BOOK people, have developed these principles more fully, raised LXXXII. those institutions to a degree of perfection hitherto unexam

pled, and realised a system of polity more economical, orderly, and rational, and more conducive to human improvement, to national prosperity and happiness, than any that has yet existed in the world. It affords indeed an encouraging view of the future fortunes of mankind, to observe how much more surely men are conducted to sound conclusions on all questions of practical importance, by the general progress of knowledge, and the instinct of self-interest operating in society at large, than by the speculations of the philosopher. Plato, Sir Thomas More, Harrington, and Hume, have all exerted their ingenuity in framing the plan of a perfect commonwealth, in which the fullest measure of liberty should be conjoined with order, justice, good government, and pure morality in private life. But what they looked upon almost as an ideal good, rather to be desired than hoped for, and what they merely endeavoured to approach to, by an apparatus the most refined and complicated, by institutions calculated to force nature, and by impracticable schemes of moral discipline, has been realised to an extent far beyond their hopes, by mechanism infinitely more simple and natural than what they proposed, and infinitely more certain and constant in its operation.

The legislative power in the United States is separated into two branches, and the government is therefore two-fold. To the state governments is committed that branch which relates to the regulation of internal concerns. These bodies make and alter the laws which regard property and private rights, regulate the police, appoint the judges and civil officers, impose taxes for state purposes, and exercise all other rights and powers not vested in the federal government by positive enactment. To the federal government belongs the power of making peace and war with foreign nations, raising and supporting an army and navy, fixing the organization of the militia, imposing taxes for the common defence or benefit of the union, borrowing money, coining money, and fixing the standard of weights and measures, establishing post

offices and post roads, granting patents for inventions, and BOOK exclusive copyrights to authors, regulating commerce with LXXXII. foreign nations, establishing uniform bankrupt laws, and a uniform rule of naturalization, and lastly, the federal tribunals judge of felonies and piracies committed on the high seas, of offences against the law of nations, and of questions between the citizens of different states. It is remarkable that though the powers of the federal and local governments necessarily interfere in some points, it is very rare that any contest or collision has arisen out of this circumstance. The foundation of this harmony obviously is, that both Congress and the State legislatures are merely the organs of the same universal interest-that of the people, and have no independent existence. Were the power in both cases in the hands of oligarchies, who held it in despite of the people, and for their private emolument, there would be quarrels and contests in abundance.

of govern

The old division of governments into monarchies, aristoc- Two kinds racies, and democracies, though not altogether unfounded, is ment. of very little use, and should be laid aside. The radical distinction among governments, is between those which are conducted by men who derive their power from the people, and are responsible to them; and those which are conducted by juntos, less or more numerous, over whom the people have no direct control. Whether the power in the latter case is exercised by the king and the chiefs of the army, as in Prussia, or by a club of nobles, as formerly in Venice, or by a king and packed chambers, as in France, may make some difference in the temper of the administration, but will make none in the essential character of the government. The former deserve the name of national governments; the latter, for want of a better term, may be called oligarchical. If we judge of the American system of government according to the principles of this classification, we shall perceive that it is purely a national government, and stands totally distinct from every other which has hitherto existed.

In the old governments of continental Europe, the king, The Eurowhose authority is self-existent, and who, according to the

pean.

BOOK usual mode of speaking, is responsible to God alone for his LXXXII. actions, is the sole fountain of power. From him judges, military officers, ministers of religion, teachers of youth, magistrates, and police officers of all classes, down to the petty constable, derive their authority, and to him alone they are accountable for their conduct. The people confer no office, and exercise no power, but live in a state of per petual pupillage and dependence.

The American.

President.

In the United States, on the contrary, the sovereignty resides not figuratively, but really, in the mass of the people. From them all power emanates, and to them the highest functionary as well as the lowest feels that he is amenable for his acts. The humblest individual assists by delegation in forming the laws under which he lives, disposes by his vote of the highest office in the state, and may obtain it himself if he can gain the confidence of his fellow-citizens. The people at large are daily in the exercise of political functions, and every one who holds a place of trust, derives his authority either directly from popular suffrage, or from persons who owe their power to the people's choice, and are responsible to them for the use they make of it. Something approaching to this, in a distant degree, may be found in the British constitution; but it may be safely said, that the American government is the first which has ever been fairly bottomed on the broad principle of the sovereignty of the people.

In the earlier constitutions of several of the states, the right of suffrage was confined to persons possessing freeholds, or some small property; but experience seems to have decided in favour of a broader principle. In the new states the right of suffrage may be described as universal, being extended to all who pay taxes (slaves (a) excepted ;) and in the amended constitutions of most of the old states the same rule has been adopted. The mode of voting at elections is generally by ballot.

The Federal government of the United States consists of

(a) [Free people of colour are excepted in a majority of the states.]-AM. ED.

a President, a Senate, and a House of Representatives. The BOOK President is chosen for four years, by delegates elected for LXXXII. this purpose by the people, and equal in number for each state, to the members [senators and representatives] it sends to Congress. The Vice-President is elected in the same manner, and for the same period; but both are generally reelected for four years more, and so serve eight years.(a) The President is Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, and of the militia when in active service. He grants reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. With the advice and concurrence of the Senate, he makes treaties, nominates ambassadors, consuls, judges; and he appoints several other officers by his own authority. He must be a native born citizen, not under thirty-five years of age, and he receives a salary of 25,000 dollars, (£5,500) per annum.

The Senate consists of forty-eight members, namely, two Senate. for each state, who are chosen not by the people, but by the legislatures of the several states, and hold their office for six years, one third of the members being removed (b) every two years. A senator must be thirty years of age, an inhabitant of the state for which he is chosen, and he must have been a citizen of the United States for nine years.

The House of Representatives consists now of 212 mem- House of bers, (1824) who are chosen for two years, by the persons tatives. Represenwho elect the corresponding branches of the state legislatures, that is, with some few exceptions, by the mass of the adult population. The Representatives are distributed among the states, in the proportion of one for every 40,000 inhabitants, excluding the Indians and two-fifths of the people of colour. Even free persons of colour, however, have no vote, except in one or two states. (c) A Representative must

(a) [Of the five persons who have held the office of president, previous to the present incumbent, four have been re-elected, and have served eight years; but of the six vice-presidents, only three have been re-elected.]-AM. ED.

(b) [As the senators are re-eligible, it would be a more correct statement to say that one third of them are elected every two years.]-AM. Ed. (c) [This is incorrect. See page, 181.1-AM. ED.

BOOK be twenty-five years of age, an inhabitant of the state for LXXXII. which he is chosen, and he must have been a citizen of

the United States for seven years. Senators and Representatives receive an allowance of eight dollars per day for the time they attend the Session of Congress, and eight dollars of travelling charges, fór every twenty miles they have to travel in going and returning. Members of Congress take an oath to support the constitution, but no religious test is required from them or any person holding office under the Federal government. Senators and Representatives vacate their places if they accept of an office under government, and are not re-eligible while they hold it. The forms of business in Congress composi- from those of the British parliament. Congress. times, and in a certain stage sent to

Forms and

tion of

are chiefly borrowed Bills are read three committees; but what

is deemed an improvement, eight (a) standing committees for commerce, finance, foreign affairs, &c. are appointed in the House of Representatives, at the commencement of each session. All money bills must originate in the House of Representatives, a regulation which had its birth in circumstances which have long ceased to exist, and may now be pronounced ridiculous, even in England. A bill, after having passed both Houses, is submitted to the President. If he sign it, it has the force of law forthwith. If he disapprove of it, he returns it to the House in which it originated, with his objections for reconsideration; and after being reconsidered, if it pass both Houses by a majority of twothirds, it becomes a law; otherwise it falls to the ground. This qualified veto has been sometimes exercised, and is probably of more real value, than an absolute veto, like that of the King of Britain, which is practically a dead letter. From causes not difficult to trace, lawyers predominate in Congress far beyond their just proportion to the other

(a) [The number of standing Committees is not limited to eight. In the present Congress (the nineteenth) at the commencement of the first session, twentysix standing committees were appointed by the House of Representatives, and seventeen by the Senate.-AM. ED.