatcould be done by their united action to resist their common grievance. Thus met the "First Continental Congress" in 1774, in which all thecolonies but Georgia were represented. This Congress adopted adeclaration of rights and grievances. The colonies maintained that aslong as they were unrepresented in the English legislature (Parliament), taxes should be imposed only by their own legislatures; also, that theywere entitled to the rights, liberties, and immunities of free, natural-born subjects within the realm of England. 

_#The Second Continental Congress. #_--On May 10, 1775, assembled theSecond Continental Congress, in which all the thirteen colonies wererepresented. The battle of Lexington had then been fought, and blood hadbeen shed. Though the colonies had as yet no intention of throwing offall connection with England, they were now prepared to resist with armsany invasion of their rights. The work performed by this body has beenconcisely and forcibly stated by Schouler. [1] He says: "Thus originatedthat remarkable body known as the Continental Congress, which, with itsperiodical sessions and frequent changes of membership, bore for fifteenyears the symbols of Federal power in America; which, as a single houseof deputies acting by Colonies or States, and blending with legislativeauthority, imperfect executive and judicial functions, raised armies, laid taxes, contracted a common debt, negotiated foreign treaties, madewar and peace; which, in the name and with the assumed warrant of thethirteen colonies, declared their independence of Great Britain, and byGod's blessing accomplished it; which, having framed and promulgated aplan of general confederation, persuaded these same thirteen republicsto adopt it, each making a sacrifice of its sovereignty for the sake ofestablishing a perpetual league, to be known as the United States ofAmerica, a league preserved until in the fullness of time came a moreperfect Union. "

[Footnote 1: _Hist. U. S. _, Vol. I, p. 13. ]

The acts of this Congress were the _first legislative acts by the jointaction of the colonies_. 

The Second Continental Congress was essentially a revolutionary body. That is to say, the authority for its acts rested upon no definite grantof powers by the colonies, but was assumed by it to meet the crisis ofwar. Properly speaking, it could hardly be called a government. It wasmore in the nature of a directing advisory committee. Its commandspossessed a recommendatory character only, and it was entirely withoutexecutive officers, or legal control over either individuals or thecolonies. 

_#The Articles of Confederation. #_--A stronger central power than thatafforded by the Continental Congress was seen to be a necessity. Accordingly, in 1777, there was drawn up a scheme of union embraced in apaper termed "The Articles of Confederation. " These articles, thoughadopted as early as 1777, did not go into effect until 1781, theprovision being that they should not be considered as in force untilratified by _all_ the colonies, and several refused to ratify until allstate claims to western territory were relinquished in favor of theNational Government. 

_#Elements Tending to Separation and Those Tending to Union. #_--We mustremember that this was a union of thirteen previously separate colonies. The facts which had tended to keep them apart had been the difficulty oftravel and communication between the colonies, the lack of commercialintercourse, but more than all, their local jealousies. The small Statesfeared the larger; commercial jealousies were very keen. In 1756 Georgiaand South Carolina actually came to blows over a dispute as to thenavigation of the Savannah river. Other disputes about boundaries werefrequent. Colonies with good harbors and seaports desired to keep thebenefits of them exclusively to themselves. At that time, too, thepeople of the thirteen colonies were far more widely separated in theirforms of government, their industrial habits and social customs thanthey now are. On the other hand, the old facts which tended to urge on acommon union between them were common race, language, and nationality, many similar political institutions, and, most of all, common interestsand a common peril. 

_#The Purposes of the Confederation. #_--The purposes of thisConfederation are best stated by giving Article III of the Articles:

"The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendshipwith each other for their common defense and security of their libertiesand their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist eachother against all force offered to or attacks made upon them, or any ofthem, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretextwhatever. "

_#Scheme of Government under the Articles of Confederation. #_--TheArticles of Confederation established a framework of government for theconfederated colonies, which government was to control those mattersthat experience had shown could be executed only by united action. As ascheme of government it was no better than a makeshift. It was an effortto form a federal power without diminishing the powers of the States--aneffort "to pare off slices of state government without diminishing theloaf. " That such a union could be perpetual, as the scheme professed, was impossible. 

Under these Articles of Confederation the sole functions of the federalauthority, legislative, executive, and judicial, were vested in aContinental Congress, consisting of a single house of delegates, whovoted by States, and were appointed annually in such a manner as therespective States directed. Each State was entitled to not less than twonor more than seven delegates, a majority of whom decided the vote ofthe State in question. The executive functions were largely performed bya Committee of States, which was empowered to sit during recesses. Forall important measures the vote of every State was required. The vote ofall thirteen was required for an amendment. 

_#Defects of the Articles of Confederation. #_--In this scheme of unionthere were many fatal defects. The principal of these defects were--

1. The want of some compulsory means of enforcing obedience to the actsof Congress. The articles provided neither an executive power nor anational judiciary worth mentioning. As one writer has said: "Congresscould declare everything, but do nothing. " A single colony could withimpunity disregard any decree of the Congress. 

2. The large vote required to pass all important measures. 

3. The absence of the right to regulate foreign commerce, and makeduties uniform, and to collect those duties. This defect, as we shallfind, was one of the most vital, and more than any thing else decreedthe failure of the practical working of the Confederation, and showedthe necessity of a better and stronger National government. 

4. The virtual impossibility of amendment. Since a unanimous vote wasrequired, the selfish interest of one State could, and did, stand in theway of an amendment beneficial and necessary to the other twelve. 

5. There was no power to enforce treaties. Foreign countries recognizedthis, and therefore refused to enter into any treaties with us. Washington said: "We are one nation to-day, and thirteen to-morrow. Whowill treat with us on such terms. "

England refused to carry out the conditions of the treaty of 1783, andcontinued to keep troops on our Western borders. 

6. The central authority had insufficient power to control disputesarising between the States. 

7. The lack of a Federal judiciary. 

8. Lack of power to collect taxes, or to raise revenue to defray eventhe ordinary expenses of government. This was the most striking andimportant defect of them all. The whole power given to Congress underthis head was the power "to ascertain the sum necessary to be raised forthe service of the United States, and apportion the rate or proportionon each State. " The collection of such taxes was left to the Statesthemselves, and if they refused (as they frequently did) the FederalGovernment had no power to compel them. 

Our present better government was "wrung from the grinding necessitiesof a reluctant people. "

_#Adoption of the Constitution. #_--Actual hostilities ceased in 1781. In1783 peace with England was declared, and the independence of thecolonies was achieved. The war left the American people with an emptytreasury, and a country drained of its wealth and impoverished by theexhaustive struggle. It left us with a large national debt, both to ourown citizens and friends abroad, and most of all, left us with an armyof unpaid patriotic soldiers. And no sooner had foreign danger beenremoved than domestic troubles arose which filled all with gloomyforebodings for the future. With the loss of that cohesive principlewhich common danger supplied them, the colonies now began to fall apart. Even during the progress of the war the weakness of the Union had shownitself. Washington unhesitatingly declared that it was the lack ofsufficient central authority that caused the prolongation of the war. One instance will show how weak was the Federal authority. During thesummer of 1783, when Congress was at Philadelphia, some eighty desertersfrom the army so threatened Congress as to force a removal of ourFederal capital from that place to Princeton. The Continental financeswere in a deplorable condition. Congress could not even collectsufficient taxes for the payment of the interest on the public debt. TheStates could, and often did, refuse to pay their proportion of taxesimposed upon them by Congress. Congress made a last attempt, in 1785, toraise a revenue by a tax on imported goods, but this measure failed, NewYork refusing to ratify. Congress, indeed, did not collect one-fourth ofher demands. Commerce was going to ruin. England refused to allow ourcountry the rich trade with the West Indies. To these troubles wereadded the mutual jealousies and selfishness of the States. Each of themtried to attract commerce to itself, and passed laws hurtful to theother States. 

The people in Massachusetts were in insurrection. The French ministerwrote to his country: "There is now no general government in America--nohead, no Congress, no administrative departments. "

For all these evils the limited and imperfect powers conferred upon theFederal Government by the articles of Confederation afforded no adequateremedy. Even the Constitutional Congress was now in danger of breakingup. States, to save expense, neglected to send delegates, and repeatedappeals had to be made to get representation from nine States so as topass important measures. A better union was seen by all thoughtfulcitizens to be necessary, but very difficult to obtain, owing tointer-state differences. The idea of having a convention separate fromthe Congress, whose work should be the framing of a stronger government, gradually gained ground. 

The Constitutional Convention was obtained in a roundabout way, and onlyafter repeated failures. The first attempt to obtain an assembly ofrepresentatives was made at Annapolis, Maryland. Only five States sentrepresentatives, and the convention accordingly adjourned toPhiladelphia, where in May, 1778, delegates from all the States, exceptRhode Island, finally assembled. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Adoption of the Constitution. 

_#The Constitutional Convention. #_--Fifty-five delegates were present. With scarcely an exception they were all clearheaded, able, and moderatemen. Virginia sent Washington, Madison, Edmund Randolph; Pennsylvaniasent Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, and James Wilson; New York sentAlexander Hamilton; New Jersey, Patterson; and South Carolina, the twoPinckneys. Washington was chosen President of the Convention. Two ruleswere adopted: 1st, proceedings were to be secret, and 2d, one vote wasto be given to each State, thus making it of no importance whether aState had a large or small delegation. 

Though the delegates had thus assembled to form a better and new union, they differed widely in their views as to what changes were necessary, and as to what powers should be given to the Federal Government, andwhat retained by the States. Some desired merely a change of theexisting Articles of Confederation, more power being granted, however, to the Federal Government; while others wished for an entirely newConstitution. 

The convention at once divided into two parties. The one representingthe small States, such as New Jersey and Delaware; and the other, thelarger States, such as Virginia, New York and Massachusetts. The planbrought forward by the party of the large States was that presented tothe convention by Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, and generally known asthe National or Large State Plan. This plan proposed a congress of twohouses, having power to legislate on all National matters, and to compelobedience on the part of the States. Representation in both houses wasto be based on population, thus giving to the larger, and more populous, States the control of both branches of the legislature; and, also, sinceby this scheme the president, executive officers, and judges were to beappointed by Congress, control of the whole administration of the newgovernment. 

On behalf of the small States, Patterson, of New Jersey, introduced whatis called the New Jersey plan. By this plan the old Federal Congress wasto be continued with its single house of legislature, and equal Statevote. 

The great point upon which the two plans differed, was as to howrepresentation in the legislature should be apportioned among theStates; whether it should be according to population, and with twohouses, or whether there should be but one house, in which each Stateshould have an equal vote. The question was settled by a compromise. Itwas agreed that there should be a legislature of two houses, a Senate orupper and less numerous branch; and the House of Representatives, thepopular and more numerous lower branch. In the Senate each State was tohave an equal representation, thus putting the large and small States onan equal footing. On the other hand, in the House of Representativesrepresentation was to be according to population, thus favoring thelarger States. 

Another point upon which the convention differed was concerning theslave trade; whether it should, or should not, be allowed to continue. This question was also compromised, it being agreed to permit itscontinuance for twenty years (until 1808), after which all importationof slaves might be prohibited. 

Yet another point in dispute was whether the slaves should, or shouldnot, be counted in estimating the population of the States, in order todetermine the number of representatives to which each State should beentitled. This likewise was compromised. It was agreed that five slavesshould be counted equivalent to three white men. 

These three main points being settled by compromises, other parts of thegovernment, such as a single chief executive, a Federal judiciary, andthe decision as to what powers should be given to the President, what tothe Senate, and what to the House, were more easily arranged, and theconvention adjourned September 17, 1787, having been in session a littleover four months. Thus was prepared the Constitution under which we arenow living--an achievement declared by Guizot to be the greatest work ofits kind, and by Gladstone to be the greatest work ever struck out atone time by the hand of man. 

The Constitution having been agreed to in convention, it was nowsubmitted to the vote of each of the colonies for acceptance. It wasdecided in this convention that it should be considered as ratified, andshould go into effect as soon as accepted by nine of the thirteenStates. 

The adoption or rejection of the Constitution now became a questionwhich claimed the entire attention of the States, and it is during thiscontest that we find the origin of the first political parties in theUnited States. Those favoring the adoption of the Constitution werecalled "Federalists" and those opposing it "Anti-Federalists. "

_#Arguments For and Against Adoption. #_--The Federalist party wascomposed of those men who were desirous of a strong central government, and for this reason favored the Constitution. This party was especiallystrong in New England, largely because New England, being the commercialpart of the colonies, had had the lamentable weakness of the oldconfederation brought home to them the more forcibly by thedisorganization and loss of commerce which the Continental Congress hadbeen unable to regulate. 

The Anti-Federalists were those who wished the State governments to bekept strong, and that there should be a comparatively weak centralgovernment. 

The argument used by the Federalists for the adoption of theConstitution was, that only by correcting all those defects of theConfederation which have been pointed out, could order and prosperity berestored to the country. They said that the Constitution, being a seriesof compromises, could not please everyone in all respects, but that itwas the best that could be obtained under the circumstances. Theirarguments appeared in a remarkable collection of eighty-five essays, called the "Federalist, " written by Alexander Hamilton in company withJohn Jay and James Madison. In these were explained all the points ofthe Constitution, and to this day they remain the best exposition of theConstitution ever written. 

The objections raised by the Anti-Federalists were many. In the firstplace, it was of course objected that it gave to the central governmenttoo much power; that state government and State liberty would be crushedout. The State was then as dear to the citizen as is the NationalGovernment to us to-day. Patriotism was then devotion to the State. Thecolonists had suffered so much from control over their state governmentsby an outside strong government, that they were fearful of again puttingthemselves under a strong national government though of their ownmaking. In warning terms it was declared it would be a governmentfounded upon the destruction of the governments of the several States. They said, "Congress may monopolize every source of revenue, and thusindirectly demolish the State governments, for without funds they cannotexist. " These elements of State love and jealousy of the Federal powerare of the utmost importance in studying our history. We see themrunning through all our life as the main causes of division betweenpolitical parties. (See later chapter on "Introduction to History ofPolitical Parties. ")

Another objection was, that the Constitution contained no definite "billof rights" recognizing and guaranteeing fundamental personal liberties, such as freedom of speech, liberty of the press, assurance againstunjust arrest, the right to bear arms, and trial by jury in civil cases, etc. This class of objections was satisfied by the adoption of the firstten constitutional amendments. It was also claimed by those opposed tothe ratification, that inasmuch as the Constitution placed no limit tothe number of terms which a President might serve, one man might becomeso powerful as to obtain a life-tenure of office, and thus thegovernment would degenerate into a monarchy. To show how exaggeratedwere the fears during this critical period of our history, we have thereport that it was actually claimed and believed by many at that timethat the Federalists had the secret intention of inviting over to ourcountry some European prince who should rule as king. Patrick Henrycried, "We shall have a king; the army will salute him monarch. " Thoughnot fixed by the Constitution, it has been since the time of Washingtonthe invariable rule that no man shall be elected for more than twoterms. The friends of President Grant attempted to have him nominatedfor a third time, but so strong was this prejudice that, popular as hewas at that time, the plan failed. 

For nine months the struggle was wagered fiercely in the States, but theFederalists prevailed. In June, 1788, the ninth State ratified, andadoption was assured. Congress fixed the first Wednesday in January forthe election of presidential electors, the first Wednesday in Februaryfor the meeting of the electors and election of the President, and thefirst Wednesday in March, 1789, for the inauguration of the Presidentand the beginning of the new government. This last date fell upon the4th of March, which date has from that time served as the day for theinauguration of our presidents. Owing to a delay in the assembling ofthe new Congress, Washington was not inaugurated, nor our presentgovernment instituted, until April 30, 1789. 

Thus was founded our present government, which has stood the test of acentury. When adopted there were thirteen States; now there areforty-four. The inhabited area was then the narrow strip between theAtlantic Ocean and the Allegheny Mountains, with a population ofscarcely 3, 000, 000. Now the United States stretches 3, 000 miles fromocean to ocean, and contains a population of over sixty millions. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Presidential Succession. 

The provisions of the Constitution regarding the Presidentialsuccession, in case of the death or resignation of both President andVice-President, are: "In case of the removal of the President fromoffice, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge thepowers and duties of the said office, the same devolve on theVice-President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case ofremoval, death, resignation, or inability both of the President andVice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, andsuch officer shall act accordingly until the disability be removed or aPresident shall be elected. " (Article II, section 6. )

In pursuance of the power thus granted to it in the last half of thissection, Congress in 1792 passed an act declaring that in case of thedeath, resignation, etc. , of both the President and Vice-President, thesuccession should be first to the President of the Senate and then tothe Speaker of the House. 

This order was changed by the act of 1886, which provided that thesuccession to the presidency should be as follows:

 1. President. 2. Vice-President. 3. Secretary of State. 4. Secretary of the Treasury. 5. Secretary of War. 6. Attorney-General. 7. Postmaster-General. 8. Secretary of the Navy. 9. Secretary of the Interior. 

In all cases the remainder of the four-years' term shall be served out. This act also regulated the counting of the votes of the electors byCongress, and the determination of who were legally chosen electors. 

Note. --The Constitution made no provision in case of a contestedelection, or when no one should be elected. Such a contingency seemed tohave been overlooked in the framing of the Constitution. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Election of Senators. 

The provisions of the Constitution regarding the election of senatorswere as follows: "The Senate of the United States shall be composed oftwo senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for sixyears; and each senator shall have one vote. " (Article I, section 3, paragraph 1. ) "The times, places, and manner of holding elections forsenators and representatives shall be prescribed in each State by theLegislature thereof, but the Congress may at any time by law make oralter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. "(Article I, section 4, paragraph 1. )

Until 1866 this matter was left entirely to the States, as permitted bythe section of the Constitution just given. In that year an act waspassed by the Federal Congress regulating the election of senators bythe State Legislatures. By it was provided that the Legislature of eachState, which is chosen next preceding the expiration of the term ofeither of their senators, shall on the second Tuesday after assemblingelect a senator in the following manner: Each House shall by open ballot(_viva voce_) choose some man for senator, and he who receives amajority of the total number of votes cast in such House is entered onthe journal of that House. At noon on the following day the members ofthe two Houses convene in joint assembly, and the journal of each Houseis then read, and if the same person has received a majority of thevotes of each House he is declared duly elected senator. But if not, thejoint assembly then proceeds to choose by a _viva voce_ vote of eachmember present, a person for senator, and the person who receives amajority of all the votes of the joint assembly--a majority of all themembers elected to both Houses being present and voting--is declaredduly elected. If no person receives such a majority on the first day, the joint assembly meets at noon on each succeeding day during thesession of the Legislature, and takes at least one vote until a senatoris elected. In case of a vacancy occurring in the Senate during therecess of the State Legislature, the governor appoints a man to fill theplace, his appointee holding until a successor shall be chosen in theabove method by the State Legislature. 

In the House, when vacancies happen in the representation from anyState, the Governor issues an order for a new election in thecongressional districts in which such vacancies occur. Therepresentatives thus elected hold office for the unexpired terms oftheir predecessors. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Congressional Government. 

The Constitution created Congress and conferred upon it powers oflegislation for national purposes, but made no provision as to themethod by which these powers should be exercised. In consequenceCongress has itself developed a method of transacting its business bymeans of committees. 

The Federal Legislature consists of two Houses--the Senate, or Upper andless numerous branch, and the House of Representatives, or the Lower andmore numerous popular branch. 

The Senate is composed of two members from each State elected by thestate legislatures for a term of six years, one-third of whom retireevery two years. The presiding officer is the Vice-President. Early ineach session, the Senate chooses a President _pro tempore_, so as toprovide for any absence of the Vice-President, whether caused by death, sickness, or for other reasons. 

The House of Representatives is at present composed of 332 members andfour delegates from the Territories. These delegates, however, have novote, though they may speak. The House is presided over by a speaker, elected at the beginning of each session. A quorum for business is, ineither House, a majority. 

Congress meets every year in the beginning of December. Each Congresslasts two years and holds two sessions--a long and a short session. Thelong session lasts from December to midsummer. The short session lastsfrom December, when Congress meets again, until the 4th of March. Theterm of office then expires for all the members of the House, and forone-third of the Senators. The long session ends in even years (1880 and1882, etc. ), and the short session in odd years (1881 and 1883). Extrasessions may be called by the President for urgent business. 

In the early part of the November preceding the end of the short sessionof Congress, occurs the election of Representatives. Congressmen thenelected do not take their seats until thirteen months later, that is, atthe reassembling of Congress in December of the year following, unlessan extra session is called. The Senate frequently holds secret, or, asthey are called, executive sessions, for the consideration of treatiesand nominations of the President, in which the House of Representativeshas no voice. It is then said to sit with closed doors. 

An immense amount of business must necessarily be transacted by aCongress that legislates for nearly sixty-three millions of people, inhabiting a territory of over three and a half millions of squaremiles. 

Lack of time, of course, prevents a consideration of each billseparately by the whole legislature. To provide a means by which eachsubject may receive investigation and consideration, a plan is used bywhich the members of both branches of Congress are divided intocommittees. Each committee busies itself with a certain class ofbusiness, and bills when introduced are referred to this or thatcommittee for consideration, according to the subjects to which thebills relate. Thus, for example, affairs relating to Washington arehanded over to what is known as the District Committee, a regularappropriation bill to the Committee on Appropriations, etc. Thesecommittees consider these bills carefully, frequently taking thetestimony of outside persons to discover the advisability of each bill. The regular course through which a bill has to go before becoming anact--_i. E. _, to pass both houses and receive the signature of thePresident--is as follows: On Mondays there is a roll-call of the States, and members may then introduce in the House or Senate any bill they maydesire. These bills are then referred by the presiding officer toappropriate committees. These committees, meeting in their own separaterooms, debate, investigate, and, if necessary, as has been said, ask theopinion of outside persons. After such consideration bills are reportedback to the House or Senate. But very few bills reach this stage, forthe committee does not get time to report any save the more importantones, and thus the majority of them disappear, or, as the saying is, "are killed in committee. " If a bill receives the approval of thecommittee it is favorably reported to the Senate or House, as the casemay be--_i. E. _, the bill is returned, accompanied by a report advisingthe passage of the accompanying bill. If the bill is not approved by thecommittee, an unfavorable report is made; bills are seldom passed aftersuch an adverse report. These reports which accompany the bills, areprinted, often at great length, giving reasons for the proposed actionin regard to the bills. When reported by the committee back to the housein which it was introduced, a bill is voted upon, and, if passed, issent to the other branch. If passed there, it is ready for thePresident's signature; if vetoed, the bill is lost, unless passed overthe veto by a two-thirds vote of both houses. But frequently one house, while not wishing to defeat a measure sent to it from the other house, may desire to change it by some amendment. If this is done, the bill, asamended, is sent back to the house from which it came, and if thenagreed to as amended by it, it is sent to the President for hisapproval. Thus by repeated amendments it may pass to and fro between theHouse and Senate several, times. In the House of Representatives, manybills are passed through all their various stages by a single vote, bywhat is known as a "suspension of the rules, " which may be ordered by atwo-thirds vote. 

The Senate is now divided into between fifty and sixty committees, butthe number varies from session to session. The principal committees arethose on (1) Foreign Relations, (2) Privileges and Elections, (3)Judiciary, (4) Commerce, (5) Finance, and (6) Appropriations. The Senateselects the members for the different committees by ballot, though it ispretty well determined beforehand how each committee shall beconstituted by means of party caucuses (informal meetings of members ofthe same party to determine upon lines of action that will be supportedby all). A committee is always composed of an odd number of members, andboth political parties are always represented on every committee, thoughthe majority is, in almost all cases, from that party which has themajority of the members of the Senate. 

The House of Representatives is organized into sixty committees, ranging, in their number of members, from thirteen down. As regardsparty representation, their constitution is similar to that of theSenate Committees. The Committee of "Ways and Means, " which regulatescustoms duties and excise taxes, is by far the most important. 

Other important committees are those on (1) Elections, (2)Appropriations, (3) Judiciary, (4) Foreign Affairs, (5) Manufactures, (6) Commerce, (7) Labor. Every Representative is on one committee, andmost of them on several. Unlike the custom in the Senate, in the Housethe presiding officer has the sole power of appointment, which makeshim, next to the President, the most important and powerful governmentofficial. The chairman of each committee has, of course, a large powerover affairs with which his committee is concerned, and for this reasonit is often said that it is the chairmen of these committees who rulethe land. 

The precise amount of effective work done by Congress during the twosessions of the Fiftieth Congress was as follows: There were 4, 000 billsintroduced in the Senate and 145 Senate joint resolutions: of thisnumber 1, 127 bills and joint resolutions passed the Senate, and 554 wereeither postponed indefinitely or referred to the Court of Claims, sothat the total number on which final action was taken by the Senate was1, 681. The committee on enrolled bills examined 667 Senate bills andjoint resolutions and sent them to the President and 591 became laws, the number of vetoes, including "pocket vetoes, " being 76. 

The House of Representatives passed 1, 561 House bills and sent them tothe Senate, and the Senate passed 1, 347 of them, leaving 214 to perish. The House passed 56 House joint resolutions and the Senate passed all ofthem but eight. The House passed, therefore, 2, 284 House and Senatebills, and the Senate passed 2, 522. 

The first session of the Fifty-first Congress (1889-90) was, with oneexception, the longest ever held. [1] During the session there wereintroduced in the House 12, 402 bills and joint resolutions, and in theSenate 4, 570, making a total of 16, 972. The total number of acts passedwas 1, 335 as against 1, 790 for _both_ sessions of the Fiftieth Congress. Of these 881 were pension bills. 

[Footnote 1: The longest session was the long session of the FiftiethCongress. ]

Congress ordinarily assembles at noon, and remains in session until 4 or5 p. M. , though towards the end of the term it frequently remains insession until late in the night. The first thing upon assembling in themorning is prayer. On Mondays, as stated, there is next a roll-call ofStates for the introduction of bills. Sometimes a committee isinstructed to prepare and bring in a bill of its own, without waiting tohave one introduced and referred to it. Reports from committees areheard during morning hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and onMondays after the introduction of bills. Friday is a day usually setapart for the consideration of private measures. On Saturdays Congressseldom sits. 

There is still one feature of Congressional government which needsexplanation, and that is the caucus. A caucus is the meeting of themembers of one party in private, for the discussion of the attitude andline of policy which members of that party are to take on questionswhich are expected to arise in the legislative halls. 

Thus, in Senate caucus, is decided who shall be members of the variouscommittees. In these meetings is frequently discussed whether or not thewhole party shall vote for or against this or that important bill, andthus its fate is decided before it has even come up for debate inCongress. 

CHAPTER X. 

The Cabinet and Executive Departments. 

We have seen that the functions of government are divided into threedistinct classes, the legislative, the judicial, and the executive. TheConstitution provides as to the methods for the exercise of the firsttwo, but none for the third. The only reference in the constitution toexecutive departments is in Art. II, Sec. 2, where the President isgiven the power to require the opinion in writing of the principalofficer in each executive department upon any subject relating to theduties of his office. The departments have in each case been created byan act of Congress and from time to time as convenience has demanded. 

The duties of the executive are to enforce and apply the laws of thenation after they are made by the legislature and interpreted by thecourts. This is the real business of government, by which the laws areput into effect, and the work of government is actually carried on. Inthe United States Government this power is placed in the hands of a bodyof men distinct from the legislative and judicial officers. At the headis the President, and hence his title of "Chief Executive. " It isevident that he must divide up the vast amount of work to be done, anddelegate it to others. Congress directs how this shall be done. For thispurpose Congress has created nine executive departments (1)State, (2)Treasury, (3)War, (4)Navy, (5)Interior, (6)Post Office, (7)Justice, (8)Agriculture, (9)Labor. 

These departments have been created as required by the growth ofgovernment duties. Three departments, the State, Treasury and War, werecreated by the first Congress, in 1789. By the same Congress was createdthe office of Attorney-General of the United States, who, together withthe Secretaries of the three departments, constituted PresidentWashington's first cabinet. The Navy Department was added in 1798. Priorto that date, naval affairs had been managed by the War Department. APost Office for the colonies was established by the Postal Act of QueenAnne's reign. The Post Office Department under the present governmentwas established in 1789, but the Postmaster-General did not become aCabinet officer until 1829. The Interior Department was created in 1849by grouping together in one department several branches of thegovernment service, which had formerly been distributed among the otherdepartments. As early as 1839 the Patent Office, under the InteriorDepartment, was intrusted with various duties concerning theagricultural interests of the country, among the chief of which was thedistribution of seeds. In 1862 a separate Department of Agriculture wasestablished, and these duties transferred to it. In 1889 the head of theDepartment became Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and aCabinet officer. A Bureau of Labor under the Interior Department wascreated in 1884. In 1888 Congress constituted it a separate department, but did not make its head a Secretary, and therefore not a Cabinetofficer. 

The heads of the first eight of these departments together form acouncil of eight, called the "Cabinet, " whose duty it is, in addition tothe management of the departments, to advise the President on matters ofimportance. For this purpose regular meetings are held, at which theaffairs of government are discussed, and lines of action decided upon. The cabinet is neither the creation of the constitution, nor strictly oflaw. The existence of a cabinet, however, was always taken for grantedin the discussion and formation of the constitution. It is a creation ofcustom and has no powers other than of advice and counsel to thePresident. The growth of executive and administrative business is notfully indicated by the increase in the number of departments. The growthwithin each department has been much greater. Separate bureaus anddivisions have been created, which in some cases are, for all practicalpurposes, as independent and important as the departments themselves. 

The organization of all the different departments is much the same. Atthe head of each is an officer appointed by the President, the Presidentthus having control generally over the whole executive business of thegovernment. These officers are called Secretaries, except in the casesof the Post Office Department, whose head is the Postmaster-General, andof the Department of Justice, whose head is the Attorney-General. In anumber of the Departments there are also one, two, three or fourassistant secretaries, according as the business of the departmentsrequires. For convenience in the despatch of business, the departmentsare divided into bureaus, the bureaus into divisions, and the divisionsinto rooms, until, finally, the individual workers--the clerks--arereadied. Each bureau and division has at its head an officer calledCommissioner and Chief of Division, respectively. Each department andbureau, and, in some cases, the division also, has a Chief Clerk who hascharge of the details of the administration, and immediate oversightover the clerks. [1] All work in one finely organized system. The clerkis responsible to his chief of division, the chief of division to hiscommissioner, the commissioner to the Secretary and he, finally, toCongress. Each man has his particular place in the system, and no oneworks at random. [2]

[Footnote 1: There are a number of officials and clerks who properlybelong to no division or bureau, as, for instance, the librarian'sprivate secretary and other clerical assistance in the Secretary'soffice, who are under his immediate supervision. ]

[Footnote 2: This system is not always carried out perfectly inpractice. In some cases an officer is termed commissioner who is moreproperly a chief of division, and _vice versa_. In other cases the titleof commissioner or chief of division is represented by a more technicaldesignation as Director of the U. S. Geological Survey, Comptroller ofthe Currency, etc. ] The President and heads of departments appoint allofficers in the executive departments. It is manifestly impossible forthem to base their appointments upon personal knowledge. Hence hasarisen the custom of filling almost all offices not controlled by theCivil Service Commission upon the recommendation of congressmen, each ofwhom controls for the most part the patronage of his own district. Onlythe Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, Commissioners, and other chiefofficials are really appointees of the President on his ownresponsibility. 

Prior to the first administration of Jackson the positions of governmentclerks in the departments were permanent. In 1828 Jackson inauguratedthe so-called spoils system, which means that to the victor belongs thespoils. Only 74 removals had been made from 1789 to 1828. Jacksonremoved during the first year of his administration 2, 000 clerks. Sincethen, until 1883, each party, on gaining control of the government, hasremoved almost all the clerks in office who were of the oppositepolitical faith, replacing them with members of its own party. In 1883was passed the Civil Service Act, by which it is provided that allfuture appointments of subordinate clerks in the executive departmentsare to be made only from those who have passed successfully anexamination set by the Civil Service Commission created by the act. 

_#The State Department. #_--The Department of State was the firstdepartment established. (Act of July 27, 1789. ) There are threeAssistant Secretaries. Their salaries are, Secretary $8, 000, FirstAssistant $4, 000, and the other two $3, 500. The department is dividedinto seven bureaus, (1) Diplomatic, (2) Consular, (3) Archives andIndexes, (4) Accounts, (5) Statistics, (6) Rolls and Library, and (7)Claims. 

The Secretary of State is charged, under the direction of the President, with the duties appertaining to correspondence with the public ministersand consuls of the United States, and with the representatives offoreign powers accredited to the United States; and to negotiations ofwhatever character relating to the foreign affairs of the UnitedStates. He is also the medium of correspondence between the Presidentand the chief executive of the several States of the United States; hehas the custody of the great seal of the United States, and countersignsand affixes such seal to all executive proclamations, to variouscommissions, and to warrants for pardon, and the extradition offugitives from justice. He is regarded as the first in rank among themembers of the Cabinet. He is also the custodian of the treaties madewith foreign states, and of the laws of the United States. He grants andissues passports. Exequaturs to foreign consuls in the United States areissued through his office. He publishes the laws and resolutions ofCongress, amendments to the Constitution, and proclamations declaringthe admission of new States into the Union. He is also charged withcertain annual reports to Congress relating to commercial informationreceived from diplomatic and consular officers of the United States. 

The patronage of the Secretary at Washington is small, about sixtyclerks, but that which concerns the diplomatic and consular service isimportant. To facilitate communications and negotiations with foreignnations, and to protect the interests of American citizens in foreigncountries, the United States, in common with all civilized nations, hasan elaborate system of representatives residing at the capitals of allthe principal nations. This system is called the diplomatic service, andis under the charge of a separate bureau of the State Department. Communications and negotiations with foreign powers are generallycarried on through them or through ministers of other nations stationedat Washington. These agents are called ministers and are of three grades(1) envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, (2) ministersresident, (3) _chargés d'affaires_. These grades correspond to the lowergrades of similar services in European countries. We have no gradecorresponding to that of ambassador. The United States has ministers inabout thirty-three countries. The chief legations are those of GreatBritain, France, Germany and Russia. The salary attached to each ofthese legations is $17, 500. The social demands upon ministers are great, and, as a rule, the expenses of ministers have been more than theirsalaries. Ministers of foreign powers receive a much larger compensationthan do ours. 

To protect our commercial interests abroad, and our seamen and vesselsin foreign ports, the United States has agents resident in all foreignsea-ports of any prominence. Their duties are numerous. They shipseamen, certify invoices, take testimony, examine emigrants, etc. Theytransmit to the State Department monthly reports concerning any matterof commercial or social interest occurring at their stations. Thesereports are published monthly by the department and have a widegratuitous circulation. This system is called the consular service; andis also under the charge of a separate bureau. These agents, calledconsuls, are of three ranks and titles; (1) consul-generals, (2)consuls, (3) consular agents, of whom 180 are salaried, the rest beingpaid by fees. The names of the other bureaus indicate the nature of theduties performed by each. 

The Department of State has been prominently before the people duringthe last two years in consequence of the Pan-American Congress, [1]composed of representatives from all American nations. This congress metin 1889, under the auspices of the State Department at Washington, toconsider subjects of common interest, such as international arbitration, railroad and steamship communication, uniform money and commercialregulations. Various standing committees and commissions were providedfor; and it is believed that through their efforts better commercial andsocial relations with the South American Republics will be established. The International Marine Conference, composed of representatives fromall marine powers, likewise met at Washington under the auspices of thesame department, and adopted a code of marine regulations for theguidance of all nations. 

[Footnote 1: The Proceedings of the Pan American Congress were publishedby the Department of State, and also in the _Tribune Monthly_ forSeptember, 1890. Articles upon the subject _lay_ Mr. Romero, the MexicanMinister, appeared in the _North American Review_, September andOctober, 1890. ]

In foreign relations the department has been chieflyoccupied of late in the attempted settlement of the right of the Englishand Canadians to capture seals in Bering's Sea and Straits, and of therights of American and English fishermen[1] in the fishing grounds offthe coast of New Foundland; in the conclusion of a new extradition[2]treaty with England, and of various treaties concerning trade with othernations. 

[Footnote 1: See _Tribune Monthly_ entitled "Our Continent, or Americafor the Americans. "]

[Footnote 2: An excellent monograph upon the subject of Extradition, byHon. J. B. Moore, has been published by the State Department. ]

_#The Treasury Department. #_--This department was created by act ofSeptember 2, 1789. There are two assistant secretaries. The departmentis divided into a large number of divisions, with the following chiefofficers: (1) The Comptrollers, (2) the Auditors, (3) Treasurer, (4)Register, (5) Commissioner of Customs, (6) Commissioner of InternalRevenue, (7) Comptroller of the Currency, (8) Chief of the Bureau ofStatistics, (9) Superintendent of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, (10) Director of the Mint, (11) Superintendent of the Life SavingService, (12) Supervising-Surgeon-General of the Marine HospitalService, (13) Supervising-Inspector-General of Steam Vessels. Otherofficers are, the Supervising Architect, Commissioner of Navigation, Solicitor of the Treasury, and Chairman of the Light House Board. 

The mention of the various divisions indicates the importance andvariety of the duties coming under this department. The Secretary ischarged with the entire management of the national finances. He submitsannually to Congress estimates of the probable revenues anddisbursements of the Government, prepares plans for the improvement ofthe revenue and for the support of the public credit, and superintendsthe collection of the revenue. Two comptrollers pass upon all claimsagainst the government and accounts received from the auditors. Sixauditors examine and adjust accounts relating to the expenditures of thevarious branches of the government. 

The Treasurer of the United States receives and keeps its moneys, disburses them on the Secretary's warrants, and manages the IndependentTreasury System. The Independent or Sub-Treasury System was adopted byCongress in 1846. By this means the Treasury Department is independentof the banking system of the country; but has established sub-treasuriesin the principal cities of the Union for the receipt and disbursement ofpublic moneys. There are sub-treasuries in New York, San Francisco, Saint Louis, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans andCincinnati. For greater convenience moneys are also deposited at certaindesignated banks. Secretary Windom, however, began rapidly removing suchdeposits from the banks and announced his intention to cease the placingof deposits with any bank. 

The Register of the Treasury is the official book-keeper of the UnitedStates. The Commissioners of Customs and of Internal Revenue have chargerespectively of the collection of customs duties and internal revenuetaxes. The Comptroller of the Currency has control of the nationalbanks. The Chief of the Bureau of Statistics collects and publishes thestatistics of our foreign commerce. In the Bureau of Engraving andPrinting are designed, engraved and printed all government bonds, national bank notes, drafts, United States notes, etc. , for which workabout 1200 persons are employed. The director of the Mint has generalsupervision over all mints and assay offices. In addition to his annualreport he publishes yearly a report on the statistics of the productionof precious metals. 

The titles of the other officers indicate the general duties of each. The whole department employs about 3, 400 persons at Washington. 

Some of the more important public questions coming within the provinceof the Treasury Department at the present time are (1) the Tariff, whichhas been settled for some years by the high tariff act of this Congress;(2) the silver question involving the gravest questions of finance, likewise settled for a time by the silver act of this Congress; (3) thepurchase of bonds on the market as a device to reduce the surplus andprevent the accumulation of money in the Treasury; (4) the nationalbanking system, whose basis is being removed by the rapid payment of thepublic debt; (5) the merits of the Independent Treasury System by whichit is claimed that money is kept out of circulation and a stringencycaused in the money market; and (6) the advisability of transferring therevenue marine service to the Navy Department. 

_#The War Department. #_--The War Department was established August 7, 1789. There is one assistant secretary. The chiefs of the bureaus intowhich the department is divided, are officers of the United States Army, and a part of the military establishment. Their titles and duties are asfollows. The Adjutant General of the Army, who has under him a largeforce of clerks, has the duty of issuing orders, conducting thecorrespondence of the department, and keeping the record. TheInspector-General inspects and reports upon the condition of the army atall points, and the accounts of the disbursing officers. TheQuartermaster-General has charge of the clothing, quarters, andsupplies, except food supplies, which form the province of theCommissary-General. The Surgeon-General has charge of the medicaldepartment, of the Army Medical Museum, and a special library. The Chiefof Engineers has charge of the construction of fortifications, etc. TheJudge-Advocate-General reviews the proceedings of courts-martial, andadvises the Secretary on points of law. There are also aPaymaster-General, a Chief of Ordnance, and a Chief Signal Officer. TheChief Signal Officer has charge of the system of communicating withdistant points by means of various systems of signals, the mostnoteworthy of which is that of the heliograph, by which information isconveyed by the use of sun-reflecting mirrors. Communication has beenestablished between points 125 miles distant by means of a heliographwith a reflecting surface of but twenty square inches. 

The War Department answers more nearly than any other to the Departmentof Public Works found in other governments. All public improvements, theconstruction of docks, bridges, and the improvement of rivers andharbors, are under the supervision of army engineers. All arcticexplorations and the explorations of our western territory, have beenconducted by army officers under the direction of the Secretary of War. 

The publication of war records is being made by a special board in theWar Department. Thirty-five volumes have been published. It is estimatedthat there will be one hundred and nineteen volumes when the work iscompleted. The Secretary of War also has charge of the Military Academyat West Point, of certain national parks, and homes for disabledsoldiers. 

The army is commanded by a lieutenant-general under whom are threemajor-generals and six brigadier-generals. It consists of about 26, 000men distributed in the three divisions of the Missouri, the Atlantic, and the Pacific, of which the first contains four departments, thesecond, one, and the third, three. Congress appropriates and expendsthrough the War Department $400, 000 yearly on the National Guard for itsarmament and equipment. The aggregate of this reserve army regularlyorganized and uniformed is 106, 500 men. The Secretary also details armyofficers to furnish military instruction at various colleges. 

The principal questions to-day concerning the War Department are theadvisability of strengthening our coast defences, and the lessening ofthe desertions in the army, which amount yearly to from ten to fifteenper cent, of the total strength of the army. 

_#The Navy Department. #_--The Navy Department was established April 30, 1798. There is one assistant secretary. The routine work of thedepartment is distributed among eight bureaus: (1) of Yards and Docks, (2) of Equipment and Recruiting, (3) of Navigation, (4) of Ordinance, (5) of Construction and Repair, (6) of Steam Engineering, (7) ofProvisions and Clothing, (8) of Medicine and Surgery. The chiefs of thebureaus are officers of the United States Navy. There is a hydrographicoffice attached to the bureau of navigation, which prepares maps, chartsand nautical books relating to navigation, and makes investigationsconcerning marine meteorology. This Department has charge of the NavalObservatory for which a new set of buildings is now being built atWashington. The Department publishes yearly, for the guidance of seamen, the nautical almanac, the preparation of which is intrusted to aseparate bureau. The department also compiles and publishes navalrecords of the recent war, and has charge of the Naval Academy atAnnapolis, Maryland. The Officers of the Navy upon the active listinclude one admiral, one vice-admiral, six rear-admirals, and tencommodores. The naval force includes 10, 000 officers and men, togetherwith 2, 000 marines. The number of vessels of the United States Navy whenall the ships now authorized are completed, excluding those which by theprocess of decay and the operation of law will by that date have beencondemned, will comprise 11 armored and 31 unarmored vessels. The fivestations maintained are the Asiatic, European, North Atlantic, SouthAtlantic, and Pacific. The chief matter of present public interestconcerning this department is the creation of a new navy by theconstruction of modern steel vessels. This new policy was begun in 1882. 

_#The Interior Department. #_--The Interior Department was created in1849, to take charge of various duties not properly belonging to any ofthe existing departments. There are two assistant secretaries. Thechiefs of the bureaus into which this department is divided, and theirrespective duties are as follows: _The Commissioner of the General LandOffice_ has charge of all the public land of the government, its care, supervision, and sale or distribution. In another chapter we givefurther details concerning the operations of this important bureau. 

_The Commissioner of Pensions_ has charge of the granting of pensions toold soldiers and sailors. He has a large force at Washington. There areeighteen pension agencies in different parts of the country. In 1808 theUnited States assumed all the state pension obligations. The act of 1818gave pensions to all who had served nine months in the RevolutionaryWar; other wars were afterwards included. The acts of the periodbeginning 1862 have enormously increased the amount paid. The report ofthe Commissioner for 1890 shows that at the close of the fiscal year of1889 the number of pensioners was 537, 944, and the annual expendituresfor pensions $105, 528, 180. 38. 

The disability pension law passed June 27, 1890, will greatly lengthenthe pension list and increase the annual expenditures. The presentCommissioner says in his last report that "it is believed that there areprobably over one hundred thousand claims in this office which can beproperly allowed under the provisions of these regulations. The act ofJune 27, 1890, is the first disability pension law in the history of theworld which grants to soldiers and sailors pensions for disabilitieswhich are not proven to have been incurred in the service and in line ofduty. " Speaker Reed of the House characterized it as "the most generouspiece of pension legislation ever passed by any nation on earth. "

_The Commissioner of Patents_ has charge of the granting of patents. Upto 1793 the granting of letters-patent was given to a board consistingof the Secretary of State, Secretary of War and the Attorney General, the records and models being kept in the Department of State. In 1793the granting of patents was given exclusively to the Secretary of State. In 1821 the clerk of the State Department who examined applications forpatents received the title of Superintendent of the Patent Office, andon July 4, 1836, the Patent Office was created as a separate bureau anda Commissioner of Patents created. 

About 24, 000 patents are issued annually. There is an AssistantCommissioner-in-chief, an Examiner of Interferences, threeExaminers-in-chief, thirty-eight Principal Examiners, and a large forceof assistant examiners for different branches. Patents run for seventeenyears. The annual receipts of the bureau from fees more than equal theexpenditures, and the office now has a surplus of several millions toits credit in the Treasury. 

_The Commissioner of Indian Affairs_ has charge of all mattersconcerning the Indians, their education, government and support. Thereare 239 Indian schools supported by appropriations made by Congress, 147of which are controlled directly by the Indian Bureau. The averageattendance of pupils at these schools is between eleven and twelvethousand. The number of Indians in our country (not counting those ofAlaska) is about 250, 000. They occupy or have control of about116, 630, 106 acres. 

_The Bureau of Education_ was originally established as an independentDepartment by act of Congress, approved by the President March 2, 1867. By an act of Congress which took effect July 1, 1869, this Departmentwas changed to an Office or Bureau in the Interior Department. Theduties of this Bureau are to collect and diffuse information regardingschools, methods of instruction and school discipline, etc. , andotherwise to promote the cause of education. The results of theinvestigations here carried on, though with a small clerical force, areof the utmost value to all educators, and such is the extent to whichthe merit of the work and publications of this office are recognized bythe leading educators of the country, that, in their opinion, the Bureaushould be re-established as a department, and its chief be made a memberof the President's cabinet. The publications of the Bureau consist of(1) _Annual Reports_, which set forth statistics and general informationconcerning the educational systems of the States, Territories, largercities, universities, and colleges; professional, special, andscientific schools, academies, preparatory schools and kindergartens, with a summary of the progress of education in foreign countries; (2)_Special Reports_, on subjects pertinent to the times; (3) _OccasionalBulletins_, on matters of current educational interest; (4) _Circularsof Information_, on important questions of educational work or history, which are issued in yearly series. Under this last title there is now incourse of publication a very valuable series of monographs upon theHistory of Higher Education in the various States. These monographs arebeing prepared by competent scholars under the editorial supervision ofDr. H. B. Adams of the Johns Hopkins University. Numerous Annual Reportshave been issued, and one is now in press, for the year 1889-90. Theworking force of the Bureau is divided into three divisions: (1)Records; (2) Statistics; (3) Library and Museum. The library of thisOffice contains one of the most valuable pedagogical collections in thecountry. 

_The Commissioner of Railroads_ has charge of the government's interestsin certain railroads to which the United States has granted loans ofcredit or subsidies in lands or bonds. By the acts of July 1, 1862, andJuly 1, 1864, Congress, in order to encourage the building of atrans-continental railroad, granted to several Pacific railroadcompanies subsidies in land adjacent to the roads, and issued certainamounts of bonds on which was guaranteed interest at the rate of six percent. The amount of lands given and bonds issued were in proportion tothe number of miles of road constructed. The lands were a gift. Thebonds were to be repaid by the companies with all interest which mighthave been advanced by the government. From 1850 to 1872 the variousrailroads received a total of 155, 504, 994 acres of lands, and$147, 110, 069 proceeds of bonds and interest paid by the United States. The roads have repaid of this amount $36, 723, 477, leaving at the presenttime due from the roads to the United States the sum of $110, 386, 592. This they will be unable to pay upon the maturity of the bonds, and abill has been before Congress for several sessions looking towards abetter adjustment of this debt. The Commissioner of Railroads wasoriginally styled the "Auditor of Railroad Accounts. " The office wascreated June 19, 1878. 

_Geological Survey_. --This branch of the Interior Department wasestablished in 1879. Its work is the investigation and determination ofthe geological structure of the various sections of the country, thecomposition of soils, the reclamation of waste lands, etc. In thisbureau are made topographical surveys and irrigation surveys of aridregions of the United States. The publications connected with this work, number ten Annual Reports, thirteen Monographs, fifty-eight Bulletinsand five Statistical Papers. In these there is a discussion of thegeological structure of every state and territory, and informationconcerning the occurrence and production of each great metallic andmineral staple of the country. The bureau comprises one geographical, twelve geological, six paleontological and four accessory divisions. Adivision of mines and mining publishes an annual report on the mineralresources and production of the United States. 

_The Superintendent of the Census. _--The Superintendent of the Census isappointed each decade for the purpose of taking the regular decennialcensus. The Eleventh Census has just been taken. The first was taken in1790. Each census has shown a tendency to be more elaborate and toembrace a greater number of subjects than any preceding. There wereemployed in the taking of the Eleventh Census 42, 000 enumerators, 2, 000clerks, from 800 to 900 special agents, 175 supervisors and 25 experts. 

In addition to these eight bureaus, the department has charge of variousother branches of government. All of the territories come under theSecretary's supervision, and look to him in case of any difficulty. TheSecretary also has charge of the Yellowstone National Park, the HotSprings Reservation in Arkansas, and of certain hospitals andeleemosynary institutions in the District of Columbia. A Superintendentof Public Documents looks after the receipt, distribution, and sale ofgovernment publications. 

The most important subjects of recent legislation concerning thisdepartment have been the dependent pension act, the act providing forthe survey of Western lands suitable for irrigation, and the landforfeiture act. By this act over 8, 000, 000 acres of lands were forfeitedby the railroads for failure to fulfill the conditions under which theland was originally granted to them. 

_#The Post Office Department. #_--The Post Office Department wasestablished in 1789, but the Postmaster-General did not become a cabinetofficer until 1829. The Postmaster-General has charge and management ofthe department, and of the domestic and foreign mail service. He canestablish post offices and appoint postmasters of the fourth and fifthclasses, i. E. Those whose salaries are less than $1, 000. These numberover 50, 000. The total number of postoffices is about 56, 000. ThePresident appoints to those of the first three classes. Other officersbesides the Assistant Postmasters-General are, the Superintendents ofthe Money Order Division, of Foreign Mails, and of the Railway Service, and an Assistant Attorney-General for the department. 

The United States is a member of the Universal Postal Union, of whichmost, if not all, of the civilized countries are members. The centraloffice is known as the International Bureau of the Universal PostalUnion, and is conducted under the superintendence of the Swiss PostalAdministration, and its expenses are borne by all the nations composingthe Union. The revenues of the Post Office Department nearly equal theexpenditures, and would have exceeded them before this but for the factthat as soon as the amount of receipts has warranted, improvements havebeen made in the service, through the reduction of postage rates andthe extension of the free delivery system. It has never been the policyof the government to make this department a source of revenue. 

The patronage of the postoffice department is the most important of anyof the departments, and it is very largely for this reason that thePostmaster-General is a member of the Cabinet. Crawford of SouthCarolina secured in 1820 the passage of an act limiting the term ofoffice of postmasters to four years. The appointment of postmasters doesnot come under the Civil Service Act. It is the principal aim of civilservice reformers, that postmasters should be appointed under itsprovisions. The most important questions of public policy concerningthis department, are the reduction of postage rates on letters to onecent; the advisability of the establishment of a postal telegraphservice; the extension of the free delivery system, and the relation ofthe department to the civil service regulations. 

_#The Department of Justice. #_--The office of the Attorney-General ofthe United States was established in 1789; the Department of Justice notuntil 1870. The Attorney-General gives advice upon legal points to thePresident and also, when requested to do so, to the heads ofdepartments. He directs the cases of the United States and sometimesappears in them, especially in the Supreme Court. He supervises theUnited States Marshals and District Attorneys. His substitute andprincipal assistant is the Solicitor-General. There are twoAssistant-Attorneys-General, the business of the one being connectedwith the Supreme Court, and of the other with the Court of Claims. Thereare also, as mentioned before, certain legal officers attached to theother departments. Additional counsel is frequently employed to assistin the argument of important cases. To the Attorney-General belongs theduty of recommending persons to the office of judges, etc. , in theUnited States Circuit and District Courts. 

_#The Department of Agriculture. #_--The Department of Agriculture wasorganized as a separate department in the year 1862. In 1889 its headbecame a cabinet officer. There is one Assistant Secretary. The dutiesof the Secretary are to promote in every way the agricultural interestsof the country. For this purpose the department is separated intothirteen bureaus, under the following officers (1) the Entomologist, (2)Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, (3) Chemist, (4) Botanist, (5)Chief of the Section of Vegetable Pathology, (6) Statistician, (7)Ornithologist, (8) Director of the Office of Experiment Stations, (9)Microscopist, (10) Pomologist, (11) Chief of the Forestry Division, (12)Chief of the Seed Division, and (13) Weather Bureau. The enumeration ofthese titles indicates the general nature of the work of the department. Here are investigated the habits of injurious insects and birds and thebest means for their destruction; the causes of and remedies forvegetable and fruit diseases. The Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industryinspects herds of cattle and causes to be slaughtered those sufferingfrom a contagious disease. Under a law passed in 1890, he also inspectsall cattle and meat intended for export to foreign countries. Heinvestigates causes of and remedies for cattle diseases, the best methodof breeding, etc. The Statistician publishes monthly and annual reportsconcerning statistics of the condition, prospects and harvests of theprincipal crops, the wages of farm labor, etc. The Chemist analyzesfertilizers, soils, etc. By the act of March 2, 1887, $15, 000 per annumwas appropriated by Congress to each of the States and Territories whichhave established an agricultural college or an agricultural collegedepartment, for the establishment of experiment stations. The Departmentof Agriculture has general oversight over these stations. 

The Department carries on experiments regarding the feasibility ofprofitable silk reeling in this country, for which purpose there is aseparate division; it also makes experiments in the manufacture of sugarfrom sorghum and from beets grown in this country. The best qualities ofseeds are tested and distributed gratuitously among the farmers. Effortsare made to introduce and foster the cultivation of new kinds ofagricultural products, and in various ways to advance agriculturalinterests. 

Congress, by an act passed during its last session, 1890, created aweather bureau under the Agricultural Department and transferred to itthe business of weather prognostication which had been tinder the ChiefSignal officer in the War Department. The service remains unchanged. Ithas stations at the military stations in the interior of the continent, at life-saving stations, and at other points in the States andTerritories. Meteorological observations are taken at each station, andthe information forwarded to the central office at Washington, whereweather predictions for the succeeding day or days are made. Thepredictions are given gratuitously to the public through a system offlag signals, by the distribution of weather maps, and by publication inthe daily papers. The percentage of successful forecasts of the weatherduring 1890 was 84. 4. 

The Department publishes the result of the scientific investigationscarried on by its officers in "Annual Reports" of the Secretary andChiefs of Divisions; in a series of "Circulars" on special subjects, inregular "Bulletins;" and in a series of studies on "Insect Life. " Thesedocuments are distributed gratuitously. 

_#The Department of Labor. #_--The Department of Labor was created in1884, as a bureau under the Interior Department. In 1888, it became aseparate department. It is a purely statistical bureau. It collects andpublishes statistics on the cost of production, on wages, laborstatistics, etc. Its six published reports are on (1) IndustrialDepressions, (2) Convict Labor, (3) Strikes and Lockouts, (4) WorkingWomen in Large Cities, (5) Marriage and Divorce, and (6) RailroadEmployés. 

Had all the executive departments been created at one time by aconstitutional convention, we should be justified in expecting a greatersymmetry and uniformity in the naming and grouping of chief officials. An inspection of the various executive officers shows that not a few areunder departments other than would be expected; and the naming ofofficials is often misleading as to their importance. Within recentyears there has appeared a strong tendency to depart yet more from asystematic grouping of executive duties under departments. Executivefunctions have been given to bodies entirely independent of thedepartments. To complete our survey of the federal executive we mustconsider the following: (1) the Interstate Commerce Commission, (2) theFish Commission, (3) the Civil Service Commission, (4) the GovernmentPrinting Office, (5) the National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, theBureau of Ethnology, (6) the Congressional Library. 

_#The Interstate Commerce Commission. #_--With the growth of our railroadsystem have come various abuses. Roads have discriminated in favor ofone shipper over others, and of one locality over others. Combinationshave been formed to keep up railroad passenger and freight charges. Their influence has been used in political offices through the issuingof free passenger tickets, etc. Various other minor abuses have centeredaround these corporations. The States have been powerless to provide aremedy for the roads have been mostly engaged in interstate commercewith which the States are forbidden by the constitution to interfere. Toprovide a remedy for the principal of these abuses Congress passed theact of February 4, 1887, regulating the practice of railroads andcreating the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the provisions. The Commission is composed of five commissioners appointed by thePresident. The Commission sits as a court and adjudicates complaintsarising between railroads or between citizens and railroads, involvingprinciples covered by the act. It has rapidly attained its presentposition as one of the most important courts in the United States. Astatistician, attached to the Commission, publishes annual statistics ofrailroads, covering the extent, the amount, and value of their stock andbonds, expenses of management, receipts, &c. The act, of course, applies only to those railroads lying in more than one State. 

_#The Fish Commission. #_--The Fish Commission was created by act ofCongress in 1870. Its chief is the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. There is also an Assistant Commissioner. This Commission stands in thesame relation to the fishery interests of the country as does theDepartment of Agriculture to agricultural interests. Both are scientificand practical departments. The former investigates the food, habits andenemies of fishes; experiments concerning the best methods of theircapture, the best kind of baits, apparatus, etc. It collects statisticsof fish and fisheries of the whole country. Probably its most importantservice is the propagation and distribution of food fishes. Under itsdirection are hatched and liberated millions of the young of the bestfood fishes in the various inland waters of the United States. Riverssuitable for black bass, shad, carp, or other food fishes, but nothaving them in their waters, are supplied. For these purposes theCommission owns and manages various fish hatcheries, fish distributingvessels and cars, propagating ponds, etc. 

The yearly appropriation for carrying on this work amounts to nearly aquarter of a million of dollars. 

_#The Civil Service Commission. #_--To correct the wasteful anddemoralizing spoils system, in vogue ever since the first administrationof Jackson, Congress passed, January 16, 1883, "an act to regulate andimprove the Civil Service of the United States. " Under the provisions ofthis act, the President appoints three commissioners, only two of whommay be of the same political party, to administer the act. It is one ofthe duties of this Commission to provide examinations for testing thefitness of applicants for public service. Appointments in those branchesof the government coming under this act can only be made from personswho have passed the civil service examination successfully. Adherence toone or the other political parties has little weight in the selectionof employés. Under the regulation of this act are: the nine executivedepartments at Washington, the Civil Service Commission itself, thecustoms districts, eleven in number, in each of which there are fifty ormore employés, all postoffices in which there are fifty or moreemployés, and the Railway Mail Service; including altogether about28, 500 clerks. 

_#The Government Printing Office. #_--In order that there may beintelligent legislation and administration, an extensive system ofreports is required. The publications of the federal government are ofcourse very numerous. Each department, bureau, and division makes anannual report. The proceedings of Congress are reported verbatim andpublished. This printing and binding are done by the government throughthe government printing office, established for that purpose. The Bureauof Printing and Engraving, which is under the Treasury Department, doesno part of this. Its duties are limited to those of engraving andprinting banknotes, etc. The chief of the Government Printing Office isstyled the Government Printer, and is appointed by the President. 

_#The National Museum, Smithsonian Institution and Bureau ofEthnology. #_--In 1829 James Smithson, bequeathed by his will the wholeof his property, something over half a million dollars, "to the UnitedStates of America to found at Washington, under the name of theSmithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusionof knowledge among men. " This fund held by the United States now amountsto $702, 000 yielding six per cent, per annum. In 1846 Congressdetermined to devote this gift of Smithson to the founding and supportof a museum. The National Museum was established in 1846, and issupported by annual appropriations by Congress. 

In 1879 Congress created a special bureau under the Secretary of theSmithsonian Institution, to be called the Bureau of Ethnology, to makeresearches in North American anthropology. This work is supported byannual appropriations. The National Museum, Smithsonian Institution andBureau of Ethnology, though distinct institutions[1] are undersubstantially the same management. Their reports are of great scientificvalue. 

_#The Librarian of Congress. #_--The Librarian of Congress is anindependent officer and reports directly to Congress. He has completecontrol of the Congressional Library, now situated in the Capitolbuilding. The books now collected in this library have been purchasedfrom time to time by Congress. There is a law requiring that two copiesof every book, pamphlet, newspaper, photograph, etc. , copyrighted in theUnited States, shall be sent to the Congressional Library. It thusreceives large and valuable additions yearly. The Library now numbersover half a million volumes. A new building for the library is inprocess of construction, and it will have cost when completed betweenseven and eight million dollars. 

[Footnote 1: A valuable and suggestive paper on The Origin of theNational Scientific and Educational Institutions of the United States, by Dr. G. Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary of the SmithsonianInstitution, was published by the American Historical Association. Vol. IV, Part 2. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1890. ]

CHAPTER XI. 

The Federal Judiciary. 

In forming the Constitution the framers of our government werecontrolled by the principle that the powers which belong to allgovernments can be most safely and satisfactorily exercised by dividingthem according to their nature among three separate branches, theexecutive, the legislative, and the judicial. Under the Articles ofConfederation this maxim of government had been disregarded. The oldContinental Congress had been given under that plan, not onlylegislative powers, but also those executive and judicial powers whichthe States had yielded to the central government. 

The lack of a Federal judiciary was, as Justice Story says, "one of thevital defects of the old confederation. " Hamilton, the expounder of theConstitution, said: "Laws are a dead letter without courts to enforceand apply them. "

The reasons why a national system of courts was necessary were in orderthat there might be some power:--

1. To give to laws an interpretation that would be uniform throughoutthe land. If there were thirteen independent courts, each giving Federaldecisions on the same causes arising under the same national laws, whatbut confusion and contradiction could arise?

2. To settle disputes between the States and citizens of differentStates. 

3. To construe and interpret the Constitution itself, and decide alldisputes arising under it act of either Congress or of a Statelegislature contrary to the Constitution can therefore be valid. Hence, the necessity of some power which should have authority to determine theconstitutionality of an act when brought into question, and--

5. There should be the power of determining the constitutionality of anyact of a State legislature, and thus enforce upon State legislatures therestrictions laid upon them, such as, for example, the inability to layimpost duties, to pass laws violating the obligation of contracts, etc. , or to regulate objects given exclusively to Congress. The manifestnecessity of such a power may be best stated by using Hamilton's ownwords (Federalist, 30):

"What would avail restrictions on the authority of the Statelegislatures without some constitutional mode of enforcing theobservance of them? The States, by the plan of the Constitution, areprohibited from doing a variety of things, some of which areincompatible with the interests of the Union; others with the principlesof good government. The imposition of duties on imported articles, andthe emission of paper money are specimens of this kind. No man of sensewill believe that such prohibition would be scrupulously regarded, without some effectual power in the government to restrain or correctinfractions of them. This power must be either a direct negative on theState laws, or an authority in the Federal courts to annul such as mightbe in manifest contravention of the articles of Union. " * * * "Thesecourts are to be the bulwarks of a limited constitution againstlegislative encroachments. "

These reasons were so strong that there was little or no objection inthe constitutional convention to the creation of a national judiciary, but difficulty arose in determining its precise nature and powers. As wehave learned, the difficulty to be overcome in drafting our new schemeof government was to satisfy State jealousies and interests, andpreserve State rights of government, and yet to obtain a strong centralgovernment; and to harmonize State rights with Federal strength. 

In forming the national judiciary, the objects to be obtained, difficultof achievement, were, to use the words of Judge Curtis (Federal Courtsof United States): "To construct a judicial power within the FederalGovernment, and to clothe it with attributes which would enable it tosecure the supremacy of the general constitution and all of itsprovisions; to give to it exact authority that would maintain thedividing line between the powers of the Nation and the States, and togive to it no more: and to add to these a faculty of dispensing justiceto foreigners, to citizens of different States and among the sovereignStates themselves, with a more even hand and with a more assuredcertainty of the great ends of justice than any State power couldfurnish--these were objects not readily or easily to be obtained, andyet they were obtained with wonderful success. "

The establishment of the federal judiciary is given in a few words inthe Constitution: "The judicial powers of the United States shall bevested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as Congress mayfrom time to time ordain and establish. "

In pursuance of this clause, Congress passed in 1789, what is known asthe "Judiciary Act, " the first section of which reads: "The SupremeCourt of the United States shall consist of one chief justice and fiveassociate justices. " This act also established the inferior federalcourts, the circuit and district courts, and also defined and fixedtheir fields of jurisdiction, i. E. , the class of cases which thesecourts could have power to try. 

The Supreme Court stands at the head of our national judiciary. Itsfield of jurisdiction is the construction and exposition of theConstitution of the United States. Hon. S. F. Miller, senior justice ofthis court, speaking of the high character of the duties performed bythis court, said: "This court, whether we take the character of thesuitors that are brought before it, or the importance of the subjectsof litigation over which it has final jurisdiction, may be consideredthe highest the world has ever seen. It has power to bring States beforeit, States which some of our politicians have been in the habit ofconsidering sovereign, not only when they come voluntarily, but byFederal process they are subjected, in certain cases, to the judgment ofthe court. Whatever these States may have been at the time of theformation of the Constitution, they now number their inhabitants by themillions, and in wealth and civilization are equal to many of theindependent sovereignties of Europe. "

There have been considerable changes in the structure and duties of theSupreme Court since its formation. At present there are nine justices, instead of six. There is now one annual term of the court held, beginning on the 2d Monday of October and continuing until about May 1. Of the nine justices six constitute a quorum. 

The Supreme Court first met in February, 1790. Since its organization ithas had eight chief justices, in the following order. 

 John Jay, 1789-1795. Oliver Ellsworth, 1795-1801. John Marshall, 1801-1835. R. B. Taney, 1836-1864. S. P. Chase, 1864-1873. M. R. Waite, 1873-1888. M. Fuller, 1888. 

In 1795 John Rutledge was appointed to succeed Jay, received hiscommission, and held one term of the court, but was not confirmed by theSenate. 

During the early years of the existence of the Supreme Court few casesarose requiring its jurisdiction. During the first term there was nobusiness to be transacted. In 1801 there were only ten cases on thedocket, and for some years the average annual number of cases wastwenty-four; but in later years the number rapidly increased. From 1850the average number of cases decided was seventy-one, while from 1875 to1880 the average was three hundred and ninety-one per annum, and nowthere are more than a thousand cases awaiting a hearing, and the courtis so far behindhand in its work that it takes from three to four yearsfor a case to come up for trial after having been entered upon thedocket. At present there are about four hundred cases granted a hearingyearly. 

Almost immediately after the adoption of the Constitution beganstruggles and disputes between the States and the Federal Government. Inthis contest the Supreme Court steadily upheld the central power, anddid much by its decisions to enforce and establish the power of theConstitution. Especially was the court powerful during the years 1801 to1835, when Marshall was chief justice, to whose wisdom and prudence itis difficult to ascribe too much influence in fixing the presentstability of our government. 

The Supreme Court has been an invariable supporter of the FederalConstitution. During the early years of our government it was ourfirmest barrier against the efforts of the States to lessen the federalpower. It has always maintained the balance of power between the Statesand the Union. 

The annual term of the Supreme Court begins the second Monday of Octoberand lasts until about May. Daily sessions, with the exceptions ofSaturdays and Sundays, are held, beginning at 12 o'clock, in the Capitolbuilding at Washington. The present justices are Fuller, chief justice, and Lamar, Bradley, Field, Harlan, Gray, Blatchford and Brewer, associate justices. Every Saturday morning the justices meet inconsultation and decide cases argued during the week. The decisions areannounced on Monday mornings. The justices are appointed by thePresident, hold office for life, and are removable only by impeachment. 

The following are a few cases decided by the Supreme Court with which itis important that we should be acquainted owing to the influence whichtheir decision has had upon our history:

1. In 1793 the case of _Chisolm_ vs. _Georgia_ came before this court. Chisolm, a citizen of North Carolina, sued the State of Georgia for asum of money, and under the second section of Article III of theConstitution, which says that the judicial power of the United Statesshall extend to disputes between a State and citizens of another State, the court gave judgment in his favor. This decision that a Stategovernment could be sued against its will created so muchdissatisfaction that the Eleventh Amendment was adopted, which says, "the judicial power of the United States shall not be construed toextend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against oneof the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens orsubjects of any foreign State. " The effect of this amendment has been toenable a State to repudiate its just debts. 

2. In 1819 was decided the very important case of _McCulloch_ vs. _Maryland_. The United States had established a national bank, which wasobjectionable to many of the States. Maryland attempted to destroy thebank by levying a very high tax upon a branch bank within the State. Thequestion as to her right to do this was brought before the SupremeCourt. To have allowed Maryland this right would have been to give to aState Government the power to oppose and render useless an institutioncreated by the Federal Government. The court sustained the Federalpower, and it was declared unconstitutional for any State to pass lawsopposing the operation of any Federal statute. 

3. In the case of _Dartmouth College_ vs. _New Hampshire_ was declaredthe unconstitutionally of a state law which impaired the obligation ofcontracts. 

4. A very important case decided by Chief Justice Taney was that of_Dred Scott_ vs. _Sandford_ in 1857. Dred Scott, a negro slave inMissouri, had been carried into the Territory of Minnesota, where, bythe Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery did not exist. Upon beingcarried back into Missouri by his master, Scott claimed his freedom uponthe ground that he had been voluntarily carried into a Territory whereslavery was not allowed. The Supreme Court in its decision declared thatCongress had never had the power to pass any law which would forbidslave-owners settling in Territories and still retaining control oftheir slaves. The whole country was at this time in great excitement inregard to the question whether or not, in the organization of theTerritories of Kansas and Nebraska into States, slavery should beprohibited, and this decision, whereby the Missouri Compromise Act waspractically annulled, and which pointed directly forward to anestablishment of slavery in the new Territories, raised publicexcitement to a fever heat. It was in this decision that the statementwas made that at the time of the formation of the Constitution thegeneral opinion had been that the colored man had no rights which thewhite man was bound to respect. As a direct result of this case a moredetermined stand was taken at the North against slavery; theAnti-Slavery Republican party was strengthened, and their candidate forPresident, Abraham Lincoln, elected in 1861, and the catastrophe ofcivil war precipitated. 

5. The Legal-Tender decisions, given in several cases soon after thecivil war, are important. During the progress of the war the Government, in order to raise funds to meet its extraordinary expenses, had beenforced to issue slips of paper which represented no deposits of coin inthe Treasury, but only promises to pay certain sums by the Government. These were declared legal tender, that is, made by law as good as goldand silver, and the people were forced to receive them in payment ofdebts and for commodities. It was questioned whether the Government hadby the Constitution power to do this. The legal-tender decisionsdeclared that it had. Judicial System and Jurisdiction of the UnitedStates Courts. 

_#District Courts. #_--The United States is divided into judicialdistricts. Many single States form a judicial district, while others aredivided into two and others into three districts. The number ofdistricts has varied. At present there are about sixty. To each of thesedistricts is given a court and a district judge. These form the lowestgrade of Federal courts. 

_#Circuit Courts. #_--These judicial districts are grouped into ninecircuits. For example, the Fourth circuit includes the districts ofMaryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. For each circuit is appointed one circuit judge. One of the justices ofthe Supreme Court is also allotted to each of the circuits, who, afterthe expiration of the Supreme Court term, visits his circuit, and triesthe more important cases which may arise in that circuit. The CircuitCourt may be held by the circuit judge, the Supreme Court justice, orthe district judge of that district in which the court is sitting, or byany two of them, or all of them, sitting together. The Circuit Courtsform the next series of the Federal courts higher than the DistrictCourts. 

_#Jurisdiction. #_--The relation between the Supreme, Circuit andDistrict courts is easy to explain. Their jurisdiction is upon federalquestions; that is, over those cases mentioned in the Constitution overwhich judicial power has been granted to the United States, viz. , questions arising under the Constitution, federal laws, or treaties, between citizens of different States, between citizens and foreigners, between States themselves, etc. , and all crimes punishable under theUnited States laws. 

The Circuit Court is higher than the District Court, and to it casesinvolving $500 and over may be appealed from the District courts. TheSupreme Court is the court of last resort, and to it all appeals fromthe Circuit Courts come, with the limitation that $5, 000 be involved. The cases decided by the Supreme Court are then of two classes: (1)those over which it has original jurisdiction, (see Constitution); i. E. , those cases which originate or begin in that court; and (2) those casesover which it has appellate jurisdiction, i. E. , those cases which comethither by appeal from the lower Circuit Courts, and which form thelarger part of its work, and also by appeal from the highest Statecourts in cases involving certain Federal questions. The District ofColumbia being directly governed by the United States, its courts areFederal courts, and hence, cases may be appealed from such courts to theSupreme Court; likewise for the same reason appeals may be had to theSupreme Court from the territorial courts. 

We must remember that these courts deal only with Federal questionsarising under United States laws, and, that besides these courts, all ofthe States have their own judicial systems of courts to interpret statelaws and to try the great majority of cases. These courts are entirelyseparate from the United States courts, and with different judges, though cases may begin in them and be transferred to the United StatesCourts, if the interpretation of a Federal law is brought into question. 

There are four grades of law in the United States. First and highest isthe United States Constitution; second, United States laws, or statutesas they are called, passed by Congress; third, State constitutions; andfourth, State laws, passed by the State legislatures. In case ofconflict of laws the lower must yield to the higher. 

For the purpose of settling claims of private persons against the UnitedStates, there has been established at Washington a Court of Claims, heldby five judges. From it appeals lie, in some cases, to the SupremeCourt, and, in others, they are referred to Congress for action. 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Ordinance for the Government of the Northwest Territory. 

When the colonies joined in union under the Articles of Confederation, in 1781, they ceded to the General government their claims to unoccupiedwestern territory. The largest land grant was that by the State ofVirginia, which occupied that part of the United States lying north ofthe Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. 

The problem of management of public lands was thus early presented toour Federal Government for solution. The manner in which Congress dealtwith this question has proven eminently wise and successful, and hasbeen largely influential in making the United States the nation that itis to-day. The feature that has characterized the plan followed from thebeginning, and which still obtains, is the formation of States from suchterritory as soon as there is sufficient population. Such States havesimilar forms and powers of government as the original States, are on anequal footing with them, and are bound by the Constitution of the UnitedStates. Congress has absolute control of the Territories. (ForTerritorial government see Article on Territories. )

The ordinance which the Continental Congress adopted in 1787 for thegovernment of the Northwest Territory is of great importance: itprovides for the establishment of our territorial system; it containsmany of those features of management which have been used from that dateuntil now; and it is also of interest because of the influence it hashad upon the history of slavery in our country. 

This ordinance provided that the whole of this territory should form onedistrict. At first Congress appointed the governor, secretary, judges, and military generals. The governor was to make the laws, subject to theapproval of Congress. When the population reached five thousand theinhabitants were to have a legislature of their own, and to have adelegate who should sit in Congress, but have no vote. There was a billof rights. Public education was encouraged. Not less than three nor morethan five States were to be formed from it. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin have been the five States formed from thisterritory. The transformation of the territory into States was promisedas soon as the population should reach sixty thousand. 

Slavery was forever prohibited in all this territory. We shall see thetremendous importance of this clause, which guaranteed to this largetract freedom from the curse of slavery, when we come to consider thestruggles which were made for many years to keep slavery from theterritories. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Government of the Territories. 

There are at present four areas, situated outside of the States, andorganized under territorial governments. These are Utah, Arizona, NewMexico and Oklahoma. Besides these there are the two unorganizedterritories, Indian Territory, and Alaska, and the District of Columbia, which last tract contains sixty-four square miles. 

_#Government of Territories. #_--The fundamental law of a Territory isthe Federal Constitution, just as in a State. Unlike the State, however, it has no constitution of its own, but is regulated entirely byCongress. In Section 3, Article IV, of the Constitution, it is declaredthat "Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needfulregulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to theUnited States. " In pursuance of this clause Congress has in the fourorganized Territories instituted governments as follows: The executiveof the Territory is a Governor appointed by the President for a fouryears' term. There is also a secretary and treasurer. The legislatureconsists of two houses, a council of 12, and a House of Representativesof 24. These are elected by the people of the Territories, and have aterm of two years. The Legislature meets every other year. All its actsrequire approval by Congress before becoming law. 

The judiciary consists of three or more judges appointed by thePresident, together with a district attorney and United States marshal. 

Territories send neither Senators nor Representatives to Congress, buthave one delegate apiece in the United States House of Representatives, who may speak, but not vote. 

_#Admission of a Territory as a State. #_--A Territory is an embryoState. As soon as a Territory becomes sufficiently populated it appliesfor admission into the Union as a State, and such admission isaccomplished in the following manner. When an application by a Territoryfor Statehood is made, it is considered by Congress, and, if approved, the inhabitants of the Territory are authorized to form for themselvesout of such Territory a State government, and thus prepare themselvesfor admission into the Union. 

A State government is formed as follows: The Governor of the Territoryissues a proclamation declaring that on a certain date there shall be anelection of delegates to a convention; such convention is to be held ona certain date. These delegates are elected by a popular vote. Themembers of the convention thus formed declare that they, on behalf ofthe people of the Territory, adopt the Constitution of the UnitedStates, and then proceed to draft a State constitution and government. It is provided that this constitution shall be Republican in form, andmake no distinction in civil and political rights on account of race orcolor, except for Indians not taxed: that it shall not be repugnant tothe Constitution of the United States and the principles of theDeclaration of Independence. Perfect religious toleration must beguaranteed, all right or title to the unappropriated public lands lyingwithin the Territory must be disclaimed and given over to the UnitedStates. Provision must be made by the constitution for the establishmentand maintenance of the system of public schools. 

After adoption by the convention the constitution is offered to thepeople for ratification. If it is ratified, the Governor certifies thefact to the President of the United States. Provided the constitution isfound to comply with all the conditions just mentioned, the Presidentissues his proclamation declaring the ratification of the constitution, and upon the same day that the proclamation is issued the territory isdeemed admitted by Congress into the Union as a State, on an equalfooting with the original States, and entitled to representation in bothhouses of the Federal Congress. The representatives and the Governor andother State officers are elected on the same day as that upon which theconstitution is ratified by the people. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

State Governments. 

The United States is a nation of forty-four federated States. Each Statehas its own separate government, which is sovereign, except as to a fewpowers which have been granted to the United States government forgeneral purposes. Citizens of States are also citizens of the UnitedStates, and thus owe a double allegiance, namely, to the State in whichthey reside and to the United States. 

These States vary in size from that of Texas, the largest, with an areaof 265, 780 square miles, to that of Rhode Island, the smallest, with1, 250; and in population from that of New York, with nearly sixmillions, to that of Nevada, with about forty-five thousand. The largestState is greater than either France or the German Empire. 

State governments are older than the Federal government, for it was by agrant by the States of certain of their powers that the United Statesgovernment was created. Each State is represented in Congress by twomembers in the Senate. Members of the lower branch of the Federallegislature are apportioned among the States according to population. Asin the case of the United States, the powers of government are dividedamong three departments--the executive, legislative, and judicial. 

In the United States Constitution it is expressly declared that "thepowers not granted to the United States by the Constitution, norprohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. " It would require considerable space to enumerate theduties of State governments. With the exception of the few acts whichthe constitution forbids them to perform, most of which they would notcare to perform if allowed, and the few general powers coming within theprovince of the Federal Government, the States can do whatever theirlegislatures sanction. They can go to the extremes of State socialism. All States have a complete judicial system. They regulate all legalrelations of their citizens, the laws of husband and wife, principal andagent, and of contract. They provide for the detection and punishment ofcrime. They control and mainly support the militia of the county. Railroad, banking, insurance, and other corporations, are chartered andcontrolled by them. The construction and maintenance of roads, the careof the public health, the inspection of factories, the determination ofthe right of suffrage, and the control of its own elections are amongthe exclusive powers of State governments. Our extensive system ofpublic schools are under the dual management of the State and localgovernments, and under the superintendence of State officers. The Statetakes care of the defective classes, of the insane, paupers, etc. ; and, in general, performs all those ordinary duties concerning internalaffairs 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 Amendmentdeclared that a citizen could not maintain a suit against a State. Statelaws are binding only within the boundaries of the State enacting them. 

_#State Constitutions. #_--As the Federal Constitution is the supreme lawof the United States, so the State constitution is the highest law ofthe States. The Constitutions of the original thirteen States werenaturally formed after the model of the charters enjoyed by the NewEngland colonies. In the colonies of Rhode Island, Connecticut, andMassachusetts their charters were adopted as constitutions without anychange, except, of course, the annulment of obedience to the Englishking. All subsequent constitutions have been closely modeled after thesefirst thirteen. The Federal Constitution provides that all Stateconstitutions must be Republican in form. (For other conditions ofadmission of territories as States, see subject "Territories. ") Themodes of amendment of constitutions differ in different States, but inall, amendment is much easier of accomplishment than in the case of theFederal Constitution. This is shown by the fact that since 1776 therehave been adopted by the States one hundred and five completeconstitutions, and two hundred and fourteen partial amendments; while, since the passage of the first ten Federal amendments in 1789, therehave been but five additional amendments. Some States provide that theconstitution shall be submitted to the people for amendment at the endof certain intervals of time. In the larger number of cases a majorityof the popular vote is required for ratification of a constitutionalamendment. State constitutions show a tendency to become longer, and toregulate a constantly increasing number of subjects. 

 A normal State constitution has the following provisions:

 1. A definition of the State boundaries. 

 2. A bill of rights (guaranteeing private rights, such as freedom of the press and speech, trial by jury in criminal cases, right to assemble and petition, etc. ). 

 3. A frame of government, an enumeration of officers and powers of legislature, executive, courts of justice, etc. 

 4. Miscellaneous provisions, relating to administration of schools, militia, taxation, debts, local government, corporations, amendments, etc. 

_#State Legislatures. #_--The legislature in all States consists of twoHouses, of which the upper and smaller branch is called the Senate, andthe lower and more numerous branch usually the House of Representatives, though in six States it is termed the Assembly, and in three the Houseof Delegates. The members of both houses are elected by popular vote, but Senators usually for a longer time, and frequently higherqualifications for them are required. States are divided into districtsfor election purposes, and, though members of the legislature may offerthemselves for election from any district, it has become the invariablecustom for them to be elected only from the districts in which theyreside. Universal manhood suffrage, that is, the right of all malecitizens over 21 years of age to vote, is the rule, though in eightStates paupers have no vote, and in a few, a certain amount of educationis required (generally enough to read the State constitution). Thenumber of members in the State legislatures varies greatly. In theSenate, Delaware has the smallest number (9), and Illinois the largest(51). In the lower House, Delaware has likewise the smallest number(21), while New Hampshire has the greatest (321). 

The Lieutenant-Governor of the State is _ex officio_ President of theSenate. In all States, except six, sessions of the legislature are heldonly once every other year, and even then the length of the session islimited to a fixed number of days. As in Congress, business is conductedby means of committees, but are in both Houses elected by ballot. TheState legislatures have full charge and control of all localgovernments within their individual States. The Senate has the power oftrying impeachments of State officials. It also ratifies appointments ofthe Governor. In all States, except four, acts of the legislaturerequire the signature of the Governor before they become laws. To pass abill over a veto requires in twenty-three States a two-thirds vote inboth Houses; in two, a three-fifths vote, and in nine, a majority voteof the total number of members. A State legislature can enact no lawwhich will be effective beyond its own boundaries. 

_#State Executive. #_--The chief executive of the State is the Governor. Other chief officials are the Lieutenant-Governor, Treasurer, AttorneyGeneral, Secretary of State, Auditor, and Superintendent of PublicInstruction. The term of office of the Governor varies in differentStates from one to four years. He has but small powers of appointment, most of the State officials being elected by the people. In all but fourStates he has a veto on legislation. He has the power of pardoning. TheLieutenant-Governor is President of the Senate. 

_#State Judiciary. #_--The State judiciary includes three sets of courts:

 1. A Supreme Court of Appeals, the highest court, from which cases involving Federal questions may be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. 

 2. Superior courts of record. 

 3. Various local courts, such as county courts, corporation courts, etc. 

Each State recognizes the judgments of other States, and gives credit totheir public acts and records, and delivers up to justice, on demand ofthe executive, any criminal fleeing from other States into her borders. In most of the States the judges are elected by the people, though ineight they are appointed by the Governor, and in five by thelegislature. The Attorney-General conducts cases in which the State is aparty, and manages other legal business in which the State isinterested. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Local Government. 

In the chapter on Government we learned that the people of the UnitedStates owe allegiance to two systems of government; the one a centralnational government, the other the state governments. We have now tomention a third system of governments, namely, local governments; forcitizens of the United States live, in reality, under three distinctgovernments: first and highest, the National United States Government;second, State governments, and third, local governments. It isconcerning local governments in the United States that we shall learn inthis chapter. 

Just as the whole United States is divided into forty-eight sections, each section being a State or Territory, so each State is in turn, forconvenience in the administration of its government, divided into smalllocal areas, each division managing those affairs which appertain to itsown area. Many of these divisions were not formed by dividing up theStates. The divisions came first, or sprang up naturally within theStates as soon as the colonies were settled. Social governments were thefirst governments formed in the settlement of our Western territory. Dr. Edward Bemis has described the beginnings of government in a new Statein the following interesting manner:

"The genesis of local government in Western hamlets is very simple. First comes the settler who, ax in hand, clears the ground for hishumble dwelling, and plants whatever seed he has brought with him. Thencomes another settler and another until perhaps a dozen families areestablished near. Two wants are now felt: roads, or at least paths fromhouse to house, from hamlet to market town, and a school-house for themultiplying children. There is no strong central authority to providethese things, but the settlers meet and vote to tax themselves. Theservices of a supervisor, collector, clerk, constable and justice of thepeace are required. "[1] This is the beginning of the township andcounty. As population increases, other wants arise which only a strongergovernment can supply. A territorial, and then a State government areconsequently formed. 

[Footnote 1: Local Government in Michigan and the Northwest. _J. H. U. Studies in History and Political Science. _ Vol. I, No. 5, p. 11. ]

The principal duties of local governments are those of education, police, sanitation, charity, the construction and maintenance of publicroads, the administration of justice, the assessment and collection oftaxes, etc. 

There are three types of local government in the United States: First, the New England type, in which the unit of government is the town ortownship; second, the Southern type, in which the unit is the county;and third, the Western system, in which the New England and Southernsystems are combined. 

_#1st. Local Government New England. #_--Here the unit of government isthe township, or town, as it is usually called. There are few townsexceeding five square miles in area, and the population is generallyless than 3, 000. The New England township is therefore not a thicklysettled area. When a town becomes closely settled it is incorporated asa city. 

In the New England towns the people govern themselves directly. In theState and Federal governments the people are governed not by themselves, but through representatives chosen by themselves. The town or townshipform of government is that of a pure democracy; the States and Federalgovernments are representative governments or republics. 

The supreme governing power of a town is in the town meeting, composedof all qualified voters of the town. The town meeting is held in theSpring of each year. After the choice of a Moderator, officers areelected for the ensuing year, reports of officers for the past yearread, and the amount of taxes to be raised and expenditures to be madeduring the year, determined upon. The officers are the Selectmen, three, five, seven or nine in number, who constitute the executive officers ofthe town, and administer the ordinances passed by the town meeting; atown clerk, who keeps a record of the proceedings of the town meeting, and a record of births, deaths, marriages, etc. ; a treasurer, assessorsand collectors of taxes, constables, and various other petty officers. Several offices are frequently given to the same individual. 

The county also exists in New England, and is formed by the union ofseveral towns, but it is of very little importance, and has but fewduties. The township system is found in the Middle States, but in amodified form. It is less democratic as a rule--officers being electedby ballot, the town meeting generally absent, and county government moreimportant. 

_#2d. Local Government in the South. #_--Here the town (township) doesnot exist, except in a few instances. The unit of government forperforming local duties is the county, which is much larger than the NewEngland townships. The county government is managed by a Board of CountyCommissioners. These are elected not in open meeting as are the townofficers, but by ballot. County government is therefore a representativeor republican government. The county, wherever found, is primarily ajudicial district. The chief officer for executing the decrees of thecounty judiciary is the sheriff. Other county officers are thetreasurer, assessor, etc. 

_#Local Government in the West. #_--Here, as before stated, we find the NewEngland and the Southern systems combined, but combined in differentStates in such various degrees as to make impracticable any attempt todescribe them more particularly. [1] In consequence of the grants of landby the Federal Government to Western States for education, local areasfor the administration of these funds have been formed. These are calledschool districts. Local government has tended to center around thesedistricts, and they have in many cases become important administrativedistricts. Their boundaries coincide with the boundaries of thetownships and counties, though a number of school districts may be inone county or township. 

[Footnote 1: More detailed accounts of the various systems of LocalGovernment in the United States may be found in the early numbers of the_Johns Hopkins University Studies_, and also in Professor George E. Howard's _Local Constitutional History_, an extra volume in the sameseries. ]

CHAPTER XVI. 

City Government. 

The proportion of people in the United States who reside in cities isincreasing. In 1790 there were only thirteen cities of 5, 000 inhabitantsand none with 40, 000. Now there are over 500 that have a populationexceeding 5, 000 and 28 with a population of 100, 000. In 1790 33 percent. Of the total population lived in cities of over 8, 000 inhabitants, while to-day over 25 per cent live in cities of this size or over. 

When any small area becomes thickly and permanently settled, and acertain population is reached (which varies in different States), thestate legislature is appealed to, and a charter of incorporation as acity is granted. This enables the incorporated district to actindependently of the county or township, to levy municipal taxes andcarry out public improvements. Rapid as has been the growth of cities, the duties required of city governments have increased still faster. 

The government of our large cities has become a question of vitalimportance. It would be difficult to give a complete list of the dutiesdevolving upon them. The principal duties are (1) the collection ofmunicipal and state taxes, (2) the establishment and care of publicschools, (3) the administration of justice, (4) police supervision, (5)the support of a fire department, (6) the care of the streets, (7) ofstreet gas and electric lighting, (8) of sewerage, (9) of the watersupply, (10) of public parks, (11) of sanitation and public health, (12)of prisons, (13) the supervision of the liquor traffic, (14) theregulation of street railways, (15) the enforcement of buildingregulations, (16) the supervision of charities, hospitals, asylums, etc. 

The form of government of all our large cities is much the same. It issubstantially a reproduction, in form, of the state governments. First, there is a mayor, who is the chief executive, and is elected directly bythe people of the city. His term of office is sometimes only one year, though more often two, three, or four years. In almost all cases he hasa veto on acts of the city legislature, which veto may, however, beoverridden by a two-thirds vote. 

Other subordinate officials are, the treasurer, collector of taxes, chief of police, health officer, etc. They are in part elected by thepeople, in part appointed by the mayor, or appointed by the citylegislature. Practice varies in different cities. 

City legislatures are of one or two houses. The larger cities usuallyhave two houses, and the smaller cities one house. 

The legislature is usually called the City Council, the upper branch theBoard of Aldermen, and the lower and more numerous branch, the CommonCouncil. The members of the city council are elected by the people. Theacts of the council are called ordinances. They are not sufficientlygeneral to merit the designation of laws. 

City judges are usually elected by the people. The administration of thevarious duties of municipal government are generally given to specialboards of officers, as the police department, fire department, etc. Forelection purposes, cities are divided into wards, and the wards intovoting precincts. 

Our methods of municipal government have proved the least successful ofany of our institutions. Corruption and grave abuses exist in almostevery one of the larger cities. Problems connected with city governmentare among the most important questions of our time. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Government Revenue and Expenditure. 

Government is an enormous business enterprise, maintained and operatedby its citizens, that certain duties of a general interest and benefitmay be performed. The magnitude of the work performed necessarilyrequires the expenditure of vast sums of money. The chief source fromwhich these sums are derived is taxation. Taxes have been defined to be"the legally determined and legally collected contributions ofindividuals for meeting the necessary and general expenses of theState. "[1] In the large majority of cases this is a good definition, butin a few instances it is too narrow. There are some taxes that arelevied not primarily for the purpose of raising an income to meet theexpenses of the government, but to subserve some other purpose. Forinstance, the maintenance of our high duties on articles imported intothe United States from foreign countries has for its main purpose theprotection of our industries from European competition. The largerevenues that are derived therefrom are incidental. High liquorlicenses, also, are maintained for the express purpose of lessening theconsumption of intoxicating beverages. 

[Footnote 1: Carl Knies. ]

The aim of every good government is to distribute its burdens oftaxation, as well as its benefits, fairly and equitably among itscitizens. It is the duty of every citizen to assist in the realizationof this aim, by an intelligent, honest and disinterested vote. Equalityof taxation means equality of sacrifice. Each person should contributetowards the support of the government in proportion to his means and thebenefits enjoyed. It is the duty of every citizen, first to see thatjust and expedient tax laws are passed, then to pay his properproportion, and lastly, to see that his neighbors likewise contributetheir share. To obtain an equitable system of government revenue andexpenditure has been the great motive force which, in the past, hasurged the people forward in their efforts to secure popular forms ofgovernment. 

The power to tax is legislative, and, according to our theory, can beexercised only by representatives directly elected by the people. Therefusal of England in the last century to extend this principle of "notaxation without representation" to her colonies in America, lost herthese possessions. A government to be stable and efficient must possessadequate powers for the collection of its revenue. The miserablecondition to which the old Confederation was reduced by reason of theinadequacy of its powers in this respect, has already been discussed. Says Fiske: "Between the old Continental Congress and the governmentunder which we have lived since 1789, the differences were many; but byfar the most essential difference was that the new government couldraise money by taxation, and was thus enabled properly to carry on thework of governing. "[1]

[Footnote 1: _Civil Government_, p. 77. ]

The sources of government revenue other than taxes, are various, anddiffer in different countries. In our consideration of the revenues andexpenditures of our national, state, and local governments we shall haveoccasion to notice the various means by which their treasuries arefilled. 

_#The Federal Government#_ raises its revenues independently of theother governing bodies, from different sources, and by a different setof officials. Besides taxation, the principal source of revenue is fromthe sale of public lands. Federal taxes are of two kinds:

 1. Customs duties. 

 2. Excise or internal revenue duties. 

Of these, much the greater sum is raised from customs duties. For theyear 1889, [1] the total net receipts were $387, 050, 058. Of this$223, 832, 741 was derived from customs, and $130, 894, 434 from theinternal revenue duties. The sale of public lands yielded in that year$8, 038, 651. The miscellaneous revenues amounted to $24, 297, 151. 

[Footnote 1: For fiscal purposes the year begins July 1st. ]

Customs or tariff duties are taxes which have to be paid on a largeclass of goods imported into this country from foreign countries. Thesecharges are collected by Government collectors, stationed in all ourprincipal seaport cities, who inspect all incoming vessels and determinethe amount to be paid, according to the rate determined by Congress. This system constitutes the so-called protective tariff policy of ourcountry. Those commodities not so taxed are said to be on the "freelist. " How much, and on what articles these duties shall be levied, isthe question upon which the Republican and Democratic parties differ;the former favoring high, and the latter low rates, that is to saymerely enough to support the Government, or, as it is termed, "a tarifffor revenue only. "

Internal revenue duties are those taxes collected by the government fromits own citizens upon a small class of articles produced in thiscountry. The chief items of this class are distilled liquors, tobacco, and oleomargarine. In 1889, out of the $130, 894, 434 received frominternal revenue, there was derived from spirits and fermented liquor$98, 036, 041; tobacco, $31, 866, 861; oleomargarine and miscellaneous, $991, 532. These duties are collected by Government collectors stationedin every United States district, who visit the distilleries, collect thetaxes, and see that the law is enforced. In several Southern Statesattempts to evade the law are very frequent and difficult of detection. The expenses of the vast postal system conducted by the FederalGovernment are very nearly defrayed by the charges made for postage, andthe amount received by fees more than equals the expense of the PatentOffice. 

_#The State and Local Taxes#_ are generally, for convenience, collectedat the same time, and by the same officials, but independently of theFederal government. The Constitution of the United States forbids theStates to derive a revenue from duty upon goods imported or exported. The States are, therefore, for the most part, restricted to a direct taxon property for the support of their governments. 

The general method for raising this tax is as follows: The legislatureof the State, having determined what income is needed, apportion thissum among the counties, or, in New England, directly among thetownships, in proportion to the value of the property situated withinthem, or establish a certain percentage tax on all property, to becollected in the same manner. So, similarly, the counties apportionamong the cities and townships within their areas, in proportion to thevalue of their taxable property, not only what they have to pay to theState, but also the sums they have to raise for county purposes. Thuswhen the township or city authorities assess and collect taxes from theindividual citizens, they collect at one and the same time threedistinct taxes--the State tax, the county tax, and the city or townshiptax. Retaining the last for local purposes, they hand on the two formerto the county authorities, who, in turn, retain the county tax, handingon to the State what it requires. Thus trouble and expense are saved inthe process of collection, and the citizen sees on one tax paper allthat he has to pay. The chief tax is the property tax, based on avaluation of property, and generally of all property, real and personal. Of this, by far the greater sum is realized from the tax on realproperty, (land and buildings on it). Cities and other localsubdivisions, as has been stated, are raising their revenues more andmore from the sale, taxation, or operation of such public franchises andrights as street-car lines, gas and waterworks. Those who fix the valueof taxable property and thus determine the amount the owners are to pay, are called assessors. Those collecting taxes are called collectors. Therevenue of the States is seldom large in proportion to the wealth andnumber of the inhabitants, because the chief burden of administration isborne not by the States, but by the Federal government, on the one hand, and the local subdivisions of the States on the other. The total revenueof all the States is barely one-third that of the Federal government. 

_#The Expenditures#_ of all the governing bodies, Federal, State, andlocal, are kept entirely independent of each other. Those of the Federalgovernment are for the benefit of all the States, while those of theother bodies are only for their own individual benefit. The Federalgovernment receives much more than it expends, and has yearly a surpluson hand in the Treasury. The States and local bodies have in the pastexpended more than their revenues, making up their deficiency by loanson their credit. 

The chief objects of Federal expenditure (in addition to the postalsystem already considered and for the most part supported by its ownrevenue) are: 1st, interest on the public debt; 2d, pensions to disabledsoldiers; 3d, for the support of the civil branch of the government;4th, war and naval expenditures. 

Total expenditures for the year 1889 were $299, 288, 988. The chief itemswere:

 1. Interest on the public debt, $41, 000, 484 2. Pensions, 87, 624, 779 3. Civil service, 80, 664, 064 4. War and Navy, 65, 815, 079 5. Indians, 6, 892, 207

Money can be expended by the government only after it has beenappropriated by Congress in its annual appropriation bills. Theappropriation of supplies by Congress is the most important businessthat it transacts. Every year the heads of all the different departmentsframe estimates of the amounts of money needed to support theirdepartments during the following year, which estimates they send to theSecretary of the Treasury, who, after considering and revising them, transmits them to Congress in his "Annual Letter. " This letter isconsidered by the Appropriation Committee, whose duty it is to considerand frame bills for the appropriation of moneys. Though guided by theseestimates, supplies frequently depart widely from them. After beingreported to the House and passed, money bills are sent to the Senate, where they are invariably amended by increasing the appropriations andare returned to the House. A conference committee is then appointed fromthe House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, who, after mutualconcessions, agree upon such appropriations as will be passed by bothhouses. The House then amends the bill as agreed upon, passes it, andsends it to the Senate again, which in turn passes it, and sends it tothe President for his signature. All bills for raising money must, bythe Constitution, originate in the House. Besides the appropriations forthe expenses of government there is annually authorized a largeexpenditure for improvement of rivers and harbors. Many of theexpenditures authorized by these bills are undoubtedly unnecessary, butthey are passed by general consent of the members, each of whom desiresto increase his popularity at home by getting public money spent in hisdistrict. 

The expenses of the State governments are not heavy, and are devoted tobut few objects. The chief expenditures are for:--(1) the salaries ofofficials; (2) judicial expenditures; (3) the State volunteer militia;(4) grants to public schools; (5) public charities and institutions, asprisons, insane asylums, etc. , (6) interest on State debts; (7) internalimprovements and public buildings. 

The methods of appropriations are similar to those employed by theFederal government. 

The expenditures of the local bodies, and particularly cities, are muchlarger, in proportion to their population, than those of the States, andare increasing at a greater rate than the increase of population. Theobjects of expenditure are numerous and very important. The chief onesare: (1) Interest on local debts; (2) maintenance and care of thestreets and roads; (3) lighting of streets; (4) police; (5) salaries ofofficials. 

The following are outlines of the receipts and expenditures of the Stateof Maryland for 1888, and for the City of Baltimore for 1887. Thesefigures are given not because they of themselves possess any especialimportance, but because from them can be obtained an idea of theactivity of a typical State and city. 

_#Maryland. #_[1]--The total receipts from all sources were $2, 542, 130;and there was paid out $2, 016, 060. The chief receipts were from:

 General Taxes, $793, 301 Licenses, 487, 969 Corporation Tax, 73, 553 Railroad Tax, 58, 455 Inheritance Tax, 57, 767 Income from Stocks and Bonds owned, 206, 175 Fees, 17, 585

_#Baltimore. #_[2]--The gross receipts into the treasury for the yearending December 31, 1887, were $8, 446, 439, and were chiefly from thefollowing sources:

 Taxes, $4, 210, 112 Public schools, tuition fees, etc. , 6, 766 Market houses, rent of stalls, 58, 287 Wharfage and rent of wharves, 33, 561 General licenses, 44, 609 Auction duties, 7, 431 Dividends on stock in B. & O. R. R. , 130, 000 Water rents, 745, 446 Passenger railway companies, 132, 167 From the State for public schools, 147, 403 Temporary loan, 1, 510, 000 Receipts to pay interest on loans, 896, 704 Sale of stock, 243, 285

The total disbursements were $8, 403, 930. Of this $4, 541, 357 was spent onaccount of expenses of city government, the following being theprincipal items of expense:

 Interest on the public debt, $915, 987 Expenses of law courts, 118, 906 Expenses of jail, magistrates, &c. , . . 103, 587 Public schools (less amount paid by State), 594, 089 Expenses of poor, 210, 739 Police department, 702, 882 Street-cleaning department, 263, 934 Fire department, 214, 226 Street lighting, 221, 203 Parks, &c. , 52, 080 Salaries, 72, 624 City council, 52, 925

[Footnote 1: Finance Statistics of the American Commonwealths: E. E. Seligman. Publications of Am. Statistical Asso. , Dec. , 1889. ]

[Footnote 2: R. T. Ely, _Taxation in Am. States and Cities_. ]

Nearly all of our State and local governments, as well as the nationalgovernment, have contracted large public debts, the interest paymentsupon which constitute one of the chief items in their lists ofexpenditures. The present debt of the Federal Government is largely theresult of the enormous expenditures occasioned by the Civil War. In1865, August 31, it reached its highest point $2, 381, 530, 294, with anannual interest charge of $150, 977, 697. Since then it has been steadilyreduced until in 1889 the total interest-bearing debt was but$829, 853, 990, with an annual interest charge of $33, 752, 354. Theprincipal of the national debt is mainly in the form of interest-bearingbonds held by the National banks and private individuals. These bondsare of various denominations and are promises of the government to paythe sums named on their face, at the expiration of a certain period. Thebonds at present unpaid, and as such constituting the major portion ofour national debt, are principally of two kinds; those bearing four andone-half per cent, annual interest and falling due in 1891, and thosebearing four per cent, interest and falling due in 1907. 

The debts of most of the States were contracted by ill-advised anduntimely systems of internal improvements. The total state indebtednessJune I, 1890, as shown by the Eleventh Census, was $238, 396, 590, adecrease of slightly over $58, 000, 000 in ten years. The tendency nowseems to be for States to withdraw from the money market as borrowers, and for the county and city governments to take their place. 

The local debts are very large, and have shown a marked increase duringthe last twenty years. They have been for the most part incurred inimprovements and construction of public works, which have in mostinstances well repaid the debts incurred. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Money. [1]

No man by himself produces everything he wants to use, but devotes histime to the production of some few things, and the surplus that he doesnot use, he exchanges for other things made by other men. In rude stagesof society this is done by a direct exchange of one commodity foranother, _e. G. _ so much wheat or corn for a gun or plow. This is a veryimperfect and cumbersome method, which cannot be employed in our presentcomplicated transactions of buying and selling. There thus earlydeveloped the use of money, or the practice of referring the value ofall things to one standard, usually the precious metals: so that, instead of trading 20 bushels of corn for a plow, where it would benecessary to go to the great trouble of finding a man who had a plow, and also wanted your corn, you sell it for so much money, and with thismoney you buy a plow. Money is thus but a medium of exchange and astandard of value. 

In the United States, as in most nations, money has always been made bythe Government, and the Government alone, so that one certain fixedsystem may prevail. For the sake of convenience, money is made ofvarious kinds and denominations, and United States money mayconveniently be regarded under the five following divisions: 1. _#GoldCoin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates. #_--There are six gold coins:(1) the eagle, $10 piece; (2) the double eagle, $20 piece; (3) the halfeagle, $5; (4) the quarter eagle, $2. 50; (5) the $3 piece, and (6) the$1 piece. The three last are but little used. The gold bullion, or goldin bars and blocks uncoined, is for all practical purposes as good asthe coin, and in foreign trade is much used, it being more convenient tohandle. Besides the gold coin and bullion there are in circulation goldcertificates. These are paper, the same in general appearance as theordinary bank-note, and certify that an equivalent amount of gold hasbeen deposited with the Treasurer of the United States, and that theholder of the certificate has the right to obtain the gold for it at anytime. This does not increase the amount of money in circulation, as forevery one issued just so much coin is withdrawn and stowed away in theTreasury. The certificates are used simply for convenience, and in orderto avoid the necessary wear of the coin if in constant use. Thesecertificates are of the denomination of $20. 

2. #_Silver Dollars and Silver Certificates_#. --There is no silverbullion circulating as money, for a silver dollar does not contain adollar's worth of silver, as the gold dollar does of gold, and thesilver bullion is thus of different value (less value), according toweight, than the silver dollar. The silver certificates are similar tothe gold certificates, already described, and certify that an equivalentamount of silver has been deposited in the Treasury. 

3. _#Subsidiary and Minor Coins. #_--All coins of a lower denominationthan $1 belong to one or the other of these two classes. There are threesubsidiary coins, the fifty cent, the twenty-five cent, and the ten centpieces. The three cent piece is no longer coined. All other coins areminor coins. The peculiarity of the subsidiary and minor coins is thatthey are, as compared with the standard coins (gold and silver dollars), of a greater value than the value of the metal they contain. Thesubsidiary coins are legal-tender to the amount of $10, the minor tothe extent of twenty-five cents. By legal-tender is meant that thegovernment has ordered that it must be received in payment of all debtsand articles bought. Gold coin and the silver dollars and certificatesare legal-tender to any amount. 

4. _#Treasury Notes. #_--Under this head are included that form of moneyordinarily known as "greenbacks, " from the color of their backs. Theywere originally issued during the civil war, and are promissory notes onthe part of the government, and as such constitute a portion of the debtof the government. They are paper, which of itself is of no value, andno coin is deposited in the Treasury which they represent, as in thecase of the gold and silver certificates. They thus cost the governmentnothing, and, as they are made legal-tender, and paid out by thegovernment, they were just so much clear gain to it. At first they werenot redeemable, i. E. , exchangeable for coin at the Treasury, but since1879 they are, and are therefore just as valuable now as any other formof money, though formerly worth much less than their face value. Onehundred million dollars in gold is kept on deposit in the Treasury fortheir redemption. 

5. _#Notes of National Banks. #_--This is the one form of money that isnot issued directly by the Federal government, but through the agency ofwhat is called our "National Banking System, " which may be thusdescribed: A national bank can be organized by any number of men, provided the capital stock of the bank is at least $100, 000. One-thirdof the capital must then be invested in government bonds and depositedin the United States Treasury. The bank may then issue notes to theextent of 90 per cent, of such deposit. Such notes are thus amplysecured by the deposits with the government. The government guaranteestheir payment, and so they circulate as well as the certificates issueddirectly by the government. Thus a great deal of the paper money incirculation is issued by the national banks, which must, on demand, beredeemed with coin, and, in case of failure of the banks, are paid bythe government, which reimburses itself from the deposits. A bank-notediffers from a Treasury note in two particulars. The Treasury note or"greenback" is a promise of the government, and is legal-tender inpayment of all private debts; the bank-note is the promise of a privatecompany, and is not legal-tender. A bank-note is said to be paid whenthe bank gives a greenback or coin for it. A greenback is said to bepaid or redeemed when the government gives gold for it. 

The following figures, taken from the report of the Secretary of theTreasury for 1889, give the amounts of the various sorts of moneydescribed in the foregoing, which were then in the Treasury, in thebanks, and in the hands of the people:

 Gold coin and gold bullion, $680, 063, 505 Silver coin and silver bullion, 343, 947, 093 U. S. Treasury notes, 346, 681, 000 National Bank-notes, 211, 378, 963 Subsidiary coins, 76, 601, 836

It will be noticed that gold and silver certificates are not included, for, as explained, they merely represent an equal amount of coin orbullion on deposit. 

The total amount of money is thus approximately $1, 660, 000, 000, which, divided by the total population, gives about $27 per capita. It shouldbe borne in mind in connection with these figures that other devices, such as checks, drafts, bills of exchange, and other forms of credit, are used side by side with money in carrying on trade and serving thesame purposes. 

By the Compromise Silver Bill of July 14, 1890, provision was made for anew kind of paper money. By this act the Secretary of the Treasury wasdirected to purchase, from time to time, silver bullion to the amount of4, 500, 000 ounces each month, and to issue in payment for such purchasesTreasury notes; these notes so issued to be redeemable on demand incoin, and to be a legal tender in payment of all debts, public andprivate, except where otherwise expressly stipulated. 

[Footnote 1: In the preparation of this article, much assistance hasbeen derived from an article by H. C. Adams contributed to the_Chautauquan_. ]

CHAPTER XIX. 

Public Lands of the United States. 

Prior to 1781 but six of the original thirteen States--New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware--hadexactly defined boundaries. The others claimed lands of various extents, stretching to the Mississippi River, or even to the Pacific Ocean. Thetitle to all this land was then in the individual States, and theNational Government, as such, had no land of its own. This question ofthe ownership of the western land was one of the subjects of controversyand discontent between the States. It delayed the adoption of theArticles of Confederation for some time. Those States with little or noland regarded with jealousy their more fortunate neighbors, and wouldnot consent to a union until a settlement or understanding was reached. 

The Articles of Confederation were adopted only after assurance was madethat all the public lands would be ceded to the Federal Government. Thiswas finally done by the States. 

The Government formed under the Constitution succeeded to all this land, and in addition, to further cessions made by the States, the last beingthat of Georgia in 1802. The subsequent additions of territory were madedirectly to the United States, and not to the States, and all land thusgained was held as public land to be disposed of by Congress. 

While the area of the United States is 3, 603, 884 square miles, thepublic domain which has been acquired by cession, purchase, or conquest, to be disposed of by the Government as it desires, has amounted to2, 708, 388 square miles, or about two-thirds of the total area of thecountry. 

The absolute title to this land, as before stated, became vested in theUnited States Government. The disposal of these lands has always beenunder the sole power and control of Congress. 

This land was all thinly populated by Indian tribes, who merely huntedover it, leaving unimproved its natural fertility and vast mineralresources. These tribes, being actual occupants, were recognized to havea sort of half interest in the land. This half ownership was alwaysfirst extinguished by the United States by purchase for small sums, orby the granting of certain privileges, etc. , before it was opened up forsettlement and occupation by the white man. Land is still held, to aconsiderable extent, in this way by the Indians. This right of theIndians can be extinguished only by the United States, as they are notallowed to sell or treat at all with individuals or States or foreignnations. 

Until 1812 the affairs of the public domain were managed by theSecretary of the Treasury. In that year the office of Commissioner ofthe General Land Office was created, which remained a bureau under theTreasury Department until 1846. On the creation of the InteriorDepartment in that year, Indian affairs were transferred to it, and haveremained under the same management until the present time. This bureauhas complete charge of all matters relating to the management anddisposal of the public lands, subject to the direction of Congress. 

Almost every conceivable method of disposing of this land has beenfollowed. The Government has, however, never assumed the position oflandlord and rented the land, except in one case of some mineral land, and this experiment resulted disastrously. Before the land could bedisposed of, it was necessary that it should be surveyed by theGovernment. To do this there was adopted as early as 1776, the so-calledrectangular system, which, with slight changes, has been continueduntil the present time. By this system there are first surveyed a baseand a meridian line, crossing each other at right angles, running northand south and east and west. From these fixed lines the land is surveyedand marked off into rectangles of six miles square, each thus containingthirty-six square miles. This is called a township. This is againdivided up into sections of one square mile each or 640 acres, and thisagain into quarter sections of 160 acres each. In some cases these arestill further subdivided. 

The regulation and disposition of the public lands has been one of thechief duties imposed upon Congress. 

The chief methods by which the public lands have been disposed of are asfollows:

1. _#Educational Grants. #_--Congress from the very first providedliberally for the establishment of common schools through grants ofpublic lands for this purpose. As each township is surveyed one quartersection of 640 acres is set apart for common schools. This has continuedfrom the beginning down to the present time. In addition, large grantshave been made specially for the endowment of universities. Within lateryears land has been given to every State to found State military andagricultural colleges. Up to the year 1888, there had thus been grantedfor educational purposes 77, 448, 192 acres. 

2. _#Land Bounties for Military and Naval Service. #_--There have beengranted by different acts bounties of public land, in the nature ofpensions, to the soldiers and sailors of the United States Army, ontheir honorable discharge, for their service to the Government. Theamount of land thus granted (1880) has been 61, 028, 430 acres. 

3. _#To the States for Internal Improvement. #_--There was granted to theStates during the years from 1828 to 1846, for the improvement ofrivers, building of canals, wagon roads, railroads, etc. , 162, 230, 099acres. 

4. _#Sale of Public Land. #_--Under this head there are two classes ofpublic land--first, that which may be bought for the minimum rate of$1. 25; and, secondly, the alternate sections along the railroads (theother alternate sections being granted to the railroads), the minimumprice of which is $2. 50. There have been sold in all 192, 584, 116 acres, realizing $233, 000, 000. 

5. #_Under the Pre-emption Acts. _#--These acts, passed at various times, provide that where a man, a citizen of the United States, settles uponand cultivates for a certain length of time, a tract of land not greaterthan 160 acres, the United States will give him such tract. 

6. #_Under the Homestead Acts. _#--The homestead laws have created abetter and more certain manner for settlers to acquire land than underthe pre-emption acts. By these acts it is provided that any citizen whowill select either 160 acres of the $1. 25 land, or 80 of the $2. 50 land, can then get a permit from the land office, settle on his land, andacquire a title to it. 

7. _#Under the Timber Culture Act. #_--This act gives to any one theright to 160 acres of the $1. 25 land if he will plant 10 acres intimber, or 80 acres of the $2. 50 land if he will plant 5 acres intimber. 

8. _#Certain Lands to States. #_--Quite a large quantity of the publicland has been given to the States on account of its quality, as swamp oroverflowed land, and for various reasons, to the extent of 158, 417, 514acres. 

9. _#Grants to Pacific and other Railroad Companies. #_--The nature ofthese grants have already been spoken of in another chapter. From 1850to 1872 a total of 150, 504, 994 acres was given for railroadconstruction. 

XX. 

Reconstruction. 

The conclusion of the civil war in 1865 did not relieve the UnitedStates Government of its extraordinary difficulties. There was the wholeSouth, a conquered territory, occupying the anomalous position of adistrict, still within the Union, yet possessing no legal stategovernments. The Confederate government had now been destroyed by theNorth, and the South was thus without a government. Four million slaveshad been liberated, who were uneducated, without money, and living amongpeople hostile to them. Congress had to provide for and protect thesefreedmen in their rights. The work to be done by Congress, was then:--1. To decide upon what terms and upon what conditions the seceded Statesshould be re-admitted into the Union, and to provide for them agovernment until such re-admission. 2. To protect the negro. 

The South, though in the Union, had at this time, of course, norepresentation in Congress, and consequently, the Republicans were ingreat majority. Unfortunately, Johnson, who succeeded to the Presidencyat the death of Lincoln, though a Republican, disagreed with his party, and legislation upon this subject was only secured by passing all actsover his veto by a two-thirds vote. 

After much discussion, the first Reconstruction Bill, "to provide forthe more efficient government of the rebel States, " was passed in 1867, vetoed by the President, and passed over his veto. Its principalprovisions were--1. The insurrectionary States were to be put underUnited States control, and for this purpose divided into five militarydistricts, over each of which the President was to appoint a commandingofficer. 2. The people of the various States might hold a delegateconvention, elected by the citizens who had not been deprived of theright to vote for participation in the rebellion. The convention was toprepare a new constitution, which constitution was to be then submittedto the vote of the people, and when ratified by them and approved byCongress, should go into force, and the State be entitled torepresentation in Congress. Before approval by Congress theconstitutions adopted by the rebel States had to agree in all thefollowing particulars: (1) abolishing slavery; (2) declaring null andvoid all debts created by States in aid of the rebellion; (3) renouncingall right of secession; (4) declaring the ordinance of secession whichthey had passed null and void; (5) giving the right to vote to all malecitizens, without regard to color; (6) prohibiting the passing of anylaw to limit or abridge the rights of any class of citizens. 

In 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted by a sufficient number ofStates, and was declared a part of the Constitution. 

In 1871 all the States were, for the first time since 1861, representedin both houses of Congress. Reconstruction by Congress was thencompleted. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Party Machinery. 

In all the States, counties, cities, and even in the smallersubdivisions of wards, political parties are thoroughly organized, withacknowledged leaders, and under systems of rules or party government. This party government, or "machine, " as it is called, has been createdby no law or constitution, but is one which has been gradually formed bythe voters themselves, and under which they have voluntarily placedthemselves, in order better to succeed in their elections, wellrealizing that the best chance of success is by having all the voters oftheir party united on certain principles embodied in a party platform, and having candidates so nominated that the whole party will recognizethem as their choice. 

The aims of party organization are: First, union, that is, having allvoters united as to candidates and platform; and second, recruiting orthe gaining of new adherents. 

There are at present two opposing political parties, both striving forthe control of the Government. Both have very nearly the same system ofparty government, but their organizations are totally distinct andseparate one from the other. 

There are two distinct parts of party government. They are; first, setsof committees, whose business it is to do all the work of managingelections, such as raising and applying funds for election purposes, organizing meetings, providing speakers, publishing and distributingpolitical tracts and other information, and stirring up enthusiasm byparades and fireworks, etc. They have also the important duty ofcalling together nominating conventions. 

The second part of the "machine" embraces the nominating conventions, which propose the names of the candidates whom their party are tosupport for election. These assemblies are called together by thecommittees periodically, for the purpose of specific nominations, andcease to exist as soon as their work is done. Besides nominatingcandidates, the conventions draw up the platform, which is a statementof party principles, beliefs, and pledges. To provide for theirreassembling next time, they also elect a new committee, for the nextterm; and also send delegates to the next higher convention. Thus arefound committees and a nominating convention, managing not only nationaland state elections, but even arranging and managing elections in thesmaller electoral subdivisions. 

There is a committee and a nominating convention for every city, forevery county, for every district, and for every State. There are, then, throughout the whole United States, such committees, each controllingits own local affairs, but yet all related to each other, thus formingone vast organized system. 

Beginning with the smallest and lowest, let us show their mutualconnections and workings. Starting, then, with the township convention, or convention of a city ward, we find that all the voters of the partyare called together on a certain day by a committee (which was chosen atthe preceding meeting) for the purpose of nominating candidates forlocal affairs, and naming delegates to represent them at the city orcounty convention. The city or county convention, composed of these men, is called together by the city or county committee. It first nominatescandidates for the city or county offices, and selects delegates to thestate convention, and also provides for the next meeting by the electionof a new committee for the ensuing year. In similar manner, just beforeevery state election, the state convention, composed of city and countydelegates, is called together by the state central committee. Here arenominated men for state officers; a new committee is appointed to managestate elections; and also, once every four years, the important duty ofselecting Presidential electors is performed. The Democrats also select, in this state convention, their delegates to the National PresidentialNominating Convention. The Republicans select but four delegates fromeach State in state conventions, the remainder being appointed indistrict conventions. Following the same method the National CentralCommittee calls together a National Convention of all the delegateswhich have been appointed by the State, for the purpose of (1)nominating candidates for their party for President and Vice President;(2) drawing up and accepting a party platform; (3) selecting a newNational Central Committee for the next four years, which committee isto manage the election campaign and call the next National Convention. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

National Conventions and Presidential Campaigns. 

_#History and Development of the National Convention. #_--In thePresidential elections of 1789 and 1792 there was no necessity forregular party nominations, as the whole people were practicallyunanimous in favor of Washington. Likewise in 1796 it was so wellunderstood that Adams was the man desired by the Federalists, andJefferson by the Democrats, that formal nominations were not required. But, commencing with 1800, political parties were more divided in theirchoice, and some method was demanded by which it might be decided onwhom the party should unite. From 1800 to 1820 this demand was met bynominations made by Congressmen, in caucuses, or private meetings, ofthe members of each party. This method finally proved unsatisfactory tothe country, but from 1824-1835 no new and better method was invented, and nominations were made rather irregularly, each State legislatureproposing the name of its favorite. This method of nomination naturallyfailed to unite the voters of the party, in all the different States, onone man, and had to be abandoned. After a failure to revive nominationfor President by Congressional caucuses, a new method was developed andadopted, which was by National Nominating Conventions, such as we haveto-day. The introduction of this last plan may fairly be dated at 1840. National Conventions were first held at Eastern cities, but are now heldfurther West, to accommodate the shifting center of population, Chicagobeing the favorite city. The National Convention is composed ofdelegates from all the States. Each State sends twice as many delegatesas it has representatives in the National Senate and House ofRepresentatives, thus making a total now of 802. In addition to these, the Republicans allow two delegates from each of the Territories. 

_#Method of Procedure. #_--As soon as the State and Territorialdelegations arrive in the city they each elect a member for the newNational Central Committee for the next term. Inside of this committeeis chosen an executive committee, which, in reality, does all the workof conducting the campaign. The members of this committee are almostalways men of wealth, and are expected to contribute liberally to thecampaign fund. 

The business of the National Convention is commenced by the chairman ofthe National Central Committee calling the convention to order. Atemporary chairman is then chosen, who appoints a "committee oncredentials, " whose duty it is to decide which delegation shall beadmitted in case two delegations are sent from the same State, bothclaiming admittance as representing the party in that State. A"committee on resolutions" is also appointed to prepare the partyplatform. The next day the permanent chairman is appointed. The platformis then read and adopted, or amended and adopted. There is next analphabetical roll-call of the States, when names are proposed andseconded for nomination as candidates for President. The average numberof names proposed is seven or eight, though sometimes as many as twelveare offered. As each man is proposed the delegate presenting his nameextols him in a laudatory speech, and gives reasons why his man willmake a strong candidate and an able President. Voting then commences. Each delegate has one vote. In the Republican convention a majority ofthe whole number of the delegates voting for one man is required beforea nomination is reached, while the Democrats require a two-thirds vote. Sometimes a nomination is made on the first ballot, while at othertimes the convention has been so divided that as many as 53 ballots havebeen required, as was the case when the Whigs nominated Scott. Forty-nine ballots were needed when Pierce was nominated by theDemocrats. In 1888 Cleveland was nominated by the Democrats byacclamation, no vote being necessary to show the wishes of thedelegates. Harrison was nominated by the Republicans on the eighthballot. 

A candidate for President having been selected, a Vice President isnominated in a similar manner, though generally with much less trouble, and the work of the convention is ended. 

The candidates are now put before the people by their respectiveparties. The people, of course, do not vote directly for them, but whatamounts to the same thing, vote for electors, who are pledged to votefor them. A vigorous campaign of four months then follows, untilelection day, in the first week in November. 

Each candidate, a short time after his nomination, is expected topublish a letter of acceptance, in which he expresses his fullconfidence and belief in the platform which his party has adopted, discloses his views, and outlines what his future policy will be if heis elected. 

To recapitulate, then, in a few words, let us see how a President isnominated and elected. 

In nominating the President each voter in caucus or primary meetingshares in choosing delegates to the ward convention, which choosesdelegates to the city or county convention, which in turn sendsdelegates to the district conventions. In these, delegates are chosenfor the State conventions, where Presidential electors are appointed, and also the delegates sent to the National Convention. 

In the National Convention, composed of delegates sent from the Stateconventions and Territories, the Presidential candidate is nominated. The electors are elected by the people, who in turn elect the nomineesof their National Convention. If State officers, as Governor, Attorney-General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, etc. , are to beelected, they are nominated in the State conventions and elected by thepeople. 

Besides counties, townships, and cities, States have other subdivisionsfor political purposes. Thus the whole State is divided into senatorialdistricts, each one of which sends one Senator to the State legislature, and also into smaller districts, each one of which sends one member tothe lower house of the State legislature. Usually a senatorial districtis one or more counties, except in the case of large cities, which mayin itself contain two or more senatorial districts. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Introduction to the Study of the History of Political Parties in theUnited States. 

A knowledge of the nature of our federal government, and its relationsto the State Governments, of which it is composed, is a prerequisite toan understanding of the history of our political parties. 

The government of the United States is a federal republic, first formedby the voluntary union of thirteen commonwealths. At present it iscomposed of forty-four united States. It is a government of enumeratedpowers, and in this respect differs radically from the governments ofthe individual States. As all agree, the Federal Government possessesonly those powers specifically granted to it by the constitution. TheStates possess all powers except those granted to the NationalGovernment, and those not prohibited to them by the terms of theconstitution. When the government of the United States desires toexercise a power, it must be proven that it was the intention of theframers of the constitution, and so expressed in that instrument, thatit should possess such a power. The States in the exercise of theirpowers need only show that they have not resigned that power. If therebe any dispute as to the constitutionality of an act of either Congressor a State legislature, the point is decided in the final instance bythe Supreme Court of the United States. 

In the political history of our country since the adoption of theconstitution, there have been ever present two great constitutionalquestions, in the conflicting answers to which we must seek the originand creeds of our great political parties. If we can gain a properconception of the character of these two questions, we shall have takena long step towards the understanding of the reasons for the conduct ofthe various opposing parties, and the basis of the disputes arisingbetween them. These have been the two questions. First, What is theextent of the powers granted by the constitution to the NationalGovernment? Second, What is the real nature of our Union; and, arisingunder this problem, What is the extent to which the States are justifiedin opposing what they believe to be unconstitutional acts on the part ofthe National Government; and, Can a State or States, as a last resort, withdraw from the Union? The remainder of this chapter will be mainlydevoted to a more particular examination of these questions. 

What are the legitimate powers of the United States Government?

The United States government was the result of the union of thirteenindependent colonies--a union voluntary on the part of the colonies, yetforced upon them by the evident need of some central power strong enoughto enforce obedience at home and demand respect abroad. Thedetermination of what and how many the national powers should be, wasthe work of the Constitutional Convention. Of the difficulties of thistask we have already spoken. 

In forming a scheme for a central government, there was the doublenecessity of creating a government strong enough to perform the dutiesfor which it was established, and yet not so strong as to endanger thefree self-government of the States. The delicate point to be adjustedwas to give to the Federal Government only such powers as were necessaryfor the establishment of an effective National Government, and, as faras possible, to retain in the States their full governmental powers; inother words, to harmonize federal strength with State sovereignty. 

The fear exhibited by the States in the debates preceding the adoptionand ratification of the constitution of 1787, that the NationalGovernment might become too strong at the expense of their own powers ofgovernment, was not set at rest by the compromises obtained in theconvention, nor by the eleven amendments adopted soon after theinauguration of the new government. The reason for the continuance ofthis fear is that the constitution is so worded that the powers of thegeneral government are not precisely fixed. 

The statement sometimes loosely made that a description of ourgovernment is contained in the constitution, is apt to be misleading. The constitution has served rather as a foundation upon which to buildthe government, than as an entire framework. As a distinguished writerhas termed it, "The constitution was meant only as a scheme in outline, to be filled up afterwards, and from time to time, by legislation. "

A description of our present form of government is far from beingcontained in the instrument adopted in 1788. For example, theconstitution makes no mention of how business shall be transacted by thelegislature. Committee Government in Congress owes its existence to noprovision of the constitution. The only mention made in the constitutionof the Speaker of the House, to-day the most powerful officer in thelegislature, is where it is provided that "The House of Representativesshall choose their speaker and other officers. " All executivedepartments--the State, War, Navy, Treasury, Post Office, Interior, Justice, Agriculture, and Labor--have been created from time to time byact of Congress. Regarding the structure and number of federal courts, the constitution merely provides that "The judicial power of the UnitedStates shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courtsas Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. " Our elaboratesystem of district, circuit, and territorial courts, rests solely uponcongressional enactments. So, too, the constitution gives to Congressthe control of territories, but does not provide how that control shallbe exercised. 

The framers of our constitution were wise in not attempting to specifymore particularly than they did, the manner in which the several powersgranted to the Federal Government should be exercised. They realizedthat they were forming a scheme that was to endure for many years, andthat if it was to be capable of meeting the needs of a changing andrapidly growing country, it would have to be elastic, and contain withinitself the power of adapting itself to new needs and conditions. Tosecure the beneficial execution of the powers granted, Congress wasgiven the power of selecting appropriate means. To have refused thegrant of this power, would have been to attempt to provide byunchangeable rule for emergencies that could by no possibilities beforeseen. Or, as Chief Justice Marshall has put it, "It would have beento deprive the legislature of the capacity to avail itself ofexperience, to exercise its reason, and to accommodate its legislationto circumstances. "

After enumerating the various particular powers given to the FederalLegislature, the constitution further says (Art. I, Sec. 8) "and [shallhave power] to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper forcarrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powersvested by this constitution in the government of the United States, orin any department or officer thereof. " This is the clause under whoseauthorization all those powers have been assumed, and functionsexercised, that have made the United States government of to-day sodifferent from that of 1789. 

The general rule is, as has been said, that the United States governmentpossesses only those powers granted to it by the constitution. But here, in this clause just quoted, is a general grant of all powers necessaryor proper for carrying into effect any of the powers particularlygranted. Who or what is to decide just what powers are necessary andproper for the accomplishment of this object? Naturally people have notbeen able to agree upon the question of just what powers areconstitutional or expedient as "implied" under this title of "necessaryand proper" and this question has been largely instrumental in dividingthe people in opposing political parties. There has always been a party, the members of which, favoring great powers for the States rather thanfor the Federal Government, have been "strict constructionists, " andhave advocated a close and narrow interpretation of this clause of"implied powers. " From their desire to retain in the State governmentsas many powers as possible, they have been known as the "States' RightsParty. " Opposing them has been the party of "loose constructionists, "the members of which have held to a free, liberal interpretation of theconstitution, and have endeavored to increase the power of the FederalGovernment. There have never been political parties styling themselves"Strict Constructionists" and "Loose Constructionists, " for these areterms that have been used not as titles, but as definitions of differentprinciples of constitutional interpretation. But by whatever name theymay have been known, there have been, during the greater part of ourhistory, these two political parties, the one holding to the principleof strict construction and States' Rights, and the other to that ofloose construction and federal power. 

The second fundamental question spoken of in the beginning of thischapter as underlying national politics, is concerning the nature of ourunion and the rights of state nullification and secession. 

A final answer to these questions cannot of course be here attempted, but that which can be done, is to state in a few words just what theirmeaning is, and the points upon which they have turned. When we come tothe consideration of the course of politics in the United States weshall see the answers that history has given to them. 

The government of the United States is the judge of its own powers, forit is in its own supreme judicial tribunal that the constitutionality ofboth State and Federal laws is finally determined. More than once has apractical answer been demanded to the question What is to be done by aState or States when, in their estimation, the National Government hastranscended its powers and legislated in an unconstitutional manner?Obedience, nullification, or, in the last resort, secession from theUnion, have been the various alternatives that have offered themselvesto the States. Different views of the nature of our Union have sustainedthe propriety of the selection of different ones of these alternatives. 

According to the nullification theory, the constitution is held to be ofthe nature of a compact between the States as one party and the FederalGovernment as the other; and that, as in all contracts, if theagreements contained therein are broken by the one party, the otherparty has the right to refuse its assent thereto. Therefore, if theUnited States government attempts the exercise of powers not granted inthe compact, the States have the right to interpose the "rightfulremedy" of "nullification. " That is to say, that each State has theright to determine for itself when an unwarranted power has been assumedby the general government, and in such a case to declare the obnoxiouslaw null and of no force within her own boundaries. 

In considering the question of nullification, it is necessary todistinguish between the theory or rather method of nullificationpropounded by Madison and Jefferson in the Virginia and KentuckyResolutions, from that of Calhoun brought forward at the time of SouthCarolina's resistance to, and attempted nullification of, the Tarifflaws of 1828, and 1832. In the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions theAlien and Sedition Acts were solemnly declared to be unconstitutional, that the Union was a compact, and the States had the right to interposethe remedy of nullification; but open resistance was not proposed. Bythe Jeffersonian theory, it was proposed to obtain the opinion ofthree-fourths of the States that the acts were unconstitutional, andthus to "nullify" them after the manner of a constitutional amendment. Until such nullification, the laws were to be obeyed. 

The Calhoun doctrine was something entirely different from this. According to his doctrine, any single State might order at once asuspension of the law within her borders, and not until three-fourths ofthe States in national convention had overruled the nullification couldthe State be forced to obey the obnoxious law. To use Calhoun's ownwords, his theory was, that "it belongs to the State, as a member of theUnion, in her sovereign capacity in convention, to determine definitely, as far as her citizens are concerned, the extent of the obligation whichshe has _contracted_; and if, in her opinion, the act exercising thepower in dispute be unconstitutional, to declare it null and void, whichdeclaration would be obligatory on her citizens. " The sum and substanceof this was, as Von Holst has pointed out, [1] to give to one-fourth ofthe States the power if they saw fit to deprive the Federal Governmentof every power entrusted to it, that is, to alter the constitution atwill. 

[Footnote 1: _Constitutional History of the United States_, Vol. I, p. 474, note. ]

The right of secession follows as a logical outcome of the theory ofnullification rigidly carried out. Federal laws are general in theirnature, and if binding anywhere, must be binding everywhere. If then, aminority of States insist on their right of nullification, the federalgovernment will be obliged either to admit that every act of Congress iswithout any force in a State until it has obtained the tacit approval ofthe people of that State, or else it will be driven to the necessity ofobtaining the enforcement of the law by arms. Such employment of forcewould of course be but the prelude to secession. Indeed, South Carolina, in her Ordinance of Nullification, declared that she would secede, ifthe United States did not repeal the obnoxious laws, or if she shouldattempt to enforce the collections of the tariff duties provided for bythe acts in dispute. According to the Unionist view, it is held that inno case has the individual State the right to resist the operation of afederal law, much less does it possess the actual power to pass a lawaffecting its relation to, or continuance in, the Union. This view issupported by an interpretation of the constitution that denies to thatinstrument the character of a compact between the States and theNational Government. The constitutional theory of this school is thatthe National Government was formed _by the people_ as a whole, and notby the States. That the States accepted this government, but were in nosense parties to an agreement between them and the Nation. According tothis view, the Union began with the first acts of resistance taken incommon by the colonies, and is thus, in a sense, older than the stategovernments, which were not formed until after the Declaration ofIndependence. Also, that when the States gave in 1788 their consent tothe constitution, their consent was irrevocable. Two quotations fromdecisions rendered by the Supreme Court of the United States will makeclear the arguments and theory of the Unionists. 

Said Chief Justice Marshall:[1] "The convention which promulgated theconstitution was indeed elected by the state legislatures, but theinstrument when it came from their hands, was a mere proposal, withoutobligations or pretentious to it. It was reported to the then existingCongress of the United States, with a request that it might 'besubmitted to a convention of delegates chosen in each State by thepeople thereof, under recommendation of its legislature for their assentand ratification. ' This mode of proceeding was adopted, and by theconventions, by Congress, and by the state legislatures, the instrumentwas submitted to the people. They acted upon it in the only way in whichthey can act safely, effectually, and wisely on such a subject, byassenting in convention. It is true they assembled in their severalStates, an where could they have assembled? From these conventions theconstitution derives its whole authority. The government proceedsdirectly from the people. The assent of the States in their sovereigncapacity is implied in calling the convention, and thus submitting thatinstrument to the people. But the people were at perfect liberty toaccept or reject it, and their decision was final. It required not theaffirmance of, and could not be negatived by, the state governments. Theconstitution when adopted was of complete obligation, and bound thestate sovereignties. The government of the Union then, is emphaticallyand truly a government of the people. In form and in substance itemanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to beexercised directly on them, and for their benefit. "

[Footnote 1: _McCulloch_ v. _Md. _, 4 Dall. , 316. ]

Said Chief Justice Chase:[1] "The union of the States never was a purelyartificial and arbitrary relation. It began among the colonies, and grewout of common origin, mutual sympathies, kindred principles, andgeographical relations. It was confirmed and strengthened by thenecessities of war, and received definite form and character andsanction from the articles of Confederation. By these the union wassolemnly declared to 'be perpetual. ' And when the articles were found tobe inadequate to the exigencies of the country, the constitution wasordained 'to form a more perfect union. ' It is difficult to convey theidea of indissoluble unity more clearly than by these words. What can bemore indissoluble if a perpetual union made more perfect, is not? Butthe perpetuity and indissolubility of the union, by no means implies theloss of distinct and individual existence, or of the right ofself-government by the States.... Without the States in Union, therecould be no such political body as the United States. Not only, therefore, can there be no loss of separate and independent autonomy tothe States, through their union under the constitution, but it may benot unreasonably said that the preservation of the States, and themaintenance of their governments are as much within the design and careof the constitution, as the preservation of the Union and themaintenance of the National Government. The constitution in all itsprovisions looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructibleStates. "

[Footnote 1: _Texas_ v. _White_, 7 Wall. , 750. ]

A civil war of four years' duration has decided the Unionist theory ofour government to be the one under which the Nation is to be governed. Whether or not, in point of fact, the Nation was older than the States, and the constitution not a compact, but an indissoluble Union, willalways remain a question to be discussed. The dispute turns upon a pointthat does not admit of final determination. We can only theorize. Tomaintain the view that the Union is older than the States it isnecessary to show that the Continental Congress was of such a character, and its powers of such a nature, that a true national government may besaid to have existed before July 4, 1776, and therefore, that theDeclaration of Independence and the consequent transformation of thecolonies into States were not the result of the individual action ofseparate colonies, but of the whole people united in a nation. And, following from this, that the States were never out of the union, butthat the individual colonies became States, only as belonging to theUnited States. Consequently that the theory of a 'compact' between theStates and the United States is untenable, for at the time the UnitedStates was born, the States did not exist. [1]

[Footnote 1: As Lincoln expressed it in his message of July 4, 1861:"The States have their _status_ in the Union, and they have no otherlegal status.... The Union is older than any of the States, and in fact, it created them as States. "]

To maintain the "Compact Theory" it is necessary to show that the"Continental Congress" had no properly delegated national powers, andto it the character of a national government could not fitly be applied, and that the colonies when they separated from England remainedindependent of each other, because as colonies they had beenindependent. Therefore, that the initial clause of the Preamble to theConstitution "We the people of the United States" referred not to allthe people of the United States in their collective capacity, but to thepeople of the several States. 

In fine, admitting, as all do, the Continental Congress to have been arevolutionary body, exercising undelegated powers, the question is, Wasit, or was it not, a _de jure_, as well as _de facto_ nationalgovernment, and this is a question that cannot be answered absolutely. 

These opposing views of the character of our constitution have beenstated not with the idea of proving either of them to be the correctone, but solely to indicate the lines along which political parties havefought their battles. Thus, it is hoped, the student will be preparedfor an intelligent consideration of the various political parties thathave existed in the course of his country's history. 

To complete the statement of the underlying causes and fundamentalprinciples that have directed the course of our national politics, it isnecessary to give at least some short account of the natural causes thathave operated irresistibly to divide the North and the South in theirpolitical thoughts and actions. 

Why is it that slavery flourished in the South, but languished and wasgradually abolished in the North? Why is it that the stronghold of theStates' Rights doctrine of nullification and of secession was in theSouth, and the citadel of the Unionists in the North? Why is it thatto-day the debate between high and low customs duties, is, to a veryconsiderable extent, a discussion between the New England and MiddleStates and the Southern States?

To all these questions a very satisfactory answer can be found in thedifferent physical characteristics of the North and South. The natureof the soil and climate, as well as the character of the settlers, predetermined for the Southern colonies an agricultural character, andfor the colonies of the North a commercial and industrial character;and, already by the end of the eighteenth century we find in them amarked difference of political and social life. 

From the very start, the South, favored by a mild climate, rich soil, and broad, low-lying valleys, developed an agricultural life. Slaverywas introduced at an early date, and flourished, the warm climate beingcongenial to the negro, and the rude manual labor of the field suited tohis meagre capabilities. The result of these influences was to developin the South a system of large ill-worked manors or estates. Thepredominance of slave labor, discouraged the immigration of free labor, and the South remained comparatively thinly settled. The moral effect ofslavery upon the white population was bad. Habits of thriftlessness andlaziness were engendered among the free population, and their socialrelations corrupted. 

In the North, an indented coast with many good harbors, a rugged soil, and a wintry climate, encouraged the development of a commercial andmanufacturing life. Slave labor here proved itself scarcely profitable, neither the climate nor the nature of the work required, being suited tothe frames and abilities of the African. As compared with the South, theNorth soon became thickly settled, and largely as a result of this, adopted the small area of the town or township as its most importantunit of local government, instead of the larger area, the county, usedin the South. This essential difference in the system of localgovernment in the North, from that of the South, has remained unchangedto this day, and has exercised great influence upon the political habitsof the peoples of these two sections. 

At the time of the adoption of the constitution, these differencesbetween the northern and southern colonies were not so great as theywere soon to become. As contrasted with the North, the agriculturalcharacter of the South was already marked, but the designation of thesetwo sections as "free" and "slave" states had not yet come into use. Itwas the remarkable development of the cultivation of cotton consequentupon the invention of Whitney's cotton gin in 1793, that gave thetremendous impetus to the increase of slavery in the South. While priorto the introduction of this machine, scarcely a single pound of cottoncould be separated from the seed by a man in a day, Whitney's gin madeit possible to prepare for market three hundred and fifty pounds perday. The nature of the cotton plant rendered it peculiarly fitted to theclimate and soil of the South, and the ease with which it could becultivated and prepared for market, made the application of slave laborextremely profitable. In 1789 many of the southern states exhibitedevidences of a desire and intention to ultimately abolish slavery, butfrom this time we hear nothing more of this. After 1800 the number ofslaves increased rapidly. The census of 1790 showed in the southerncolonies 650, 000, while that of 1820 showed the number to be over1, 580, 000. From 1800 to 1865 the political life of the South is largelyexplainable by the interest of its people in, and devotion to, theinstitution of slavery. 

The promptness with which, irrespective of party affiliations, thepeople of the North assumed the anti-slavery attitude and those of theSouth placed themselves under the pro-slavery banner, at the time of theMissouri contest in 1820, shows the extent to which these two sectionsof the United States were already divided upon this great question. TheSouth, retarded in its growth by the employment of slave labor, ascompared with the North already exhibited an example of arresteddevelopment, and her politicians saw that if the balance of powerbetween the slave-holding and the non-slave-holding States was to bemaintained, a wider field for the extension of their favoriteinstitution would have to be provided. It is in the light of this motivethat the desire of the South for the annexation of Cuba and of Texas, even at the expense of a war with Mexico, is to be interpreted. Thecompromise of 1820 satisfied the demands of the slavocracy for a time, but only for a time. In 1850 the South again demanded, and obtainedconcessions. It required a civil war to demonstrate to us the futilityof endeavoring to avert by compromise the conflict that wasirrepressible between the North and South so long as slavery existed inthe one, and was reprobated in the other. 

The different attitudes assumed at the present day by the North andSouth in regard to the Tariff question, is explainable by the differencein the industrial life of these two sections. The North is essentially amanufacturing centre, and, as such, demands high import duties as aprotection to her manufacturers and merchants. The South is, as a whole, agricultural, and favors low duties with the idea of thus extendingforeign trade, and affording a larger market for the sale of her rawproducts. A striking proof of the influence of the industrial life of asection in determining its attitude towards the tariff, is seen in thechange of front of Massachusetts after 1824 from free-trade toprotection, this change being wholly due to the predominating influenceacquired by her manufactures over her commerce and agriculture. 

FINIS. 

NOTES. 

For the assistance of those who may desire a fuller acquaintance withthe administrative methods of our Federal and State Governments than isto be obtained from this book, these bibliographical notes are appended. Not only the authorities actually consulted in the preparation of thismonograph are given, but mention is also made of the most reliable andaccessible sources of information upon the more important topics germaneto the study of Government and Administration. In arrangement, the notesfollow the order of topics used in the text. 

General Works upon United States Government. 

Worthy of first mention is the admirable work of James Bryce, _TheAmerican Commonwealth_, 2 vols. , 1888. To the student of Americaninstitutions and administration these two volumes are indispensable. Inthem is contained the best and latest scientific exposition of ourpolitical institutions as they exist to-day. The only criticism that canbe made regarding the work is that the executive departments have notreceived sufficient attention as regards the details of theiradministration, nor the practical and scientific value of the workperformed by their numerous bureaus. Interesting from an historicalpoint of view is De Tocqueville's _Democracy in America_, now fiftyyears old. Lalor's _Encyclopaedia of Political Science, PoliticalEconomy and American History_ is by far the best work for reference. Theprincipal articles in the field of political science are contributed byDr. J. C. Bluntschli, those upon United States History by the late Prof. Alexander Johnston, and those upon Federal Administration by A. R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress. 

Bannatyne's _Hand-book of Republican Institutions in the United States_is an authoritative work based upon federal and state laws, and otherauthoritative sources of information. It is entirely descriptive andvery complete. Other general works are Mulford's _The Nation: theFoundation of Civil Order and Political Life in the United States_;Laboulaye's _Histoire Politique des Etats-Unis, _ 3 vols. ; and Lamphere's_The United States Government: Its Organization and Practical Workings_, this last being chiefly valuable for its statistical and tabulatedinformation. 

Among foreign works that consider the theory and practice of the UnitedStates Government, are Bagehot's _English Constitution_; Sir HenryMaine's chapter on the _Constitution of the United States_ in his_Popular Government_; E. A. Freeman's article _Presidential Government_contained in his _Historical Essays_ (1871); Lord Brougham's chapter onthe _Government of the United States_ in his _Political Philosophy_, Vol. 3; and E. Boutmy's _Etudes de droit Constitutionel. _ For currentpolitical information McPherson's _Hand-book of Politics_, issued everytwo years since 1870, is valuable. Besides statistical informationregarding government revenues and expenditures, public debts, votes, population, names of congressmen, &c. ; these hand-books containPresidential and Gubernatorial messages, transcripts from the_Congressional Record_ relating to leading matters discussed inCongress; and decisions of the Supreme Court that are of generalimportance. _The Statesman's Year-Book_, published annually by Macmillan& Co. , is valuable for reference in matters concerning both foreign andAmerican governments. Bibliographical references are also given to eachexisting government. 

John Fiske's recent volume on _Civil Government in the United States_, stands in merit far above other manuals bearing this name, most of whichare simply running commentaries on the constitution. An excellentfeature of Mr. Fiske's book is the addition of bibliographical notes atthe ends of the chapters. 

The following are manuals that may be recommended as of comparativemerit: Macy, _Our Government: How it Grew, What it Does, and How it Doesit_; Cocker's _Civil Government_; Thorpe's _Government of the People ofthe United States_; Martin's _Civil Government_, and Ford's _AmericanCitizens' Manual_. 

The most complete collection of bibliographical references to theConstitution of the United States is that prepared by W. E. Foster, andpublished as _Economic Tract_ No. Xxix, by the "Society for PoliticalEducation, " New York. 

Government. 

Dr. J. C. Bluntschli's _Lehre vom Modernen Stat_, in three volumes, givesthe finest treatment of the various forms and general principles ofgovernments. A portion of Dr. Bluntschli's work has been translated intoEnglish and published under the title _The Theory of the State_. Thereis also a French translation of this work. Other authorities under thishead are: Bluntschli's _Staatswörterbuch_; Woolsey's _Political Science, or the State Theoretically and Practically Considered_; andMontesquieu's _De l'Esprit des Lois_. Interesting from an historicalpoint of view, are the theories contained in the works of politicalphilosophers in the past. See Plato's _Republic_; Aristotle's_Politics_, Cicero's _De Republica_; Thomas Aquinas' _Of the Governmentof Principles;_ Dante's _De Monarchia_; Machiavelli's _Prince_; JeanBodin's _Of the Commonwealth_; Hobbes' _Leviathan_; Filmer's_Patriarcha_; Hooker's _Ecclesiastical Polity_; Locke's _CivilGovernment_; J. J. Rousseau's _Social Contract_; Bentham's _Fragment onGovernment_; J. S. Mills' _Representative Government_. 

Pollock's _History of the Science of Politics_, published in the"Humboldt Library, " contains an admirable summary of the views of thesepolitical philosophers. 

The works of several of these authors (Hobbes, Hooker, Locke, Filmer, Machiavelli) are contained in "Morley's Universal Library, " published byRoutledge at one shilling per volume. 

For theories regarding the origin and development of government, seeMaine's _Ancient Law, Early History of Institutions_, and _Early Law andCustom_; Spencer's _Principles of Sociology_, Vol. I; Morgan's _AncientSociety_; McLennan's _Studies in Ancient History_, and _The PatriarchalTheory_; and Bagehot's _Physics and Politics_, published in the HumboltLibrary. The contract theory of government is presented in various formsin the works of Hobbes, Hooker, Locke and Rousseau. 

Functions of Government. 

The proper limits of state action are discussed in Mill's _Essay onLiberty_; Huxley's _Administrative Nihilism_ (Humboldt Lib. ); Spencer's_Social Statics, Man versus the State, The Coming Slavery_, and _TheSins of Legislators_ (Humboldt Lib. ); Stephen's _Liberty, Equality, Fraternity_; Humboldt's _Sphere and Duties of Government_; and H. C. Adams' _State in Relation to Industrial Action_, published by theAmerican Economic Association. Wilson's _The State_ contains a valuablechapter upon the functions of government. For a description of existingforms of government, Prof. Woodrow Wilson's _The State_ is veryvaluable. See also _Statesmen's Year Books_. 

Colonial Governments. 

Volumes III, IV, and V of Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History ofAmerica_, 8 vols. , contain excellent monographs upon the founding, history and nature of government of the various colonies. Doyle's twovolumes, entitled _The English Colonies in America_, present anexhaustive study of the American colonies from an European point ofview. A handy digest of this work is contained in his small _History ofthe United States_, published as one of the volumes in "Freeman'sHistorical Course for Schools. " Lodge's _Short History of the EnglishColonies in America_ is chiefly devoted to colonial social life. In thepreparation of the chapter upon Colonial Governments, we have obtainedthe most assistance from the first volume of Story's _Commentaries uponthe Constitution_. Pages 15 to 50 of Hannis Taylor's _Origin and Growthof the English Constitution_ are important. Fiske's _Beginnings of NewEngland_ is an extremely interesting description of the early history ofa single section. Steps Toward Union and Independence. 

See especially Story's _Commentaries_; Frothingham's _Rise of theRepublic of the United States_; Scott's _Development of ConstitutionalLiberty in the English Colonies in America_; Fiske's _Critical Period ofAmerican History_; and A. B. Hart's _Formation of the Union_, 1763-1829, to appear in the series, "Epochs of American History. " For the Albanyplan of union see Franklin's _Life and Letters_, Vol. 4. For an accountof the causes leading to revolution written from an essentially Englishstandpoint, see Lecky's _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_, Vol. IV. 

Articles of Confederation. 

Best upon this subject are: Curtis' _History of the Constitution_;Marshall's _Life of Washington_; Bancroft's _History of the UnitedStates_; and Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History of America_, Vol. VII, article _The Confederation_ by the Editor. See also _SecretJournals of Congress_, and authorities cited above. 

Constitutional Convention and the Adoption of the Constitution. 

See authorities cited above, and J. A. Jameson's _Treatise onConstitutional Conventions_. The official sources of information are:the meagre _Journal, Acts, and Proceedings of the Convention_; andElliot's _Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption ofthe Federal Constitution_, * * * * _together with the Journal of theFederal Convention_, the last volume of which contains Madison's notesof _Debates in the Federal Convention_, frequently called _The MadisonPapers_. 

The Constitution. 

The number of valuable works concerned more or less directly with astudy of the Constitution is very great. Only a very few can bementioned. A very complete list of references to the Constitution, isthat by W. E. Foster, already referred to. The leading works uponConstitutional Law are Cooley's _General Principles of ConstitutionalLaw_, and _Constitutional Limitations_; Von Holst's, Hare's andPomeroy's treatises on Constitutional Law. Story's _Commentaries on theConstitution_ are invaluable. The character and value of _TheFederalist_ have been noticed in the text (p. 25). On ConstitutionalAmendments, see Johnston's article on _Amendments_ in Lalor's_Encyclopaedia_. Concerning Constitutional developments, due to judicialconstruction, see Willoughby's _Supreme Court of the United States: itsHistory and Influence in our Constitutional System_, published in theJohns Hopkins Studies, Extra Vol. VII; and _The Constitutional Historyof the United States as Seen in the Development of American Law_, byJudge Cooley and others, edited by H. W. Rogers. _The UnwrittenConstitution of the United States, _ is the title of a very recent bookby C. G. Tiedeman. 

For constitutional development due to war experiences, see Dunning's_United States in Civil War and in Reconstruction_. W. E. Foster has inpress a pamphlet of references on _The United States Constitution inCivil War_. 

On Federal Government, see Jellinek's _Die Lehre von denStaatenverbindungen_; and Hart's _Introduction to the Study of FederalGovernment_, Harvard Historical Monographs, No. 2. Besides giving anoutline of the political history of the successive federations in theworld's history, with an account of the literature upon each, Mr. Hart'smonograph contains a very excellent bibliographical note on FederalGovernment in general, and the United States Constitution in particular. 

The laws of the United States are known as _United States Statutes atLarge_. In 1878 was published a large volume containing all Federal lawsin force in 1874. In 1881 was published a Supplement (known as_Richardson's Supplement_) containing congressional legislation duringthe years 1874--1881. 

Congressional Government. 

The official reports of the debates of Congress have been publishedunder the following titles: _Annals of Congress_ (1789--1823), _Congressional Debates_ (1824-1837), _Congressional Globe_ (1833-1873), _Congressional Record_ (1873 to the present time). Benton's _Abridgmentof Debates_ in 16 volumes covers the period 1789 to 1850. 

McPherson's _Handbook of Politics_, already cited, contains accounts ofthe more important debates in Congress. Printed copies of bills andreports of committees can be obtained upon application. For the bestdescriptions of the practical working of Congress, see Bryce's _AmericanCommonwealth_, and Woodrow Wilson's _Congressional Government_. In bothof these works our committee method of congressional legislation iscompared with the English method of Parliamentary legislation under theleadership of a responsible ministry. The conclusions obtained from thiscomparison by the latter author, are especially unfavorable to theUnited States. Other references to works comparing English and Americanmethods of legislation, are Snow's _Defence of CongressionalGovernment_, published in the papers of the American HistoricalAssociation, Vol. IV; A. L. Lowell's _Essays on Government_; Bagehot's_English Constitution_; Bourinot's article, _Canada and the UnitedStates, Scottish Review_, July, 1890, and Annals of the American Academyof Social Science, No. I; and an article by Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, _Shall We Americanize Our Institutions?_ Nineteenth Century, December, 1890. _The Congressional Directory_, published annually, contains muchhandy information regarding the constitution and officers of Congress, and of the various federal departments at Washington. For an account ofthe work done during the last session (1889-90), see _North AmericanReview_, November, 1890. Regarding the recent controversy on the powerof the Speaker of the House of Representatives to count as presentmembers in the hall, but not answering to the roll-call, see the _NorthAmerican Review_ for October, 1889; the Nos. For March, May, July, August and October, 1890, also contain interesting articles on the samesubject. 

Executive Departments. 

Of especial and authoritative value is the report of a select committeeof the Senate to _Enquire into and Examine the Methods of Business andWork in the Executive Departments_, in 3 vols. , known as Cockrell'sReport, or Senate Report 507, 50th Cong. , 1st Sess. , and also asupplementary report in one volume, dated March 28, 1889. For otherofficial sources of information, see the annual reports of the variousdepartments, and of the individual bureaus. See also special reportsmentioned in the text. On diplomatic relations, see the annual report ofthe Secretary of State _On Foreign Relations_, and _Treaties andConventions between the United States and Other Powers_ (1776-1887), published by the same department. The _Consular Reports_, issued fromtime to time by the State Department, are of value as furnishingeconomic information regarding foreign countries. The reports of theSecretary of the Treasury are of extreme statistical and financialvalue. For handy use the _Statistical Abstract_ is issued annually bythe Treasury Department. The reports published by the Department ofState, of the _International Conferences of 1878_, and of _1881_, andthat of Edward Atkinson on _The Present Status of Bimetalism in Europe_(1887), are of especial value upon monetary topics. In 1886 the TreasuryDepartment issued a volume of _Laws Relating to Loans, and the Currency, Coinage and Banking_. Besides his annual report the Director of the Mintpublishes annually a report on the _Production of Gold and Silver in theUnited States_. For an account of the Sub-Treasury system, see Bolle's_Financial History of the United States_. Concerning the evils of thissystem, see an article by Prof. J. L. Laughlin in the _North AmericanReview_, Vol. 137, p. 552. 

Regarding the Silver Question and other important public questionscoming within the province of the Treasury Department, information canbe derived from recent periodicals. Poole's _Index to PeriodicalLiterature_ should also be consulted. An interesting account of thePension Office is contained in the _Atlantic Monthly_, January, 1890. Regarding the Interstate Commerce Commission, see the book by Don Passesin Putnam's "Questions of the Day" series. See also Political ScienceQuarterly, Vol. II, pp. 223 and 369. 

The Eleventh Census is now being compiled, and Bulletins are issued fromtime to time by the superintendent. Postmaster-General Wanamaker hasrecently issued a pamphlet in support of a _Limited Post and Telegraph_. 

Concerning the constitutional powers possessed by executive officers, see A. Conkling's _Powers of the Executive Departments_; de Chambrun's_The Executive Power, _ and chapter VII of Willoughby's _Supreme Court ofthe United States_. The _Official Register of the United States_, issuedannually in two large volumes, contains the names and positions of allpersons in federal employment. The second volume is devoted exclusivelyto the Postal Service. Very many of the government reports mentioned inthis note will be sent to any address upon application. 

_A descriptive catalogue of all government publications_ arranged inchronological order, from 1774 to 1881, was prepared by B. P. Poore andpublished by the government. 

Federal Judiciary. 

Among the treatises upon the practical working of the Federal Judiciaryare: B. R. Curtis' _Federal Courts_; Bryce's _American Commonwealth_; andWilloughby's _Supreme Court of the United States_, already referred to. For an excellent description of the relations between the Federal andState courts, see Chamberlain's lecture published in _The ConstitutionalHistory of the United States as seen in the Development of its Law_. Thereports of decisions of cases tried in the Supreme Court are containedin one hundred and thirty-three volumes. Until 1875, these volumes wereknown by the names of the reporters, viz. : Dallas, Cranch, Wheaton, Peters, Howard, Black, and Wallace. Since 1875 they have been designatedsimply as _United States Reports_. 

Ordinance of 1787. 

For text and comments see _Old South Leaflet_ No 13 (Heath & Co. , pricefive cents). For _The United States Constitution and the Ordinance of_1787 _in Relation to Education_, see Magazine of American History, September, 1888. See also Papers of the American Historical Association, Vol. III; pamphlets by Dr. Poole and F. D. Stone, and Sato's _History ofthe Land Question in the United States_, Johns Hopkins UniversityStudies, Series IV. 

Territories. 

The reports of the Governors of the various territories to the Secretaryof the Interior furnish an official source of information. Regarding thegovernment of, and conditions of admission of territories as States, seeespecially Bannatyne's _Republican Institutions in the United States_. 

State Governments. 

For the text of State constitutions see B. P. Poore's _Federal and StateConstitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Lows of the UnitedStates_, in two vols. (1877), published by the government. For furtherinformation regarding State constitutions consult Davis' _AmericanConstitutions_, in the Johns Hopkins University Studies, Series III;Jameson's _Introduction to the Constitutional and Political History ofthe States_, Johns Hopkins University Studies, Series IV; andHitchcock's _American State Constitutions_ (Putnam's "Questions of theDay" series). See also of course Bryce's _American Commonwealth_. For_Recent Tendencies in State Activities_, see paper by W. F. Willoughby, to be published in the "Papers of the American Historical Association, "Vol. V. , and articles by Dr. Albert Shaw, entitled _American StateLegislatures_, in Contemporary Review, October, 1889, and _The AmericanState and the American Man_, in the same review for May, 1887. The_Forum_ for November, 1890, contains an interesting description of the_Six New States_, by Senator Cullom. For histories of the individualStates, see the series of "American Commonwealths, " edited by H. E. Scudder, and published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Those for Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas, California, Maryland, Kentucky, NewYork, Ohio, Colorado, Oregon, and Virginia, have already appeared. 

Local Government. 

Among authorities on Local Government are various monographs upon thissubject in the several States, contributed to the _Johns HopkinsUniversity Studies in Historical and Political Science_. See also Bryceand Bannatyne. 

City Government. 

See J. H. U. _Studies_, Vol. IV, Nos. 4, 10; Vol. V, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4; Vol. VII, Nos. 1, 3, 4. Also supplementary volume, _Philadelphia, 1681-1887:a History of Municipal Development_, by Allinson and Penrose. SimonSterne has an able article on "Cities" in Lalor's _Encyclopaedia_. Seealso chapters in Bryce's great work, and articles in the PoliticalScience Quarterly for June, 1887, and June, 1889; Forum, Vol. II, pp. 260, 539; and Quarterly Journal of Economics, January, 1890. 

The report of the New York Commission on "_A Plan for a New Governmentof New York_, " 1876, is valuable, as are also several of ex-MayorHewitt's messages. Prof. Gniest has a suggestive article on Berlin, thebest governed city in the world, in the _Contemporary Review_, Vol. 46. Shaw's article on Glasgow in the Century, March, 1890, is likewiseinstructive. Spofford's _City of Washington and Growth of United StatesCities_ is interesting. Ely's _Taxation in American States and Cities_contains many excellent suggestions for improvements in our methods ofmunicipal administration. See also Ely's _Problems of To-day_. Putnam ispublishing a series entitled _Great Cities of the Republic_. The Storiesof New York, Boston and Washington have thus far appeared. 

Government Revenue and Expenditure. 

Federal and State finance reports furnish official information. Seligman's _Finances of American States and Cities_, published by theAmerican Statistical Association, 1890, is valuable, and furnishesexcellent statistical and tabulated information. Ely's _Taxation inAmerican States and Cities_ contains much information. Spofford'sarticle on _The Budget_ in Lalor's _Encyclopaedia_ is extremelyinstructive. H. C. Adams' _Public Debts_ is one of the ablest financialworks in the English language. The proper administration of Federal andState finances is discussed, and the subject of national and local debtsconsidered. Bolle's _Financial History of the United States_, in threelarge volumes, is an able work, and can be consulted with profit. 

Census Bulletins, Nos. 6 and 7, describe respectively _The Indebtednessof States in 1880 and 1890_, and _The Financial Condition of Counties_. 

Money. 

See reports of the Director of the Mint, and of the Comptroller of theCurrency. See also Knox's _United States Notes_; Simmer's _History ofAmerican Currency_, and text-books on _Political Economy_. 

Public Lands of the United States. 

Sato's _History of the Land Question in the United States_, JohnsHopkins University Studies, Series IV, is the best book for reference. The official source of information regarding the public lands isDonaldson's enormous report of 1341 pages on _The Public Domain: itsHistory with Statistics_ (1884), published by the government (HouseExecutive Documents 47, Part 4, 46th Congress, 3d Session. ) For a shortaccount of _The Disposition of Our Public Lands_, see an article by A. B. Hart, in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, January, 1887. Statisticaltables are appended to this article. 

Reconstruction. 

See Johnston's article in Lalor's _Encyclopaedia_, and authorities therecited. Also McPherson's _History of Reconstruction_, Dunning's _UnitedStales Constitution in Civil War and in Reconstruction_, and W. E. Foster's _References on the United States Constitution in Civil War_, about to be published (1891). 

Party Machinery and National Conventions. 

See especially Bryce's _American Commonwealth_, and Ostrogorski's_Organisation des parties politiques aux Etats-Unis_. On the Caucus seeWhitridge's _The Caucus System_, published as "Economic Tract" No. 8, bythe Society for Political Education, New York. 

Political Parties. 

Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History of America_ contains a shorthistory of political parties by Professor Alexander Johnston. See alsoJohnston's admirable manual, _History of American Politics_, a bookespecially adapted for school use. Von Holst's _Constitutional andPolitical History of the United States_, six volumes, contains the mostcomprehensive treatment of the history of political parties. Schouler's_History of the United States under the Constitution_, is an exceedinglyable and interesting work. Four volumes bring this history down to 1847. The fifth volume soon to appear, will bring the narrative down to theCivil War. 

The first volume of Von Holst is especially interesting, as givingstatements of the various theories held regarding the origin and natureof our constitution. Upon Nullification and Secession, see Von Holst's_Life of Calhoun_; Stephens' _War between the States_; Greeley's_American Conflict_; McPherson's _Political History of the Rebellion_;and articles in Lalor's _Encyclopaedia_. The _American StatesmanSeries_, now being published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. , containsvaluable biographies of leading American statesmen. See especially inthis series Schurz's _Henry Clay_; Morse's _Jefferson_; Lodge's_Webster_; and Von Holst's _Calhoun_. Upon the Economic contrastsbetween the North and South, see Von Holst's Constitutional History, Vol. I, Chapters IX and X. Taussig's _History of the Tariff_, gives thebest history of this much debated subject.