APPENDIX D.

A SUMMARY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED

STATES.

THE Constitution is in seven articles. The first article relates to the organization and powers of Congress, which consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. Representatives are to be inhabitants of the State for which they are chosen, to be twentyfive years old at least, and are to serve two years. Each House of Representatives thus lasts two years, and this period is usually known as a Congress: the fiftieth Congress expired March 4, 1889, having completed the first century of the Constitution. Representatives are assigned to States in proportion to the population, and this fact forced the provision for a decennial census, the first appearance of such a provision in modern national history. Besides the Representatives from the States, a few delegates from the Territories have seats in Congress, possessing the right to debate but not to vote. The House elects its Speaker and other officers, and has the power of impeachment.

The legislature of each State elects two Senators, to serve for six years; and no State can be deprived of its equal share of representation, except by its own consent. The Senators are divided into three classes, the term of one class expiring every two years. Senators are to be at least thirty years old, and must be inhabitants of the States from which they are chosen, and citizens of the United States for at least nine years previous to their election. The VicePresident presides over the Senate, having no vote unless in case of an equal division.

All officers of the United States are open to impeachment by the House of Representatives, the impeachment to be tried by the Senate, and the penalty to be no more than removal, and disqualification to serve further under the United States. When the President is tried, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides.

The members of both Houses are privileged from arrest and from being questioned elsewhere for words spoken in debate. Each House passes on the election of its own members; but an Act of Congress may control the Acts of the State Legislature as to time, place, and manner of elections, except as to the place of choosing Senators, in which the Legislature remains supreme. The two Houses cannot adjourn to another place, or for more than three days, unless by common consent. Their members are paid by the United States, and must not be office-holders or receive any office created or increased in pay during their term of service in Congress.

When a bill passes both Houses it goes to the President. If he signs it, it becomes law. If he holds it without signing for ten days (Sundays excepted) it becomes law, unless the final adjournment of Congress comes in the ten days. If the President decides to veto a bill he returns it, with a statement of his objections, to the House in which it originated. It can then only become law by the vote of two-thirds of both Houses.

The powers of Congress are: to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; to borrow money; to regulate foreign and domestic commerce; to make rules for naturalization and bankruptcy laws; to coin money, regulate the value of foreign coins, and fix the standard of weights and measures; to punish the counterfeiting of Federal securities and current coin; to establish postoffices and post-roads; to establish patent and copyright systems; to establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court; to punish offences on the high seas or against international law; to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules for captures; to raise and support armies, no appropriation to be for more than two years; to provide and maintain a navy; to make articles of war; to use the militia of the States in executing Federal laws, suppressing insurrections and repelling invasions; to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining this militia, leaving the States to appoint the officers and carry out the system; to establish a national capital or Federal district, and to exercise exclusive powers of legislation over it, and over sites for forts, dock-yards, etc., bought by permission of the States; and finally, to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or office thereof.

The following prohibitions must also be noted: The Federal

Government shall not suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus except in case of rebellion or invasion, when the public safety requires it. Congress must not pass any bill of attainder or ex post facto law, tax exports, give commercial preference to the ports of one State over those of another, lay direct taxes except in proportion to census population, or grant any title of nobility. Money is to be taken from the treasury only in consequence of appropriations made by law. And no person in the service of the United States may accept any gift or title from a foreign power without consent of Congress. The States are forbidden to make treaties, to grant letters of marque and reprisal, to coin money, to emit bills of credit, to make anything but silver a legal tender, to grant any title of nobility, to pass a bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts. They are forbidden (except by consent of Congress) to lay any duties on imports or exports, except inspection charges, to be paid into the Federal treasury; to lay any tonnage duties; to keep troops (a word which does not cover militia) or ships in peace; to make any agreement with another State or with a foreign power; or to engage in war unless actually invaded.

The President is to be a native citizen, at least thirty-five years old, and at least fourteen years a resident within the United States. He is paid by the United States; and his salary is not to be increased or diminished by Congress, during his term. He is sworn to execute his office faithfully, and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. In case of his death, resig nation, or inability (by impeachment or otherwise), the VicePresident succeeds him; and in case of the inability of both, the members of the Cabinet succeed in a prescribed order (according to the Presidential Succession Act of 1886). The President has the veto power already described, sends messages to Congress on the state of the Union or on special subjects, convenes either House or both on extraordinary occasions, receives foreign envoys, commissions officers of the United States, and oversees the execution of the laws passed by Congress. He makes treaties; but no treaty is valid unless passed by the Senate by a two-thirds vote of those present. He appoints ministers and consuls, judges, and all other officers whose appointment Congress has not vested in other officers; but presidential appointments must be confirmed by the Senate, though the President may make temporary appointments during the recess of the Senate, to hold until the end of their next

and

session. He is commander-in-chief of the army and navy, has power of pardon or reprieve for offences against Federal laws, except in case of impeachment. And he may call on each head of a department for an opinion in writing on any subject relating to his department. The last clause has evolved the Cabinet, a term not known in the Constitution. When Congress has by law organized a department, its leading officer is called its Secretary. There are now eight departments, those of state, of the treasury, of war, of the navy, of the post-office, of the interior, of justice, and of agriculture. The Secretaries are selected by the President and are confirmed by the Senate, but are not responsible to any one but the President. Nor is he bound by their individual opinions, or even by a unanimous opinion from one of their periodical meetings. They are his advisers only.

The people have no direct vote in the choice of President and Vice-President: they choose Electors, each State having as many Electors as it has Senators and Representatives together; and the Electors choose the President and Vice-President. The Electors are to be chosen in such manner as the Legislature of each State shall direct; and this plenary power of the Legislatures was the source of the unhappy disputed election of 1876-7. Until 1887 Congress refused to provide for necessary proof of the State's action, and claimed the power to provide from time to time for emergencies. Now, provision is made by the Electoral Count Act of 1887, for the State's certification of its votes; and the certificate which comes in legal form is not to be rejected but by a vote of both Houses. If there is no majority of electoral votes for President, the House of Representatives chooses one from the three names highest on the list, each State having one vote. The Electors were meant to exercise perfect freedom of choice, an intention at present completely frustrated.

The Constitution provides for one Supreme Court, having original jurisdiction in cases affecting foreign ministers and consuls, and those to which a State shall be a party, and appellate jurisdiction from such subordinate Courts as Congress shall from time to time establish. Judges are to hold office during good behavior, and their salaries are not to be diminished during their continuance in office. Federal Courts deal with all cases in law or equity arising under the Constitution, or the laws of treaties made under it; with all cases affecting public ministers and consuls, or admiralty or maritime law; with suits by or against the United States; and with

suits by one State against another, by a State against citizens of another State, by a citizen of one State against a citizen of another, by a citizen of a State against citizens of his own State when the question is one of a grant of land from different States, by a State or its citizens against foreigners, or by a foreigner against an American. The Supreme Court now consists of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices; below this there are nine Circuit Courts, each consisting of a Supreme Court Justice and a Circuit Judge; and fifty-six District Courts, each with a District Judge. Each Circuit comprises several States; and the Supreme Court Justices, in addition to their Circuit work, meet in bank annually in Washington. The Districts cover each a State, or a part of a State. The Federal Courts are the principal agent in securing the power of the national government over individuals; and a most important agent in securing to the national government its supremacy over the States. A most important provision of the Constitution is the grant of jurisdiction to Federal Courts in cases involving the construction of the Constitution, or of laws or treaties made under it. It was not until 1816 that the right of the Federal Courts to exercise this power was clearly established, and the Constitution thus became what it professed to be, "the supreme law of the land."

The States are bound to give credit to the public records of other States, to accord citizenship to the citizens of other States, to return criminals fleeing from other States, and to return "persons held to service or labor" under the laws of another State. The Federal government is to guarantee a republican form of government to each of the States, and to protect each of them against invasion, or, on application of the Legislature or Governor, against domestic violence. The Constitution provides that it is to go into force as soon as nine of the thirteen States shall ratify it, and that any future amendment, when passed by two-thirds of both Houses, and ratified by the Legislatures or conventions of three-fourths of the States, shall become a part of the Constitution. By application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the States, a new convention, like that which framed the Constitution, may take the place of the two Houses of Congress in proposing amendments.

Ten amendments were adopted so soon after the ratification of the Constitution that they may fairly be considered a part of the original instrument. They were due to a general desire for a "Bill of Rights." They state expressly the general principle