A School History of the United States Part 58

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his a.s.sent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a mult.i.tude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to hara.s.s our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.

He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our const.i.tution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his a.s.sent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:

[Transcriber's note: This is an excerpt. Please see Project Gutenberg's complete text.]

CONSt.i.tUTION OF THE UNITED STATES--1787[1]

[Footnote 1: This reprint of the Const.i.tution exactly follows the text of that in the Department of State in Washington, save in the spelling of a few words.]

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Const.i.tution for the United States of America.

ARTICLE I

SECTION 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

SECTION 2. 1 The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature.

2 No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

3 Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons[2]. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be ent.i.tled to choose three, Ma.s.sachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

[Footnote 2: The last half of this sentence was superseded by the 13th and 14th Amendments. (See p.16 following.)]

4 When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

5 The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

SECTION 3. 1 The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof for six years; and each senator shall have one vote.

2 Immediately after they shall be a.s.sembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three cla.s.ses.

The seats of the senators of the first cla.s.s shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second cla.s.s at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third cla.s.s at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any State, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.

3 No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

4 The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.

5 The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president _pro tempore_, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States.

6 The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall preside: and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.

7 Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.

SECTION 4. 1 The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.

2 The Congress shall a.s.semble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

SECTION 5. 1 Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall const.i.tute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House may provide.

2 Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.

3 Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.

4 Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

[Transcriber's note: This is an excerpt. Please see Project Gutenberg's complete text.]

STATE CONSt.i.tUTIONS

We have seen (page 155), that in 1776 the Continental Congress advised the people of the colonies to form governments for themselves, and that the people of the colonies accordingly adopted const.i.tutions and became sovereign and independent states. Of the thirteen original state const.i.tutions, none save that of Ma.s.sachusetts is now in force, and even that has been amended. Changes in political ideas, changes in the conditions of life due to the wonderful progress of our country, have forced the people to alter, amend, and often remake their state const.i.tutions.

All our state const.i.tutions now in force divide the powers of government among three departments,--legislative, executive, and judicial.

_The Legislative Department_--called in some states the Legislature, in others the General a.s.sembly, and in still others the General Court-- consists in every state of two branches or houses, usually known as the Senate and House of Representatives. In six states the legislature meets annually, and in all the rest biennially; the members of both branches are everywhere elected by the people, and serve from one to four years.

In most states a session of the legislature is limited to a period of from forty to ninety days. The legislature enacts the laws (which must not conflict with the Const.i.tution of the United States, the treaties, the acts of Congress, or the const.i.tution of the state); but the powers of the two houses are not equal in all the states. In some the House of Representatives has the sole right to originate bills for the raising and the expenditure of money, and in some the Senate confirms or rejects appointments to office made by the Governor.

_The Governor_ is the executive; is elected for a term of years varying from one to four; and is in duty bound to see that the laws are enforced. To him, in nearly all the states, are sent the acts of the legislature to be signed if he approves, or vetoed if he disapproves. In some states the Governor may veto parts or items of an act and approve the rest. He is commander in chief of the militia; commissions all officers whom he appoints; and in most of the states may pardon criminals.

_The Judicial Branch_ of government is composed of the state courts, whose judges are appointed, or elected for a long term of years.

These three branches of government--the executive, the legislative, and the judicial--are distinct and separate, and none can exercise the powers of the others. No judge can enact a law; no legislature can try a suit; no executive can perform the duties of a judge or a legislature.

When the thirteen colonies threw off their allegiance to the British Crown, the government set up by each was supreme within the limits of the state. Each could coin money, impose duties on goods imported from abroad or from other states, fix the legal rate of interest, make laws regulating marriage and divorce and the descent of property, and do anything else that any supreme government could do.

But when the states united in forming a strong general government by adopting the Const.i.tution, they did not give up all their powers of government. They intrusted part of them to the Federal government, and retained the rest as before. In other words, the people of each state, instead of continuing to have one government, adopted a double government, state and Federal, according to the plan laid down in the Const.i.tution. It is the Federal Const.i.tution that makes the division of powers between the nation and the separate states. The Const.i.tution, for instance, gives the Federal government the powers of coining money and laying import duties, and forbids these powers to the states; but the rate of interest, marriage and divorce, and the descent of property are matters not mentioned in the Const.i.tution, and concerning which the states retain the power to make laws.

In many cases it is hard to decide whether a state has power to do a certain thing. Whenever the question turns on the interpretation of the Federal Const.i.tution, it is decided by the United States courts. The Federal Const.i.tution and the laws and treaties made in accordance with it are supreme in case of any conflict with a state const.i.tution or law.

The powers of government exercised by the states are more numerous, and affect the individual citizen in more ways, than those of the nation.

The force of contracts; the relations of employer and employed, husband and wife, parent and child; the administration of schools; and the punishment of most crimes, are matters controlled by the state. A much larger amount of taxes is imposed by the states than by the nation.

_Local Governments._--Moreover, the local government of counties, towns, and cities is entirely under the control of the state. State const.i.tutions contain many provisions in regard to this local government, but the legislature can make laws affecting it more or less greatly in the various states. In the local government of a city, town, or county there is to some extent a distribution of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial officers. The legislative function is exercised by the city council or board of aldermen, the town trustees (or by the whole body of voters), and the county board of supervisors or commissioners; the executive, by the city mayor, the county sheriff, and other officers; and the judicial, by various city courts, justices of the peace, and county courts.