times exerted. The national government is also bound to guarantee to every state a republican form of government. (See American Commonwealth, ch. xxviii.)
§ 18. It is a fundamental principle of the American system that the national government possesses a direct and immediate Direct Authority of the National Government over the Citizens of the States. authority over all its citizens, quite irrespective of their allegiance and duty to their own state. This authority corresponds to and is coextensive with the sphere of the Federal government. So far as the citizens of functions of that government extend, it acts upon the citizens not through the states, but as of its own right and by its own officers. Beyond that sphere its authority stops, and state authority, unless inhibited by the Federal Constitution, begins. But Federal authority is always entitled to prevail, as against a state legislature or officer, in all matters specifically allotted to it; and in these its power of direct action has two great advantages. It makes the citizen recognize his allegiance to the power which represents the unity of the nation; and it avoids the necessity of calling upon the state to enforce obedience to Federal authority, for a state might possibly be weak or dilatory, or even itself inclined to disobedience. Thus the indirect taxes of customs and excise which the Federal government imposes are levied by Federal custom-house collectors and excisemen, and the judgments of Federal courts are carried out by United States marshals distributed over the country. Nothing has done more to give cohesion to the American Federal system than the direct action of the Federal executive and judiciary.
V.—The Federal Government.
§ 19. The Federal or national government was created de novo by the Constitution of 1787-1789. It was really a new creation rather than a continuation of the feeble organization of the pre-existing Confederation. But the principles on which it was constructed were old principles, and most of its features were drawn from the state governments as they then existed. These states themselves had been developed out of the previous colonial governments, and both they and the national government have owed something to the example of the British Constitution, which had suggested the division of the legislature into two branches and the independent position of the judiciary. It was, however, mainly from the state constitutions, and not from the arrangements prevailing in Great Britain or in any other country, that the men of the convention of 1787 drew their ideas and precedents.
Following what was then deemed a fundamental maxim of political science, they divided the government into three departments, the legislative, the executive and the judicial, and sought to keep each of these as far as possible detached from and independent of the other two.
In 1787 all the states but three had bicameral legislatures—it was therefore natural that the new national government The Federal Legislature. should follow this example, not to add that the division into two branches seems calculated to reduce the chances of reckless haste, and to increase the chances of finding wisdom in a multitude of counsellors. There was, however, another reason. Much controversy had raged over the conflicting principles of the equal representation of states and of representation on the basis of numbers, the larger states advocating the latter, the smaller states the former principle; and those who made themselves champions of the rights of the states professed to dread the tyrannical power which an assembly representing population might exert. The adoption of a bicameral system made it possible to give due recognition to both principles. One house, the Senate, contains the representatives of the states, every state sending two; the other, the House of Representatives, contains members elected on a basis of population. The two taken together are called Congress, and form the national legislature of the United States.
§ 20. The House of Representatives is composed of members elected by popular vote in each of the various states, the representation of each state being in proportion to its population. Each state is at liberty under the Constitution to adopt either House of Representatives. the “general ticket” system, i.e. the plan of electing all its members by one vote over the whole state, or to elect them in one-membered districts (the “district system”). The system of single-member districts now prevails almost everywhere. (Pennsylvania, however, has two representatives elected at large from the entire state, and there have been other similar instances.) The number of members in the house was originally 65, but it has steadily increased until, in December 1910, there were 398. Besides the full members, each of the Territories is allowed to send a delegate, who has, however, no vote. The electoral franchise on which the house is elected is for each state the same as that by which, under the provisions of the state constitution, the members of the more numerous branch of the state legislature are chosen. Originally franchises varied much in different states, but for many years prior to 1890 what was practically manhood suffrage prevailed in nearly all of the states. In that year and since, not a few of the southern states have introduced restrictions which tend to exclude the bulk of the coloured population (see ante, § 5). It has already been observed that paupers and convicted criminals are excluded in many states, illiterates in some states. Every member must reside in the state which sends him and custom, rarely broken, requires that he should reside even in the district which he represents. This habit restricts the field of choice and has operated unfavourably on the political life of the nation.
The House of Representatives is chosen for two years, the terms of all the members expiring together. The election of a new house takes place in November[1] of the even years (i.e. 1910, 1912, &c.). Members enter on their term of service in the March following, but the first regular session does not begin until the following December, or more than a year after the election. In fact, the old house holds its second regular session of three months after the new house has been elected. The rules are very complicated, and considerably limit the power of debate. A remedy against obstruction has been found in a system of closure called the “previous question.” Speeches are limited to one hour, and may be confined in committee of the whole house to five minutes. There is comparatively little good debating in the European sense of the term, and this is due partly to the great size of the hall, partly to the system of legislation by committees.
The organization of the house is entirely different from that of the British House of Commons or of most assemblies on the The Committee System. European continent. The ministers of the president do not sit, and since there are thus no officials to undertake the leadership of the majority and conduct business, legislative work is shaped and directed by a number of committees in each house. Every bill when introduced is referred to some committee, and each bill comes up for consideration by the whole house on the report of the committee which has dealt with it. There were in 1910 62 regular or standing committees in the House of Representatives, each consisting of from 3 to 20 members. The most important committees are the following: ways and means, rules, elections, appropriations (with several committees for different branches of public expenditure), rivers and harbours, banking and currency, and foreign affairs. Each committee has complete control of all bills referred to it, and nineteen-twentieths of the bills introduced meet their death by the failure of the committee to take action on them. The bills taken up for action are debated and freely amended by the committees, and sometimes public hearings are held. The committees on the expenditure of the various government departments conduct minute investigations into the administration of each. A bill, as finally agreed on by a committee, is reported to the house, and when taken up for action the fate of most bills is decided by an hour's discussion, opened by the member of the committee making the report. The
- ↑ In June in Oregon; in September in Maine and Vermont.
