^tanbarti Eifirarp €t!itton 
 THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN FISKE 
 
 WITH MANY PORTRAITS OF ILLUSTRIOUS 
 
 PHILOSOPHERS, SCIENTISTS, AND 
 
 OTHER MEN OF NOTE 
 
 IN TWELVE VOLUMES 
 
 VOLUME XII
 
 I 

 
 CIVIL GOVERNMENT 
 
 IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 CONSIDERED WITH SOME REFERENCE 
 TO ITS ORIGINS 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FISKE 
 
 AiVcrOfUtu, jrai Ziji/bs 'EAevflepi'ov, 
 
 'IlxepOLV evpvaOeve' ofi<^i7roAei, 2<i>TCtpa Tv^o' 
 
 tXv yap ev novrif KV^pviovTat. flooi 
 
 vacs, ef ^zpfT^ T€ Aaii/njpot ttoAc/jloi 
 
 Kayopac /SovAo^opOi. 
 
 Pindar, Olymp., xii. 
 
 Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! 
 Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! . . . 
 Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee. 
 Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
 Our faith triumphant o'er our fears. 
 Are all with thee, — are all with thee ! 
 Longfellow 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 dlie BiberjSitic prejS)*, Cambtitige 
 
 1902
 
 COPYRIGHT 1890 BY JOHN FISKE 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1902 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
 
 SDeUtcation 
 
 THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED, WITH THE AUTHOR* S BEST 
 WISHES AND SINCERE REGARD, TO THE MANY HUNDREDS 
 OF YOUNG FRIENDS WHOM HE HAS FOUND IT SO 
 PLEASANT TO MEET IN YEARS PAST, AND ALSO 
 TO THOSE WHOM HE LOOKS FORWARD TO 
 MEETING IN YEARS TO COME, IN 
 STUDIES AND READINGS UPON 
 .THE RICH AND FRUITFUL 
 HISTORY OF OUR BE- 
 LOVED COUNTRY
 
 PREFACE 
 
 SOME time ago, my friends, Messrs. 
 Houghton, Mifflin & Co., requested me 
 to write a small book on Civil Govern- 
 ment in the United States, which might be 
 useful as a text-book, and at the same time 
 serviceable and suggestive to the general reader 
 interested in American history. In preparing 
 the book certain points have been kept espe- 
 cially in view, and deserve some mention here. 
 It seemed desirable to adopt a historical 
 method of exposition, not simply describing our 
 political institutions in their present shape, but 
 pointing out their origin, indicating some of 
 the processes through which they have acquired 
 that present shape, and thus keeping before the 
 student's mind the fact that government is 
 perpetually undergoing modifications in adapt- 
 ing itself to new conditions. Inasmuch as such 
 gradual changes in government do not make 
 themselves, but are made by men — and made 
 either for better or for worse — it is obvious 
 that the history of political institutions has seri- 
 ous lessons to teach us. The student should as 
 vii
 
 PREFACE 
 
 soon as possible come to understand that every 
 institution is the outgrowth of experiences. One 
 probably gets but little benefit from abstract 
 definitions and axioms concerning the rights of 
 men and the nature of civil society, such as we 
 often find at the beginning of books on gov- 
 ernment. Metaphysical generalizations are well 
 enough in their place, but to start with such 
 things — as the French philosophers of the 
 eighteenth century were fond of doing — is to 
 get the cart before the horse. It is better to 
 have our story first, and thus find out what 
 government in its concrete reality has been, and 
 is. Then we may finish up with the metaphysics, 
 or do as I have done — leave it for somebody 
 else. 
 
 I was advised to avoid the extremely syste- 
 matic, intrusively symmetrical style of exposi- 
 tion, which is sometimes deemed indispensable 
 in a book of this sort. It was thought that 
 students would be more likely to become inter- 
 ested in the subject if it were treated in the same 
 informal manner into which one naturally falls 
 in giving lectures to young people. I have en- 
 deavoured to bear this in mind without sacri- 
 ficing that lucidity in the arrangement of topics 
 which is always the supreme consideration. For 
 many years I have been in the habit of lectur- 
 viii
 
 PREFACE 
 
 ing on history to college students in different 
 parts of the United States, to young ladies in 
 private schools, and occasionally to the pupils 
 in high and normal schools, and in writing this 
 little book I have imagined an audience of these 
 earnest and intelligent young friends gathered 
 before me. 
 
 I was especially advised — by my friend Mr. 
 James MacAlister, superintendent of schools 
 in Philadelphia, for whose judgment I have the 
 highest respect — to make it a little book, less 
 than three hundred pages in length, if possible. 
 Teachers and pupils do not have time enough 
 to deal properly with large treatises. Brevity, 
 therefore, is golden. A concise manual is the 
 desideratum, touching lightly upon the vari- 
 ous points, bringing out their relationships 
 distinctly, and referring to more elaborate trea- 
 tises, monographs, and documents, for the use 
 of those who wish to pursue the study at greater 
 length. 
 
 Within limits thus restricted, it will probably 
 seem strange to some that so much space is 
 given to the treatment of local institutions, — 
 comprising the governments of town, county, 
 and city. It may be observed, by the way, that 
 some persons apparently conceive of the state 
 also as a " local institution." In a recent re- 
 
 ix
 
 PREFACE 
 
 view of Professor Howard's admirable " Local 
 Constitutional History of the United States," 
 we read, "The first volume, which is all that is 
 yet published, treats of the development of the 
 township, hundred, and shire ; the second vol- 
 ume, we suppose, being designed to treat of 
 the State Constitutions." The reviewer forgets 
 that there is such a subject as the " development 
 of the city and local magistracies " (which is to 
 be the subject of that second volume), and lets 
 us see that in his apprehension the American 
 state is an institution of the same order as the 
 town and county. We can thus readily assent 
 when we are told that " many youth have grown 
 to manhood with so little appreciation of the 
 political importance of the state as to believe it 
 nothing more than a geographical division." ^ 
 In its historic genesis, the American state is not 
 an institution of the same order as the town and 
 county, nor has it as yet become depressed or 
 " mediatized " to that degree. . The state, while 
 it does not possess such attributes of sovereignty 
 as were by our Federal Constitution granted to 
 the United States, does, nevertheless, possess 
 many very important and essential characteris- 
 tics of a sovereign body. The study of our 
 state governments is inextricably wrapped up 
 ^ Young's Government Class Book, p. iv. 
 X
 
 PREFACE 
 
 with the study of our national government, in 
 such wise that both are parts of one subject, 
 which cannot be understood unless both parts 
 are studied. Whether in the course of our 
 country's future development we shall ever 
 arrive at a stage in which this is not the case, 
 must be left for future events to determine. 
 But, if we ever do arrive at such a stage, 
 " American institutions " will present a very 
 different aspect from those with which we are 
 now familiar, and which we have always been 
 accustomed (even, perhaps, without always un- 
 derstanding them) to admire. 
 
 The study of local government properly in- 
 cludes town, county, and city. To this part of 
 the subject I have devoted about half of my 
 limited space, quite unheedful of the warning 
 which I find in the preface of a certain popular 
 text-book, that " to learn the duties of town, 
 city, and county officers, has nothing whatever 
 to do with the grand and noble subject of Civil 
 Government," and that " to attempt class drill 
 on petty town and county offices, would be 
 simply burlesque of the whole subject." But, 
 suppose one were to say, with an air of ineffable 
 scorn, that petty experiments on terrestrial 
 gravitation and radiant heat, such as can be 
 made with commonplace pendulums and tea- 
 xi
 
 PREFACE 
 
 kettles, have nothing whatever to do with the 
 grand and noble subject of Physical Astronomy ! 
 Science would not have got very far on that 
 plan, I fancy. The truth is, that science, while 
 it is perpetually dealing with questions of mag- 
 nitude, and knows very well what is large and 
 what is small, knows nothing whatever of any 
 such distinction as that between things that are 
 "grand" and things that are "petty." When 
 we try to study things in a scientific spirit, to 
 learn their modes of genesis and their present 
 aspects, in order that we may foresee their ten- 
 dencies, and make our volitions count for some- 
 thing in modifying them, there is nothing which 
 we may safely disregard as trivial. This is true 
 of whatever we can study ; it is eminently true 
 of the history of institutions. Government is 
 not a royal mystery, to be shut off, like old 
 Deiokes,^ by a sevenfold wall from the ordinary 
 business of life. Questions of civil government 
 are practical business questions, the principles 
 of which are as often and as forcibly illustrated 
 in a city council or a county board of super- 
 visors, as in the House of Representatives at 
 Washington. It is partly because too many of 
 our citizens fail to realize that local government 
 is a worthy study, that we find it making so 
 ^ Herodotus, i. 98. 
 
 xii
 
 PREFACE 
 
 much trouble for us. The " bummers " and 
 " boodlers " do not find the subject beneath 
 their notice ; the Master who inspires them is 
 wide awake and — for a creature that divides 
 the hoof — extremely intelligent. 
 
 It is, moreover, the mental training gained 
 through contact with local government that 
 enables the people of a community to conduct 
 successfully, through their representatives, the 
 government of the state and the nation. And so 
 it makes a great deal of difference whether the 
 government of a town or county is of one sort or 
 another. If the average character of our local 
 governments for the past quarter of a century 
 had been quite as high as that of the Boston 
 town-meeting or the Virginia boards of county 
 magistrates, in the days of Samuel Adams and 
 Patrick Henry, who can doubt that many an 
 airy demagogue, who through session after ses- 
 sion has played his pranks at the national cap- 
 ital, would long ago have been abruptly recalled 
 to his native heath, a sadder if not a wiser man ? 
 We cannot expect the nature of the aggregate 
 to be much better than the average natures of its 
 units. One may hear people gravely discussing 
 the difference between Frenchmen and English- 
 men in political efficiency, and resorting to as- 
 sumed ethnological causes to explain it, when, 
 xiii
 
 PREFACE 
 
 very likely, to save their lives they could not 
 describe the difference between a French com- 
 mune and an English parish. To comprehend 
 the interesting contrasts between Gambetta in 
 the Chamber of Deputies, and Gladstone in the 
 House of Commons, one should begin with 
 a historical inquiry into the causes, operating 
 through forty generations, which have frittered 
 away self-government in the rural districts and 
 small towns of France, until there is very little 
 left. If things in America ever come to such a 
 pass that the city council of Cambridge must 
 ask Congress each year how much money it can 
 be allowed to spend for municipal purposes, 
 while the mayor of Cambridge holds his office 
 subject to removal by the President of the 
 United States, we may safely predict further 
 extensive changes in the character of the Ameri- 
 can people and their government. It was not for 
 nothing that our profoundest political thinker, 
 Thomas Jefferson, attached so much impor- 
 tance to the study of the township. 
 
 In determining the order of exposition, I 
 have placed local government first, beginning 
 with the township as the simplest unit. It is 
 well to try to understand what is near and 
 simple, before dealing with what is remote and 
 complex. In teaching geography with maps, it 
 xiv
 
 PREFACE 
 
 is wise to get the pupil interested in the streets 
 of his own town, the country roads running out 
 of it, and the neighbouring hills and streams, 
 before burdening his attention with the topo- 
 graphical details of Borrioboola Gha. To study 
 grand generalizations about government, before 
 attending to such of its features as come most 
 directly before us, is to run the risk of achieving 
 a result like that attained by the New Hamp- 
 shire school-boy, who had studied geology in a 
 text-book, but was not aware that he had ever 
 set eyes upon an igneous rock. 
 
 After the township naturally comes the 
 county. The city, as is here shown, is not sim- 
 ply a larger town, but is much more complex 
 in organization. Historically, many cities have 
 been, or still are, equivalent to counties ; and 
 the development of the county must be studied 
 before we can understand that of the city. It 
 has been briefly indicated how these forms of 
 local government grew up in England, and how 
 they have become variously modified in adapt- 
 ing themselves to different social conditions in 
 different parts of the United States. 
 
 Next in order come the general governments, 
 those which possess and exert, in one way or 
 another, attributes of sovereignty. First, the 
 various colonial governments have been con- 
 
 XV
 
 PREFACE 
 
 sidered, and some features of their metamorpho- 
 sis into our modern state governments have 
 been described. In the course of this study, 
 our attention is called to the most original and 
 striking feature of the development of civil gov- 
 ernment upon American soil, — the written con- 
 stitution, with the accompanying power of the 
 courts in certain cases to annul the acts of the 
 legislature. This is not only the most original 
 feature of our government, but it is in some 
 respects the most important. Without the Su- 
 preme Court, it is not likely that the Federal 
 Union could have been held together, since 
 Congress has now and then passed an act which 
 the people in some of the states have regarded 
 as unconstitutional and tyrannical ; and in the 
 absence of a judicial method of settling such 
 questions, the only available remedy would have 
 been nullification. I have devoted a brief chap- 
 ter to the origin and development of written 
 constitutions, and the connection of our colo- 
 nial charters therewith. 
 
 Lastly, we come to the completed structure, 
 the Federal Union ; and by this time we have 
 examined so many points in the general theory 
 of American government, that our Federal Con- 
 stitution can be more concisely described, and 
 (I believe) more quickly understood, than if we 
 xvi
 
 PREFACE 
 
 had made it the subject of the first chapter in- 
 stead of the last. In conclusion, there have 
 been added a few brief hints and suggestions 
 with reference to our political history. These 
 remarks have been intentionally limited. It is 
 no part of the purpose of this book to give an 
 account of the doings of political parties under 
 the Constitution. But its study may fitly be 
 supplemented by that of Professor Alexander 
 Johnston's "History of American Politics." 
 
 This arrangement not only proceeds from the 
 simpler forms of government to the more com- 
 plex, but it follows the historical order of de- 
 velopment. From time immemorial, and down 
 into the lowest strata of savagery that have 
 come within our ken, there have been clans and 
 tribes ; and, as is here shown, a township was 
 originally a stationary clan, and a county was 
 originally a stationary tribe. There were town- 
 ships and counties (or equivalent forms of or- 
 ganization) before there were cities. In like 
 manner there were townships, counties, and 
 cities long before there was anything in the 
 world that could properly be called a state. I 
 have remarked below upon the way in which 
 English shires coalesced into little states, and 
 in course of time the English nation was formed 
 by the union of such little states, which lost 
 xvii
 
 PREFACE 
 
 their statehood (i. e., their functions of sover- 
 eignty, though not their self-government within 
 certain hmits) in the process. Finally, in Amer- 
 ica, we see an enormous nationality formed by 
 the federation of states which partially retain 
 their statehood ; and some of these states are 
 themselves of national dimensions, as, for ex- 
 ample, New York, which is nearly equal in area, 
 quite equal in population, and far superior in 
 wealth, to Shakespeare's England. 
 
 In studying the local institutions of our dif- 
 ferent states, I have been greatly helped by the 
 Johns Hopkins University Studies in History 
 and Politics, of which the eighth annual series 
 is now in course of publication. In the course 
 of the pages below I have frequent occasion to 
 acknowledge my indebtedness to these learned 
 and sometimes profoundly suggestive mono- 
 graphs ; but I cannot leave the subject without 
 a special word of gratitude to my friend, Dr. 
 Herbert Adams, the editor of the series, for the 
 noble work which he is doing in promoting the 
 study of American history.^ 
 
 The book is designed to be suggestive and 
 stimulating, to leave the reader with scant in- 
 
 1 [A few paragraphs, written for the guidance of teachers 
 in their class-room work, are omitted in the present edition.] 
 xviii
 
 PREFACE 
 
 formation on some points, to make him (as Mr. 
 Samuel Weller says) "vish there wos more," 
 and to show him how to go on by himself. I 
 am well aware that, in making an experiment in 
 this somewhat new direction, nothing is easier 
 than to fall into errors of judgment. I can 
 hardly suppose that this book is free from such 
 errors ; but if in spite thereof it shall turn out 
 to be in any way helpful in bringing the know- 
 ledge and use of the German seminary method 
 into our higher schools, I shall be more than 
 satisfied. 
 
 Just here, let me say to young people in all 
 parts of our country : If you have not already 
 done so, it would be well worth while for you 
 to organize a debating society in your town or 
 village, for the discussion of such historical and 
 practical questions relating to the government 
 of the United States as are suggested in the 
 course of this book. Once started, there need 
 be no end of interesting and profitable subjects 
 for discussion. As a further guide to the books 
 you need in studying such subjects, use Mr. 
 W. E. Foster's " References to the Constitution 
 of the United States." If you cannot afford to 
 buy the books, get the public library of your 
 town or village to buy them ; or, perhaps, or- 
 ganize a small special library for your society 
 
 xix
 
 PREFACE 
 
 or club. Librarians will naturally feel interested 
 in such a matter, and will often be able to help 
 with advice. A few hours every week spent in 
 such wholesome studies cannot fail to do much 
 toward the political education of the local com- 
 munity, and thus toward the general improve- 
 ment of the American people. For the ame- 
 lioration of things will doubtless continue to be 
 effected in the future, as it has been effected in 
 the past, not by ambitious schemes of sudden 
 and universal reform (which the sagacious man 
 always suspects, just as he suspects all schemes 
 for returning a fabulously large interest upon 
 investments), but by the gradual and cumula- 
 tive efforts of innumerable individuals, each 
 doing something to help or instruct those to 
 whom his influence extends. He who makes 
 two clear ideas grow where there was only one 
 hazy one before, is the true benefactor of his 
 species. 
 
 In conclusion, I must express my sincere 
 thanks to Mr. Thomas Emerson, superinten- 
 dent of schools in Newton, for the very kind 
 interest he has shown in my work, in discussing 
 its plan with me at the outset, in reading the 
 completed manuscript, and in offering valuable 
 criticisms. 
 
 Cambridge, August 5, 1890-
 
 NOTE 
 
 The text of this book was carefully revised 
 by Mr. Fiske for successive editions, the last 
 revision being dated April i6, 1901. 
 
 4 Park Street, Boston.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 PAGE 
 
 *' Too much taxes " . . . . . .1,2 
 
 What is taxation ?...... 3 
 
 Taxation and eminent domain . . . . 4, 5 
 
 What is government ?,.... 6 
 
 The *' ship of state " 7 
 
 ** The government " ..... 8 
 
 Whatever else it may be, "the government" is the 
 
 power w^hich imposes taxes .... 8 
 
 Difference between taxation and robbery . . 10 
 
 Sometimes taxation is robbery . . . .11 
 
 The study of history is full of practical lessons, and 
 
 helpful to those who would be good citizens . 12, 13 
 Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty . . .14 
 
 II 
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 § I. The New England Township 
 
 The most ancient and simple form of government . 1 5 
 
 New England settled by church congregations . . 15 
 Policy of the early Massachusetts government as to land 
 
 grants ....... 17 
 
 Smallness of the farms . . . . .17 
 
 Township and village ..... 18 
 
 Social position of the settlers . . . . .19 
 
 xxiil
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 The town-meeting . . . . . 19 
 
 Selectmen; town-clerk .... 20, 21 
 
 Town-treasurer ; constables ; assessors of taxes and 
 
 overseers of the poor . . . . .21,22 
 
 Act of 1647 establishing public schools . . .22 
 
 School committees . . . . . 23 
 
 Field-drivers and pound-keepers ; fence-viewers ; other 
 
 town officers ...... 24, 25 
 
 Calling the town-meeting .... 26 
 
 Town, county, and state taxes .... 26 
 
 Poll-tax ....... 27 
 
 Taxes on real-estate ; taxes on personal property . 28 
 When and where taxes are assessed . . 29, 30 
 
 Tax-lists ....... 30 
 
 Cheating the government . . . . .31 
 
 The rate of taxation . . . . . 31 
 
 Undervaluation ; the burden of taxation . . 32, 33 
 
 The *' magic-fund " delusion . . . . 33j 34 
 
 Educational value of the town-meering ... 34 
 By-laws ....... 35 
 
 Power and responsibility . . . . .36 
 
 There is nothing especially American, democratic, or 
 
 meritorious about " rotation in office" . . 36 
 
 § 2. Origin of the Township 
 Town-meetings in ancient Greece and Rome . . 37 
 
 Clans ; the mark and the tun . . . • 38, 39 
 
 The Old- English township, the manor, and the parish 39, 40 
 The vestry-meeting . . . . . .41 
 
 Parish and vestry clerks ; beadles, waywardens, hay- 
 wards, common-drivers, churchwardens, etc. . 41, 42 
 Transition from the English parish to the New Eng- 
 land township . . . . . . 42, 43 
 
 Building of states out of smaller political units . . 44 
 
 Representation ; shire-motes ; Earl Simon's Parlia- 
 ment ....... 44, 45 
 
 xxiv
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 The township as the **unit of representation " in the 
 
 shire-mote and in the General Court ... 46 
 
 Contrast with the Russian village-community which is 
 
 not represented in the general government . 46-48 
 
 III 
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 § I . The County in its Beginnings 
 Why do we have counties ? . . . . .49 
 
 Clans and tribes ...... 50 
 
 The English nation, like the American, grew out of 
 
 the union of small states . . . . .51 
 
 Ealdorman and sheriff; shire-mote and county court 52, 53 
 The coroner, or "crown officer" . . . 53> 54 
 
 Justices of the peace ; the Quarter Sessions ; the lord 
 
 lieutenant . . . . . . 55> $6 
 
 Decline of the English county ; beginnings of counties 
 
 in Massachusetts . . . . . 56 
 
 § 2. The Modern County in Massachusetts 
 County commissioners, etc. ; shire-towns and court- 
 houses . . . . . . . 57> 5^ 
 
 Justices of the peace, and trial justices . . 58 
 
 The sheriff 59 
 
 § 3. The Old Virginia County 
 Virginia sparsely settled ; extensive land grants to in- 
 dividuals ....... 60 
 
 Navigable rivers ; absence of towns ; slavery . 61, 62 
 
 Social position of the settlers . . . . 62 
 
 Virginia parishes ; the vestry was a close corporation 63 
 
 Powers of the vestry . ..... 64 
 
 The county was the unit of representation . . 65 
 
 The county court was virtually a close corporation . 66 
 
 XXV
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 The county-seat, or Court House ... 66 
 
 Powers of the court ; the sheriff . . . 67, 68 
 
 The county-lieutenant ..... 69 
 
 Contrast between old Virginia and old New England, 
 
 in respect of local government .... 70 
 Jefferson's opinion of township government . . 70 
 
 *' Court-day " in old Virgmia . . . .71 
 
 Virginia has been prolific in great leaders . . 72, 73 
 
 IV 
 
 V 
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 § I . Various Local Systems 
 Parishes in South Carolina ..... 74 
 
 The back country ; the "regulators " . . 75 
 
 The district system . . . . . 76, 77 
 
 The modern South Carolina county . . . 77 
 
 The counties are too large . . . . .78 
 
 Tendency of the school district to develop into some- 
 thing like a township . . . . . 78 
 
 Local institutions in colonial Maryland ; the hundred 79 
 
 Clans ; brotherhoods, or phratries ; and tribes . . 80 
 
 Origin of the hundred ; the hundred court ; the high 
 
 constable ....... 81 
 
 Decay of the hundred ; hundred-meetings in Mary- 
 land 81,82 
 
 The hundred in Delaware ; the levy court, or repre- 
 sentative county assembly . . . . 83 
 The old Pennsylvania county .... 84 
 Town-meetings in New York . . . . 84 
 The county board of supervisors . . . .85 
 
 § 2. Settlement of the Public Domain 
 Westward movement of population along parallels of 
 
 latitude 86 
 
 xxvi
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Method of surveying the public lands . . .87 
 
 Origin of townships in the West . . . 87, 88 
 
 Formation of counties in the West ... 90 
 
 Some effects of this system . . . . 92 
 
 The reservation of a section for public schools . . 92 
 
 In this reservation there vv^ere the germs of township 
 
 government . . . . . . 93 
 
 But at first the county system prevailed ... 94 
 
 § 3. The Representative Township- County System in 
 
 the West 
 The town-meeting in Michigan . . . 95 
 
 Conflict between township and county systems in Illi- 
 nois ........ 96 
 
 Effects of the Ordinance of 1787 ... 97 
 
 Intense vitality of the township system ... 98 
 County option and township option in Missouri, 
 
 Nebraska, Minnesota, and Dakota . . 99 
 
 Grades of township government in the West . 99, 100 
 An excellent result of the absence of centralization in 
 
 the United States . . . . . loi 
 
 Effect of the self-governing school district in the South, 
 in preparing the way for the self-governing town- 
 ship . . . . . . . .102 
 
 Woman-suffrage in the school district . . 103, 104 
 
 THE CITY 
 
 § I. Direct and Indirect Government 
 
 Summary of the foregoing results ; township govern- 
 ment is direct, county government is indirect 105, 106 
 
 Representative government is necessitated in a county 
 by the extent of territory, and in a city by the mul- 
 titude of people ..... 106, 107 
 
 xxvii
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Josiah Quincy's account of the Boston town-meeting 
 in 1830 ....... 
 
 Distinctions between towns and cities in America and 
 in England ...... 109, 
 
 § 2. Origin of English Boroughs and Cities 
 Origin of the chesters and casters in Roman camps 
 Coalescence of towns into fortified boroughs 
 The borough as a hundred ; it acquires a court 
 The borough as a county ; it acquires a sheriff 
 Government of London under Henry I. . 
 The guilds ; the town guild, and Guild Hall 
 Government of London as perfected in the thirteenth 
 century ; mayor, aldermen, and common council . 
 The city of London, and the metropolitan district 
 English cities were for a long time the bulwarks of 
 liberty . . . . . . .117, 
 
 Simon de Montfort and the cities 
 Oligarchical abuses in English cities, beginning with 
 the Tudor period ...... 
 
 The Municipal Reform Act of 1835 . 
 Government of the city of New York before the Re- 
 volution ...... 120, 
 
 Changes after the Revolution .... 
 
 City government in Philadelphia in the eighteenth cen- 
 tury . . . • . . .123, 
 The very tradition of good government was lacking in 
 these cities ...... 
 
 § 3 . The Government of Cities in the United States 
 Several features of our municipal governments . 
 In many cases they do not seem to work well 126— i 
 
 Rapid growth of American cities 
 
 Some consequences of this rapid growth . . 130, 
 
 Wastefulness resulting from want of foresight 
 Growth in complexity of government in cities . 
 xxviii
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Illustrated by list of municipal officers in Boston 133, 134 
 How city government comes to be a mystery to the 
 
 citizens, in some respects harder to understand than 
 
 state and national government . . . 135 
 
 Dread of the "one-man power " has in many cases 
 
 led to scattering and weakening of responsibiHty 136, 137 
 Committees inefficient for executive purposes ; the 
 
 " Circumlocution Office " . . . .138 
 
 Alarming increase of city debts, and various attempts 
 
 to remedy the evil . . . . . 139 
 
 Experience of New York with state interference in 
 
 municipal affairs ; unsatisfactory results . 140, 141 
 
 The Tweed Ring in New York . . . 142 
 
 The present is a period of experiments . . .143 
 
 The new government of Brooklyn . . 143,144 
 
 Necessity of separating municipal from national poli- 
 tics ....... 145, 146 
 
 Notion that the suiFrage ought to be restricted ; evils 
 
 wrought by ignorant voters . . . .147 
 
 Evils wrought by wealthy speculators ; testimony of 
 
 the Pennsylvania Municipal Commission . . 148 
 
 Dangers of a restricted suffrage . . . .149 
 
 Baneful effects of mixing city politics with national 
 
 politics ....... 150 
 
 The "spoils system" must be destroyed, root and 
 
 branch ; ballot reform also indispensable . . 151 
 
 VI 
 
 THE STATE 
 
 § I . The Colonial Governments 
 Claims of Spain to the possession of North America 1 5 2 
 
 Claims of France and England . . . . 152 
 
 The London and Plymouth Companies . . I53> 154 
 Their common charter . . . . 154, 155 
 
 xxix
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Dissolution of the two companies .... 
 
 States formed in the three zones . . 156-I 
 
 Formation of representative governments ; House of 
 Burgesses in Virginia .... 159, 
 
 Company of Massachusetts Bay 
 
 Transfer of the charter from England to Massachu- 
 setts . . . . . . .161, 
 
 The General Court ; assistants and deputies 
 
 Virtual independence of Massachusetts, and quarrels 
 with the Crown ..... 
 
 New charter of Massachusetts in 1692 ; its liberties 
 curtailed ....... 
 
 Republican governments in Connecticut and Rhode 
 Island ........ 
 
 Counties palatine in England ; proprietary charter of 
 Maryland ..... 165- 
 
 Proprietary charter of Pennsylvania 
 
 Quarrels between Penns and Calverts ; Mason and 
 Dixon's line ...... 
 
 Other proprietary governments .... 
 
 They generally became unpopular 
 
 At the time of the Revolution there were three forms 
 of colonial government: i. Republican; 2. Pro- 
 prietary ; 3. Royal ..... 
 
 (After 1692 the government of Massachusetts might 
 be described as Semi-royal) ... 1 70, 
 
 In all three forms there was a representative assembly, 
 which alone could impose taxes 
 
 The governor's council was a kind of upper house 
 
 The colonial goverrmient was much like the English 
 system in miniature ..... 
 
 The Americans never admitted the supremacy of Par- 
 liament ....... 
 
 Except in the regulation of maritime commerce 
 
 In England there grew up the theory of the imperial 
 supremacy of Parliament . . . . •175 
 
 XXX
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 And the conflict between the British and American 
 theories was precipitated by becoming involved in 
 the political schemes of George III. . 176, 177 
 
 § 2. The Transition from Colonial to State Govern- 
 ments 
 Dissolution of assemblies and parliaments . . 177 
 
 Committees of correspondence ; provincial congresses 178 
 Provisional governments ; "governors" and "presi- 
 dents" ...... 179, 180 
 
 Origin of the senates . . . . . .181 
 
 Likenesses and differences between British and Ameri- 
 can systems . . . . . , 182 
 
 § 3. The State Governments 
 Later modifications . . . . 183, 184 
 
 Universal suffrage . . . . . .184 
 
 Separation between legislative and executive depart- 
 ments ; its advantages and disadvantages as compared 
 with the European plan . . . 185, 186 
 
 In our system the independence of the executive is 
 
 of vital importance . . . . . 186, 187 
 
 The state executive . . . . 187,188 
 
 The governor's functions : 1. Adviser of legislature ; 
 2. Commander of state militia ; 3. Royal preroga- 
 tive of pardon; 4. Veto power . . 189, 190 
 Importance of the veto power as a safeguard against 
 
 corruption . . . . . . 190 
 
 In building the state, the local self-government was 
 
 left unimpaired . . . . . .191 
 
 Instructive contrast with France . . . 192 
 
 Some causes of French political incapacity . 193,194 
 
 Vastness of the functions retained by the states in the 
 
 American Union .... *9S» ^9^ 
 
 Illustration from recent English history . . .197 
 
 Independence of the state courts . . . 198 
 
 xxxi
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Constitution of the state courts . . . .199 
 
 Elective and appointive judges . . , 200,201 
 
 VII 
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 In the American state there is a power above the legis- 
 lature ........ 202 
 
 Germs of the idea of a written constitution . . 203 
 
 Development of the idea of contract in Roman law ; 
 
 medieval charters . . . . . .204 
 
 The '* Great Charter " (1215) . . . 205 
 
 The *' Bill of Rights (1689)" . . . .206 
 
 Foreshadowing of the American idea by Sir Harry 
 
 Vane (1656) ...... 207 
 
 The Mayflower compact (1620) . . . 208, 209 
 
 The " Fundamental Orders " of Connecticut (1639) 2*-*9 
 Germinal development of the colonial charter toward 
 
 the modern state constitution . . 2 1 o, 2 1 1 
 
 Abnormal development of some recent state constitu- 
 tions, encroaching upon the legislature . 211,212 
 The process of amending constitutions . 212, 213 
 The Swiss *' Referendum " . . . ,214 
 
 VIII 
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 § I . Origin of the Federal Union 
 Circumstances favourable to the union of the colonies 215 
 The New England Confederacy (1643-84) 216, 217 
 
 Albany Congress (1754) 5 Stamp Act Congress 
 (1765) ; Committees of Correspondence (1772— 
 
 75) 217,218 
 
 The Continental Congress (1774-89) . . .219 
 
 xxxii
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 The several states were never at any time sovereign 
 
 states . . . . . . . 220 
 
 The Articles of Confederation . . . .220 
 
 Nature and pow^ers of the Continental Congress 221, 222 
 It could not impose taxes, and therefore was not fully 
 
 endowed with sovereignty . . . . 223 
 
 Decline of the Continental Congress . . .224 
 
 Weakness of the sentiment of union ; anarchical tend- 
 encies . , . . . . . 225 
 
 The Federal Convention (1787). . . 226, 227 
 
 § 2. The Federal Congress 
 
 The House of Representatives .... 
 
 The three fifths compromise . . . 
 
 The Connecticut compromise . . o . 
 
 The Senate . . . . . . 23I3 
 
 Electoral districts ; the ** Gerrymander ** . 2333 
 
 The election at large . . • . .235, 
 
 Time of assembling . , . . 236,237 
 
 Privileges of members . , . . .238 
 
 The Speaker . . . . . . 238 
 
 Impeachment in England; in the United States 239, 240 
 The president's veto power .... 240, 241 
 
 228 
 229 
 230 
 232 
 
 234 
 236 
 
 § 3 . The Federal Executive 
 
 The title of ♦' President " . . . . 242 
 
 The electoral college . . . . . 243, 244 
 
 The twelfth amendment . . . . 245, 246 
 
 The electoral commission (1877). . , . 247 
 
 Provisions against a lapse of the presidency . 247, 248 
 
 Original purpose of the electoral college not fulfilled 249 
 
 Electors formerly chosen in many states by districts ; 
 
 now always on a general ticket . . . 249, 250 
 
 " Minority presidents " . . . . 250 
 
 Advantages of the electoral system . . . .251 
 
 xxxiii
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Nomination of candidates by congressional caucus 
 
 (1800-24) 252,253 
 
 Nominating conventions; the "primary;" the dis- 
 trict convention ; the national convention . 253, 254 
 Qualifications for the presidency; the term of office 254, 255 
 Powers and duties of the president . . . 255 
 
 The president's message . . . . 256, 257 
 
 Executive departments ; the cabinet . . 257, 258 
 
 The secretary of state . . . . . .259 
 
 Diplomatic and consular service . . 260, 261 
 
 The secretary of the treasury . . . 261, 262 
 
 The other departments . . . . 262, 263 
 
 § 4. The Nation and the States 
 Difference between confederation and federal union 263, 264 
 Powers granted to Congress . . . 264, 265 
 
 The " Elastic Clause " 266 
 
 Powers denied to the states ..... 266 
 
 Evils of an inconvertible paper currency . 266, 267 
 
 Powers denied to Congress ..... 268 
 
 Bills of attainder ...... 269 
 
 Intercitizenship ; mode of making amendments . 269, 270 
 
 § 5 . The Federal Judiciary 
 
 Need for a federal judiciary . . . . .271 
 
 Federal courts and judges . . . . 272 
 
 District attorneys and marshals . . . .273 
 
 The federal jurisdiction . . . . . 273 
 
 § 6. Territorial Government 
 The Northwest Territory and the Ordinance of 
 
 1787 274,275 
 
 Other territories and their government . . 276 
 
 § 7. Ratification and Amendments 
 
 Provisions for ratification . . . . ,276 
 
 xxxiv
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Concessions to the South ..... 277 
 
 Demand for a bill of rights ..... 277 
 The first ten amendments . . . . 278 
 
 § 8. A Few Words about Politics 
 Federal taxation . . . . . .279 
 
 Hamilton's policy ; excise ; tariff . . 279, 280 
 
 Origin of American political parties ; strict and loose 
 
 construction of the Elastic Clause . . 281, 282 
 
 Tariff, Internal Improvements, and National Bank 282, 283 
 Civil Service reform . . . . . 284 
 
 Origin of the *' spoils system " in the state politics of 
 
 New York and Pennsylvania . . . .285 
 
 ** Rotation in office ; " the Craw^ford Act . 285, 286 
 
 How^ the "spoils system " was made national . 286, 287 
 The Civil Service Act of 1883 . . 287, 288 
 
 The Australian ballot • . . . . . .289 
 
 The English system of accounting for election ex- 
 penses ...... 290, 291 
 
 Bibliographical Notes . . . ... 293 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 A. The Articles of Confederation . . , 309 
 
 B. The Constitution of the United States . 321 
 
 C. Magna Charta . . . . . •352 
 
 D. Part of the Bill of Rights, 1689 . . 377 
 
 E. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut . 383 
 
 F. The States classified according to origin . 391 
 
 G. Table of states and territories . . '393 
 H. Population of the United States, 1 790-1900, 
 
 with percentages of urban population . 394 
 
 I. An Examination Paper for Customs Clerks . 394 
 
 J. The New York Corrupt Practices Act of 1890 401 
 
 K. Specimen of an Australian ballot . . 408 
 
 Index . . . . . , , .415
 
 CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 I 
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 IN that strangely beautiful story, " The 
 Cloister and the Hearth," in which Charles 
 Reade has drawn such a vivid picture of 
 human life at the close of the Middle Ages, 
 there is a good description of the siege of a re- 
 volted town by the army of the Duke of Bur- 
 gundy. Arrows whiz, catapults hurl their pon- 
 derous stones, wooden towers are built, secret 
 mines are exploded. The sturdy citizens, led 
 by a tall knight who seems to bear a charmed 
 life, baffle every device of the besiegers. At 
 length the citizens capture the brother of the 
 duke's general, and the besiegers capture the 
 tall knight, who turns out to be no knight after 
 all, but just a plebeian hosier. The duke's gen- 
 eral is on the point of ordering the tradesman 
 who has made so much trouble to be shot, but 
 the latter still remains master of the situation ; 
 for, as he dryly observes, if any harm comes to 
 
 I
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 him, the enraged citizens will hang the general's 
 brother. Some parley ensues, in which the 
 shrewd hosier promises for the townsfolk to set 
 free their prisoner and pay a round sum of 
 money if the besieging army will depart and 
 leave them in peace. The offer is accepted, and 
 so the matter is amicably settled. As the 
 worthy citizen is about to take his leave, the 
 general ventures a word of inquiry as to the 
 cause of the town's revolt. " What, then, is 
 "Too much your grievance, my good friend?" 
 taxes" Our hosier knight, though deft with 
 
 needle and keen with lance, has a stammering 
 tongue. He answers : " Tuta — tuta — tuta — 
 tuta — too much taxes !" 
 
 "Too much taxes : " those three little words 
 furnish us with a clue wherewith to understand 
 and explain a great deal of history. A great 
 many sieges of towns, so horrid to have en- 
 dured though so picturesque to read about, hun- 
 dreds of weary marches and deadly battles, 
 thousands of romantic plots that have led their 
 inventors to the scaffold, have owed their origin 
 to questions of taxation. The issue between the 
 ducal commander and the warlike tradesman 
 has been tried over and over again in every 
 country and in every age, and not always has 
 the oppressor been so speedily thwarted and got 
 rid of. The questions as to how much the taxes 
 shall be, and who is to decide how much they 
 
 2
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 shall be, are always and in every stage of society 
 questions of most fundamental importance. 
 And ever since men began to make history, a 
 very large part of what they have done, in the 
 way of making history, has been the attempt to 
 settle these questions, whether by discussion or 
 by blows, whether in council chambers or on 
 the battlefield. The French Revolution of 
 1789, the most terrible political convulsion of 
 modern times, was caused chiefly by " too much 
 taxes," and by the fact that the people who paid 
 the taxes were not the people who decided what 
 the taxes were to be. Our own Revolution, 
 which made the United States a nation inde- 
 pendent of Great Britain, was brought on by 
 the disputed question as to who was to decide 
 what taxes American citizens must pay. 
 
 What, then, are taxes? The question is one 
 which is apt to come up, sooner or later, to 
 puzzle children. They find no difficulty in un- 
 derstanding the butcher's bill for so many 
 pounds of meat, or the tailor's bill for so many 
 suits of clothes, where the value received is 
 something that can be seen and handled. But 
 the tax bill, though it comes as inevi- what is tax- 
 tably as the autumnal frosts, bears no ^"""-^ 
 such obvious relation to the incidents of do- 
 mestic life ; it is not quite so clear what the 
 money goes for ; and hence it is apt to be paid 
 by the head of the household with more or less 
 
 3
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 grumbling, while for the younger members of 
 the family it requires some explanation. 
 
 It only needs to be pointed out, however, 
 that in every town, some things are done for 
 the benefit of all the inhabitants of the town, 
 things which concern one person just as much 
 as another. Thus roads are made and kept in 
 repair, school-houses are built and salaries paid 
 to school-teachers, there are constables who 
 take criminals to jail, there are engines for put- 
 ting out fires, there are public libraries, town 
 cemeteries, and poor-houses. Money raised for 
 these purposes, which are supposed to concern 
 all the inhabitants, is supposed to be paid by 
 all the inhabitants, each one furnishing his 
 share ; and the share which each one pays is his 
 town tax. 
 
 From this illustration it would appear that 
 taxes are private property taken for public pur- 
 poses ; and in making this statement we come 
 very near the truth. Taxes are portions of pri- 
 vate property which a government takes for its 
 public purposes. Before going farther, let us 
 pause to observe that there is one other way, 
 _ , besides taxation, in which government 
 
 Taxation and . . ^ 
 
 eminent do- sometimes takes private property for 
 '"^ public purposes. Roads and streets 
 
 are of great importance to the general public ; 
 and the government of the town or city in 
 which you live may see fit, in opening a new 
 
 4
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 street, to run it across your garden, or to make 
 you move your house or shop out of the way 
 for it. In so doing, the government either takes 
 away or damages some of your property. It 
 exercises rights over your property without ask- 
 ing your permission. This power of govern- 
 ment over private property is called " the right 
 of eminent domain." It means that a man's 
 private interests must not be allowed to obstruct 
 the interests of the whole community in which 
 he lives. But in two ways the exercise of emi- 
 nent domain is unlike taxation. In the first 
 place, it is only occasional, and affects only cer- 
 tain persons here or there, whereas taxation 
 goes on perpetually and affects all persons who 
 own property. In the second place, when the 
 government takes away a piece of your land to 
 make a road, it pays you money in return for 
 it; perhaps not quite so much as you believ^e 
 the piece of land was worth in the market ; the 
 average human nature is doubtless such that 
 men seldom give fair measure for measure un- 
 less they feel compelled to, and it is not easy 
 to put a government under compulsion. Still 
 it gives you something; it does not ask you to 
 part with your property for nothing. Now in 
 the case of taxation, the government takes your 
 money and seems to make no return to you in- 
 dividually ; but it is supposed to return to you 
 the value of it in the shape of well-paved 
 
 5
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 streets, good schools, efficient protection against 
 criminals, and so forth. 
 
 In giving this brief preliminary definition of 
 taxes and taxation, we have already begun to 
 speak of " the government " of the town or city 
 in which you live. We shall presently have to 
 speak of other "governments," — as the gov- 
 ernment of your state and the government of 
 the United States ; and we shall now and then 
 
 What is gov- have occasion to allude to the gov- 
 ernment? ernments of other countries in which 
 the people are free, as, for example, England ; 
 and of some countries in which the people are 
 not free, as, for example, Russia. It is desira- 
 ble, therefore, that we should here at the start 
 make sure what we mean by "government," in 
 order that we may have a clear idea of what we 
 are talking about. 
 
 Our verb "to govern" is an Old French 
 word, one of the great host of French words 
 which became a part of the English language 
 between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, 
 when so much French was spoken in England. 
 The French word was gouverner, and its oldest 
 form was the Latin guhernare^ a word which 
 the Romans borrowed from the Greek, and 
 meant originally " to steer the ship." Hence it 
 very naturally came to mean " to guide," " to 
 direct," "to command." The comparison be- 
 tween governing and steering was a happy one. 
 
 6
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 To govern is not to command as a master com- 
 mands a slave, but it is to issue orders and give 
 directions for the common good ; for the inter- 
 ests of the man at the helm are the same as 
 those of the people in the ship. All The "ship 
 must float or sink together. Hence °^^^^^^" 
 we sometimes speak of the "ship of state," and 
 we often call the state a " commonwealth," or 
 something in the weal or welfare of which all 
 the people are alike interested. 
 
 Government, then, is the directing or man- 
 aging of such affairs as concern all the people 
 alike, — as, for example, the punishment of 
 criminals, the enforcement of contracts, the de- 
 fence against foreign enemies, the maintenance 
 of roads and bridges, and so on. To the di- 
 recting or managing of such affairs all the peo- 
 ple are expected to contribute, each according 
 to his ability, in the shape of taxes. Govern- 
 ment is something which is supported by the 
 people and kept alive by taxation. There is no 
 other way of keeping it alive. 
 
 The business of carrying on government — 
 of steering the ship of state — either requires 
 some special training, or absorbs all the time 
 and attention of those who carry it on ; and ac- 
 cordingly, in all countries, certain persons or 
 groups of persons are selected or in some way 
 set apart, for longer or shorter periods of time, 
 to perform the work of government. Such per- 
 
 7
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 sons may be a king with his council, as in the 
 England of the twelfth century ; or a parliament 
 led by a responsible ministry, as in the England 
 of- to-day ; or a president and two houses of 
 congress, as in the United States ; or a board 
 of selectmen, as in a New England town. When 
 " The gov- we speak of " a government " or " the 
 emment" government," we often mean the group 
 of persons thus set apart for carrying on the 
 work of government. Thus, by " the Gladstone 
 government " we mean Mr. Gladstone, with his 
 colleagues in the cabinet and his Liberal ma- 
 jority in the House of Commons ; and by " the 
 Lincoln government," properly speaking, was 
 meant President Lincoln, with the Republican 
 majorities in the Senate and House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 " The government " has always many things 
 to do, and there are many different lights in 
 which we might regard it. But for the present 
 there is one thing which we need especially to 
 keep in mind. " The government " is the 
 power which can rightfully take away a part of 
 your property, in the shape of taxes, to be used 
 Whatever for pubHc purposcs. A govemmcnt 
 hT'^'\he^ is not worthy of the name, and can- 
 govern- not lottg bc kept in existence, unless 
 
 ment " is . • i • j 
 
 the power It Can raisc money by taxation, and 
 which taxes ^gg forcc, if neccssary, in collecting 
 its taxes. The only general government of the
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 United States during the Revolutionary War, 
 and for six years after its close, was the Conti- 
 nental Congress, which had no authority to raise 
 money by taxation. In order to feed and clothe 
 the army and pay its officers and soldiers, it was 
 obliged to ask for money from the several states, 
 and hardly ever got as much as was needed. It 
 was obliged to borrow millions of dollars from 
 France and Holland, and to issue promissory 
 notes which soon became worthless. After the 
 war was over it became clear that this so-called 
 government could neither preserve order nor 
 pay its debts, and accordingly it ceased to be 
 respected either at home or abroad, and it be- 
 came necessary for the American people to 
 adopt a new form of government. Between the 
 old Continental Congress and the government 
 under which we have lived since 1789, the dif- 
 ferences were many ; but by far the most es- 
 sential difference was that the new government 
 could raise money by taxation, and was thus 
 enabled properly to carry on the work of gov- 
 erning. 
 
 If we are in any doubt as to what is really the 
 government of some particular country, we can- 
 not do better than observe what person or per- 
 sons in that country are clothed with authority 
 to tax the people. Mere names, as customarily 
 applied to governments, are apt to be deceptive. 
 Thus in the middle of the eighteenth century 
 
 9
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 France and England were both called " king- 
 doms ; " but so far as kingly power was con- 
 cerned, Louis XV. was a very different sort of 
 a king from George II. The French king could 
 impose taxes on his people, and it might there- 
 fore be truly said that the government of France 
 was in the king. Indeed, it was Louis XV. 's 
 immediate predecessor who made the famous 
 remark, " The state is myself." But the Eng- 
 lish king could not impose taxes ; the only 
 power in England that could do that was the 
 House of Commons, and accordingly it is cor- 
 rect to say that in England, at the time of which 
 we are speaking, the government was (as it still 
 is) in the House of Commons. 
 
 I say, then, the most essential feature of a 
 government — or at any rate the feature with 
 which it is most important for us to become 
 familiar at the start — is its power of taxation. 
 The government is that which taxes. If in- 
 Difference dividuals takc away some of your pro- 
 tbiTand^^" perty for purposes of their own, it is 
 robbery robbcry ; you lose your money and 
 
 get nothing in return. But if the government 
 takes away some of your property in the shape 
 of taxes, it is supposed to render to you an 
 equivalent in the shape of good government, 
 something without which our lives and property 
 would not be safe. Herein seems to lie the dif- 
 ference between taxation and robbery. When 
 
 lO
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 the highwayman points his pistol at me and I 
 hand him my purse and watch, I am robbed. 
 But when I pay the tax-collector, who can seize 
 my watch or sell my house over my head if I 
 refuse, I am simply paying what is fairly due 
 from me toward supporting the government. 
 
 In what we have been saying it has thus far 
 been assumed that the government is in the 
 hands of upright and competent men and is 
 properly administered. It is now time to ob- 
 serve that robbery may be committed by gov- 
 ernments as well as by individuals. If the busi- 
 ness of governing is placed in the hands of men 
 who have an imperfect sense of their duty to- 
 ward the public, if such men raise „ 
 
 ■^ . Sometimes 
 
 money by taxation and then spend it taxation h 
 on their own pleasures, or to increase '^° ^^'^ 
 their political influence, or for other illegitimate 
 purposes, it is really robbery, just as much as 
 if these men were to stand with pistols by the 
 roadside and empty the wallets of people pass- 
 ing by. They make a dishonest use of their 
 high position as members of government, and 
 extort money for which they make no return in 
 the shape of services to the public. History is 
 full of such lamentable instances of misgovern- 
 ment, and one of the most important uses of 
 the study of history is to teach us how they 
 have occurred, in order that we may learn how 
 to avoid them, as far as possible, in the future. 
 
 II
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 When we begin in childhood the study of 
 history we are attracted chiefly by anecdotes of 
 heroes and their battles, kings and their courts. 
 The study of how the Spartans fought at Ther- 
 history mopylae, how Alfred let the cakes 
 
 burn, how Henry VIII. beheaded his wives, 
 how Louis XIV. used to live at Versailles. It is 
 quite right that we should be interested in such 
 personal details, the more so the better ; for 
 history has been made by individual men and 
 women, and until we have understood the char- 
 acter of a great many of those who have gone 
 before us, and how they thought and felt in 
 their time, we have hardly made a fair beginning 
 in the study of history. The greatest historians, 
 such as Freeman and Mommsen, show as lively 
 an interest in persons as in principles ; and I 
 would not give much for the historical theories 
 of a man who should declare himself indifferent 
 to little personal details. 
 
 Some people, however, never outgrow the 
 child's notion of history as merely a mass of 
 pretty anecdotes or stupid annals, without any 
 practical bearing upon our own every-day life. 
 There could not be a greater mistake. Very 
 It is fiiu of y^i^^^ has happened in the past which 
 practical has not somc immediate practical les- 
 
 lessons ; ~ . . j i • 
 
 sons tor us ; and when we study his- 
 tory in order to profit by the experience of our 
 ancestors, to find out wherein they succeeded 
 
 12
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 and wherein they failed, in order that we may- 
 emulate their success and avoid their errors, 
 then history becomes the noblest and most val- 
 uable of studies. It then becomes, moreover, 
 an arduous pursuit, at once oppressive and fas- 
 cinating from its endless wealth of material, and 
 abounding in problems which the most diligent 
 student can never hope completely to solve. 
 
 Few people have the leisure to undertake a 
 systematic and thorough study of history, but 
 every one ought to find time to learn the prin- 
 cipal features of the governments under which 
 we live, and to get some inkling of the way in 
 which these governments have come into exist- 
 ence and of the causes which have made them 
 what they are. Some such knowledge andheipfuito 
 is necessary for the proper discharge ^ouw^be" 
 of the duties of citizenship. Political i°°^ citizens 
 questions, great and small, are perpetually aris- 
 ing, to be discussed in the newspapers and voted 
 on at the polls ; and it is the duty of every man 
 and woman, young or old, to try to understand 
 them. That is a duty which we owe, each and 
 all of us, to ourselves and to our fellow-country- 
 men. For if such questions are not settled in 
 accordance with knowledge, they will be settled 
 in accordance with ignorance ; and that is a kind 
 of settlement likely to be fraught with results 
 disastrous to everybody. It cannot be too often 
 repeated that eternal vigilance is the price of 
 13
 
 TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 liberty. People sometimes argue as if they sup- 
 posed that because our national government is 
 Eternal vigi- Called a rcpublic and not a monarchy, 
 prk"of lib- ^^^ because we have free schools and 
 erty universal suffrage, therefore our liber- 
 
 ties are forever secure. Our government is, in- 
 deed, in most respects, a marvel of political skill ; 
 and in ordinary times it runs so smoothly that 
 now and then, absorbed as most of us are in do- 
 mestic cares, we are apt to forget that it will not 
 run of itself. To insure that the government of 
 the nation or the state, of the city or the town- 
 ship, shall be properly administered, requires 
 from every citizen the utmost watchfulness and 
 intelligence of which he is capable. 
 
 14
 
 II 
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 § I. The New England Township. 
 
 OF the various kinds of government to 
 be found in the United States, we may- 
 begin by considering that of the New 
 England township. As we shall presently see, 
 it is in principle of all known forms of govern- 
 ment the oldest as well as the simplest. Let us 
 observe how the New England township grew 
 up. 
 
 When people from England first came to 
 dwell in the wilderness of Massachusetts Bay, 
 they settled in groups upon small irregular- 
 shaped patches of land, which soon came to be 
 known as townships. There were several rea- 
 sons why they settled thus in small groups, 
 instead of scattering about over the country 
 and carving out broad estates for themselves. 
 In the first place, their principal rea- New Eng- 
 son for coming to New England was ^^""^ ^^^ 
 
 . ' . " . settled by 
 
 their dissatisfaction with the way in church con- 
 which church affairs were managed in s'^^e^^'""^ 
 the old country. They wished to bring about a 
 reform in the church, in such wise that the 
 
 15
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 members of a congregation should have more 
 voice than formerly in the church government, 
 and that the minister of each congregation should 
 be more independent than formerly of the 
 bishop and of the civil government. They also 
 wished to abolish sundry rites and customs of 
 the church of which they had come to disap- 
 prove. Finding the resistance to their reforms 
 quite formidable in England, and having some 
 reason to fear that they might be themselves 
 crushed in the struggle, they crossed the ocean 
 in order to carry out their ideas in a new and 
 remote country where they might be compara- 
 tively secure from interference. Hence it was 
 quite natural that they should come in congre- 
 gations, led by their favourite ministers, — such 
 men, for example, as Higginson and Cotton, 
 Hooker and Davenport. When such men, 
 famous in England for their bold preaching 
 and imperilled thereby, decided to move to 
 America, a considerable number of their parish- 
 ioners would decide to accompany them, and 
 similarly minded members of neighbouring 
 churches would leave their own pastor and join 
 in the migration. Such a group of people, ar- 
 riving on the coast of Massachusetts, would 
 naturally select some convenient locality, where 
 they might build their houses near together 
 and all go to the same church. 
 
 This migration, therefore, was a movement, 
 i6
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 not of individuals or of separate families, but 
 of church congregations, and it continued to be 
 so as the settlers made their way inland and 
 westward. The first river towns of Connecticut 
 were founded by congregations coming from 
 Dorchester, Cambridge, and Watertown. This 
 kind of settlement was favoured by the govern- 
 ment of Massachusetts, which made 
 grants of land, not to individuals but 
 to companies of people who wished to live to- 
 gether and attend the same church. 
 
 In the second place, the soil of New Eng- 
 land was not favourable to the cultivation of 
 great quantities of staple articles, such as rice or 
 tobacco, so that there was nothing to tempt 
 people to undertake extensive plantations. 
 Most of the people lived on small farms, each 
 family raising but little more than enough food 
 for its own support ; and the small 
 
 ^ , f. , . ... Small farms 
 
 size or the rarms made it possible to 
 have a good many in a compact neighbourhood. 
 It appeared also that towns could be more easily 
 defended against the Indians than scattered 
 plantations ; and this doubtless helped to keep 
 people together, although if there had been 
 any strong inducement for solitary pioneers to 
 plunge into the great woods, as in later years so 
 often happened at the West, it is not likely 
 that any dread of the savages would have hin- 
 dered them. 
 
 17
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 Thus the early settlers of New England came 
 to live in townships. A township would con- 
 sist of about as many farms as could be disposed 
 within convenient distance from the meeting- 
 house, where all the inhabitants, young and old, 
 gathered every Sunday, coming on horseback 
 or afoot. The meeting-house was thus centrally 
 Township situated, and near it was the town pas- 
 and viUage ^^j-e or " common," with the school- 
 house and the blockhouse, or rude fortress for 
 defence against the Indians. For the latter 
 building some commanding position was apt to 
 be selected, and hence we so often find the old 
 village streets of New England running along 
 elevated ridges or climbing over beetling hill- 
 tops. Around the meeting-house and common 
 the dwellings gradually clustered into a village, 
 and after a while the tavern, store, and town- 
 house made their appearance. 
 
 Among the people who thus tilled the farms 
 and built up the villages of New England, the 
 differences in what we should call social position, 
 though noticeable, were not extreme. While in 
 England some had been esquires or country 
 magistrates, or " lords of the manor," — a 
 phrase which does not mean a member of the 
 peerage, but a landed proprietor with dependent 
 tenants ; ^ some had been yeomen, or persons 
 holding farms by some free kind of tenure ; 
 ^ Compare the Scottish " laird."
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 some had been artisans or tradesmen in cities. 
 All had for many generations been more or 
 less accustomed to self-government ^ . , . 
 
 ~ .. . Social posi- 
 
 and to public meetmgs for discussmg tion of 
 local affairs. That self-government, ^^"^^" 
 especially as far as church matters were con- 
 cerned, they were stoutly bent upon maintain- 
 ing and extending. Indeed, that was what they 
 had crossed the ocean for. Under these circum- 
 stances they developed a kind of government 
 which we may describe in the present tense, for 
 its methods are pretty much the same to-day 
 that they were two centuries ago. 
 
 In a New England township the people di- 
 rectly govern themselves ; the government is the 
 people, or, to speak with entire precision, it is 
 all the male inhabitants of one and twenty years 
 of age and upwards. The people tax themselves. 
 Once each year, usually in March, but some- 
 times as early as February or as late as April, a 
 *' town-meeting " is held, at which all The town- 
 the grown men of the township are ""^^^'"s 
 expected to be present and to vote, while any 
 one may introduce motions or take part in the 
 discussion. In early times there was a fine for 
 non-attendance, but that is no longer the case ; 
 it is supposed that a due regard to his own in- 
 terests will induce every man to come. 
 
 The town-meeting is held in the town-house, 
 but at first it used to be held in the church, 
 
 19
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 which was thus a " meeting-house " for civil as 
 well as ecclesiastical purposes. At the town- 
 meeting measures relating to the administration 
 of town affairs are discussed and adopted or re- 
 jected ; appropriations are made for the public 
 expenses of the town, or in other words the 
 amount of the town taxes for the year is deter- 
 mined ; and town officers are elected for the 
 year. Let us first enumerate these officers. 
 
 The principal executive magistrates of the 
 town are the selectmen. They are three, five, 
 seven, or nine in number, according to the size 
 of the town and the amount of public business 
 to be transacted. The odd number insures a 
 majority decision in case of any difference of 
 opinion among them. They have the general 
 
 management of the public business. 
 
 They issue warrants for the holding 
 of town-meetings, and they can call such a meet- 
 ing at any time during the year when there 
 seems to be need for it, but the warrant must 
 always specify the subjects which are to be dis- 
 cussed and acted on at the meeting. The select- 
 men also lay out highways, grant licenses, and 
 impanel jurors ; they may act as health officers 
 and issue orders regarding sewerage, the abate- 
 ment of nuisances, or the isolation of contagious 
 diseases ; in many cases they act as assessors of 
 taxes, and as overseers of the poor. They are 
 the proper persons to listen to complaints if 
 
 20
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 anything goes wrong In the town. In county 
 matters and state matters they speak for the 
 town, and if it is a party to a lawsuit they repre- 
 sent it in court ; for the New England town is a 
 legal corporation, and as such can hold property, 
 and sue and be sued. In a certain sense the 
 selectmen may be said to be " the government " 
 of the town during the intervals between the 
 town-meetings. 
 
 An officer no less important than the select- 
 men is the town-clerk. He keeps the record of 
 all votes passed in the town-meetings. ^ , , 
 
 t' &_ Town-clerk 
 
 He also records the names of candi- 
 dates and the number of votes for each in the 
 election of state and county officers. He records 
 the births, marriages, and deaths in the town- 
 ship, and issues certificates to persons who 
 declare an intention of marriage. He likewise 
 keeps on record accurate descriptions of the po- 
 sition and bounds of public roads ; and, in short, 
 has general charge of all matters of town-record. 
 
 Every town has also its treasurer, who receives 
 and takes care of the money coming in from the 
 taxpayers, or whatever money belongs Town- 
 to the town. Out of this money he ^'^^"^'^^ 
 pays the public expenses. He must keep a strict 
 account of his receipts and payments, and make 
 a report of them each year. 
 
 Every town has one or more constables, who 
 serve warrants from the selectmen and writs from 
 
 21
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 the law courts. They pursue criminals and take 
 
 them to jail. They summon jurors. In many 
 
 towns they serve as collectors of taxes, 
 
 Co lists blcs 
 
 but in many other towns a special offi- 
 cer is chosen for that purpose. When a person 
 fails to pay his taxes, after a specified time the 
 collector has authority to seize upon his pro- 
 perty and sell it at auction, paying the tax and 
 costs out of the proceeds of the sale, and hand- 
 ing over the balance to the owner. In some 
 cases, where no property can be found and there 
 is reason to believe that the delinquent is not 
 acting in good faith, he can be arrested and 
 kept in prison until the tax and costs are paid, 
 or until he is released by the proper legal 
 methods. 
 
 Where the duties of the selectmen are likely 
 to be too numerous, the town may choose three 
 Assessors of Of morc asscssors of taxes to prepare 
 ?vTrsee«'^of ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ; and three or more over- 
 the poor sccrs of the poor, to regulate the man- 
 agement of the village almshouse and confer 
 with other towns upon such questions as often 
 arise concerning the settlement and maintenance 
 of homeless paupers. 
 
 Every town has its school committee. In 
 1647 th^ legislature of Massachusetts enacted a 
 Public law with the following preamble : " It 
 
 schools being one chief project of that old de- 
 
 luder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge 
 
 22
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 of the Scriptures, as in former times by keeping 
 them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter 
 times by persuading from the use of tongues, 
 that so at least the true sense and meaning of 
 the original might be clouded and corrupted 
 with false glosses of deceivers ; to the end that 
 learning may not be buried in the graves of our 
 forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the 
 Lord assisting our endeavours ; " it was there- 
 fore ordered that every township containing fifty 
 families or householders should forthwith set up 
 a school in which children might be taught to 
 read and write, and that every township con- 
 taining one hundred families or householders 
 should set up a school in which boys might be 
 fitted for entering Harvard College. Even be- 
 fore this statute, several towns, as for instance 
 Roxbury and Dedham, had begun to appropri- 
 ate money for free schools ; and these were the 
 beginnings of a system of public education which 
 has come to be adopted throughout the United 
 States. 
 
 The school committee exercises powers of 
 such a character as to make it a body of great 
 importance. The term of service of school 
 the members is three years, one third committees 
 being chosen annually. The number of 'mem- 
 bers must therefore be some multiple of three. 
 The slow change in the membership of the board 
 insures that a large proportion of the members 
 23
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 shall always be familiar with the duties of the 
 place. The school committee must visit all the 
 public schools at least once a month, and make 
 a report to the town every year. It is for them 
 to decide what text-books are to be used. They 
 examine candidates for the position of teacher 
 and issue certificates to those whom they select. 
 The certificate is issued in duplicate, and one 
 copy is handed to the selectmen as a warrant 
 that the teacher is entitled to receive a salary. 
 Teachers are appointed for a term of one year, 
 but where their work is satisfactory the appoint- 
 ments are usually renewed year after year. A 
 recent act in Massachusetts permits the appoint- 
 ment of teachers to serve during good behaviour, 
 but few boards have as yet availed themselves 
 of this law. If the amount of work to be done 
 seems to require it, the committee appoints a 
 superintendent of schools. He is a sort of lieu- 
 tenant of the school committee, and under its 
 general direction carries on the detailed work of 
 supervision. 
 
 Other town ofHcers are the surveyors of high- 
 ways, who are responsible for keeping the roads 
 and bridges in repair ; field-drivers and pound- 
 keepers ; fence-viewers ; surveyors of lumber, 
 measurers of wood, and sealers of weights and 
 measures. 
 
 The field-driver takes stray animals to the 
 pound, and then notifies their owner ; or if he 
 24
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 does not know who is the owner he posts a 
 description of the animals in some such place 
 as the village store or tavern, or has it pub- 
 lished in the nearest country news- Fieid.drivere 
 paper. Meanwhile the strays are duly and pound- 
 fed by the pound-keeper, who does 
 not let them out of his custody until all expenses 
 have been paid. 
 
 If the owners of contiguous farms, gardens, 
 or fields get into a dispute about their partition 
 fences or walls, they may apply to one Fence- 
 of the fence-viewers, of whom each '^'^"'ers 
 town has at least two. The fence-viewer decides 
 the matter, and charges a small fee for his ser- 
 vices. Where it is necessary he may order suit- 
 able walls or fences to be built. 
 
 The surveyors of lumber measure and mark 
 lumber offered for sale. The measurers of wood 
 do the same for firewood. The sealers other 
 test the correctness of weights and °^'^"^ 
 measures used in trade, and tradesmen are not 
 allowed to use weights and measures that have 
 not been thus officially examined and sealed. 
 Measurers and sealers may be appointed by the 
 selectmen. 
 
 Such are the officers always to be found in 
 the Massachusetts town, except where the 
 duties of some of them are discharged by the 
 selectmen. Of these officers, the selectmen, 
 town-clerk, treasurer, constable, school com- 
 
 25
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 mittee, and assessors must be elected by ballot 
 at the annual town-meeting. 
 
 When this meeting is to be called the select- 
 men issue a warrant for the purpose, specifying 
 the time and place of meeting and the nature 
 of the business to be transacted. The constable 
 posts copies of the warrant in divers conspicu- 
 Caiiine the °^^ placcs not Icss than a week before 
 town-meet- the time appointed. Then, after mak- 
 *"^ ing a note upon the warrant that he 
 
 has duly served it, he hands it over to the town- 
 clerk. On the appointed day, when the people 
 have assembled, the town-clerk calls the meet- 
 ing to order and reads the warrant. The meet- 
 ing then proceeds to choose by ballot its pre- 
 siding officer, or " moderator," and business 
 goes on in accordance with parliamentary cus- 
 toms pretty generally recognized among all 
 people who speak English. 
 
 At this meeting the amount of money to be 
 raised by taxation for town purposes is deter- 
 mined. But, as we shall see, every inhabitant 
 of a town lives not only under a town govern- 
 ment, but also under a county government and 
 a state government, and all these governments 
 Town coun- ^avc to bc supportcd by taxation. In 
 ty, and Massachusctts the state and the 
 
 county make use of the machinery of 
 the town government in order to assess and 
 collect their taxes. The total amounts to be 
 
 26
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 raised are equitably divided among the several 
 towns and cities, so that each town pays its 
 proportionate share. Each year, therefore, the 
 town assessors know that a certain amount of 
 money must be raised from the taxpayers of 
 their town, — partly for the town, partly for the 
 county, partly for the state, — and for the general 
 convenience they usually assess it upon the tax- 
 payers all at once. The amounts raised for the 
 state and county are usually very much smaller 
 than the amount raised for the town. As these 
 amounts are all raised in the town and by town 
 officers, we shall find it convenient to sum up in 
 this place what we have to say about the way 
 in which taxes are raised. Bear in mind that we 
 are still considering the New England system, 
 and our illustration is taken from the practice 
 in Massachusetts. But the general principles 
 of taxation are so similar in the different states 
 that, although we may now and then have to 
 point to differences of detail, we shall not need 
 to go over the whole subject again. We have 
 now to observe how and upon whom the taxes 
 are assessed. 
 
 They are assessed partly upon persons, but 
 chiefly upon property, and property is divisible 
 into real estate and personal estate. 
 1 he tax assessed upon persons is 
 called the poll-tax, and cannot exceed the sum 
 of two dollars upon every male citizen over 
 27
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 twenty years old. In cases of extreme poverty 
 the assessors may remit the poll-tax. 
 
 As to real estate, there are in every town 
 some lands and buildings which, for rea- 
 Reai-estate sons of public poHcy, are exempted 
 ^"^ from paying taxes ; as, for example, 
 
 churches, graveyards, and tombs ; many char- 
 itable institutions, including universities and 
 colleges ; and public buildings which belong to 
 the state or to the United States. All lands and 
 buildings, except such as are exempt by law, 
 must pay taxes. 
 
 Personal property includes pretty much 
 everything that one can own except lands and 
 Taxes on buildings, — pretty much everything 
 personal that Can be moved or carried about 
 
 ^"^"^^ from one place to another. It thus 
 
 includes ready money, stocks and bonds, ships 
 and wagons, furniture, pictures, and books. It 
 also includes the amount of debts due to a per- 
 son in excess of the amount that he owes ; also 
 the income from his employment, whether in 
 the shape of profits from business or a fixed 
 salary. 
 
 Some personal property is exempted from 
 taxation ; as, for example, household furniture 
 to the amount of $1000 in value, and income 
 from employment to the extent of ^2000. The 
 obvious intent of this exemption is to prevent 
 taxation from bearing too hard upon persons 
 28
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 of small means ; and for a similar reason the 
 tools of farmers and mechanics are exempted/ 
 
 The date at which property is annually reck- 
 oned for assessment is in Massachusetts the 
 first day of May. The poll-tax is assessed upon 
 each person in the town or city where he has 
 his legal habitation on that day ; and -^^^^^ ^^^ 
 as a general rule the taxes upon his where taxes 
 
 , 1 1 • ^re assessed 
 
 personal property are assessed to him 
 in the same place. But taxes upon lands or 
 buildings are assessed in the city or town where 
 they are situated, and to the person, wherever 
 he lives, who is the owner of them on the first 
 day of May. Thus a man who lives in the 
 Berkshire mountains, say for example in the 
 town of Lanesborough, will pay his poll-tax to 
 that town. For his personal property, whether 
 it be bonds of a railroad in Colorado, or shares 
 in a bank in New York, or costly pictures in 
 his house at Lanesborough, he will likewise 
 pay taxes to Lanesborough. So for the house 
 in which he lives, and the land upon which it 
 stands, he pays taxes to that same town. But 
 if he owns at the same time a house in Boston, 
 he pays taxes for it to Boston, and if he owns a 
 block of shops in Chicago he pays taxes for the 
 same to Chicago. It is very apt to be the case 
 that the rate of taxation is higher in large cities 
 
 ^ United States bonds are also especially exempted from 
 taxadon. 
 
 29
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 than in villages ; and accordingly it often hap- 
 pens that wealthy inhabitants of cities, who own 
 houses in some country town, move into them 
 before the first of May, and otherwise comport 
 themselves as legal residents of the country 
 town, in order that their personal property may 
 be assessed there rather than in the city. 
 
 About the first of May the assessors call 
 upon the inhabitants of their town to render a 
 true statement as to their property. The most 
 approved form is for the assessors to send by 
 mail to each taxable inhabitant a printed list of 
 questions, with blank spaces which he is to fill 
 with written answers. The questions relate to 
 every kind of property, and when the 
 person addressed returns the list to 
 the assessors he must make oath that to the 
 best of his knowledge and belief his answers are 
 true. He thus becomes liable to the penalties 
 for perjury if he can be proved to have sworn 
 falsely. A reasonable time — usually six or 
 eight weeks — is allowed for the list to be re- 
 turned to the assessors. If any one fails to return 
 his list by the specified time, the assessors must 
 make their own estimate of the probable amount 
 of his property. If their estimate is too high, 
 he may petition the assessors to have the error 
 corrected, but in many cases it may prove trou- 
 blesome to effect this. 
 
 Observe here an important difference between 
 30
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 the imposition of taxes upon real estate and 
 upon personal property. Houses and lands 
 cannot run away or be tucked out of sight. 
 Their value, too, is something of which the 
 assessors can very likely judge as well as the 
 owner. Deception is therefore ex- cheating the 
 tremely difficult, and taxation for real g°^""ment 
 estate is pretty fairly distributed among the dif- 
 ferent owners. With regard to personal estate 
 it is very different. It is comparatively easy to 
 conceal one's ownership of some kinds of per- 
 sonal property, or to understate one's income. 
 Hence the temptation to lessen the burden of 
 the tax bill by making false statements is con- 
 siderable, and doubtless a good deal of decep- 
 tion is practised. There are many people who 
 are too honest to cheat individuals, but still con- 
 sider it a venial sin to cheat the government. 
 
 After the assessors have obtained all their 
 returns they can calculate the total value of the 
 taxable property in the town ; and knowing the 
 amount of the tax to be raised, it is easy to cal- 
 culate the rate at which the tax is to be assessed. 
 In most parts of the United States a The rate of 
 rate of one and a half per cent., or ^ 1 5 ^^''^^o" 
 tax on each $1000 worth of property, would be 
 regarded as moderate ; three per cent, would be 
 regarded as excessively high. At the lower of 
 these rates a man worth $50,000 would pay $750 
 for his yearly taxes. The annual income of 
 
 31
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 $50,000, invested on good security, is hardly 
 more than I2500. Obviously $750 is a large 
 sum to subtract from such an income. 
 
 In point of fact, however, the tax is seldom 
 quite as heavy as this. It is not easy to tell ex- 
 actly how much a man is worth, and accordingly 
 assessors, not wishing to be too disagreeable in 
 the discharge of their duties, have naturally 
 fallen into a way of giving the lower valuation 
 the benefit of the doubt, until in many places 
 Under- a custom has grown up of regularly 
 
 vaiuauon undervaluing property for purposes 
 of taxation. Very much as liquid measures have 
 gradually shrunk until it takes five quart bottles 
 to hold a gallon, so there has been a shrinkage 
 of valuations until it has become common to 
 tax a man for only three fourths or perhaps two 
 thirds of what his property is worth in the mar- 
 ket. This makes the rate higher, to be sure, 
 but the individual taxpayer nevertheless seems 
 to feel relieved by it. Allowing for this under- 
 valuation, we may say that a man worth $50,000 
 commonly pays not less than $500 for his yearly 
 taxes, or about one fifth of the annual income 
 of the property. We thus begin to see what a 
 The burden heavy burden taxes are, and how es- 
 of taxation scntial to good government it is that 
 citizens should know what their money goes for, 
 and should be able to exert some effective con- 
 trol over the public expenditures. Where the 
 32
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 rate of taxation in a town rises to a very high 
 point, such as two and a half or three per cent., 
 the prosperity of the town is apt to be seriously 
 crippled. Traders and manufacturers move away 
 to other towns, or those who would otherwise 
 come to the town in question stay away, be- 
 cause they cannot afford to use up all their 
 profits in paying taxes. If such a state of things 
 is long kept up, the spirit of enterprise is weak- 
 ened, the place shows signs of untidiness and 
 want of thrift, and neighbouring towns, once 
 perhaps far behind it in growth, by and by 
 shoot ahead of it and take away its business. 
 
 Within its proper sphere, government by 
 town-meeting is the form of government most 
 effectively under watch and control. Everything 
 is done in the full daylight of publicity. The 
 specific objects for which public money is to be 
 appropriated are discussed in the presence of 
 everybody, and any one who disapproves of any 
 of these objects, or of the way in which it is pro- 
 posed to obtain it, has an opportunity to declare 
 his opinions. Under this form of government 
 people are not so liable to bewildering delusions 
 as under other forms. I refer especially to the 
 delusion that " the Government " is a sort of 
 mysterious power, possessed of a magic -pj^^ „ j^ 
 inexhaustible fund of wealth, and able ^nti " ^eiu- 
 to do all manner of things for the 
 benefit of " the People." Some such notion 
 
 33
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 as this, more often implied than expressed, is 
 very common, and it is inexpressibly dear to 
 demagogues. It is the prolific root from which 
 springs that luxuriant crop of humbug upon 
 which political tricksters thrive as pigs fatten 
 upon corn. In point of fact no such govern- 
 ment, armed with a magic fund of its own, has 
 ever existed upon the earth. No government 
 has ever yet used any money for public pur- 
 poses which it did not first take from its own 
 people, — unless when it may have plundered 
 it from some other people in victorious warfare. 
 
 The inhabitant of a New England town is 
 perpetually reminded that " the Government " 
 is " the People." Although he may think 
 loosely about the government of his state or 
 the still more remote government at Washing- 
 ton, he is kept pretty close to the facts where 
 local affairs are concerned, and in this there is 
 a political training of no small value. 
 
 In the kind of discussion which it provokes, 
 in the necessity of facing argument with argu- 
 Educationai ment and of keeping one's temper 
 t^n-meet- u^der control, the town-meeting is 
 '"g the best political training school in 
 
 existence. Its educational value is far higher 
 than that of the newspaper, which, in spite of 
 its many merits as a diffuser of information, is 
 very apt to do its best to bemuddle and sophis- 
 ticate plain facts. The period when town-meet- 
 34
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP 
 
 ings were most important from the wide scope 
 of their transactions was the period of earnest 
 and sometimes stormy discussion that ushered 
 in our Revolutionary war. Country towns were 
 then of more importance relatively than now ; 
 one country town — Boston — was at the same 
 time a great political centre ; and its meetings 
 were presided over and addressed by men of 
 commanding ability, among whom Samuel 
 Adams, " the man of the town-meeting," ^ was 
 foremost. In those days great principles of 
 government were discussed with a wealth of 
 knowledge and stated with masterly skill in 
 town-meeting. 
 
 The town-meeting is to a very limited extent 
 a legislative body ; it can make sundry regula- 
 tions for the management of its local affairs. 
 Such regulations are known by a very ancient 
 name, " by-laws." By is an Old Norse 
 
 J • er »> 1 • By-laws 
 
 word meanmg " town, and it appears 
 in the names of such towns as Derby and 
 Whitby in the part of England overrun by the 
 Danes in the ninth and tenth centuries. By- 
 laws are town laws.^ 
 
 In the selectmen and various special officers 
 
 ^ The phrase is Professor Hosmer's : see his Samuel 
 Adams, the Man of the Town Meeting, in Johns Hopkins 
 Univ. Studies, vol. ii. no. iv. ; also his Samuel Adams, in 
 American Statesmen Series, Boston, 1885. 
 
 "^ In modern usage the rules and regulations of clubs, 
 learned societies, and other associations, are also called by-laws.
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 the town has an executive department ; and 
 here let us observe that, while these officials are 
 kept strictly accountable to the people, they 
 are intrusted with very considerable authority. 
 Power and Things are not so arranged that an 
 responsibility officer can plead that he has failed in 
 his duty from lack of power. There is ample 
 power, joined with complete responsibihty. 
 This is especially to be noticed in the case of 
 the selectmen. They must often be called upon 
 to exercise a wide discretion in what they do, 
 yet this excites no serious popular distrust or 
 jealousy. The annual election affiDrds an easy 
 means of dropping an unsatisfactory officer. 
 But in practice nothing has been more common 
 than for the same persons to be reelected as se- 
 lectmen or constables or town-clerks for year 
 after year, as long as they are able or willing to 
 serve. The notion that there is anything pe- 
 culiarly American or democratic in what is 
 known as "rotation in office" is therefore not 
 sustained by the practice of the New England 
 town, which is the most complete democracy in 
 the world. It is the most perfect exhibition of 
 what President Lincoln called " government of 
 the people by the people and for the people." 
 
 § 1. Origin of the Township. 
 It was said above that government by town- 
 meeting is in principle the oldest form of gov-
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 ernment known in the world. The student of 
 ancient history is familiar with the comitia of 
 the Romans and the ecclesia of the Town-meet- 
 Greeks. These were popular assem- gf^g^" ^^^ 
 blies, held in those soft climates in the Rome 
 open air, usually in the market-place, — the 
 Roman forum^ the Greek agora. The govern- 
 ment carried on in them was a more or less 
 qualified democracy. In the palmy days of 
 Athens it was a pure democracy. The assem- 
 blies which in the Athenian market-place de- 
 clared war against Syracuse, or condemned 
 Socrates to death, were quite like New Eng- 
 land town-meetings, except that they exercised 
 greater powers because there was no state gov- 
 ernment above them. 
 
 The principle of the town-meeting, however, 
 is older than Athens or Rome. Long before 
 streets were built or fields fenced in, men wan- 
 dered about the earth hunting for food in fam- 
 ily parties, somewhat as lions do in South 
 Africa. Such family groups were what we call 
 clans ^ and so far as is known they 
 were the earliest form in which civil 
 society appeared on the earth. Among all wan- 
 dering or partially settled tribes the clan is to 
 be found, and there are ample opportunities for 
 studying it among our Indians in North Amer- 
 ica. The clan usually has a chief or head-man, 
 useful mainly as a leader in war-time ; its civil 
 
 37
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 government, crude and disorderly enough, is in 
 principle a pure democracy. 
 
 When our ancestors first became acquainted 
 with American Indians, the most advanced 
 tribes lived partly by hunting and fishing, but 
 partly also by raising Indian corn and pump- 
 kins. They had begun to live in wigwams 
 grouped together in small villages and sur- 
 rounded by strong rows of palisades for de- 
 fence. Now what these red men were doing 
 our own fair-haired ancestors in northern and 
 central Europe had been doing some twenty 
 centuries earlier. The Scandinavians and Ger- 
 mans, when first known in history, had made 
 considerable progress in exchanging a wander- 
 ing for a settled mode of life. When the clan, 
 instead of moving from place to place, fixed 
 upon some spot for a permanent residence, a 
 village grew up there, surrounded by a belt of 
 waste land, or somewhat later by a stockaded 
 The mark Wall. The belt of land was called a 
 and the tun ffiark, and the wall was called a tun} 
 Afterwards the enclosed space came to be known 
 sometimes as the mark, sometimes as the tun or 
 town. In England the latter name prevailed. 
 The inhabitants of a mark or town were a sta- 
 tionary clan. It was customary to call them by 
 the clan name, as for example " the Beorings " 
 or " the Cressings ; " then the town would be 
 
 ^ Pronounced "toon." 
 38
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 called Barrington^ " town of the Beorings," or 
 Cressing/iam, " home of the Cressings." Town 
 names of this sort, with which the map of Eng- 
 land is thickly studded, point us back to a time 
 when the town was supposed to be the station- 
 ary home of a clan. 
 
 The Old English town had its tungemot, or 
 town-meeting, in which " by-laws " were made 
 and other important business transacted. The 
 principal officers were the " reeve " ^j^^ ^^ 
 or head-man, the " beadle " or mes- English 
 senger, and the " tithing-man " or °^"^ '^ 
 petty constable. These officers seem at first to 
 have been elected by the people, but after a 
 while, as great lordships grew up, usurping ju- 
 risdiction over the land, the lord's steward and 
 bailiff came to supersede the reeve and beadle. 
 After the Norman Conquest the townships, thus 
 brought under the sway of great lords, came to 
 be generally known by the French name of 
 manors or " dwelling places." Much might be 
 said about this change, but here it is enough 
 for us to bear in mind that a manor was essen- 
 tially a township in which the chief executive 
 officers were directly responsible to ^, 
 
 1 1 The manor 
 
 the lord rather than to the people. 
 It would be wrong, however, to suppose that 
 the manors entirely lost their self-government. 
 Even the ancient town-meeting survived in 
 them, in a fragmentary way, in several interest- 
 
 29
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 ing assemblies, of which the most interesting 
 were the court leet, for the election of certain 
 officers and the trial of petty offences, and 
 the court baron, which was much like a town- 
 meeting. 
 
 Still more of the old self-government would 
 doubtless have survived in the institutions of 
 the manor if it had not been provided 
 for in another way. The parish was 
 older than the manor. After the English had 
 been converted to Christianity local churches 
 were gradually set up all over the country, and 
 districts called parishes were assigned for the 
 ministrations of the priests. Now a parish gen- 
 erally coincided in area with a township, or 
 sometimes with a group of two or three town- 
 ships. In the old heathen times each town 
 seems to have had its sacred place or shrine 
 consecrated to some local deity, and it was a 
 favourite policy with the Roman missionary 
 priests to purify the old shrine and turn it into 
 a church. In this way the township at the same 
 time naturally became the parish. 
 
 As we find it in later times, both before and 
 
 since the founding of English colonies in North 
 
 Townshi America, the township in England Is 
 
 manor, and likely to be both a manor and a par- 
 parish ■ 1 T-< ■ ■ 1 
 
 ish. J^or some purposes it is the one, 
 for some purposes it is the other. The towns- 
 folk may be regarded as a group of tenants of 
 40
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 the lord's manor, or as a group of parishioners 
 of the local church. In the latter aspect the 
 parish retained much of the self-government of 
 the ancient town. The business with which the 
 lord was entitled to meddle was strictly limited, 
 and all other business was transacted in the 
 "vestry-meeting," which was practi- The vestry- 
 cally the old town-meeting under a meeting 
 new name. In the course of the thirteenth 
 century we find that the parish had acquired 
 the right of taxing itself for church purposes. 
 Money needed for the church was supplied in 
 the form of " church-rates " voted by the rate- 
 payers themselves in the vestry-meeting, so 
 called because it was originally held in a room 
 of the church in which vestments were kept. 
 
 The officers of the parish were the constable, 
 the parish and vestry clerks,^ the beadle,^ the 
 " waywardens " or surveyors of high- paHsh offi- 
 ways, the " haywards " or fence-view- ""^ 
 ers, the " common drivers," the collectors of 
 taxes, and at the beginning of the seventeenth 
 
 ^ Of these two officers the vestry clerk is the counterpart 
 of the New England town-clerk. 
 
 ^ Originally a messenger or crier, the beadle came to as- 
 sume some of the functions of the tithing-man or petty con- 
 stable, such as keeping order in church, punishing petty 
 offenders, waiting on the clergyman, etc. In New England 
 towns there were formerly officers called tithing-men, who 
 kept order in church, arrested tipplers, loafers, and Sabbath- 
 breakers, etc. 
 
 41
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 century overseers of the poor were added. 
 There were also churchwardens, usually two 
 for each parish. Their duties were primarily to 
 take care of the church property, assess the rates, 
 and call the vestry-meetings. They also acted 
 as overseers of the poor, and thus in several 
 ways remind one of the selectmen of New Eng- 
 land. The parish officers were all elected by 
 the ratepayers assembled in vestry-meeting, ex- 
 cept the common driver and hayward, who were 
 elected by the same ratepayers assembled in 
 court leet. Besides electing parish officers and 
 granting the rates, the vestry-meeting could 
 enact by-laws ; and all ratepayers had an equal 
 voice in its deliberations. 
 
 During the last two centuries the constitution 
 of the English parish has undergone some modi- 
 fications which need not here concern us. The 
 Puritans who settled in New England had grown 
 The transi- ^P ^ndcr such parish government as 
 tion from }s here described, and they were used 
 
 England to , . , • i n j 
 
 New Eng- to hcarmg the parish called, on some 
 ^^""^ occasions and for some purposes, a 
 
 township. If we remember now that the earliest 
 New England towns were founded by church 
 congregations, led by their pastors, we can see 
 how town government in New England origi- 
 nated. It was simply the English parish gov- 
 ernment brought into a new country and adapted 
 to the new situation. Part of this new situation 
 42
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 consisted in the fact that the lords of the manor 
 were left behind. There was no longer any 
 occasion to distinguish between the township 
 as a manor and the township as a parish ; and 
 so, as the three names had all lived on together, 
 side by side, in England, it was now the oldest 
 and most generally descriptive name, " town- 
 ship," that survived, and has come into use 
 throughout a great part of the United States. 
 The townsfolk went on making by-laws, voting 
 supplies of public money, and electing their 
 magistrates in America, after the fashion with 
 which they had for ages been familiar in Eng- 
 land. Some of their offices and customs were 
 of hoary antiquity. If age gives respectability, 
 the office of constable may vie with that of 
 king ; and if the annual town-meeting is usu- 
 ally held in the month of March, it is because 
 in days of old, long before Magna Charta was 
 thought of, the rules and regulations for the 
 village husbandry were discussed and adopted 
 in time for the spring planting. 
 
 To complete our sketch of the origin of the 
 New England town, one point should here be 
 briefly mentioned in anticipation of what will 
 have to be said hereafter ; but it is a point of so 
 much importance that we need not mind a little 
 repetition in stating it. 
 
 We have seen what a great part taxation plays 
 in the business of government, and we shall pre- 
 43
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 sently have to treat of county, state, and fed- 
 eral governments, all of them wider in their 
 BuUdingup sphere than the town government. In 
 states j-j^g course of history, as nations have 
 
 gradually been built up, these wider governments 
 have been apt to absorb or supplant and crush 
 the narrower governments, such as the parish 
 or township ; and this process has too often been 
 destructive to political freedom. Such a result 
 is, of course, disastrous to everybody ; and if it 
 were unavoidable, it would be better that great 
 national governments need never be formed. 
 But it is not unavoidable. There is one way of 
 escaping it, and that is to give the little govern- 
 ment of the town some real share in making up 
 the great government of the state. That is not 
 an easy thing to do, as is shown by the fact that 
 most peoples have failed in the attempt. The 
 people who speak the English language have 
 been the most successful, and the device by 
 which they have overcome the difficulty is Re- 
 
 Represen- PRESENTATION. The tOWn Sends tO 
 
 tation ^i^g wider government a delegation of 
 
 persons who can represent the town and its peo- 
 ple. They can speak for the town, and have a 
 voice in the framing of laws and imposition of 
 taxes by the wider government. 
 
 In English townships there has been from 
 time immemorial a system of representation. 
 Long before Alfred's time there were " shire- 
 
 44
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 motes," or what were afterwards called county 
 meetings, and to these each town sent its reeve 
 and "four discreet men "as represen- ^,. 
 
 . -^ Snire-motes 
 
 tatives. Thus to a certain extent the 
 wishes of the townsfolk could be brought to bear 
 upon county affairs. By and by this method was 
 applied on a much wider scale. It was applied to 
 the whole kingdom, so that the people of all its 
 towns and parishes succeeded in securing a repre- 
 sentation of their interests in an elective national 
 council or House of Commons. This great work 
 was accomplished in the thirteenth Eari Simon's 
 century by Simon de Montfort, Earl Parliament 
 of Leicester, and was completed by Edward I. 
 Simon's Parliament, the first in which the Com- 
 mons were fully represented, was assembled in 
 1265 ; and the date of Edward's Parliament, 
 which has been called the Model Parliament, 
 was 12.95. These dates have as much interest 
 for Americans as for Englishmen, because they 
 mark the first definite establishment of that 
 grand system of representative government 
 which we are still carrying on at our various 
 state capitals and at Washington. For its hum- 
 ble beginnings we have to look back to the 
 " reeve and four " sent by the ancient townships 
 to the county meetings. 
 
 The English township or parish was thus at 
 an early period the " unit of representation " in 
 the government of the county. It was also a 
 
 45
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 district for the assessment and collection of the 
 national taxes ; in each parish the assessment 
 Townshi as ^^^ made by a board of assessors 
 unit of re- choscn by popular vote. These essen- 
 
 presentation ... . , i i • , 
 
 tial pomts reappear m the early history 
 of New England. The township was not only 
 a self-governing body, but it was the " unit of 
 representation " in the colonial legislature, or 
 " General Court ; " and the assessment of taxes, 
 whether for town purposes or for state purposes, 
 was made by assessors elected by the townsfolk. 
 In its beginnings and fundamentals our political 
 liberty did not originate upon American soil, 
 but was brought hither by our forefathers the 
 first settlers. They brought their political insti- 
 tutions with them as naturally as they brought 
 their language and their social customs. 
 
 Observe now that the township is to be re- 
 garded in two lights. It must be considered not 
 only in itself, but as part of a greater whole. 
 We began by describing it as a self-governing 
 body, but in order to complete our sketch we 
 were obliged to speak of it as a body which has 
 a share in the government of the state and the 
 nation. The latter aspect is as important as the 
 former. If the people of a town had only the 
 power of managing their local affairs, without 
 the power of taking part in the management of 
 national affairs, their political freedom would be 
 far from complete. In Russia, for example, the 
 46
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 larger part of the vast population is resident in 
 village communities which have to a consider- 
 able extent the power of managing their local 
 affairs. Such a village community is called a 
 mir, and like the English township it _^ „ . 
 
 / ° , . The Russian 
 
 is lineally descended from the station- vuiage com- 
 ary clan. The people of the Russian ^pS^^eThi 
 mir hold meetings in which they elect ^^ national 
 sundry local officers, distribute the 
 burden of local taxation, make regulations con- 
 cerning local husbandry and police, and transact 
 other business which need not here concern us. 
 But they have no share in the national govern- 
 ment, and are obliged to obey laws which they 
 have no voice in making, and pay taxes assessed 
 upon them without their consent ; and accord- 
 ingly we say with truth that the Russian people 
 do not possess political freedom. One reason 
 for this has doubtless been that in times past the 
 Russian territory was the great frontier battle- 
 ground between civilized Europe and the wild 
 hordes of western Asia, and the people who 
 lived for ages on that turbulent frontier were 
 subjected to altogether too much conquest. 
 They have tasted too little of civil government 
 and too much of military government, — a pen- 
 nyworth of wholesome bread to an intolerable 
 deal of sack. The early English, in their snug 
 little corner of the world, belted by salt sea, were 
 able to develop their civil government with less 
 47
 
 THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 destructive interference. They made a sound 
 and healthful beginning when they made the 
 township the " unit of representation " for the 
 county. Then the township, besides managing 
 its own affairs, began to take part in the man- 
 agement of wider affairs. 
 
 48
 
 Ill 
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 § I. The County in its Beginnings. 
 
 IT is now time for us to treat of the county, 
 and we may as well begin by considering 
 its origin. In treating of the township we 
 began by sketching it in its fullest development, 
 as seen in New England. With the county we 
 shall find it helpful to pursue a different method 
 and start at the beginning. 
 
 If we look at the maps of the states which 
 make up our Union, we see that they are all 
 divided into counties (except that in Louisiana 
 the corresponding divisions are named parishes). 
 The map of England shows that country as 
 similarly divided into counties. 
 
 If we ask why this is so, some people will 
 tell us that it is convenient, for purposes of 
 administration, to have a state, or a „^. ^ 
 
 . . , Why do 
 
 kingdom, divided into areas that are we have 
 larger than single towns. There is 
 much truth in this. It is convenient. If it were 
 not so, counties would not have survived, so as 
 to make a part of our modern maps. Never- 
 theless, this is not the historic reason why we 
 
 49
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 have the particular kind of subdivisions known 
 as counties. We have them because our fathers 
 and grandfathers had them ; and thus, if we 
 would find out the true reason, we may as well 
 go back to the ancient times when our fore- 
 fathers were establishing themselves in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 We have seen how the clan of our barbarous 
 ancestors, when it became stationary, was es- 
 tablished as the town or township. But in those 
 early times clans were generally united more or 
 less closely into tribes. Among all primitive or 
 barbarous races of men, so far as we can make 
 Clans and out, society is Organized in tribes, and 
 tribes e.2ich. tribe is made up of a number of 
 
 clans or family groups. Now when our Eng- 
 lish forefathers conquered Britain they settled 
 there as clans and also as tribes. The clans 
 became townships, and the tribes became shires 
 or counties ; that is to say, the names were ap- 
 plied first to the people and afterwards to the 
 land they occupied. A few of the oldest county 
 names in England still show this plainly. Essex, 
 Middlesex, and Sussex were originally " East 
 Saxons," " Middle Saxons," and " South Sax- 
 ons ; " and on the eastern coast two tribes of 
 Angles were distinguished as " North folk " 
 and "South folk," or Norfolk and Suffolk. 
 When you look on the map and see the town 
 o{ IckUngham in the county o{ Suffolk, it means 
 
 50
 
 THE COUNTY IN ITS BEGINNINGS 
 
 that this place was once known as the " home " 
 of the " Icklings " or " children of Ickel," a 
 clan which formed part of the tribe of " South 
 folk." 
 
 In those days there was no such thing as a 
 Kingdom of England ; there were only these 
 groups of tribes living side by side. The English 
 Each tribe had its leader, whose "f 7. li^e 
 
 ■' the Ameri- 
 
 title was ealdorman^ or " elder man." can, grew 
 After a while, as some tribes increased union of ^ 
 in size and power, their ealdormen ^^^ ^'^^"^" 
 took the title of kings. The little kingdoms 
 coincided sometimes with a single shire, some- 
 times with two or more shires. Thus there was 
 a kingdom of Kent, and the North and South 
 Folk were combined in a kingdom of East 
 Anglia. In course of time numbers of shires 
 combined into larger kingdoms, such as North- 
 umbria, Mercia, and the West Saxons ; and 
 finally the king of the West Saxons became king 
 of all England, and the several shires became 
 subordinate parts or "shares" of the kingdom. 
 In England, therefore, the shires are older than 
 the nation. The shires were not made bv divid- 
 ing the nation, but the nation was made by 
 uniting the shires. The English nation, like 
 the American, grew out of the union of little 
 states that had once been independent of one 
 
 ^ The pronunciation was probably sometliing like yazvl- 
 dorman. 
 
 51
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 another, but had many interests in common. 
 For not less than three hundred years after all 
 En2:land had been united under one king, these 
 shires retained their self-government almost as 
 completely as the several states of the American 
 Union. ^ A few words about their government 
 will not be wasted, for they will help to throw 
 light upon some things that still torm a part of 
 our political and social life. 
 
 The shire was governed by the shire-mote 
 {i.e. "meeting"), which was a representative 
 body. Lords of lands, including ab- 
 eaidonnan,' bots and pHors, attended it, as well as 
 and sheriiF ^j^^ reeve and four selected men from 
 each township. There were thus the germs of 
 both the kind of representation that is seen in 
 the House of Lords and the much more per- 
 fect kind that is seen in the House of Com- 
 mons. After a while, as cities and boroughs 
 CTrew In importance, they sent representative 
 burghers to the shire-mote. There were two 
 presiding officers : one was the ealdorman, who 
 was now appointed bv the king ; the other was 
 the shire-reeve {i.e. "sheriff"), who was still 
 elected by the people and 2:enerally held office 
 for life. 
 
 This shire-mote was both a legislative bodv 
 and a court of justice. It not only made laws 
 for the shire, but it tried civil and criminal 
 ^ Chalmers, Local Gcvcrnmcnt, p. 90.
 
 THE COUNTY IN ITS BEGINNINGS 
 
 causes. After the Norman Conquest some 
 changes occurred. The shire now began to be 
 called bv the French name " countv," because 
 of its analogy to the small pieces of territory on 
 the Continent that were governed by "counts."^ 
 The shire-mote became known as tne The county 
 county court, but cases coming before ""^ 
 it were tried by the king's justices in eyre, or 
 circuit judges, who went about from county to 
 county to preside oyer the judicial work. The 
 office of ealdorman became extinct. The sheriff 
 was no longer elected by the people for life, 
 but appointed by the king for the term of one 
 year. This kept him strictly responsible to the 
 kingr. It was the sheriff's duty to see that the 
 county's share of the national taxes was duly 
 collected and paid oyer to the national treasury. 
 The sheriff also summoned juries and enforced 
 the judgments of the courts, and if he met with 
 resistance in so doing he was authorized to call 
 out a force of men, known as the posse comitatus 
 (/. e. "power of the county"), and overcome 
 all opposition. Another count}' officer was the 
 coroner, or croivner,- so called because 
 
 •• • Airi» • \i '^^^ coroner 
 
 onginally (in Alrred s time) he was 
 appointed by the king, and was especially the 
 
 ^ Originally comites, or ** companions" of the Hng. 
 
 ' This form of the word, sometimes supposed to be a vul- 
 garism, is as correct as the other. See Skeat, Eiym. Dict.^ 
 s. V. 
 
 53
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 crown officer in the county. Since the time of 
 Edward I., however, coroners have been elected 
 by the people. Originally coroners held small 
 courts of inquiry upon cases of wreckage, de- 
 structive fires, or sudden death, but in course 
 of time their jurisdiction became confined to the 
 last-named class of cases. If a death occurred 
 under circumstances in any way mysterious or 
 likely to awaken suspicion, it was the business 
 of the coroner, assisted by not less than twelve 
 jurors {i. e. "sworn men "), to hold an inquest 
 for the purpose of ascertaining the cause of 
 death. The coroner could compel the attend- 
 ance of witnesses and order a medical examina- 
 tion of the body, and if there were sufficient 
 evidence to charge any person with murder or 
 manslaughter, the coroner could have such per- 
 son arrested and committed for trial. 
 
 Another important county officer was the 
 justice of the peace. Originally six were ap- 
 justices of pointed by the Crown in each county, 
 the peace ^^|. \^ j^tcr timcs any number might 
 be appointed. The office was created by a se- 
 ries of statutes in the reign of Edward III., in 
 order to put a stop to the brigandage which 
 still flourished in England ; it was a common 
 practice for robbers to seize persons and hold 
 them for ransom.-^ By the last of these statutes, 
 
 ^ Longman's Life and Times of Edward III., vol. i. 
 p. 301. 
 
 54
 
 THE COUNTY IN ITS BEGINNINGS 
 
 in 1362, the justices of the peace in each county- 
 were to hold a court four times in the year. 
 The powers of this court, which came to be 
 known as the Quarter Sessions, were from time 
 to time increased by act of Parliament, until it 
 quite supplanted the old county court. The Quarter 
 In modern times the Quarter Sessions Sessions 
 has become an administrative body quite as 
 much as a court. The justices, who receive no 
 salary, hold office for life, or during good be- 
 haviour. They appoint the chief constable of 
 the county, who appoints the police. They 
 also take part in the supervision of highways 
 and bridges, asylums and prisons. Since the 
 reign of Henry VI I L, the English county has 
 had an officer known as the lord-lieu- The lord- 
 tenant, who was once leader of the iJ^utenant 
 county militia, but whose functions to-day are 
 those of keeper of the records and principal 
 justice of the peace. 
 
 During the past five hundred years the Eng- 
 lish county has gradually sunk from a self-gov- 
 erning community into an administrative dis- 
 trict ; and in recent times its boundaries have 
 been so crossed and criscrossed with those of 
 other administrative areas, such as those of 
 school-boards, sanitary boards, etc., that very 
 little of the old county is left in recognizable 
 shape. Most of this change has been effected 
 
 55
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 since the Tudor period. The first English set- 
 tlers in America were familiar with the county 
 as a district for the administration of justice, and 
 they brought with them coroners, sheriffs, and 
 Beginnings quartcr sessions. In 1635 ^^^ Gen- 
 cwt^' ^^^^ Court of Massachusetts appointed 
 counties four towHS — Boston, Cambridge, Sa- 
 lem, and Ipswich — as places where courts 
 should be held quarterly. In 1643 ^^^ colony, 
 which then included as much of New Hamp- 
 shire as was settled, was divided into four 
 " shires," — Suffolk, Essex, Middlesex, and 
 Norfolk, the latter lying then to the northward 
 and including the New Hampshire towns. The 
 militia was then organized, perhaps without 
 consciousness of the analogy, after a very old 
 English fashion; the militia of each town 
 formed a company, and the companies of the 
 shire formed a regiment. The county was or- 
 ganized from the beginning as a judicial dis- 
 trict, with its court-house, jail, and sheriff. 
 After 1697 the court, held by the justices of 
 the peace, was called the Court of General Ses- 
 sions. It could try criminal causes not involv- 
 ing the penalty of death or banishment, and 
 civil causes in which the value at stake was less 
 than forty shillings. It also had control over 
 highways going from town to town ; and it ap- 
 portioned the county taxes among the several 
 
 56
 
 MODERN COUNTY IN MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 towns. The justices and sheriff were appointed 
 by the governor, as in England by the king. 
 
 § 2. The Modern County in Massachusetts. 
 
 The modern county system of Massachusetts 
 may now be very briefly described. The county, 
 Hke the town, is a corporation ; it can hold pro- 
 perty and sue or be sued. It builds the court- 
 house and jail, and keeps them in repair. The 
 town in which these buildings are placed is 
 called, as in England, the shire town. 
 
 In each county there are three commis- 
 sioners, elected by the people. Their term of 
 service is three years, and one goes out each 
 year. These commissioners represent the county 
 in lawsuits, as the selectmen represent the 
 town. They " apportion the county county 
 taxes among the towns ; " " lay out, 
 alter, and discontinue highways within the 
 county ; " " have charge of houses of correc- 
 tion ; " and erect and keep in repair the county 
 buildings.^ 
 
 The revenues of the county are derived partly 
 from taxation and partly from the payment of 
 fines and costs in the courts. These county 
 revenues are received and disbursed '^'■^^^"'■" 
 by the county treasurer, who is elected by the 
 people for a term of three years. 
 
 The Superior Court of the state holds at 
 
 * Martin's Civil Government, ■p. igj. 
 
 57 
 
 com- 
 missioners
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 least two sessions annually in each county, and 
 
 tries civil and criminal causes. There is also in 
 
 each county a probate court with jurisdiction 
 
 over all matters relating to wills, ad- 
 Courts ... - ° , , 
 
 mmistration or estates, and appomt- 
 
 ment of guardians ; it also acts as a court of 
 insolvency. The custody of wills and docu- 
 ments relating to the business of this court is 
 in the hands of an officer known as the register 
 of probate, who is elected by the people for a 
 term of five years. 
 
 To preserve the records of all land-titles and 
 transfers of land within the county, all deeds 
 Shire town ^^^ Hiortgagcs are registered in an 
 and court- officc in the shire town, usually within 
 or attached to the court-house. The 
 register of deeds is an officer elected by the 
 people for a term of three years. In counties 
 where there is much business there may be 
 more than one. 
 
 Justices of the peace are appointed by the 
 governor for a term of seven years, and the ap- 
 justicesof pointment may be renewed. Their 
 the peace functions havc been greatly curtailed, 
 and now amount to little more than administer- 
 ing oaths, and in some cases issuing warrants 
 and taking bail. They may join persons in mar- 
 riage, and, when specially commissioned as 
 " trial justices," have criminal jurisdiction over 
 sundry petty offences. 
 
 58
 
 MODERN COUNTY IN MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 The sheriff is elected by the people for a 
 term of three years. He may appoint deputies, 
 for whom he is responsible, to assist him in his 
 work. He must attend all county courts, and 
 the meetings of the county commissioners when- 
 ever required. He must inflict, either _, , .^ 
 
 i The sheriri 
 
 personally or by deputy, the sentence 
 of the court, whether it be fine, imprisonment, 
 or death. He is responsible for the preserva- 
 tion of the peace within the county, and to this 
 end must pursue criminals and may arrest dis- 
 orderly persons. If he meets with resistance he 
 may call out the posse comitatus ; if the resist- 
 ance grows into insurrection he may apply to 
 the governor and obtain the aid of the state 
 militia ; if the insurrection proves too formid- 
 able to be thus dealt with, the governor may in 
 his behalf apply to the President of the United 
 States for aid from the regular army. In this 
 way the force that may be drawn upon, if ne- 
 cessary, for the suppression of disorder in a sin- 
 gle locality, is practically unlimited and irresist- 
 ible. 
 
 We have now obtained a clear outline view 
 of the township and county in themselves and 
 in their relation to one another, with an occa- 
 sional glimpse of their relation to the state ; in 
 so far, at least, as such a view can be gained 
 from a reference to the history of England and 
 of Massachusetts. We must next trace the de- 
 
 59
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 velopment of local government in other parts 
 of the United States ; and in doing so we can 
 advance at somewhat quicker pace, not because 
 our subject becomes in any wise less important 
 or less interesting, but because we have already 
 marked out the ground and said things of gen- 
 eral application which will not need to be said 
 over again. 
 
 § 3. The Old Virginia County. 
 
 By common consent of historians, the two 
 most distinctive and most characteristic lines 
 of development which English forms of gov- 
 ernment have followed, in propagating them- 
 selves throughout the United States, are the 
 two lines that have led through New England 
 on the one hand and through Virginia on the 
 other. We have seen what shape local govern- 
 ment assumed in New England ; let us now 
 observe what shape it assumed in the Old Do- 
 minion. 
 
 The first point to be noticed in the early set- 
 tlement of Virginia is that people did not live 
 so near together as in New England. This was 
 because tobacco, cultivated on large estates, 
 was a source of wealth. Tobacco drew settlers 
 Virginia ^° Virginia as in later days gold drew 
 sparsely scttlcrs to California and Australia. 
 
 They came not in organized groups 
 or congregations, but as a multitude of individ- 
 60
 
 THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY 
 
 uals. Land was granted to individuals, and 
 sometimes these grants were of enormous ex- 
 tent. " John Boiling, who died in 1757, left an 
 estate of 40,000 acres, and this is not mentioned 
 as an extraordinary amount of land for one man 
 to own," ^ From an early period it was cus- 
 tomary to keep these great estates together by 
 entailing them, and this continued until entails 
 were abolished in 1776 through the influence of 
 Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 A glance at the map of Virginia shows to 
 what a remarkable degree it is intersected by 
 navigable rivers. This fact made it possible for 
 plantations, even at a long distance Absence of 
 from the coast, to have each its own ^^"^^^ 
 private wharf, where a ship from England could 
 unload its cargo of tools, cloth, or furniture, and 
 receive a cargo of tobacco in return. As the 
 planters were thus supplied with most of the 
 necessaries of life, there was no occasion for the 
 kind of trade that builds up towns. Even in 
 comparatively recent times the development of 
 town life in Virginia has been very slow. In 
 1880, out of 246 cities and towns in the United 
 States with a population exceeding 10,000, there 
 were only six in Virginia. 
 
 The cultivation of tobacco upon large estates 
 caused a great demand for cheap labour, and 
 
 ^ Edward Channing, Town and County Governmeiit, in 
 Johns Hopkins University Studies, vol. ii. p. 467. 
 61
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 this was supplied partly by bringing negro slaves 
 from Africa, partly by bringing criminals from 
 English jails. The latter were sold into slavery 
 for a limited term of years, and were 
 known as " indentured white ser- 
 vants." So great was the demand for labour that 
 it became customary to kidnap poor friendless 
 wretches on the streets of seaport towns in Eng- 
 land and ship them off to Virginia to be sold 
 into servitude. At first these white servants 
 were more numerous than the negroes, but be- 
 fore the end of the seventeenth century the 
 blacks had come to be much the more numer- 
 ous. 
 
 In this rural community the owners of plan- 
 tations came from the same classes of society as 
 the settlers of New England ; they were for the 
 most part country squires and yeo- 
 
 SoClal pOSl- ^ 1'1*-NT T-^ 1 
 
 tionofset- men. But while m New England 
 ^'^^ there was no lower class of society 
 
 sharply marked off from the upper, on the 
 other hand in Virginia there was an insurmount- 
 able distinction between the owners of planta- 
 tions and the so-called "mean whites" or 
 "white trash." This class was originally formed 
 of men and women who had been indentured 
 white servants, and was increased by such shift- 
 less people as now and then found their way to 
 the colony, but could not win estates or obtain 
 social recognition. With such a sharp division 
 62
 
 THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY 
 
 between classes, an aristocratic type of society- 
 was developed in Virginia as naturally as a 
 democratic type was developed in New England. 
 In Virginia there were no town-meetings. 
 The distances between plantations cooperated 
 with the distinction between classes to prevent 
 the growth of such an institution. Virginia par- 
 The English parish, with its church- '^^" 
 wardens and vestry and clerk, was reproduced 
 in Virginia under the same name, but with some 
 noteworthy peculiarities. If the whole body of 
 ratepayers had assembled in vestry meeting, to 
 enact by-laws and assess taxes, the course of de- 
 velopment would have been like that of the 
 New England town-meeting. But instead of 
 this the vestry, which exercised the chief author- 
 ity in the parish, was composed of twelve chosen 
 men. This was not government by a primary 
 assembly, it was representative government. At 
 first the twelve vestrymen were elected by the 
 people of the parish, and thus resembled the 
 selectmen of New England ; but after a while 
 " they obtained the power of filling vacancies 
 in their own number," so that they ^^ 
 
 ■' The vestry a 
 
 became what is called a " close corpo- dose corpo- 
 ration," and the people had nothing 
 to do with choosing them. Strictly speaking, 
 that was not representative government ; it was 
 a step on the road that leads towards oligarchical 
 or despotic government. 
 
 63
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 It was the vestry, thus constituted, that 
 apportioned the parish taxes, appointed the 
 churchwardens, presented the minister for in- 
 Powers of duction into office, and acted as over- 
 the vestry sccrs of the poor. The minister pre- 
 sided in all vestry meetings. His salary was 
 paid in tobacco, and in 1696 it was fixed by law 
 at 1 6,000 pounds of tobacco yearly. In many 
 parishes the churchwardens were the collectors 
 of the parish taxes. The other officers, such as 
 the sexton and the parish clerk, were appointed 
 either by the minister or by the vestry. 
 
 With the local government thus administered, 
 we see that the larger part of the people had 
 little directly to do. Nevertheless in these small 
 neighbourhoods government was in full sight 
 of the people. Its proceedings went on in broad 
 daylight and were sustained by public sentiment. 
 As Jefferson said, "The vestrymen are usually 
 the most discreet farmers, so distributed through 
 the parish that every part of it may be under 
 the immediate eye of some one of them. They 
 are well acquainted with the details and economy 
 of private life, and they find sufficient induce- 
 ments to execute their charge well, in their phi- 
 lanthropy, in the approbation of their neigh- 
 bours, and the distinction which that gives 
 them." 1 
 
 ^ See Howard, Local Constitutional History of the United 
 States, vol. i. p. 122. 
 
 64 
 
 A
 
 THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY 
 
 The difference, however, between the New 
 England township and the Virginia parish, 
 in respect • of self-government, was striking 
 enough. We have now to note a further differ- 
 ence. In New England, as we have seen, the 
 township was the unit of representation in the 
 colonial legislature ; but in Virginia the parish 
 was not the unit of representation. The county 
 was that unit. In the colonial legis- The county 
 lature of Virginia the representatives ^/represen-*^ 
 sat not for parishes, but for counties. Nation 
 The difference is very significant. As the polit- 
 ical life of New England was in a manner built 
 up out of the political life of the towns, so the 
 political life of Virginia was built up out of the 
 political life of the counties. This was partly 
 because the vast plantations were not grouped 
 about a compact village nucleus like the small 
 farms at the North, and partly because there 
 was not in Virginia that Puritan theory of the 
 church according to which each congregation is 
 a self-governing democracy. The conditions 
 which made the New England town-meeting 
 were absent. The only alternative was some 
 kind of representative government, and for this 
 the county was a small enough area. The 
 county in Virginia was much smaller than in 
 Massachusetts or Connecticut. In a few in- 
 stances the county consisted of only a single 
 
 6s
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 parish ^ in some cases it was divided into two 
 parishes, but oftener into three or more. 
 
 In Virginia, as in England and in New Eng- 
 land, the county was an area for the adminis- 
 The county tration of justicc. There were usually 
 court was Jn cach county eight justices of the 
 
 virtually a i i "• i 
 
 close cor- pcacc, and their court was the coun- 
 poration tcrpart of the Quarter Sessions in 
 
 England. They were appointed by the gov- 
 ernor, but it was customary for them to nomi- 
 nate candidates for the governor to appoint, so 
 that practically the court filled its own vacancies 
 and was a close corporation, like the parish ves- 
 try. Such an arrangement tended to keep the 
 general supervision and control of things in the 
 hands of a few families. 
 
 This county court usually met as often as 
 once a month in some convenient spot answer- 
 ing to the shire town of England or New Eng- 
 land. More often than not the place originally 
 consisted of the court-house and very little else, 
 and was named accordingly from the name of 
 the county, as Hanover Court House or Fair- 
 fax Court House ; and the small shire towns 
 that have grown up in such spots often retain 
 these names to the present day. Such names 
 „, occur commonly in Virginia, West 
 
 The county ... ^ i /-- i- 
 
 seat or court Virginia, and South Carolma, very 
 rarely in Kentucky, North Carolina, 
 Alabama, Ohio, and perhaps occasionally else- 
 66
 
 THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY 
 
 where.^ Their number has diminished from the 
 tendency to omit the phrase " Court House," 
 leaving the name of the county for that of the 
 shire town, as for example in Culpeper, Va. In 
 New England the process of naming has been 
 just the reverse ; as in Hartford County, Conn., 
 or Worcester County, Mass., which have taken 
 their names from the shire towns. In this, as 
 in so many cases, whole chapters of history are 
 wrapped up in geographical names.'"^ 
 
 The county court in Virginia had jurisdiction 
 in criminal actions not involving peril of life or 
 limb, and in civil suits where the sum at stake 
 exceeded twenty-five shillings. Smaller suits 
 could be tried by a single justice. The powers of the 
 court also had charge of the probate '^°"''' 
 and administration of wills. The court ap- 
 pointed its own clerk, who kept the county re- 
 cords. It superintended the construction and 
 repair of bridges and highways, and for this 
 purpose divided the county into " precincts," 
 and appointed annually for each precinct a high- 
 way surveyor. The court also seems to have 
 appointed constables, one for each precinct. 
 
 ^ In Mitchell's Atlas, 1883, the number of cases is in Va. 
 38, W. Va. 1 3, S. C. 1 6, N. C. 2, Ala. i , Ky. i , Ohio i . 
 
 ^ A few of the oldest Virginia counties, organized as such 
 in 1634, had arisen from the spreading and thinning of single 
 settlements originally intended to be cities and named accord- 
 ingly. Hence the curious names (at first sight unintelligible) 
 of " James City County " and " Charles City County." 
 
 67
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 The justices could themselves act as coroners, 
 but annually two or more coroners for each par- 
 ish were appointed by the governor. As we 
 have seen that the parish taxes — so much for 
 salaries of minister and clerk, so much for care 
 of church buildings, so much for relief of the 
 poor, etc. — were computed and assessed by the 
 vestry ; so the county taxes, for care of court- 
 house and jail, roads and bridges, coroner's fees, 
 and allowances to the representatives sent to the 
 colonial legislature, were computed and assessed 
 by the county court. The general taxes for the 
 colony were estimated by a committee of the 
 legislature, as well as the county's share of the 
 colony tax. The taxes for the county, and 
 sometimes the taxes for the parish also, were 
 collected by the sheriff. They were usually paid, 
 , _ not in money, but in tobacco ; and 
 
 The sheriff i • rr i j- r .• 
 
 the sheriiT was the custodian or this 
 tobacco, responsible for its proper disposal. 
 The sheriff was thus not only the officer for 
 executing the judgments of the court, but he 
 was also county treasurer and collector, and thus 
 exercised powers almost as great as those of the 
 sheriff in England in the twelfth century. He 
 also presided over elections for representatives to 
 the legislature. It is interesting to observe how 
 this very important officer was chosen. " Each 
 year the court presented the names of three of its 
 members to the governor, who appointed one, 
 68
 
 THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY 
 
 generally the senior justice, to be the sheriff of 
 the county for the ensuing year." ^ Here again 
 we see this close corporation, the county court, 
 keeping the control of things within its own 
 hands. 
 
 One other important county officer needs to 
 be mentioned. We have seen that in early New 
 England each town had its train-band or com- 
 pany of militia, and that the companies in each 
 county united to form the county regiment. 
 In Virginia it was just the other way. Each 
 county raised a certain number of troops, and 
 because it was not convenient for the men to go 
 many miles from home in assembling for pur- 
 poses of drill, the county was subdivided into 
 military districts, each with its company, accord- 
 ing to rules laid down by the governor. The 
 military command in each county was The county 
 vested in the county lieutenant, an I'eutenant 
 officer answering in many respects to the lord- 
 lieutenant of the English shire at that period. 
 Usually he was a member of the governor's 
 council, and as such exercised sundry judicial 
 functions. He bore the honorary title of " colo- 
 nel," and was to some extent regarded as the 
 governor's deputy ; but in later times his du- 
 ties were confined entirely to military matters.^ 
 
 ^ Edward Channing, op. cit. p. 478. 
 ^ For an excellent account of local government in Virginia 
 before the Revolution, see Howard, Local Const. Hist, of the 
 
 69
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 If now we sum up the contrasts between 
 local government in Virginia and that in New 
 England, we observe : — 
 
 1. That in New England the management 
 of local affairs was mostly in the hands of town 
 officers, the county being superadded for certain 
 purposes, chiefly judicial ; while in Virginia the 
 management was chiefly in the hands of county 
 officers, though certain functions, chiefly eccle- 
 siastical, were reserved to the parish. 
 
 2. That in New England the local magistrates 
 were almost always, with the exception of jus- 
 tices, chosen by the people ; while in Virginia, 
 though some of them were nominally appointed 
 by the governor, yet in practice they generally 
 contrived to appoint themselves — in other 
 words the local boards practically filled their 
 own vacancies and were self-perpetuating. 
 
 These differences are striking and profound. 
 There can be no doubt that, as Thomas Jeffer- 
 son clearly saw, in the long run the interests of 
 political liberty are much safer under the New 
 England system than under the Virginia sys- 
 jefferson's tem. Jcffcrson said, " Those wards, 
 tovraship called townships in New England, are 
 government the vital principle of their govern- 
 ments, and have proved themselves the wisest 
 invention ever devised by the wit of man for 
 
 U. S., vol. i. pp. 388-407; also Edward Ingle, in Johns 
 Hopkins Univ. Studies, III., ii.-iii. 
 70
 
 THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY 
 
 the perfect exercise of self-government, and for 
 its preservation.^ . . . As Cato, then, concluded 
 every speech with the words Carthago delenda 
 esty so do I every opinion with the injunction : 
 ' Divide the counties into wards I ' " ^ 
 
 We must, however, avoid the mistake of 
 making too much of this contrast. As already 
 hinted, in those rural societies where people 
 generally knew one another, its effects were not 
 so far-reaching as they would be in the more 
 complicated society of to-day. Even though 
 Virginia had not the town-meeting, " it had its 
 familiar court-day," which "was a «<court- 
 holiday for all the country-side, espe- '^*y" 
 cially in the fall and spring. From all directions 
 came in the people on horseback, in wagons, 
 and afoot. On the court-house green assem- 
 bled, in indiscriminate confusion, people of all 
 classes, — the hunter from the backwoods, the 
 owner of a few acres, the grand proprietor, and 
 the grinning, heedless negro. Old debts were 
 settled, and new ones made ; there were auc- 
 tions, transfers of property, and, if election times 
 were near, stump-speaking." ^ 
 
 For seventy years or more before the Decla- 
 ration of Independence the matters of general 
 public concern, about which stump speeches 
 were made on Virginia court-days, were very 
 
 ^ Jefferson's Works, vii. 13. ^ Id., vi. 544. 
 
 ^ Ingle, loc. cit. 
 
 71
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 similar to those that were discussed in Massa- 
 chusetts town-meetings when representatives 
 were to be chosen for the legislature. Such 
 questions generally related to some real or 
 alleged encroachment upon popular liberties by 
 the royal governor, who, being appointed and 
 sent from beyond sea, was apt to have ideas and 
 purposes of his own that conflicted with those 
 of the people. This perpetual antagonism to 
 the governor, who represented British imperial 
 interference with American local self-govern- 
 ment, was an excellent schooling in political 
 liberty, alike for Virginia and for Massachusetts. 
 When the stress of the Revolution came, these 
 two leading colonies cordially supported each 
 other, and their political characteristics were 
 reflected in the kind of achievements for which 
 each was especially distinguished. The Virginia 
 system, concentrating the administration of 
 local affairs in the hands of a few county fami- 
 virginia pro- ^^^^j ^^^ eminently favourable for 
 lific in great developing skilful and vigorous lead- 
 
 leaders . " . . . 
 
 ership. And while in the history of 
 Massachusetts during the Revolution we are 
 chiefly impressed with the wonderful degree in 
 which the mass of the people exhibited the kind 
 of political training that nothing in the world 
 except the habit of parliamentary discussion can 
 impart; on the other hand, Virginia at that 
 
 72
 
 THE OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY 
 
 time gave us — in Washington, Jefferson, 
 Henry, Madison, and Marshall, to mention no 
 others — such a group of consummate leaders 
 as the world has seldom seen equalled. 
 
 73
 
 IV 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 § \. Various Local Systems. 
 
 WE have now completed our outline 
 sketch of town and county govern- 
 ment as illustrated in New England 
 on the one hand and in Virginia on the other. 
 There are some important points in the early- 
 history of local government in other portions 
 of the original thirteen states, to which we must 
 next call attention ; and then we shall be pre- 
 pared to understand the manner in which our 
 great western country has been organized under 
 civil government. We must first say something 
 about South Carolina and Maryland. 
 
 South Carolina was settled from half a century 
 to a century later than Massachusetts and Vir- 
 Parishes gi^J^) ^^'^ ^Y ^^^ distinct streams of 
 in South immigration. The lowlands near the 
 coast were settled by Englishmen and 
 by French Huguenots, but the form of govern- 
 ment was purely English. There were parishes, 
 as in Virginia, but popular election played a 
 greater part in them. The vestrymen were 
 elected yearly by all the taxpayers of the parish. 
 74
 
 VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS 
 
 The minister was also elected by his people, 
 and after 1 7 1 9 each parish sent its representatives 
 to the colonial legislature, though in a few in- 
 stances two parishes were joined together for 
 the purpose of choosing representatives. The 
 system was thus more democratic than in Vir- 
 ginia ; and in this connection it is worth while 
 to observe that parochial libraries and free 
 schools were established as early as 17 12, much 
 earlier than in Virginia. 
 
 During the first half of the eighteenth century 
 a very different stream of immigration, coming 
 mostly along the slope of the Alleghanies from 
 Virginia and Pennsylvania, and consisting in 
 great part of Germans, Scotch Highlanders, and 
 Scotch-Irish, peopled the upland western regions 
 of South Carolina. For some time this territory 
 had scarcely any civil organization. It was a 
 kind of " wild West." There were as yet no 
 counties in the colony. There was just one 
 sheriff for the whole colony, who The back 
 " held his office by patent from the '^""""^^ 
 Crown." ^ A court sat in Charleston, but the 
 arm of justice was hardly long enough to reach 
 offenders in the mountains. " To punish a 
 horse-thief or prosecute a debtor one was some- 
 times compelled to travel a distance of several 
 hundred miles, and be subjected to all the dan- 
 gers and delays incident to a wild country." 
 
 ^ B. J. Ramage, in Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, 1., xii. 
 
 75
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 When people cannot get justice in what in 
 civilized countries is the regular way, they will 
 get it in some irregular way. So these moun- 
 taineers began to form themselves into bands 
 known as " regulators," quite like the "vigilance 
 committees " formed for the same purposes in 
 California a hundred years later. For thieves 
 and murderers the " regulators " provided a 
 speedy trial, and the nearest tree served as a 
 gallows. 
 
 In order to put a stop to this lynch law, the 
 legislature in 1768 divided the back country 
 The district i^^to distHcts, each with its sheriff and 
 sj'stem court-house, and the judges were sent 
 
 on circuit through these districts. The upland 
 region with its districts was thus very differ- 
 ently organized from the lowland region with 
 its parishes, and the effect was for a while 
 almost like dividing South Carolina into two 
 states. At first the districts were not allowed 
 to choose their own sheriffs, but in course of 
 time they acquired this privilege. It was diffi- 
 cult to apportion the representation in the state 
 legislature so as to balance evenly the districts 
 in the west against the parishes in the east, 
 and accordingly there was much dissatisfaction, 
 especially in the west which did not get its fair 
 share. In 1786 the capital was moved from 
 Charleston to Columbia as a concession to the 
 
 76
 
 VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS 
 
 back country", and in 1 808 a kind of compromise 
 was effected, in such wise that the uplands 
 secured a permanent majority in the house of 
 representatives, while the lowlands retained con- 
 trol of the senate. The two sections had each 
 its separate state treasurer, and this kind of 
 double government lasted until the Civil War. 
 
 At the close of the war " the parishes were 
 abolished and the district system was extended 
 to the low country." But soon after- The mod- 
 ward, by the new constitution of cTrolTna^ 
 1868, the districts were abolished and county 
 the state was divided into thirty-four counties, 
 each of which sends one senator to the state 
 senate, while they send representatives in pro- 
 portion to their population. In each county 
 the people elect three county commissioners, a 
 school commissioner, a sheriff, a judge of pro- 
 bate, a clerk, and a coroner. In one respect the 
 South Carolina county is quite peculiar : it has 
 no organization for judicial purposes. " The 
 counties, like their institutional predecessor the 
 district, are grouped into judicial circuits, and a 
 judge is elected by the legislature for each cir- 
 cuit. Trial justices are appointed by the gov- 
 ernor for a term of two years." 
 
 This system, like the simple county system 
 everywhere, is a representative system ; the 
 people take no direct part in the management 
 
 77
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY ^ 
 
 of affairs. In one respect it seems obviously to 
 need amendment. In states where county gov- 
 ernment has grown up naturally, after the Vir- | 
 ginia fashion, the county is apt to be much 
 smaller than in states where it is simply a dis- 
 trict embracing several township governments. 
 Thus the average size of a county in Massachu- J 
 setts is 557 square miles, and in Connecticut ' 
 594 square miles ; but in Virginia it is only 383 
 and in Kentucky 307 square miles. In South 
 Carolina, however, where the county did not 
 grow up of itself, but has been enacted, so to 
 speak, by a kind of afterthought, it has been 
 made too large altogether. The average area of 
 the county in South Carolina is about 1000 
 The coun- squatc milcs. Some counties are much 
 ties are too krgcr. CoUcton County in 1 890 could 
 hold the whole state of Rhode Island, 
 with 600 square miles to spare. Such an area 
 is much too extensive for local self-government. 
 Its different portions are too far apart to under- flj 
 stand each other's local wants, or to act tffi.- ■ 
 ciently toward supplying them ; and roads, - 
 bridges, and free schools suffer accordingly. An 
 unsuccessful attempt has been made to reduce 
 the size of the counties. But what seems per- 
 haps more likely to happen is the practical divi- 
 sion of the counties into school districts, and 
 the gradual development of these school districts 
 into something like self-governing townships.
 
 VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS 
 
 To this very interesting point we shall again 
 have occasion to refer. 
 
 We come now to Maryland. The early his- 
 tory of local institutions in this state is a fasci- 
 nating subject of study. None of the American 
 colonies had a more distinctive character of its 
 own, or reproduced old English usages in a 
 more curious fashion. There was much in colo- 
 nial Maryland, with its lords of the manor, its 
 bailiffs and seneschals, its courts baron and 
 courts leet, to remind one of the England of 
 the thirteenth century. But of these ancient 
 institutions, long since extinct, there is but one 
 that needs to be mentioned in the present con- 
 nection. In Maryland the earliest form of civil 
 community was called, not a parish or town- 
 ship, but a hundred. This curious The hundred 
 designation is often met with in Eng- '" Maryland 
 lish history, and the institution which it de- 
 scribes, though now almost everywhere extinct, 
 was once almost universal among men. It will 
 be remembered that the oldest form of civil 
 society, which is still to be found among some 
 barbarous races, was that in which families were 
 organized into clans and clans into tribes ; and 
 we saw that among our forefathers in England 
 the dwelling-place of the clan became the town- 
 ship, and the home of the tribe became the 
 shire or county. Now, in nearly all primitive 
 societies that have been studied, we find a group 
 
 79
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 that is larger than the clan but smaller than the 
 tribe, — or, in other words, intermediate be- 
 tween clan and tribe. Scholars usually call this 
 Clans, bro- g^^up by its Greek name, phratry, or 
 therhoods, « brotherhood," for it was known 
 
 and tribes , , . . -^ , 
 
 long ago that m ancient Ureece clans 
 were grouped into brotherhoods and brother- 
 hoods into tribes. Among uncivilized people 
 all over the world we find this kind of group- 
 ing. For example, a tribe of North American 
 Indians is regularly made up of phratries, and 
 the phratries are made up of clans ; and, strange 
 as it might at first seem, a good many half- 
 understood features of early Greek and Roman 
 society have had much light thrown upon them 
 from the study of the usages of Cherokees and 
 Mohawks. Wherever men have been placed, 
 the problem of forming civil society has been 
 in its main outlines the same ; and in its earlier 
 stages it has been approached in pretty much 
 the same way by all. 
 
 The ancient Romans had the brotherhood, 
 and called it a curia. The Roman people were 
 organized in clans, curies, and tribes. But for 
 military purposes the curia was called a century^ 
 because it furnished a quota of one hundred 
 men to the army. The word century originally 
 Origin of the meant a company of a hundred men, 
 hundred ^^^ j^ ^^^^ ^^^y by a figurc of spccch 
 
 that it afterward came to mean a period of a 
 80
 
 VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS 
 
 hundred years. Now among all Germanic peo- 
 ples, including the English, the brotherhood 
 seems to have been called the hundred. Our 
 English forefathers seem to have been organ- 
 ized, like other barbarians, in clans, brother- 
 hoods, and tribes ; and the brotherhood was in 
 some way connected with the furnishing a hun- 
 dred warriors to the host. In the tenth century 
 we find England covered with small districts 
 known as hundreds. Several townships together 
 made a hundred, and several hundreds together 
 made a shire. The hundred was chiefly notable 
 as the smallest area for the administration of 
 justice. The hundred court was a re- -phe hundred 
 presentative body, composed of the '^°"''' 
 lords of lands or their stewards, with the reeve 
 and four selected men and the parish priest 
 from each township. There was a chief magis- 
 trate for the hundred, known originally as the 
 hundredman, but after the Norman Conquest 
 as the high constable. 
 
 By the thirteenth century the importance of 
 the hundred had much diminished. The need 
 for any such body, intermediate be- pecay of the 
 tween township and county, ceased to ^""'^red 
 be felt, and the functions of the hundred were 
 gradually absorbed by the county. Almost 
 everywhere in England, by the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, the hundred had fallen into decay. It is 
 curious that its name and some of its pecu- 
 8i
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 liarities should have been brought to America, 
 and should in one state have remained to the 
 present day. Some of the early settlements in 
 Virginia were called hundreds, but they were 
 practically nothing more than parishes, and the 
 name soon became obsolete, except upon the 
 map, where we still see, for example, Bermuda 
 Hundred. But in Maryland the hundred flour- 
 ished and became the political unit, like the 
 township in New England. The hundred was 
 the militia district, and the district for the assess- 
 ment of taxes. In the earliest times it was also 
 the representative district ; delegates to the co- 
 „ , ^ lonial legislature sat for hundreds. 
 
 Hundred- ^ O 
 
 meetings in But in 1 654 this was changed, and 
 ^"^ representatives were elected by coun- 
 
 ties. The officers of the Maryland hundred 
 were the high constable, the commander of mi- 
 litia, the tobacco-viewer, the overseer of roads, 
 and the assessor of taxes. The last-mentioned 
 officer was elected by the people, the others 
 were all appointed by the governor. The hun- 
 dred had also its assembly of all the people, 
 which was in many respects like the New Eng- 
 land town-meeting. These hundred-meetings 
 enacted by-laws, levied taxes, appointed com- 
 mittees, and often exhibited a vigorous political 
 life. But after the Revolution they fell into dis- 
 use, and in 1824 the hundred became extinct in 
 
 82
 
 VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS 
 
 Maryland ; its organization was swallowed up 
 in that of the county. 
 
 In Delaware, however, the hundred remains 
 to this day. There it is simply an imperfectly 
 developed township, but its relations The hundred 
 with the county, as they have stood '" ^^^^^''^ 
 with but little change since 1743, are very in- 
 teresting. Each hundred used to choose its own 
 assessor of taxes, and every year in the month 
 of November the assessors from all the hun- 
 dreds used to meet in the county court-house, 
 along with three or more justices of the peace 
 and eight grand jurors, and assess the taxes for 
 the ensuing year. A month later they assembled 
 again, to hear complaints from persons who 
 considered themselves overtaxed ; and having 
 disposed of this business, they proceeded to 
 appoint collectors, one for each hundred. This 
 county assembly was known as the " court of 
 levy and appeal," or more briefly as the levy 
 court. It appointed the county trea- The levy 
 surer, the road commissioners, and the court, or 
 
 f. , p,. , representa- 
 
 overseers or the poor, bmce 1793 the tive county 
 levy court has been composed of *^^^'"^^y 
 special commissioners chosen by popular vote, 
 but its essential character has not been altered. 
 As a thoroughly representative body, it reminds 
 one of the county courts of the Plantagenet 
 period. 
 
 83
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 We next come to the great middle colonies, 
 
 Pennsylvania and New York. The most note- 
 
 Id worthy feature of local government 
 
 Pennsyi- in Pennsylvania was the general elec- 
 
 vania county ^' r . rr i. i 
 
 tion or county omcers by popular 
 vote. The county was the unit of representa- 
 tion in the colonial legislature, and on election 
 days the people of the county elected at the 
 same time their sheriffs, coroners, assessors, and 
 county commissioners. In this respect Pennsyl- 
 vania furnished a model which has been followed 
 by most of the states since the Revolution, as 
 regards the county governments. It is also to 
 be noted that before the Revolution, as Penn- 
 sylvania increased in population, the townships 
 began to participate in the work of government, 
 each township choosing its overseers of the 
 poor, highway surveyors, and inspectors of 
 elections.^ 
 
 New York had from the very beginning the 
 rudiments of an excellent system of local self- 
 government. The Dutch villages had their as- 
 semblies, which under the English rule were 
 ^ developed into town-meetings, though 
 
 Town-meet- , ^ " ° 
 
 ings in New With less ample powcrs than those of 
 
 New England. The governing body 
 
 of the New York town consisted of the con- 
 
 ^ Town-meetings were not quite unknown in Pennsyl- 
 vania ; see W. P. Hoi comb, Pennsylvatiia Boroughs, Johns 
 Hopkins Univ. Studies, IV., iv. 
 84
 
 VARIOUS LOCAL SYSTEMS 
 
 stable and eight overseers, who answered in 
 most respects to the selectmen of New England. 
 Four of the overseers were elected each year in 
 town-meeting, and one of the retiring overseers 
 was at the same time elected constable. In 
 course of time the elective offices came to in- 
 clude assessors and collectors, town-clerk, high- 
 way surveyors, fence-viewers, pound-masters, 
 and overseers of the poor. At first the town- 
 meetings seem to have been held only for the 
 election of officers, but they acquired to a limited 
 extent the power of levying taxes and enacting 
 by-laws. In 1703 a law was passed requiring 
 each town to elect yearly an officer to be known 
 as the " supervisor," whose duty was ^, 
 
 '■ . •' , The county 
 
 "to compute, ascertam, examme, board of su- 
 oversee, and allow the contingent, p"^'^°''^ 
 publick, and necessary charges " of the county.* 
 For this purpose the supervisors met once a 
 year at the county town. The principle was the 
 same as that of the levy court in Delaware. 
 This board of supervisors was a strictly repre- 
 sentative government, and formed a strong con- 
 trast to the close corporation by which county 
 affairs were administered in Virginia. The New 
 York system is of especial interest, because it 
 has powerfully influenced the development of 
 local institutions throughout the Northwest. 
 
 ^ Howard, Local Const, Hist., i. in. 
 
 85
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 § 2. Settlement of the Public Domain. 
 The westward movement of population in the 
 United States has for the most part followed 
 the parallels of latitude. Thus Virginians and 
 North Carolinians, crossing the Alleghanies, 
 settled Kentucky and Tennessee; thus people 
 from New England filled up the central and 
 northern parts of New York, and 
 
 Westward .' at- i • ttt- 
 
 movement passed on mto Michigan and Wiscon- 
 of population ^-^^ . ^^^^ qj^j^^ Indiana, and Illinois 
 
 received many settlers from New York and 
 Pennsylvania. In the early times when Ken- 
 tucky was settled, the pioneer would select a 
 piece of land wherever he liked, and after hav- 
 ing a rude survey made, and the limits marked 
 by " blazing " the trees with a hatchet, the sur- 
 vey would be put on record in the state land- 
 office. So little care was taken that " half a 
 dozen patents would sometimes be given for 
 the same tract. Pieces of land, of all shapes and 
 sizes, lay between the patents. . . . Such a 
 system naturally begat no end of litigation, and 
 there remain in Kentucky curious vestiges of 
 it " to this day.^ 
 
 In order to avoid such confusion in the set- 
 tlement of the territory north of the Ohio River, 
 Congress passed the land-ordinance of 1785, 
 which was based chiefly upon the suggestions 
 ^ Hinsdale, Old Northwest, p. 261. 
 
 86
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN 
 
 of Thomas Jefferson, and laid the foundation 
 of our simple and excellent system for survey- 
 ing national lands. According to this system 
 as gradually perfected, the government sur- 
 veyors first mark out a north and south line 
 which is called the principal meridian. Method of 
 Twenty-four such meridians have ^^pubik 
 been established. The first was the lands 
 dividing line between Ohio and Indiana ; the 
 last one runs through Oregon a little to the 
 west of Portland. On each side of the principal 
 meridian there are marked off subordinate me- 
 ridians called range lines^ six miles apart, and 
 numbered east and west from their principal.^ 
 Then a true parallel of latitude is drawn, cross- 
 ing these meridians at right angles. It is called 
 the base line^ or standard parallel. Eleven such 
 base lines, for example, run across the great 
 state of Oregon. Finally, on each side of the 
 base line are drawn subordinate parallels called 
 township lines, six miles apart, and numbered 
 north and south from their base line. By these 
 range lines and township lines the whole land 
 is thus divided into townships iust six . . ^ 
 
 r •; Origin of 
 
 miles square, and the townships are western 
 all numbered. Take, for example, *°^"«hips, 
 the township of Deerfield in Michigan. That 
 
 ^ The following is a diagram of the first principal meridian, 
 and of the base line running across southern Michigan. A B 
 is the principal meridian ; C D is the base line. The figures 
 
 87
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 is the fourth township north of the base line, 
 and it is in the fifth range east of the first prin- 
 cipal meridian. It would be called township 
 number 4 north range 5 east, and was so called 
 before it was settled and received a name. Evi- 
 dently one must go 24 miles from the principal 
 meridian, or 1 8 miles from the base line, in order 
 
 on the base line mark the range lines ; the figures on the 
 principal meridian mark the township lines. E is township 4 
 north in range 5 east ; F is township 5 south in range 4 west ; 
 G is township 3 north in range 3 west. 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 E 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 P 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 As the intervals between meridians diminish as we go north- 
 ward, it is sometimes necessary to introduce a correction line.
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN 
 
 to enter this township. It is all as simple as 
 the numbering of streets in Philadelphia.* 
 
 the nature of which will be seen from the following dia- 
 gram : — 
 
 Correction Line. 
 
 Base Line. 
 
 Diagram of Correction Line. 
 
 ^ In Philadelphia the streets for the most part cross each 
 other at right angles and at equal distances, so that the city is 
 laid out like a checkerboard. The parallel streets running in 
 one direction have names, often taken from trees. Market 
 Street is the central street from which the others are reckoned 
 in both directions according to the couplet 
 
 " Market, Arch, Race, and Vine, 
 Chestnut, Walnut, Spruce, and Pine," etc. 
 
 The cross streets are not named but numbered, as First, 
 Second, etc. The houses on one side of the street have odd 
 numbers and on the other side even numbers, as is the general 
 custom in the United States. With each new block a new 
 century of numbers begins, although there are seldom more 
 than forty real numbers in a block. For example, the corner 
 89
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 If now we look at Livingston County, in 
 which this township of Deerfield is situated, we 
 observe that the county is made up of sixteen 
 townships, in four rows of four ; and the next 
 county, Washtenaw, is made up of twenty town- 
 ships, in five rows of four. Maps of our West- 
 ern states are thus apt to have somewhat of a 
 and of West- checkerboard aspect, not unlike the 
 ern counties wondcrful country which Alice visited 
 after she had gone through the looking-glass. 
 Square townships are apt to make square or 
 rectangular counties, and the state, too, is likely 
 to acquire a more symmetrical shape. Nothing 
 
 house on Market Street, just above Fifteenth, is 1501 Market 
 Street. At somewhere about 1535 or 1539 you come to 
 Sixteenth Street ; then there is a break in the numbering, 
 and the next comer house is 1601. So in going along a 
 numbered street, say Fifteenth, from Market, the first number 
 will be I ; after passing Arch, loi ; after passing Race, 201, 
 etc. With this system a very slight familiarity with the city 
 enables one to find his way to any house, and to estimate the 
 length of time needflil for reaching it. St. Louis and some 
 other large cities have adopted the Philadelphia plan, the con- 
 venience of which is as great as its monotony. In Washing- 
 ton the streets running in one direction are lettered A, B, C, 
 etc., and the cross streets are numbered ; and upon the 
 checkerboard plan is superposed another plan in w^hich broad 
 avenues radiate in various directions from the Capitol, and a 
 few other centres. These avenues cut through the square 
 system of streets in all directions, so that instead of the dull 
 checkerboard monotony there is an almost endless variety of 
 magnificent vistas. 
 
 90
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN 
 
 could be more unlike the jagged, irregular shape 
 of counties in Virginia or townships in Massa- 
 chusetts, which grew up just as it happened. 
 The contrast is similar to that between Chicago, 
 with its straight streets crossing at right angles, 
 and Boston, or London, with their labyrinths 
 of crooked lanes. For picturesqueness the ad- 
 vantage is entirely with the irregular city, but 
 for practical convenience it is quite the other 
 way. So with our western lands the simplicity 
 and regularity of the system have made it a 
 marvel of convenience for the settlers, and 
 doubtless have had much to do with the rapidity 
 with which civil governments have been built 
 up in the West. " This fact," says a recent 
 writer, " will be appreciated by those who know 
 from experience the ease and certainty with 
 which the pioneer on the great plains of Kan- 
 sas, Nebraska, or Dakota is enabled to select 
 his homestead or * locate his claim * unaided by 
 the expensive skill of the surveyor." ^ 
 
 There was more in it than this, however. 
 There was a germ of organization planted in 
 these western townships, which must be noted 
 as of great importance. Each township, being 
 six miles in length and six miles in breadth, was 
 divided into thirty-six numbered sections, each 
 containing just one square mile, or 640 acres. 
 Each section, moreover, was divided into sixteen 
 
 ^ Howard, Local Const. Hist, of U. S., vol. i. p. 139. 
 91
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 tracts of forty acres each, and sales to settlers 
 were and are generally made by tracts at the 
 Some effects ^^.tc of 3. dolkr and a quarter per acre. 
 of the system jtqj. £f|-y dolkrs 3. man may buy forty 
 acres of unsettled land, provided he will actu- 
 ally go and settle upon it, and this has proved 
 to be a very effective inducement for enterpris- 
 ing young men to " go West." Many a tract 
 thus bought for fifty dollars has turned out to 
 be a soil upon which princely fortunes have 
 grown. A tract of forty acres represents to-day 
 in Chicago or Minneapolis an amount of wealth 
 difficult for the imagination to grasp. 
 
 But in each of these townships there was at 
 least one section which was set apart for a spe- 
 cial purpose. This was usually the sixteenth 
 section, nearly in the centre of the township ; 
 and sometimes the thirty-sixth section. 
 
 The reserva- • i i i 
 
 tion for pub- m the southeast corner, was also re- 
 licschook served. These reservations were for 
 the support of public schools. Whatever money 
 was earned, by selling the land or otherwise, in 
 these sections, was to be devoted to school pur- 
 poses. This was a most remarkable provision. 
 No other nation has ever made a gift for 
 schools on so magnificent a scale. We have 
 good reason for taking pride in such a liberal 
 provision. But we ought not to forget that all 
 national gifts really involve taxation, and this 
 is no exception to the rule, although in this 
 
 92
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN 
 
 case it is not a taking of money, but a keeping 
 of it back. The national government says to 
 the local government, whatever revenues may 
 come from that section of 640 acres, be they 
 great or small, be it a spot in a rural grazing 
 district, or a spot in some crowded city, are not 
 to go into the pockets of individual men and wo- 
 men, but are to be reserved for public purposes. 
 This is a case of disguised taxation, and may 
 serve to remind us of what was said some time 
 ago, that a government cannot give anything 
 without in one way or another depriving indi- 
 viduals of its equivalent. No man can sit on a 
 camp-stool and by any amount of tugging at 
 that camp-stool lift himself over a fence. What- 
 ever is given comes from somewhere, and what- 
 ever is given by governments comes from the 
 people. 
 
 This reservation of one square mile in every 
 township for purposes of education has already 
 most profoundly influenced the de- , ,. 
 velopment of local government m vation there 
 our western states, and in the near "^l^l^^f 
 future its effects are likely to become township 
 still deeper and wider. To mark out 
 a township on the map may mean very little, 
 but when once you create in that township some 
 institution that needs to be cared for, you have 
 made a long stride toward inaugurating town- 
 ship government. When a state, as for instance 
 
 93
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 Illinois, grows up after the method just de- 
 scribed, what can be more natural than for it to 
 make the township a body corporate for school 
 purposes, and to authorize its inhabitants to 
 elect school officers and tax themselves, so far 
 as may be necessary, for the support of the 
 schools ? But the school-house, in the centre 
 of the township, is soon found to be useful for 
 many purposes. It is convenient to go there to 
 vote for state officers or for congressmen and 
 president, and so the school township becomes 
 an election district. Having once established 
 such a centre, it is almost inevitable that it 
 should sooner or later be made to serve sundry 
 other purposes, and become an area for the 
 election of constables, justices of the peace, 
 highway surveyors, and overseers of the poor. 
 In this way a vigorous township government 
 tends to grow up about the school-house as a 
 nucleus, somewhat as in early New England it 
 grew up about the church. 
 
 This tendency may be observed in almost all 
 the western states and territories, even to the 
 Pacific coast. When the western country was 
 first settled, representative county government 
 At first the prevailed almost everywhere. This 
 county sys- was partly because the earliest settlers 
 
 tem prevailed _ , _^^ . , 
 
 or the West came m much greater 
 numbers from the middle and southern states 
 than from New England. It was also partly be- 
 
 94
 
 TOWNSHIP-COUNTY SYSTEM 
 
 cause, so long as the country was thinly settled, 
 the number of people in a township was very 
 small, and it was not easy to have a government 
 smaller than that of the county. It was some- 
 thing, however, that the little squares on the 
 map, by grouping which the counties were 
 made, were already called townships. There is 
 much in a name. It was still more important 
 that these townships were only six miles square ; 
 for that made it sure that, in due course of time, 
 when population should have become dense 
 enough, they would be convenient areas for 
 establishing township government. 
 
 § 3. The Representative Township-County Sys- 
 tem in the West. 
 The first western state to adopt the town- 
 meeting was Michigan, where the great majority 
 of the settlers had come from New England, or 
 from central New York, which was a ^j^^ ^^^^_ 
 kind of westward extension of New meeting in 
 England.* Counties were established '*^ '^^ 
 in Michigan Territory in 1 805, and townships 
 were first incorporated in 1825. This was twelve 
 years before Michigan became a state. At first 
 the powers of the town-meeting were narrowly 
 
 ^ <' Of the 496 members of the Michigan Pioneer Associa- 
 tion in 1 88 1, 407 are from these sections " [New England 
 and New York], Bemis, Local Government in Michigan 
 and the Northwest, Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, I., v. 
 
 95
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 limited. It elected the town and county officers, 
 but its power of appropriating money seems to 
 have been restricted to the purpose of extirpat- 
 ing noxious animals and weeds. In 1827, how- 
 ever, it was authorized to raise money for the 
 support of schools, and since then its powers 
 have steadily increased, until now they approach 
 those of the town-meeting in Massachusetts. 
 
 The history of Illinois presents an extremely 
 interesting example of rivalry and conflict be- 
 tween the town system of New England and 
 Setdement the county systcm of the South. Ob- 
 of Illinois serve that this great state is so long 
 that, while the parallel of latitude starting from 
 its northern boundary runs through Marble- 
 head in Massachusetts, the parallel through its 
 southernmost point, at Cairo, runs a little south 
 of Petersburg in Virginia. In 1818, when Illi- 
 nois framed its state government and was ad- 
 mitted to the Union, its population was chiefly 
 in the southern half, and composed for the most 
 part of pioneers from Virginia and Virginia's 
 daughter-state, Kentucky. These men brought 
 with them the old Virginia county system, but 
 with the very great diff'erence that the county 
 officers were not appointed by the governor, or 
 allowed to be a self-perpetuating board, but were 
 elected by the people of the county. This was 
 a true advance in the democratic direction, but 
 an essential defect of the southern system re- 
 96
 
 TOWNSHIP-COUNTY SYSTEM 
 
 mained in the absence of any kind of local meet- 
 ing for the discussion of public affairs and the 
 enactment of local laws. 
 
 By the famous Ordinance of 1787, to which 
 we shall again have occasion to refer, negro slav- 
 ery had been forever prohibited to the north of 
 the Ohio River, so that, in spite of Effects of the 
 the wishes of her early settlers, Illinois Ordinance of 
 was obliged to enter the Union as a 
 free state. But in 1820 Missouri was admitted 
 as a slave state, and this turned the stream of 
 southern migration aside from Illinois to Mis- 
 souri. These emigrants, to whom slaveholding 
 was a mark of social distinction, preferred to go 
 where they could own slaves. About the same 
 time settlers from New England and New York, 
 moving along the southern border of Michigan 
 and the northern borders of Ohio and Indiana, 
 began pouring into the northern part of Illinois. 
 These newcomers did not find the representa- 
 tive county system adequate for their needs, 
 and they demanded township government. A 
 memorable political struggle ensued between the 
 northern and southern halves of the state, end- 
 ing in 1848 with the adoption of a new consti- 
 tution. It was provided " that the legislature 
 should enact a general law for the political 
 organization of townships, under which any 
 county might act whenever a majority of its 
 
 97
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 voters should so determine." ^ This was intro- 
 ducing the principle of local option, and in ac- 
 cordance therewith township governments with 
 town-meetings were at once introduced in the 
 northern counties of the state, while the south- 
 ern counties kept on in the old way. Now 
 comes the most interesting part of the story. 
 The two systems being thus brought into im- 
 mediate contact in the same state, with free 
 choice between them left to the people, the 
 northern system has slowly but steadily sup- 
 planted the southern system, until at the pre- 
 sent day only one fifth part of the counties in 
 Illinois remain without township government. 
 This example shows the intense vitality of 
 the township system. It is the kind of govern- 
 intensevi- ment that people are sure to prefer 
 t^'nshL^^ when they have once tried it under 
 system favourablc conditions. In the West 
 
 the hostile conditions against which it has to 
 contend are either the recent existence of negro 
 slavery and the ingrained prejudice in favour of 
 the Virginia method, as in Missouri ; or simply 
 the sparseness of population, as in Nebraska. 
 Time will evidently remove the latter obstacle, 
 and probably the former also. It is very signi- 
 ficant that in Missouri, which began so lately 
 as 1879 to erect township governments under a 
 
 * Shaw, Local Government in Illinois, Johns Hopkins 
 Univ. Studies, I., iii. 
 
 98
 
 TOWNSHIP-COUNTY SYSTEM 
 
 local option law similar to that of Illinois, the 
 process has already extended over about one 
 sixth part of the state ; and in Nebraska, where 
 the same process began in 1883, it has covered 
 nearly one third of the organized counties of 
 the state. 
 
 The principle of local option as to govern- 
 ment has been carried still farther in Minnesota 
 and Dakota. The method just described may 
 be called county option ; the ques- county op- 
 tion is decided by a majority vote of ^^^^^siiip 
 the people of the county. But in op"on 
 Minnesota in 1878 it was enacted that as soon 
 as any one of the little square townships in that 
 state should contain as many as twenty-five legal 
 voters, it might petition the board of county com- 
 missioners and obtain a township organization, 
 even though the adjacent townships in the same 
 county should remain under county govern- 
 ment only. Five years later the same provision 
 was adopted by Dakota, and under it township 
 government is steadily spreading. 
 
 Two distinct grades of township govern- 
 ment are to be observed in the states west of the 
 Alleghanies ; the one has the town-meeting for 
 deliberative purposes, the other has ^ , ^ 
 
 , . ., . 1 • 1 Grades or 
 
 not. In Ohio and Indiana, which township 
 derived their local institutions largely sovemment 
 from Pennsylvania, there is no such town-meet- 
 ing, the administrative offices are more or less 
 
 99
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 concentrated in a board of trustees, and the town 
 is quite subordinate to the county. The prin- 
 cipal features of this system have been repro- 
 duced in Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. 
 
 The other system was that which we have 
 seen beginning in Michigan, under the influence 
 of New York and New England. Here the 
 town-meeting, with legislative powers, is always 
 present. The most noticeable feature of the 
 Michigan system is the relation between town- 
 ship and county, which was taken from New 
 York. The county board is composed of the 
 supervisors of the several townships, and thus 
 represents the townships. It is the same in 
 Illinois. It is held by some writers that this is 
 the most perfect form of local government,^ but 
 on the other hand the objection is made that 
 county boards thus constituted are too large.^ 
 We have seen that in the states in question there 
 are not less than i6, and sometimes more than 
 20, townships in each county. In a board of 
 1 6 or 20 members it is hard to fasten responsi- 
 bility upon anybody in particular ; and thus it 
 becomes possible to have " combinations," and 
 to indulge in that exchange of favours known 
 as " log-rolling," which is one of the besetting 
 sins of all large representative bodies. Re- 
 
 ^ Howard, Local Const. Hist., passim. 
 "^ Bemis, Local Government in Michigan, Johns Hopkins 
 Univ. Studies, I,, v. 
 
 100
 
 TOWNSHIP-COUNTY SYSTEM 
 
 sponsibility is more concentrated in the smaller 
 county boards of Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and 
 Minnesota. 
 
 It is one signal merit of the peaceful and un- 
 trammelled way in which American institutions 
 have grown up, the widest possible scope be- 
 ing allowed to individual and local preferences, 
 that different states adopt different 
 
 . . , J An excellent 
 
 methods of attammg the great end at result of the 
 which all are aiming in common, — certrailza- 
 good government. One part of our tion in the 
 
 ° ° r 1 1 • United States 
 
 vast country can pront by the experi- 
 ence of other parts, and if any system or 
 method thus comes to prevail everywhere in the 
 long run, it is likely to be by reason of its in- 
 trinsic excellence. Our country affords an ad- 
 mirable field for the study of the general prin- 
 ciples which lie at the foundations of universal 
 history. Governments, large and small, are 
 growing up all about us, and in such wise that 
 we can watch the processes of growth, and learn 
 lessons which, after making due allowances for 
 difference of circumstance, are very helpful in 
 the study of other times and countries. 
 
 The general tendency toward the spread of 
 township government in the more recently 
 settled parts of the United States is unmistak- 
 able, and I have already remarked upon the 
 influence of the public school system in aiding 
 this tendency. The school district, as a prepara- 
 
 lOI
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 tion for the self-governing township, is already 
 exerting its influence in Colorado, Nevada, 
 California, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, 
 and Washington. 
 
 Something similar is going on in the southern 
 states, as already hinted in the case of South 
 Carolina. Local taxation for school purposes 
 has also been established in Kentucky and Ten- 
 nessee, in both Virginias, and elsewhere. There 
 has thus begun a most natural and wholesome 
 movement, which might easily be checked, with 
 disastrous results, by the injudicious appropria-j 
 Township ^^^^ °^ national revenue for the aid of] 
 government southcm schools. It is to be hoped] 
 
 isgeiminat- 1111 1 
 
 ing in the that throughout the southern states. 
 South g^g formerly in Michigan, the self-gov- 
 
 erning school district may prepare the way for 
 the self-governing township, with its deliberative 
 town-meeting. Such a growth must needs be 
 slow, inasmuch as it requires long political 
 training on the part of the negroes and the 
 lower classes of white people ; but it is along 
 such a line of development that such political 
 training can best be acquired ; and in no other 
 way is complete harmony between the two races 
 so likely to be secured. 
 
 Dr. Edward Bemis, who in a profoundly 
 interesting essay ^ has called attention to this 
 
 ^ Loca/ Government in Michigan and the Northwest^ 
 Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, I., v. 
 102
 
 TOWNSHIP -COUNTY SYSTEM 
 
 function of the school district as a stage in the 
 evolution of the township, remarks also upon 
 the fact that " it is in the local government of 
 the school district that woman suf- woman 
 frage is being tried." In several states ^"^''^s^ 
 women may vote for school committees, or may 
 be elected to school committees, or to sundry 
 administrative school offices. At present (1898) 
 there are not less than twenty-two states in 
 which women have school suffrage. In Utah, 
 Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming women have 
 full suffrage, voting at municipal, state, and na- 
 tional elections. In Kansas they have municipal 
 suffrage, in Iowa bond suffrage, and in Louisiana 
 tax-paying women can vote on questions sub- 
 mitted to tax-payers as such. In England, it 
 may be observed, unmarried women and widows 
 who pay taxes vote not only on school matters, 
 but generally in the local elections of vestries, 
 boroughs, and poor-law unions. In the new 
 Parish Councils Bill this municipal suffrage is 
 extended to married women. In the Isle of 
 Man women vote for members of Parliament. 
 In South Australia they have full suffrage, and 
 in 1893 ^hey were endowed with full rights of 
 suffrage in New Zealand. 
 
 The historical reason why the suffrage has so 
 
 generally been restricted to men is perhaps to 
 
 be sought in the conditions under which voting 
 
 originated. In primeval times voting was prob- 
 
 103
 
 TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY 
 
 ably adopted as a substitute for fighting. The 
 smaller and presumably weaker party yielded 
 to the larger without an actual trial of physical 
 strength ; heads were counted instead of being 
 broken. Accordingly it was only the warriors 
 who became voters. The restriction of political 
 activity to men has also probably been empha- 
 sized by the fact that all the higher civilizations 
 have passed through a well-defined patriarchal 
 stage of society in which each household was 
 represented by its oldest warrior. From present 
 indications it would seem that under the con- 
 ditions of modern industrial society the arrange- 
 ments that have so long subsisted are likely to 
 be very essentially altered. 
 
 104
 
 THE CITY 
 
 § I . Direct and Indirect Government. 
 
 IN the foregoing survey of local institutions 
 and their growth, we have had occasion to 
 compare and sometimes to contrast two 
 different methods of government as exemplified 
 on the one hand in the township and „ , 
 
 t Summary of 
 
 on the other hand in the county. In foregoing 
 the former we have direct government 
 by a primary assembly,^ the town meeting ; in 
 the latter we have indirect government by a re- 
 presentative board. If the county board, as in 
 colonial Virginia, perpetuates itself, or is ap- 
 pointed otherwise than by popular vote, it is not 
 strictly a representative board, in the modern 
 sense of the phrase ; the government is a kind 
 of oligarchy. If, as in colonial Pennsylvania, 
 and in the United States generally to-day, the 
 county board consists of officers elected by the 
 people, the county government is a represen- 
 tative democracy. The township government, 
 
 ^ A primary assembly is one in which the members attend 
 of their own right, without having been elected to it ; a re- 
 presentative assembly is composed of elected delegates. 
 105
 
 THE CITY 
 
 on the other hand, as exemplified in New Eng- 
 land and in the northwestern states which have 
 adopted it, is a pure democracy. The latter, as 
 we have observed, has one signal advantage over 
 all other kinds of government, in so far as it 
 tends to make every man feel that the business 
 of government is part of his own business, and 
 that where he has a stake in the management 
 of public affairs he has also a voice. When 
 people have got into the habit of leaving local 
 affairs to be managed by representative boards, 
 their active interest in local affairs is liable to be 
 somewhat weakened, as all energies in this world 
 are weakened, from want of exercise. When 
 some fit subject of complaint is brought up, the 
 individual is too apt to feel that it is none of 
 his business to furnish a remedy, let the proper 
 officers look after it. He can vote at elections, 
 which is a power ; he can perhaps make a stir 
 in the newspapers, which is also a power ; but 
 personal participation in town-meeting is like- 
 wise a power, the necessary loss of which, as we 
 pass to wider spheres of government, is un- 
 questionably to be regretted. 
 
 Nevertheless the loss is inevitable. A pri- 
 mary assembly of all the inhabitants of a county, 
 for purposes of local government, is out of the 
 question. There must be representative gov- 
 ernment, and for this purpose the county system, 
 
 io6
 
 DIRECT AND INDIRECT GOVERNMENT 
 
 an inheritance from the ancient EngHsh shire, 
 has furnished the needful machinery. Our county 
 government is near enough to the peo- Direct gov- 
 ple to be kept in general from gross pSebT 
 abuses of power. There are many county 
 points which can be much better decided in 
 small representative bodies than in large mis- 
 cellaneous meetings. The responsibility of our 
 local boards has been fairly well preserved. 
 The county system has had no mean share in 
 keeping alive the spirit of local independence 
 and self-government among our people. As re- 
 gards efficiency of administration, it has achieved 
 commendable success, except in the matter of 
 rural highways ; and if our roads are worse than 
 those of any other civilized country, that is due 
 not so much to imperfect administrative methods 
 as to other causes, — such as the sparseness of 
 population, the fierce extremes of sunshine and 
 frost, and the fact that since this huge country 
 began to be reclaimed from the wilderness, the 
 average voter, who has not travelled in Europe, 
 knows no more about good roads than he knows 
 about the temples of Paestum or the pictures of 
 Tintoretto, and therefore does not realize what 
 demands he may reasonably make. 
 
 This last consideration applies in some de- 
 gree, no doubt, to the ill-paved and filthy streets 
 which are the first things to arrest one's atten- 
 
 107
 
 THE CITY 
 
 tion in most of our great cities. It is time for 
 us now to consider briefly our general system 
 of city government, in its origin and in some 
 of its most important features. 
 
 Representative government in counties is ne- 
 cessitated by the extent of territory covered ; in 
 cities it is necessitated by the multitude of peo- 
 ple. When the town comes to have a very 
 large population, it becomes phvsi- 
 
 The Boston iT • -i i i 
 
 town-meet- cally impossible to have town-meet- 
 mgini82o ings. No Way could be devised by 
 which all the tax-payers of the city of New York 
 could be assembled for discussion. In 1820 the 
 population of Boston was about 40,000, of dk 
 whom rather more than 7000 were voters quali- 
 fied to attend the town-meetings. Consequently 
 " when a town-meeting was held on any excit- ^ 
 ing subject in Faneuil Hall, those only who 
 obtained places near the moderator could even 
 hear the discussion. A few busy or interested 
 individuals easily obtained the management of 
 the most important affairs in an assembly in 
 which the greater number could have neither 
 voice nor hearing. When the subject was not 
 generally exciting, town-meetings were usually 
 composed of the selectmen, the town officers, 
 and thirty or forty inhabitants. Those who 
 thus came were for the most part drawn to it 
 from some official duty or private interest, 
 which, when performed or attained, they gener- 
 108
 
 DIRECT AND INDIRECT GOVERNMENT 
 
 ally troubled themselves but little, or not at all, 
 about the other business of the meeting." ^ 
 
 Under these circumstances it was found ne- 
 cessary in 1822 to drop the town-meeting al- 
 together and devise a new form of government 
 for Boston. After various plans had been sug- 
 gested and discussed, it was decided that the 
 new government should be vested in a Mayor ; 
 a select council of eight persons to be called 
 the Board of Aldermen ; and a Common Coun- 
 cil of forty-eight persons, four from each of 
 twelve wards into which the city was to be di- 
 vided. All these officials were to be elected by 
 the people. At the same time the official name 
 " Town of Boston " was changed to " City of 
 Boston." 
 
 There is more or less of history involved in 
 these offices and designations, to which we may 
 devote a few words of explanation. Distinctions 
 In New England local usage there is JoJ^'J^fand 
 an ambiguity in the word " town." "ties 
 As an official designation it means the inhab- 
 itants of a township considered as a community 
 or corporate body. In common parlance it 
 often means the patch of land constituting the 
 township on the map, as when we say that 
 Squire Brown's elm is " the biggest tree in 
 town." But it still oftener means a collection 
 of streets, houses, and families too large to be 
 * Quincy's Municipal History of Boston , p. 28. 
 109
 
 THE CITY 
 
 called a village, but without the municipal gov- 
 ernment that characterizes a city. Sometimes 
 it is used par excellence for a city, as when an 
 inhabitant of Cambridge, itself a large subur- 
 ban city, speaks of going to Boston as going 
 "into town." But such cases are of course 
 mere survivals from the time when the suburb 
 was a village. In American usage generally the 
 town is something between village and city, a 
 kind of inferior or incomplete city. The image 
 which it calls up in the mind is of something 
 urban and not rural. This agrees substantially 
 with the usage in European history, where 
 " town " ordinarily means a walled town or city 
 as contrasted with a village. In England the 
 word is used either in this general sense, or 
 more specifically as signifying an inferior city, 
 as in America. But the thing which the town 
 lacks, as compared with the complete city, is 
 very different in America from what it is in 
 England. In America it is municipal govern- 
 ment — with mayor, aldermen, and common 
 council — which must be added to the town in 
 order to make it a city. In England the town 
 may (and usually does) have this municipal 
 government ; but it is not distinguished by the 
 Latin name " city " unless it has a cathedral 
 and a bishop. Or in other words the English 
 city is, or has been, the capital of a diocese. 
 Other towns in England are distinguished as 
 no
 
 ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES 
 
 " boroughs," an old Teutonic word which was 
 originally applied to towns as fortified places/ 
 The voting inhabitants of an English city are 
 called " citizens; " those of a borough are called 
 " burgesses." Thus the official corporate desig- 
 nation of Cambridge is " the mayor, aldermen, 
 and burgesses of Cambridge ; " but Oxford is 
 the seat of a bishopric, and its corporate desig- 
 nation is " the mayor, aldermen, and citizens 
 of Oxford." 
 
 § 1. Origin of English Boroughs and Cities. 
 
 What, then, was the origin of the English 
 borough or city? In the days when Roman 
 legions occupied for a long time cer- 
 
 o r ^ ^ D ^ ^11 Chesters 
 
 tain military stations in Britain, their 
 camps were apt to become centres of trade and 
 thus to grow into cities. Such places were gen- 
 erally known as casters or chesters^ from the 
 Latin castra, " camp," and there are many of 
 them on the map of England to-day. But these 
 were exceptional cases. As a rule the origin of 
 the borough was as purely English as its name. 
 We have seen that the town was originally the 
 
 ^ The word appears in many town names, such as Edin- 
 burgh, Scarborough, Catiterbury, Bury St. Edmunds ; and 
 on the Continent, as Hamburg, Cherbourg, Burgos, etc. 
 In Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota, 
 the name "borough " is applied to a certain class of muni- 
 cipalities with some of the powers of cities. 
 Ill
 
 THE CITY 
 
 dwelling-place of a stationary clan, surrounded 
 by palisades or by a dense quickset hedge. 
 Coalescence Now where such small enclosed places 
 {"ntrfbrtified ^^^^ thinly scattered about they devel- 
 boroughs oped simply into villages. But where, 
 through the development of trade or any other 
 cause, a good many of them grew up close to- 
 gether within a narrow compass, they gradually 
 coalesced into a kind of compound town ; and 
 with the greater population and greater wealth, 
 there was naturally more elaborate and perma- 
 nent fortification than that of the palisaded vil- 
 lage. There were massive walls and frowning 
 turrets, and the place came to be called a for- 
 tress or " borough." The borough, then, " was 
 simply several townships packed tightly to- 
 gether ; a hundred smaller in extent and thicker 
 in population than other hundreds." ^ 
 
 From this compact and composite character 
 of the borough came several important results. 
 The borough We havc seen that the hundred was 
 as a hundred ^j^g smallest area for the administra- 
 tion of justice. The township was in many re- 
 spects self-governing, but it did not have its 
 court, any more than the New England town- 
 ship of the present day has its court. The low- 
 est court was that of the hundred, but as the 
 borough was equivalent to a hundred it soon 
 
 ^ Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. v. p. 466. For a de- 
 scription of the hundred, see above, pp. 79—83. 
 I 12
 
 ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES 
 
 came to have its own court. And although 
 much obscurity still surrounds the early history 
 of municipal government in England, it is prob- 
 able that this court was a representative board, 
 like any other hundred court, and that the re- 
 lation of the borough to its constituent town- 
 ships resembled the relation of the modern city 
 to its constituent wards. 
 
 But now as certain boroughs grew larger and 
 annexed outlying townships, or acquired adja- 
 cent territory which presently became The borough 
 covered with streets and houses, their ^* ^ "'''"'^ 
 constitution became still more complex. The 
 borough came to embrace several closely packed 
 hundreds, and thus became analogous to a shire. 
 In this way it gained for itself a sheriff and the 
 equivalent of a county court. For example, 
 under the charter granted by Henry I. in i loi, 
 London was expressly recognized as a county 
 by itself. Its burgesses could elect their own 
 chief magistrate, who was called the port-reeve, 
 inasmuch as London is a seaport ; in some other 
 towns he was called the borough-reeve. He was 
 at once the chief executive officer and the chief 
 judge. The burgesses could also elect their 
 sheriff, although in all rural counties Henry's 
 father, William the Conqueror, had lately de- 
 prived the people of this privilege and appointed 
 the sheriffs himself. London had its represen- 
 tative board, or council, which was the equiva- 
 
 113
 
 THE CITY 
 
 lent of a county court. Each ward, moreover, 
 had its own representative board, which was the 
 equivalent of a hundred court. " Within the 
 wards, or hundreds, the burgesses were grouped 
 together in township, parish, or manor. . . . 
 Into the civic organization of London, to whose 
 special privileges all lesser cities were ever striv- 
 ing to attain, the elements of local administra- 
 tion embodied in the township, the hundred, 
 and the shire thus entered as component parts." ' 
 Constitutionally, therefore, London was a little 
 world in itself, and in a less degree the same 
 was true of other cities and boroughs which 
 afterwards obtained the same kind of organi- 
 zation, as for example, York and Newcastle, 
 Lincoln and Norwich, Southampton and Bris- 
 tol. 
 
 In such boroughs or cities all classes of soci- 
 ety were brought into close contact, — barons 
 and knights, priests and monks, mer- 
 chants and craftsmen, free labourers 
 and serfs. But trades and manufactures, which 
 always had so much to do with the growth of 
 the city, acquired the chief power and the con- 
 trol of the government. From an early period 
 tradesmen and artisans found it worth while to 
 form themselves into guilds or brotherhoods, 
 in order to protect their persons and property 
 
 ^ Hannis Taylor, Origin and Growth of the English Con- 
 stitution, vol. i. p. 458. 
 
 114
 
 ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES 
 
 against insult and robbery at the hands of great 
 lords and their lawless military retainers. Thus 
 there came to be guilds, or " worshipful com- 
 panies," of grocers, fishmongers, butchers, weav- 
 ers, tailors, ironmongers, carpenters, saddlers, 
 armourers, needle-makers, etc. In large towns 
 there was a tendency among such trade guilds 
 to combine in a " united brotherhood," or 
 " town guild," and this organization at length 
 acquired full control of the city government. 
 In London this process was completed in the 
 course of the thirteenth century. To obtain 
 the full privileges of citizenship one had to be 
 enrolled in a guild. The guild hall became the 
 city hall. The aldermen^ or head men of sun- 
 dry guilds, became the head men of Mayor, aider- 
 the several wards. There was a repre- "1!"' ^""^ 
 
 r common 
 
 sentative board, or common council^ council 
 elected by the citizens. The aldermen and com- 
 mon council held their meeting in the Guildhall, 
 and over these meetings presided the chief mag- 
 istrate, or port-reeve, who by this time, in ac- 
 cordance with the fashion then prevailing, had 
 assumed the French title of mayor. As London 
 had come to be a little world in itself, so this 
 city government reproduced on a small scale 
 the national government ; the mayor answering 
 to the king, the aristocratic board of aldermen 
 to the House of Lords, and the democratic 
 common council to the House of Commons. 
 
 "5
 
 THE CITY 
 
 A still more suggestive comparison, perhaps, 
 would be between the aldermen and our federal 
 Senate, since the aldermen represented wards, 
 while the common council represented the citi- 
 zens. 
 
 The constitution thus perfected in the city 
 of London ^ six hundred years ago has remained 
 The city of to this day without essential change. 
 London "The voters are enrolled members of 
 
 companies which represent the ancient guilds. 
 Each year they choose one of the aldermen to 
 be lord mayor. Within the city he has preced- 
 ence next to the sovereign and before the royal 
 family ; elsewhere he ranks as an earl, thus in- 
 dicating the equivalence of the city to a county, 
 and with like significance he is lord lieutenant 
 of the city and justice of the peace. The twenty- 
 six aldermen, one for each ward, are elected by 
 the people, such as are entitled to vote for 
 members of Parliament ; they are justices of the 
 peace. The common councilmen, 206 in num- 
 ber, are also elected by the people, and their 
 
 ^ The city of London extends east and west from the 
 Tower to Temple Bar, and north and south from Finsbury 
 to the Thames, with a population of not more than 100,000, 
 and is but a small part of the enormous metropolitan area now 
 known as London, which is a circle of twelve miles radius 
 in every direction from its centre at Charing Cross, with a 
 population of more than 5,000,000. This vast area is an 
 agglomeration of many parishes, manors, etc. 
 
 116
 
 ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES 
 
 legislative power within the city is practically 
 supreme ; Parliament does not think of over- 
 ruling it. And the city government thus con- 
 stituted is one of the most clean-handed and 
 efficient in the world.^ 
 
 The development of other English cities and 
 boroughs was so far like that of London that 
 merchant guilds generally obtained control, and 
 government by mayor, aldermen, and common 
 council came to be the prevailing type. Having 
 also their own judges and sheriffs, and English cities 
 not being obliged to go outside of their f^e bulwarks 
 
 ,f ° . ? . r ofUberty 
 
 own walls to obtam justice, to enforce 
 contracts and punish crime, their efficiency as in- 
 dependent self-governing bodies was great, and 
 in many a troubled time they served as staunch 
 bulwarks of English liberty. The strength of 
 their turreted walls was more than supplemented 
 by the length of their purses, and such immu- 
 nity from the encroachments of lords and king 
 as they could not otherwise win, they contrived 
 to buy. Arbitrary taxation they generally es- 
 caped by compounding with the royal exchequer 
 in a fixed sum or quit-rent, known as the ^rma 
 burgi. We have observed the especial privilege 
 which Henry I. confirmed to London, of elect- 
 ing its own sheriff. London had been prompt 
 in recognizing his title to the crown, and such 
 support, in days when the succession was not 
 
 ^ Loftie, History of London, vol. i. p. 446. 
 117
 
 THE CITY 
 
 well regulated, no prudent king could afford to 
 pass by without some substantial acknowledg- 
 ment. It was never safe for any king to tres- 
 pass upon the liberties of London, and through 
 the worst times that city has remained a true 
 republic with liberal republican sentiments. If 
 George III. could have been guided by the ad- 
 vice of London, as expressed by its great alder- 
 man Beckford, the American colonies would 
 not have been driven into rebellion. 
 
 The most signal part played by the English 
 boroughs and cities, in securing English free- 
 dom, dates from the thirteenth century, when 
 the nation was vaguely struggling for represen- 
 tative government on a national scale, as a 
 means of curbing the power of the Crown. In 
 that memorable struggle, the issue of which to 
 some extent prefigured the shape that the gov- 
 ernment of the United States was to take five 
 hundred years afterward, the cities and boroughs 
 supported Simon de Montfort, the leader of 
 Simon de ^hc popukr party and one of the 
 Montfort and forcmost among the heroes and mar- 
 
 the cities ^ -^ i • i i • i a i • i 
 
 tyrs or LngJish liberty. Accordmgly, 
 on the morrow of his decisive victory at Lewes 
 in 1264, when for the moment he stood master 
 of England, as Cromwell stood four centuries 
 later, Simon called a Parliament to settle the 
 affairs of the kingdom, and to this Parliament 
 he invited, along with the lords who came by 
 118
 
 ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES 
 
 hereditary custom, not only two elected repre- 
 sentatives from each rural county, but also two 
 elected representatives from each city and 
 borough. In this Parliament, which met in 1 265, 
 the combination of rural with urban representa- 
 tives brought all parts of England together in 
 a grand representative body, the House of 
 Commons, with interests in common ; and thus 
 the people presently gained power enough to 
 defeat all attempts to establish irresponsible 
 government, such as we call despotism, on the 
 part of the Crown. 
 
 If we look at the later history of English 
 cities and boroughs, it appears that, in spite of 
 the splendid work which they did for the Eng- 
 lish people at large, they did not always succeed 
 in preserving their own liberties unimpaired. 
 London, indeed, has always main- oligarchical 
 tained its character as a truly repre- ^^^^, 
 sentative republic. But in many Eng- 1500-1835) 
 lish cities, during the Tudor and Stuart peri- 
 ods, the mayor and aldermen contrived to dis- 
 pense with popular election, and thus to become 
 close corporations or self-perpetuating oligar- 
 chical bodies. There was a notable tendency 
 toward this sort of irresponsible government in 
 the reign of James I., and the Puritans who 
 came to the shores of Massachusetts Bay were 
 inspired with a feeling of revolt against such 
 methods. This doubtless lent an emphasis to 
 119
 
 THE CITY 
 
 the mood in which they proceeded to organ- 
 ize themselves into free self-governing town- 
 ships. The oligarchical abuses in English cities 
 and boroughs remained until they were swept 
 away by the great Municipal Reform Act of 
 
 The first city governments established in 
 America were framed in conscious imitation of 
 the corresponding institutions in England. The 
 oldest city government in the United States is 
 that of New York. Shortly after the town was 
 taken from the Dutch in 1664, the new gover- 
 nor, Colonel Nichols, put an end to its Dutch 
 form of government, and appointed a mayor, 
 Government five aldcrmcn, and a sheriff. These 
 ofNeVyork o^cers appointed inferior officers, 
 (1686-1821) such as constables, and little or no- 
 thing was left to popular election. But in 1686, 
 under Governor Dongan, New York was regu- 
 larly incorporated and chartered as a city. Its 
 constitution bore an especially close resemblance 
 to that of Norwich, then the third city in Eng- 
 land in size and importance. The city of New 
 York was divided into six wards. The govern- 
 ing corporation consisted of the mayor, the 
 recorder, the town-clerk, six aldermen, and six 
 assistants. All the land not taken up by individ-i 
 ual owners was granted as public land to the! 
 corporation, which in return paid into the British! 
 exchequer one beaver-skin yearly. This was a] 
 120
 
 ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES 
 
 survival of the old quit-rent or Jirma burgi} 
 The city was made a county, and thus had its 
 court, its sheriff and coroner, and its high con- 
 stable. Other ojfficers were the chamberlain or 
 treasurer, seven inferior constables, a sergeant- 
 at-arms, and a clerk of the market, who inspected 
 weights and measures, and punished delinquen- 
 cies in the use of them. The principal judge 
 was the recorder, who, as we have just seen, was 
 one of the corporation. The aldermen, assist- 
 ants, and constables were elected annually by 
 the people ; but the mayor and sheriff were 
 appointed by the governor. The recorder, town- 
 clerk, and clerk of the market were to be ap- 
 pointed by the king, but in case the king neg- 
 lected to act, these appointments also were made 
 by the governor. The high constable was ap- 
 pointed by the mayor, the treasurer by the 
 mayor, aldermen, and assistants, who seem to 
 have answered to the ordinary common council. 
 The mayor, recorder, and aldermen, without the 
 assistants, were a judicial body, and held a weekly 
 court of common pleas. When the assistants 
 were added, the whole became a legislative body 
 empowered to enact by-laws. 
 
 Although this charter granted very imperfect 
 powers of self-government, the people contrived 
 to live under it for a hundred and thirty-five 
 
 ^ Jameson, " The Muncipal Government of New York," 
 Mag. Amer. Hist., vol. viii. p. 609. 
 121
 
 THE CITY 
 
 years, until 1821. Before the Revolution their 
 petitions succeeded in obtaining only a few un- 
 important amendments/ When the British army 
 captured the city in September, 1776, it was 
 forthwith placed under martial law, and so re- 
 mained until the army departed in November, 
 1783. During those seven years New York 
 was not altogether a comfortable place in which 
 to live. After 1783 the city government re- 
 mained as before, except that the state of New 
 York assumed the control formerly exercised 
 by the British Crown. Mayor and recorder, 
 town-clerk and sheriff, were now appointed by 
 a council of appointment consisting of the gov- 
 ernor and four senators. This did not work 
 well, and the constitution of 1821 gave to the 
 people the power of choosing their sheriff and 
 town-clerk, while the mayor was to be elected 
 by the common council. Nothing but the ap- 
 pointment of the recorder remained in the hands 
 of the governor. Thus nearly forty years after 
 the close of the War of Independence the city 
 of New York acquired self-government as com- 
 plete as that of the city of London, In 1857, 
 as we shall see, this self-government was greatly 
 curtailed, with results more or less disastrous. 
 
 The next city governments to be organized 
 in the American colonies, after that of New 
 
 ^ Especially in the so-called Montgomerie charter of 
 1730. 
 
 122
 
 ENGLISH BOROUGHS AND CITIES 
 
 York, were those of Philadelphia, incorporated 
 in 1 70 1, and Annapolis, incorporated in 1708. 
 These governments were framed after ^.^^ go^grn- 
 the wretched pattern then so common "i^nt in Phii- 
 in England. In both cases the mayor, (1^701- 
 the recorder, the aldermen, and the '^89) 
 common council constituted a close self-electing 
 corporation. The resulting abuses were not so 
 great as in England, probably because the cities 
 were so small. But in course of time, especially 
 in Philadelphia as it increased in population, the 
 viciousness of the system was abundantly illus- 
 trated. As the people could not elect the gov- 
 erning corporation or any of its members, they 
 very naturally and reasonably distrusted it, and 
 through the legislature they contrived so to 
 limit its powers of taxation that it was really un- 
 able to keep the streets in repair, to light them 
 at night, or to support an adequate police force. 
 An attempt was made to supply such wants by 
 creating divers independent boards of commis- 
 sioners, one for paving and draining, another for 
 street-lamps and watchmen, a third for town- 
 pumps, and so on. In this way responsibility 
 got so minutely parcelled out and scattered, and 
 there was so much jealousy and wrangling be- 
 tween the different boards and the corporation, 
 that the result was chaos. The public money 
 was habitually wasted and occasionally embez- 
 zled, and there was general dissatisfaction. In 
 123
 
 THE CITY 
 
 1789 the close corporation was abolished, and 
 thereafter the aldermen and common council 
 were elected by the citizens, the mayor was 
 chosen by the aldermen out of their own num- 
 ber, and the recorder was appointed by the 
 mayor and aldermen. Thus Philadelphia ob- 
 tained a representative government. 
 
 These instances of New York and Philadel- 
 phia sufficiently illustrate the beginnings of 
 city government in the United States. In each 
 case the system was copied from England at a 
 time when city government in England was 
 sadly demoralized. What was copied was not 
 the free republic of London, with its noble 
 traditions of civic honour and sagacious public 
 spirit, but the imperfect republics or oligarchies 
 into which the lesser English boroughs were 
 sinking, amid the foul political intrigues and 
 corruption which characterized the Stuart 
 period. The government of American cities in 
 our own time is admitted on all hands to be far 
 Traditions from satisfactory. It is interesting 
 ernment^"^' ^^ obscrve that thc cities which had 
 lacking municipal government before the Re- 
 
 volution, though they have always had their 
 full share of able and high-minded citizens, do 
 not possess even the tradition of good govern- 
 ment. And the difficulty, in those colonial 
 times, was plainly want of adequate self-gov- 
 ernment, want of responsibility on the part of 
 124
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 the public servants toward their employers the 
 people. 
 
 § 3. The Government of Cities in the United States. 
 
 At the present day American municipal gov- 
 ernments are for the most part constructed on 
 the same general plan, though with many varia- 
 tions in detail. There is an executive depart- 
 ment, with the mayor at its head. Several fea- 
 The mayor is elected by the voters cuTg°vem- 
 of the city, and holds office generally m^nts 
 for one year, but sometimes for two or three 
 years, and in a few cities, notably St. Louis and 
 Phildelphia, even for four years. Under the 
 mayor are various heads of departments, — 
 street commissioners, assessors, overseers of the 
 poor, etc., — sometimes elected by the citizens, 
 sometimes appointed by the mayor or the city 
 council. This city council is a legislative body, 
 usually consisting of two chambers, the alder- 
 men and the common council, elected by the 
 citizens ; but in many small cities, and a few of 
 the largest, such as Chicago and San Francisco, 
 there is but one such chamber. Then there are 
 city judges, sometimes appointed by the gov- 
 ernor of the state, to serve for life or during 
 good behaviour, but usually elected by the 
 citizens for short terms. 
 
 All appropriations of money for city pur- 
 poses are made by the city council ; and as a 
 125
 
 THE CITY 
 
 general rule this council has some control over 
 the heads of executive departments, which it 
 exercises through committees. Thus there may 
 be a committee upon streets, upon public build- 
 ings, upon parks or almshouses or whatever the 
 municipal government is concerned with. The 
 head of a department is more or less dependent 
 upon his committee, and in practice this is found 
 to divide and weaken responsibihty. The heads 
 of departments are apt to be independent of 
 one another, and to owe no allegiance in com- 
 mon to any one. The mayor, when he appoints 
 them, usually does so subject to the approval 
 of the city council or of one branch of it. The 
 mayor is usually not a member of the city 
 council, but can veto its enactments, which how- 
 ever can be passed over his veto by a two thirds 
 majority. 
 
 City governments thus constituted are some- 
 thirrg like state governments in miniature. The 
 relation of the mayor to the city council is some- 
 what like that of the governor to the state legis- 
 The do not l^ture, and of the president to the 
 seemtowork national congrcss. In theory nothing 
 could well be more republican, or 
 more unlike such city governments as those of 
 New York and Philadelphia before the Revo- 
 lution. Yet in practice it does not seem to work 
 well. New York and Philadelphia seem to have 
 heard as many complaints in the nineteenth 
 126
 
 I 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 century as in the eighteenth, and the same kind 
 of complaints, — of excessive taxation, public 
 money wasted or embezzled, ill-paved and dirty 
 streets, inefficient police, and so on to the end 
 of the chapter. In most of our large cities sim- 
 ilar evils have been witnessed, and in too many 
 of the smaller ones the trouble seems to be the 
 same in kind, only less in degree. Our repub- 
 lican government, which, after making all due 
 allowances, seems to work remarkably well in 
 rural districts, and in the states, and in the 
 nation, has certainly been far less successful as 
 applied to cities. Accordingly our cities have 
 come to furnish topics for reflection to which 
 writers and orators fond of boasting the unap- 
 proachable excellence of American institutions 
 do not like to allude. Fifty years ago we were 
 wont to speak of civil government in the United 
 States as if it had dropped from heaven or had 
 been specially created by some kind of miracle 
 upon American soil ; and we were apt to think 
 that in mere republican forms there was some 
 kind of mystic virtue which made them a pan- 
 acea for all political evils. Our later experience 
 with cities has rudely disturbed this too con- 
 fident frame of mind. It has furnished facts 
 which do not seem to fit our self-complacent 
 theory, so that now our writers and speakers 
 are inclined to vent their spleen upon the un- 
 happy cities, perhaps too unreservedly. We 
 127
 
 THE CITY 
 
 hear them called " foul sinks of corruption " 
 and " plague spots on our body politic." Yet 
 in all probability our cities are destined to in- 
 crease in number and to grow larger and larger ; 
 so that perhaps it is just as well to consider them 
 calmly, as presenting problems which had not 
 been thought of when our general theory of 
 government was first worked out a hundred 
 years ago, but which, after we have been suf- 
 ficiently taught by experience, we may hope to 
 succeed in solving, just as we have heretofore 
 succeeded in other things. A general discussion 
 of the subject does not fall within the province 
 of this brief historical sketch. But our account 
 would be very incomplete if we were to stop 
 short of mentioning some of the recent attempts 
 that have been made toward reconstructing our 
 theories of city government and improving its 
 Somediffi practical working. And first, let us 
 cuities to be point out a few of the peculiar diffi- 
 culties of the problem, that we may 
 see why we might have been expected, up to 
 the present time, to have been less successful 
 in managing our great cities than in managing 
 our rural communities, and our states, and our 
 nation. 
 
 In the first place, the problem is compara- 
 tively new and has taken us unawares. At the 
 time of Washington's inauguration to the presi- 
 dency there were no large cities in the United 
 128
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 States. Philadelphia had a population of 42,000 ; 
 New York had 33,000 ; Boston, which came 
 next, with 18,000, was not yet a city. Rapid 
 Then came Baltimore, with 13,000; A^'ica^n 
 while Brooklyn was a village of 1,600 cities 
 souls. Now these cities have a population of 
 over 6,000,000, or much more than that of the 
 United States in 1789. And consider how rap- 
 idly new cities have been added to the list. 
 One hardly needs to mention the most striking 
 cases, such as Chicago, with 4,000 inhabitants 
 in 1840, and more than 1,800,000 in 1900; or 
 Denver, with its miles of handsome streets and 
 shops, and not one native inhabitant who has 
 reached his fortieth birthday. Such facts are 
 summed up in the general statement that, 
 whereas in 1790 the population of the United 
 States was scarcely 4,000,000, and out of each 
 100 inhabitants only 3 dwelt in cities and the 
 other 97 in rural places ; on the other hand in 
 1880, when the population was more than 50,- 
 000,000, out of each 100 inhabitants 23 dwelt 
 in cities and 77 in rural places. But duly to 
 appreciate the rapidity of this growth of cities, 
 we must observe that most of it has been sub- 
 sequent to 1840. In 1790 there were six towns 
 in the United States that might be ranked as 
 cities from their size, though to get this number 
 we must include Boston. In 1800 the number 
 was the same. By 18 10 the number had risen 
 129
 
 THE CITY 
 
 from 6 to ii ; by 1820 it had reached 13 ; by 
 1830 this thirteen had doubled and become 26 ; 
 and in 1840 there were 44 cities altogether. 
 The urban population increased from 210,873 
 in 1800 to 1,453,994 in 1840. But between 
 1840 and 1880 the number of new cities which 
 came into existence was 242, and the urban pop- 
 ulation increased to 11,318,547. Nothing hke 
 this was ever known before in any part of the 
 world, and perhaps it is not strange that such 
 a tremendous development did not find our 
 methods of government fully prepared to deal 
 with it. 
 
 This rapidity of growth has entailed some 
 important consequences. In the first place it 
 Some conse- obHges the city to make great outlays 
 thfs"r"pid °^ money in order to get immediate 
 growth results. Public works must be un- 
 
 dertaken with a view to quickness rather than 
 thoroughness. Pavements, sewers, and reser- 
 voirs of some sort must be had at once, even 
 if inadequately planned and imperfectly con- 
 structed ; and so, before a great while, the work 
 must be done over again. Such conditions of 
 imperative haste increase the temptations to dis- 
 honesty as well as the liability to errors of 
 judgment on the part of the men who admin- 
 ister the public funds.^ Then the rapid growth 
 
 1 This and some of the following considerations have been 
 ably set forth and illustrated by Hon. Seth Low, lately presi- 
 130
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 of a city, especially of a new city, requiring the 
 immediate construction of a certain amount of 
 public works, almost necessitates the borrowing 
 of money, and debt means heavy taxes. It is 
 like the case of a young man who, in order to 
 secure a home for his quickly growing family, 
 buys a house under a heavy mortgage. Twice 
 a year there comes in a great bill for interest, 
 and in order to meet it he must economize in 
 his table or now and then deny himself a new 
 suit of clothes. So if a city has to tax heavily 
 to pay its debts, it must cut down its current 
 expenses somewhere, and the results are sure to 
 be visible in more or less untidiness and in- 
 efficiency. Mr. Low tells us that "very few 
 of our American cities have yet paid in full the 
 cost of their original water-works." Lastly, much 
 wastefulness results from want of foresight. It 
 is not easy to predict how a city will grow, or 
 the nature of its needs a few years hence. More- 
 over, even when it is easy enough to predict a 
 result, it is not easy to secure practical foresight 
 on the part of a city council elected ^^^^ ^^ 
 for the current year. Its members are practical 
 afraid of making taxes too heavy this ""^"'^ 
 year, and considerations of ten years hence are 
 apt to be dismissed as " visionary." It is always 
 
 dent of Columbia College, now mayor of New York, in an 
 address at Johns Hopkins University, published in J. H. U. 
 Studies, Supplementary Notes, No. 4.
 
 THE CITY 
 
 hard for us to realize how terribly soon ten 
 years hence will be here. The habit of doing 
 things by halves has been often commented on 
 (and, perhaps, even more by our own writers 
 than by foreigners) as especially noticeable in 
 America. It has doubtless been fostered by the 
 conditions which in so many cases have made it 
 absolutely necessary to adopt temporary make- 
 shifts. These conditions have produced a cer- 
 tain habit of mind. 
 
 Let us now observe that as cities increase in 
 size the amount of government that is necessary 
 Growth in tcnds in some respects to increase. 
 complexity Whercver there is a crowd there is 
 
 or govern- 
 ment in likely to be some need of rules and 
 
 regulations. In the country a man 
 may build his house pretty much as he pleases ; 
 but in the city he may be forbidden to build it 
 of wood, and perhaps even the thickness of the 
 party walls or the position of the chimneys may 
 come in for some supervision on the part of the 
 government. For further precaution against 
 spreading fires, the city has an organized force 
 of men, with costly engines, engine-houses, and 
 stables. In the country a board of health has 
 comparatively little to do ; in the city it is often 
 confronted with difficult sanitary problems which 
 call for highly paid professional skill on the part 
 of physicians and chemists, architects and plumb- 
 ers, masons and engineers. So, too, the water 
 132
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 supply of a great city is likely to be a compli- 
 cated business, and the police force may well 
 need as much management as a small army. 
 In short, with a city, increase in size is sure to 
 involve increase in complexity of organization, 
 and this means a vast increase in the number 
 of officials for doing the work and of details to 
 be superintended. For example, let us enumer- 
 ate the executive department and officers of the 
 city of Boston at the present time. 
 
 There are three street commissioners with 
 power to lay out streets and assess damages 
 thereby occasioned. These are elected ., . . . 
 
 •' , Municipal 
 
 by the people. The following officers officers in 
 are appointed by the mayor, with the 
 concurrence of the aldermen : a superintendent 
 of streets, an inspector of buildings, three com- 
 missioners each for the fire and health depart- 
 ments, four overseers of the poor, besides a 
 board of nine directors for the management of 
 almshouses, houses of correction, lunatic hospi- 
 tal, etc. ; a city hospital board of five members, 
 five trustees of the public library, three com- 
 missioners each for parks and water-works ; five 
 chief assessors, to estimate the value of pro- 
 perty and assess city, county, and state taxes ; a 
 city collector, a superindendent of public build- 
 ings, five trustees of Mount Hope Cemetery, 
 six sinking fund commissioners, two record com- 
 missioners, three registrars of voters, a registrar 
 
 ^33
 
 THE CITY 
 
 of births, deaths, and marriages, a city treasurer, 
 city auditor, city solicitor, corporation counsel, 
 city architect, city surveyor, superintendent of 
 Faneuil Hall Market, superintendent of street 
 lights, superintendent of sewers, superintendent 
 of printing, superintendent of bridges, five di- 
 rectors of ferries, harbour master and ten assist- 
 ants, water registrar, inspector of provisions, 
 inspector of milk and vinegar, a sealer and four 
 deputy sealers of weights and measures, an in- 
 spector of lime, three inspectors of petroleum, 
 fifteen inspectors of pressed hay, a culler of 
 hoops and staves, three fence-viewers, ten field- 
 drivers and pound-keepers, three surveyors of 
 marble, nine superintendents of hay scales, four 
 measurers of upper leather, fifteen measurers of 
 wood and bark, twenty measurers of grain, three 
 weighers of beef, thirty-eight weighers of coal, 
 five weighers of boilers and heavy machinery, 
 four weighers of ballast and lighters, ninety-two 
 undertakers, 150 constables, 968 election offi- 
 cers, and their deputies. A few of these officials 
 serve without pay, some are paid by salaries fixed 
 by the council, some by fees. Besides these there 
 is a clerk of the common council elected by that 
 body, and also the city clerk, city messenger, 
 and clerk of committees, in whose election both 
 branches of the city council concur. The school 
 committee, of twenty-four members, elected by 
 the people, is distinct from the rest of the city 
 
 134
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 government, and so is the board of police, com- 
 posed of three commissioners appointed by the 
 state executive.^ 
 
 This long list may serve to give some idea of 
 the mere quantity of administrative work re- 
 quired in a large city. Obviously un- How city 
 der such circumstances city govern- comw^^be 
 ment must become more or less of a a mystery 
 mystery to the great mass of citizens. They 
 cannot watch its operations as the inhabitants of 
 a small village can watch the proceedings of their 
 township and county governments. Much work 
 must go on which cannot even be intelligently 
 criticised without such special knowledge as it 
 would be idle to expect in the average voter, or 
 perhaps in any voter. It becomes exceedingly 
 difficult for the taxpayer to understand just 
 what his money goes for, or how far the city 
 expenses might reasonably be reduced ; and it 
 becomes correspondingly easy for municipal 
 corruption to start and acquire a considerable 
 headway before it can be detected and in some re- 
 checked. In some respects city gov- sp^'^'sitis 
 
 r y £3 _ more or a 
 
 ernment is harder to watch intelli- mystery 
 gently than the government of the LdVatSLi 
 state or of the nation. For these wider government 
 governments are to some extent limited to work 
 of general supervision. As compared with the 
 
 ^ Bugbee, The City Government of Boston, J. H, U. 
 Studies, v., iii. 
 
 ^3S
 
 THE CITY 
 
 city, they are more concerned with the establish- 
 ment and enforcement of certain general princi- 
 ples, and less with the administration of end- 
 lessly complicated details. I do not mean to be 
 understood as saying that there is not plenty 
 of intricate detail about state and national gov- 
 ernments. I am only comparing one thing with 
 another, and it seems to me that one chief dif- 
 ficulty with city government is the bewildering 
 vastness and multifariousness of the details with 
 which it is concerned. The modern city has 
 come to be a huge corporation for carrying on 
 a huge business with many branches, most of 
 which call for special aptitude and training. 
 
 As these points have gradually forced them- 
 selves upon public attention there has been a 
 The mayor tendency in many of our large cities 
 too^ikde^*^ toward remodelling their govern- 
 power ments on new principles. The most 
 
 noticeable feature of this tendency is the increase 
 in the powers of the mayor. A hundred years 
 ago our legislators and constitution-makers were 
 much afraid of what was called the " one-man 
 power." In nearly all the colonies a chronic 
 quarrel had been kept up between the gover- 
 nors appointed by the king and the legislators 
 elected by the people, and this had made the 
 " one-man power " very unpopular. Besides, it 
 was something that had been unpopular in an- 
 cient Greece and Rome, and it was thought to 
 136
 
 r 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 be essentially unrepublican in principle. Ac- 
 cordingly our great-grandfathers preferred to 
 entrust executive powers to committees rather 
 than to single individuals ; and when they as- 
 signed an important office to an individual they 
 usually took pains to curtail its power and in- 
 fluence. This disposition was visible in our 
 early attempts to organize city governments like 
 little republics. First, in the board of aldermen 
 and the common council we had a two-cham- 
 bered legislature. Then, lest the mayor should 
 become dangerous, the veto power was at first 
 generally withheld from him, and his appoint- 
 ments of executive officers needed to be con- 
 firmed by at least one branch of the city council. 
 These executive officers, moreover, as already 
 observed, were subject to more or less control 
 or oversight from committees of the city council. 
 Now this system, in depriving the mayor of 
 power, deprived him of responsibility, and left 
 the responsibility nowhere in particular. In 
 making appointments the mayor and Scattering 
 council would come to some sort of f^g Xe-^"' 
 compromise with each other and ex- sponsibiiity 
 change favours. Perhaps for private reasons 
 incompetent or dishonest officers would get ap- 
 pointed, and if the citizens ventured to com- 
 plain the mayor would say that he appointed as 
 good men as the council could be induced to 
 confirm, and the council would declare their 
 
 137
 
 THE CITY 
 
 willingness to confirm good appointments if 
 the mayor could only be persuaded to make 
 them. 
 
 Then the want of subordination of the dif- 
 ferent executive departments made it impossible 
 to secure unity of administration or to carry 
 out any consistent and generally intelligible 
 policy. Between the various executive officers 
 and visiting committees there was apt to be a 
 more or less extensive interchange of favours, 
 or what is called " log-rolHng ; " and sums of 
 money would be voted by the council only thus 
 to leak away in undertakings the propriety or 
 necessity of which was perhaps hard to deter- 
 mine. There was no responsible head who 
 could be quickly and sharply called to account. 
 Each official's hands were so tied that whatever 
 went wrong he could declare that it was not his 
 fault. The confusion was enhanced by the 
 practice of giving executive work to committees 
 Committees or boards instead of single officers. 
 foJttrudve Benjamin Franklin used to say, If 
 purposes you wish to be sure that a thing is 
 done, go and do it yourself. Human experi- 
 ence certainly proves that this is the only abso- 
 lutely safe way. The next best way is to send 
 some competent person to do it for you ; and 
 if there is no one competent to be had, you do 
 the next best thing and entrust the work to the 
 least incompetent person you can find. If you 
 138
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 entrust it to a committee your prospect of get- 
 ting it done is diminished, and it grows less if 
 you enlarge your committee. By the time you 
 have got a group of committees, independent 
 of one another and working at cross purposes, 
 you have got Dickens's famous Circumlocution 
 Office, where the great object in life was " how 
 not to do it." 
 
 Amid the general dissatisfaction over the ex- 
 travagance and inefficiency of our city govern- 
 ments, people's attention was first drawn to 
 the rapid and alarming increase of city increase of 
 indebtedness in various parts of the city debts 
 country. A heavy debt may ruin a city as surely 
 as an individual, for it raises the rate of tax- 
 ation, and thus, as was above pointed out, it 
 tends to frighten people and capital away from 
 the city. At first it was sought to curb the 
 recklessness of city councils in incurring lavish 
 expenditures by giving the mayor a veto power. 
 Laws were also passed limiting the amount of 
 debt which a city would be allowed to incur 
 under any circumstances. Clothing the mayor 
 with the veto power is now seen to have been 
 a wise step ; and arbitrary limitation of the 
 amount of debt, though a clumsy expedient, is 
 confessedly a necessary one. But beyond this, 
 it was in some instances attempted to take the 
 management of some departments of city busi- 
 ness out of the hands of the city and put them 
 
 139
 
 THE CITY 
 
 into the hands of the state legislature. The 
 
 most notable instance of this was in New York 
 
 in iScy. The results, there and else- 
 Attempt to 11 1 ,1 11 
 cure the evil where, havc been generally regarded 
 
 fere?c'^e^-"ex-' as unsatisfactorv- After a trial of thirty 
 perience of years the experience of New York has 
 
 New York ^ , , ^ i • i 
 
 proved that a state legislature is not 
 competent to take proper care of the govern- 
 ment of cities. Its members do not know 
 enough about the details of each locality, and 
 consequently local affairs are left to the repre- 
 sentatives from each locality, with " log-rolling " 
 as the inevitable result. A man fresh from his 
 farm on the edge of the Adirondacks knows 
 nothing about the problems pertaining to elec- 
 tric wires in Broadway, or to rapid transit be- 
 tween Harlem and the Battery ; and his consent 
 to desired legislation on such points can very 
 likely be obtained only by favouring some 
 measure which he thinks will improve the 
 value of his farm, or perhaps by helping him 
 to debauch the civil service by getting some 
 neighbour appointed to a position for which he 
 is not qualified. All this is made worse by the 
 fact that the members of a state government 
 are generally less governed by a sense of re- 
 sponsibility toward the citizens of a particular 
 city than even the worst local government that 
 can be set up in such a city.^ 
 
 ^ It is not intended to deny that there may be instances in 
 140
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 Moreover, even if legislatures were other- 
 wise competent to manage the local affairs of 
 cities, they have not time enough, amid the 
 pressure of other duties, to do justice to such 
 matters. In 1870 the number of acts passed by 
 the New York legislature was 808. Of these, 
 212, or more than one fourth of the whole, re- 
 lated to cities and villages. The 808 acts, when 
 printed, filled about 2000 octavo pages ; and of 
 these the 212 acts filled more than 1500 pages. 
 This illustrates what I said above about the 
 vast quantity of details which have to be regu- 
 lated in municipal government. Here we have 
 more than three fourths of the volume of state- 
 legislation devoted to local affairs ; and it hardly 
 need be added that a great part of these enact- 
 ments were worse than worthless because they 
 were made hastily and without due considera- 
 
 which the state government may advantageously participate in 
 the government of cities. It may be urged that, in the case 
 of great cities, like New^ York or Boston, many people who 
 are not residents either do business in the city or have vast 
 business interests there, and thus may be as deeply interested 
 in its welfare as any of the voters. It may also be said that 
 state provisions for city government do not always work 
 badly. There are many competent judges who approve of 
 the appointment of poHce commissioners by the executive of 
 Massachusetts. There are generally two sides to a question ; 
 and to push a doctrine to extremes is to make oneself a doc- 
 trinaire rather than a wise citizen. But experience clearly 
 shows that in all doubtful cases it is safer to let the balance 
 incline in favour of local self-government than the other way. 
 141
 
 THE CITY 
 
 tion, — though not always, perhaps, without 
 what lawyers call a consideration.^ 
 
 The experience of New York thus proved 
 that state intervention and special legislation 
 did not mend matters. It did not prevent the 
 Tweed Ring shamcful rulc of the Tweed Ring from 
 in New 1868 to 1 87 1, whcn a small band of 
 
 conspirators got themselves elected or 
 appointed to the principal city offices, and, hav- 
 ing had their own corrupt creatures chosen 
 judges of the city courts, proceeded to rob the 
 taxpayers at their leisure. By the time they 
 were discovered and brought to justice, their 
 stealings amounted to many millions of dollars, 
 
 ^ Nothing could be further from my thought than to cast 
 any special imputation upon the New York legislature, which 
 is probably a fair average specimen of law-making bodies. 
 The theory of legislative bodies, as laid down in text-books, 
 is that they are assembled for the purpose of enacting laws 
 for the welfare of the community in general. In point of fact 
 they seldom rise to such a lofty height of disinterestedness. 
 Legislation is usually a mad scramble in which the final re- 
 sult, be it good or bad, gets evolved out of compromises and 
 bargains among a swarm of clashing local and personal inter- 
 ests. The "consideration" may be anything from log- 
 rolUng to bribery. In American legislatures it is to be hoped 
 that downright bribery is rare. As for log-rolling, or exchange 
 of favours, there are many phases of it in which that which 
 may be perfectly innocent shades off by almost imperceptible 
 degrees into that which is unseemly or dishonourable or even 
 criminal ; and it is in this hazy region that Satan likes to set 
 his traps for the unwary pilgrim. 
 142 
 
 I
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 and the rate of taxation had risen to more than 
 two per cent. 
 
 The discovery of these wholesale robberies, 
 and of other villainies on a smaller scale in other 
 cities, has led to much discussion of the prob- 
 lems of municipal government, and to many- 
 attempts at practical reform. The present is 
 especially a period of experiments, yet New experi- 
 in these experiments perhaps a general '"^"'^ 
 drift of opinion may be discerned. People seem 
 to be coming to regard cities more as if they 
 were huge business corporations than as if they 
 were little republics. The lesson has been 
 learned that in executive matters too much 
 limitation of power entails destruction of respon- 
 sibility ; the "ring" is now more dreaded than 
 the " one-man power ; " and there is accordingly 
 a manifest tendency to assail the evil by 
 concentrating power and responsibility in the 
 mayor. 
 
 The first great city to adopt this method was 
 Brooklyn.^ In the first place the city council 
 was simplified and made a one-cham- Newgovem- 
 bered council consisting of nineteen "^ent of 
 aldermen. Besides this council of 
 aldermen, the people elect only three city offi- 
 cers, — the mayor, comptroller, and auditor. 
 The comptroller is the principal finance officer 
 
 ^ When Brooklyn was a municipality within itself, and 
 before its consolidation with New York.
 
 THE CITY 
 
 and book-keeper of the city ; and the auditor 
 must approve bills against the city, whether 
 great or small, before they can be paid. The 
 mayor appoints, without confirmation by the 
 council, all executive heads of departments ; 
 and these executive heads are individuals, not 
 boards. Thus there is a single police commis- 
 sioner, a single fire commissioner, a single health 
 commissioner, and so on ; and each of these 
 heads appoints his own subordinates ; " so that 
 the principle of defined responsibility permeates 
 the city government from top to bottom." ^ In 
 a few cases, where the work to be done is rather 
 discretionary than executive in character, it is 
 entrusted to a board ; thus there is a board of 
 assessors, a board of education, and a board 
 of elections. These are all appointed by the 
 mayor, but for terms not coinciding with his 
 own ; " so that, in most cases, no mayor would 
 appoint the whole of any such board unless he 
 were to be twice elected by the people." But 
 the executive officers are appointed by the mayor 
 for terms coincident with his own, that is, for 
 two years. " The mayor is elected at the general 
 election in November ; he takes office on the 
 first of January following, and for one month 
 the great departments of the city are carried on 
 for him by the appointees of his predecessor. 
 
 ^ Seth Low on «♦ Municipal Government," in Bryce's 
 American Commonwealth, vol. i. p. 626. 
 144
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 On the first of February it becomes his duty 
 to appoint his own heads of departments," and 
 thus " each incoming mayor has the opportunity 
 to make an administration in all its parts in 
 sympathy with himself." 
 
 With all these immense executive powers 
 entrusted to the mayor, however, he does not 
 hold the purse-strings. He is a member of a 
 board of estimate, of which the other four mem- 
 bers are the comptroller and auditor, with the 
 county treasurer and supervisor. This board 
 recommends the amounts to be raised by taxa- 
 tion for the ensuing year. These estimates are 
 then laid before the council of aldermen, who 
 may cut down single items as they see fit, but 
 have not the power to increase any item. The 
 mayor must see to it that the administrative 
 work of the year does not use up more money 
 than is thus allowed him. 
 
 This Brooklyn system has great merits. It 
 ensures unity of administration, it encourages 
 promptness and economy, it locates and defines 
 responsibility, and it is so simple that everybody 
 can understand it. The people, having but few 
 officers to elect, are more likely to some of 
 know something about them. Es- '^""^"^^ 
 pecially since everybody understands that the 
 success of the government depends upon the 
 character of the mayor, extraordinary pains are 
 taken to secure good mayors ; and the increased 
 
 H5
 
 THE CITY 
 
 interest in city politics is shown by the fact that 
 in Brooklyn more people vote for mayor than 
 for governor or for president. Fifty years ago 
 such a reduction in the number of elective 
 officers would have greatly shocked all good 
 Americans. But in point of fact, while in small 
 townships where everybody knows everybody 
 popular control is best ensured by electing all 
 public officers, it is very different in great cities 
 where it is impossible that the voters in general 
 should know much about the qualifications of a 
 long list of candidates. In such cases citizens 
 are apt to vote blindly for names about which 
 they know nothing except that they occur on a 
 Republican or a Democratic ticket ; although, 
 if the object of a municipal election is simply 
 to secure an upright and efficient municipal 
 government, to elect a city magistrate because 
 he is a Republican or a Democrat is about as 
 sensible as to elect him because he believes in 
 homoeopathy or has a taste for chrysanthe- 
 mums.^ To vote for candidates whom one has 
 
 * Of course from the point of view of the party politician, 
 it is quite different. Each party has its elaborate '* machine " 
 for electing state and national officers ; and in order to be 
 kept at its maximum of efficiency the machine must be kept 
 at work on all occasions, whether such occasions are properly 
 concerned with differences in party politics or not. To the 
 party poUtician it of course makes a great difference whether a 
 city magistrate is a Republican or a Democrat. To him even 
 the poUtical complexion of his mail-carrier is a matter of im- 
 146
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 never heard of is not to insure popular control, 
 but to endanger it. It is much better to vote 
 for one man whose reputation we know, and 
 then to hold him strictly responsible for the 
 appointments he makes. The Brooklyn system 
 seems to be a step toward lifting city govern- 
 ment out of the mire of party politics. 
 
 This system went into operation in Brooklyn 
 in January, 1882, and seems to have given 
 general satisfaction. Since then changes in a 
 similar direction, though with variations in de- 
 tail, have been made in other cities, and notably 
 in Philadelphia. 
 
 In speaking of the difficulties which beset 
 city government in the United States, mention 
 is often (and perhaps too exclusively) made of 
 the great mass of ignorant voters, chiefly for- 
 eigners without experience in self-government, 
 with no comprehension of American principles 
 and traditions, and with little or no Notion that 
 property to suffer from excessive taxa- ^ghtTo^be 
 tion. Such people will naturally have restricted 
 slight compunctions about voting away other 
 people's money ; indeed, they are apt to think 
 
 portance. But these illustrations only show that party politics 
 may be carried to extremes that are inconsistent with the best 
 interests of the community. Once in a while it becomes 
 necessary to teach party organizations to know their place, 
 and to remind them that they are not the lords and masters 
 but the servants and instruments of the people.
 
 THE CITY 
 
 that " the Government " has got Aladdin's lamp 
 hidden away somewhere in a burglar-proof safe, 
 and could do pretty much everything that is 
 wanted, if it only would. In the hands of de- 
 magogues such people may be dangerous ; they 
 are supposed to be especially accessible to hum- 
 bug and bribes, and their votes have no doubt 
 been used to sustain and perpetuate most fla- 
 grant abuses. We often hear it said that the only 
 way to get good government is to deprive such 
 people of their votes and limit the suffrage to 
 persons who have some property at stake. Such 
 a measure has been seriously recommended in 
 New York, but it is generally felt to be im- 
 possible without a revolution. 
 
 Perhaps, after all, it may not be so desirable 
 as it seems. The ignorant vote has done a great 
 Testimon ^^^^ °^ harm, but not all the harm. 
 ofPennsyi- In 1878 it was rcportcd by the Penn- 
 cipai Com- sylvania Municipal Commission, " as 
 
 mission 
 
 a remarkable but notorious fact, that 
 the accumulations of debt in Philadelphia and 
 other cities of the state have been due, not to 
 a non-property-holding, irresponsible element 
 among the electors, but to the desire for specu- 
 lation among the property-owners themselves. 
 Large tracts of land outside the built-up portion 
 of the city have been purchased, combinations 
 made among men of wealth, and councils be- 
 sieged until they have been driven into making 
 148
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 appropriations to open and improve streets and 
 avenues, largely in advance of the real necessi- 
 ties of the city. Extraordinary as the statement 
 may seem at first, the experience of the past 
 shows clearly that frequently property-owners 
 need more protection against themselves than 
 against the non-property-holding class." ^ This 
 is a statement of profound significance, and 
 should be duly pondered by advocates of a re- 
 stricted suffrage. 
 
 It should also be borne in mind that, while 
 ignorant and needy voters, led by unscrupulous 
 demagogues, are capable of doing much harm 
 with their votes, it is by no means clear that 
 the evil would be removed by de- Dangers of a 
 Driving them of the suffrage. It is restricted 
 
 ^ ° ^ , . ^ suffrage 
 
 very unsafe to have m any commu- 
 nity a large class of people who feel that political 
 rights or privileges are withheld from them by 
 other people who are their superiors in wealth 
 or knowledge. Such poor people are apt to 
 have exaggerated ideas of what a vote can do ; 
 very likely they think it is because they do not 
 have votes that they are poor ; thus they are 
 ready to entertain revolutionary or anarchical 
 ideas, and are likely to be more dangerous ma- 
 terial in the hands of demagogues than if they 
 were allowed to vote. Universal suffrage has 
 
 ^ Allinson and Penrose, Philadelphia, i68i—j88y ; a His' 
 tory of Municipal Development, p. 278. 
 149
 
 THE CITY 
 
 its evils, but it undoubtedly acts as a safety- 
 valve. The only cure for the evils which come 
 from ignorance and shiftlessness is the aboli- 
 tion of ignorance and shiftlessness ; and this 
 is slow work. Church and school here find 
 enough to keep them busy ; but the vote itself, 
 even if often misused, is a powerful educator; 
 and we need not regret that the restriction of 
 the suffrage has come to be practically impos- 
 sible. 
 
 The purification of our city governments will 
 never be completed until they are entirely di- 
 vorced from national party politics. The con- 
 nection opens a limitless field for " log-rolling," 
 and rivets upon cities the " spoils system," 
 which is always and everywhere incompatible 
 with good government. It is worthy 
 eflrects of of notc that the degradation of so 
 rouSwit'h niany English boroughs and cities 
 national during the Tudor and Stuart periods 
 
 was chiefly due to the encroachment 
 of national politics upon municipal pohtics. 
 Because the borough returned members to the 
 House of Commons, it became worth while for 
 the Crown to intrigue with the municipal gov- 
 ernment, with the ultimate object of influencing 
 parliamentary elections. The melancholy his- 
 tory of the consequent dickering and dealing, 
 jobbery and robbery, down to 1835, when the 
 great Municipal Corporations Act swept it all 
 150
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES 
 
 away, may be read with profit by all Americans.* 
 It was the city of London only, whose power 
 and independence had kept it free from com- 
 plications with national politics, that avoided 
 the abuses elsewhere prevalent, so that it was 
 excepted from the provisions of the Act of 
 1835, and still retains its ancient constitution. 
 
 In the United States the entanglement of 
 municipal with national politics has begun to be 
 regarded as mischievous and possibly danger- 
 ous, and attempts have in some cases been made 
 toward checking it by changing the days of 
 election, so that municipal officers may not be 
 chosen at the same time with presidential 
 electors. Such a change is desirable, but to ob- 
 tain a thoroughly satisfactory result, it will be 
 necessary to destroy the " spoils system " root 
 and branch, and to adopt effective measures of 
 ballot reform. To these topics I shall recur 
 when treating of our national government. But 
 first we shall have to consider the development 
 of our several states. 
 
 ^ See Parliamentary Reports, 1835, "Municipal Cor- 
 porations Commission ; " also Sir Erskine May, Const. Hist., 
 vol. ii. chap. xv. 
 
 151
 
 VI 
 
 THE STATE 
 
 § I. The Colonial Governments. 
 
 IN the year 1600 Spain was the only Euro- 
 pean nation which had obtained a foot- 
 hold upon the part of North America now 
 comprised within the United States. Spain 
 claimed the whole continent on the strength of 
 Claims of the bulls of 1493 and 1494, in which 
 Spain to the Pope Alexander VI. granted her all 
 
 possession of . , ,. , , 
 
 North countries to be discovered to the west 
 
 Amenca ^^^ Certain meridian which happens to 
 pass a little to the east of Newfoundland. From 
 their first centre in the West Indies the Span- 
 iards had made a lodgment in Florida, at St. 
 Augustine, in 1565; and from Mexico they 
 had in 1605 founded Santa Fe, in what is now 
 the territory of New Mexico. 
 
 France and England, however, paid little heed 
 to the claim of Spain. France had her own claim 
 Claims of t^ North AmeHca, based on the voy- 
 France and agcs of discoverv made by Verrazano 
 
 England . & An.' " .U 
 
 in 1524 and Cartier in 1534, in the 
 course of which New York harbour had been 
 visited and the St. Lawrence partly explored. 
 152
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 England had a still earlier claim, based on the 
 discovery of the North American continent in 
 1497 by John Cabot. It presently became ap- 
 parent that to make such claims of any value, 
 discovery must be followed up by occupation 
 of the country. Attempts at colonization had 
 been made by French Protestants in Florida in 
 I ^62-6 ^y and by the English in North Caro- 
 lina in 1584—87, but both attempts had failed 
 miserably. Throughout the sixteenth century 
 French and English sailors kept visiting the 
 Newfoundland fisheries, and by the end of 
 the century the French and English govern- 
 ments had their attention definitely turned to 
 the founding of colonies in North America. 
 
 In 1606 two great joint-stock companies were 
 formed in England for the purpose of planting 
 such colonies. One of these companies had its 
 headquarters at London, and was called the 
 London Company ; the other had its The London 
 headquarters at the seaport of Plym- o"Jh^co'^'. 
 outh, in Devonshire, and was called pa"'es 
 the Plymouth Company. To the London 
 Company the king granted the coast of North 
 America from 34° to 38° north latitude; that 
 is, about from Cape Fear to the mouth of the 
 Rappahannock. To the Plymouth Company 
 he granted the coast from 41° to 45^*; that is, 
 about from the mouth of the Hudson to the 
 eastern extremity of Maine. These grants were 
 
 ^53
 
 THE STATE 
 
 to go in straight strips or zones across the con- 
 tinent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. 
 Almost nothing was then known about Ameri- 
 can geography ; the distance from ocean to ocean 
 across Mexico was not so very great, and peo- 
 ple did not realize that further north it was quite 
 a different thing. As to the middle strip, start- 
 ing from the coast between the Rappahannock 
 and the Hudson, it was open to the two com- 
 panies, with the understanding that neither was 
 to plant a colony within lOO miles of any settle- 
 ment already begun by the other. This meant 
 practically that it was likely to be controlled by 
 whichever company should first come into the 
 field with a flourishing colony. Accordingly 
 both companies made haste and sent out set- 
 tlers in 1607, the one to the James River, the 
 other to the Kennebec. The first enterprise, 
 after much suffering, resulted in the founding 
 of Virginia ; the second ended in disaster, and 
 it was not until 1620 that the Pilgrims from 
 Leyden made the beginnings of a permanent 
 settlement upon the territory of the Plymouth 
 Company. 
 
 These two companies were at first organized 
 under a single charter. Each was to be gov- 
 erned by a council in England appointed by 
 Their com- the king, and these councils were to 
 mon charter appoint councils of thirteen to reside 
 in the colonies, with powers practically un- 
 154
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 limited. Nevertheless the king covenanted with 
 his colonists as follows : " Also we do, for us, 
 our heirs and successors, declare by these pre- 
 sents that all and every the persons, being our 
 subjects, which shall go and inhabit within the 
 said colony and plantation, and every their chil- 
 dren and posterity, which shall happen to be 
 born within any of the limits thereof, shall have 
 and enjoy all liberties, franchises, and immuni- 
 ties of free denizens and natural subjects within 
 any of our other dominions, to all intents and 
 purposes as if they had been abiding and born 
 within this our realm of England, or in any 
 other of our dominions." This principle, that 
 British subjects born in America should be en- 
 titled to the same political freedom as if born 
 in England, was one upon which the colonists 
 always insisted, and it was the repeated and per- 
 sistent attempts of George IH. to infringe it 
 that led the American colonies to revolt and de- 
 clare themselves independent of Great Britain. 
 
 Both the companies founded in 1606 were 
 short-lived. In 1620 the Plymouth Company 
 got a new charter, which made it independent 
 of the London Company. In 1624 the king, 
 James I., quarrelled with the London Dissolution 
 Company, brought suit against it in of the two 
 
 1 1 • , r 1 1 companies 
 
 court, and obtained rrom the subserv- 
 ient judges a decree annulling its charter. In 
 1635 the reorganized Plymouth Company sur- 
 
 ^S5
 
 THE STATE 
 
 rendered its charter to Charles I. in pursuance 
 of a bargain which need not here concern us.^ 
 But the creation of these short-lived companies 
 left an abiding impression upon the map of 
 North America and upon the organization of 
 civil government in the United States. Let us 
 Settlement observc what was done with the three 
 of the three stHps or zoncs into which the country- 
 was divided : the northern or New 
 England zone, assigned to the Plymouth Com- 
 pany ; the southern or Virginia zone, assigned 
 to the London Company ; and the central zone, 
 for which the two companies were, so to speak, 
 to run a race. 
 
 In the northern zone the colonies of Plym- 
 outh and Massachusetts Bay were founded by 
 emigration from England between 1620 and 
 1630; and then in 1633-38 Connecticut, Pro- 
 vidence, and Rhode Island were founded by 
 emigration from Massachusetts. Presently, in 
 J -The 1 643? Providence and Rhode Island 
 
 northern voluntaHly unitcd into one common- 
 wealth ; and in 1662 New Haven, 
 originally founded in 1637 by emigration from 
 England, was annexed to Connecticut by Charles 
 II. Certain towns along the northeast coast, 
 founded under royal grants to individual pro- 
 prietors, were for some time practically a part of 
 Massachusetts, but in 1679 a part of this region 
 ^ See my Beginnings of New England, p. 137. 
 
 156
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 was erected by Charles IL into the royal pro- 
 vince of New Hampshire. The remainder, un- 
 der the name of Maine, was in 1692 confirmed 
 to Massachusetts, to which Plymouth was at 
 the same time annexed. Thus, before the Re- 
 volution, four of the original thirteen states — 
 Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and 
 New Hampshire — had been constituted in the 
 northern zone. 
 
 In 1663 Charles II. cut off the southern part 
 of Virginia, the area covering the present states 
 of North and South Carolina and Georgia, and 
 it was formed into a new province called Caro- 
 lina. In 1729 the two groups of set- ^ ^j^^ 
 tlements which had grown up along southern 
 its coast were definitively separated 
 into North and South Carolina; and in 1732 
 the frontier portion toward Florida was organ- 
 ized into the colony of Georgia. Thus four of 
 the original thirteen states — Virginia, the two 
 Carolinas, and Georgia — were constituted in 
 the southern zone. 
 
 To this group some writers add Maryland, 
 founded in 1632, because its territory had been 
 claimed by the London Company ; but the 
 earliest settlements in Maryland, its principal 
 towns, and almost the whole of its territory, 
 come north of latitude 38° and within the mid- 
 dle zone. 
 
 Between the years 16 14 and 1621 the Dutch 
 
 157
 
 THE STATE 
 
 founded their colony of New Netherland upon 
 the territory included between the Hudson and 
 Delaware rivers, or, as they quite naturally 
 3. The mid- Called them, the North and South 
 die zone rivcrs. They pushed their outposts 
 up the Hudson as far as the site of Albany, 
 thus intruding far into the northern zone. In 
 1638 Sweden planted a small colony upon the 
 west side of Delaware Bay, but in 1655 it was 
 surrendered to the Dutch. Then in 1664 the 
 English took New Netherland from the Dutch, 
 and Charles II. granted the province to his 
 brother, the Duke of York. The duke pro- 
 ceeded to grant part of it to his friends, Berke- 
 ley and Carteret, and thus marked off the new 
 colony of New Jersey. In 1681 the region west 
 of New Jersey was granted to William Penn, 
 and in the following year Penn bought from 
 the Duke of York the small piece of territory 
 upon which the Swedes had planted their col- 
 ony. Delaware thus became an appendage to 
 Penn's greater colony, but was never merged 
 in it. Thus five of the original thirteen states 
 — Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
 sylvania, and Delaware — were constituted in 
 the middle zone. 
 
 As we have already observed, the westward 
 
 movement of population in the United States 
 
 has largely followed the parallels of latitude, 
 
 and thus the characteristics of these three origi- 
 
 158
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 nal strips or zones have, with more or less 
 modification, extended westward. The men of 
 New England, with their Portland and Salem 
 reproduced more than 3000 miles distant in 
 the state of Oregon, and within 100 miles of the 
 Pacific Ocean, may be said in a certain sense to 
 have realized literally the substance of King 
 James's grant to the Plymouth Company. It 
 will be noticed that the kinds of local govern- 
 ment described in our earlier chapters are 
 characteristic respectively of the three original 
 zones : the township system being exemplified 
 chiefly in the northern zone, the county system 
 in the southern zone, and the mixed township- 
 county system in the central zone. 
 
 The London and Plymouth companies did 
 not perish until after state governments had 
 been organized in the colonies already founded 
 upon their territories. In 16 19 the colonists 
 of Virginia, with the aid of the more liberal 
 spirits in the London Company, se- ^^ ^^ 
 cured for themselves a representative Burgesses 
 government. To the governor and '" "^^'"'^ 
 his council, appointed in England, there was 
 added a general assembly composed of two 
 burgesses from each " plantation," ^ elected by 
 
 * The word '* plantation " is here used, not in its later 
 and ordinary sense, as the estate belonging to an individual 
 planter, but in an earlier sense. In this early usage it was 
 equivalent to " settlement." It was used in New England 
 
 ^59
 
 THE STATE 
 
 the inhabitants. This assembly, the first legis- 
 lative body that ever sat in America, met on 
 the 30th of July, 16 19, in the choir of the rude 
 church at Jamestown. The dignity of the bur- 
 gesses was preserved, as in the House of Com- 
 mons, by sitting with their hats on ; and after 
 offering prayer, and taking the oath of alle- 
 giance and supremacy, they proceeded to enact 
 a number of laws relating to public worship, to 
 agriculture, and to intercourse with the Indians. 
 Curiously enough, so confident was the belief 
 of the settlers that they were founding towns, 
 that they called their representatives " bur- 
 gesses," and down to 1776 the assembly con- 
 tinued to be known as the House of " Bur- 
 gesses," although towns refused to grow in 
 Virginia, and soon after counties were organized 
 in 1634 the burgesses sat for counties. Such 
 were the beginnings of representative govern- 
 ment in Virginia. 
 
 The government of Massachusetts is de- 
 scended from the Dorchester Company formed 
 in England in 1623, for the ostensible purpose 
 of trading in furs and timber and catching fish 
 on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. After a 
 disastrous beginning this company was dis- 
 solved, but only to be immediately reorganized 
 on a greater scale. In 1628 a grant of the land 
 
 as well as in Virginia ; thus Salem was spoken of by the 
 
 court of assistants in 1629 as " New England's Plantation," 
 
 160
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 between the Charles and Merrimack rivers was 
 obtained from the Plymouth Company ; and 
 in 1629 a charter was obtained from 
 Charles I. So many men from the Massachu- 
 east of England had joined in the ^^^^ ^^^ 
 enterprise that it could no longer be fitly 
 called a Dorchester Company. The new name 
 was significantly taken from the New World. 
 The charter created a corporation under the 
 style of the Governor and Company of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay in New England. The freemen 
 of the Company were to hold a meeting four 
 times a year ; and they were empowered to 
 choose a governor, a deputy governor, and a 
 council of eighteen assistants, who were to hold 
 their meetings each month. They could admin- 
 ister oaths of supremacy and allegiance, raise 
 troops for the defence of their possessions, 
 admit new associates into the Company, and 
 make regulations for the management of their 
 business, with the vague and weak proviso that 
 in order to be valid their enactment must in no 
 wise contravene the laws of England. Nothing 
 was said as to the place where the Company 
 should hold its meetings, and accordingly after 
 a few months the Company transferred itself 
 and its charter to New England, in order that 
 it might carry out its intentions with as little 
 interference as possible on the part of the 
 Crown. 
 
 161
 
 THE STATE 
 
 Whether this transfer of the charter was le- 
 gally justifiable or not is a question which has 
 been much debated, but with which we need 
 not here vex ourselves. The lawyers of the 
 Company were shrewd enough to know that a 
 loosely drawn instrument may be made to ad- 
 mit of great liberty of action. Under the guise 
 of a mere trading corporation the Puritan lead- 
 ers deliberately intended to found a civil com- 
 monwealth in accordance with their own theories 
 of government. 
 
 After their arrival in Massachusetts, their 
 numbers increased so rapidly that it became 
 impossible to have a primary assembly of all 
 the freemen, and so a representative assembly 
 was devised after the model of the Old English 
 county court. The representatives sat for town- 
 ships, and were called deputies. At first they 
 Government sat in the Same chamber with the 
 of Massachu- assistants, but in 1 644 the legislative 
 
 setts ; the , . . ^^ ° 
 
 General body was divided into two chambers, 
 
 ^"""^^ the deputies forming the lower house, 
 
 while the upper was composed of the assistants, 
 who were sometimes called magistrates. In 
 elections the candidates for the upper house 
 were put in nomination by the General Court 
 and voted on by the freemen. In general the 
 assistants represented the common or central 
 power of the colony, while the deputies repre- 
 sented the interests of popular self-government. 
 162
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 The former was comparatively an aristocratic 
 and the latter a democratic body, and there 
 were frequent disputes between the two. 
 
 It is worthy of note that the governing body 
 thus constituted was at once a legislative and a 
 judicial body, like the English county court 
 which served as its model. Inferior courts were 
 organized at an early date in Massachusetts, 
 but the highest judicial tribunal was the legisla- 
 ture, which was known as the General Court. 
 It still bears this name to-day, though it long 
 ago ceased to exercise judicial functions. 
 
 Now as the freemen of Massachusetts directly 
 chose their governor and deputy-governor, as 
 well as their chamber of deputies, and also took 
 part in choosing their council of assistants, their 
 government was virtually that of an independ- 
 ent republic. The Crown could interpose no 
 effective check upon its proceedings except by 
 threatening to annul its charter and send over 
 a viceroy who might be backed up, if need be, 
 by military force. Such threats were sometimes 
 openly made, but oftener hinted at. They 
 served to make the Massachusetts government 
 somewhat wary and circumspect, but they did 
 not prevent it from pursuing a very independ- 
 ent policy in many respects, as when, for ex- 
 ample, it persisted in allowing none but mem- 
 bers of the Congregational church to vote. 
 This measure, by which it was intended to 
 163
 
 THE STATE 
 
 preserve the Puritan policy unchanged, was 
 extremely distasteful to the British government. 
 At length in 1684 the Massachusetts charter 
 was annulled, an attempt was made to suppress 
 town-meetings, and the colony was placed 
 under a military viceroy. Sir Edmund Andros. 
 After a brief period of despotic rule, the Revo- 
 lution in England worked a change. 
 
 New charter a /r i • i 
 
 ofMassa- In 1 692 Massachusetts received a 
 chusetts ^^^ charter, quite different from the 
 
 old one. The people were allowed to elect 
 representatives to the General Court, as before, 
 but the governor and lieutenant-governor were 
 appointed by the Crown, and all acts of the 
 legislature were to be sent to England for royal 
 approval. The general government of Massa- 
 chusetts was thus, except for its possession of a 
 charter, made similar to that of Virginia. 
 
 The governments of Connecticut and Rhode 
 Island were constructed upon the same general 
 Connecticut P^^n as thc first government of Mas- 
 and Rhode sachusctts. Govcmors, councils, and 
 assemblies were elected by the people. 
 These governments were made by the settlers 
 themselves, after they had come out from 
 Massachusetts ; and through a very singular 
 combination of circumstances,* they were con- 
 firmed by charters granted by Charles II. in 
 1662, soon after his return from exile. So 
 
 * See my Beginnings ofNew England, pp. 245-249. 
 164
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 thoroughly republican were these governments 
 that they remained without change until 1818 
 in Connecticut and until 1842 in Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 We thus observe two kinds of state govern- 
 ment in the American colonies. In both kinds 
 the people choose a representative legislative 
 assembly ; but in the one kind they also choose 
 their governor, while in the other kind the gov- 
 ernor is appointed by the Crown. We have now 
 to observe a third kind. 
 
 After the downfall of the two great companies 
 founded in 1606, the Crown had a way of hand- 
 ing over to its friends extensive tracts counties 
 of land in America. In 1632 a charter palatine in 
 granted by Charles I. to Cecilius Cal- 
 vert, Lord Baltimore, founded the palatinate 
 colony of Maryland. To understand the nature 
 of this charter, we must observe that among 
 the counties of England there were three whose 
 rulers from an early time were allowed special 
 privileges. Because Cheshire and Durham 
 bordered upon the hostile countries, Wales and 
 Scotland, and needed to be ever on the alert, 
 their rulers, the earls of Chester and the bishops 
 of Durham, were clothed with almost royal 
 powers of command, and similar powers were 
 afterwards granted through favouritism to the 
 dukes of Lancaster. The three counties were 
 called counties palatine (/. e. " palace counties "). 
 
 165
 
 THE STATE 
 
 Before 1600 the earldom of Chester and the 
 duchy of Lancaster had been absorbed by the 
 Crown, but the bishopric of Durham remained 
 the type of an almost independent state, and 
 Charter of the colony palatine of Maryland was 
 Maryland modelled after it. The charter of 
 Maryland conferred upon Lord Baltimore the 
 most extensive privileges ever bestowed by the 
 British Crown upon any subject. He "was made 
 absolute lord of the land and water within his 
 boundaries, could erect towns, cities, and ports, 
 make war or peace, call the whole fighting popu- 
 lation to arms and declare martial law, levy tolls 
 and duties, establish courts of justice, appoint 
 judges, magistrates, and other civil officers, exe- 
 cute the laws, and pardon offenders. He could 
 erect manors, with courts-baron and courts -leet, 
 and confer titles and dignities, so that they 
 differed from those of England. He could make 
 laws with the assent of the freemen of the pro- 
 vince, and, in cases of emergency, ordinances 
 not impairing life, limb, or property, without 
 their assent. He could found churches and 
 chapels, have them consecrated according to the 
 ecclesiastical laws of England, and appoint the 
 incumbents." ^ For his territory and these royal 
 powers Lord Baltimore was to send over to the 
 palace at Windsor a tribute of two Indian arrows 
 
 ^ Browne's Maryland : the History of a Palatinate, p. 
 19. 
 
 166
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 yearly, and to reserve for the king one fifth part 
 of such gold and silver as he might happen to 
 get by mining. " The king furthermore bound 
 himself and his successors to lay no taxes, cus- 
 toms, subsidies, or contributions whatever upon 
 the people of the province, and in case of any 
 such demand being made, the charter expressly 
 declared that this clause might be pleaded as a 
 discharge in full." Maryland was thus almost 
 an independent state. Baltimore's title was Lord 
 Proprietary of Maryland, and his title and 
 powers were made hereditary in his family, so 
 that he was virtually a feudal king. His rule, 
 however, was effectually limited. The govern- 
 ment of Maryland was carried on by a governor 
 and a two-chambered legislature. The governor 
 and the members of the upper house of the 
 legislature were appointed by the lord pro- 
 prietary, but the lower house of the legislature 
 was elected, here as elsewhere, by the people ; 
 and in accordance with time-honoured English 
 custom all taxation must originate in the lower 
 house, which represented the people. 
 
 Haifa century after the founding of Mary- 
 land, similar though somewhat less extensive 
 proprietary powers were granted by charter of 
 Charles IL to William Penn, and Pennsylvania 
 under them the colony of Pennsylvania was 
 founded and Delaware was purchased. Penn- 
 sylvania and Delaware had each its house of 
 167
 
 THE STATE 
 
 representatives elected by the people ; but there 
 was only one governor and council for the two 
 colonies. The governor and council were ap- 
 pointed by the lord proprietary, and as the 
 council confined itself to advising the governor 
 and did not take part in legislation, there was 
 no upper house. The legislature was one-cham- 
 bered. The office of lord proprietary was he- 
 reditary in the Penn family. For about eighty 
 years the Penns and Calverts quarrelled, like 
 true sovereigns, about the boundary-line between 
 their principalities, until in 1763 the matter was 
 finally settled. A line was agreed upon, and the 
 Mason and survey was made by two distinguished 
 Dixon's Une mathematicians, Charles Mason and 
 Jeremiah Dixon. The line ran westward 244 
 miles from the Delaware River, and every fifth 
 milestone was engraved with the arms of Penn 
 on the one side and those of Calvert on the 
 other. In later times, after all the states north 
 of Maryland had abolished slavery. Mason and 
 Dixon's line became famous as the boundary 
 between slave states and free states. 
 
 At first there were other proprietary colonies 
 besides those just mentioned, but in course of 
 Other pro- ^^^^ ^^^ Hghts or powcrs of their lords 
 prietary gov- proprietary were resumed by the 
 Crown. When New Netherland was 
 conquered from the Dutch it was granted to the 
 duke of York as lord proprietary ; but after 
 168
 
 I 
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 one and twenty years the duke ascended the 
 throne as James IL, and so the part of the 
 colony which he had kept became the royal 
 province of New York. The part which he had 
 sold to Berkeley and Carteret remained for a 
 while the proprietary colony of New Jersey, 
 sometimes under one government, sometimes 
 divided between two ; but the rule of the lords 
 proprietary was very unpopular, and in 1702 
 their rights were surrendered to the Crown. The 
 Carolinas and Georgia were also at first proprie- 
 tary colonies, but after a while they willingly 
 came under the direct sway of the Crown. In 
 general the proprietary governments were un- 
 popular because the lords proprietary, who 
 usually lived in England and visited their colo- 
 nies but seldom, were apt to regard their colo- 
 nies simply as sources of personal income. This 
 was not the case with William Penn, or the 
 earlier Calverts, or with James Oglethorpe, the 
 illustrious founder of Georgia ; but it was too 
 often the case. So long as the lord's rents, fees, 
 and other emoluments were duly collected, he 
 troubled himself very little as to what went on 
 in the colony. If that had been all, the colony 
 would have troubled itself very little about him. 
 But the governor appointed by this absentee 
 master was liable to be more devoted to his 
 interests than to those of the people, and the 
 civil service was seriously damaged by worthless 
 169
 
 THE STATE 
 
 favourites sent over from England for whom 
 the governor was expected to find some office 
 that would pay them a salary. On the whole, 
 it seemed less unsatisfactory to have the gov- 
 ernors appointed by the Crown ; and so before 
 the Revolutionary War all the proprietary 
 governments had fallen, except those of the 
 Penns and the Calverts, which doubtless sur- 
 vived because they were the best organized and 
 best administered. 
 
 There were thus at the time of the Revolu- 
 tionary War three forms of state government 
 in the American colonies. There 
 
 At the time i ti i i • i • 
 
 of the Revo- werc, J7rj-/, the Republican colonies, 
 were^threr ^" which thc govcmors were elected 
 forms of coio- by the pcople, as in Rhode Island 
 ment : i. and Conncctlcut ; secondly^ the Pro- 
 RepubUcan, pnetary colonies, in which the gov- 
 tary, 3. cmors wcre appointed by hereditary 
 
 "^"^ proprietors, as in Maryland, Pennsyl- 
 
 vania, and Delaware ; thirdly ^ the Royal colo- 
 nies,^ in which the governors were appointed by 
 the Crown, as in Georgia, the two Carolinas, 
 Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Massachu- 
 setts, and New Hampshire. It is customary to 
 distinguish the Republican colonies as Charter 
 
 ^ Or, as they were sometimes called. Royal provinces. In 
 the history of Massachusetts many writers distinguish the 
 period before 1692 as the colonial period, and the period 1692 
 to 1774 as the provincial period. 
 170
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 colonies, but that is not an accurate distinction, 
 inasmuch as the Proprietary colonies also had 
 charters. And among the Royal colonies, 
 Massachusetts, having been originally a republic, 
 still had a charter in which her rights were so 
 defined as to place her in a somewhat different 
 position from the other Royal colonies ; so that 
 Professor Alexander Johnston, with some rea- 
 son, puts her in a class by herself as a Semi-royal 
 colony. 
 
 These differences, it will be observed, re- 
 lated to the character and method of filling the 
 governor's office. In the Republican colonies 
 the governor naturally represented the interests 
 of the people, in the Proprietary in^u three 
 colonies he was the agent of the Penns f^^^ there 
 or the Calverts, in the Royal colonies presentative 
 he was the agent of the king. All the 'JS^Jione 
 thirteen colonies alike had a legislative could im- 
 assembly elected by the people. The ^°^^ 
 basis of representation might be different in dif- 
 ferent colonies, as we have seen that in Massa- 
 chusetts the delegates represented townships, 
 whereas in Virginia they represented counties ; 
 but in all alike the assembly was a truly repre- 
 sentative body, and in all alike it was the body 
 that controlled the expenditure of public money. 
 These representative assemblies arose spontane- 
 ously because the founders of the American 
 colonies were Englishmen used from time im- 
 171
 
 THE STATE 
 
 memorial to tax themselves and govern them- 
 selves. As they had been wont to vote for repre- 
 sentatives in England, instead of leaving things 
 to be controlled by the king, so now they voted 
 for representatives in Maryland or New York, 
 instead of leaving things to be controlled by the 
 governor. The spontaneousness of all this is 
 quaintly and forcibly expressed by the great Tory 
 historian Hutchinson, who tells us that in the 
 year 1619 a house of burgesses broke out in Vir- 
 ginia ! as if it had been the mumps, or original 
 sin, or any of those things that people cannot 
 help having. 
 
 This representative assembly was the lower 
 house in the colonial legislatures. The governor 
 always had a council to advise with him and 
 Thegover- assist him in his executive duties, in 
 nor's council imitation of the king's privy council 
 
 was a kind . •1111 
 
 of upper m England, cut m nearly all the 
 ^°"^^ colonies this council took part in the 
 
 work of legislation, and thus sat as an upper 
 house, with more or less power of reviewing and 
 amending the acts of the assembly. In Penn- 
 sylvania, as already observed, the council re- 
 frained from this legislative work, and so, until 
 some years after the Revolution, the Penn- 
 sylvania legislature was one-chambered. The 
 members of the council were appointed in dif- 
 ferent ways, sometimes by the king or the lord 
 proprietary, or, as in Massachusetts, by the out- 
 172
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 going legislature, or, as in Connecticut, they 
 were elected by the people. 
 
 Thus all the colonies had a government 
 framed after the model to which the people had 
 been accustomed in England. It was 
 
 ... ". , . The colonial 
 
 like the English system in mmiature, government 
 the governor answering to the king, E^S'st' 
 and the legislature, usually two-cham- 'em b min- 
 bered, answering to Parliament. And 
 as quarrels between king and Parliament were 
 not uncommon, so quarrels between governor 
 and legislature were very frequent indeed, ex- 
 cept in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The 
 royal governors, representing British imperial 
 ideas rather than American ideas, were sure to 
 come into conflict with the popular assemblies, 
 and sometimes became the objects of bitter 
 popular hatred. The disputes were apt to be 
 concerned with questions in which taxation was 
 involved, such as the salaries of crown officers, 
 the appropriations for war with the Indians, and 
 so on. Such disputes bred more or less popular 
 discontent, but the struggle did not become 
 flagrant so long as the British Parliament re- 
 frained from meddling with it. 
 
 The Americans never regarded Parliament as 
 possessing any rightful authority over their in- 
 ternal affairs. When the earliest colonies were 
 founded, it was the general theory that the 
 American wilderness was part of the king's 
 
 173
 
 THE STATE 
 
 private domain and not subject to the control 
 of Parliament. This theory lived on in Amer- 
 
 The Amer- ^^^' ^^^ ^^^^ °^^ ^^ England. On 
 icans never the One hand the Americans had their 
 
 admitted the i • i i • i i i 
 
 supremacy of own legislatures, which Stood to them 
 Parliament; -^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^f Parliament. The 
 
 authority of Parliament was derived from the 
 fact that it was a representative body, but it 
 did not represent Americans. Accordingly the 
 Americans held that the relation of each Amer- 
 ican colony to Great Britain was like the relation 
 between England and Scotland in the seven- 
 teenth century. England and Scotland then had 
 the same king, but separate Parliaments, and 
 the English Parliament could not make laws 
 for Scotland. Such is the connection between 
 Sweden and Norway at the present day ; they 
 have the same king, but each country legislates 
 for itself. So the American colonists held that 
 Virginia, for example, and Great Britain had 
 the same king, but each its independent legis- 
 lature ; and so with the other colonies, — there 
 were thirteen parliaments in America, each as 
 sovereign within its own sphere as the Parlia- 
 ment at Westminster, and the latter had no 
 more right to tax the people of Massachusetts 
 than the Massachusetts legislature had to tax the 
 people of Virginia. 
 
 In one respect, however, the Americans did 
 admit that Parliament had a general right of 
 174
 
 THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 supervision over all parts of the British empire. 
 Maritime commerce seemed to be as much the 
 affair of one part of the empire as except in the 
 another, and it seemed right that it Sdme" °^ 
 should be regulated by the central commerce 
 Parliament at Westminster. Accordingly the 
 Americans did not resist custom-house taxes as 
 long as they seemed to be imposed for purely 
 commercial purposes ; but they were quick to 
 resist direct taxation, and custom-house taxes 
 likewise, as soon as these began to form a part 
 of schemes for extending the authority of Par- 
 liament over the colonies. 
 
 In England, on the other hand, this theory 
 that the Americans were subject to the king's 
 authority but not to that of Parlia- in England 
 ment naturally became unintelliefible '^^■'^g''^"' 
 
 •' ^ O up the theory 
 
 after the king himself had become of the im- 
 virtually subject to Parliament. The premacy'of 
 Stuart kings might call themselves Parliament 
 kings by the grace of God, but since 1688 the 
 sovereigns of Great Britain owe their seat upon 
 the throne to an act of Parliament. To suppose 
 that the king's American subjects were not 
 amenable to the authority of Parliament seemed 
 like supposing that a stream could rise higher 
 than its source. Besides, after 1700 the British 
 empire began to expand in all parts of the 
 world, and the business of Parliament became 
 more and more imperial. It could make laws 
 
 175
 
 THE STATE 
 
 for the East India Company; why not, then, 
 for the Company of Massachusetts Bay ? 
 
 Thus the American theory of the situation 
 was irreconcilable with the British theory, and 
 when Parliament in 1765, with no unfriendly 
 purpose, began laying taxes upon the Ameri- 
 cans, thus invading the province of the colonial 
 legislatures, the Americans refused to submit. 
 The ensuing quarrel might doubtless have been 
 Conflict be- peacefully adjusted, had not the king, 
 
 tween the George III., happened to be enter- 
 British and . . .... . 1 • 1 
 
 the Ameri- tammg political schemcs which were 
 can theories threatened with ruin if the Americans 
 
 was precip- r • \ • r i • • 
 
 itated by should get a fair hearmg for their side 
 eorge . ^^ ^.j^^ case.^ Thus political intrigue 
 came in to make the situation hopeless. When 
 a state of things arises, with which men's estab- 
 lished methods of civil government are incom- 
 petent to deal, men fall back upon the primitive 
 method which was in vogue before civil govern- 
 ment began to exist. They fight it out ; and 
 so we had our Revolutionary War, and became 
 separated politically from Great Britain. It is 
 worthy of note, in this connection, that the last 
 act of Parliament, which brought matters to a 
 crisis, was the so-called Regulating Act of April, 
 1774, the purpose of which was to change the 
 government of Massachusetts. This act pro- 
 
 1 See my War of Independence, pp. 58-64, 69-71 (Riv- 
 erside Library for Young People). 
 176
 
 THE TRANSITION 
 
 vided that members of the council should be 
 appointed by the royal governor, that they 
 should be paid by the Crown and thus be kept 
 subservient to it, that the principal executive 
 and judicial officers should be likewise paid by 
 the Crown, and that town-meetings should be 
 prohibited except for the sole purpose of electing 
 town officers. Other unwarrantable acts were 
 passed at the same time, but this was the worst. 
 Troops were sent over to aid in enforcing this 
 act, the people of Massachusetts refused to re- 
 cognize its validity, and out of this political 
 situation came the battles of Lexington and 
 Bunker Hill. 
 
 §2. The Transition from Colonial to State Gov- 
 ernments. 
 During the earlier part of the Revolutionary 
 War most of the states had some kind of pro- 
 visional government. The case of Massachu- 
 setts may serve as an illustration. There, as in 
 the other colonies, the governor had the power 
 of dissolving the assembly. This was Dissolution 
 like the king's power of dissolving .tdTaT-^"'' 
 Parliament in the days of the Stuarts, liaments 
 It was then a dangerous power. In modern 
 England there is nothing dangerous in a disso- 
 lution of Parliament ; on the contrary, it is a 
 useful device for ascertaining the wishes of the 
 people, for a new House of Commons must bi? 
 177
 
 THE STATE 
 
 elected immediately. But in old times the king 
 would turn his Parliament out of doors, and as 
 long as he could beg, borrow, or steal enough 
 money to carry on government according to his 
 own notions, he would not order a new election. 
 Fortunately such periods were not very long. 
 The latest instance was in the reign of Charles I., 
 who got on without a Parliament from 1629 to 
 1640.^ In the American colonies the dissolu- 
 tion of the assembly by the governor was not 
 especially dangerous, but it sometimes made 
 mischief by delaying needed legislation. During 
 the few years preceding the Revolution, the as- 
 semblies were so often dissolved that it became 
 necessary for the people to devise some new 
 way of getting their representatives together to 
 act for the colony. In Massachusetts this end 
 was attained by the famous " Com- 
 
 Committees _ •' 
 
 ofcorre- mittecs of Corrcspondence." No one 
 spon ence cQuld deny that town-meetings were 
 legal, or that the people of one township had a 
 right to ask advice from the people of another 
 township. Accordingly each township appointed 
 a committee to correspond or confer with com- 
 mittees from other townships. This system was 
 
 ^ The kings of France contrived to get along without a 
 representative assembly from 1614 to 1789, and during this 
 long period abuses so multiplied that the meeting of the States- 
 General in 1789 precipitated the great revolution which over- 
 threw the monarchy. 
 
 178
 
 THE TRANSITION 
 
 put into operation by Samuel Adams in 1772, 
 and for the next two years the popular resist- 
 ance to the Crown was organized by these com- 
 mittees. For example, before the tea was thrown 
 into Boston harbour, the Boston committee 
 sought and received advice from every town- 
 ship in Massachusetts, and the treatment of 
 the tea-ships was from first to last directed by 
 the committees of Boston and five neighbour 
 towns. 
 
 In 1774 a further step was taken. As Parlia- 
 ment had overthrown the old government, and 
 sent over General Gage as military governor, to 
 put its new system into operation, the people 
 defied and ignored Gage, and the townships 
 elected delegates to meet together in what was 
 called a "Provincial Congress." The president 
 of this congress was the chief execu- provincial 
 tive officer of the commonwealth, and Congress 
 there was a small executive council, known as 
 the " Committee of Safety." 
 
 This provisional government lasted about a 
 year. In the summer of 1775 the people went 
 further. They fell back upon their charter and 
 proceeded to carry on their government as it 
 had been carried on before 1774, except that 
 the governor was left out altogether. The peo- 
 ple in town-meeting elected their representa- 
 tives to a general assembly, as of old, and this 
 assembly chose a council of twenty-eight mem- 
 179
 
 THE STATE 
 
 bers to sit as an upper house. The president of 
 the council was the foremost executive officer 
 of the commonwealth, but he had not the pow- 
 ers of a governor. He was no more the gov- 
 ernor than the president of our Federal Senate is 
 the President of the United States. The powers 
 of the governor were really vested in the coun- 
 cil, which was an executive as well as a legisla- 
 Provisionai tivc body, and the president was its 
 govern- chairman. Indeed, the title " presi- 
 
 ments ; ^ _ ' _ r _ 
 
 " goyer- dcnt " is simply the Latin for " chair- 
 
 nors " and »» u U cc 'J >» cc '^ 
 
 "presi- man, he who presides or "sits 
 
 dents" before " an assembly. In 1775 it was 
 
 a more modest title than " governor," and had 
 not the smack of semi-royalty which lingered 
 about the latter. Governors had made so much 
 trouble that people were distrustful of the of- 
 fice, and at first it was thought that the council 
 would be quite sufficient for the executive work 
 that was to be done. Several of the states thus 
 organized their governments with a council at 
 the head instead of a governor; and hence in 
 reading about that period one often comes across 
 the title " president," somewhat loosely used as 
 if equivalent to governor. Thus in 1787 we find 
 Benjamin Franklin called " president of Penn- 
 sylvania," meaning " president of the council 
 of Pennsylvania." But this arrangement did not 
 prove satisfactory and did not last long. It 
 soon appeared that for executive work one man 
 180
 
 THE TRANSITION 
 
 is better than a group of men. In Massachu- 
 setts, in 1780, the old charter was replaced by 
 a new written constitution, under which was 
 formed the state government which, with some 
 emendations in detail, has continued to the pre- 
 sent day. Before the end of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury all the states except Connecticut and Rhode 
 Island, which had always been practically inde- 
 pendent, thus remodelled their governments. 
 
 These changes, however, were very conserva- 
 tive. The old form of government was closely 
 followed. First there was the governor, elected 
 in some states by the legislature, in others by 
 the people. Then there was the two-chambered 
 legislature, of which the lower house was the 
 same institution after the Revolution that it had 
 been before. The upper house, or origin of 
 council, was retained, but in a some- ^^ Senates 
 what altered form. The Americans had been 
 used to having the acts of their popular assem- 
 blies reviewed by a council, and so they retained 
 this revisory body as an upper house. But the 
 fashion of copying names and titles from the 
 ancient Roman republic was then prevalent, and 
 accordingly the upper house was called a Sen- 
 ate. There was a higher property qualification 
 for senators than for representatives, and gener- 
 ally their terms of service were longer. In some 
 states they were chosen by the people, in others 
 by the lower house. In Maryland they were 
 i8i
 
 THE STATE 
 
 chosen by a special college of electors, an ar- 
 rangement which was copied in our federal gov- 
 ernment in the election of the President of the 
 United States. In most of the states there was 
 a lieutenant-governor, as there had been in the 
 colonial period, to serve in case of the gover- 
 nor's death or incapacity ; ordinarily the lieuten- 
 ant-governor presided over the Senate. 
 
 Thus our state governments came to be repe- 
 titions on a small scale of the king, lords, and 
 commons of England. The governor answered 
 to the king, with his dignity very much cur- 
 tailed by election for a short period. The Senate 
 answered to the House of Lords except in being 
 a representative and not a hereditary body. It 
 was supposed to represent more especially that 
 part of the community which was possessed of 
 most wealth and consideration ; and in several 
 states the senators were apportioned with some 
 reference to the amount of taxes paid by differ- 
 ent parts of the state.^ When New York made 
 its senate a supreme court of appeal, it was in 
 deliberate imitation of the House of Lords. On 
 Likenesses the Other hand, the House of Repre- 
 and differ- scntativcs answcrcd to the House of 
 
 ences be- 
 tween Brit- Commons as it used to be in the days 
 
 Am^ican whcn its powcr was really limited by 
 
 systems ^j^^j- ^f |.|^g Upper housc and the king. 
 
 At the present day the English House of 
 
 ^ See my Critical Period of American History y chap. ii. 
 
 182
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 Commons is a supreme body. In case of a 
 serious difference with the House of Lords, the 
 upper house must yield, or else new peers will 
 be created in sufficient number to reverse its 
 vote ; and the lords always yield before this 
 point is reached. So, too, though the veto power 
 of the sovereign has never been explicitly abol- 
 ished, it has not been exercised since 1707, and 
 would not now be tolerated for a moment. In 
 America there is no such supreme body. The 
 bill passed by the lower house may be thrown 
 out by the upper house, or if it passes both it 
 may be vetoed by the governor ; and unless the 
 bill can again pass both houses by more than a 
 simple majority, the veto will stand. In most 
 of the states a two-thirds vote in the affirmative 
 is required. 
 
 § 3. The State Governments. 
 During the present century our state govern- 
 ments have undergone more or less revision, 
 chiefly in the way of abolishing property quali- 
 fications for office, making the suffrage univer- 
 sal, and electing officers that were formerly 
 appointed. Only in Delaware does there still 
 remain a property qualification for senators. 
 There is no longer any distinction in principle 
 between the upper and lower houses Later modi- 
 of the legislature. Both represent pop- ^"''0"^ 
 ulation, the usual difference being that the Sen- 
 183
 
 THE STATE 
 
 ate consists of fewer members who represent 
 larger districts. Usually, too, the term of the 
 representatives is two years, and the whole 
 house is elected at the same time, while the term 
 of senators is four years, and half the number 
 are elected every two years. This system of 
 two-chambered legislatures is probably retained 
 chiefly through a spirit of conservatism, because 
 it is what we are used to. But it no doubt has 
 real advantages in checking hasty legislation. 
 People are always wanting to have laws made 
 about all sorts of things, and in nine cases out 
 of ten their laws would be pernicious laws ; so 
 that it is well not to have legislation made too 
 easy. 
 
 The suffrage by which the legislature is elected 
 is almost universal. It is given in all the states 
 to all male citizens who have reached the age of 
 one and twenty. In many it is given also to 
 denizens of foreign birth who have declared an 
 intention of becoming citizens. In some it is 
 given without further specification to every male 
 Thesuf- inhabitant o^YOting2.gt. Residence in 
 ^^2^ the state for some period, varying 
 
 from three months to two years and a half, is 
 also generally required ; sometimes a certain 
 length of residence in the county, the town, or 
 even in the voting precinct, is prescribed. In 
 many of the states it is necessary to have paid 
 one's poll-tax. There is no longer any property 
 184
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 qualification, though there was until recently in 
 Rhode Island. Criminals, idiots, and lunatics 
 are excluded from the suffrage. Some states also 
 exclude duellists and men who bet on elections. 
 Connecticut and Massachusetts shut out per- 
 sons who are unable to read. In no other coun- 
 try has access to citizenship and the suffrage 
 been made so easy. 
 
 A peculiar feature of American governments, 
 and something which it is hard for Europeans 
 to understand, is the almost complete Separation 
 separation between the executive and fsiamrranT 
 the legislative departments. In Eu- the executive 
 ropean countries the great executive officers are 
 either members of the legislature, or at all events 
 have the right to be present at its meetings and 
 take part in its discussions ; and as they gener- 
 ally have some definite policy by which they are 
 to stand or fall, they are wont to initiate legisla- 
 tion and to guide the course of the discussion. 
 But in America the legislatures, having no such 
 central points about which to rally their forces, 
 carry on their work in an aimless, rambling sort 
 of way, through the agency of many standing 
 committees. When a measure is proposed it is 
 referred to one of the committees for examina- 
 tion before the house will have anything to do 
 with it. Such a preliminary examination is of 
 course necessary where there is a vast amount 
 of legislative work going on. But the private 
 i8s
 
 THE STATE 
 
 and disconnected way in which our committee 
 work is done tends to prevent full and instruc- 
 tive discussion in the house, to make the mass 
 of legislation, always chaotic enough, somewhat 
 more chaotic, and to facilitate the various evil 
 devices of lobbying and log-rolling. 
 
 In pointing out this inconvenience attendant 
 upon the American plan of separating the ex- 
 ecutive and legislative departments, I must not 
 be understood as advocating the European 
 plan as preferable for this country. The evils 
 that inevitably flow from any fundamental 
 change in the institutions of a country are apt 
 to be much more serious than the evils which 
 the change is intended to remove. Political 
 government is like a plant ; a little watering and 
 pruning do very well for it, but the less its 
 roots are fooled with, the better. In the Ameri- 
 can system of government the independence of 
 the executive department, with reference to the 
 legislative, is fundamental ; and on the whole it 
 is eminently desirable. One of the most serious 
 of the dangers which beset democratic govern- 
 ment, especially where it is conducted on a great 
 scale, is the danger that the majority for the 
 time being will use its power tyrannically and 
 unscrupulously, as it is always tempted to do. 
 Against such unbridled democracy we have 
 striven to guard ourselves by various constitu- 
 tional checks and balances. Our written consti- 
 iS6
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 tutions and our Supreme Court are important 
 safeguards, as will be shown below. The inde- 
 pendence of our executives is another important 
 safeguard. But if our executive departments 
 were mere committees of the legislature — like 
 the English cabinet, for example — this inde- 
 pendence could not possibly be maintained; and 
 the loss of it would doubtless entail upon us 
 evils far greater than those which now flow 
 from want of leadership in our legislatures.^ 
 We must remember that government is neces- 
 sarily a cumbrous affair, however conducted. 
 
 The only occasion on which the governor is 
 a part of the legislature is when he signs or ve- 
 toes a bill. Then he is virtually in The state 
 himself a third house. As an execu- executive 
 tive officer the governor is far less powerful 
 than in the colonial times. We shall see the 
 reason of this after we have enumerated some 
 of the principal offices in the executive depart- 
 ment. There is always a secretary of state, 
 whose main duty is to make and keep the re- 
 cords of state transactions. There is always a 
 state treasurer, and usually a state auditor or 
 
 ^ In two admirable essays on <* Cabinet Responsibility and 
 the Constitution " and " Democracy and the Constitution," 
 Mr. Lawrence Lowell has convincingly argued that the 
 American system is best adapted to the circumstances of this 
 country. Lowell, Essays on Governme?it, pp. 20-117, 
 Boston, 1890. 
 
 187
 
 THE STATE 
 
 comptroller to examine the public accounts and 
 issue the warrants without which the treasurer 
 cannot pay out a penny of the state's money. 
 There is almost always an attorney-general, to 
 appear for the state in the supreme court in all 
 cases in which the state is a party, and in all 
 prosecutions for capital offences. He also ex- 
 ercises some superintendence over the district 
 attorneys, and acts as legal adviser to the gov- 
 ernors and the legislature. There is also in 
 many states a superintendent of education ; and 
 in some there are boards of education, of health, 
 of lunacy and charity, bureaux of agriculture, 
 commissioners of prisons, of railroads, of mines, 
 of harbours, of immigration, and so on. Some- 
 times such boards are appointed by the gov- 
 ernor, but such officers as the secretary of state, 
 the treasurer, auditor, and attorney-general are, 
 in almost all the states, elected by the people. 
 They are not responsible to the governor, but 
 to the people who elect them. They are not 
 subordinate to the governor, but are rather his 
 colleagues. Strictly speaking, the governor is 
 not the head of the executive department, but 
 a member of it. The executive department is 
 parcelled out in several pieces, and his is one of 
 the pieces. 
 
 The ordinary functions of the governor are 
 four in number, i. He sends a message to the 
 legislature, at the beginning of each session, 
 i88
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 recommending such measures as he would Hke 
 to see embodied in legislation. i. He is com- 
 mander-in-chief of the state militia, r^.^^ 
 and as such can assist the sheriff of emor's fimc- 
 
 1 . tions : I . Ad- 
 
 a county m puttmg down a not, or visor of legis- 
 the President of the United States, l^^"""^- ^; 
 
 Commander 
 
 In the event of a war. On such of state 
 
 ^1 1 militia 
 
 occasions the governor may become a 
 personage of immense importance, as, for exam- 
 ple, in our Civil War, when President Lincoln's 
 demands for troops met with such prompt re- 
 sponse from the men who will be known to 
 history as the great "war governors." 3. The 
 governor is invested with the royal 
 prerogative of pardoning criminals, or prerogative 
 commuting the sentences pronounced ° ^""^ °" 
 upon them by the courts. This power belongs 
 to kings in accordance with the old feudal no- 
 tion that the king was the source or fountain 
 of justice. When properly used it affords an 
 opportunity for rectifying some injustice for 
 which the ordinary machinery of the law could 
 not provide, or for making such allowances for 
 extraordinary circumstances as the court could 
 not properly consider. In our country it is 
 too often improperly used to enable the worst 
 criminals to escape due punishment, just be- 
 cause it is a disagreeable duty to hang them. 
 Such misplaced clemency is pleasant for the 
 murderers, but It makes life less secure for hon- 
 189
 
 THE STATE 
 
 est men and women, and in the less civilized 
 regions of our country it encourages lynch law. 
 4. In all the states except Rhode Island, Dela- 
 ware, Ohio, and North Carolina, the governor 
 has a veto upon the acts of the legislature, as 
 above explained ; and in ordinary times this 
 power, which is not executive but legislative, 
 is probably the governor's most important and 
 considerable power. In thirteen of the states 
 the governor can veto particular items in a bill 
 4. Veto for the appropriation of public money, 
 power while at the same time he approves 
 
 the rest of the bill. This is a most important 
 safeguard against corruption, because where the 
 governor does not have this power it is possible 
 to make appropriations for unworthy or scan- 
 dalous purposes along with appropriations for 
 matters of absolute necessity, and then to lump 
 them all together in the same bill, so that the 
 governor must either accept the bad along with 
 the good or reject the good along with the bad. 
 It is a great gain when the governor can select 
 the items and veto some while approving 
 others. In such matters the governor is often 
 more honest and discreet than the legislature, 
 if for no other reason, because he is one man, 
 and responsibility can be fixed upon him more 
 clearly than upon two or three hundred. 
 
 Such, in brief outline, is the framework of the 
 American state governments. But our account 
 190
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 would be very incomplete without some men- 
 tion of three points, all of them especially char- 
 acteristic of the American state, and likely to 
 be overlooked or misunderstood by Europeans. 
 Firsty while we have rapidly built up one of 
 the greatest empires yet seen upon the earth, 
 we have left our self-government substantially 
 unimpaired in the process. This is 
 
 ' , . ^ , . ^ ~ . , In building 
 
 exemplmed m two ways : nrst, m the the state, the 
 relationship of the state to its towns government 
 and counties, and, secondly, in its re- was left un- 
 lationship to the federal government. 
 Over the township and county governments 
 the state exercises a general supervision ; in- 
 deed, it clothes them with their authority. 
 Townships and counties have no sovereignty ; 
 the state, on the other hand, has many elements 
 of sovereignty, but it does not use them to ob- 
 literate or unduly restrict the control of the 
 townships and counties over their own admin- 
 istrative work. It leaves the local governments 
 to administer themselves. As a rule there is 
 only just enough state supervision to harmon- 
 ize the working of so many local administra- 
 tions. Such a system of government comes as 
 near as possible toward making all American 
 citizens participate actively in the management 
 of public affairs. It generates and nourishes a 
 public spirit and a universal acquaintance with 
 matters of public interest such as has probably 
 191
 
 THE STATE 
 
 never before been seen in any great country. 
 Public spirit of equal or greater intensity may 
 have been witnessed in small and highly edu- 
 cated communities, such as ancient Athens or 
 mediaeval Florence, but in the United States it 
 is diffused over an area equal to the whole of 
 Europe. Among the leading countries of the 
 world England is the one which comes nearest 
 to the United States in the general diffusion of 
 enlightened public spirit and political capacity 
 throughout all classes of society. 
 
 A very notable contrast to the self-govern-' 
 ment which has produced such admirable results 
 is to be seen in France, and as contrasts are 
 often instructive, let me mention one or two 
 features of the French government. There is 
 nothing like the irregularity and spontaneity 
 there that we have observed in our survey of 
 the United States. Everything is symmetrical. 
 Instructive Francc is divided into eighty-nine 
 contrast with departments, most of them larger than 
 the state of Delaware, some of them 
 nearly as large as Connecticut, and the admin- 
 istration of one department is exactly like that 
 of all the others. The chief officer of the de- 
 partment is the prefect, who is appointed by 
 the minister of the interior, at Paris. The pre- 
 fect is treasurer, recruiting officer, school super- 
 intendent, all in one, and he appoints nearly all 
 inferior officers. The department has a council, 
 192
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 elected by universal suffrage, but it has no power 
 of assessing taxes. The central legislature in 
 Paris decides for it how much money it shall use 
 and how it shall raise it. The department council 
 is not even allowed to express its views on polit- 
 ical matters ; it can only attend to purely local 
 details of administration. 
 
 The smallest civil division in France is the com- 
 mune^ which may be either rural or urban. The 
 commune has a municipal council which elects 
 a mayor ; but when once elected the mayor be- 
 comes directly responsible to the prefect of the 
 department, and through him to the minister of 
 the interior. If these greater officers do not like 
 what the mayor does, they can overrule his acts 
 or even suspend him from office ; or upon 
 their complaint the President of the Republic 
 can remove him. 
 
 Thus in France people do not manage their 
 own affairs, but they are managed for j^^ ^^^^^^ 
 them by a hierarchy of officials with whether it is 
 its head at Paris. This system was dM^otlcIm- 
 devised by the Constituent Assembly P"'f,.°'^ ^ ''f 
 
 -' , ^ pubhc at the 
 
 in 1790 and brought into complete- top, there is 
 ness by Napoleon in 1 800. The men seU^'^govem^ 
 who devised it in 1790 actually sup- mentatthe 
 
 ' -' . ^ . ^ bottom. 
 
 posed that they were mauguratmg a Hence gov- 
 system of political freedom^ (!), and ^Testson 
 unquestionably it was a vast improve- an insecure 
 
 I I . 1 ■ 1 foundation 
 
 ment upon the wretched system which 
 193
 
 THE STATE 
 
 it supplanted ; but as contrasted with American 
 methods and institutions, it is difficult to call 
 it anything else than a highly centralized des- 
 potism. It has gone on without essential change 
 through all the revolutions which have over- 
 taken France since 1800. The people have 
 from time to time overthrown an unpopular 
 government at Paris, but they have never as- 
 sumed the direct control of their own affairs. 
 
 Hence it is commonly remarked that while 
 the general intelligence of the French people is 
 very high, their intelligence in political matters 
 is, comparatively speaking, very low. Some per- 
 sons try to explain this by a reference to peculi- 
 arities of race. But if we Americans were to set 
 about giving to the state governments things to 
 do that had better be done by counties and towns, 
 and giving the federal government things to do 
 that had better be done by the states, it would 
 not take many generations to dull the keen 
 edge of our political capacity. We should lose 
 it as inevitably as the most consummate of pian- 
 ists will lose his facility if he stops practising. 
 It is therefore a fact of cardinal importance that 
 in the United States the local governments of 
 township, county, and city are left to adminis- 
 ter themselves instead of being administered by 
 a great bureau with its head at the state capital. 
 In a political society thus constituted from the 
 beginning it has proved possible to build up 
 194
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 our Federal Union, in which the states, while 
 for certain purposes indissolubly united, at the 
 same time for many other purposes retain their 
 self-government intact. As in the case of other 
 aggregates, the nature of the American political 
 aggregate has been determined by the nature of 
 its political units. 
 
 Secondly^ let us observe how great are the 
 functions retained by our states under the con- 
 ditions of our Federal Union. The powers 
 granted to our federal government, such as the 
 control over international questions, war and 
 peace, the military forces, the coinage, patents 
 and copyrights, and the regulation of ,, 
 
 i J o ^ O J • 1 Vastness of 
 
 commerce between the states and with thefiinctions 
 foreign countries, — all these are pow- ;h?s';i''iii 
 ers relating to matters that affect all the t^e Ameri- 
 
 - , , , 111 '^'^^ Union 
 
 States, but could not be regulated har- 
 moniously by the separate action of the states. 
 In order the more completely to debar the states 
 from meddling with such matters, they are ex- 
 pressly prohibited from entering into agree- 
 ments with each other or with a foreign power ; 
 they cannot engage in war, save in case of ac- 
 tual invasion or such imminent danger as admits 
 of no delay ; without consent of Congress they 
 cannot keep a military or naval force in time of 
 peace, or impose custom-house duties. Besides 
 all this they are prohibited from granting titles 
 of nobility, coining money, emitting bills of 
 
 195
 
 THE STATE 
 
 credit, making anything but gold and silver coin 
 a tender in payment of debts, passing bills of 
 attainder, ex post facto laws, or laws impairing 
 the obligation of contracts. The force of these 
 latter restrictions will be explained hereafter. 
 Such are the limitations of sovereignty imposed 
 upon the states within the Federal Union. 
 
 " Compared with the vast prerogatives of the 
 state legislatures, these limitations seem small 
 enough. All the civil and religious rights of 
 our citizens depend upon state legislation ; the 
 education of the people is in the care of the 
 states ; with them rests the regulation of the 
 suffrage ; they prescribe the rules of marriage, 
 the legal relations of husband and wife, of par- 
 ent and child ; they determine the powers of 
 masters over servants and the whole law of prin- 
 cipal and agent, which is so vital a matter in all 
 business transactions ; they regulate partnership, 
 debt and credit, insurance ; they constitute all 
 corporations, both private and municipal, ex- 
 cept such as specially fulfil the financial or other 
 specific functions of the federal government ; 
 they control the possession, distribution, and 
 use of property, the exercise of trades, and all 
 contract relations ; and they formulate and ad- 
 minister all criminal law, except only that which 
 concerns crimes committed against the United 
 States, on the high seas, or against the law of 
 nations. Space would fail in which to enumer- 
 196 
 
 I
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 ate the particulars of this vast range of power ; 
 to detail its parts would be to catalogue all social 
 and business relationships, to examine all the 
 foundations of law and order." ^ 
 
 This enumeration, by Mr. Woodrow Wilson, 
 is so much to the point that I content myself 
 with transcribing it. A very remark- lUustration 
 able illustration of the preponderant En^nsJ""' 
 part played by state law in America history 
 is given by Mr. Wilson, in pursuance of the 
 suggestion of Mr. Franklin Jameson.^ Con- 
 sider the most important subjects of legislation 
 in England during the present century, the 
 subjects which make up almost the entire con- 
 stitutional history of England for eighty years. 
 These subjects are " Catholic emancipation, 
 parliamentary reform, the abolition of slavery, 
 the amendment of the poor-laws, the reform 
 of municipal corporations, the repeal of the 
 corn laws, the admission of Jews to Parliament, 
 the disestablishment of the Irish church, the 
 alteration of the Irish land laws, the establish- 
 ment of national education, the introduction of 
 the ballot, and the reform of the criminal law." 
 In the United States only two of these twelve 
 great subjects could be dealt with by the federal 
 
 1 Woodrow Wilson, The State : Elements of Historical 
 and Practical Politics, p. 437. 
 
 ' Jameson, The Study of the Constitutional and Political 
 History of the States, J. H. U. Studies, IV., v. 
 197
 
 THE STATE 
 
 government : the repeal of the corn laws, as 
 being a question of national revenue and cus- 
 tom-house duties, and the abolition of slavery, 
 by virtue of a constitutional amendment em- 
 bodying some of the results of our Civil War. 
 All the other questions enumerated would have 
 to be dealt with by our state governments ; 
 and before the war that was the case with the 
 slavery question also. A more vivid illustra- 
 tion could not be asked for. 
 
 How complete is the circle of points in which 
 the state touches the life of the American citi- 
 , , , zen, we may see in the fact that our 
 
 Independence ■' • i- 
 
 of the state statc courts make a complete judi- 
 courts ciary system, from top to bottom in- 
 
 dependent of the federal courts. An appeal 
 may be carried from a state court to a federal 
 court in cases which are found to involve points 
 of federal law, or in suits arising between citi- 
 zens of different states, or where foreign am- 
 bassadors are concerned. Except for such cases 
 the state courts make up a complete judiciary 
 world of their own, quite outside the sphere of 
 the United States courts. 
 
 We have already had something to say about 
 courts in connection with those primitive areas 
 for the administration of justice, the hundred 
 and the county. In our states there are gener- 
 ally four grades of courts. There are, first, the 
 justices of the peace^ with jurisdiction over "petty 
 198
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 police offences and civil suits for trifling sums." 
 They also conduct preliminary hearings in cases 
 where persons are accused of serious crimes, 
 and when the evidence seems to warrant it they 
 may commit the accused person for trial before 
 a higher court. The mayor's court in a city 
 usually has jurisdiction similar to that of justices 
 of the peace. Secondly, there are county and mu- 
 nicipal court St which hear appeals from justices 
 of the peace and from mayor's courts, and have 
 original jurisdiction over a more important 
 grade of civil and criminal cases. Thirdly, there 
 are superior courts, having original . . 
 
 . t . , . ° Constitution 
 
 jurisdiction over the most important of the state 
 cases and over wider areas of country, *^°""^ 
 so that they do not confine their sessions to 
 one place, but move about from place to place, 
 like the English justices in eyre. Cases are car- 
 ried up, on appeal, from the lower to the supe- 
 rior court. Fourthly, there is in every state a 
 supreme courts which generally has no original 
 jurisdiction, but only hears appeals from the 
 decisions of the other courts. In New York 
 there is a "supremest " court, styled the court 
 of appeals J v^Kxch. has the power of revising sun- 
 dry judgments of the supreme court ; and there 
 is something similar in New Jersey, Illinois, 
 Kentucky, and Louisiana.* 
 
 In the thirteen colonies the judges were ap- 
 
 * Wilson, The State, pp. 509-513. 
 199
 
 THE STATE 
 
 pointed by the governor, with or without the 
 consent of the council, and they held office 
 during life or good behaviour. Among the 
 changes made in our state constitutions since 
 the Revolution, there have been few more im- 
 portant than those which have affected the 
 position of the judges. In most of the states 
 they are now elected by the people for a term 
 of years, sometimes as short as two years. 
 There is a growing feeling that this change was 
 a mistake. It seems to have lowered the gen- 
 eral character of the judiciary. The change was 
 made by reasoning from analogy : it was sup- 
 posed that in a free country all offices 
 
 Elective 3n<l 
 
 appointive ought to be clcctivc and for short 
 judges terms. But the case of a judge is not 
 
 really analogous to that of executive officers, 
 like mayors and governors and presidents. The 
 history of popular liberty is much older than 
 the history of the United States, and it would 
 be difficult to point to an instance in which 
 popular liberty has ever suffered from the life 
 tenure of judges. On the contrary, the judge 
 ought to be as independent as possible of all 
 transient phases of popular sentiment, and 
 American experience during the past century 
 seems to teach us that in the few states where 
 the appointing of judges during life or good 
 behaviour has prevailed, the administration of 
 justice has been better than in the states where 
 200
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENTS 
 
 the judges have been elected for specified terms. 
 Since 1869 there has been a marked tendency 
 toward lengthening the terms of elected judges, 
 and in several states there has been a return to 
 the old method of appointing judges by the 
 governor, subject to confirmation by the senate.^ 
 It is one of the excellent features of our system 
 of federal government, that the several states 
 can thus try experiments each for itself and learn 
 by comparison of results. When things are all 
 trimmed down to a dead level of uniformity by 
 the central power, as in France, a prolific source 
 of valuable experiences is cut oflF and shut up. 
 
 ^ For details, see the admirable monograph of Henry Hitch- 
 cock, American State Constitutions, p. 53. 
 
 201
 
 VII 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 TOWARD the close of the preceding 
 chapter^ I spoke of three points es- 
 pecially characteristic of the American 
 state, and I went on to mention two of them. 
 The third point which I had in mind is so re- 
 markable and important as to require a chapter 
 intheAmer- ^^^ ^^ itself. In the American state 
 ican state the legislature is not supreme, but has 
 power above Hmits to its authority prescribed by a 
 the legislature ^j-ittcn document, known as the Con- 
 stitution ; and if the legislature happens to pass 
 a law which violates the constitution, then when- 
 ever a specific case happens to arise in which 
 this statute is involved, it can be brought before 
 the courts, and the decision of the court, if 
 adverse to the statute, annuls it and renders it 
 of no effect. The importance of this feature of 
 civil government in the United States can hardly 
 be overrated. It marks a momentous advance 
 in civilization, and it is especially interesting as 
 being peculiarly American. Almost everything 
 else in our fundamental institutions was brought 
 
 ^ See above, p. 191. 
 
 ao2 
 
 4
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 by our forefathers in a more or less highly de- 
 veloped condition from England ; but the de- 
 velopment of the written constitution, with the 
 consequent relation of the courts to the law- 
 making power, has gone on entirely upon 
 American soil. 
 
 The germs of the written constitution existed 
 a great while ago. Perhaps it would not be easy 
 to say just when they began to exist. It was 
 formerly supposed by such profound thinkers 
 as Locke and such persuasive writers as Rous- 
 seau, that when the first men came Germs of the 
 together to live in civil society, they ;JSten con- 
 made a sort of contract with one an- stitution 
 other as to what laws they would have, what 
 beliefs they would entertain, what customs they 
 would sanction, and so forth. This theory of 
 the Social Contract was once famous, and ex- 
 erted a notable influence on political history, 
 and it is still interesting in the same way that 
 spinning-wheels and wooden frigates and pow- 
 dered wigs are interesting ; but we now know 
 that men lived in civil society, with complicated 
 laws and customs and creeds, for many thousand 
 years before the notion had ever entered any- 
 body's head that things could be regulated by 
 contract. That notion we owe chiefly ourindebt- 
 to the ancient Romans, and it took li'^Hi"^! 
 them several centuries to compre- "^^ns 
 hend the idea and put it into practice. We owe 
 203
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 them a debt of gratitude for it. The custom of 
 regulating business and politics and the affairs 
 of life generally by voluntary but binding agree- 
 ments is something without which we moderns 
 would not think life worth living. It was after 
 the Roman world — that is to say, Christendom, 
 for in the Middle Ages the two terms were 
 synonymous — had become thoroughly familiar 
 with the idea of contract, that the practice grew 
 up of granting written charters to towns, or 
 monasteries, or other corporate bodies. The 
 charter of a mediaeval town was a kind of writ- 
 ten contract by which the town obtained certain 
 specified immunities or privileges from the 
 sovereign or from a great feudal lord, in ex- 
 change for some specified service which often 
 took the form of a money payment. It was 
 common enough for a town to buy liberty for 
 Medieval hard cash, just as a man might buy a 
 charters farm. The word charter originally 
 
 meant simply a paper or written document, and 
 It was often applied to deeds for the transfer of 
 real estate. In contracts of such importance 
 papers or parchment documents were drawn up 
 and carefully preserved as irrefragable evidences 
 of the transaction. And so, in quite significant 
 phrase the towns zealously guarded their charters 
 as the " title-deeds of their liberties." 
 
 After a while the word charter was applied in 
 England to a particular document which speci- 
 204 '
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 fied certain important concessions forcibly wrung 
 by the people from a most unwilling sovereign. 
 This document was called Mama 
 
 <^ The " Great 
 
 Chart ay or the " Great Charter, charter" 
 signed at Runnymede, June 15, 12 15, '■'^'S) 
 by John, king of England. After the king had 
 signed it and gone away to his room, he rolled 
 in a mad fury on the floor, screaming curses, 
 and gnawing sticks and straw in the impotence 
 of his wrath.^ Perhaps it would be straining 
 words to call a transaction in which the consent 
 was so one-sided a " contract," but the idea of 
 Magna Charta was derived from that of the 
 town charters with which people were already 
 familiar. Thus a charter came to mean " a grant 
 made by the sovereign either to the whole peo- 
 ple or to a portion of them, securing to them 
 the enjoyment of certain rights." Now in legal 
 usage " a charter differs from a constitution in 
 this, that the former is granted by the sovereign, 
 while the latter is established by the people 
 themselves : both are the fundamental law of 
 the land." ^ The distinction is admirably ex- 
 pressed, but in history it is not always easy to 
 make it. Magna Charta was in form a grant by 
 the sovereign, but it was really drawn up by the 
 barons, who in a certain sense represented the 
 English people ; and established by the people 
 
 ^ Green, Hist, of the English People, vol. i. p. 248. 
 
 3 Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 12th ed., vol. i. p. 259. 
 
 205
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 after a long struggle which was only in its first 
 stages in John's time. To some extent it par- 
 took of the nature of a written constitution. 
 
 Let us now observe what happened early in 
 1689, after James II. had fled from England. 
 On January 28 Parliament declared the throne 
 vacant. Parliament then drew up the " Declara- 
 tion of Rights," a document very similar in 
 purport to the first eight amendments to our 
 Federal Constitution, and on the 13th of Feb- 
 ruary the two houses offered the crown to Wil- 
 liam and Mary on condition of their accepting 
 this declaration of the " true, ancient, and in- 
 dubitable rights of the people of this realm." 
 The crown having been accepted on these terms, 
 Parliament in the following December enacted 
 the famous " Bill of Rights," which 
 
 The " BUI . , , . . ^ 1 , 
 
 of Rights" Simply put their previous declaration 
 ('689) j^^Q ^^^ from of a declaratory statute. 
 
 The Bill of Rights was not — even in form — 
 a grant from a sovereign ; it was an instrument 
 framed by the representatives of the people, and 
 without promising to respect it William and 
 Mary could no more have mounted the throne 
 than a President of the United States could be 
 inducted into office if he were to refuse to take 
 the prescribed oath of allegiance to the Federal 
 Constitution. The Bill of Rights was therefore, 
 strictly speaking, a piece of written constitution ; 
 it was a constitution as far as it went. 
 206
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 The seventeenth century, the age when the 
 builders of American commonwealths were com- 
 ing from England, was especially notable in 
 England for two things. One was the rapid 
 growth of modern commercial occupations and 
 habits, the other was the temporary overthrow 
 of monarchy, soon followed by the final subjec- 
 tion of the Crown to Parliament. Accordingly 
 the sphere of contract and the sphere of popular 
 sovereignty were enlarged in men's minds, and 
 the notion of a written constitution first began 
 to find expression. The " Instrument of Gov- 
 ernment " which in 1653 created the protectorate 
 of Oliver Cromwell was substantially a written 
 constitution, but it emanated from a question- 
 able authority and was not ratified. It was 
 drawn up by a council of army officers ; and " it 
 broke down because the first Parliament sum- 
 moned under it refused to acknowledge its bind- 
 ing force." ^ The dissolution of this Parliament 
 accordingly left Oliver absolute dictator. In 
 i6c6, when it seemed so necessary to ^ . ^ 
 
 J ' •' Foreshadow- 
 
 decide what sort of government the ingofthe 
 dictatorship of Cromwell was to pre- ideTby"^ 
 pare the way for. Sir Harry Vane pro- w^rry vane 
 posed that a national convention snould 
 be called for drawing up a written constitution.^ 
 
 1 Gardiner, Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Re- 
 volution, p. Ix. 
 
 2 See Hosmer's Toung Sir Henry Vane, pp. 432-444, — 
 
 207
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 The way in which he stated his case showed 
 that he had in him a prophetic foreshadowing 
 of the American idea as it was realized in 1787. 
 But Vane's ideas were too far in advance of his 
 age to be reahzed then in England. Older ideas, 
 to which men were more accustomed, deter- 
 mined the course of events there, and it was left 
 for Americans to create a government by means 
 of a written constitution. And when American 
 statesmen did so, they did it without any refer- 
 ence to Sir Harry Vane. His relation to the 
 subject has been discovered only in later days, 
 but I mention him here in illustration of the 
 way in which great institutions grow. They take 
 shape when they express the opinions and wishes 
 of a multitude of persons ; but it often happens 
 that one or two men of remarkable foresight 
 had thought of them long beforehand. 
 
 In America the first attempts at written con- 
 stitutions were in the fullest sense made by the 
 people, and not through representatives, but 
 directly. In the Mayflower's cabin, before the 
 Pilgrims had landed on Plymouth rock, they 
 The May- Subscribed their names to a compact 
 flower com- Jn which they agreed to constitute 
 themselves into a " body politic," and 
 to enact such laws as might be deemed best 
 
 one of the best books ever written for the reader who wishes 
 
 to understand the state of mind among the English people in 
 
 the crisis when they laid the foundations of the United States. 
 
 208
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 for the colony they were about to estabHsh ; and 
 they promised " all due submission and obedi- 
 ence " to such laws. Such a compact is of course 
 too vague to be called a constitution. Properly 
 speaking, a written constitution is a document 
 which defines the character and powers of the 
 government to which its framers are willing to 
 entrust themselves. Almost any kind of civil 
 government might have been framed under the 
 Mayflower compact, but the document is none 
 the less interesting as an indication of the tem- 
 per of the men who subscribed their names to 
 it. 
 
 The first written constitution known to his- 
 tory was that by which the republic of Connecti- 
 cut was organized in 1639. At first the affairs 
 of the Connecticut settlements had been directed 
 by a commission appointed by the General 
 Court of Massachusetts, but on the 14th of 
 January, 1639, all the freemen of the three 
 river towns — Windsor, Hartford, and Wethers- 
 field — assembled at Hartford, and drew up a 
 written constitution, consisting of eleven articles, 
 in which the frame of government then and 
 there adopted was distinctly described, -phe " Fun- 
 This document, known as the " Fun- damentai 
 
 1 /^ J r r^ • »> Orders" of 
 
 damental Orders of Connecticut, Connecticut 
 created the government under which ^'^39) 
 the people of Connecticut lived for nearly two 
 centuries before they deemed it necessary to 
 209
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 amend it. The charter granted to Connecticut 
 by Charles II. in 1662, was simply a royal 
 recognition of the government actually in opera- 
 tion since the adoption of the Fundamental 
 Orders. 
 
 In those colonies which had charters these 
 documents served, to a certain extent, the pur- 
 poses of a written constitution. They limited 
 the legislative powers of the colonial assemblies, 
 Germinal The qucstion sometimes came up as 
 development ^^ whether somc statute made by the 
 
 of the colonial _ -' 
 
 charter to- asscmbly was not in excess of the 
 modern ^state powers confcrrcd by the charter. This 
 constitution question usually arose in connection 
 with some particular law case, and thus came 
 before the courts for settlement, — first before 
 the courts of the colony ; afterwards it might 
 sometimes be carried on appeal before the Privy 
 Council in England. If the court decided that 
 the statute was in transgression of the charter, 
 the statute was thereby annulled.* The colonial 
 legislature, therefore, was not a supreme body, 
 even within the colony ; its authority was re- 
 stricted by the terms of the charter. Thus the 
 Americans, for more than a century before the 
 Revolution, were familiarized with the idea of 
 a legislature as a representative body acting 
 within certain limits prescribed by a written 
 
 ^ Bryce, American Commonwealth, vol. i. pp. 243, 
 415. 
 
 210
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 document. They had no knowledge or experi- 
 ence of a supreme legislative body, such as the 
 House of Commons has become since the 
 founders of American states left England. At 
 the time of the Revolution, when the several 
 states framed new governments, they simply 
 put a written constitution into the position of 
 supremacy formerly occupied by the charter. 
 Instead of a document expressed in terms of a 
 royal grant, they adopted a document expressed 
 in terms of a popular edict. To this the legis- 
 lature must conform ; and people were already 
 somewhat familiar with the method of testing 
 the constitutionality of a law by getting the 
 matter brought before the courts. The mental 
 habit thus generated was probably more impor- 
 tant than any other single circumstance in en- 
 abling our Federal Union to be formed. With- 
 out it, indeed, it would have been impossible 
 to form a durable union. 
 
 Before pursuing this subject, we may observe 
 that American state constitutions have altered 
 very much in character since the first Abnormal 
 part of the present century. The development 
 
 , • . . - , of the state 
 
 earlier constitutions were confined to constitution, 
 a general outline of the organization ^"croaching 
 
 ° o _ upon the 
 
 of the government. They did not province of 
 undertake to make the laws, but to ^^^^^^^^^^ 
 prescribe the conditions under which laws might 
 be made and executed. Recent state constitu- 
 
 211
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 tions enter more and more boldly upon the 
 general work of legislation. For example, in 
 some states they specify what kinds of property 
 shall be exempt from seizure for debt, they 
 make regulations as to railroad freight-charges, 
 they prescribe sundry details of practice in the 
 courts, or they forbid the sale of intoxicating 
 liquors. Until recently such subjects would 
 have been left to the legislatures ; no one would 
 have thought of putting them into a constitu- 
 tion. The motive in so doing is a wish to put 
 certain laws into such a shape that it will be 
 difficult to repeal them. What a legislature sees 
 fit to enact this year it may see fit to repeal 
 next year. But amending a state constitution is 
 a slow and cumbrous process. An amendment 
 may be originated in the legislature, where it 
 must secure more than a mere majority — per- 
 haps a three fifths or two thirds vote — in order 
 to pass ; in some states it must be adopted by 
 two successive legislatures, perhaps by two thirds 
 of one and three fourths of the next ; in some 
 states not more than one amendment can be 
 brought before the same legislature ; in some it 
 is provided that amendments must not be sub- 
 mitted to the people oftener than once in five 
 years ; and so on. After the amendment has 
 at length made its way through the legislature, 
 it must be ratified by a vote of the people at 
 the next general election. Another way to get 
 
 212
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 a constitution amended is to call a convention 
 for that purpose. In order to call a convention, 
 it is usually necessary to obtain a two thirds vote 
 in the legislature ; but in some states " the 
 legislature is required at stated intervals to sub- 
 mit to the people the question of holding such 
 a convention, as in New Hampshire every seven 
 years; in Iowa, every ten years; in Michigan 
 every sixteen years ; in New York, Ohio, Mary- 
 land, and Virginia, every twenty years." ^ A con- 
 vention is a representative body elected by the 
 people to meet at some specified time and place 
 for some specified purpose, and its existence 
 ends with the accomplishment of that purpose. 
 It is in this occasional character that the con- 
 vention differs from an ordinary legislative 
 assembly. 
 
 With such elaborate checks against hasty 
 action, it is to be presumed that if a law can be 
 once embodied in a state constitution, it will 
 be likely to have some permanence. Moreover, 
 a direct vote by the people gives a weightier 
 sanction to a law than a vote in the legislature. 
 There is also, no doubt, a disposition to dis- 
 trust legislatures and in some measure do their 
 work for them by direct popular enactment. 
 For such reasons some recent state constitutions 
 have come almost to resemble bodies of statutes. 
 
 * See Henry Hitchcock's admirable monograph, American 
 State Constitutions, p. 19. 
 
 213
 
 WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS 
 
 Mr. Woodrow Wilson suggestively compares 
 
 this kind of popular legislation with the Swiss 
 
 practice known as the Referendum ; 
 
 The Swiss r r 1 o • • 
 
 ««Referen- in most ot thc bwiss cantons an im- 
 '^""^ portant act of the legislature does 
 
 not acquire the force of law until it has been 
 referred to the people and voted on by them. 
 "The objections to the referendum^' says Mr. 
 Wilson, " are, of course, that it assumes a dis- 
 criminating judgment and a fulness of informa- 
 tion on the part of the people touching ques- 
 tions of public policy which they do not often 
 possess, and that it lowers the sense of respon- 
 sibility on the part of legislators." ^ Another 
 serious objection to our recent practice is that 
 it tends to confuse the very valuable distinction 
 between a constitution and a body of statutes, 
 to necessitate a frequent revision of constitu- 
 tions, and to increase the cumbrousness of law- 
 making. It would, however, be premature at 
 the present time to pronounce confidently upon 
 a practice of such recent origin. It is clear that 
 its tendency is extremely democratic, and that 
 it implies a high standard of general intelligence 
 and independence among the people. If the 
 evils of the practice are found to outweigh its 
 benefits, it will doubtless fall into disfavour. 
 ^ Wilson, The State, p. 490. 
 
 214
 
 VIII 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 § I. Origin of the Federal Union. 
 
 HAVING now sketched the origin and 
 nature of written constitutions, we are 
 prepared to understand how by means 
 of such a document the government of our 
 Federal Union was called into existence. We 
 have already described so much of the civil 
 government in operation in the United States 
 that this account can be made much more con- 
 cise than if we had started at the top instead of 
 the bottom and begun to portray our national 
 government before saying a word about states 
 and counties and towns. Bit by bit the general 
 theory of American self-government has already 
 been set before the reader. We have now to 
 observe, in conclusion, what a magnificent piece 
 of constructive work has been performed in ac- 
 cordance with that general theory. We have to 
 observe the building up of a vast empire out 
 of strictly self-governing elements. 
 
 There was always one important circum- 
 stance in favour of the union of the thirteen 
 
 . 215
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 American colonies into a federal nation. The 
 
 inhabitants were all substantially one people. 
 
 It is true that in some of the colonies 
 
 English insti- 
 
 tudons in aU there Were a good many persons not 
 the colonies ^^ English ancestry, but the English 
 type absorbed and assimilated everything else. 
 All spoke the English language, all had Eng- 
 lish institutions. Except the development of 
 the written constitution, every bit of civil gov- 
 ernment described in the preceding pages came 
 to America directly from England, and not a bit 
 of it from any other country, unless by being 
 first filtered through England. Our institutions 
 were as English as our speech. It was therefore 
 comparatively easy for people in one colony to 
 understand people in another, not only as to 
 their words but as to their political ideas. 
 Moreover, during the first half of the eighteenth 
 century, the common danger from the aggres- 
 sive French enemy on the north and west went 
 far toward awakening in the thirteen colonies a 
 common interest. And after the French enemy 
 had been removed, the assertion by Parliament 
 of its alleged right to tax the Americans threat- 
 ened all the thirteen legislatures at once, and 
 thus in fact drove the colonies into a kind of 
 federal union. 
 
 Confederations among states have generally 
 owed their origin, in the first instance, to mili- 
 tary necessities. The earliest league in America, 
 
 2l6
 
 ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 among white people at least, was the confeder- 
 acy of New England colonies formed in 1643, 
 chiefly for defence against the Indians. The New 
 It was finally dissolved amid the fedLacv ""' 
 troubles of 1684, when the first gov- (1643-84) 
 ernment of Massachusetts was overthrown. 
 Along the Atlantic coast the northern and the 
 southern colonies were for some time distinct 
 groups, separated by the unsettled portion of 
 the central zone. The settlement of Pennsyl- 
 vania, beginning in 1681, filled this gap and 
 made the colonies continuous from the French 
 frontier of Canada to the Spanish frontier of 
 Florida. The danger from France began to be 
 clearly apprehended after 1689, and in 1698 
 one of the earliest plans of union was proposed 
 by William Penn. In 1754, just as the final 
 struggle with France was about to begin, there 
 came Franklin's famous plan for a permanent 
 federal union ; and this plan was laid before a 
 congress assembled at Albany for re- Albany Con- 
 newing the alliances with the Six g^^(^7S4) 
 Nations.-' Only seven colonies were represented 
 in this congress. Observe the word " con- 
 gress." If it had been a legislative body it 
 would more likely have been called a " parlia- 
 
 ^ Franklin's plan was afterward submitted to the several 
 legislattires of the colonies, and was ever)'where rejected be- 
 cause the need for union was nowhere strongly felt by the 
 people. 
 
 217
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 ment." But of course it was nothing of the 
 sort. It was a diplomatic body, composed of 
 delegates representing state governments, like 
 European congresses, — like the Congress of 
 Berlin, for example, which tried to adjust the 
 Eastern Question in 1878. Eleven 
 
 Stamp Act r i a 11 r^ 
 
 Congress ycars arter the Albany Congress, upon 
 ^'''^^^ the news that Parliament had passed 
 
 the Stamp Act, a congress of nine colonies as- 
 sembled at New York in October, 1765, to 
 take action thereon. 
 
 Nine years elapsed without another congress. 
 Meanwhile the political excitement, with occa- 
 sional lulls, went on increasing, and some sort 
 of cooperation between the colonial govern- 
 ments became habitual. In 1768, after Parlia- 
 ment had passed the Townshend revenue acts, 
 there was no congress, but Massachusetts sent a 
 circular letter to the other colonies, inviting them 
 Committees to coopcratc in mcasurcs of resistance, 
 spondMce ^'^^ ^^ other colonies responded fa- 
 (1772-75) vourably. In 1772, as we have seen, 
 committees of correspondence between the towns 
 of Massachusetts acted as a sort of provisional 
 government for the commonwealth. In 1773 
 Dabney Carr, of Virginia, enlarged upon this 
 idea, and committees of correspondence were 
 forthwith instituted between the several colonies. 
 Thus the habit of acting in concert began to be 
 formed. In 1774, after Parliament had passed 
 218
 
 ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 an act overthrowing the government of Massa- 
 chusetts, along with other offensive measures, a 
 congress assembled in September at Philadel- 
 phia, the city most centrally situated as well as 
 the largest. If the remonstrances adopted at 
 this congress had been heeded by the continental 
 British government, and peace had congress 
 followed, this congress would proba- 
 bly have been as temporary an affair as its pre- 
 decessors ; people would probably have waited 
 until overtaken by some other emergency. But 
 inasmuch as war followed, the congress assem- 
 bled again in May, 1775, and thereafter became 
 practically a permanent institution until it died 
 of old age with the year 1788. 
 
 This congress was called " continental " to 
 distinguish it from the " provincial congresses " 
 held in several of the colonies at about the same 
 time. The thirteen colonies were indeed but a 
 narrow strip on the edge of a vast and in large 
 part unexplored continent, but the word " con- 
 tinental " was convenient for distinguishing be- 
 tween the whole confederacy and its several 
 members. 
 
 The Continental Congress began to exercise a 
 certain amount of directive authority from the 
 time of its first meeting in 1774. Such author- 
 ity as it had arose simply from the fact that it 
 represented an agreement on the part of the 
 several governments to pursue a certain line 
 219
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 of policy. It was a diplomatic and executive, 
 but scarcely yet a legislative body. Neverthe- 
 The several ^^^s it was the Visible symbol of a kind 
 states were of union betwccn the states. There 
 
 never at any . , - 
 
 time sover- ncvcr was a time when any one or 
 eign states ^.j^^ original statcs exercised singly 
 the full powers of sovereignty. Not one of 
 them was ever a small sovereign state like Den- 
 mark or Portugal. As they acted together un- 
 der the common direction of the British gov- 
 ernment in 1759, the year of Quebec, so they 
 acted together under the common direction of 
 that revolutionary body, the Continental Con- 
 gress, in 1775, the year of Bunker Hill. In 
 that year a " continental army " was organized 
 in the name of the " United Colonies." In the 
 following year, when independence was declared, 
 it was done by the concerted action of all the 
 colonies ; and at the same time a committee 
 was appointed by Congress to draw up a written 
 constitution. This constitution, known as the 
 The Articles " Articlcs of Confederation," was sub- 
 ofconfedera- mittcd to Congrcss in the autumn of 
 
 tion , '-' , , 
 
 1777, and was sent to the several 
 states to be ratified. A unanimous ratification 
 was necessary, and it was not until March, 
 178 1, that unanimity was secured and the arti- 
 cles adopted. 
 
 Meanwhile the Revolutionary War had ad- 
 vanced into its last stages, having been carried 
 220
 
 ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 on from the outset under the general direction 
 of the Continental Congress. When reading 
 about this period of our history, the student 
 must be careful not to be misled by the name 
 " congress " into reasoning as if there were any 
 resemblance whatever between that body and 
 the congress which was created by our Federal 
 Constitution. The Continental Congress was 
 not the parent of our Federal Congress ; the 
 former died without offspring, and the latter 
 had a very different origin, as we shall soon 
 see. The former simply bequeathed to the lat- 
 ter a name, that was all. 
 
 The Continental Congress was an assembly 
 of delegates from the thirteen states, which from 
 1774 to 1783 held its sessions at Philadelphia.^ 
 It owned no federal property, not Nature and 
 even the house in which it assembled, condnentd^ 
 and after it had been turned out of Congress 
 doors by a mob of drunken soldiers in June, 
 1783, it flitted about from place to place, sitting 
 now at Trenton, now at Annapolis, and finally 
 at New York.^ Each state sent to it as many 
 delegates as it chose, though after the adoption 
 
 ^ Except for a few days in December, 1776, when it fled 
 to Baltimore; and again from September, 1777, to June, 
 1778, when Philadelphia was in possession of the British ; 
 during that interval Congress held its meetings at York in 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 " See my Critical Period of American History, chaps, iii., 
 vi., vii. 
 
 221
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 of the articles no state could send less than two 
 or more than seven. Each state had one vote, 
 and it took nine votes, or two thirds of the 
 whole, to carry any measure of importance. 
 One of the delegates was chosen president or 
 chairman of the congress, and this position was 
 one of great dignity and considerable influence, 
 but it was not essentially different from the posi- 
 tion of any of the other delegates. There were 
 no distinct executive officers. Important execu- 
 tive matters were at first assigned to committees, 
 such as the Finance Committee and the Board 
 of War, though at the most trying time the 
 finance committee was a committee of one, in 
 the person of Robert Morris, who was com- 
 monly called the Financier. The work of the 
 finance committee was chiefly trying to solve 
 the problem of paying bills without spend- 
 ing money, for there was seldom any money 
 to spend. Congress could not tax the people 
 or recruit the army. When it wanted money or 
 troops, it could only ask the state governments 
 for them ; and generally it got from a fifth to a 
 fourth part of the troops needed, but of money 
 a far smaller proportion. Sometimes it borrowed 
 money from Holland or France, but often its 
 only resource was to issue paper promises to 
 pay, or the so-called Continental paper money. 
 There were no federal courts,^ nor marshals to 
 * Except the '* Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture," 
 222
 
 ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 execute federal decrees. Congress might issue 
 orders, but it had no means of compelling 
 obedience. 
 
 The Continental Congress was therefore not 
 in the full sense a sovereign body. A govern- 
 ment is not really a government until it can 
 impose taxes and thus command the money 
 needful for keeping it in existence, it was not 
 Nevertheless the Congress exercised do^^ed with 
 some of the most indisputable func- sovereignty 
 tions of sovereignty. " It declared the inde- 
 pendence of the United States ; it contracted 
 an offensive and defensive alliance with France ; 
 it raised and organized a Continental army ; it 
 borrowed large sums of money, and pledged 
 what the lenders understood to be the national 
 credit for their repayment ; it issued an in- 
 convertible paper currency, granted letters of 
 marque, and built a navy." ^ Finally it ratified 
 a treaty of peace with Great Britain. So that 
 the Congress was really, in many respects, and 
 in the eyes of the world at large, a sovereign 
 body. Time soon showed that the continued 
 exercise of such powers was not compatible with 
 the absence of the power to tax the people. In 
 truth the situation of the Continental Congress 
 was an illogical situation. In the effort of 
 
 for an admirable account of which see Jameson's Essays in 
 the Constitutional History of the United States, pp. 1—45. 
 * Critical Period, chap. iii. 
 
 112
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 throwing off the sovereignty of Great Britain, 
 the people of these states were constructing a 
 federal union faster than they realized. Their 
 theory of the situation did not keep pace with 
 the facts, and their first attempt to embody 
 their theory, in the Articles of Confederation, 
 was not unnaturally a failure. 
 
 At first the powers of the Congress were 
 vague. They were what are called " implied 
 war powers ; " that is to say, the Congress had 
 a war with Great Britain on its hands, and must 
 be supposed to have power to do whatever was 
 necessary to bring the war to a successful con- 
 clusion. At first, too, when it had only begun 
 to issue paper money, there was a momentary 
 feeling of prosperity. Military success added 
 to its appearance of strength, and the reputa- 
 tion of the Congress reached its highwater mark 
 early in 1778, after the capture of Burgoyne's 
 army and the making of the alliance with 
 France. After that time, with the weary pro- 
 longing of the war, the increase of the public 
 Decline of debt, and the collapse of the paper 
 Snui°Con- currency, its reputation steadily de- 
 gress clined. There was also much work 
 to be done in reorganizing the state govern- 
 ments, and this kept at home in the state legis- 
 latures many of the ablest men who would 
 otherwise have been sent to the Congress. Thus 
 in point of intellectual capacity the latter body 
 224
 
 ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 was distinctly inferior in 1783 to what it had 
 been when first assembled nine years earlier. 
 
 The arrival of peace did not help the Con- 
 gress, but made matters worse. When the ab- 
 solute necessity of presenting a united front to 
 the common enemy was removed, the weakness 
 of the union was shown in many ways that were 
 alarming. The sentiment of union was weak. 
 In spite of the community in language and in- 
 stitutions, which was so favourable to union, 
 the people of the several states had many local 
 prejudices which tended to destroy the union 
 in its infancy. A man was quicker to remember 
 that he was a New Yorker or a Massachusetts 
 man than that he was an American and a citizen 
 of the United States. Neighbouring states levied 
 custom-house duties against one another, or re- 
 fused to admit into their markets each Anarchical 
 other's produce, or had quarrels about tendencies 
 boundaries which went to the verge of war. 
 Things grew worse every year, until by the au- 
 tumn of 1786, when the Congress was quite 
 bankrupt and most of the states nearly so, when 
 threats of secession were heard both in New 
 England and in the South, when there were 
 riots in several states and Massachusetts was 
 engaged in suppressing armed rebellion, when 
 people in Europe were beginning to ask whether 
 we were more likely to be seized upon by France 
 or reconquered piecemeal by Great Britain, it 
 225
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 came to be thought necessary to make some kind 
 of a change. 
 
 Men were most unwillingly brought to this 
 conclusion, because they were used to their state 
 assemblies and not afraid of them, but they 
 were afraid of increasing the powers of any gov- 
 ernment superior to the states, lest they should 
 thus create an unmanageable tyranny. They 
 believed that even anarchy, though a dreadful 
 evil, is not so dreadful as despotism, and for 
 this view there is much to be said. After no 
 end of trouble a convention was at length got 
 together at Philadelphia in May, 1787, and 
 after four months of work with closed doors, 
 rr^u r- J , it was able to offer to the country the 
 
 The Federal _ _ •; _ 
 
 Convention ncw Federal Constitution. Both in its 
 ^'^ ^^ character and in the work which it 
 
 did, this Federal Convention, over which Wash- 
 ington presided, and of which Franklin, Madi- 
 son, and Hamilton were members, was one of 
 the most remarkable deliberative bodies known 
 to history. 
 
 We have seen that the fundamental weakness 
 of the Continental Congress lay in the fact that 
 it could not tax the people. Hence although it 
 could for a time exert other high functions of 
 sovereignty, it could only do so while money 
 was supplied to it from other sources than tax- 
 ation ; from contributions made by the states 
 in answer to its " requisitions," from foreign 
 226
 
 ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 loans, and from a paper currency. But such re- 
 sources could not last long. It was like a man's 
 trying to live upon his own promissory notes 
 and upon gifts and unsecured loans from his 
 friends. When the supply of money was ex- 
 hausted, the Congress soon found that it could 
 no longer comport itself as a sovereign power ; 
 it could not preserve order at home, and the 
 situation abroad may be illustrated by the fact 
 that George III. kept garrisons in several of 
 our northwestern frontier towns and would not 
 send a minister to the United States. This ex- 
 ample shows that, among the sovereign powers 
 of a government, the power of taxation is the 
 fundamental one upon which all the others de- 
 pend. Nothing can go on without money. 
 
 But the people of the several states would 
 never consent to grant the power of taxation 
 to such a body as the Continental Congress, in 
 which they were not represented. The Con- 
 gress was not a legislature, but a diplomatic 
 body ; it did not represent the people, but the 
 state governments ; and a large state like Penn- 
 sylvania had no more weight in it than a little 
 state like Delaware. If there was to be any 
 central assembly for the whole union, endowed 
 with the power of taxation, it must be an as- 
 sembly representing the American people just 
 as the assembly of a single state represented the 
 people of the state. 
 
 227
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 As soon as this point became clear, it was 
 seen to be necessary to throw the Articles of 
 Confederation overboard, and construct a new 
 national government. As was said above, our 
 Federal Congress is not descended from the 
 Continental Congress. Its parentage is to be 
 sought in the state legislatures. Our federal 
 government was constructed after the general 
 model of the state governments, with some 
 points copied from British usages, and some 
 points that were original and new. 
 
 § 1. The Federal Congress. 
 
 The Federal House of Representatives is de- 
 scended, through the state houses of representa- 
 tives, from the colonial assemblies. It is an 
 assembly representing the whole population of 
 the country as if it were all in one 
 
 The House ^ , 
 
 ofRepresen- great State. It IS composed or mem- 
 **"^" bers chosen every other year by the 
 
 people of the states. Persons in any state who 
 are qualified to vote for state representatives 
 are qualified to vote for federal representatives. 
 This arrangement left the power of regulating the 
 suffrage in the hands of the several states, where 
 it still remains, save for the restriction imposed 
 in 1870 for the protection of the southern freed- 
 men. A candidate for election to the House of 
 Representatives must be twenty-five years old, 
 228
 
 THE FEDERAL CONGRESS 
 
 must have been seven years a citizen of the 
 United States, and must be an inhabitant of the 
 state in which he is chosen. 
 
 As the Federal Congress is a taxing body, 
 representatives and direct taxes are apportioned 
 among the several states according to the same 
 rule, that is, according to population. At this 
 point a difficulty arose in the Convention as to 
 whether slaves should be counted as popula- 
 tion. If they were to be counted, the relative 
 weight of the slave states in all matters of 
 national legislation would be much increased. 
 The northern states thought, with reason, that 
 it would be unduly increased. The difficulty 
 was adjusted by a compromise accord- 
 ing to which five slaves were to be fifths com- 
 reckoned as three persons. Since the p''"™^^ 
 abolition of slavery this provision has become 
 obsolete, but until i860 it was a very important 
 factor in American history.-^ 
 
 In the Federal House of Representatives the 
 great states of course have much more weight 
 than the small states. In 1790 the four largest 
 states had thirty-two representatives, while the 
 other nine had only thirty-three. The largest 
 state, Virginia, had ten representatives to one 
 from Delaware. These disparities have in- 
 creased. In 1880, out of thirty-eight states the 
 nine largest had a majority of the house, and 
 ^ See my Critical Period ^ chap. vi. 
 229
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 the largest state. New York, had thirty-four 
 representatives to one from Delaware. 
 
 This feature of the House of Representatives 
 caused the smaller states in the Convention to 
 oppose the whole scheme of constructing a new 
 government. They were determined that great 
 and small states should have equal weight in 
 Congress. Their steadfast opposition threat- 
 ened to ruin everything, when fortunately a 
 method of compromise was discovered. It was 
 intended that the national legislature, in imita- 
 tion of the state legislatures, should have an 
 tipper house or Senate ; and at first the advo- 
 cates of a strong national government proposed 
 „, _ that the Senate also should represent 
 
 The Con- i-rr • r 
 
 necticut population, thus difrermg from the 
 compromise loy^^gj. housc Only in the way in which 
 we have seen that it generally differed in the 
 several states. But it happened that in the state 
 of Connecticut the custom was peculiar. There 
 it had always been the custom to elect the gov- 
 ernor and upper house by a majority vote of 
 the whole people, while for each township there 
 was an equality of representation in the lower 
 house. The Connecticut delegates in the Con- 
 vention, therefore, being familiar with a legisla- 
 ture in which the two houses were composed on 
 different principles, suggested a compromise. 
 Let the House of Representatives, they said, 
 represent the people, and let the Senate repre- 
 230
 
 THE FEDERAL CONGRESS 
 
 sent the states ; let all the states, great and 
 small, be represented equally in the Federal 
 Senate. Such was the famous " Connecticut 
 Compromise." Without it the Convention 
 would probably have broken up without ac- 
 complishing anything. When it was adopted, 
 half the work of making the new government 
 was done, for the small states, having had their 
 fears thus allayed by the assurance that they 
 were to be equally represented in the Senate, no 
 longer opposed the work, but cooperated in it 
 most zealously. 
 
 Thus it came to pass that the upper house 
 of our national legislature is composed of two 
 senators from each state. As they represent the 
 state, they are chosen by its legislature and not 
 by the people ; but when they have 
 taken their seats in the Senate they 
 do not vote by states, like the delegates in the 
 Continental Congress. On the contrary each 
 senator has one vote, and the two senators from 
 the same state may, and often do, vote on op- 
 posite sides. 
 
 In accordance with the notion that an upper 
 house should be somewhat less democratic 
 than a lower house, the term of office for sena- 
 tors was made longer than for representatives. 
 The tendency is to make the Senate respond 
 more slowly to changes in popular sentiment, 
 and this is often an advantage. Popular opinion 
 231
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 is often very wrong at particular moments, but 
 with time it is apt to correct its mistakes. We 
 are usually in more danger of suffering from 
 hasty legislation than from tardy legislation. 
 Senators are chosen for a term of six years, and 
 one third of the number of terms expire every 
 second year, so that, while the whole Senate 
 may be renewed by the lapse of six years, there 
 is never a " new Senate." The Senate has thus 
 a continuous existence and a permanent organi- 
 zation; whereas each House of Representatives 
 expires at the end of its two years' term, and is 
 succeeded by a " new House," which requires 
 to be organized by electing its officers, etc., be- 
 fore proceeding to business. A candidate for 
 the senatorship must have reached the age of 
 thirty, must have been nine years a citizen of 
 the United States, and must be an inhabitant 
 of the state which he represents. 
 
 The constitution leaves the times, places, and 
 manner of holding elections for senators and 
 representatives to be prescribed in each state 
 by its own legislature ; but it gives to Congress 
 the power to alter such regulations, except as to 
 the place of choosing senators. Here we see a 
 vestige of the original theory according to which 
 the Senate was to be peculiarly the home of 
 state rights. 
 
 In the composition of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives the state legislatures play a very im- 
 232
 
 THE FEDERAL CONGRESS 
 
 portant part. For the purposes of the election 
 a state is divided into districts corresponding to 
 the number of representatives the state is en- 
 titled to send to Congress. These electoral dis- 
 tricts are marked out by the legisla- Electoral 
 ture, and the division Is apt to be districts 
 made by the preponderating party with an un- 
 fairness that is at once shameful and ridiculous. 
 The aim, of course, is so to lay out the dis- 
 tricts "as to secure in the greatest possible 
 number of thera a majority for the party which 
 conducts the operation. This is done some- 
 times by throwing the greatest possible number 
 of hostile voters into a district which is anyhow 
 certain to be hostile, sometimes by adding to a 
 district where parties are equally divided some 
 place in which the majority of friendly voters is 
 sufficient to turn the scale. There Is a district 
 in Mississippi (the so-called Shoe String dis- 
 trict) 250 miles long by 30 broad, and another 
 in Pennsylvania resembling a dumb-bell. . . . 
 In Missouri a district has been contrived longer, 
 if measured along its windings, than the state 
 itself, into which as large a number as possible 
 of the negro voters have been thrown." ^ This 
 trick is called "gerrymandering," from Elbrldge 
 Gerry, of Massachusetts, who was «<Gerryman- 
 vice-president of the United States Bering" 
 from iSijtoiSiy. It seems to have been first 
 ^ Bryce, American Commonwealth, vol. i. p. i z i .
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 devised in 1788 by the enemies of the Federal 
 Constitution in Virginia, in order to prevent 
 the election of James Madison to the first Con- 
 gress, and fortunately it was unsuccessful.^ It 
 was introduced some years afterward into Mas- 
 
 sachusetts. In 1 812, while Gerry was governor 
 of that state, the Republican legislature redis- 
 tributed the districts in such wise that the 
 shapes of the towns forming a single district in 
 Essex County gave to the district a somewhat 
 ^ Tyler's Patrick Henry, p. 313.
 
 THE FEDERAL CONGRESS 
 
 dragon-like contour. This was indicated upon 
 a map of Massachusetts which Benjamin Rus- 
 sell, an ardent Federalist and editor of the 
 " Centinel," hung up over the desk in his office. 
 The celebrated painter, Gilbert Stuart, coming 
 into the office one day and observing the un- 
 couth figure, added with his pencil a head, 
 wings, and claws, and exclaimed, " That will do 
 for a salamander ! " " Better say a Gerryman- 
 der ! " growled the editor; and the outlandish 
 name, thus duly coined, soon came into gen- 
 eral currency.^ 
 
 When after an increase in its number of re- 
 presentatives the state has failed to redistribute 
 its districts, the additional member or members 
 are voted for upon a general state ticket, and 
 are called " representatives at large." In Maine, 
 where the census of 1880 had reduced the num- 
 ber of representatives and there was some delay 
 in the redistribution. Congress allowed the state 
 in 1882 to elect all its representatives upon a 
 general ticket. The advantage of the district 
 system is that the candidates are likely The election 
 to be better known by their neigh- ^^•*''g« 
 hours, but the election at large is perhaps more 
 
 ^ Winsor's Memorial History of Boston, vol. iii. p. 212; 
 see also Bryce, loc. cit. The word is sometimes incorrectly 
 pronounced "jerrymander." Mr. Winsor observes that the 
 back line of the creature's body forms a profile caricature of 
 Gerry's face, w^ith the nose at Middleton. 
 235
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 likely to secure able men/ It is the American 
 custom to nominate only residents of the district 
 as candidates for the House of Representatives. 
 A citizen of Albany, for example, would not be 
 nominated for the district in which Buffalo is 
 situated. In the British practice, on the other 
 hand, if an eminent man cannot get a nomina- 
 tion in his own county or borough, there is 
 nothing to prevent his standing for any other 
 county or borough. This system seems more 
 favourable to the independence of the legislator 
 than our system. Some of its advantages are 
 obtained by the election at large. 
 
 Congress must assemble at least once in every 
 year, and the constitution appoints the first 
 Time of Monday in December for the time of 
 assembUng meeting; but Congress can, if worth 
 while, enact a law changing the time. The es- 
 tabHshed custom is to hold the election for re- 
 presentatives upon the same day as the election 
 for president, the Tuesday after the first Mon- 
 day in November. As the period of the new 
 administration does not begin until the fourth 
 day of the following March, the new House of 
 Representatives does not assemble until the 
 December following that date, unless the new 
 president should at some earlier moment sum- 
 mon an extra session of Congress. It thus hap- 
 
 ^ The difference is similar to the difference between the 
 French scrutin d^ arrondissement and scrutin de liste.
 
 THE FEDERAL CONGRESS 
 
 pens that ordinarily the representatives of the 
 nation do not meet for more than a year after 
 their election ; and as their business is at least 
 to give legislative expression to the popular 
 opinion which elected them, the delay is in this 
 instance regarded by many persons as incon- 
 venient and injudicious. 
 
 Each house is judge of the elections, quali- 
 fications, and returns of its own members ; de- 
 termines its own rules of procedure, and may 
 punish its members for disorderly behaviour, or 
 by a two thirds vote expel a member. Absent 
 members may be compelled under penalties to 
 attend. Each house is required to keep a journal 
 of its proceedings and at proper intervals to 
 publish it, except such parts as for reasons of 
 public policy had better be kept secret. At the 
 request of one fifth of the members present, the 
 yeas and nays must be entered on the journal. 
 During the session of Congress neither house 
 may, without consent of the other, adjourn for 
 more than three days, or to any other place than 
 that in which Congress is sitting. 
 
 Senators and representatives receive a salary 
 fixed by law, and as they are federal functionaries 
 they are paid from the federal treasury. In all 
 cases, except treason or felony or breach of the 
 peace, they are privileged from arrest during 
 their attendance in Congress, as also while on 
 their way to it and while returning home ; " and 
 
 m
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 for any speech or debate in either house they 
 shall not be questioned in any other place." 
 Privileges of Thcsc provisions are reminiscences 
 members ^f j-j^g gyjj days whcn the king strove 
 to interfere, by fair means or foul, with free 
 speech in Parliament ; and they are important 
 enough to be incorporated in the supreme law 
 of the land. No person can at the same time 
 hold any civil office under the United States 
 government and be a member of either house 
 of Congress. 
 
 The vice-president is the presiding officer of 
 
 the Senate, with power to vote only in case of 
 
 a tie. The House of Representatives elects its 
 
 , „ , presiding officer, who is called the 
 
 The Speaker ^ ° ' , , • 
 
 Speaker. In the early history of the 
 House of Commons, its presiding officer was 
 naturally enough its spokesman. He could speak 
 for it in addressing the Crown. Henry of 
 Keighley thus addressed the Crown in 1301, and 
 there were other instances during that century, 
 until in 1376 the title of Speaker was definitely 
 given to Sir Thomas Hungerford, and from 
 that date the list is unbroken. The title was 
 given to the presiding officers of the American 
 colonial assemblies, and thence it passed on to 
 the state and federal legislatures. The Speaker 
 presides over the debates, puts the question, and 
 decides points of order. He also appoints the 
 committees of the House of Representatives, 
 238
 
 THE FEDERAL CONGRESS 
 
 and as the initiatory work in our legislation is 
 now so largely done by the committees, this 
 makes him the most powerful officer of the gov- 
 ernment except the President. 
 
 The provisions for impeachment of public 
 officers are copied from the custom in England. 
 Since the fourteenth century the House of 
 Commons has occasionally exercised the power 
 of impeaching the king's ministers and other 
 high public officers, and although the power 
 was not used during the sixteenth century, it 
 was afterward revived and conclusively estab- 
 lished. In 1 70 1 it was enacted that jn^pgach- 
 the royal pardon could not be pleaded "^ent in 
 
 , II- England 
 
 agamst an impeachment, and this act 
 finally secured the responsibility of the king's 
 ministers to Parliament. An impeachment is a 
 kind of accusation or indictment brought against 
 a public officer by the House of Commons. 
 The court in which the case is tried is the House 
 of Lords, and the ordinary rules of judicial pro- 
 cedure are followed. The regular president of 
 the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor, 
 who is the highest judicial officer in the king- 
 dom. A simple majority vote secures convic- 
 tion, and then it is left for the House of 
 Commons to say whether judgment shall be 
 pronounced or not. 
 
 In the United States the House of Repre- 
 sentatives has the sole power of impeachment, 
 239
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 and the Senate has the sole power to try all im- 
 peachments. When the President of the United 
 im each- Statcs is tried, the chief justice must 
 ment in the prcsidc. As a prccaution against the 
 
 United States ^ ^ . , f. 
 
 use or impeachment tor party pur- 
 poses, a two thirds vote is required for con- 
 viction ; and this precaution proved effectual 
 (fortunately, as most persons now admit) in the 
 famous case of President Johnson in 1868. In 
 case of conviction the judgment cannot extend 
 further than " to removal from office, and dis- 
 qualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
 honour, trust, or profit under the United 
 States ; " but the person convicted is liable after- 
 ward to be tried and punished by the ordinary 
 process of law. 
 
 The provisions of the Constitution for legis- 
 lation are admirably simple. All bills for raising 
 revenue must originate in the lower house, but 
 the upper house may propose or concur with 
 amendments, as on other bills. This provision 
 was inherited from Parliament, through the 
 colonial legislatures. After a bill has passed 
 both houses it must be sent to the president 
 for approval. If he approves it, he signs it ; if 
 not, he returns it to the house in which it origi- 
 Veto power natcd, with a written statement of his 
 ofthepresi- objcctions, and this statement must 
 be entered in full upon the journal 
 of the house. The bill is then reconsidered, 
 240
 
 THE FEDERAL CONGRESS 
 
 and if it obtains a two thirds vote, it is sent, 
 together with the objections, to the other house. 
 If it there likewise obtains a two thirds vote, it 
 becomes a law, in spite of the objections. Other- 
 wise it fails. If the president keeps a bill longer 
 than ten days (Sundays excepted) without sign- 
 ing it, it becomes a law without his signature ; 
 unless Congress adjourns before the expiration 
 of the ten days, in which case it fails to become 
 a law, just as if it had been vetoed. This method 
 of vetoing a bill just before the expiration of a 
 Congress, by keeping it in one's pocket, so to 
 speak, was dubbed a " pocket veto," and was 
 first employed by President Jackson in 1829. 
 The president's veto power is a qualified form 
 of that which formerly belonged to the English 
 sovereign, but has now, as already observed, 
 become practically obsolete. As a means of 
 guarding the country against unwise legislation, 
 it has proved to be one of the most valuable 
 features of our Federal Constitution. In bad 
 hands it cannot do much harm ; it can only 
 delay for a short time a needed law. But when 
 properly used it can save the country from laws 
 that if once enacted would sow seeds of disaster 
 very hard to eradicate ; and it has repeatedly 
 done so. A single man will often act intelligently 
 where a group of men act foolishly, and, as 
 already observed, he is apt to have a keener 
 sense of responsibility. 
 
 241
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 § 3. The Federal Executive. 
 
 In signing or vetoing bills passed by Congress 
 the president shares in legislation, and is virtu- 
 ally a third house. In his other capacities he is 
 the chief executive officer of the Federal Union ; 
 and inasmuch as he appoints the other great 
 executive officers, he is really the head of the 
 executive department, not — like the governor 
 of a state — a mere member of it. His title of 
 "President" is probably an inheritance from 
 The title ^^^ prcsidcnts of the Continental Con- 
 of "Presi- gress. In Franklin's plan of union, 
 in 1754, the head of the executive 
 department was called " Governor General," 
 but that title had an unpleasant sound to 
 American ears. Our great-grandfathers liked 
 " president " better, somewhat as the Romans, 
 in the eighth century of their city, preferred 
 ** imperator " to " rex." Then, as it served to 
 distinguish widely between the head of the 
 Union and the heads of the states, it soon fell 
 into disuse in the state governments, and thus 
 " president " has come to be a much grander 
 title than "governor," just as "emperor" has 
 come to be a grander title than " king." ^ 
 
 There was no question which perplexed the 
 Federal Convention more than the question as 
 to the best method of electing the president. 
 
 See above, p. 180. 
 242
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 There was a general distrust of popular election 
 for an office so exalted. At one time the Con- 
 vention decided to have the president elected 
 by Congress, but there was a grave objection to 
 this ; it would be likely to destroy his independ- 
 ence, and make him the tool of Congress. 
 Finally the device of an electoral col- The electoral 
 lege was adopted. Each state is en- '^°^^^^ 
 titled to a number of electors equal to the num- 
 ber of its representatives in Congress, p/us two, 
 the number of its senators. Thus to-day Dela- 
 ware, with one representative, has three electors ; 
 Missouri, with fourteen representatives, has six- 
 teen electors ; New York, with thirty-four repre- 
 sentatives, has thirty-six electors. No federal 
 senator or representative, or any person holding 
 civil office under the United States, can serve as 
 an elector. Each state may appoint or choose its 
 electors in such manner as it sees fit ; at first 
 they were more often than otherwise chosen by 
 the legislatures, now they are always elected 
 by the people. The day of election must be the 
 same in all the states. 
 
 By an act of Congress passed in 1792 it is 
 required to be within thirty-four days preceding 
 the first Wednesday in December. A subsequent 
 act in 1845 appointed the Tuesday following 
 the first Monday in November as election 
 day. 
 
 By the act of 1792 the electors chosen in 
 243
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 each state are required to assemble on the first 
 Wednesday in December at some place in the 
 state which is designated by the legislature. 
 Before this date the governor of the state must 
 cause a certified list of the names of the electors 
 to be made out in triplicate and delivered to the 
 electors. Having met together they vote for 
 president and vice-president, make out a sealed 
 certificate of their vote in triplicate, and attach to 
 each copy a copy of the certified list of their 
 names. One copy must be delivered by a mes- 
 senger to the president of the Senate at the fed- 
 eral capital before the first Wednesday in Jan- 
 uary ; the second is sent to the same officer 
 through the mail ; the third is to be deposited 
 with the federal judge of the district in which 
 the electors meet. If by the first Wednesday in 
 January the certificate has not been received at 
 the federal capital, the secretary of state is to 
 send a messenger to the district judge and obtain 
 the copy deposited with him. The interval of 
 a month was allowed to get the returns in, for 
 those were not the days of railroad and tele- 
 graph. The messengers were allowed twenty- 
 five cents a mile, and were subject to a fine of 
 a thousand dollars for neglect of duty. On the 
 second Wednesday in February, Congress is re- 
 quired to be in session, and the votes received 
 are counted and the result declared.^ 
 
 ^ By the act of February 3, 1887, the second Monday in 
 244
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 At first the electoral votes did not state 
 whether the candidates named in them were 
 candidates for the presidency or for the vice- 
 presidency. Each elector simply wrote down 
 two names, only one of which could be the 
 name of a citizen of his own state. In the 
 official count the candidate who had the largest 
 number of votes, provided they were a majority 
 of the whole number, was declared president, 
 and the candidate who had the next to the 
 largest number was declared vice-president. 
 The natural result of this was seen in the first 
 contested election in 1796, which made Adams 
 president, and his antagonist vice-president. In 
 the next election in 1800 it gave to Jefferson 
 and his colleague Burr exactly the same number 
 of votes. In such a case the House of Repre- 
 sentatives must elect, and such intrigues followed 
 for the purpose of defeating Jefferson that the 
 country was brought to the verge of civil war. 
 It thus became necessary to change the method. 
 By the twelfth amendment to the Con- ^j^^ ^^^j^ 
 stitution, declared in force in 1804, amendment 
 the present method was adopted. °'^ 
 The electors make separate ballots for president 
 
 January is fixed for the meeting of the electoral colleges in all 
 the states. The provisions relating to the first Wednesday in 
 January are repealed. The interval between the second Mon- 
 day in January and the second Wednesday in February re- 
 mains available for the settlement of disputed questions. 
 
 245
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 and for vice-president. In the official count the 
 votes for president are first inspected. If no 
 candidate has a majority, then the House of 
 Representatives must immediately choose the 
 president from the three names highest on the 
 list. In this choice the house votes by states, 
 each state having one vote ; a quorum for this 
 purpose must consist of at least one member 
 from two thirds of the states, and a majority 
 of all the states is necessary for a choice. Then 
 if no candidate for the vice-presidency has a 
 majority, the Senate makes its choice from the 
 two names highest on the list ; a quorum for 
 the purpose consists of two thirds of the whole 
 number of senators, and a majority of the whole 
 number is necessary to a choice. Since this 
 amendment was made there has been one in- 
 stance of an election of the president by the 
 House of Representatives, — that of John 
 Quincy Adams in 1825 ; and there has been 
 one instance of an election of the vice-president 
 by the Senate, — that of Richard Mentor John- 
 son in 1837. 
 
 One serious difficulty was not yet foreseen 
 and provided for, — that of deciding between 
 two conflicting returns sent in by two hostile 
 sets of electors in the same state, each list being 
 certified by one of two rival governors claiming 
 authority in the same state. Such a case oc- 
 curred in 1877, when Florida, Louisiana, and 
 246
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 South Carolina were the scene of struggles be- 
 tween rival governments. Ballots for Tilden 
 and ballots for Hayes were sent in at the same 
 time from these states, and in the absence ot 
 any recognized means of determining ^^ , 
 
 •'. O O The electoral 
 
 which ballots to count, the two parties commission 
 in Congress submitted the result to ^' ''''^ 
 arbitration. An " electoral commission " was 
 created for the occasion, composed of five sen- 
 ators, five representatives, and five judges of 
 the supreme court ; and this body decided what 
 votes were to be counted. It was a clumsy ex- 
 pedient, but infinitely preferable to civil war. 
 The question of conflicting returns has at length 
 been set at rest by the act of 1887, which pro- 
 vides that no electoral votes can be rejected in 
 counting except by the concurrent action of the 
 two houses of Congress. 
 
 The devolution of the presidential office in 
 case of the president's death has also been made 
 the subject of legislative change and amendment. 
 The office of vice-president was created chiefly 
 for the purpose of meeting such an emergency. 
 Upon the accession of the vice-president to the 
 presidency, the Senate would proceed to elect 
 its own president pro tempore. An act of 1791 
 provided that in case of the death, resignation, 
 or disability of both president and Presidential 
 vice-president, the succession should succession 
 devolve first upon the president pro tempore of 
 247
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 the Senate and then upon the speaker of the 
 House of Representatives, until the disability 
 should be removed or a new election be held. 
 But supposing a newly elected president to die 
 and be succeeded by the vice-president before 
 the assembling of the newly elected Congress ; 
 then there would be no president pro tempore 
 of the Senate and no speaker of the House of 
 Representatives, and thus the death of one per- 
 son might cause the presidency to lapse. More- 
 over the presiding officers of the two houses of 
 Congress might be members of the party de- 
 feated in the last presidential election ; indeed, 
 this is often the case. Sound policy and fair 
 dealing require that a victorious party shall not 
 be turned out because of the death of the presi- 
 dent and vice-president. Accordingly an act of 
 1886 provided that in such an event the suc- 
 cession should devolve upon the members of 
 the cabinet in the following order : secretary of 
 state, secretary of the treasury, secretary of war, 
 attorney-general, postmaster-general, secretary 
 of the navy, secretary of the interior. This 
 would seem to be ample provision against a 
 lapse. 
 
 To return to the electoral college ; it was de- 
 vised as a safeguard against popular excitement. 
 It was supposed that the electors in their De- 
 cember meeting would calmly discuss the 
 merits of the ablest men in the country and 
 248
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 make an intelligent selection for the presidency. 
 The electors were to use their own judgment, 
 and it was not necessary that all the electors 
 chosen in one state should vote for original pur- 
 the same candidate. The people on pose of the 
 election day were not supposed to be kge not Pi- 
 voting for a president but for presi- ^^^^ 
 dential electors. This theory was never realized. 
 The two elections of Washington, in 1788 and 
 1792, were unanimous. In the second con- 
 tested election, that of 1 800, the electors simply 
 registered the result of the popular vote, and it 
 has been so ever since. Immediately after the 
 popular election, a whole month before the 
 meeting of the electoral college, we know who 
 is to be the next president. There is no law to 
 prevent an elector from voting for a different 
 pair of candidates from those at the head of the 
 party ticket, but the custom has become as 
 binding as a statute. The elector is chosen to 
 vote for specified candidates, and he must do so. 
 On the other hand, it was not until long 
 after 1800 that all the electoral votes of the 
 same state were necessarily given to ^^^^^^^^ 
 the same pair of candidates. It was formerly 
 
 1 chosen in 
 
 customary m many states to choose many states 
 the electors by districts. A state en- ^y districts ; 
 
 •' 111 "°^ usually 
 
 titled to ten electors would choose on a general 
 eight of them in its eight congressional 
 districts, and there were various ways of choos- 
 249
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 Ing the other two. In some of the districts one 
 party would have a majority, in others the 
 other, and so the electoral vote of the state 
 would be divided between two pairs of candi- 
 dates. After 1830 it became customary to 
 choose the electors upon a general ticket, and 
 thus the electoral vote became solid in each 
 state.^ 
 
 This system, of course, increases the chances 
 of electing presidents who have received a minor- 
 Minority ity of the popular vote. A candidate 
 presidents j^^y- carry One state by an immense 
 majority and thus gain six or eight electoral votes ; 
 he may come within a few hundred of carrying 
 another state and thus lose thirty-six electoral 
 votes. Or a small third party may divert some 
 thousands of votes from the principal candi- 
 date without affecting the electoral vote of the 
 state. Since Washington's second term we have 
 had twenty-five contested elections,^ and in 
 nine of these the elected president has failed to 
 receive a majority of the popular vote ; Adams 
 in 1824 (elected by the House of Representa- 
 
 ^ In i860 the vote of New Jersey was divided between 
 Lincoln and Douglas, but that was because the names of three 
 of the seven Douglas electors were upon two different tickets, 
 and thus got a majority of votes while the other four fell 
 short. In 1892 the state of Michigan chose its electors by 
 districts. 
 
 ^ All have been contested, except Monroe's reelection in 
 1820, when there was no opposing candidate. 
 250
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 tives), Polk in 1844, Taylor in 1848, Buchanan 
 in 1856, Lincoln in i860, Hayes in 1876, 
 Garfield in 1880, Cleveland in 1884, Harrison 
 in 1888. This has suggested more or less vague 
 speculation as to the advisableness of changing 
 the method of electing the president. It has 
 been suggested that it would be well to abolish 
 the electoral college, and resort to a direct pop- 
 ular vote, without reference to state lines. Such 
 a method would be open to one serious objec- 
 tion. In a closely contested election on the 
 present method the result may remain doubt- 
 ful for three or four days, while a 
 
 f. . Advantages 
 
 narrow majority or a tew hundred oftheeiecto- 
 votes in some great state is being as- "' ^^^^^"^ 
 certained by careful counting. It was so in 
 1884. This period of doubt is sure to be a 
 period of intense and dangerous excitement. In 
 an election without reference to states, the re- 
 sult would more often be doubtful, and it would 
 be sometimes necessary to count every vote in 
 every little out-of-the-way corner of the coun- 
 try before the question could be settled. The 
 occasions for dispute would be multiplied a 
 hundred-fold, with most demoralizing effect. 
 Our present method is doubtless clumsy, but 
 the solidity of the electoral colleges is a safe- 
 guard, and as all parties understand the system 
 it is in the long run as fair for one as for an- 
 other. 
 
 251
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 The Constitution says nothing about the 
 method of nominating candidates for the presi- 
 dency, neither has it been made the subject of 
 legislation. It has been determined by conven- 
 ience. It was not necessary to nominate Wash- 
 ington, and the candidacies of Adams and 
 Jefferson were also matters of general under- 
 standing. In 1 800 the Republican and Federalist 
 members of Congress respectively held secret 
 Nomination meetings or caucuses, chiefly for the 
 of candidates purposc of agreeing upon candidates 
 sionai caucus for the vice-presidency and making 
 (1800-24) some plans for the canvass. It be- 
 came customary to nominate candidates in such 
 congressional caucuses, but there was much hos- 
 tile comment upon the system as undemocratic. 
 Sometimes the " favourite son " of a state was 
 nominated by the legislature, but as the means 
 of travel improved, the nominating convention 
 came to be preferred. In 1824 there were four 
 candidates for the presidency, — Adams, Jack- 
 son, Clay, and Crawford. Adams was nomi- 
 nated by the legislatures of most of the New 
 England states ; Clay by the legislature of 
 Kentucky, followed by the legislatures of Mis- 
 souri, Ohio, Illinois, and Louisiana ; Crawford 
 by the legislature of Virginia ; and Jackson by 
 a mass convention of the people of Blount 
 County in Tennessee, followed by local con- 
 ventions in many other states. The congres- 
 252
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 slonal caucus met and nominated Crawford, but 
 this indorsement did not help him,^ and this 
 method was no longer tried. In 1832 for the 
 first time the candidates were all nominated in 
 national conventions. 
 
 These conventions, as fully developed, are 
 representative bodies chosen for the specific 
 purpose of nominating candidates and Nominating 
 making those declarations of principle conventions 
 and policy known as " platforms." Each state 
 is allowed twice as many delegates as it has 
 electoral votes. " The delegates are chosen by 
 local conventions in their several states, viz., 
 two for each congressional district by the party 
 convention of that district, and four for the 
 whole state (called delegates-at-large) by the 
 state convention. As each convention is com- 
 posed of delegates from primaries, it is the com- 
 position of the primaries which determines that 
 of the local conventions, and it is the composi- 
 tion of the local conventions which determines 
 that of the national." ^ The " primary " is the 
 smallest nominating convention. It stands in 
 somewhat the same relation to the national con- 
 vention as the relation of a township The " pri- 
 or ward to the whole United States. "'^''^ " 
 A primary is a little caucus of all the voters of 
 
 ^ Stanwood, History of Presidential Electmis, pp. 80-83. 
 ^ Bryce, American Commonwealth, vol. ii. p. 145 ; see 
 also p. 52.
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 one party who live within the bounds of the 
 township or ward. It differs in composition 
 from the town-meeting in that all its members 
 belong to one party. It has two duties : one is 
 to nominate candidates for the local offices of 
 the township or ward ; the other is to choose 
 delegates to the county or district convention. 
 The primary, as its name indicates, is a primary 
 and not a representative assembly. The party 
 voters in a township or ward are usually not too 
 numerous to meet together, and all ought to 
 attend such meetings, though in practice too 
 many people stay away. By the representative 
 system, through various grades of convention, 
 the wishes and character of these countless little 
 primaries are at length expressed in the wishes 
 and character of the national party convention, 
 and candidates for the presidency and vice-pre- 
 sidency are nominated. 
 
 The qualifications for the two offices are of 
 course the same. Foreign-born citizens are not 
 eligible, though this restriction did not 
 tions for the mcludc such as werc Citizens of the 
 presidency u^jted States at the time when the 
 Constitution was adopted. The candidate must 
 have reached the age of thirty-five, and must 
 have been fourteen years a resident of the 
 United States. 
 
 The president's term of office is four years. 
 The Constitution says nothing about his re- 
 254
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 election, and there is no written law to prevent 
 his being reelected a dozen times. But Wash- 
 ington after serving two terms refused The term of 
 to accept the office a third time. Jef- °*" 
 ferson in 1 808 was " earnestly besought by 
 many and influential bodies of citizens to be- 
 come a candidate for a third term ; " ^ and had 
 he consented there is scarcely a doubt that he 
 would have been elected. His refusal estab- 
 lished a custom which has never been infringed, 
 though there were persons in 1876 and again in 
 1880 who wished to secure a third term for 
 Grant. 
 
 The president is commander-in-chief of the 
 military and naval forces of the United States, 
 and of the militia of the several states „ 
 
 rowers and 
 
 when actually engaged in the service duties of the 
 of the United States ; and he has the ^'^"' ^""^ 
 royal prerogative of granting reprieves and par- 
 dons for offences against the United States, 
 except in cases of impeachment.^ 
 
 He can make treaties with foreign powers, but 
 they must be confirmed by a two thirds vote of 
 the Senate. He appoints ministers to foreign 
 countries, consuls, and the greater federal of- 
 ficers, such as the heads of executive depart- 
 ments and judges of the Supreme Court, and 
 all these appointments are subject to confirma- 
 tion by the Senate. He also appoints a vast 
 
 ^ Morse's Jefferson, p. 318. * See above, p. 239.
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 number of inferior officers, such as postmasters 
 and revenue collectors, without the participation 
 of the Senate. When vacancies occur during the 
 recess of the Senate, he may fill them by grant- 
 ing commissions to expire at the end of the next 
 session. He commissions all federal officers. 
 He receives foreign ministers. He may summon 
 either or both houses of Congress to an extra 
 session, and if the two houses disagree with re- 
 gard to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn 
 them to such time as he thinks best, but of 
 course not beyond the day fixed for the begin- 
 ning of the next regular session. 
 
 The president must from time to time make 
 a report to Congress on the state of affairs in 
 the country and suggest such a line of policy 
 or such special measures as may seem good to 
 ^^ him. This report has taken the form 
 
 The presi- '^ , 
 
 dent's mes- of an annual written message. Wash- 
 ^^^^ ington and Adams began their admin- 
 
 istrations by addressing Congress in a speech, 
 to which Congress replied ; but it suited the 
 opposite party to discover in this an imitation 
 of the British practice of opening Parliament 
 with a speech from the sovereign. It was ac- 
 cordingly stigmatized as " monarchical," and 
 Jefferson (though without formally alleging any 
 such reason) set the example, which has been 
 followed ever since, of addressing Congress in 
 
 256
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 a written mes^age.^ Besides this annual mes- 
 sage, the president may at any time send in a 
 special message relating to matters which in his 
 opinion require immediate attention. 
 
 The effectiveness of a president's message 
 depends of course on the character of the presi- 
 dent and the general features of the political 
 situation. That separation between the execu- 
 tive and legislative departments, which is one 
 of the most distinctive features of civil govern- 
 ment in the United States, tends to prevent the 
 development of leadership. An English prime 
 minister's policy, so long as he remains in 
 office, must be that of the House of Com- 
 mons ; power and responsibility are concen- 
 trated. An able president may virtually direct 
 the policy of his party in Congress, but he often 
 has a majority against him in one house and 
 sometimes in both at once. Thus in dividing 
 power we divide and weaken responsibility. To 
 this point I have already alluded as illustrated 
 in our state governments.^ 
 
 The Constitution made no specific provi- 
 sions for the creation of executive departments, 
 but left the matter to Congress. At the be- 
 
 ^ JeiFerson, moreover, was a powerful writer and a poor 
 speaker. 
 
 ^ The English method, however, would probably not work 
 well in this country, and might prove to be a source of great 
 and complicated dangers. See above, p. 187. 
 257
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 ginning of Washington's administration three 
 secretaryships were created, — those of state, 
 Executive treasury, and war ; and an attorney 
 departments general was appointed. Afterward the 
 department of the navy was separated from that 
 of war, the postmaster-general was made a mem- 
 ber of the administration, and as lately as 1 849 
 the department of the interior was organized. 
 The heads of these departments are the presi- 
 dent's advisers, but they have as a body no 
 recognized legal existence or authority. They 
 hold their meetings in a room at the presi- 
 dent's executive mansion, the White House, 
 but no record is kept of their proceedings, 
 and the president is not bound to heed their 
 advice. This body has always been called 
 the " Cabinet," after the English usage. It 
 is like the English cabinet in being 
 
 The cabinet , r i i r • j 
 
 composed or heads or executive de- 
 partments and in being, as a body, unknown 
 to the law ; in other respects the difference is 
 very great. The English cabinet is the execu- 
 tive committee of the House of Commons, 
 and exercises a guiding and directing influence 
 upon legislation. The position of the president 
 is not at all like that of the prime minis- 
 ter ; it is more like that of the English sover- 
 eign, though the latter has not nearly so much 
 power as the president ; and the American cab- 
 inet in some respects resembles the English 
 258
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 privy council, though it cannot make ordi- 
 nances. 
 
 The secretary of state ranks first among our 
 cabinet officers. He is often called our prime 
 minister or " premier," but there could not 
 be a more absurd use of language. In order to 
 make an American personage corresponding 
 to the English prime minister we must first go 
 to the House of Representatives, take its com- 
 mittee of ways and means and its com- 
 
 . . . The secre- 
 
 mittee on appropriations, and unite tary of 
 them into one committee of finance ; ^^^^ 
 then we must take the chairman of this com- 
 mittee, give him the power of dissolving the 
 House and ordering a new election, and make 
 him master of all the executive departments, 
 while at the same time we strip from the presi- 
 dent all real control over the administration. 
 This exalted finance-chairman would be much 
 like the First Lord of the Treasury, commonly 
 called the prime minister. This illustration 
 shows how wide the divergence has become be- 
 tween our system and that of Great Britain. 
 
 Our secretary of state is our minister of for- 
 eign affairs, and is the only officer who is au- 
 thorized to communicate with other govern- 
 ments in the name of the president. He is at 
 the head of the-diplomatic and consular service, 
 issuing the instructions to our ministers abroad, 
 and he takes a leading part in the negotiation 
 259
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 of treaties. To these ministerial duties he adds 
 some that are more characteristic of his title of 
 secretary. He keeps the national archives, and 
 superintends the publication of laws, treaties, 
 and proclamations ; and he is the keeper of the 
 great seal of the United States. 
 
 Our foreign relations are cared for in foreign 
 countries by two distinct classes of officials : 
 ministers and consuls. The former represent 
 the United States government in a diplomatic 
 capacity ; the latter have nothing to do with 
 _. , diplomacy or politics, but look after 
 
 Diplomatic ^ ^ ... , - . 
 
 and consular our Commercial interests in foreign 
 
 service • ^~^ 1 ' 
 
 countries. Consuls exercise a protect- 
 ive care over seamen, and perform various 
 duties for Americans abroad. They can take 
 testimony and administer estates. In some non- 
 Christian countries, such as China, Japan, and 
 Turkey, they have jurisdiction over criminal 
 cases in which Americans are concerned. For- 
 merly our ministers abroad were of only three 
 grades: (i) "envoys extraordinary and min- 
 isters plenipotentiary ; " (2) " ministers resi- 
 dent; " (3) charges d'affaires. The first two are 
 accredited by the president to the head of gov- 
 ernment of the countries to which they are sent; 
 the third are accredited by the secretary of state 
 to the minister of foreign affairs-in the countries 
 to which they are sent. We still retain these 
 grades, which correspond to the lower grades 
 260
 
 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 
 
 of the diplomatic service in European countries. 
 Until lately we had no highest grade answering 
 to that of " ambassador," perhaps because when 
 our diplomatic service was organized the United 
 States did not yet rank among first-rate powers, 
 and could not expect to receive ambassadors. 
 Great powers, like France and Germany, send 
 ambassadors to each other, and envoys to infe- 
 rior powers, like Denmark or Greece or Gua- 
 temala. When we send envoys to the great 
 powers, we rank ourselves along with inferior 
 powers ; and diplomatic etiquette as a rule 
 obliges the great powers to send to us the same 
 grade of minister that we send to them. There 
 were found to be some practical inconveniences 
 about this, so that in 1892 the highest grade 
 was adopted and our ministers to Great Britain 
 and France were made ambassadors. 
 
 The cabinet officer second in rank and in 
 some respects first in importance is the secretary 
 of the treasury. He conducts the Thesecre- 
 financial business of the government, taryofthe 
 superintends the collection of revenue, 
 and gives warrants for the payment of moneys 
 from the treasury. He also superintends the 
 coinage, the national banks, the custom-houses, 
 the coast-survey and lighthouse system, the 
 marine hospitals, and life-saving service.^ He 
 
 ^ Many of these details concerning the executive depart- 
 nnents are admirably summarized, and with more fulness than 
 261
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 sends reports to Congress, and suggests such 
 measures as seem good to him. Since the Civil 
 War his most weighty business has been the 
 management of the national debt. He is aided 
 by two assistant secretaries, six auditors, a regis- 
 ter, a comptroller, a solicitor, a director of the 
 mint, commissioner of internal revenue, chiefs 
 of the bureau of statistics and bureau of engrav- 
 ing and printing, etc. The business of the 
 treasury department is enormous, and no part 
 of our government has been more faithfully ad- 
 ministered. Since 1789 the treasury has dis- 
 bursed more than seven billions of dollars with- 
 out one serious defalcation. No man directly 
 interested in trade or commerce can be appointed 
 secretary of the treasury, and the department 
 has almost always been managed by " men of 
 small incomes bred either to politics or the 
 legal profession." ^ 
 
 The war and navy departments need no spe- 
 cial description here. The former is divided into 
 War and ten and the latter into eight bureaus. 
 navy 'j'j^g naval department, among many 
 
 duties, has charge of the naval observatory at 
 Washington and publishes the nautical almanac. 
 
 The department of the interior conducts a 
 vast and various business, as is shown by the 
 
 comports with the design of the present work, in Thorpe's 
 Government of the People of the United States, pp. 183-193. 
 ^ Schouler, Hist, of the U. S., vol. i. p. 95. 
 262
 
 THE NATION AND THE STATES 
 
 designations of its eight bureaus, which deal with 
 public lands, Indian affairs, pensions, patents, 
 education (chiefly in the way of gather- ^ . 
 
 . . J . ^ ° , Interior 
 
 ing statistics and reporting upon school 
 affairs), agriculture, public documents, and the 
 census. In 1889 the bureau of agriculture was 
 organized as a separate department. The wea- 
 ther bureau forms a branch of the department 
 of agriculture. 
 
 The departments of the postmaster-general 
 and attorney-general need no special description. 
 The latter was organized in 1870 into Postmaster- 
 the department of justice. The attor- ^l^^tz^"^^ 
 ney-general is the president's legal general 
 adviser, and represents the United States in all 
 law-suits to which the United States is a party. 
 He is aided by a solicitor-general and other 
 subordinate officers. 
 
 § 4. The Nation and the States. 
 We have left our Federal Convention sitting 
 a good while at Philadelphia, while we have 
 thus undertaken to give a coherent account of 
 our national executive organization, which has 
 in great part grown up since 1789 with the 
 growth of the nation. Observe how wisely the 
 Constitution confines itself to a clear sketch of 
 fundamentals, and leaves as much as possible to 
 be developed by circumstances. In this feature 
 lies partly the flexible strength, the adaptable- 
 16^
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 ness, of our Federal Constitution. That strength 
 lies partly also in the excellent partition of 
 powers between the federal government and the 
 several states. 
 
 We have already remarked upon the vastness 
 of the functions retained by the states. At the 
 same time the powers granted to Congress have 
 proved sufficient to bind the states together into 
 Difference ^ union that is morc than a mere con- 
 betweencon- federation. From 1776 to 1789 the 
 
 federation r t • j n r a • 
 
 and federal United btatcs weve a confederation; 
 "^°" after \^%()it was a federal nation. The 
 
 passage from plural to singular was accom- 
 plished, although it took some people a good 
 while to realize the fact. The German language 
 has a neat way of distinguishing between a loose 
 confederation and a federal union. It calls the 
 former a Staatenbund and the latter a Bundes- 
 staat. So in English, if we liked, we might call 
 the confederation a Band-of-States and the federal 
 union a Banded-State. There are two points 
 especially in our Constitution which transformed 
 our country from a Band-of-States into a Band- 
 ed-State. 
 
 The first was the creation of a Federal House 
 of Representatives, thus securing for Congress 
 the power " to lay and collect taxes, 
 granted to dutlcs, imposts, and excises, to pay 
 v^ongress ^^ dcbts and provide for the common 
 welfare of the United States." Other powers are 
 264
 
 THE NATION AND THE STATES 
 
 naturally attached to this, — such as the power 
 to borrow money on the credit of the United 
 States ; to regulate foreign and domestic com- 
 merce ; to coin money and fix the standard of 
 weights and measures ; to provide for the pun- 
 ishment of counterfeiters ; to establish post- 
 offices and post-roads ; to issue copyrights and 
 patents ; to " define and punish felonies com- 
 mitted on the high seas, and offences against the 
 law of nations ; to declare war, grant letters of 
 marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning 
 captures on land and water ; " to raise and sup- 
 port an army and navy, and to make rules for 
 the regulation of the land and naval forces ; to 
 provide for calling out the militia to suppress 
 insurrections and repel invasions, and to govern 
 this militia while actually employed in the ser- 
 vice of the United States. The several states, 
 however, train their own militia and appoint the 
 officers. Congress may also establish a uniform 
 rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the 
 subject of bankruptcies. It also exercises exclu- 
 sive control over the District of Columbia,^ as 
 the seat of the national government, and over 
 forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other 
 needful buildings, which it erects within the 
 several states upon land purchased for such pur- 
 poses with the consent of the state legislature. 
 Congress is also empowered " to make all 
 * Ceded to the United States by Maryland and Virginia. 
 26^
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 laws which shall be necessary and proper for 
 carrying into execution the foregoing powers 
 and all other powers vested by this Constitu- 
 The" Elastic tion in the government of the United 
 Clause" States, or in any department or office 
 thereof." This may be called the Elastic Clause 
 of the Constitution ; it has undergone a good 
 deal of stretching for one purpose and another, 
 and, as we shall presently see, it was a profound 
 disagreement in the interpretation of this clause 
 that after 1789 divided the American people 
 into two great political parties. 
 
 The national authority of Congress is further 
 
 sharply defined by the express denial of sundry 
 
 powers to the several states. These 
 
 rowers de- i 
 
 nied to the wc havc already enumerated.^ There 
 was an especial reason for prohibiting 
 the states from issuing bills of credit, or making 
 anything but gold and silver coin a tender in 
 payment of debts. During the years 1785 and 
 1786 a paper money craze ran through the 
 country ; most of the states issued paper notes, 
 and passed laws obliging their citizens to re- 
 ceive them in payment of debts. Now a paper 
 dollar is not money; it is only the government's 
 Paper cur- promisc to pay a dollar. As long as 
 rency y^^ ^^^ send it to the treasury and 
 
 get a gold dollar in exchange, it is worth a dol- 
 lar. It is this exchangeableness that makes it 
 ^ See above, p. 195. 
 266
 
 THE NATION AND THE STATES 
 
 worth a dollar. When government makes the 
 paper dollar note a " legal tender," /'. e. when 
 it refuses to give you the gold dollar and makes 
 you take its note instead, the note soon ceases 
 to be worth a dollar. You would rather have 
 the gold than the note, for the mere fact that 
 government refuses to give the gold shows that 
 it is in financial difficulties. So the note's value 
 is sure to fall, and if the government is in seri- 
 ous difficulty, it falls very far, and as it falls it 
 takes more of it to buy things. Prices go up. 
 There was a time (1864) during our Civil War 
 when a paper dollar was worth only forty cents 
 and a barrel of flour cost $23. But that was 
 nothing to the year 1780, when the paper dol- 
 lar issued by the Continental Congress was 
 worth only a mill, and flour was sold in Boston 
 for $1,575 a barrel ! When the diff^erent states 
 tried to make paper money, it made confusion 
 worse confounded, for the states refused to take 
 each other's money, and this helped to lower 
 its value. In some states the value of the paper 
 dollar fell in less than a year to twelve or fifteen 
 cents. At such times there is always great de- 
 moralization and suffering, especially among the 
 poorer people ; and with all the experience of 
 the past to teach us, it may now be held to be 
 little less than a criminal act for a government, 
 under any circumstances, to make its paper 
 notes a legal tender. The excuse for the Con- 
 267
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 tinental Congress was that it was not completely 
 a government and seemed to have no alterna- 
 tive, but there is no doubt that the paper cur- 
 rency damaged the country much more than 
 the arms of the enemy by land or sea. The 
 feeling was so strong about it in the Federal 
 Convention that the prohibition came near be- 
 ing extended to the national government, but 
 the question was unfortunately left undecided.^ 
 Some express prohibitions were laid upon the 
 national government. Duties may be laid upon 
 imports but not upon exports ; this wise re- 
 striction was a special concession to South Car- 
 „ , olina, which feared the effect of an 
 
 rowers de- •' 
 
 niedtoCon- cxport duty upon rice and indigo. 
 gress Duties and excises must be uniform 
 
 throughout the country, and no commercial 
 preference can be shown to one state over an- 
 other ; absolute free trade is the rule between 
 the states. A census must be taken every ten 
 years in order to adjust the representation, and 
 no direct tax can be imposed except according 
 to the census. No money can be drawn from 
 the treasury except " in consequence of appro- 
 priations made by law," and accounts must be 
 regularly kept and published. The privilege of 
 the writ of habeas corpus cannot be suspended 
 except " when, in case of rebellion or invasion, 
 
 ^ See my Critical Period of American History, chaps, 
 iv., vi. 
 
 268
 
 THE NATION AND THE STATES 
 
 the public safety may require it ; " and " no bill 
 of attainder, or ex post facto law," can be passed. 
 A bill of attainder is a special legis- bius of 
 lative act by which a person may be attainder 
 condemned to death, or to outlawry and ban- 
 ishment, without the opportunity of defending 
 himself which he would have in a court of law. 
 " No evidence is necessarily adduced to support 
 it," ^ and in former times, especially in the reign 
 of Henry VIII., it was a formidable engine for 
 perpetrating judicial murders. Bills of attainder 
 long ago ceased to be employed in England, 
 and the process was abolished by statute in 
 1870. 
 
 No title of nobility can be granted by the 
 United States, and no federal officer can accept 
 a present, office, or title from a foreign state 
 without the consent of Congress. " No religious 
 test shall ever be required as a qualification to 
 any office or public trust under the United 
 States." Full faith and credit must be given in 
 each state to the public acts and records, and 
 to the judicial proceedings of every other state ; 
 and it is left for Congress to determine the man- 
 ner in which such acts and proceed- interdtizen- 
 ings shall be proved or certified. The ^^'p 
 citizens of each state are " entitled to all privi- 
 leges and immunities of citizens in the several 
 
 * Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History, p. 
 385. 
 
 269
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 states." There is mutual extradition of crimi- 
 nals, and as a concession to the Southern states 
 it was provided that fugitive slaves should be 
 surrendered to their masters. The United States 
 guarantees to every state a republican form of 
 government; it protects each state against inva- 
 sion ; and on application from the legislature 
 of a state, or from the executive when the legis- 
 lature cannot be convened, it lends a hand in 
 suppressing insurrection. 
 
 Amendments to the Constitution may at any 
 time be proposed in pursuance of a two thirds 
 vote in both houses of Congress, or by a con- 
 vention called at the request of the legislatures 
 of two thirds of the states. The amendments 
 ,, , r are not in force until ratified by three 
 
 Mode or •111 
 
 making fourths of the States, either through 
 
 amen ents ^j^^jj. legislatures or through special 
 conventions, according to the preference of Con- 
 gress. This makes it difficult to change the 
 Constitution, as it ought to be ; but it leaves it 
 possible to introduce changes that are very ob- 
 viously desirable. The Articles of Confedera- 
 tion could not be amended except by a unani- 
 mous vote of the states, and this made their 
 amendment almost impossible. 
 
 After assuming all debts contracted and en- 
 gagements made by the United States before 
 its adoption, the Constitution goes on to de- 
 clare itself the supreme law of the land. By it, 
 270
 
 THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY 
 
 and by the laws and treaties made under it, the 
 judges in every state are bound, in spite of any- 
 thing contrary in the constitution or laws of any 
 state. 
 
 § 5. The Federal Judiciary. 
 
 The creation of a federal judiciary was the 
 second principal feature in the Constitution, 
 which transformed our country from a loose 
 confederation into a federal nation, from a Band- 
 of-States into a Banded-State. We have seen that 
 the American people were already somewhat 
 familiar with the method of testing the constitu- 
 tionality of a law by getting the matter ^^^^ ^^^ ^ 
 brought before the courts/ I n the case federal judi- 
 of a conflict between state law and fed- 
 eral law, the only practicable peaceful solution is 
 that which is reached through a judicial decision. 
 The federal authority also needs the machinery 
 of courts in order to enforce its own decrees. 
 
 The federal judiciary consists of a supreme 
 court, circuit courts, and district courts.^ At pre- 
 
 1 See above, p. 211. 
 
 ^ In order to relieve the supreme court of the United States, 
 which had come to be overburdened w^ith business, a new^ 
 court, with limited appellate jurisdiction, called the circuit 
 \ourt of appeals, was organized in 1892. It consists primarily 
 of nine appeal judges, one for each of the nine circuits. For 
 any given circuit the supreme court justice of the circuit, the 
 appeal judge of the circuit, and the circuit judge constitute the 
 court of appeal. 
 
 271
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 sent the supreme court consists of a chief justice 
 and eight associate justices. It holds annual ses- 
 sions in the city of Washington, beginning on 
 the second Monday of October. Each of these 
 Federal "^^^ j^^g^^ is also presiding judge 
 
 courts and of a circuit court. The area of the 
 ^" ^ United States, not including the terri- 
 
 tories, is divided into nine circuits, and in each 
 circuit the presiding judge is assisted by special 
 circuit judges. The circuits are divided into dis- 
 tricts, seventy-two in all, and in each of these 
 there is a special district judge. The districts 
 never cross state lines. Sometimes a state is one 
 district, but populous states with much business 
 are divided into two or even three districts. 
 " The circuit courts sit in the several districts 
 of each circuit successively, and the law requires 
 that each justice of the supreme court shall sit 
 in each district of his circuit at least once every 
 two years." ^ District judges are not confined 
 to their own districts ; they may upon occasion 
 exchange districts as ministers exchange pulpits. 
 A district judge may, if need be, act as a circuit 
 judge, as a major may command a regiment. 
 All federal judges are appointed by the presi- 
 dent, with the consent of the Senate, to serve 
 during good behaviour. Each district has its 
 
 ^ See Wilson, The State, p. 554. I have closely followed, 
 though with much abridgment, the excellent description of 
 our federal judiciary, pp. 555-561. 
 272
 
 THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY 
 
 district attorney^ whose business is to prosecute 
 offenders against the federal laws and to con- 
 duct civil cases in which the national Y)\stnct at- 
 government is either plaintiff or de- tomeys and 
 
 ° , T-' 1 T • I 1 • marshals 
 
 fendant. rLach district has also its 
 marshal, who has the same functions under 
 the federal court as the sheriff under the state 
 court. The procedure of the federal court usu- 
 ally follows that of the courts of the state in 
 which it is sitting. 
 
 The federal jurisdiction covers two classes of 
 cases: (i) those which come before it ^^ because 
 of the nature of the questions involved; for in- 
 stance, admiralty and maritime cases, navigable 
 waters being within the exclusive jurisdiction 
 of the federal authorities, and cases The federal 
 arising out of the Constitution, laws, J""sdicDon 
 or treaties of the United States or out of con- 
 flicting grants made by different states " ; (2) 
 those which come before it " because of the nature 
 of the 'parties to the suit" such as cases affecting 
 the ministers of foreign powers or suits between 
 citizens of different states. 
 
 The division of jurisdiction between the up- 
 per and lower federal courts is determined chiefly 
 by the size and importance of the cases. In cases 
 where a state or a foreign minister is a party the 
 supreme court has original jurisdiction, in other 
 cases it has appellate jurisdiction, and " any case 
 which involves the interpretation of the Consti- 
 
 273
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 tutlon can be taken to the supreme court, how- 
 ever small the sum in dispute." If a law of any 
 state or of the United States is decided by the 
 supreme court to be in violation of the Con- 
 stitution, it instantly becomes void and of no 
 effect. In this supreme exercise of jurisdiction, 
 our highest federal tribunal is unlike any other 
 tribunal known to history. The supreme court 
 is the most original of all American institutions. 
 It is peculiarly American, and for its exalted 
 character and priceless services it is an institu- 
 tion of which Americans may well be proud. 
 
 § 6. Territorial Government. 
 The Constitution provided for the admission 
 of new states to the Union, but it does not al- 
 low a state to be formed within another state. A 
 state cannot " be formed by the junction of two 
 or more states, or parts of states, without the 
 consent of the legislatures of the states con- 
 cerned as well as of the Congress." Shortly be- 
 fore the making of the Constitution, the United 
 The North- Statcs had been endowed for the first 
 west Terri- time with a public domain. The ter- 
 ritory northwest of the Ohio River 
 had been claimed, on the strength of old grants 
 and charters, by Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
 New York, and Virginia. In 1777 Maryland 
 refused to sign the Articles of Confederation 
 until these states should agree to cede their 
 274
 
 TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 claims to the United States, and thus in 1784 
 the federal government came into possession of 
 a magnificent territory, out of which five great 
 states — Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and 
 Wisconsin — have since been made. While the 
 Federal Convention was sitting at Philadelphia, 
 the Continental Congress at New York was 
 doing almost its last and one of its greatest 
 pieces of work in framing the Ordinance of 1787 
 for the organization and government of this 
 newly acquired territory. The ordinance created 
 a territorial government with gover- -pj^^ qj.jj_ 
 nor and two-chambered legislature, nance of 
 
 , -r • ^ 1787 
 
 courts, magistrates, and militia. Com- 
 plete civil and religious liberty was guaranteed, 
 negro slavery was prohibited, and provision was 
 made for free schools.^ 
 
 In 1803 the enormous territory known 
 as Louisiana, comprising everything (except 
 Texas) between the Mississippi River and the 
 crest of the Rocky Mountains, was purchased 
 from France. A claim upon the Oregon terri- 
 tory was soon afterward made by discovery and 
 exploration, and finally settled in 1846 by treaty 
 with Great Britain. In 1848 by conquest and in 
 1853 by purchase the remaining Pacific lands 
 
 ^ The manner in which provision should be made for these 
 schools had been pointed out two years before in the land- 
 ordinance of 1785, as heretofore explained. See above, p. 
 92. 
 
 275
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 were acquired from Mexico. All of this vast 
 region has been at some time under territorial 
 government. As for Texas, on the other hand, 
 Other terri- it has ncver been a territory. Texas 
 toriesand rcvoltcd from Mexico in 1836 and 
 
 their govern- o 
 
 ment remained an independent state until 
 
 1845, when it was admitted to the Union. 
 Territorial government has generally passed 
 through three stages : first, there are governors 
 and judges appointed by the president ; then 
 as population increases, there is added a legis- 
 lature chosen by the people and empowered to 
 make laws subject to confirmation by Congress ; 
 finally, entire legislative independence is granted. 
 The territory is then ripe for admission to the 
 Union as a state. 
 
 § 7. Ratification and Amendments. 
 Thus the work of the Ordinance of 1787 was 
 in a certain sense supplementary to the work of 
 framing the Constitution. When the latter in- 
 strument was completed, it was provided that 
 " the ratifications of the conventions of nine 
 states shall be sufficient for the establishment 
 of this Constitution between the states so rati- 
 fying the same." The Constitution was then 
 laid before the Continental Congress, which 
 submitted it to the states. In one state after 
 another, conventions were held, and at length 
 the Constitution was ratified. There was much 
 276
 
 RATIFICATION AND AMENDMENTS 
 
 opposition to it, because it seemed to create a 
 strange and untried form of government which 
 might develop into a tyranny. There was a fear 
 that the federal power might crush out self-gov- 
 ernment in the states. This dread was felt in 
 all parts of the country. Besides this, there was 
 some sectional opposition between concessions 
 North and South, and in Virginia to the South 
 there was a party in favour of a separate southern 
 confederacy. But South Carolina and Georgia 
 were won over by the concessions in the Con- 
 stitution to slavery, and especially a provision 
 that the importation of slaves from Africa should 
 not be prohibited until 1 808. By winning South 
 Carolina and Georgia the formation of a " solid 
 South " was prevented. 
 
 The first states to adopt the Constitution 
 were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 
 Georgia, and Connecticut, with slight opposi- 
 tion, except in Pennsylvania. Next came Mas- 
 sachusetts, where the convention was very 
 large, the discussion very long, and Bin of Rights 
 the action in one sense critical. One p™p°s^<i 
 chief source of dissatisfaction was the absence of 
 a sufficiently explicit Bill of Rights, and to meet 
 this difficulty, Massachusetts ratified the Con- 
 stitution, but proposed amendments ; and this 
 course was followed by other states. Maryland 
 and South Carolina came next, and New Hamp- 
 shire made the ninth. Virginia and New York 
 ■277
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 then ratified by very narrow majorities and after 
 prolonged discussion. North CaroHna did not 
 come in until 1789, and Rhode Island not until 
 1790. 
 
 In September, 1789, the first ten amend- 
 ments were proposed by Congress, and in De- 
 cember, 1 79 1, they were declared in force. 
 Their provisions are similar to those of the 
 English Bill of Rights, enacted in 1689,^ but 
 The first ten arc much morc full and explicit. They 
 amendments provide fot freedom of speech and 
 of the press, the free exercise of religion, the 
 right of the people to assemble and petition 
 Congress for a redress of grievances, their right 
 to bear arms, and to be secure against unrea- 
 sonable searches and seizures. The quartering 
 of soldiers is guarded, general search-warrants 
 are prohibited, jury trial is guaranteed, and the 
 taking of private property for public use with- 
 out due compensation, as well as excessive fines 
 and bail and the infliction of" cruel and unusual 
 punishment" are forbidden. Congress is pro- 
 hibited from establishing any form of religion. 
 
 Finally, it is declared that " the enumeration 
 of certain rights shall not be construed to deny 
 or disparage others retained by the people," and 
 that " the powers not granted to the United 
 States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it 
 
 ^ See above, p. 206. This is further elucidated in Appen- 
 dixes B and D. 
 
 278
 
 A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS 
 
 to the states, are reserved to the states respec- 
 tively, or to the people." 
 
 § 8. yf Few Words about Politics. 
 
 A chief source of the opposition to the new 
 federal government was the dread of federal taxa- 
 tion. People who found it hard to Federal 
 pay their town, county, and state taxes *3='^"°" 
 felt that it would be ruinous to have to pay still 
 another kind of tax. In the mere fact of federal 
 taxation, therefore, they were inclined to see 
 tyranny. With people in such a mood it was 
 necessary to proceed cautiously in devising mea- 
 sures of federal taxation. 
 
 This was well understood by our first secre- 
 tary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, and 
 in the course of his administration of the trea- 
 sury he was once roughly reminded of it. The 
 two methods of federal taxation adopted at his 
 suggestion were duties on imports and excise 
 on a few domestic products, such as whiskey 
 and tobacco. The excise, being a tax which 
 people could see and feel, was very . 
 unpopular, and in 1794 the opposi- 
 tion to it in western Pennsylvania grew into 
 the famous " Whiskey Insurrection," against 
 which President Washington thought it prudent 
 to send an army of 16,000 men. This formid- 
 able display of federal power suppressed the 
 insurrection without bloodshed. 
 279
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 Nowhere was there any such violent opposi- 
 tion to Hamilton's scheme of custom-house 
 duties on imported goods. People had always 
 been familiar with such duties. In the colonial 
 times they had been levied by the British gov- 
 ernment without callinsr forth resist- 
 
 Tariff ^ 
 
 ance, until Charles Townshend made 
 them the vehicle of a dangerous attack upon 
 American self-government.^ After the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, custom-house duties were 
 levied by the state governments and the pro- 
 ceeds were paid into the treasuries of the several 
 states. Before 1789, much trouble had arisen 
 from oppressive tariff-laws enacted by some of 
 the states against others. By taking away from 
 the states the power of taxing imports, the new 
 Constitution removed this source of irritation. 
 It became possible to lighten the burden of 
 custom-house duties, while by turning the full 
 stream of them into the federal treasury an 
 abundant national revenue was secured at once. 
 Thus this part of Hamilton's policy met with 
 general approval. The tariff has always been 
 our favourite device for obtaining a national 
 revenue. During our Civil War, indeed, the 
 national government resorted extensively to 
 direct taxation, chiefly in the form of revenue 
 stamps, though it also put a tax upon billiard- 
 
 ^ See my War of Independence, pp. 58-83 ; and my 
 History of the United States for Schools, pp. 192-203. 
 280
 
 A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS 
 
 tables, pianos, gold watches, and all sorts of 
 things. But after the return of peace these un- 
 usual taxes were one after another discon- 
 tinued, and since then our national revenue has 
 been raised, as in Hamilton's time, from duties 
 on imports and excise on a few domestic pro- 
 ducts, chiefly tobacco and distilled liquors/ 
 
 Hamilton's measures as secretary of the 
 treasury embodied an entire system of public 
 policy, and the opposition to them resulted in 
 the formation of the two political parties into 
 which, under one name or another, the Ameri- 
 can people have at most times been origin of 
 
 American 
 
 divided. Hamilton's opponents, led political par- 
 by Jefferson, objected to his principal t'^s 
 measures that they assumed powers in the na- 
 tional government which were not granted to it 
 by the Constitution. Hamilton then fell back 
 upon the Elastic Clause^ of the Constitution, 
 and maintained that such powers were implied 
 in it. Jefferson held that this doctrine of "im- 
 plied powers " stretched the Elastic Clause too 
 far. He held that the Elastic Clause ought to 
 be construed strictly and narrowly ; Hamilton 
 held that it ought to be construed loosely and 
 liberally. Hence the names " strict-construc- 
 tionist " and " loose-constructionist," which 
 
 ^ In 1898, on the occasion of the Spanish war, taxation 
 by stamps was renewed. 
 
 ^ Article I., section viii., clause 18 ; see above, p. 266. 
 281
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 mark perhaps the most profound and abiding 
 antagonism in the history of American politics. 
 
 Practically all will admit that the Elastic 
 Clause, if construed strictly, ought not to be 
 construed too narrowly ; and, if construed liber- 
 ally, ought not to be construed too loosely. 
 Neither party has been consistent in applying 
 its principles, but in the main we can call 
 Hamilton the founder of the Federalist party, 
 which has had for its successors the National 
 Republicans of 1828, the Whigs of 1833 to 
 1852, and the Republicans of 1854 to the pre- 
 sent time ; while we can call Jefferson the 
 founder of the party which called itself Repub- 
 lican from about 1792 to about 1828, and since 
 then has been known as the Democratic party. 
 This is rather a rough description in view of 
 the real complication of the historical facts, but 
 it is an approximation to the truth. 
 
 It is not my purpose here to give a sketch 
 of the history of American parties. Such a 
 sketch, if given in due relative proportion, 
 would double the size of this little book, of 
 Tariff, Inter- which thc main purpose is to treat of 
 nai Improve- ciy}} govcmment in the United States 
 
 ments, and • \ r • • • t> • 
 
 National With reference to its origins. But it 
 ^" may here be said in general that the 
 
 practical questions which have divided the two 
 great parties have been concerned with the 
 powers of the national government as to (i) the 
 282
 
 A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS 
 
 Tariff; (2) the making of roads, improving 
 rivers and harbours, etc., under the general 
 head of Internal Improvements ; and (3) the 
 establishment of a National Bank^ with the na- 
 tional government as partner holding shares in 
 it and taking a leading part in the direction of 
 its affairs. On the question of such a national 
 bank the Democratic party achieved a complete 
 and decisive victory under President Tyler. 
 On the question of internal improvements the 
 opposite party still holds the ground, but most 
 of its details have been settled by the great de- 
 velopment of the powers of private enterprise 
 during the past sixty years, and it is not at 
 present a " burning question." The question of 
 the tariff, however, remains to-day as a *' burn- 
 ing question," but it is no longer argued on 
 grounds of constitutional law, but on grounds 
 of political economy. Hamilton's construction 
 of the Elastic Clause has to this extent pre- 
 vailed, and mainly for the reason that a liberal 
 construction of that clause was needed in order 
 to give the national government enough power 
 to restrict the spread of slavery and suppress 
 the great rebellion of which slavery was the ex- 
 citing cause. 
 
 Another political question, more important, 
 
 if possible, than that of the Tariff, is to-day the 
 
 question of the reform of the Civil Service ; but 
 
 it is not avowedly made a party question. Twenty 
 
 283
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 years ago both parties laughed at it ; now both 
 try to treat it with a show of respect and to 
 Civil service render unto it Hp-homage ; and the 
 reform control of the immediate pohtical 
 
 future probably lies with the party which treats 
 it most seriously. It is a question that was not 
 distinctly foreseen in the days of Hamilton and 
 Jefferson, when the Constitution was made and 
 adopted ; otherwise, one is inclined to believe, 
 the framers of the Constitution would have had 
 something to say about it. The question as to 
 the Civil Service arises from the fact that the 
 president has the power of appointing a vast 
 number of petty officials, chiefly postmasters 
 and officials concerned with the collection of 
 the federal revenue. Such officials have pro- 
 perly nothing to do with politics ; they are sim- 
 ply the agents or clerks or servants of the 
 national government in conducting its business ; 
 and if the business of the national government 
 is to be managed on such ordinary principles 
 of prudence as prevail in the management of 
 private business, such servants ought to be 
 selected for personal merit and retained for life 
 or during good behaviour. It did not occur to 
 our earlier presidents to regard the management 
 of the public business in any other light than 
 this. 
 
 But as early as the beginning of the present 
 century a vicious system was growing up in 
 284
 
 A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS 
 
 New York and Pennsylvania. In those states 
 the appointive offices came to be used as 
 bribes or as rewards for partisan services. By- 
 securing votes for a successful candi- . . , , 
 
 , ° .,,.,.,. , Origin of the 
 
 date, a man with little in his pocket " spoils sys- 
 and nothing in particular to do could ^^"^ 
 obtain some office with a comfortable salary. It 
 would be given him as a reward, and some other 
 man, perhaps more competent than himself, 
 would have to be turned out in order to make 
 room for him. A more effective method of 
 driving good citizens " out of politics " could 
 hardly be devised. It called to the front a large 
 class of men of coarse moral fibre who greatly 
 preferred the excitement of speculating in poli- 
 tics to earning an honest living by some ordi- 
 nary humdrum business. The civil service of 
 these states was seriously damaged in quality, 
 politics degenerated into a wild scramble for 
 offices, salaries were paid to men who did little 
 or no public service in return, and thus the line 
 which separates taxation from robbery was often 
 crossed. 
 
 About the same time there grew up an idea 
 that there is something especially democratic, 
 and therefore meritorious, about " rotation in 
 office." Government offices were regarded as 
 plums at which every one ought to "Rotation 
 be allowed a chance to take a bite, '"office" 
 The way was prepared in 1820 by W. H. 
 285
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 Crawford, of Georgia, who succeeded in getting 
 the law enacted that Hmits the tenure of office 
 for postmasters, revenue collectors, and other 
 servants of the federal government to four 
 years. The importance of this measure was not 
 understood, and it excited very little discussion 
 at the time. The next presidential election 
 which resulted in a change of party was that 
 of Jackson in 1828, and then the methods of 
 New York and Pennsylvania were applied on 
 a national scale. Jackson cherished the absurd 
 belief that the administration of his predecessor 
 Adams had been corrupt, and he turned men 
 out of office with a keen zest. During the forty 
 years between Washington's first inauguration 
 and Jackson's the total number of removals from 
 office was seventy-four, and out of this number 
 five were defaulters. During the first year of 
 Jackson's administration the number of changes 
 _, ., made in the civil service was about 
 
 The "spoils 101 
 
 system" 2000. Such was the abrupt maugu- 
 madenationai ^^^j^^^ ^^^^ ^ national scde of the so- 
 called " spoils system." The phrase originated 
 with W. L. Marcy, of New York, who in a 
 speech in the Senate in 1 83 1 declared that " to 
 the victors belong the spoils." The man who 
 said this of course did not realize that he was 
 making one of the most shameful remarks re- 
 corded in history. There was, however, much 
 
 ^ Sumner's Jackson, p. 147. 
 286
 
 A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS 
 
 aptness in his phrase, inasmuch as it was a con- 
 fession that the business of American poHtics 
 was about to be conducted on principles fit 
 only for the warfare of barbarians. 
 
 In the canvass of 1840 the Whigs promised 
 to reform the civil service, and the promise 
 brought them many Democratic votes ; but 
 after they had won the election, they followed 
 Jackson's example. The Democrats followed 
 in the same way in 1845, and from that time 
 down to 1885 it was customary at each change 
 of party to make a " clean sweep " of the 
 offices. Soon after the Civil War the evils of 
 the system began to attract serious attention on 
 the part of thoughtful people. The " spoils 
 system " has helped to sustain all manner of 
 abominations, from grasping monopolies and 
 civic jobbery down to political rum-shops. The 
 virus runs through everything, and the natural 
 tendency of the evil is to grow with the growth 
 of the country. 
 
 In 1883 Congress passed the Civil Service 
 Act, allowing the president to select a board of 
 examiners on whose recommendation appoint- 
 ments are made. Candidates for office 
 
 . . The Civil 
 
 are subjected to an easy competitive service Act 
 examination. The system has worked ° ' ^ 
 well in other countries, and under Presidents 
 Arthur and Cleveland it was applied to a con- 
 siderable part of the civil service. It has also 
 287
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 been adopted In some states and cities. The 
 opponents of reform object to the examination 
 that it is not always intimately connected with 
 the work of the office,^ but, even if this were so, 
 the merit of the system lies in its removal of 
 the offices from the category of things known 
 as " patronage." It relieves the president of 
 much needless work and wearisome importunity. 
 The president and the heads of departments 
 appoint (in many cases, through subordinates) 
 about 115,000 officials. It is therefore impos- 
 sible to know much about their character or 
 competency. It becomes necessary to act by 
 advice, and the advice of an examining board is 
 sure to be much better than the advice of po- 
 litical schemers intent upon getting a salaried 
 office for their needy friends. The examination 
 system has made a fair beginning and will 
 doubtless be gradually improved and made 
 more stringent. Something too has been done 
 toward stopping two old abuses attendant upon 
 political canvasses, — (i) forcing government 
 clerks, under penalty of losing their places, to 
 
 1 The objection that the examination questions are irrele- 
 vant to the work of the office is often made the occasion of 
 gross exaggeration. I have given, in Appendix I, an average 
 sample of the examination papers used in the customs service. 
 It is taken from United States Civil Service Commission. 
 Instructions to Applicants, etc. Form 117, October, 1900. 
 Washington, Government Printing Office, 1900. 
 288
 
 A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS 
 
 contribute part of their salaries for election pur- 
 poses ; (2) allowing government clerks to neg- 
 lect their work in order to take an active part 
 in the canvass. Before the reform of the civil 
 service can be completed, however, it will be 
 necessary to repeal Crawford's act of 1820 and 
 make the tenure of postmasters and revenue 
 collectors as secure as that of the chief justice 
 of the United States. 
 
 Another political reform which promises ex- 
 cellent results is the adoption by many states 
 of some form of the Australian ballot-system, 
 for the purpose of checking intimi- Tj^e^ustra. 
 dation and bribery at elections. The Hanbaiiot- 
 ballots are printed by the state, and ^^^^"^ 
 contain the names of all the candidates of all 
 the parties. Against the name of each candi- 
 date the party to which he belongs is desig- 
 nated, and against each name there is a small 
 vacant space to be filled with a cross. At the 
 polling-place the ballots are kept in an in- 
 closure behind a railing, and no ballot can be 
 brought outside under penalty of fine or im- 
 prisonment.^ One ballot is nailed against the 
 wall outside the railing, so that it may be read 
 at leisure. The space behind the railing is di- 
 
 ^ This is a brief description of the system lately adopted 
 in Massachusetts. The penalty here mentioned is a fine not 
 exceeding a thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding 
 one year, or both such fine and such imprisonment. 
 289
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 vided into separate booths quite screened from 
 each other. Each booth is provided with a pen- 
 cil and a convenient shelf on which to write. 
 The voter goes behind the railing, takes the 
 ballot which is handed him, carries it into one 
 of the booths, and marks a cross against the 
 names of the candidates for whom he votes. 
 He then puts his ballot into the box, and his 
 name is checked off on the register of voters 
 of the precinct. This system is very simple, it 
 enables a vote to be given in absolute secrecy, 
 and it keeps " heelers " away from the polls. 
 It is favourable to independence in voting,^ 
 
 ^ It is especially favourable to independence in voting, if 
 the lists of the candidates are placed in a single column, with- 
 out reference to party (each name, of course, having the 
 proper party designation, "Rep.," "Dem.," "Prohib.," 
 etc., attached to it). In such case it must necessarily take 
 the voter some litde time to find and mark each name for 
 which he wishes to vote. If, however, the names of the 
 candidates are arranged according to their party, all the 
 Republicans in one list, all the Democrats in another, etc., 
 this arrangement is much less favourable to independence 
 in vodng and much less efficient as a check upon bribery; 
 because the man who votes a straight party ticket will make 
 all his marks in a very short time, while the *♦ scratcher," or 
 independent voter, will consume much more time in select- 
 ing his names. Thus people interested in seeing whether a 
 man is voting the straight party ticket or not can form an 
 opinion from the length of time he spends in the booth. 
 It is, therefore, important that the names of all candidates 
 should be printed in a single column. 
 190
 
 A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS 
 
 and It is unfavourable to bribery, because un- 
 less the briber can follow his man to the polls 
 and see how he votes, he cannot be sure that 
 his bribe is effective. To make the precautions 
 against bribery complete it will doubtless be 
 necessary to add to the secret ballot the Eng- 
 lish system of accounting for election expenses. 
 All the funds used in an election must pass 
 through the hands of a small local committee, 
 vouchers must be received for every penny that 
 is expended, and after the election an itemized 
 account must be made out and its accuracy at- 
 tested under oath before a notary public. This 
 system of accounting has put an end to bribery 
 in England.^ 
 
 Complaints of bribery and corruption have 
 attracted especial attention in the United States 
 during the past few years, and it is highly 
 creditable to the good sense of the people that 
 measures of prevention have been so promptly 
 adopted by so many states. With an inde- 
 pendent and uncorrupted ballot, and the civil 
 service taken " out of politics," all other re- 
 forms will become far more easily accomplished. 
 These ends will presently be attained. Popular 
 government makes many mistakes, and some- 
 times it is slow in finding them out; but when 
 
 ^ An important step in this direction has been taken in 
 the New York Corrupt Practices Act of April, 1890. See 
 Appendix J. 
 
 291
 
 THE FEDERAL UNION 
 
 once it has discovered them it has a way of 
 correcting them. It is the best kind of govern- 
 ment in the world, the most wisely conser- 
 vative, the most steadily progressive, and the 
 most likely to endure.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 It is designed in the bibliographical notes to indi- 
 cate some authorities to which reference may be made 
 for greater detail than is possible in an elementary 
 work like the present. It is believed that the notes 
 will prove a help to teacher and pupil in special in- 
 vestigations, and to the reader who may wish to make 
 selections from excellent sources for purposes of self- 
 culture. It is hardly necessary to add that it is some- 
 times worth much to the student to know where 
 valuable information may be obtained, even when it is 
 not practicable to make immediate use of it. . . . 
 
 Chapter I. Taxation and Government. — As 
 to the causes of the American Revolution, see my 
 War of Independence^ Boston, 1889 ; and as to the 
 weakness of the government of the United States be- 
 fore 1789, see my Critical Period of American History^ 
 Boston, 1888. As to the causes of the French Revo- 
 lution, see Paul Lacombe, The Growth of a People^ 
 N. Y., 1883, and the third volume of Kitchin's History 
 of France, hondon, 1887; also Morse Stephens, The 
 French Revolution, vol. i., N. Y., 1887 ; Taine, The 
 Ancient R'egwie, N. Y., 1 8 76, and The Revolution, 2 
 vols., N. Y. 1880. The student may read with plea- 
 sure and profit Dickens's Tale of Two Cities. For the 
 student familiar with French, an excellent book is 
 Albert Babeau, Le Village sous Vancien Regime, Paris,
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 1879 ; see also Tocqueville, Vancien Regime et la 
 Revolution^ 7th ed., Paris, 1866. There is a good 
 sketch of the causes of the French Revolution in the 
 fifth volume of Lecky's History of England in the 
 Eighteenth Century^ N. Y., 1887 ; ^ee also Buckle's 
 History of Civilization, chaps, xii.-xiv. There is no 
 better commentary on my first chapter than the lurid 
 history of France in the eighteenth century. The 
 strong contrast to English and American history shows 
 us most instructively what we have thus far escaped. 
 
 Chapter II. §1. The New England Town- 
 ship. There is a good account in Martin's Text-Book 
 on Civil Government in the United States. N. Y. and 
 Chicago, 1875. 
 
 § 2. Origin of the Township. Here the Johns 
 Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political 
 Science, edited by Dr. Herbert Adams, are of great 
 value. Note especially series I. no. i., E. A. Free- 
 man, Introduction to American Institutional History ; I., 
 ii., iv., viii., ix., x., H. B.Adams, The Germanic Origin 
 of New England Towns^ Saxon Tithing-Men in Amer- 
 ica., Normayi Constables in Afuerica^ Village Communities 
 of Cape Ann and Salem ; II., x., Edward Channing, 
 Town and County Government in the English Colonies of 
 North America ; IV., xi.— xii., Melville Egleston, The 
 Land System of the New England Colonies ; VII., vii.- 
 ix., C. M. Andrews, The River Towns of Connecticut. 
 
 See also Howard's Local Constitutional History of the 
 United States^vol. i., "Township, Hundred, and Shire," 
 Baltimore, 1889, a work of extraordinary merit. 
 
 The great book on local self-government in Eng- 
 land is Toulmin Smith's The Parish^ 2d ed., Lon- 
 294 
 
 I
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 don, 1859. For the ancient history of the township, 
 see Gomme's Primitive Folk-Moots^ London, 1880; 
 Gomme's Village Community., London, 1890 ; See- 
 bohm's English Village Community., London, 1883 ; 
 Nasse's Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages., 
 London, 1872 ; Laveleye's Primitive Property., London, 
 1878 ; Phear's Aryan Village in India and Ceylon., Lon- 
 don, 1880 ; Hearn (of the University of Melbourne, 
 Australia), The Aryan Household., London and Mel- 
 bourne, 1879 ; and the following works of Sir Henry 
 Maine: Ancient Law., London, 1861 ; Village Communi- 
 ties in the East and West., London, 1 8 7 1 ; Early History 
 of Institutions., London, 1875 ; Early Law and Custom., 
 London, 1883. All of Maine's works are republished 
 in New York. See also my American Political Ideas., 
 N. Y., 1885. 
 
 Gomme's Literature of Local Institutions., London, 
 1886, contains an extensive bibliography of the sub- 
 ject, with valuable critical notes and comments. 
 
 Chapter III. § i. The County in its Begin- 
 nings. This subject is treated in connection with the 
 township in several of the books above mentioned. 
 See especially Howard, Local Const. Hist. 
 
 § 2. The Modern County in Massachusetts. 
 There is a good account in Martin's Text-Book above 
 mentioned. 
 
 § 3. The Old Virginia County. The best 
 account is in J. H. U. Studies, III., ii., iii., Edward 
 Ingle, Virginia Local Institutions. See also my Old 
 Virginia and Her Neighbours^ ii. 41—51. 
 
 Chapter IV. § i. Various Local Systems. — 
 295
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 J. H. U. Studies, I., vi., Edward Ingle, Parish Insti- 
 tutions of Maryland; I., vii., John Johnson, Old 
 Maryland Manors ; I., xii., B. J. Ramage, Local Gov- 
 ernment and Free Schools in South Carolina ; III., v.— vii., 
 L. W. Wilhelm, Local Institutions of Maryland ; IV., 
 i., Irving Eking, Dutch Village Communities on the 
 Hudson River. 
 
 § 2. Settlement of the Public Domain. — 
 J. H. U. Studies, III., i., H. B. Adams, Maryland's 
 Influence upon Land Cessions to the United States ; IV., 
 vii.— ix., Shoshuke Sato, Histojy of the Land Question in 
 the United States.' 
 
 § 3. The Representative Township-County 
 System. — J. H. U. Studies, I., iii., Albert Shaw, 
 Local Government in Illinois; I., v., Edward Bemis, 
 Local Government in Michigan and the Northwest ; II., 
 vii., Jesse Macy, Institutional Beginnings in a Western 
 State (Iowa). For further illustration of one set of 
 institutions supervening upon another, see also V., 
 v., vi., J. G. Bourinot, Local Government in Canada ; 
 VIII., iii., D. E. Spencer, Local Government in Wis- 
 consin . 
 
 Chapter V. § i. Direct and Indirect Gov- 
 ernment. — The transition from direct to indirect 
 government, as illustrated in the gradual development 
 of a township into a city, may be profitably studied 
 in Quincy's Municipal History of Boston^ Boston, 1852 j 
 and in Winsor's Memorial History of Boston^ iii. 189— 
 302, Boston, 1881. 
 
 § 2. Origin of English Boroughs and Cities. 
 — See Loftie's History of London^ 2 vols., London, 
 1883 ; Toulmin Smith's English Gilds^ with Introduc- 
 296
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 tion by Lujo Brentano, London, 1870 ; and the his- 
 tories of the English Constitution, especially those of 
 Gneist, Stubbs, Taswell-Langmead, and Hannis Tay- 
 lor. 
 
 § 3. Government of Cities in the United 
 States. — J. H. U. Studies, III., xi., xii., J. A. 
 Porter, The City of Washington ; IV., iv., W. P. Hol- 
 comb, Pennsylvania Boroughs; IV., x., C. H. Lever- 
 more, Town and City Government of New Haven ; V., 
 i., ii., Allinson and Penrose, City Government of Phila- 
 delphia ; v., iii., J. M. Bugbee, The City Government 
 of Boston; V., iv., M. S. Snow, The City Government 
 of St. Louis ; VII., ii., iii., B. Moses, Establishment of 
 Afunicipal Government in San Francisco ; VII., iv., W^. 
 W. Howe, Afunicipal History of New Orleans ; also 
 Supplementary Notes^ No. 4, Seth Low, The Problem 
 of City Government (compare No. i, Albert Shaw, 
 Municipal Government in England^ See, also, the 
 supplementary volumes published at Baltimore, — 
 Levermore's Republic of New Haven^ 1886, Allinson 
 and Penrose's Philadelphia^ i68i-i88y : a History of 
 Municipal Development^ 1887. Also Eaton's Govern- 
 ment of Municipalities^ New York, 1899 ; Wilcox's 
 Study of City Government^ New York, 1897 ; and 
 Chapman's Practical Agitation^ New York, 1900. 
 
 Chapter VI. The State. — For the founding of 
 the several colonies, their charters, etc., the student 
 may profitably consult the learned monographs in 
 Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America^ 8 
 vols., Boston, 1886—89. ^ popular account, quite 
 full in details, is given in Lodge's Short History of the 
 English Colonies in America^ N. Y., 1 881. There is a 
 297
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 fairly good account of the revision and transformation 
 of the colonial governments in Bancroft's History of 
 the United States^ final edition, N. Y., 1886, v. iii- 
 
 125. 
 
 The series of American Commonwealths, edited 
 by H. E. Scudder, and published by Houghton, Mifflin 
 & Co., will be found helpful. The following have 
 been published : Johnston, Connecticut : a Study of a 
 Commonwealth-Democracy^ 1887 ; Roberts, New York: 
 the Planting and Growth of the Empire State^ 1 vols., 
 1887; Vtxo-^n^^ Maryland : the History of a Palatinate^ 
 2d ed., 1884 ; Cooke, Virginia : a History of the People^ 
 1883 ; Shaler, Kentucky : a Pioneer Commonwealth^ 
 1884; King, Ohio: First Fruits of the Ordinance of 
 i^Sy^ 1888 ; Dunn, Indiana : a Redemption from Slav- 
 ery^ 1888; Cooley, Michigan: a History of Govern- 
 ments^ 1885; Carr, Missouri: a Bone of Contention^ 
 1888 ; Spring, Kansas : the Prelude to the War for the 
 TJnion^ 1885 ; Royce, California : a Study of American 
 Character^ 1886; Barrows, Oregon: the Struggle for 
 Possession^ 1883; Robinson, Vermont: a Study of Inde- 
 pendence^ 1892. 
 
 Chapter VII. Written Constitutions. — Very 
 little has been written or published with reference to 
 the history of the development of the idea of a written 
 constitution. The student will find some suggestive 
 hints in Hannis Taylor's Origin and Growth of the 
 English Constitution^ vol. i., Boston, 1889. See Henry 
 Hitchcock's American State Constitutions ; a Study of 
 their Growth^ N. Y., 1887, a learned and valuable 
 essay. See also J. H. U. Studies, I., xi., Alexander 
 Johnston, The Genesis of a New England State {Con- 
 ic)^
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 necticut); III., ix., x., Horace Davis, American Consti- 
 tutions ; also Preston's Docu?nents Illustrative of Ameri- 
 can History^ i6o6-i86j^ N. Y., 1886; Stubbs, Select 
 Charters and other Illustrations of English Constitutional 
 History^ Oxford, 1870 ; Gardiner's Constitutional Doc-' 
 uments of the Puritan Revolution^ Oxford, 1888. 
 
 Chapter VIIL The Federal Union. — For 
 the origin of our Federal Constitution, see Bancroft's 
 History of the* United States^ final edition, vol. vi., 
 N. Y., 1886; Curtis's History of the Constitution^ 2 
 vols., N. Y,, 1 86 1, new edition, vol. i., 1889 ; and 
 my Critical Period of A7nerican History^ Boston, 1888, 
 with copious references in the bibliographical note at 
 the end. Once more we may refer advantageously to 
 J. H. U. Studies, II., v., vi., H. C. Adams, Taxation 
 in the United States^ 1 789-18 16 ; VIIL, i., ii., A. W. 
 Small, The Beginnings of American Nationality. See 
 also Jameson's Essays in the Constitutional History of 
 the United States in the Formative Period^ lyy^—iySg^ 
 Boston, 1889, a very valuable book. 
 
 On the progress toward union during the colonial 
 period, see especially Frothingham's Rise of the Re- 
 public of the United States^ Boston^ iS J 2-, also Scott's 
 Development of Constitutional Liberty in the English 
 Colonies of America^ N. Y., 1882. 
 
 By far the ablest and most thorough book on the 
 government of the United States that has ever been 
 published is Bryce's American Commonwealth^ 2 vols., 
 London and N. Y., 1888. No American citizen's 
 education is properly completed until he has read the 
 whole of it carefully. In connection therewith, the 
 work of Tocqueville, Democracy in America.^ 2 vols., 
 299
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 6th ed., Boston, 1876, is interesting. The Scotch- 
 man describes and discusses the American common- 
 wealth of to-day, the Frenchman that of sixty years 
 ago. There is an instructive difference in the methods 
 of the two writers, Tocqueville being inclined to 
 draw deductions from ingenious generalizations and 
 to explain as natural results of democracy sundry 
 American characteristics that require a different ex- 
 planation. His great work is admirably reviewed and 
 criticised by Bryce, in the J. H. U. Studies, V., ix., 
 The Predictions of Hamilton and De Tocqueville. 
 
 The following manuals may be recommended : 
 Thorpe, The Government of the People of the United 
 States., Phila., 1889; Martin's Text-Book on Civil 
 Government in the United States., N. Y. and Chicago, 
 1875 (written with special reference to Massachu- 
 setts) ; Northam'a Manual of Civil Government., Syra- 
 cuse, 1887 (written with special reference to New 
 York) ; Ford's American Citizen's Manual., N. Y., 
 1887; Rupert's Guide to the Study of the History and 
 the Constitution of the United States., Boston, 1888 ; 
 Andrews's Manual of the Constitution of the United 
 States., Cincinnati, 1874; Miss Dawes, How we are 
 Governed., Boston, 1888; Macy, Our Government: 
 How it Grew., What it Does., and How it Does it., Bos- 
 ton, 1887. The last is especially good, and mingles 
 narrative with exposition in an unusually interesting 
 way, NordhofFs Politics for Toung Americans^'N. Y., 
 1887, is a book that ought to be read by all young 
 Americans for its robust and sound political philoso- 
 phy. It is suitable for boys and girls from twelve to 
 fifteen years old. C. F. Dole's The Citizen and the 
 Neighbour., Boston, 1887, is a suggestive and stimulat- 
 300
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 ing little book. For a comparative survey of govern- 
 mental institutions, ancient and modern, see Wood- 
 row Wilson's The State : Elements of Historical and 
 Practical Politics^ Boston, 1889. An enormous mass 
 of matter is compressed into this volume, and, al- 
 though it inevitably suffers somewhat from extreme 
 condensation, it is so treated as to be both readable 
 and instructive. The chapter on The State and Fed- 
 eral Governments of the United States has been pub- 
 lished separately, and makes a convenient little vol- 
 ume of 131 pages. Teachers should find much help 
 in MacAlister's Syllabus of a Course of Elementary In- 
 struction in United States History and Civil Government^ 
 Phila., 1887. 
 
 The following books of the English Citizen Series, 
 published by Macmillan & Co., may often be profit- 
 ably consulted : M. D. Chalmers, Local Government ; 
 H. D. Traill, Central Government ; F. W. Maitland, 
 justice and Police ; Spencer Walpole, The Electorate 
 and the Legislature ; A. J. Wilson, The National 
 Budget ; T. H. Farrer, The State in its Relations to 
 Trade; W. S. Jevons, The State in its Relations to 
 Labour. The works on the English Constitution by 
 Stubbs, Gneist, Taswell-Langmead, Freeman, and 
 Bagehot are indispensable to a thorough understand- 
 ing of civil government in the United States : Stubbs, 
 Constitutional History of England^ 3 vols., London, 
 1875—78 ; Gneist, History of the English Constitution^ 
 2d ed., 2 vols., London, 1889; Taswell-Langmead, 
 English Constitutional History^ 5th ed., Boston, 1896 ; 
 Freeman, The Groiuth of the English Constitution, 
 London, 1872; Bagehot, The English Constitution, re- 
 301
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 vised ed., Boston, 1873. ^" admirable book in this 
 connection is Hannis Taylor's (of Alabama) Origin 
 and Growth of the English Constitution^ Boston, 1889. 
 In connection with Bagehot's English Constitution 
 the student may profitably read Woodrow Wilson's 
 Congressional Government^ Boston, 1885, and A. L. 
 Lowell's Essays in Government^ Boston, 1890. See 
 also Sir H. Maine, Popular Government^ London, 
 1886 ; Sir G. C. Lewis on The Use and Abuse of Cer- 
 tain Political TermSy London, 1832; Methods of Ob- 
 servation and Reasoning in Politics^ 2 vols., London, 
 1852; and Dialogue on the Best Form of Government ^ 
 London, 1863. 
 
 Among the most valuable books ever written on 
 the proper sphere and duties of civil government are 
 Herbert Spencer's Social Statics^ London, 1851 ; The 
 Study of Sociology, 9th ed., London, 1880; The Man 
 versus The State^ London, 1884; they are all re- 
 printed by D. Appleton & Co., New York. The 
 views expressed in Social Statics with regard to the 
 tenure of land are regarded as unsound by many who 
 are otherwise in entire sympathy with Mr. Spencer's 
 views, and they are ably criticised in Bonham's In- 
 dustrial Liberty^ N. Y., 1888. A book of great merit, 
 which ought to be reprinted as it is now not easy to 
 obtain, is Toulmin Smith's Local Self- Government and 
 Centralization^ London, 185 1. Its point of view is 
 sufficiently indicated by the following admirable pair 
 of maxims (p. 12): — 
 
 " Local Self-Government is that system of gov- 
 ernment under which the greatest number of minds^ 
 knowing the most^ and having the fullest opportunities of 
 knowing it^ about the special matter in hand^ and hav- 
 302
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 ing the greatest interest in its well-workings have the 
 management of it^ or control over it. 
 
 " Centralization is that system of government 
 under which the smallest number of minds^ and those 
 knowing the least ^ and having the fewest opportunities of 
 knowing it^ about the special matter in hand^ and having 
 the smallest interest in its well-workings have the man- 
 agement of its °^ control over it." 
 
 An immense amount of wretched misgovernment 
 would be avoided if all legislators and all voters would 
 engrave these wholesome definitions upon their minds. 
 In connection with the books just mentioned much 
 detailed and valuable information may be found in the 
 collections of essays edited by J. W. Probyn, Local 
 Government and Taxation [in various countries], 
 London, 1875 ; Local Government and Taxation in the 
 United Kingdom^ London, 1882. See also R. T. Ely's 
 Taxation in American States and Cities^ N. Y., 1889. 
 
 The most elaborate work on our political history is 
 that of Hermann von Hoist, Constitutional and Politi- 
 cal History of the United States^ translated from the 
 German by J. J. Lalor, vols, i.-vi. (i 787-1859), 
 Chicago, 1877—89. In spite of a somewhat too pro- 
 nounced partisan bias, its value is great. See also 
 Schouler's History of the United States under the Con- 
 stitution^ vols, i.-vi. ( 1 783-1865), new ed., N. Y., 
 1899. The most useful handbook, alike for teachers 
 and for pupils, is Alexander Johnston's History of 
 American Politics^ 2d ed., N. Y., 1882, The United 
 States, N. Y., 1889, by the same author, is also ex- 
 cellent. Every school should possess a copy of Lalor's 
 Cyclopedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and 
 
 3^3
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 the Political History of the United States^ 3 vols., 
 Chicago, 1882—84. The numerous articles in it re- 
 lating to American history are chiefly by Alexander 
 Johnston, whose mastery of his subject was simply 
 unrivalled. See also Gamaliel Bradford's Lessons of 
 Popular Government., New York, 1899. For a man- 
 ual of constitutional law, Cooley's General Principles 
 of Constitutional Law in the United States of America^ 
 Boston, 1880, is to be recommended. The reader 
 may fitly supplement his general study of civil gov- 
 ernment by the little book of E. P. Dole, Talks about 
 Law : a Popular Statement of What our Law is and 
 How it is to be Administered., Boston, 1887. 
 
 In connection with the political history, Stanwood's 
 History of the Presidency., Boston, 1898, will be found 
 useful. See also Lawton's A?nerican Caucus System., 
 N. Y., 1885. On the general subject of civil service 
 reform, see Eaton's Civil Service in Great Britain : a 
 History of Abuses and Reforms., and their Bearing upon 
 American Politics., N. Y., 1880. Comstock's Civil 
 Service in the United States., N. Y., 1 880, is a cata- 
 logue of offices, with full account of civil service 
 rules, examinations, specimens of examination papers, 
 etc. ; also some of the state rules, as in New York, 
 Massachusetts, etc. 
 
 I would here call attention to some publications by 
 the Directors of the Old South Studies in History and 
 Politics, — first. The Constitution of the United States^ 
 with Historical and Bibliographical Notes and Outlines 
 for Study., prepared by E. D. Mead (Directors of the 
 Old South Work, 25 cents); secondly, the Old South 
 Leaflets., furnished to schools and the trade by the 
 
 304
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 same publishers, at 5 cents a copy or ^4.00 a hun- 
 dred. These leaflets are for the most part reprints of 
 important original papers, furnished with valuable his- 
 torical and bibliographical notes. The titles of the 
 earliest issues in this series are as follows : i . The 
 Constitution of the United States ; 2. The Articles 
 of Confederation ; 3. The Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence; 4. Washington's Farewell Address; 5. Magna 
 Charta; 6. Vane's "Healing Question;" 7. Charter 
 of Massachusetts Bay, 1629; 8. Fundamental Orders 
 of Connecticut, 1639; 9. Franklin's Plan of Union, 
 1754; 10. Washington's Inaugurals; 11. Lincoln's 
 Inaugurals and Emancipation Proclamation ; 12. The 
 Federalist, Nos. i and 2; 13. The Ordinance of 
 1787 ; 14. The Constitution of Ohio ; 15. Washing- 
 ton's "Legacy;" 16. Washington's Letter to Benja- 
 min Harrison, Governor of Virginia, on the Opening 
 of Communication with the West; 17. Verrazano's 
 Voyage, 1524; 18. Federal Constitution of the Swiss 
 Confederation. (Additions are made to this list every 
 year.) 
 
 Howard Preston's Documents Illustrative of American 
 History^ N. Y., 1886, contains the following: First 
 Virginia Charter, i6o6; Second Virginia Charter, 
 1609; Third Virginia Charter, 161 2; Mayflower 
 Compact, 1620 ; Massachusetts Charter, 1629; 
 Maryland Charter, 1632 ; Fundamental Orders of 
 Connecticut, 1639; New England Confederation, 
 1643; Connecticut Charter, 1662; Rhode Island 
 Charter, 1663; Pennsylvania Charter, 1681 ; Penn's 
 Plan of Union, 1697; Georgia Charter, 1732; 
 Franklin's Plan of Union, 1754; Declaration of 
 Rights, 1765; Declaration of Rights, 1774; Non- 
 305
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 Importation Agreement, 1774; Virginia Bill of Rights, 
 1776; Declaration of Independence, 1776; Articles 
 of Confederation, 1777; Treaty of Peace, 1783; 
 Northwest Ordinance, 1787 ; Constitution of the 
 United States, 1787 ; Alien and Sedition Laws, 1798 ; 
 Virginia Resolutions, 1798; Kentucky Resolutions, 
 1798; Kentucky Resolutions, 1799; Nullification 
 Ordinance, 1832; Ordinance of Secession, i860; 
 South Carolina Declaration of Independence, i860; 
 Emancipation Proclamation, 1863. 
 
 See also Poore's Federal and State Constitutions^ Co- 
 lonial Charters^ and other Organic Laws of the United 
 States^ 2 vols., Washington, 1877. 
 
 The series of essays entitled The Federalist^ written 
 by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, in 1787-88, while 
 the ratification of the Constitution was in question, 
 will always remain indispensable as an introduction to 
 the thorough study of the principles upon which our 
 federal government is based. The most recent edi- 
 tion is by H. C. Lodge, N. Y., 1888. For the sys- 
 tematic and elaborate study of the Constitution, see 
 Foster's References to the Constitution of the United 
 States^ a little pamphlet of 50 pages published by the 
 *' Society for Political Education," 330 Pearl St., 
 New York, 1890, price 25 cents. 
 
 For very pleasant and profitable reading, in con- 
 nection with the formation and interpretation of the 
 Constitution, and the political history of our country 
 from 1763 to 1850, we have the American States- 
 men Series, edited by J. T. Morse, and published by 
 Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1882-1900 : Ben- 
 jamin Franklin^ by J. T. Morse ; Patrick Henry ^ by 
 306
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 M. C. Tyler ; Samuel Adains^ by J. K. Hosmer ; George 
 Washington^ by H. C. Lodge, 2 vols. ; 'John Adams 
 and Thomas Jefferson^ by J. T. Morse ; Alexander 
 Hamilton^ by H. C. Lodge ; Gouverneur Morris^ by 
 T. Roosevelt \ James Madison^ by S. H. Gay ; James 
 Monroe^ by D. C. Gilman ; Albert Gallatin^ by J. A. 
 Stevens; John Randolph^ by H. Adams; John Jay^ 
 by G. Pellew ; John Marshall^ by A. B. Magruder ; 
 John ^incy Adams^ by J. T. Morse ; John C. Cal- 
 houn^ by H. von Hoist; Andrew Jackson^ by W. G. 
 Sumner; Martin Van Buren, by E. M. Shepard ; 
 Henry Clay, by C. Schurz, 2 vols. ; Daniel Webster, 
 by H. C. Lodge; Tho/7ias H. Benton, by T. Roose- 
 velt ; Lewis Cass, by Prof. Andrew C. McLaugh- 
 lin ; Abraham. Lincoln, by John T. Morse, 2 vols. ; 
 William H. Seward, by Thornton K. Lothrop ; Sal- 
 mon P. Chase, by Albert Bushnell Hart ; Charles 
 Francis Adams, by C. F. Adams, Jr. ; Charles Sumner, 
 by Moorfield Storey ; Thaddeus Stevens, by Samuel 
 W. McCall. 
 
 The arguments in favour of protectionism are set 
 forth in Bowen's American Political Economy, last ed., 
 N. Y., 1870 ; the arguments in favour of free trade 
 are set forth in Perry's Political Economy, 19th ed., 
 N. Y., 1887 ; and for an able and impartial historical 
 survey, Taussig's Tariff History of the United States, 
 N. Y., 1888, may be recommended. For a lucid 
 view of currency, see Jevons's Money and the Mecha- 
 nism of Exchange, N. Y., 1 875. 
 
 A useful work on the Australian method of voting 
 is Wigmore's The Australian Ballot System, 2d ed., 
 Boston, 1890.
 
 i 
 
 I
 
 APPENDIX A 
 THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION 
 
 Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between 
 the States of New Hampshire^ Massachusetts Bay, 
 Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, 
 New York, New fersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
 and Georgia. 
 
 Article I. — The style of this Confederacy shall 
 be, " The United States of America." 
 
 Art. II. — Each State retains its sovereignty, free- 
 dom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, 
 and right, which is not by this Confederation ex- 
 pressly delegated to the United States in Congress 
 assembled. 
 
 Art. III. — The said States hereby severally enter 
 into a firm league of friendship with each other, for 
 their common defence, the security of their liberties, 
 and their mutual and general welfare, binding them- 
 selves to assist each other against all force offered to, 
 or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on ac- 
 count of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pre- 
 tence whatever. 
 
 Art. IV. — The better to secure and perpetuate 
 mutual friendship and intercourse among the people 
 of the different States in this Union, the free inhabit- 
 ants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, and 
 
 2>Q9
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to 
 all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the 
 several States ; and the people of each State shall have 
 free ingress and egress to and from any other State, and 
 shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and com- 
 merce subject to the same duties, impositions, and 
 restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively ; 
 provided that such restrictions shall not extend so 
 far as to prevent the removal of property imported 
 into any State to any other State of which the owner 
 is an inhabitant ; provided also, that no imposition, 
 duties, or restriction shall be laid by any State on the 
 property of the United States or either of them. If 
 any person guilty of, or charged with, treason, felony, 
 or other high misdemeanour in any State shall flee 
 from justice and be found in any of the United States, 
 he shall, upon demand of the governor or executive 
 power of the State from which he fled, be delivered 
 up and removed to the State having jurisdiction of his 
 offence. Full faith and credit shall be given in each of 
 these States to the records, acts, and judicial proceed- 
 ings of the courts and magistrates of every other State. 
 Art. V. — For the more convenient management 
 of the general interests of the United States, delegates 
 shall be annually appointed in such manner as the 
 Legislature of each State shall direct, to meet in Con- 
 gress on the first Monday in November, in every 
 year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its 
 delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, 
 and to send others in their stead for the remainder of 
 the year. No State shall be represented in Congress 
 by less than two, nor by more than seven members i 
 
 310 
 
 I
 
 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION 
 
 and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for 
 more than three years in any term of six years ; nor 
 shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of 
 holding any office under the United States for which 
 he, or another for his benefit, receives any salary, fees, 
 or emolument of any kind. Each State shall main- 
 tain its own delegates in any meeting of the States 
 and while they act as members of the Committee of 
 the States. In determining questions in the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, each State shall have 
 one vote. Freedom of speech and debate in Congress 
 shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or 
 place out of Congress ; and the members of Congress 
 shall be protected in their persons from arrests and 
 imprisonment during the time of their going to and 
 from, and attendance on. Congress, except for treason, 
 felony, or breach of the peace. 
 
 Art. VI. — No State, without the consent of the 
 United States, in Congress assembled, shall send any 
 embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter 
 into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty 
 with any king, prince, or state ; nor shall any person 
 holding any office of profit or trust under the United 
 States, or any of them, accept of any present, emolu- 
 ment, office, or title of any kind whatever from any 
 king, prince, or foreign state ; nor shall the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant 
 any title of nobility. 
 
 No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, 
 confederation, or alliance whatever between them, 
 without the consent of the United States, in Congress 
 assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for 
 
 311
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 which the same is to be entered into, and how long 
 it shall continue. 
 
 No State shall lay any imposts or duties which may 
 interfere with any stipulations in treaties entered into 
 by the United States, in Congress assembled, with 
 any king, prince, or state, in pursuance of any treaties 
 already proposed by Congress to the courts of France 
 and Spain. 
 
 No vessel of war shall be kept up in time of peace 
 by any State, except such number only as shall be 
 deemed necessary by the United States, in Congress 
 assembled, for the defence of such State or its trade, 
 nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State 
 in time of peace, except such number only as, in 
 the judgment of the United States, in Congress as- 
 sembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the 
 forts necessary for the defence of such State ; but 
 every State shall always keep up a well-regulated and 
 disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, 
 and shall provide and constantly have ready for use 
 in public stores a due number of field-pieces and 
 tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, 
 and camp equipage. 
 
 No State shall engage in any war without the con- 
 sent of the United States, in Congress assembled, 
 unless such State be actually invaded by enemies, or 
 shall have received certain advice of a resolution be- 
 ing formed by some nation of Indians to invade such 
 State, and the danger is so imminent as not to admit 
 of a delay till the United States, in Congress as- 
 sembled, can be consulted ; nor shall any State grant 
 commissions to any ships or vessels of war, nor letters 
 of marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration 
 312
 
 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION 
 
 of war by the United States, in Congress assembled, 
 and then only against the kingdom or state, and the 
 subjects thereof, against which war has been so de- 
 clared, and under such regulations as shall be estab- 
 lished by the United States, in Congress assembled, 
 unless such State be infested by pirates, in which case 
 vessels of war may be fitted out for that occasion, and 
 kept so long as the danger shall continue, or until the 
 United States, in Congress assembled, shall determine 
 otherwise. 
 
 Art. VII. — When land forces are raised by any 
 State for the common defence, all officers of or under 
 the rank of Colonel shall be appointed by the Legis- 
 lature of each State respectively by whom such forces 
 shall be raised, or in such manner as such State shall 
 direct, and all vacancies shall be filled up by the State 
 which first made the appointment. 
 
 Art. VIII. — All charges of war, and all other 
 expenses that shall be incurred for the common de- 
 fence, or general welfare, and allowed by the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out 
 of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the 
 several States in proportion to the value of all land 
 within each State, granted to, or surveyed for, any 
 person, as such land and the buildings and improve- 
 ments thereon shall be estimated, according to such 
 mode as the United States, in Congress assembled, 
 shall, from time to time, direct and appoint. The 
 taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and 
 levied by the authority and direction of the Legisla- 
 tures of the several States, within the time agreed 
 upon by the United States, in Congress assembled. 
 
 Art. IX. — The United States, in Congress as- 
 
 3U
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 sembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and 
 power of determining on peace and war, except in the 
 cases mentioned in the sixth Article ; of sending and 
 receiving ambassadors ; entering into treaties and alli- 
 ances, provided that no treaty of commerce shall be 
 made, whereby the legislative power of the respective 
 States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts 
 and duties on foreigners as their own people are sub- 
 jected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or impor- 
 tation of any species of goods or commodities what- 
 ever; of establishing rules for deciding, in all cases, 
 what captures on land and water shall be legal, and 
 in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces 
 in the service of the United States shall be divided or 
 appropriated ; of granting letters of marque and re- 
 prisal in times of peace; appointing courts for the 
 trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high 
 seas ; and establishing courts for receiving and deter- 
 mining finally appeals in all cases of captures ; pro- 
 vided that no member of Congress shall be appointed 
 a judge of any of the said courts. 
 
 The United States, in Congress assembled, shall 
 also be the last resort on appeal in all disputes and 
 differences now subsisting, or that hereafter may arise 
 between two or more States concerning boundary 
 jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever; which 
 authority shall always be exercised in the manner 
 following: Whenever the legislative or executive 
 authority, or lawful agent of any State in controversy 
 with another, shall present a petition to Congress, 
 stating the matter in question, and praying for a hear- 
 ing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Congress 
 to the legislative or executive authority of the other 
 
 3H
 
 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION 
 
 State in controversy, and a day assigned for the ap- 
 pearance of the parties by their lawful agents, who 
 shall then be directed to appoint, by joint consent, 
 commissioners or judges to constitute a court for 
 hearing and determining the matter in question ; but 
 if they cannot agree. Congress shall name three per- 
 sons out of each of the United States, and from the 
 list of such persons each party shall alternately strike 
 out one, the petitioners beginning, until the number 
 shall be reduced to thirteen ; and from that number 
 not less than seven nor more than nine names, as 
 Congress shall direct, shall, in the presence of Con- 
 gress, be drawn out by lot ; and the persons whose 
 names shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall 
 be commissioners or judges, to hear and finally de- 
 termine the controversy, so always as a major part of 
 the judges who shall hear the cause shall agree in the 
 determination ; and if either party shall neglect to 
 attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons 
 which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being pre- 
 sent, shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed 
 to nominate three persons out of each State, and the 
 secretary of Congress shall strike in behalf of such 
 party absent or refusing ; and the judgment and sen- 
 tence of the court, to be appointed in the manner be- 
 fore prescribed, shall be final and conclusive ; and if 
 any of the parties shall refuse to submit to the authority 
 of such court, or to appear or defend their claim or 
 cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to pronounce 
 sentence or judgment, which shall in like manner be 
 final and decisive ; the judgment or sentence and other 
 proceedings being in either case transmitted to Con- 
 gress, and lodged among the acts of Congress for the
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 security of the parties concerned ; provided, that every 
 commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take 
 an oath, to be administered by one of the judges of 
 the supreme or superior court of the State where the 
 cause shall be tried, " w^ell and truly to hear and de- 
 termine the matter in question, according to the best 
 of his judgment, without favour, affection, or hope 
 of reward." Provided, also, that no State shall be 
 deprived of territory for the benefit of the United 
 States. 
 
 All controversies concerning the private right of 
 soil claimed under different grants of two or more 
 States, whose jurisdictions, as they may respect such 
 lands, and the States which passed such grants are ad- 
 justed, the said grants or either of them being at the 
 same time claimed to have originated antecedent to 
 such settlement of jurisdiction, shall, on the petition 
 of either party to the Congress of the United States, 
 be finally determined, as near as may be, in the same 
 manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes 
 respecting territorial jurisdiction between different 
 States. 
 
 The United States, in Congress assembled, shall 
 also have the sole and exclusive right and power of 
 regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their 
 own authority, or by that of the respective States ; 
 fixing the standard of weights and measures through- 
 out the United States ; regulating the trade and man- 
 aging all affairs with the Indians, not members of any 
 of the States ; provided that the legislative right of any 
 State, within its own limits, be not infringed or vio- 
 lated ; establishing and regulating post-offices from 
 one State to another, throughout all the United States, 
 316
 
 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION 
 
 and exacting such postage on the papers passing 
 through the same as may be requisite to defray the ex- 
 penses of the said office ; appointing all officers of the 
 land forces in the service of the United States, except- 
 ing regimental officers ; appointing all the officers of 
 the naval forces, and commissioning all officers w^hat- 
 ever in the service of the United States; making rules 
 for the government and regulation of the said land and 
 naval forces, and directing their operations. 
 
 The United States, in Congress assembled, shall 
 have authority to appoint a committee, to sit in the 
 recess of Congress, to be denominated " A Commit- 
 tee of the States," and to consist of one delegate from 
 each State, and to appoint such other committees and 
 civil officers as may be necessary for managing the 
 general affairs of the United States under their direc- 
 tion ; to appoint one of their number to preside ; pro- 
 vided that no person be allovi^ed to serve in the office 
 of president more than one year in any term of three 
 years ; to ascertain the necessary sums of money to be 
 raised for the service of the United States, and to ap- 
 propriate and apply the same for defraying the public 
 expenses; to borrow money or emit bills on the credit 
 of the United States, transmitting every half year to 
 the respective States an account of the sums of money 
 so borrowed or emitted ; to build and equip a navy ; 
 to agree upon the number of land forces, and to make 
 requisitions from each State for its quota, in propor- 
 tion to the number of white inhabitants in such State, 
 which requisition shall be binding ; and thereupon the 
 Legislature of each State shall appoint the regimental 
 officers, raise the men, and clothe, arm, and equip 
 them in a soldier-like manner, at the expense of the
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 United States ; and the officers and men so clothed, 
 armed, and equipped shall march to the place ap- 
 pointed, and within the time agreed on by the United 
 States, in Congress assembled ; but if the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, shall, on consideration 
 of circumstances, judge proper that any State should 
 not raise men, or should raise a smaller number than 
 its quota, and that any other State should raise a 
 greater number of men than the quota thereof, such 
 extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed, 
 and equipped in the same manner as the quota of such 
 State, unless the Legislature of such State shall judge 
 that such extra number cannot be safely spared out of 
 the same, in which case they shall raise, officer, clothe, 
 arm, and equip as many of such extra number as they 
 judge can be safely spared, and the officers and men 
 so clothed, armed, and equipped shall march to the 
 place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the 
 United States, in Congress assembled. 
 
 The United States, in Congress assembled, shall 
 never engage in a war, nor grant letters of marque 
 and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into any trea- 
 ties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value 
 thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses neces- 
 sary for the defence and welfare of the United States, 
 or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on 
 the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, 
 nor agree upon the number of vessels of war to be 
 built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces 
 to be raised, nor appoint a commander-in-chief of the 
 army or navy, unless nine States assent to the same, 
 nor shall a question on any other point, except for 
 adjourning from day to day, be determined, unless by 
 
 318
 
 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION 
 
 the votes of a majority of the United States, in Con- 
 gress assembled. 
 
 The Congress of the United States shall have 
 power to adjourn at any time within the year, and to 
 any place within the United States, so that no period 
 of adjournment be for a longer duration than the 
 space of six months, and shall publish the journal of 
 their proceedings monthly, except such parts thereof 
 relating to treaties, alliances, or military operations as 
 in their judgment require secrecy ; and the yeas and 
 nays of the delegates of each State, on any question, 
 shall be entered on the journal when it is desired by 
 any delegate ; and the delegates of a State, or any of 
 them, at his or their request, shall be furnished with a 
 transcript of the said journal except such parts as are 
 above excepted, to lay before the Legislatures of the 
 several States. 
 
 Art. X. — The Committee of the States, or any 
 nine of them, shall be authorized to execute, in the 
 recess of Congress, such of the powers of Congress as 
 the United States, in Congress assembled, by the con- 
 sent of nine States, shall, from time to time, think 
 expedient to vest them with ; provided that no power 
 be delegated to the said Committee, for the exercise 
 of which, by the Articles of Confederation, the voice 
 of nine States in the Congress of the United States 
 assembled is requisite. 
 
 Art. XI. — Canada, acceding to this Confedera- 
 tion, and joining in the measures of the United States, 
 shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advan- 
 tages of this Union ; but no other colony shall be ad- 
 mitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed 
 to by nine States. 
 
 3^9
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 Art. XII. — All billsof credit emitted, moneys bor- 
 rowed, and debts contracted by or under the authority 
 of Congress, before the assembling of the United 
 States, in pursuance of the present Confederation, 
 shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the 
 United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof 
 the said United States and the public faith are hereby 
 solemnly pledged. 
 
 Art. XIII. — Every State shall abide by the de- 
 terminations of the United States, in Congress as- 
 sembled, on all questions which by this Confederation 
 are submitted to them. And the Articles of this Con- 
 federation shall be inviolably observed by every State, 
 and the Union shall be perpetual ; nor shall any al- 
 teration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, 
 unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of 
 the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the 
 Legislatures of every State. 
 
 And whereas it hath pleased the great Governor 
 of the world to incline the hearts of the Legislatures 
 we respectively represent in Congress to approve of, 
 and to authorize us to ratify, the said Articles of Con- 
 federation and perpetual Union, know ye, that we, the 
 undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and 
 authority to us given for that purpose, do, by these 
 presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective 
 constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each 
 and every of the said Articles of Confederation and 
 perpetual Union, and all and singular the matters and 
 things therein contained. And we do further solemnly 
 plight and engage the faith of our respective constitu- 
 ents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the 
 320
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 United States, in Congress assembled, on all questions 
 which by the said Confederation are submitted to them ; 
 and that the Articles thereof shall be inviolably ob- 
 served by the States we respectively represent, and 
 that the Union shall be perpetual. 
 
 In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands 
 in Congress. Done at Philadelphia in the State 
 of Pennsylvania the ninth day of July in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred 
 and seventy-eight, and in the third year of the 
 independence of America. 
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED 
 STATES 
 
 Preamble.^ 
 
 We, the people of the United States, in order to 
 form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure 
 domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, 
 promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
 of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain 
 and establish this Constitution for the United States 
 of America. 
 
 Article I. Legislative Department. 2 
 
 Section I. Congress in General. 
 
 All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested 
 
 ^ Compare this Preamble with Confed. Art. I. and III. 
 ^ Compare Art. I. §§ i.-vii. with Confed. Art. V. 
 321
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 in a Congress of the United States, which shall con- 
 sist of a Senate and House of Representatives. 
 
 Section II. House of Representatives. 
 
 1. The House of Representatives shall be com- 
 posed 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 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 appor- 
 tioned among the several States which may be in- 
 cluded within this Union, according to their respec- 
 tive 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. 
 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 enumera- 
 tion shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall 
 be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode 
 Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five. 
 New York six. New "Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, 
 
 322
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North 
 Carolina five. South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 
 
 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 III. Senate. 
 
 1. The Senate of the United States shall be com- 
 posed of two Senators from each State, chosen by 
 the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator 
 shall haye one vote. 
 
 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in 
 consequence of the first election, they shall be divided 
 as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of 
 the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the 
 expiration of the second year ; of the second class, at the 
 expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class, 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 
 
 2n
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 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 vi^hen he shall exercise the office of Presi- 
 dent 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 Presi- 
 dent of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice 
 shall preside : and no person shall be convicted with 
 out 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 disqual- 
 ification to hold and enjoy any office of honour, trust, 
 or profit under the United States ; but the party con- 
 victed shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to in- 
 dictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according 
 to law. 
 
 Section IV. Both Homes. 
 
 1. The times, places, and manner of holding elec- 
 tions for Senators and Representatives shall be pre- 
 scribed 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 assemble at least once in 
 every year, and such meeting shall be on the first 
 Monday in December, unless they shall by law ap- 
 point a different day.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 Section V. The Houses Separately. 
 
 1. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, 
 returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a 
 majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do busi- 
 ness ; but a smaller number may adjourn from day 
 to day, and may be authorized to compel the attend- 
 ance of absent members, in such manner, and under 
 such penalties, as each house may provide. 
 
 2. Each house may determine the rules of its pro- 
 ceedings, punish its members for disorderly behaviour, 
 and with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a mem- 
 ber. 
 
 3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceed- 
 ings, and from time to time publish the same, except- 
 ing 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. 
 
 Section VI. Privileges and Disabilities of Members. 
 
 I. The Senators and Representatives shall receive 
 a compensation for their services, to be ascertained 
 by law and paid out of the Treasury of the United 
 States. They shall, in all cases except treason, felony, 
 and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest dur- 
 ing their attendance at the session of their respective 
 houses, and in going to and returning from the same ; 
 
 325
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 and for any speech or debate in either house they 
 shall not be questioned in any other place. 
 
 2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the 
 time for which he was elected, be appointed to any 
 civil office under the authority of the United States, 
 which shall have been created, or the emoluments 
 whereof shall have been increased during such time ; 
 and no person holding any office under the United 
 States shall be a member of either house during his 
 continuance in office. 
 
 Section VII. Mode of Passing Laws. 
 
 1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in 
 the House of Representatives; but the Senate may 
 propose or concur with amendments as on other bills. 
 
 2. Every bill which shall have passed the House 
 of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it 
 become a law, be presented to the President of the 
 United States ; if he approve he shall sign it, but 
 if not he shall return it, with his objections, to that 
 house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter 
 the objections at large on their journal and proceed to 
 reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds 
 of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be 
 sent, together with the objections, to the other house, 
 by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if ap- 
 proved by two thirds of that house it shall become a 
 law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses 
 shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names 
 of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be 
 entered on the journal of each house respectively. If 
 any bill shall not be returned by the President within 
 ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been 
 
 326
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like 
 manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by 
 their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it 
 shall not be a law. 
 
 3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the 
 concurrence of the Senate and House of Representa- 
 tives may be necessary (except on a question of ad- 
 journment) shall be presented to the President of the 
 United States ; and before the same shall take effect, 
 shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, 
 shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and 
 House of Representatives, according to the rules and 
 limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. 
 
 Section VIII. Powers granted to Congress.^ 
 The Congress shall have power : 
 
 1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and 
 excises, to pay the debts and provide for the com- 
 mon defence and general welfare of the United States ; 
 but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform 
 throughout the United States ; 
 
 2. To borrow money on the credit of the United 
 States ; 
 
 3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations and 
 among the several States, and with the Indian tribes ; 
 
 4. To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, 
 and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies 
 throughout the United States ; 
 
 5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and 
 
 ^ Compare §§ viii. and ix, with Confed. Art. IX. ; clause 
 I of § viii. with Confed. Art. VIII. ; and clause 1 2 of § viii. 
 with Confed. Art. VII. 
 
 327
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and 
 measures ; 
 
 6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting 
 the securities and current coin of the United States ; 
 
 7. To establish post-offices and post-roads ; 
 
 8. To promote the progress of science and useful 
 arts by securing for limited times to authors and in- 
 ventors the exclusive right to their respective writings 
 and discoveries •, 
 
 9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme 
 Court ; 
 
 10. To define and punish piracies and felonies 
 committed on the high seas and offences against the 
 law of nations ; 
 
 11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and 
 reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land 
 and water ; 
 
 12. To raise and support armies, but no appropria- 
 tion of money to that use shall be for a longer term 
 than two years ; 
 
 13. To provide and maintain a navy ; 
 
 14. To make rules for the government and regula- 
 tion of the land and naval forces ; 
 
 15. To provide for calling forth the militia to ext 
 ecute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, 
 and repel invasions ; 
 
 16. To provide for organizing, arming, and dis- 
 ciplining the militia, and for governing such part of 
 them as may be employed in the service of the United 
 States, reserving to the States respectively the appoint- 
 ment of the officers, and the authority of training the 
 militia according to the discipline prescribed by Con- 
 gress ; 
 
 328
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 17. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases 
 whatsoever over such district (not exceeding ten miles 
 square) as may, by cession of particular States and the 
 acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States, and to exercise like 
 authority over all places purchased by the consent of 
 the legislature of the State in vi^hich the same shall be, 
 for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock- 
 yards, and other needful buildings ; and 
 
 18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and 
 proper for carrying into execution the foregoing 
 powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitu- 
 tion in the Government of the United States, or in 
 any department or officer thereof.^ 
 
 Section IX. Powers denied to the United States. 
 
 1. The migration or importation of such persons 
 as any of the States now existing shall think proper 
 to admit shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior 
 to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but 
 a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, 
 not exceeding ten dollars for each person. 
 
 2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
 not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or 
 invasion the public safety may require it. 
 
 3. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be 
 passed. 
 
 4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, 
 unless in proportion to the census or enumeration 
 hereinbefore directed to be taken. 
 
 ^ This is the Elastic Clause in the interpretation of which 
 arose the original and fundamental division of political parties. 
 See above, pp. 266, 281.
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported 
 from any State. 
 
 6. No preference shall be given by any regulation 
 of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over 
 those of another ; nor shall vessels bound to or from 
 one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in 
 another. 
 
 7. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury 
 but in consequence of appropriations made by law ; 
 and a regular statement and account of the receipts 
 and expenditures of all public money shall be pub- 
 lished from time to time. 
 
 8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the 
 United States ; and no person holding any office of 
 profit or trust under them shall, without the consent 
 of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, 
 office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, 
 prince, or foreign State. 
 
 Section X. Powers denied to the States?- 
 
 1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or 
 confederation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; 
 coin money ; emit bills of credit ; make anything but 
 gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; 
 pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law 
 impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any 
 title of nobility. 
 
 2. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, 
 lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, ex- 
 cept what may be absolutely necessary for executing 
 its inspection laws ; and the net produce of all duties 
 and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, 
 
 1 Compare § x. with Confed. Art. VI.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 shall be for the use of the Treasury of the United 
 States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the re- 
 vision and control of the Congress. 
 
 3. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, 
 lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war 
 in time of peace, enter into any agreement or com- 
 pact with another State or with a foreign power, or 
 engage in war, unless actually invaded or in such im- 
 minent danger as will not admit of delay. 
 
 Article II. Executive Department.! 
 
 Section I. President and Vice-President. 
 
 1. The executive power shall be vested in a Presi- 
 dent of the United States of America. He shall hold 
 his office during the term of four years, and together 
 with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be 
 elected as follows : 
 
 2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the 
 legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, 
 equal to the whole number of Senators and Repre- 
 sentatives to which the State may be entitled in the 
 Congress ; but no Senator or Representative, or per- 
 son holding an office of trust or profit under the 
 United States, shall be appointed an elector. 
 
 3. [The electors shall meet in their respective 
 States and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom 
 one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same 
 State with themselves. And they shall make a list of 
 all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for 
 each ; which list they shall sign and certify, and trans- 
 
 1 Compare Art. II. with Confed. Art. X. 
 
 23^
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 mit sealed to the seat of government of the United 
 States, directed to the President of the Senate. The 
 President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the 
 Senate and House of Representatives, open all the cer- 
 tificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The 
 person having the greatest number of votes shall be 
 the President, if such number be a majority of the 
 whole number of electors appointed ; and if there be 
 more than one who have such majority, and have an 
 equal number of votes, then the House of Representa- 
 tives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them 
 for President ; and if no person have a majority, then 
 from the five highest on the list the said House shall 
 in like manner choose the President. But in choos- 
 ing the President the votes shall be taken by States, 
 the representation from each State having one vote ; a 
 quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or 
 members from two thirds of the States, and a major- 
 ity of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In 
 every case, after the choice of the President, the person 
 having the greatest number of votes of the electors 
 shall be the Vice-President. But if there should re- 
 main two or more who have equal votes, the Senate 
 shall choose from them by ballot the Vice-President. ].i 
 
 4. The Congress may determine the time of choos- 
 ing the electors and the day on which they shall give 
 their votes, which day shall be the same throughout 
 the United States. 
 
 5. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citi- 
 zen of the United States at the time of the adoption 
 
 * This clause of the Constitution has been amended. See 
 Amendments, Art. XII. 
 
 33^ 
 
 I
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of 
 President ; neither shall any person be eligible to that 
 office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty- 
 five years, and been fourteen years a resident within 
 the United States. 
 
 6. In case of the removal of the President from 
 office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to dis- 
 charge the powers and duties of the said office, the 
 same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the 
 Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, 
 death, resignation, or inability, both of the President 
 and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then 
 act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly 
 until the disability be removed or a President shall be 
 elected. 
 
 7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for 
 his services a compensation, which shall neither be 
 increased nor diminished during the period for which 
 he may have been elected, and he shall not receive 
 within that period any other emolument from the 
 United States or any of them. 
 
 8. Before he enter on the execution of his office 
 he shall take the following oath or affirmation : 
 
 " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faith- 
 fully execute the office of President of the United 
 States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, 
 protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 
 States." 
 
 Section 11. Powers of the President. 
 
 I. The President shall be Commander-in-chief of 
 the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the 
 militia of the several States when called into the 
 
 332
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 actual service of the United States ; he may require « 
 the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each m 
 of the executive departments, upon any subject relat- 
 ing to the duties of their respective offices, and he 
 shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for 
 offences against the United States, except in cases of aj 
 impeachment. ^ 
 
 2. He shall have power, by and with the advice 
 and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided 
 two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he 
 shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and con- 
 sent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other 
 public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme 
 Court, and all other officers of the United States, 
 whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided 
 for, and which shall be established by law ; but the 
 Congress may by law vest the appointment of such 
 inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President 
 alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of depart- 
 ments. 
 
 3. The President shall have power to fill up all 
 vacancies that may happen during the recess of the 
 Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at 
 the end of their next session. 
 
 Section III. Duties of the President. 
 He shall from time to time give to the Congress 
 information of the state of the Union, and recom- 
 mend to their consideration such measures as he shall 
 judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on extraordi- 
 nary occasions, convene both houses, or either of 
 them, and in case of disagreement between them with 
 respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn 
 
 334
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall 
 receive ambassadors and other public ministers ; he 
 shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, 
 and shall commission all the officers of the United 
 States. 
 
 Section IV. Impeachment. 
 The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers 
 of the United States shall be removed from office on 
 impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, 
 or other high crimes and misdemeanours. 
 
 Article III. Judicial Department.* 
 
 Section I. United States Courts. 
 The judicial power of the United States shall be 
 vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior 
 courts as the Congress may from tirhe to time ordain 
 and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and 
 inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good 
 behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their 
 services a compensation which shall not be diminished 
 during their continuance in office. 
 
 Section II. jurisdiction of the United States Courts. 
 
 I. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in 
 law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the 
 laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which 
 shall be made, under their authority ; to all cases af- 
 fecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and con- 
 suls ; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdic- 
 tion ; to controversies to which the United States shall 
 
 ^ Compare Art. III. with the first three paragraphs of 
 Confed. Art. IX. 
 
 335
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 be a party ; to controversies between two or more 
 States; between a State and citizens of another State; 
 between citizens of different States ; between citizens 
 of the same State claiming lands under grants of dif- 
 ferent States, and between a State, or the citizens 
 thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects.^ 
 
 2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public 
 ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall 
 be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original 
 jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned 
 the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, 
 both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and 
 under such regulations as the Congress shall make. 
 
 3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of im- 
 peachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be 
 held in the State where the said crimes shall have been 
 committed; but when not committed within any State, 
 the trial shall be at such place or places as the Con- g| 
 gress may by law have directed. " 
 
 Section III. Treason. 
 
 1. Treason against the United States shall consist 
 only in levying war against them, or in adhering to 
 their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person 
 shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony 
 of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confes- 
 sion in open court. 
 
 2. The Congress shall have power to declare the 
 punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason 
 shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture except 
 during the life of the person attainted. 
 
 1 This clause has been amended. See Amendments, 
 Art. XI.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 Article IV. The States and the Federal Govern- 
 ment.^ 
 
 Section I. State Records. 
 
 Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to 
 the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of 
 every other State. And the Congress may by general 
 laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, re- 
 cords, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect 
 thereof. 
 
 Section II. Privileges of Citizens^ etc. 
 
 1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
 privileges and immunities of citizens in the several 
 States. 
 
 2. A person charged in any State with treason, fel- 
 ony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and 
 be found in another State, shall, on demand of the 
 executive authority of the State from which he fled, 
 be delivered up, to be removed to the State having 
 jurisdiction of the crime. 
 
 3. No person held to service or labour in one State, 
 under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, 
 in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be 
 discharged from such service or labour, but shall be 
 delivered up on claim of the party to whom such ser- 
 vice or labour may be due.^ 
 
 1 Compare Art. IV. with Confed. Art. IV. 
 ^ This clause has been cancelled by Amendment XIII., 
 which abolishes slavery. 
 
 337
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 Section III. New States and Territories }■ 
 
 1. New States may be admitted by the Congress 
 into this Union ; but no new State shall be formed or 
 erected within the jurisdiction of any other State ; nor 
 any State be formed by the junction of two or more 
 States or parts of States, without the consent of the 
 legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the 
 Congress. 
 
 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of 
 and make all needful rules and regulations respecting 
 the territory or other property belonging to the United 
 States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so 
 construed as to prejudice any claims of the United 
 States or of any particular State. 
 
 Section IV. Guarantee to the States. 
 The United States shall guarantee to every State in 
 this Union a republican form of government, and shall 
 protect each of them against invasion, and on applica- 
 tion of the legislature, or of the executive (when the 
 legislature cannot be convened), against domestic 
 violence. 
 
 Article V. Power of Amendment.* 
 The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses 
 shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to 
 this Constitution, or, on the application of the legis- 
 latures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a 
 convention for proposing amendments, which in either 
 case shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part 
 
 * Compare § iii. with Confed. Art. XI. 
 a Compare Art.V. with Confed. Art. XIII.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures 
 of three fourths of the several States, or by conven- 
 tions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other 
 mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress, 
 provided that no amendments which may be made 
 prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight 
 shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses 
 in the ninth section of the first article ; and that no 
 State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its 
 equal suffrage in the Senate. 
 
 Article VI. Public Debt, Supremacy of the Constitu- 
 tion, Oath of Office, Religious Test. 
 
 1. All debts contracted and engagements entered 
 into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be 
 as valid against the United States under this Constitu- 
 tion as under the confederation. 
 
 2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United 
 States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and 
 all treaties made, or which shall be made, under 
 the authority of the United States, shall be the su- 
 preme law of the land ; and the judges in every State 
 shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitu- 
 tion or laws of any State to the contrary notwith- 
 standing. 
 
 3. The Senators and Representatives before men- 
 tioned, and the members of the several St'ate legisla- 
 tures, and all executive and judicial officers both of 
 the United States and of the several States, shall be 
 bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitu- 
 tion ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a 
 
 * Compare clause i with Confed. Art. XII. 
 
 2>39
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 qualification to any office or public trust under the 
 United States.^ 
 
 Article VII. Ratification of the Constitution. 
 
 The ratification of the conventions of nine States 
 shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Con- 
 stitution between the States so ratifying the same. 
 
 Done in convention by the unanimous consent of 
 the States present,* the seventeenth day of Sep- 
 tember, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
 seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the In- 
 dependence of the United States of America the 
 tw^elfth. In witness whereof, we have hereunto 
 subscribed our names. 
 
 George Washington, President, and Deputy from 
 Virginia. 
 
 New Hampshire — John Langdon, Nicholas Gil- 
 man. 
 
 Massachusetts — Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King. 
 
 Connecticut — William Samuel Johnson, Roger 
 Sherman. 
 
 New York — Alexander Hamilton. 
 
 New Jersey — William Livingston, David Brearly, 
 William Patterson, Jonathan Dayton. 
 
 Pennsylvania — Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mif- 
 flin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas 
 
 ^ Compare clauses 2 and 3 with Confed. Art. XIII. and 
 addendum, "And whereas," etc. 
 
 * Rhode Island sent no delegates to the Federal Conven- 
 tion.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gou- 
 verneur Morris. 
 
 Delaware — George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., 
 John Dickinson, R-ichard Bassett, Jacob Broom. 
 
 Maryland — James McHenry, Daniel of St. 
 Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll. 
 
 Virginia — John Blair, James Madison, Jr. 
 
 North Carolina — William Blount, Richard Dobbs 
 Spaight, Hugh Williamson. 
 
 South Carolina — John Rutledge, Charles Cotes- 
 worth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler. 
 
 Georgia — William Few, Abraham Baldwin. 
 
 Attest : William Jackson, Secretary, 
 
 AMENDMENTS 
 
 Article I. 
 Congress shall make no law respecting an establish- 
 ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise 
 thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the 
 press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assem- 
 ble, and to petition the government for a redress of 
 grievances. 
 
 Article II. 
 
 A well-regulated militia being necessary to the se- 
 curity of a free state, the right of the people to keep 
 and bear arms shall not be infringed. 
 
 Article III. 
 
 No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in 
 
 ^ Amendments I. to X . were proposed by Congress, Sept. 
 25, 1789, and declared in force Dec. 15, 1791.
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 any house without the consent of the owner, nor in 
 time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 
 
 Article IV. 
 The right of the people to be secure in their per- 
 sons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable 
 searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no 
 warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, sup- 
 ported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describ- 
 ing the place to be searched, and the persons or things 
 to be seized. 
 
 Article V. 
 No person shall be held to answer for a capital or 
 otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment 
 or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising 
 in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in 
 actual service in time of war or public danger ; nor 
 shall any person be subject for the same offence to be 
 twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be 
 compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against 
 himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, 
 without due process of law ; nor shall private property 
 be taken for public use without just compensation. 
 
 Article VI. 
 In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy 
 the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 
 jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall 
 have been committed, which district shall have been 
 previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of 
 the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be con- 
 fronted with the witnesses against him; to have com-
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 pulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, 
 and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence. 
 
 Article VII. 
 
 In suits at common law, where the value in con- 
 troversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial 
 by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury 
 shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the 
 United States, than according to the rules of the 
 common law. 
 
 Article VIII. 
 
 Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive 
 fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments 
 inflicted. 
 
 Article IX. 
 
 The enumeration in the Constitution of certain 
 rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage 
 others retained by the people. 
 
 Article X.^ 
 
 The powers not delegated to the United States by 
 the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, 
 are reserved to the States respectively or to the people. 
 
 Article XI. '^ 
 
 The judicial power of the United States shall not 
 be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, 
 commenced or prosecuted against one of the United 
 States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or 
 subjects of any foreign State. 
 
 ^ Compare Amendment X. with Confed. Art. II. 
 ^ Proposed by Congress March 5, 1794, and deelared in 
 force Jan. 8, 1798. 
 
 343
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 Article XII. i 
 
 I. The electors shall meet in their respective States 
 and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, 
 one of vi^hom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of 
 the same State w^ith themselves ; they shall name in 
 their ballots the person voted for as President, and in 
 distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, 
 and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted 
 for as President and of all persons voted for as Vice- 
 President, and of the number of votes for each ; which 
 lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to 
 the seat of the government of the United States, di- 
 rected to the President of the Senate. The President 
 of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and 
 House of Representatives, open all the certificates and 
 the votes shall then be counted. The person having 
 the greatest number of votes for President shall be 
 the President, if such number be a majority of the 
 whole number of electors appointed ; and if no person 
 have such majority, then from the persons having the 
 highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of 
 those voted for as President, the House of Repre- 
 sentatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the 
 President. But in choosing the President the votes 
 shall be taken by States, the representation from each 
 State having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall 
 consist of a member or members from two thirds of 
 the States, and a majority of all the States shall be 
 necessary to a choice. And if the House of Repre- 
 sentatives shall not choose a President whenever the 
 
 ^ Proposed by Congress Dec. 12, 1803, and declared in 
 force Sept. 25, 1804. 
 
 344
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 
 fourth day of March next following, then the Vice- 
 President shall act as President, as in the case of the 
 death or other constitutional disability of the Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 2. The person having the greatest number of votes 
 as Vice-President shall be the Vice-President, if such 
 number be a majority of the whole number of electors 
 appointed ; and if no person have a majority, then from 
 the two highest numbers on the list the Senate sha,ll 
 choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose 
 shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of 
 Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be 
 necessary to a choice. 
 
 3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the 
 office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice- 
 President of the United States. 
 
 Article XIII. ^ 
 
 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex- 
 cept as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall 
 have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United 
 States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 
 
 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
 by appropriate legislation. 
 
 Article XIV. 2 
 
 I. All persons born or naturalized in the United 
 States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citi- 
 
 1 Proposed by Congress Feb. i, 1865, and declared in 
 force Dec. 18, 1865. 
 
 ^ Proposed by Congress June 16, 1866, and declared in 
 force July 28, 1868. 
 
 345
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 zens of the United States and of the State wherein 
 they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 
 which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of 
 citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State de- 
 prive any person of life, liberty, or property, without 
 due process of law ; nor deny to any person within 
 its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 
 
 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the 
 several States according to their respective numbers, 
 counting the whole number of persons in each State, 
 excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to 
 vote at any election for the choice of electors for 
 President and Vice-President of the United States, 
 Representatives in Congress, the executive and judi- 
 cial officers of a State, or the members of the legisla- 
 ture thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants 
 of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citi- 
 zens of the United States, or in any way abridged, ex- 
 cept for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the 
 basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the 
 proportion which the number of such male citizens 
 shall bear to the whole number of male citizens 
 twenty-one years of age in such State. 
 
 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative 
 in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-Presi- 
 dent, or hold any office, civil or military, under the 
 United States or under any State, who, having previ- 
 ously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as 
 an officer of the United States, or as a member of any 
 State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer 
 of any State, to support the Constitution of the United 
 States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion 
 against the same, or given aid or comfort to the ene-
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 mies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two 
 thirds of each house, remove such disability. 
 
 4. The validity of the public debt of the United 
 States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for 
 payment of pensions and bounties for services in sup- 
 pressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be ques- 
 tioned. But neither the United States nor any State 
 shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in 
 aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United 
 States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of 
 any slave ; but all such debts, obligations, and claims 
 shall be held illegal and void. 
 
 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by 
 appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. 
 
 Article XV. ^ 
 
 1. The right of citizens of the United States to 
 vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United 
 States or by any State on account of race, colour, or 
 previous condition of servitude. 
 
 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this 
 article by appropriate legislation. 
 
 FRANKLIN'S SPEECH ON THE LAST DAY 
 OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVEN- 
 TION 2 
 
 Monday, September 17. In Convention — The en- 
 grossed Constitution being read. Doctor Franklin rose 
 
 ^ Proposed by Congress, Feb. 26, 1869, and declared in 
 force, March 30, 1870. 
 
 " From Madison's "Journal," in E\\ot'?, Debates, vol. v. 
 
 p. 554- 
 
 347
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 with a speech in his hand, which he had reduced to 
 writing for his own convenience, and which Mr. 
 Wilson read in the words following : — 
 
 " Mr. President : I confess that there are several 
 parts of this Constitution which I do not at present 
 approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve 
 them. For, having lived long, I have experienced 
 many instances of being obliged by better information, 
 or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on 
 important subjects which I once thought right, but 
 found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older 
 I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judg- 
 ment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of 
 others. Most men, indeed, as well as most sects in 
 religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, 
 and that wherever others differ from them it is so far 
 error. Steele, a Protestant, in a dedication tells the 
 Pope that the only difference between our churches, 
 in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrines, is, 
 * the Church of Rome is infallible, and the Church 
 of England is never in the wrong.' But though 
 many private persons think almost as highly of their 
 own infallibility as of that of their sect, few express 
 it so naturally as a certain French lady who, in a dis- 
 pute with her sister, said, ' I don't know how it hap- 
 pens, sister, but I meet with nobody but myself that 
 is always in the right — // rCy a que moi qui a toujours 
 raison.' In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Con- 
 stitution, with all its faults, if they are such, because 
 I think a General Government necessary for us, and 
 there is no form of government but what may be a 
 blessing to the people if well administered; and be- 
 lieve further, that this is likely to be well administered 
 
 348
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, 
 as other forms have done before it, when the people 
 shall become so corrupted as to need despotic govern- 
 ment, being incapable of any other. I doubt, too, 
 whether any other Convention we can obtain may be 
 able to make a better Constitution. For when you 
 assemble a number of men to have the advantage of 
 their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those 
 men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of 
 opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. 
 From such an assembly can a perfect production be 
 expected .? It, therefore, astonishes me, sir, to find 
 this system approaching so near to perfection as it 
 does : and I think it will astonish our enemies, who 
 are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils 
 are confounded, like those of the builders of Babel, 
 and that our States are on the point of separation, 
 only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one 
 another's throats. Thus I consent, sir, to this Con- 
 stitution because I expect no better, and because I am 
 not sure that it is not the best. The opinions I have 
 had of its errors I sacrifice to the public good. I 
 have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. 
 Within these walls they were born and here they shall 
 die. If every one of us, in returning to our constitu- 
 ents, were to report the objections he has had to it, 
 and endeavour to gain partisans in support of them, 
 we might prevent its being generally received, and 
 thereby lose all the salutary eff'ects and great advan- 
 tages resulting naturally in our favour among foreign 
 nations as well as among ourselves, from our real or 
 apparent unanimity. Much of the strength and effi- 
 ciency of any government, in procuring and securing 
 
 349
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 happiness to the people, depends on opinion — on the 
 general opinion of the goodness of the government as 
 well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors. 
 I hope, therefore, that for our own sakes, as a part of 
 the people, and for the sake of posterity, we shall act 
 heartily and unanimously in recommending this Con- 
 stitution (if approved by Congress and confirmed by 
 the Conventions) wherever our influence may extend, 
 and turn our future thoughts and endeavours to the 
 means of having it well administered. On the whole, 
 sir, I cannot help expressing a wish that every mem- 
 ber of the Convention who may still have objections 
 to it would, with me, on this occasion doubt a little 
 of his own infallibility, and, to make manifest our 
 unanimity, put his name to this instrument." 
 
 He then moved that the Constitution be signed by 
 the members, and offered the following as a conven- 
 ient form, viz. : " Done in Convention by the unani- 
 mous consent of the States present the seventeenth of 
 September, etc. In witness whereof we have here- 
 unto subscribed our names." This ambiguous form 
 had been drawn up by Mr. Gouverneur Morris, in 
 order to gain the dissenting members, and put into the 
 hands of Doctor Franklin, that it might have the 
 better chance of success. [Considerable discussion 
 followed, Randolph and Gerry stating their reasons 
 for refusing to sign the Constitution. Mr. Hamilton 
 expressed his anxiety that every member should sign. 
 A few characters of consequence, he said, by oppos- 
 ing or even refusing to sign the Constitution, might 
 do infinite mischief by kindling the latent sparks that 
 lurk under an enthusiasm in favour of the Convention 
 which may soon subside. No man's ideas were more 
 
 3S^ 
 
 J
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 remote from the plan than his own were known to 
 be ; but is it possible to deliberate between anarchy and 
 convulsion on one side, and the chance of good to 
 be expected from the plan on the other ? This dis- 
 cussion concluded, the Convention voted that its 
 journal and other papers should be retained by the 
 President, subject to the order of Congress.] The 
 members then proceeded to sign the Constitution as 
 finally amended. The Constitution being signed by 
 all the members except Mr. Randolph, Mr. Mason, 
 and Mr. Gerry, who declined giving it the sanction 
 of their names, the Convention dissolved itself by an 
 adjournment sine die. 
 
 Whilst the last members were signing, Doctor 
 Franklin, looking towards the President's chair, at the 
 back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, 
 observed to a few members near him that painters had 
 found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising 
 from a setting sun. I have, said he, often and often, 
 in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of 
 my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that 
 behind the President without being able to tell whether 
 it was rising or setting ; but now, at length, I have 
 the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not a 
 setting, sun. 
 
 351
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 MAGNA CHARTA,! 
 
 Or the Great Charter of King John, granted June 
 15, A. D. 1215. 
 
 John, by the Grace of God, King of England, 
 Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and 
 Count of Anjou, to his Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, 
 Earls, Barons, Justiciaries, Foresters, Sheriffs, Gov- 
 ernors, Officers, and to all Bailiffs, and his faithful 
 subjects, greeting. Know ye, that we, in the presence 
 of God, and for the salvation of our soul, and the 
 souls of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the 
 honour of God and the advancement of Holy Church, 
 and amendment of our Realm, by advice of our ven- 
 erable Fathers, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 Primate of all England and Cardinal of the Holy 
 Roman Church ; Henry, Archishop of Dublin ; Wil- 
 liam, of London ; Peter, of Winchester ; Jocelin of 
 Bath and Glastonbury ; Hugh, of Lincoln ; Walter, 
 of Worcester ; William, of Coventry ; Benedict, of 
 Rochester — Bishops: of Master Pandulph, Sub- 
 Deacon and Familiar of our Lord the Pope ; Brother 
 Aymeric, Master of the Knights-Templars in Eng- 
 land; and of the noble Persons, William Marescall, 
 Earl of Pembroke ; William, Earl of Salisbury ; Wil- 
 liam, Earl of Warren ; William, Earl of Arundel ; 
 Alan de Galloway, Constable of Scotland; Warin 
 FitzGerald, Peter FitzHerbert, and Hubert de Burgh, 
 
 ^ I have, by permission, reproduced the Old South Leaflet, 
 with its notes, etc., in fiall.
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 Seneschal of Poitou ; Hugh de Neville, Matthew 
 FitzHerbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip of 
 Albiney, Robert de Roppell, John Mareschal, John 
 FitzHugh, and others, our liegemen, have, in the first 
 place, granted to God, and by this our present Charter 
 confirmed, for us and our heirs for ever : — 
 
 1. That the Church of England shall be free, and 
 have her w^hole rights, and her liberties inviolable j 
 and w^e will have them so observed, that it may appear 
 thence that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned 
 chief and indispensable to the English Church, and 
 which we granted and confirmed by our Charter, and 
 obtained the confirmation of the same from our Lord 
 the Pope Innocent III., before the discord between us 
 and our barons, was granted of mere free will ; which 
 Charter we shall observe, and we do will it to be 
 faithfully observed by our heirs for ever. 
 
 2. We also have granted to all the freemen of our 
 kingdom, for us and for our heirs for ever, all the 
 underwritten liberties, to be had and holden by them 
 and their heirs, of us and our heirs for ever : If any 
 of our earls, or barons, or others, who hold of us in 
 chief by military service, shall die, and at the time of 
 his death his heir shall be of full age, and owe a re- 
 lief, he shall have his inheritance by the ancient relief 
 — that is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl, for a 
 whole earldom, by a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs 
 of a baron, for a whole barony, by a hundred pounds ; 
 the heir or heirs of a knight, for a whole knight's fee, 
 by a hundred shillings at most ; and whoever oweth 
 less shall give less, according to the ancient custom of 
 fees. 
 
 3. But if the heir of any such shall be under age, 
 
 353
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 and shall be in ward, when he comes of age he shall 
 have his inheritance without relief and without fine. 
 
 4. The keeper of the land of such an heir being 
 under age, shall take of the land of the heir none but 
 reasonable issues, reasonable customs, and reasonable 
 services, and that without destruction and waste of his 
 men and his goods ; and if we commit the custody of 
 any such lands to the sheriff, or any other who is 
 answerable to us for the issues of the land, and he 
 shall make destruction and waste of the lands which 
 he hath in custody, we will take of him amends, and 
 the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet 
 men of that fee, who shall answer for the issues to us, 
 or to him to whom we shall assign them ; and if we 
 sell or give to any one the custody of any such lands, 
 and he therein make destruction or waste, he shall lose 
 the same custody, which shall be committed to two 
 lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall in like 
 manner answer to us as aforesaid. 
 
 5. But the keeper, so long as he shall have the 
 custody of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks, 
 warrens, ponds, mills, and other things pertaining to 
 the land, out of the issues of the same land ; and shall 
 deliver to the heir, when he comes of full age, his 
 whole land, stocked with ploughs and carriages, ac- 
 cording as the time of wainage shall require, and the 
 issues of the land can reasonably bear. 
 
 6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, 
 and so that before matrimony shall be contracted, 
 those who are near in blood to the heir shall have 
 notice. 
 
 7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall 
 forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage and 
 
 354
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 inheritance ; nor shall she give anything for her dower, 
 or her marriage, or her inheritance, which her hus- 
 band and she held at the day of his death ; and she 
 may remain in the mansion house of her husband 
 forty days after his death, within which time her 
 dower shall be assigned. 
 
 8. No widow shall be distrained to marry herself, 
 so long as she has a mind to live without a husband ; 
 but yet she shall give security that she will not marry 
 without our assent, if she hold of us ; or without the 
 consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she hold of 
 another. 
 
 9. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land 
 or rent for any debt so long as the chattels of the 
 debtor are sufficient to pay the debt ; nor shall the 
 sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the prin- 
 cipal debtor has sufficient to pay the debt ; and if the 
 principal debtor shall fail in the payment of the debt, 
 not having wherewithal to pay it, then the sureties 
 shall answer the debt; and if they will they shall have 
 the lands and rents of the debtor, until they shall be 
 satisfied for the debt which they paid for him, un- 
 less the principal debtor can show himself acquitted 
 thereof against the said sureties. 
 
 10. If any one have borrowed anything of the 
 Jews, more or less, and die before the debt be satis- 
 fied, there shall be no interest paid for that debt, so 
 long as the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may 
 hold ; and if the debt falls into our hands, we will only 
 take the chattel mentioned in the deed. 
 
 11. And if any one shall die indebted to the Jews, 
 his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of that 
 debt ; and if the deceased left children under age, they 
 
 3SS
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 shall have necessaries provided for them, according to 
 the tenement of the deceased ; and out of the residue 
 the debt shall be paid, saving, however, the service due 
 to the lords, and in like manner shall it be done touch- 
 ing debts due to others than the Jews. 
 
 12. No scut age or aid ^ shall he imposed in our king- 
 dom^ unless by the general council of our kingdom ; except 
 for ransoming our person, making our eldest son a 
 knight, and once for marrying our eldest daughter ; 
 and for these there shall be paid no more than a rea- 
 sonable aid. In like manner it shall be concerning the 
 aids of the City of London. 
 
 13. And the City of London shall have all its an- 
 cient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by 
 water : furthermore, we will and grant that all other 
 cities and boroughs, and towns and ports, shall have 
 all their liberties and free customs. 
 
 14. And for holding the general council of the kingdom 
 concerning the assessment of aids ^ except in the three cases 
 aforesaid^ and for the assessing of scutages^ we shall cause 
 to be summoned the archbishops^ bishops^ abbots^ earls., and 
 greater barons of the realm^ singly by our letters. And 
 furthermore., we shall cause to he summoned generally^ by 
 our sheriff's and bailiffs., all others who hold of us in chief 
 for a certain day., that is to say., forty days before their 
 meeting at least., and to a certain place ; and in all let- 
 ters of such summons we will declare the cause of such 
 summons. And summons being thus made., the business shall 
 
 1 In the time of the feudal system scutage was a direct 
 tax in commutation for military service ; aids were direct taxes 
 paid by the tenant to his lord for ransoming his person if taken 
 captive, and for helping defray the expenses of knighting his 
 eldest son and marrying his eldest daughter.
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 proceed on the day appointed^ according to the advice of 
 such as shall be present^ although all that were summoned 
 come not. 
 
 15. We will not for the future grant to any one 
 that he may take aid of his own free tenants, unless 
 to ransom his body, and to make his eldest son a 
 knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and for 
 this there shall be only paid a reasonable aid. 
 
 16. No man shall be distrained to perform more 
 service for a knight's fee, or other free tenement, than 
 is due from thence. 
 
 17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but 
 shall be holden in some place certain. 
 
 18. Trials upon the Writs of Novel Disseisin,^ 
 and of Mort d'ancestor,2and of Darrein Presentment,^ 
 shall not be taken but in their proper counties, and 
 after this manner : We, or if we should be out of the 
 realm, our chief justiciary, will send two justiciaries 
 through every county four times a year, who, with 
 four knights of each county, chosen by the county, 
 shall hold the said assizes * in the county, on the day, 
 and at the place appointed. 
 
 19. And if any matters cannot be determined on 
 the day appointed for holding the assizes in each 
 
 ^ Dispossession. 
 
 ^ Death of the ancestor ; that is, in cases of disputed suc- 
 cession to land. 
 
 ^ Last presentation to a benefice. 
 
 * The word Assize here means ** an assembly of knights 
 or other substantial persons, held at a certain time and place 
 where they sit with the Justice. * Assisa ' or * Assize ' is 
 also taken for the court, place, or time at which the writs of 
 Assize are taken." — Thompson' s Notes. 
 
 357
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 county, so many of the knights and freeholders as have 
 been at the assizes aforesaid shall stay to decide them 
 as is necessary, according as there is more or less busi- 
 ness. 
 
 20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a small 
 offence, but only according to the degree of the of- 
 fence ; and for a great crime according to the heinous- 
 ness of it, saving to him his contenement ; ^ and after 
 the same manner a merchant, saving to him his mer- 
 chandise. And a villein shall be amerced after the 
 same manner, saving to him his wainage, if he falls 
 under our mercy ; and none of the aforesaid amercia- 
 ments shall be assessed but by the oath of honest men 
 in the neighbourhood. 
 
 21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced but by 
 their peers, and after the degree of the offence. 
 
 22. No ecclesiastical person shall be amerced for 
 his lay tenement, but according to the proportion of 
 the others aforesaid, and not according to the value of 
 his ecclesiastical benefice. 
 
 23. Neither a town nor any tenant shall be dis- 
 trained to make bridges or embankments, unless that 
 anciently and of right they are bound to do it. 
 
 24. No sheriff, constable, coroner, or other our 
 bailiffs, shall hold " Pleas of the Crown." 2 
 
 25. All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and treth- 
 ings, shall stand at the old rents, without any increase, 
 except in our demesne manors. 
 
 26. If any one holding of us a lay fee die, and the 
 
 ^ " That by which a person subsists and which is essential 
 to his rank in life." 
 
 ^ These are suits conducted in the name of the Crown 
 against criminal offenders.
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 sherlfF, or our bailiffs, show our letters patent of sum- 
 mons for debt which the dead man did owe to us, it 
 shall be lawful for the sheriff or our bailiff to attach 
 and register the chattels of the dead, found upon his 
 lay fee, to the amount of the debt, by the view of law- 
 ful men, so as nothing be removed until our whole 
 clear debt be paid ; and the rest shall be left to the ex- 
 ecutors to fulfil the testament of the dead ; and if there 
 be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall 
 go to the use of the dead, saving to his wife and chil- 
 dren their reasonable shares.^ 
 
 27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels 
 shall be distributed by the hands of his nearest rela- 
 tions and friends, by view of the Church, saving to 
 every one his debts which the deceased owed to him. 
 
 28. No constable or bailiff of ours shall take corn 
 or other chattels of any man unless he presently give 
 him money for it, or hath respite of payment by the 
 good-will of the seller. 
 
 29. No constable shall distrain any knight to give 
 money for castle-guard, if he himself will do it in his 
 person, or by another able man, in case he cannot do 
 it through any reasonable cause. And if we have 
 carried or sent him into the army, he shall be free from 
 
 ^ A person's goods were divided into three parts, of which 
 one went to his wife, another to his heirs, and a third he was 
 at liberty to dispose of. If he had no child, his widow had 
 half; and if he had children, but no wife, half was divided 
 amongst them. These several sums were called *♦ reasonable 
 shares." Through the testamentary jurisdiction they gradu- 
 ally acquired, the clergy often contrived to get into their own 
 hands all the residue of the estate without paying the debts of 
 the estate. 
 
 359
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 such guard for the time he shall be in the army by our 
 command. 
 
 30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or any other, shall 
 take horses or carts of any freeman for carriage, with- 
 out the assent of the said freeman. 
 
 31. Neither shall we nor our bailiffs take any man's 
 timber for our castles or other uses, unless by the con- 
 sent of the owner of the timber. 
 
 32. We will retain the lands of those convicted of 
 felony only one year and a day, and then they shall 
 be delivered to the lord of the fee.^ 
 
 33. All kydells^ (wears) for the time to come shall 
 be put down in the rivers of Thames and Medway, 
 and throughout all England, except upon the sea- 
 coast. 
 
 34. The writ which is called prcecipe^ for the future, 
 shall not be made out to any one, of any tenement, 
 whereby a freeman may lose his court. 
 
 35. There shall be one measure of wine and one 
 of ale through our whole realm ; and one measure of 
 corn, that is to say, the London quarter ; and one 
 breadth of dyed cloth, and russets, and haberjeets, 
 that is to say, two ells within the lists j and it shall be 
 of weights as it is of measures. 
 
 ^ All forfeiture for felony has been abolished by the 3 3 and 
 34 Vic, c. 23. It seems to have originated in the destruc- 
 tion of the felon's property being part of the sentence, and 
 this * ' waste ' ' being commuted for temporary possession by 
 the Crown. 
 
 ^ The purport of this was to prevent inclosures of common 
 property, or committing a ** Purpresture. " These wears 
 are now called "kettles" or "kettle-nets" in Kent and 
 Cornwall. 
 
 360
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 36. Nothing from henceforth shall be given or taken 
 for a writ of inquisition of life or litnb^ but it shall be 
 granted freely^ and not denied. 1 
 
 37. If any do hold of us by fee-farm, or by socage, 
 or by burgage, and he hold also lands of any other by 
 knight's service, we will not have the custody of the 
 heir or land, which is holden of another man's fee by 
 reason of that fee-farm, socage,^ or burgage ; neither 
 will we have the custody of the fee-farm, or socage, 
 or burgage, unless knight's service was due to us out 
 of the same fee-farm. We will not have the custody 
 of an heir, nor of any land which he holds of another 
 by knight's service, by reason of any petty serjeanty^ 
 by which he holds of us, by the service of paying a 
 knife, an arrow, or the like. 
 
 38. No bailiff from henceforth shall put any man 
 to his law * upon his own bare saying, without credi- 
 ble witnesses to prove it. 
 
 39. No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned^ or dis- 
 seised^ or outlawed^ or banished^ or any ways destroyed^ 
 nor will we pass upon him^ nor will we send upon hinij 
 
 ^ This important writ, or ** writ concerning hatred and 
 malice," may have been the prototype of the writ oi habeas 
 corpus, and was granted for a similar purpose. 
 
 ^ '* Socage " signifies lands held by tenure of performing 
 certain inferior offices in husbandry, probably from the old 
 French word sac, a plough-share. 
 
 * The tenure of giving the king some small weapon of 
 war in acknowledgment of lands held. 
 
 * Equivalent to putting him to his oath. This alludes to 
 the Wager of Law, by which a defendant and his eleven sup- 
 porters or " compurgators " could swear to his non-liability, 
 and this amounted to a verdict in his favour. 
 
 361
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 unless by the lawful judgment of his peers^ or by the law 
 of the land. 
 
 40. IVe will sell to no man^ we will not deny to any 
 man,, either justice or right. 
 
 41. All merchants shall have safe and secure con- 
 duct, to go out of, and to come into England, and to 
 stay there and to pass as well by land as by water, for 
 buying and selling by the ancient and allowed cus- 
 toms, without any unjust tolls ; except in time of 
 war, or when they are of any nation at war with us. 
 And if there be found any such in our land, in the 
 beginning of the war, they shall be attached, without 
 damage to their bodies or goods, until it be known 
 unto us, or our chief justiciary, how our merchants 
 be treated in the nation at war with us ; and if ours 
 be safe there, the others shall be safe in our domin- 
 ions. 
 
 42. It shall be lawful, for the time to come, for 
 any one to go out of our kingdom, and return safely 
 and securely by land or by water, saving his allegiance 
 to us ; unless in time of war, by some short space, for 
 the common benefit of the realm, except prisoners and 
 outlaws, according to the law of the land, and people 
 in war with us, and merchants who shall be treated as 
 is above mentioned.^ 
 
 43. If any man hold of any escheat,^ as of the 
 
 ^ The Crown has still technically the power of confining 
 subjects within the kingdom by the writ **ne exeat regno," 
 though the use of the writ is rarely resorted to. 
 
 2 The word escheat is derived from the French escheoir, 
 to return or happen, and signifies the return of an estate to 
 a lord, either on failure of tenant's issue or on his commit- 
 ting felony. The abolition of feudal tenures by the Act of 
 362
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 honour of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lan- 
 caster, or of other escheats which be in our hands, and 
 are baronies, and die, his heir shall give no other re- 
 lief, and perform no other service to us than he would 
 to the baron, if it were in the baron's hand ; and 
 we will hold it after the same manner as the baron 
 held it. 
 
 44. Those men who dwell without the forest 
 from henceforth shall not come before our justiciaries 
 of the forest, upon common summons, but such as 
 are impleaded, or are sureties for any that are attached 
 for something concerning the forest.^ 
 
 45. We will not make any justices, constables, 
 sheriffs, or bailiffs, but of such as know the law of the 
 realm and mean duly to observe it. 
 
 46. All barons who have founded abbeys, which 
 they hold by charter from the kings of England, or by 
 ancient tenure, shall have the keeping of them, when 
 vacant, as they ought to have. 
 
 47. All forests that have been made forests in our 
 time shall forthwith be disforested ; and the same shall 
 be done with the water-banks that have been fenced 
 in by us in our time. 
 
 48. All evil customs concerning forests, warrens, 
 foresters, and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, 
 water-banks and their keepers, shall forthwith be in- 
 quired into in each county, by twelve sworn knights 
 of the same county, chosen by creditable persons of 
 
 Charles II. (12 Charles II. c. 24) rendered obsolete this part 
 and many other parts of the Charter. 
 
 ^ The laws for regulating the royal forests, and administer- 
 ing justice in respect of offences committed in their precincts, 
 formed a large part of the law.
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 the same county ; and within forty days after the said 
 inquest be utterly abolished, so as never to be re- 
 stored : so as we are first acquainted therewith, or our 
 justiciary, if we should not be in England. 
 
 49. We will immediately give up all hostages and 
 charters delivered unto us by our English subjects, as 
 securities for their keeping the peace, and yielding us 
 faithful service. 
 
 50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks 
 the relations of Gerard de Atheyes, so that for the 
 future they shall have no bailiwick in England ; we 
 will also remove Engelard de Cygony, Andrew, Peter, 
 and Gyon, from the Chancery ; Gyon de Cygony, 
 Geoffrey de Martyn, and his brothers ; Philip Mark, 
 and his brothers, and his nephew, Geoffrey, and their 
 whole retinue. 
 
 51. As soon as peace is restored, we will send out 
 of the kingdom all foreign knights, cross-bowmen, and 
 stipendiaries, who are come with horses and arms to 
 the molestation of our people. 
 
 52. If any one has been dispossessed or deprived 
 by us, without the lawful judgment of his peers, of 
 his lands, castles, liberties, or right, we will forthwith 
 restore them to him ; and if any dispute arise upon this 
 head, let the matter be decided by the five-and-twenty 
 barons hereafter mentioned, for the preservation of the 
 peace. And for all those things of which any person 
 has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been 
 dispossessed or deprived, either by our father King 
 Henry, or our brother King Richard, and which* we 
 have in our hands, or are possessed by others, and we 
 are bound to warrant and make good, we shall have a 
 respite till the term usually allowed the crusaders j 
 
 364
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 excepting those things about which there is a plea de- 
 pending, or whereof an inquest hath been made, by 
 our order before we undertook the crusade ; but as 
 soon as we return from our expedition, or if perchance 
 we tarry at home and do not make our expedition, we 
 will immediately cause full justice to be administered 
 therein. 
 
 53. The same respite we shall have, and in the 
 same manner, about administering justice, disafforest- 
 ing or letting continue the forests, which Henry our 
 father, and our brother Richard, have afforested ; and 
 the same concerning the wardship of the lands which 
 are in another's fee, but the wardship of which we 
 have hitherto had, by reason of a fee held of us by 
 knight's service ; and for the abbeys founded in any 
 other fee than our own, in which the lord of the fee 
 says he has a right ; and when we return from our 
 expedition, or if we tarry at home, and do not make 
 our expedition, we will immediately do full justice to 
 all the complainants in this behalf. 
 
 54. No man shall be taken or imprisoned upon the 
 appeal ^ of a woman, for the death of any other than 
 her husband. 
 
 55. All unjust and illegal finds made by us, and all 
 amerciaments imposed unjustly and contrary to the 
 law of the land, shall be entirely given up, or else be 
 
 ^ An ^ppea/ here mezns an " accusau'on." The appeal 
 here mentioned was a suit for a penalty in which the plaintiff 
 was a relation who had suffered through a murder or man- 
 slaughter. One of the incidents of this " Appeal of Death" 
 was the Trial by Battle. These Appeals and Trial by Bat- 
 tle were not abolished before the passing of the Act 59 Geo. 
 III., c. 46. 
 
 3^5
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 left to the decision of the five-and-twenty barons here- 
 after mentioned for the preservation of the peace, or 
 of the major part of them, together with the aforesaid 
 Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be pre- 
 sent, and others whom he shall think fit to invite ; and 
 if he cannot be present, the business shall notwith- 
 standing go on without him ; but so that if one or more 
 of the aforesaid five-and-twenty barons be plaintiffs in 
 the same cause, they shall be set aside as to what con- 
 cerns this particular affair, and others be chosen in 
 their room, out of the said five-and-twenty, and sworn 
 by the rest to decide the matter. 
 
 56. If we have disseised or dispossessed the Welsh 
 of any lands, liberties, or other things, without the 
 legal judgment of their peers, either in England or in 
 Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them ; 
 and if any dispute arise upon this head, the matter 
 shall be determined in the Marches by the judgment 
 of their peers ; for tenements in England according 
 to the law of England, for tenements in Wales ac- 
 cording to the law of Wales, for tenements of the 
 Marches according to the law of the Marches : the 
 same shall the Welsh do to us and our subjects. 
 
 57. As for all those things of which a Welshman 
 hath, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been 
 disseised or deprived of by King Henry our father, or 
 our brother King Richard, and which we either have in 
 our hands or others are possessed of, and we are obliged 
 to warrant it, we shall have a respite till the time gen- 
 erally allowed the crusaders ; excepting those things 
 about which a suit is depending, or whereof an inquest 
 has been made by our order, before we undertook the 
 crusade ; but when we return, or if we stay at home
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 without performing our expedition, we will immedi- 
 ately do them full justice according to the laws of the 
 Welsh and of the parts before mentioned. 
 
 58. We will without delay dismiss the son of 
 Llewellin, and all the Welsh hostages, and release 
 them from the engagements they have entered into 
 with us for the preservation of the peace. 
 
 59. We will treat with Alexander, King of Scots, 
 concerning the restoring his sisters and hostages, and 
 his right and liberties, in the same form and manner 
 as we shall do to the rest of our barons of England ; 
 unless by the charters which we have from his father, 
 William, late King of Scots, it ought to be otherwise ; 
 and this shall be left to the determination of his peers 
 in our court. 
 
 60. All the aforesaid customs and liberties, which 
 we have granted to be holden in our kingdom, as 
 much as it belongs to us, all people of our kingdom, 
 as well clergy as laity, shall observe, as far as they 
 are concerned, towards their dependents. 
 
 61. And whereas, for the honour of God and the 
 amendment of our kingdom, and for the better quiet- 
 ing the discord that has arisen between us and our 
 barons, we have granted all these things aforesaid ; 
 willing to render them firm and lasting, we do give 
 and grant our subjects the underwritten security, 
 namely that the barons may choose five-and-twenty 
 barons of the kingdom, whom they think convenient ; 
 who shall take care, with all their might, to hold and 
 observe, and cause to be observed, the peace and liber- 
 ties we have granted them, and by this our present 
 Charter confirmed in this manner ; that is to say, that 
 if we, our justiciary, our bailiffs, or any of our officers> 
 
 367
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 shall in any circumstance have failed in the perform- 
 ance of them towards any person, or shall have broken 
 through any of these articles of peace and security, and 
 the offence be notified to four barons chosen out of the 
 five-and-twenty before mentioned, the said four barons 
 shall repair to us, or our justiciary, if we are out of 
 the realm, and, laying open the grievance, shall peti- 
 tion to have it redressed without delay : and if it be 
 not redressed by us, or if we should chance to be out 
 of the realm, if it should not be redressed by our jus- 
 ticiary within forty days, reckoning from the time it 
 has been notified to us, or to our justiciary (if we 
 should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaid 
 shall lay the cause before the rest of the five-and- 
 twenty barons ; and the said five-and-twenty barons, 
 together with the community of the whole kingdom, 
 shall distrain and distress us in all the ways in which 
 they shall be able, by seizing our castles, lands, pos- 
 sessions, and in any other manner they can, till the 
 grievance is redressed, according to their pleasure ; 
 saving harmless our own person, and the persons of 
 our Queen and children ; and when it is redressed, 
 they shall behave to us as before. And any person 
 whatsoever in the kingdom may swear that he will 
 obey the orders of the five-and-twenty barons afore- 
 said in the execution of the premises, and will distress 
 us, jointly with them, to the utmost of his power ; 
 and we give public and free liberty to any one that 
 shall please to swear to this, and never will hinder 
 any person from taking the same oath. 
 
 62. As for all those of our subjects who will not, 
 of their own accord, swear to join the five-and-twenty 
 barons in distraining and distressing us, we will issue 
 368
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 orders to make them take the same oath as aforesaid. 
 And if any one of the five-and-twenty barons dies, or 
 goes out of the kingdom, or is hindered any other way 
 from carrying the things aforesaid into execution, the 
 rest of the said five-and-twenty barons may choose 
 another in his room, at their discretion, who shall be 
 sworn in like manner as the rest. In all things that are 
 committed to the execution of these five-and-twenty 
 barons, if, when they are all assembled together, they 
 should happen to disagree about any matter, and some 
 of them, when summoned, will not or cannot come, 
 whatever is agreed upon, or enjoined, by the major 
 part of those that are present shall be reputed as firm 
 and valid as if all the five-and-twenty had given their 
 consent ; and the aforesaid five-and-twenty shall 
 swear that all the premises they shall faithfully ob- 
 serve, and cause with all their power to be observed. 
 And we will procure nothing from any one, by our- 
 selves nor by another, whereby any of these conces- 
 sions and liberties may be revoked or lessened ; and 
 if any such thing shall have been obtained, let it be 
 null and void ; neither will we ever make use of it 
 either by ourselves or any other. And all the ill-will, 
 indignations, and rancours that have arisen between 
 us and our subjects, of the clergy and laity, from the 
 first breaking out of the dissensions between us, we 
 do fully remit and forgive; moreover, all trespasses 
 occasioned by the said dissensions, from Easter in the 
 sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace 
 and tranquillity, we hereby entirely remit to all, both 
 clergy and laity, and as far as in us lies do fully for- 
 give. We have, moreover, caused to be made for 
 them the letters patent testimonial of Stephen, Lord 
 
 369
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, Lord Archbishop 
 of Dublin, and the bishops aforesaid, as also of Mas- 
 ter Pandulph, for the security and concessions afore- 
 said. 
 
 63. Wherefore we will and firmly enjoin, that the 
 Church of England be free, and that all men in our 
 kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, 
 rights, and concessions, truly and peaceably, freely 
 and quietly, fully and wholly to themselves and their 
 heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and places, 
 forever, as is aforesaid. It is also sworn, as well on 
 our part as on the part of the barons, that all the 
 things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith, and 
 without evil subtilty. Given under our hand, in the 
 presence of the witnesses above named, and many 
 others, in the meadow called Runingmede, between 
 Windsor and Staines, the 15th day of June, in the 
 1 7th year of our reign. 
 
 The translation here given is that published in Sheldon 
 Amos' s work on The English Constitution. The translation 
 given by Sir E. Creasy was chiefly followed in this, but it 
 was collated with another, accurate translation by Mr. Richard 
 Thompson, accompanying his Historical Essay on Magna 
 Charta, published in 1829, and also with the Latin text. 
 *' The explanation of the whole Charter, "observes Mr. Amos, 
 " must be sought chiefly in detailed accounts of the Feudal 
 system in England, as explained in such works as those of 
 Stubbs, Hallam, and Blackstone. The scattered notes here 
 introduced have only for their purpose to elucidate the most 
 unusual and perplexing expressions. The Charter printed in 
 the Statute Book is that issued in the ninth year of Henry 
 III., which is also the one specially confirmed by the Char-
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 ter of Edward I. The Charter of Henry III. differs in 
 some (generally) insignificant points from that of John. The 
 most important difference is the omission in the later Char- 
 ter of the 14th and 15th Articles of John's Charter, by 
 which the King is restricted from levying aids beyond the 
 three ordinary ones, without the assent of the * Common 
 Council of the Kingdom,' and provision is made for summon- 
 ing it. This passage is restored by Edward I. Magna 
 Charta has been solemnly confirmed upwards of thirty 
 times." See the chapter on the Great Charter, in Green's 
 History of the E?iglish People. See also Stubbs's Documents 
 Illustrative of English History. '* The whole of the con- 
 stitutional history of England," says Stubbs, "is a commen- 
 tary on this Charter, the illustration of which must be looked 
 for in the documents that precede and follow." 
 
 " CONFIRMATIO CHARTARUM " OF EDWARD I. 
 
 1297 
 
 I. Edward, by the grace of God, King of England, 
 Lord of Ireland, and Duke Guyan, to all those that 
 these present letters shall hear or see, greeting. Know 
 ye that we, to the honour of God and of holy Church, 
 and to the profit of our realm, have granted for us 
 and our heirs, that the Charter of Liberties and the 
 Charter of the Forest, which were made by common 
 assent of all the realm in the time of King Henry our 
 father, shall be kept in every point without breach. 
 And we will that the same Charters shall be sent 
 under our seal as well to our justices of the forest as 
 to others, and to all sheriffs of shires, and to all our 
 other officers, and to all our cities throughout the 
 realm, together with our writs in the which it shall be 
 contained that they cause the foresaid Charters to be
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 published, and to declare to the people that we have 
 confirmed them in all points ; and that our justices, 
 sheriffs, mayors, and other ministers, which under us 
 have the laws of our land to guide, shall allow the 
 said Charters pleaded before them in judgment in all 
 their points ; that is to wit, the Great Charter as the 
 common law, and the Charter of the Forest accord- 
 ing to the assize of the Forest, for the wealth of our 
 realm. 
 
 II. And we will that if any judgment be given from 
 henceforth, contrary to the points of the Charters 
 aforesaid, by the justices or by any other our minis- 
 ters that hold plea before them against the points of the 
 Charters, it shall be undone and holden for naught. 
 
 III. And we will that the same Charters shall be 
 sent under our seal to cathedral churches throughout 
 our realm, there to remain, and shall be read before 
 the people two times by the year. 
 
 IV. And that all archbishops and bishops shall pro- 
 nounce the sentence of great excommunication against 
 all those that by word, deed, or counsel do contrary 
 to the foresaid Charters, or that in any point break or 
 undo them. And that the said curses be twice a year 
 denounced and published by the prelates aforesaid. 
 And if the prelates or any of them be remiss in the 
 denunciation of the said sentences, the Archbishops 
 of Canterbury and York for the time being, as is fit- 
 ting, shall compel and distrain them to make that de- 
 nunciation in form aforesaid. 
 
 V. And for so much as divers people of our realm 
 are in fear that the aids and tasks which they have 
 given to us beforetime towards our wars and other 
 business, of their own grant and goodwill, howsoever
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 they were made, might turn to a bondage to them and 
 their heirs, because they might be at another time 
 found in the rolls, and so likewise the prises taken 
 throughout the realm by our ministers ; we have 
 granted for us and our heirs, that we shall not draw 
 such aids, tasks, nor prises into a custom, for anything 
 that hath been done heretofore, or that may be found 
 by roll or in any other manner. 
 
 VI. Moreover we have granted for us and our heirs, 
 as well to archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, and 
 other folk of holy Church, as also to earls, barons, 
 and to all the commonalty of the land, that for no 
 business from henceforth will we take such manner 
 of aids, tasks, nor prises but by the common consent 
 of the realm, and for the common profit thereof, sav- 
 ing the ancient aids and prises due and accustomed. 
 
 VII. And for so much as the more part of the 
 commonalty of the realm find themselves sore grieved 
 with the matelote of wools, that is to wit, a toll of 
 forty shillings for every sack of wool, and have made 
 petition to us to release the same ; we, at their re- 
 quests, have clearly released it, and have granted for 
 us and our heirs that we shall not take such thing- nor 
 any other without their common assent and goodwill ; 
 saving to us and our heirs the custom of wools, skins, 
 and leather, granted before by the commonalty afore- 
 said. In witness of which things we have caused these 
 our letters to be made patents. Witness Edward our 
 son, at London, the loth day of October, the five- 
 and-twentieth of our reign. 
 
 And be it remembered that this same Charter, in 
 the same terms, word for word, was sealed in Flanders 
 under the King's Great Seal, that is to say, at Ghent, 
 
 373
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 the 5th day of November, in the 52th year of the 
 reign of our aforesaid Lord the King, and sent into 
 England. 
 
 The words of this important document, from Professor 
 Stubbs's translation, are given as the best explanation of the 
 constitutional position and importance of the Charters of John 
 and Henry III. See historical notice in Stubbs's Documents 
 Illustrative of English History, p. 477. This is far the 
 most important of the numerous ratifications of the Great 
 Charter. Hallam calls it ** that famous statute, inadequately 
 denominated the Confirmation of the Charters, because it 
 added another pillar to our constitution, not less important 
 than the Great Charter itself." It solemnly confirmed the 
 two Charters, the Charter of the Forest (issued by Henry II. 
 in 1 21 7 — see text in Stubbs, p. 338) being then considered 
 as of equal importance with Magna Charta itself, establishing 
 them in all points as the law of the land ; but it did more. 
 *' Hitherto the king's prerogative of levying money by name 
 of tallage or prise, from his towns and tenants in demesne, 
 had passed unquestioned. Some impositions, that especially 
 on the export of wool, affected all the king's subjects. It 
 was now the moment to enfranchise the people and give that 
 security to private property which Magna Charta had given 
 to personal liberty." Edward's statute binds the king never 
 to take any of these " aids, tasks, and prises " in fixture, save 
 by the common assent of the realm. Hence, as Bowen re- 
 marks, the Confirmation of the Charters, or an abstract of it 
 under the form of a supposed statute de tallagio non conce- 
 dendo (see Stubbs, p. 487), was more frequently cited than 
 any other enactment by the parliamentary leaders who re- 
 feisted the encroachments of Charles I. The original of the 
 Confirmatio Chartarum, which is in Norman French, is still 
 in existence, though considerably shrivelled by the fire which 
 damaged so many of the Cottonian manuscripts in 1731. 
 
 374
 
 MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 THE GRANT OF THE GREAT CHARTER 
 
 <♦ An island in the Thames between Staines and Windsor 
 had been chosen as the place of conference : the King en- 
 camped on one bank, while the barons covered the marshy 
 flat, still known by the name of Runnymede, on the other. 
 Their delegates met in the island between them, but the 
 negotiations were a mere cloak to cover John's purpose of 
 unconditional submission. The Great Charter was discussed, 
 agreed to, and signed in a single day. One copy of it still 
 remains in the British Museum, injured by age and fire, but 
 with the royal seal still hanging from the brown, shrivelled 
 parchment. It is impossible to gaze without reverence on the 
 earliest monument of English freedom which we can see with 
 our own eyes and touch with our own hands, the great 
 Charter to which from age to age patriots have looked back 
 as the basis of English liberty. But in itself the Charter was 
 no novelty, nor did it claim to establish any new constitu- 
 tional principles. The Charter of Henry the First formed 
 the basis of the whole, and the additions to it are for the 
 most part formal recognitions of the judicial and administrative 
 changes introduced by Henry the Second. But the vague 
 expressions of the older charters were now exchanged for 
 precise and elaborate provisions. The bonds of unwritten 
 custom which the older grants did little more than recognize 
 had proved too weak to hold the Angevins ; and the baron- 
 age now threw them aside for the restraints of written law. 
 It is in this way that the Great Charter marks the transition 
 from the age of traditional rights, preserved in the nation's 
 memory and officially declared by the Primate, to the age of 
 written legislation, of Parhaments and Statutes, which was 
 soon to come. The Church had shown its power of self- 
 defence in the struggle over the interdict, and the clause 
 which recognized its rights alone retained the older and gen- 
 eral form. But all vagueness ceases when the Charter passes 
 
 375
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 on to deal with the rights of Englishmen at large, their right 
 to justice, to security of person and property, to good govern- 
 ment. * No freeman,' ran the memorable article that lies at 
 the base of our whole judicial system, * shall be seized or im- 
 prisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or in any way brought 
 to ruin ; we will not go against any man nor send against him, 
 save by legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the 
 land.' * To no man will we sell,' runs another, * or deny, 
 or delay, right or justice.' The great reforms of the past 
 reigns were now formally recognized ; judges of assize were 
 to hold their circuits four times in the year, and the Court of 
 Common Pleas was no longer to follow the King in his 
 wanderings over the realm, but to sit in a fixed place. But 
 the denial of justice under John was a small danger compared 
 with the lawless exactions both of himself and his predecessor. 
 Richard had increased the amount of the scutage which 
 Henry II. had introduced, and applied it to raise funds for 
 his ransom. He had restored the Danegeld, or land tax, so 
 often abolished, under the new name of * carucage,' had 
 seized the wool of the Cistercians and the plate of the 
 churches, and rated movables as well as land. John had 
 again raised the rate of scutage, and imposed aids, fines, and 
 ransoms at his pleasure without counsel of the baronage. The 
 Great Charter met this abuse by the provision on which our 
 constitutional system rests. With the exception of the three 
 customary feudal aids which still remained to the crown, * no 
 scutage or aid shall be imposed in our realm save by the 
 Common Council of the realm ; ' and to this Great Council 
 it was provided that prelates and the greater barons should be 
 summ.oned by special writ, and all tenants in chief through 
 the sheriiFs and bailiffs, at least forty days before. But it 
 was less easy to pro\'ide means for the control of a King 
 whom no man could trust, and a council of twenty-four bar- 
 ons was chosen from the general body of their order to en- 
 force on John the observance of the Charter, with the right 
 of declaring war on the King should its provisions be infringed .
 
 A PART OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS 
 
 Finally, the Charter was published throughout the whole 
 country, and sworn to at every hundred-mote and town-mote 
 by order from the King." — Green's Short History of the 
 English People, p. 123. 
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 A PART OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS 
 
 An Act for Declaring the Rights and Liberties of 
 THE Subject, and Settling the Succession of the 
 Crown. 1689. 
 
 Whereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and 
 Commons, assembled at Westminster, lawfully, fully, 
 and freely representing all the estates of the people of 
 this realm, did upon the thirteenth day of February, 
 in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred 
 eighty-eight [o. s.],^ present unto their Majesties, then 
 called and known by the names and style of William 
 and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, being pre- 
 sent in their proper persons, a certain Declaration in 
 writing, made by the said Lords and Commons, in the 
 words following, viz. : 
 
 Whereas the late King James II., by the assistance 
 of divers evil counsellors, judges, and ministers em- 
 ployed by him, did endeavour to subvert and extirpate 
 the Protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of 
 this kingdom : 
 
 I. By assuming and exercising a power of dispens- 
 ing with and suspending of laws, and the execution 
 of laws, without consent of Parliament. 
 
 ^ In New Style Feb. 23, 1689. 
 
 377
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 2. By committing and prosecuting divers worthy 
 prelates for humbly petitioning to be excused from 
 concurring to the said assumed power. 
 
 3. By issuing and causing to be executed a com- 
 mission under the Great Seal for erecting a court, called 
 the Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes. 
 
 4. By levying money for and to the use of the 
 Crown by pretence of prerogative, for other time and 
 in other manner than the same was granted by Par- 
 liament. 
 
 5. By raising and keeping a standing army within 
 this kingdom in time of peace, without consent of 
 Parliament, and quartering soldiers contrary to law. 
 
 6. By causing several good subjects, being Protest- 
 ants, to be disarmed, at the same time when Papists 
 were both armed and employed contrary to law. 
 
 7. By violating the freedom of election of members 
 to serve in Parliament. 
 
 8. By prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench 
 for matters and causes cognizable only in Parliament, 
 and by divers other arbitrary and illegal causes. 
 
 9. And whereas of late years, partial, corrupt, and 
 unqualified persons have been returned, and served on 
 juries in trials, and particularly divers jurors in trials 
 for high treason, which were not freeholders. 
 
 10. And excessive bail hath been required of per- 
 sons committed in criminal cases, to elude the benefit 
 of the laws made for the liberty of the subjects. 
 
 11. And excessive fines have been imposed; and 
 illegal and cruel punishments inflicted. 
 
 12. And several grants and promises made of fines 
 and forfeitures before any conviction or judgment
 
 A PART OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS 
 
 against the persons upon whom the same were to be 
 levied. 
 
 All which are utterly and directly contrary to the 
 known laws and statutes, and freedom of this realm. 
 
 And whereas the said late King James II. having 
 abdicated the government, and the throne being thereby 
 vacant, his Highness the Prince of Orange (whom it 
 hath pleased Almighty God to make the glorious in- 
 strument of delivering this kingdom from popery and 
 arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the Lords Spirit- 
 ual and Temporal, and divers principal persons of the 
 Commons) cause letters to be written to the Lords 
 Spiritual and Temporal, being Protestants, and other 
 letters to the several counties, cities, universities, 
 boroughs, and cinque ports, for the choosing of such 
 persons to represent them as were of right to be sent 
 to Parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster upon 
 the two-and-twentieth day of January, in this year one 
 thousand six hundred eighty and eight,^ in order to 
 such an establishment, as that their religion, laws, and 
 liberties might not again be in danger of being sub- 
 verted ; upon which letters elections have been ac- 
 cordingly made. 
 
 And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Tem- 
 poral, and Commons, pursuant to their respective 
 letters and elections, being now assembled in a full 
 and free representation of this nation, taking into their 
 most serious consideration the best means for attaining 
 the ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as their ances- 
 tors in like case have usually done) for the vindicating 
 and asserting their ancient rights and liberties, declare : 
 1 In New Style Feb. i, 1689. 
 
 379
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 1. That the pretended power of suspending of laws, 
 or the execution of laws by regal authority, without 
 consent of Parliament, is illegal. 
 
 2. That the pretended power of dispensing with 
 laws, or the execution of laws by regal authority, as 
 it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal. 
 
 3. That the commission for erecting the late Court 
 of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all 
 other commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal 
 and pernicious. 
 
 4. That levying money for or to the use of the Crown 
 by pretence and prerogative^ without grant of Parliament^ 
 for longer time or in other manner than the same is or 
 shall be granted^ is illegal} 
 
 5. That it is the right of the subjects to petition the 
 King^ and all cotnmitments and prosecutions for such peti- 
 tioning are illegal.'^ 
 
 6. That the raising or keeping a standing army within 
 the kingdom in time of peace., unless it be with consent of 
 Parliament., is against law? 
 
 7. That the subjects which are Protestants may have 
 arms for their defence suitable to their conditions., and as 
 allowed by law.'^ 
 
 8. That election of members of Parliament ought 
 to be free. 
 
 9. That the freedom of speech., and debates or proceed- 
 
 1 Compare this clause 4 with clauses 1 2 and 1 4 of Magna 
 Charta, and with Art. I. § vii. clause i of the Constitution 
 of the United States. 
 
 ^ Compare clause 5 with Amendment I. 
 
 ^ Compare clause 6 with Amendment III. 
 
 * Compare clause 7 with Amendment II. 
 
 380
 
 A PART OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS 
 
 ings in Parliament^ ought not to be impeached or ques- 
 tioned in any court or place out of Parliament.^ 
 
 10. That excessive bail ought not to be required^ nor 
 excessive fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punish- 
 ments infiicted? 
 
 1 1 . That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and re- 
 turned.^ and jurors which pass upon men in trials for high 
 treason ought to be freeholders? 
 
 12. That all grants and promises of fines and for- 
 feitures of particular persons before conviction are 
 illegal and void. 
 
 13. And that for redress of all grievances, and for 
 the amending, strengthening, and preserving of the 
 laws. Parliament ought to be held frequently. 
 
 And they do claim, demand, and insist upon all and 
 singular the premises, as their undoubted rights and 
 liberties; and that no declarations, judgments, doings, 
 or proceedings, to the prejudice of the people in any 
 of the said premises, ought in any wise to be drawn 
 hereafter into consequence or example. 
 
 To which demand of their rights they are particu- 
 larly encouraged by the declaration of his Highness the 
 Prince of Orange, as being the only means for obtain- 
 ing a full redress and remedy therein. 
 
 Having therefore an entire cojifidence that his said 
 Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the de- 
 liverance so far advanced by him, and will still pre- 
 serve them from the violation of their rights, which 
 they have here asserted, and from all other attempts 
 upon their religion, rights, and liberties : 
 
 ^ Compare clause 9 with Constitution, Art. I. § vi. clause i . 
 
 ^ Compare clause 10 with Amendment VIII. 
 
 " Compare clause 1 1 with Amendments VI. and VII.
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 II. The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and 
 Commons, assembled at Westminster, do resolve, that 
 William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, be, 
 and be declared. King and Queen of England, France, 
 and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, 
 to hold the crown and royal dignity of the said king- 
 doms and dominions to them the said Prince and 
 Princess during their lives, and the life of the survivor 
 of them ; and that the sole and full exercise of the 
 regal power be only in, and executed by, the said Prince 
 of Orange, in the names of the said Prince and Prin- 
 cess, during their joint lives ; and after their deceases, 
 the said crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms 
 and dominions to be to the heirs of the body of the 
 said Princess ; and for default of such issue to the 
 Princess Anne of Denmark, and the heirs of her body ; 
 and for default of such issue to the heirs of the body 
 of the said Prince of Orange. And the Lords Spirit- 
 ual and Temporal, and Commons, do pray the said 
 Prince and Princess to accept the same accordingly. 
 . The act goes on to declare that, their Majesties hav- 
 ing accepted the crown upon these terms, the " rights 
 and liberties asserted and claimed in the said declara- 
 tion are the true, ancient, and indubitable rights and 
 liberties of the people of this kingdom, and so shall be 
 esteemed, allowed, adjudged, deemed, and taken to be, 
 and that all and every the particulars aforesaid shall be 
 firmly and strictly holden and observed, as they are 
 expressed in the said declaration ; and all officers and 
 ministers whatsoever shall serve their Majesties and 
 their successors according to the same in all times to 
 come." 
 
 The act then declares that William and Mary " are 
 382
 
 ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT 
 
 and of right ought to be King and Queen of England," 
 etc. ; and it goes on to regulate the succession after 
 their deaths. 
 
 " The passing of the Bill of Rights in 1689 restored 
 to the monarchy the character which it had lost under 
 the Tudors and the Stuarts. The right of the peo- 
 ple through its representatives to depose the King, 
 to change the order of succession, and to set on the 
 throne whom they would, was now established. All 
 claim of divine right, or hereditary right independent 
 of the law, was formally put an end to by the elec- 
 tion of William and Mary. Since their day no Eng- 
 lish sovereign has been able to advance any claim to 
 the crown save a claim which rested on a particular 
 clause in a particular Act of Parliament. William, 
 Mary, and Anne were sovereigns simply by virtue of 
 the Bill of Rights. George the First and his succes- 
 sors have been sovereigns solely by virtue of the Act 
 of Settlement. An English monarch is now as much 
 the creature of an Act of Parliament as the pettiest 
 tax-gatherer in his realm." — Green's Short History^ 
 
 P- 673- 
 
 APPENDIX E 
 
 THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CON- 
 NECTICUT 
 
 1638(9). 
 
 The first written constitution that created a government. 
 
 Forasmuch as it hath pleased the Allmighty God 
 by the wise disposition of his diuyne p''uidence so to
 
 APPENDIX E 
 
 Order and dispose of things that we the Inhabitants 
 and Residents of Windsor, Harteford and Wethers- 
 field are now cohabiting and dwelling in and vppon 
 the River of Conectecotte and the Lands thereunto 
 adioyneing; And well knowing where a people are 
 gathered togather the word of God requires that to 
 mayntayne the peace and vnion of such a people there 
 should be an orderly and decent Gouerment estab- 
 lished according to God, to order and dispose of the 
 afFayres of the people at all seasons as occation shall 
 require ; doe therefore assotiate and conioyne our 
 selues to be as one Publike State or Comonwelth ; 
 and doe, for our selues and our Successors and such 
 as shall be adioyned to vs att any tyme hereafter, enter 
 into Combination and Confederation togather, to 
 mayntayne and p''searue the liberty and purity of the 
 gospell of our Lord Jesus w'^'' we now p''fesse, as also 
 the disciplyne of the Churches, w'^^ according to the 
 truth of the said gospell is now practised amongst 
 vs; As also in o' Ciuell Affaires to be guided and 
 gouerned according to such Lawes, Rules, Orders 
 and decrees as shall be made, ordered & decreed, as 
 followeth : — 
 
 I. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that there 
 shall be yerely two generall Assemblies or Courts, the 
 one the second thursday in Aprill, the other the second 
 thursday in September, following ; the first shall be 
 called the Courte of Election, wherein shall be yerely 
 Chosen fro tyme to tyme soe many Magestrats and 
 other publike Officers as shall be found requisitte : 
 Whereof one to be chosen Gouernour for the yeare 
 ensueing and vntill another be chosen, and noe other 
 Magestrate to be chosen for more than one yeare ;
 
 ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT 
 
 p'"uided allwayes there be sixe chosen besids the 
 Gouernour ; w*^*^ being chosen and sworne according 
 to an Oath recorded for that purpose shall haue power 
 to administer iustice according to the Lawes here es- 
 tablished, and for want thereof according to the rule 
 of the word of God ; w*^** choise shall be made by all 
 that are admitted freemen and haue taken the Oath 
 of Fidellity, and doe cohabitte w'^in this Jurisdiction, 
 (hauing beene admitted Inhabitants by the maior p''t 
 of the Towne wherein they Hue,) or the mayor p''te 
 of such as shall be then p'"sent. 
 
 2. It is Ordered, sentensed and decreed, that the 
 Election of the aforesaid Magestrats shall be on this 
 manner : euery p'"son p''sent and quallified for choyse 
 shall bring in (to the p^'sons deputed to receaue the) one 
 single pap"" w'^'the name of him written in yt whom he 
 desires to haue Gouernour, and he that hath the great- 
 est nuber of papers shall be Gouernor for that yeare. 
 And the rest of the Magestrats or publike Officers to 
 be chosen in this manner : The Secretary for the tyme 
 being shall first read the names of all that are to be 
 put to choise and then shall seuerally nominate them 
 distinctly, and euery one that would haue the p^'son 
 nominated to be chosen shall bring in one single paper 
 written vppon, and he that would not haue him chosen 
 shall bring in a blanke : and euery one that hath more 
 written papers then blanks shall be a Magistrat for 
 that yeare ; w*'*' papers shall be receaued and told by 
 one or more that shall be then chosen by the court 
 and sworne to be faythfull therein ; but in case there 
 should not be sixe chosen as aforesaid, besids the 
 Gouernor, out of those w*^^ are nominated, then he 
 or they w'^'' haue the most written pap'^s shall be a 
 
 3^5
 
 APPENDIX E 
 
 Magestrate or Magestrats for the ensueing yeare, to 
 make vp the foresaid nuber. 
 
 3. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that the 
 Secretary shall not nominate any p'^son, nor shall any 
 p'son be chosen newly into the Magestracy w'''* was 
 not p'pownded in some Generall Courte before, to be 
 nominated the next Election ; and to that end yt shall 
 be lawfull for ech of the Townes aforesaid by their 
 deputyes to nominate any two who they conceaue 
 fitte to be put to election ; and the Courte may ad so 
 many more as they iudge requisitt. 
 
 4. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed that noe 
 p''son be chosen Gouernor aboue once in two yeares, 
 and that the Gouernor be always a meber of some ap- 
 proved congregation, and formerly of the Magestracy 
 w'^'in this Jurisdiction ; and all the Magestrats Free- 
 men of this Comonwelth : and that no Magestrate or 
 other publike officer shall execute any p''te of his or 
 their Office before they are seuerally sworne, w'^'' shall 
 be done in the face of the Courte if they be p'sent, 
 and in case of absence by some deputed for that pur- 
 pose. 
 
 5. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that to the 
 aforesaid Courte of Election the seu''all Townes shall 
 send their deputyes, and when the Elections are ended 
 they may p''ceed in any publike searuice as at other 
 Courts. Also the other Generall Courte in September 
 shall be for makeing of lawes, and any other publike 
 occation, w*^*" conserns the good of the Comonwelth. 
 
 6. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that the 
 Gou''nor shall, ether by himselfe or by the secretary, 
 send out sumons to the Constables of eu'' Towne 
 for the cauleing of these two standing Courts, on 
 
 386
 
 ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT 
 
 month at lest before their seu''all tymes : And also if 
 the Gou'"nor and the gretest p'"te of the Magestrats see 
 cause vppon any spetiall occation to call a generall 
 Courte, they may giue order to the secretary soe to 
 doe w'^'in fowerteene dayes warneing ; and if vrgent 
 necessity so require, vppon a shorter notice, glueing 
 sufficient grownds for yt to the deputyes when they 
 meete, or els be questioned for the same ; And if the 
 Gou''nor and Mayor p'"te of Magestrats shall ether 
 neglect or refuse to call the two Generall standing 
 Courts or ether of the, as also at other tymes when the 
 occations of the Comonwelth require, the Freemen 
 thereof, or the Mayor p'"te of them, shall petition to 
 them soe to doe : if then yt be ether denyed or neg- 
 lected the said Freemen or the Mayor p''te of them 
 shall haue power to giue order to the Constables of 
 the seuerall Townes to doe the same, and so may 
 meete togather, and chuse to themselues a Moderator, 
 and may p'"ceed to do any Acte of power, w''^ any other 
 Generall Courte may. 
 
 7. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed that after 
 there are warrants giuen out for any of the said Gen- 
 erall Courts, the Constable or Constables of ech 
 Towne shall forthw**^ give notice distinctly to the in- 
 habitants of the same, in some Publike Assembly or 
 by goeing or sending fro howse to howse, that at a 
 place and tyme by him or them lymited and sett, they 
 meet and assemble the selues togather to elect and 
 chuse certen deputyes to be att the Generall Courte 
 then following to agitate the afayres of the comon- 
 welth ; w'''^ said Deputyes shall be chosen by all that 
 are admitted Inhabitants in the seu'"all Townes and 
 haue taken the oath of fidellity ; p'"uided that non be 
 
 387
 
 APPENDIX E 
 
 chosen a Deputy for any Generall Courte w"^'' is not 
 a Freeman of this Comonwelth. 
 
 The foresaid deputyes shall be chosen in manner 
 following : euery p'"son that is p''sent and quallified as 
 before exp'ssed, shall bring the names of such, written 
 in seu'rall papers, as they desire to haue chosen for 
 that Imployment, and these 3 or 4, more or lesse, 
 being the nuber agreed on to be chosen for thattyme, 
 that haue greatest nuber of papers written for thlE shall 
 be deputyes for that Courte ; whose names shall be 
 endorsed on the backe side of the warrant and re- 
 turned into the Courte, w*^ the Constable or Con- 
 stables hand vnto the same. 
 
 8. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that 
 Wyndsor, Hartford and Wethersfield shall haue 
 power, ech Towne, to send fower of their freemen as 
 deputyes to euery Generall Courte ; and whatsoeuer 
 other Townes shall be hereafter added to this Juris- 
 diction, they shall send so many deputyes as the 
 Courte shall judge meete, a resonable p''portion to the 
 nuber of Freemen that are in the said Townes being 
 to be attended therein ; w'^'* deputyes shall have the 
 power of the whole Towne to giue their voats and 
 alowance to all such lawes and orders as may be for 
 the publike good, and unto w'^'' the said Townes are 
 to be bownd. 
 
 9. It is ordered and decreed, that the deputyes thus 
 chosen shall haue power and liberty to appoynt a tyme 
 and a place of meeting togather before any Generall 
 Courte to aduise and consult of all such things as 
 may concerne the good of the publike, as also to ex- 
 amine their owne Elections, whether according to the 
 order, and if they or the gretest p*'te of them find any 
 
 388
 
 ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT 
 
 election to be illegall they may seclud such for p^sent 
 fro their meeting, and returne the same and their re- 
 sons to the Courte; and if yt proue true, the Courte 
 may fyne the p'ty or p''tyes so intruding and the 
 Towne, if they see cause, and giue out a warrant to 
 goe to a newe election in a legall way, either in p^'te 
 or in whole. Also the said deputyes shall haue power 
 to fyne any that shall be disorderly at their meetings, 
 or for not coming in due tyme or place according to 
 appoyntment ; and they may returne the said fynes 
 into the Courte if yt be refused to be paid, and the 
 tresurer to take notice of yt, and to estreete or levy 
 the same as he doth other fynes. 
 
 10. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that 
 euery Generall Courte, except such as through neg- 
 lecte of the Gou^'nor and the greatest p'^te of Mages- 
 trats the Freemen themselves doe call, shall consist 
 of the Gouernor, or some one chosen to moderate the 
 Court, and 4 other Magestrats at lest, w*"^ the mayor 
 p''te of the deputyes of the seuerall Townes legally 
 chosen ; and in case the Freemen or mayor p''te of 
 the, through neglect or refusall of the Gouernor and 
 mayor p''te of the magestrats, shall call a Courte, y* 
 shall consist of the mayor p^'te of Freemen that are 
 p'^sent or their deputyes, w*^ a Moderator chosen by 
 the : In w'''* said Generall Courts shall consist the 
 supreme power of the Comonwelth, and they only 
 shall haue power to make laws or repeale the, to 
 graunt leuyes, to admitt of Freemen, dispose of lands 
 vndisposed of, to seuerall Townes or p^sons, and 
 also shall haue power to call ether Courte or Mages- 
 trate or any other p''son whatsoeuer into question for 
 any misdemeanour, and may for just causes displace 
 
 389
 
 APPENDIX E 
 
 or deale otherwise according to the nature of the 
 offence; and also may deale in any other matter that 
 concerns the good of this comonwelth, excepte elec- 
 tion of Magestrats, w*^^ shall be done by the whole 
 boddy of Freemen. 
 
 In w"** Courte the Gouernour or Moderator shall 
 haue power to order the Courte to giue liberty of 
 spech, and silence vnceasonable and disorderly speake- 
 ings, to put all things to voate, and in case the vote 
 be equall to haue the casting voice. But non of 
 these Courts shall be adiorned or dissolued w*'^out the 
 consent of the maior p''te of the Court. 
 
 II. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed, that when 
 any Generall Courte vppon the occations of the Com- 
 onwelth haue agreed vppon any sume or somes of 
 mony to be leuyed vppon the seuerall Townes w*^in 
 this Jurisdiction, that a Comittee be chosen to sett 
 out and appoynt w* shall be the p'^portion of euery 
 Towne to pay of the said leuy, p'vided the Comittees 
 be made vp of an equall nuber out of each Towne. 
 
 14*^ January, 1638, the 11 Orders abouesaid are 
 voted. 
 
 The Oath of the Gou^nor, for the [p^sent]. 
 I ^. Wm* being now chosen to be Gou'"nor w*^in 
 this Jurisdiction, for the yeare ensueing, and vntil a 
 new be chosen, doe sweare by the greate and dread- 
 full name of the everliueing God, to p''mote the pub- 
 licke good and peace of the same, according to the 
 best of my skill ; as also will mayntayne all lawfull 
 priuiledges of this Comonwealth ; as also that all 
 wholesome lawes that are or shall be made by lawfull 
 authority here established, be duly executed; and will 
 
 390
 
 ILLUSTRATE THE ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY 
 ^ BY THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 n 1783 
 
 lan Empire, France, and Spain . 
 
 SQ. MILKS 
 
 827,844 
 
 844,804 
 
 03, with the portion of Oregon territory retained in I S46 . . .1,171,931 
 man Empire, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, and 
 1,168,787 
 
 in, 1845 • . . . 
 , Italy, and Switzerland 
 
 59,268 
 58.309 
 
 375.239 
 
 367,583 
 
 an Cessions, 1S48-53 591,318 
 
 'n Empire, France, and Spain 603,862 
 
 Alaska, 1867 
 
 Austria-Hungary, German Empire, and Norway 
 
 577.390 
 
 574.057 
 
 Cuba, Pnrto Rico, Hawaii, Philippine Islands, etc. 1898-gg . 171.757 
 Italy, with England and Wales 168,974 
 
 3.774,747 
 3,9^6,975
 
 ^
 
 THE STATES CLASSIFIED 
 
 further the execution of Justice according to the rule 
 of Gods word ; so helpe me God, in the name of the 
 Lo : Jesus Christ. 
 
 The Oath of a Magestrate, for the p^sent. 
 I, 0* WSH* being chosen a Magestrate w'^^in this 
 Jurisdiction for the yeare ensueing, doe sweare by the 
 great and dreadfull name of the euerliueing God, to 
 p^'mote the publike good and peace of the same, ac- 
 cording to the best of my skill, and that I will mayn- 
 tayne all the lawfull priuiledges thereof according to 
 my vnderstanding, as also assist in the execution of 
 all such wholsome lawes as are made or shall be made 
 by lawfull authority heare established, and will further 
 the execution of Justice for the tyme aforesaid accord- 
 ing to the righteous rule of Gods word ; so helpe me 
 God, etc. 
 
 [Until 1752, the legal year in England began March 25 
 (Lady Day), not January i. All the days between January 
 1 and March 25 of the year which we now call 1639 were 
 therefore then a part of the year 1638 ; so that the date of 
 the Constitution is given by its own terms as 1638, instead 
 of 1639.] 
 
 APPENDIX F 
 
 THE STATES CLASSIFIED ACCORDING 
 TO ORIGIN 
 
 1. The thirteen original states. 
 
 2. States formed directly from other states. 
 
 Vermont from territory disputed between New 
 York and New Hampshire, Kentucky from
 
 APPENDIX F 
 
 Virginia, Maine from Massachusetts, West 
 Virginia from Virginia. 
 
 3. States from the Northwest Territory (see 
 p. 275). 
 
 Ohio, Michigan, 
 
 Indiana, Wisconsin, 
 
 Illinois, Minnesota, in part. 
 
 4. States from other territory ceded by states. 
 
 Tennessee, ceded by North Carolina, 
 Alabama, ceded by South Carolina and Geor- 
 gia, 
 Mississippi, ceded by South Carolina and 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 5. States from the Louisiana purchase (see p. 275). 
 
 Louisiana, North Dakota, 
 
 Arkansas, South Dakota, 
 
 Missouri, Montana, 
 
 Kansas, Minnesota, in part, 
 
 Nebraska, Wyoming, in part, 
 
 Iowa, Colorado, in part. 
 
 6. States from Mexican cessions. 
 
 California, Utah, Wyoming, in part, 
 
 Nevada, Colorado, in part. 
 
 7. States from territory defined by treaty with 
 Great Britain (see p. 275). 
 
 Oregon, Washington, Idaho. 
 
 8. States from other sources. 
 
 Florida, from a Spanish cession, 
 Texas, by annexation (see p. 276). 
 
 392
 
 APPENDIX G 
 
 TABLE OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 
 ijawo ^asf^ on 
 
 census of igoo to go 
 
 'nto effect in igo2 — ig4 
 
 ,lS2 
 
 
 
 Dates. 
 
 J3 
 
 s 
 
 Names. 
 
 Popu- 
 lation 
 to 
 
 Area in 
 sq. m. 
 
 Popula- 
 tion, 
 
 
 -3 3" 
 
 '^^ 
 <S 
 
 
 
 3 
 I 
 
 
 sq. m. 
 
 
 I goo. 
 
 
 U 
 
 I 
 
 sl 
 
 a 
 
 1787, Dec. 7 
 
 Delaware 
 
 90.1 
 
 2,050 
 
 •84.735 
 
 3 
 
 .2 
 
 Dec. 12 
 
 2 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 1393 
 
 45.215 
 
 6,302,115 
 
 32 
 
 34 
 
 3 
 
 Dec. 18 
 
 3 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 241. 
 
 7>8i5 
 
 1,883,669 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 "5 
 
 1788, Jan. 2 
 
 4 
 
 Georgia 
 
 37-2 
 
 59.475 
 
 2,216,331 
 
 II 
 
 13 
 
 S 
 
 Jan. 9 
 
 S 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 184. 
 
 4.990 
 
 908,355 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 u 
 
 Feb. 6 
 
 6 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 337-3 
 
 8,315 
 
 2,805,346 
 
 14 
 
 16 
 
 
 April 28 
 
 7 
 
 Maryland 
 
 97-4 
 
 12,210 
 
 1,190,050 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 ^ 
 
 May 23 
 
 8 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 43-8 
 
 30.570 
 
 1,340,316 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 •o 
 
 June 21 
 
 9 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 44.2 
 
 9,30s 
 
 411,588 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 "S 
 
 June 25 
 
 10 
 
 Virginia 
 
 43-6 
 
 42,450 
 
 1,854,184 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 '5 
 
 July 26 
 
 1 1 
 
 New York 
 
 147.8 
 
 49,170 
 
 7,268,012 
 
 37 
 
 39 
 
 P< 
 
 1789, Nov. 21 
 
 12 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 36.2 
 
 52,250 
 
 1,893,810 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 
 1790, May 29 
 
 13 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 342.8 
 
 1,250 
 
 428,556 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 1791, Mar. 4 
 
 14 
 
 Vermont 
 
 35-9 
 
 9,565 
 
 343,641 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 1792, June I 
 
 IS 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 53-1 
 
 40,400 
 
 2,147,174 
 
 II 
 
 13 
 
 
 1796, June I 
 
 16 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 48. 
 
 42.050 
 
 2,020,616 
 
 lO 
 
 12 
 
 
 1803, Feb. 19 
 
 17 
 
 Ohio 
 
 101.2 
 
 41,060 
 
 4,157,545 
 
 21 
 
 23 
 
 
 1812, April 30 
 
 18 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 28.3 
 
 48,720 
 
 1,381,625 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 
 1816, Dec. II 
 
 19 
 
 Indiana 
 
 69.2 
 
 36,350 
 
 2,516.462 
 
 13 
 
 •5 
 
 
 1817, Dec. 10 
 
 20 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 33-1 
 
 46,810 
 
 1,551,270 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 
 1818, Dec. 3 
 
 21 
 
 Illinois 
 
 85.1 
 
 56,650 
 
 4,821,550 
 
 2S 
 
 27 
 
 
 i8ig, Dec. 14 
 
 22 
 
 Alabama 
 
 34-9 
 
 52.250 
 
 1,828,697 
 
 9 
 
 II 
 
 
 1820, Mar. 15 
 
 23 
 
 Maine 
 
 21. 
 
 33,040 
 
 694,466 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 • 
 
 1821, Aug. ro 
 
 24 
 
 Missouri 
 
 44-7 
 
 69.415 
 
 3,106,665 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 o 
 
 1836, June 15 
 
 2? 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 243 
 
 53,850 
 
 1,311,564 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 
 1837, Jan. 26 
 
 26 
 
 Michigan 
 
 41. 1 
 
 58,915 
 
 2,420,982 
 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 1845, Mar. 3 
 
 27 
 
 Florida 
 
 9- 
 
 58,680 
 
 528,542 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 1845, Dec. 29 
 
 28 
 
 Texas 
 
 11.4 
 
 265,780 
 
 3,048,710 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 o • 
 
 1846, Dec. 28 
 
 29 
 
 Iowa 
 
 39-8 
 
 56,025 
 
 2,231,853 
 
 II 
 
 13 
 
 1848, May 29 
 
 30 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 36-9 
 
 56,040 
 
 2,069,042 
 
 II 
 
 13 
 
 •s 
 
 1850, Sept. 9 
 
 31 
 
 California 
 
 9-3 
 
 158,360 
 
 1,485,053 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 :S 
 
 1858, May II 
 
 32 
 
 Minnesota 
 
 21. 
 
 83.365 
 
 1,751,394 
 
 9 
 
 II 
 
 'g 
 
 1859, Feb. 14 
 
 33 
 
 Oregon 
 
 4.3 
 
 96,030 
 
 413,536 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 1861, Jan. 29 
 
 34 
 
 Kansas 
 
 17.9 
 
 82,080 
 
 1,470,49s 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 1863, June 19 
 
 35 
 
 West Virginia 
 
 38.7 
 
 24,780 
 
 958,800 
 
 S 
 
 7 
 
 
 1864, Oct. 31 
 
 36 
 
 Nevada 
 
 •4 
 
 1 10,700 
 
 42,335 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 
 1867, Mar. I 
 
 37 
 
 Nebraska 
 
 13-8 
 
 77,510 
 
 1,068,539 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 
 1876, Aug. I 
 
 3S 
 
 Colorado 
 
 5-2 
 
 103,925 
 
 539.700 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 
 1889, Nov. 2 1 
 
 39 
 40 
 
 North Dakota 
 South Dakota 
 
 4-5 
 
 S-2 
 
 70.795 
 77,650 
 
 319,146 
 401,570 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 
 1889, Nov. 8 
 
 41 
 
 Montana 
 
 1-7 
 
 146,080 
 
 243,329 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 
 1889, Nov. II 
 
 42 
 
 Washington 
 
 7-5 
 
 6g,i8o 
 
 518,103 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 
 1890, July 3 
 
 43 
 
 Idaho 
 
 1.9 
 
 84,800 
 
 161,772 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 
 1890, July 10 
 
 44 
 
 Wyoming 
 
 •9 
 
 97,890 
 
 92,531 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 
 1896, Jan. 4 
 
 45 
 
 Utah 
 
 3.3 
 
 84,970 
 
 276,749 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 
 '1791, Mar. 3 
 
 
 Dist. of Columbia 
 
 3,981-7 
 
 70 
 
 278,718 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 1834, June 30 
 
 
 Indian Territory 
 
 12.5 
 
 31,400 
 
 391,960 
 
 
 
 "S 
 
 1850, Sept. 9 
 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 1.6 
 
 122,580 
 
 195.310 
 
 
 
 'c . 
 
 1863, Feb. 24 
 
 
 Arizona 
 
 I.I 
 
 113,020 
 
 122,931 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 i868, July 27 
 
 
 Alaska 
 
 .1 
 
 590,884 
 
 63,592 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 1S89, April 22 
 
 
 Oklahoma 
 
 9-9 
 
 39.030 
 
 398,331 
 
 
 
 1900, May I 
 
 
 Porto Rico 
 
 264.3 
 
 3.606 
 
 *953,243 
 
 
 
 
 1900, June 14 
 
 
 Hawaii 
 
 23.8 
 
 6,449 
 
 154,001 
 
 
 
 1902, total House of Representatives 386-]- Senate go = electoral votes, 476. 
 * By the War Department census of Nov. 10, 1899. 
 
 393
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 APPENDIX H 
 
 POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 1 790-1900 
 
 Showing Percentages of Urban Population. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Percentage of 
 
 Date, 
 
 Pop. of U. S. 
 
 No. of Cities. 
 
 Pop. of Cities. 
 
 Urban 
 Population. 
 
 1790 
 
 3,929,214 
 
 6 
 
 131,472 
 
 3-33 
 
 1800 
 
 5,308,483 
 
 6 
 
 210,873 
 
 3-9 
 
 1810 
 
 7.239,881 
 
 II 
 
 356,920 
 
 4-9 
 
 1820 
 
 9,633,822 
 
 13 
 
 474,135 
 
 4.9 
 
 1830 
 
 12,866,020 
 
 26 
 
 864,509 
 
 6.7 
 
 1840 
 
 17,069,453 
 
 44 
 
 1,453,994 
 
 8.5 
 
 1850 
 
 23,191,876 
 
 85 
 
 2,897,586 
 
 12.5 
 
 i860 
 
 31,443,3^1 
 
 141 
 
 5,072,256 
 
 16. 1 
 
 1870 
 
 38,558,371 
 
 226 
 
 8,071,875 
 
 20.9 
 
 1880 
 
 50,155,783 
 
 286 
 
 ",318,597 
 
 22.5 
 
 1890 
 
 62,622,250 
 
 443 
 
 18,235,670 
 
 29.1 
 
 1900 
 
 76,303,387 
 
 *5i7 
 
 ^4, 703, 709 
 
 32.4 
 
 * Incorporated places of over 8,000 inhabitants. 
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 AN EXAMINATION PAPER 
 TOMS CLERKS 
 
 FOR CUS- 
 
 Applicant's No 
 Applicant's Declaration. 
 
 Directions. — i. The number above is your ex- 
 amination number. Write it at the top of every sheet 
 given you in this examination. 
 
 394
 
 EXAMINATION PAPER 
 
 2. Fill promptly all the blanks in this sheet. Any 
 omission may lead to the rejection of your papers. 
 
 3. Write all answers and exercises in ink. 
 
 4. Write your name on no other sheet but this. 
 Place this sheet in the envelope. Write your num- 
 ber on the envelope and seal the same. 
 
 Declaration. 
 
 I declare upon my honour as follows : 
 
 1. My true and full name is (if female, please say 
 whether Mrs. or Miss) 
 
 2. Since my application was made I have been liv- 
 ing at (give all the places) 
 
 3. My post-office address in full is 
 
 4. If examined within twelve months for the civil 
 service — for any post-office, custom-house, or De- 
 partment at Washington — state the time, place, and 
 result. 
 
 5. If you have ever been in the civil service, state 
 where and in what position, and when you left it and 
 the reasons therefor. 
 
 6. Are you now under enlistment in the army or 
 navy ? 
 
 7. If you have been in the military or naval service 
 of the United States, state which, and whether you 
 were honourably discharged, when, and for what cause. 
 
 8. Since my application no change has occurred m 
 my health or physical capacity except the following : 
 
 9. I was born at , on the day of 
 
 10. My present business or employment is 
 
 11. I swore to my application for this examination 
 
 395
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 as near as I can remember at (town or city of) , 
 
 on the day of , 19 . 
 
 All the above statements are true, to the best of 
 my knowledge and belief. 
 
 (Signature in usual form^ 
 
 Dated at the city of , State of , this 
 
 day of , 1 9 
 
 The questions are different at each examination, but 
 the following are in subject and grade fair specimens. 
 No other specimen questions can be furnished to ap- 
 plicants. The different subjects are weighted accord- 
 ing to their relative importance in the examination. In 
 determining the general average of a competitor, the 
 average on each subject is multiplied by the number 
 indicating the relative weight of the subject, and the 
 sum of these products divided by the sum of the rela- 
 tive weights gives the general average. 
 
 (b) CUSTOM-HOUSE SERVICE. 
 
 There are three grades of general examinations for 
 this service, namely : 
 
 FIRST GRADE. 
 
 (Time aUowed, 6 1-2 hrs.) 
 
 > id 
 
 SECOND GRADE. 
 
 (Time aUowed, 4 houra.) 
 
 > zi. 
 
 (21 
 
 THIRD GRADE. 
 
 (Time alloved, 3 hours.) 
 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 If 
 
 ist — Spelling 
 
 2d — Arithmetic 
 
 3d — Letter writing. 
 4th — Pentnanship . . 
 Sth — Copying from 
 
 plain copy 
 
 6th — Copying from 
 
 rough draft 
 
 7th — Geography.. . . 
 
 Total 
 
 10 
 25 
 
 'S 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 'S 
 
 lOO 
 
 ist — Spelling 
 
 2d — Arithmetic. 
 
 3d — Letter writing.. 
 
 4th — Penmanship. . . 
 
 5th — Copying from 
 
 plain copy 
 
 Total 
 
 20 
 20 
 20 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 100 
 
 ist— Spelling 
 
 2d — Arithmetic 
 
 3d — Letter writing. 
 
 4th — Penmanship . . 
 
 5th — Copying from 
 
 plain copy 
 
 Xotal 
 
 20 
 20 
 20 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 396
 
 EXAMINATION PAPER 
 
 The first-grade examination will be given to appli- 
 cants for such deputy officer positions as may be sub- 
 ject to examination, and for clerk (male and female), 
 and day inspector. 
 
 The second-grade examination will be given to ap- 
 plicants for the positions of assistant weigher, mes- 
 senger, and sampler. 
 
 The third-grade examination will be given to appli- 
 cants for the positions of watchman, night inspector, 
 opener and packer, inspectress, foreman, janitor, at- 
 tendant, porter, and classified labourer. Applicants for 
 the grade of boatman will be rated only upon age, ex- 
 perience, and intelligence, character as a workman, 
 and physical condition, except in positions in which 
 educational qualifications are desired. In such cases 
 the third-grade examination will be given in addition 
 to the elements named. 
 
 FIRST GRADE CUSTOM-HOUSE SERVICE EX- 
 AMINATION. 
 
 First Subject. — Spelling. Spelling is dictated by 
 the examiner. The words are written by the competi- 
 tor in the blank spaces indicated on the first sheet of 
 the examination. 
 
 The examiner pronounces each word and gives its defini- 
 tion. The competitor is required to write ONLY THE word 
 and NOT its definition. 
 
 Second Subject. — Arithmetic. This subject will 
 embrace problems in fundamental rules, fractions, per- 
 centage (interest and discount), and analysis. 
 
 [N. B. — In solving problems the processes should be not merely indi- 
 cated, but aU the figures necessary in solving each problem should be given 
 in full. The answer to each problem should be indicated by writing 
 " Ans." after it.] 
 
 397
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 ^estion I. This question comprises a test in add- 
 ing numbers across and finding the grand total. 
 There are usually three columns of about twelve num- 
 bers each to be added. The arrangement of the 
 columns is shown below, but only two numbers are 
 placed in each column, being intended merely to ex- 
 plain the test : — 
 
 3517 
 6326 
 
 7169 
 5H5 
 
 4931 
 676 
 
 Grand total 
 
 ^estion 2. Multiply 321.6555 by 819I : from the 
 product subtract 16042.09 18, and divide the remain- 
 der by 5. 
 
 ^estion j. What is the value of 72 yards of goods 
 weighing 2^ pounds to the yard, composed of 5 parts 
 of silk worth ^4 per pound, 3 parts of cotton worth 
 ;^o.48 per pound, and one part of worsted worth 
 ;^i.75 per pound ? 
 
 ^estion /}.. The total amount of duty on two in- 
 voices was ;g409.50. The rate of duty on the first 
 invoice was 25 per cent, and on the second 18 per 
 cent. Had the rate of duty on the second been also 25 
 per cent, the total duty on the two invoices would 
 have been ;^490. What was the value of each invoice \ 
 
 ^estion 5. At the rate of 1 5 cents per square yard 
 and 30 per cent, ad valorem, what is the amount of 
 duty on 38 pieces of drugget, each 24 yards long and 
 45 inches wide, costing | of a pound sterling per 
 linear yard ? {£ = $4.8665.) 
 
 Third Subject. — Letter writing. The competi- 
 
 398
 
 EXAMINATION PAPER 
 
 tor is required to write a letter on one of two subjects 
 given. 
 
 This exercise is designed to test the competitor's 
 knowledge of simple English composition and his gen- 
 eral intelligence. In marking the letter, its errors in 
 form and address, in spelling, capitals, punctuation, 
 syntax, and style, and its treatment of the subject are 
 considered. 
 
 The competitor must avoid allusion to his political 
 or religious opinions or affiliations. The letter must 
 contain not less than 150 words, must be addressed to 
 the " United States Civil Service Commission, Wash- 
 ington, D. C," and must be dated at the place where 
 the examination is held. The examination number, 
 and not the name of the competitor^ must be used for a 
 signature to the letter. 
 
 Fourth Subject. — Penmanship. The mark on 
 penmanship will be determined by legibility, rapidity, 
 neatness, and general appearance, and by correctness 
 and uniformity in the formation of words, letters, and 
 punctuation marks in the exercise of the fifth subject 
 
 — copying from plain copy. 
 
 Fifth Subject. — Copying from plain copy. N. B. 
 
 — Paragraph, spell, capitalize, and punctuate precisely 
 as in the copy. All omissions and mistakes are taken 
 into consideration in markins: this exercise. 
 
 Make an exact copy of the following : — 
 Sec. 3. That whenever, in the judgment of the 
 head of any Department, the duties assigned to a clerk 
 of one class can be as well performed by a clerk of a 
 lower class or by a female clerk, it shall be lawful for 
 him to diminish the number of clerks of the higher 
 grade and increase the number of the clerks of the 
 
 399
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 lower grade within the limit of the total appropriation 
 for such clerical service : Provided, That in making 
 any reduction of force in any of the Executive De- 
 partments the head of such Department shall retain 
 those persons who may be equally qualified who have 
 been honourably discharged from the military or naval 
 service of the United States, and the widows and or- 
 phans of deceased soldiers and sailors. (19 Stats., 255.) 
 
 Sixth Subject. — Copying from rough draft. The 
 competitor is required to make a fair copy, on a blank 
 sheet, of a rough-draft manuscript, punctuating and 
 capitalizing properly, writing in full all abbreviated 
 words, and correcting errors in syntax and ortho- 
 graphy. 
 
 Seventh Subject. — Geography. This subject is 
 given in the first-grade examination only. 
 
 The following are samples of questions which were used 
 in this examination : — 
 
 I. Name States as follows: Two that border on 
 the Columbia River; two that border on both the 
 Missouri and Mississippi rivers ; two that border on 
 both Virginia and the Ohio River; two that border 
 on New Jersey ; two that border on the Savannah 
 River. 2. In what State is each of the following- 
 named : Penobscot Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, Puget 
 Sound, Pearl River, Oneida Lake. 3. Name the 
 largest city in each of the following-named States, 
 and name the river or body of water on which each 
 city required is situated : Connecticut, Mississippi, 
 Nebraska, Minnesota, Ohio. 4. In what State is 
 each of the following-named prominent cities located : 
 Racine, Bangor, Allegheny, Charlotte, Cairo, Los 
 Angeles, Shreveport, Fargo, Evansville, Ogdensburg. 
 400
 
 NEW YORK CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT 
 
 5. In what foreign country, colony, or possession is 
 each of the following-named prominent cities : Bre- 
 men, Buenos Ayres, Yokohama, Cape Town, Havre, 
 Melbourne, Adrianople, Ottawa, Teheran, Panama. 
 
 SECOND AND THIRD GRADE CUSTOM-HOUSE 
 SERVICE EXAMINATIONS. 
 
 The second-grade examination is similar to that for 
 the first grade, with these exceptions : Arithmetic em- 
 braces problems in the four fundamental rules, com- 
 mon and decimal fractions. The letter must contain 
 not less than 125 words. Copying from rough draft 
 and geography are omitted. 
 
 The third-grade examination is similar to that for 
 the second grade, with these exceptions : In the spell- 
 ing exercise the words are less difficult. Arithmetic 
 embraces simple tests in addition, subtraction, multi- 
 plication, division, and United States money. The 
 letter must contain not less than 100 words. 
 
 APPENDIX J 
 
 THE NEW YORK CORRUPT PRACTICES 
 ACT OF 1890 
 
 Chap. 94. — An Act to amend Title Five of the Penal 
 Code relating to Crimes against the Elective Fran- 
 chise. 
 
 Approved by the Governor April 4, 1890. Passed, three fifths being present. 
 
 The People of the State of New Tork^ represented in 
 Senate and Assembly ^ do enact as follows : — 
 401
 
 APPENDIX J 
 
 Section i. Title five of the Penal Code, entitled 
 " Of crimes against the elective franchise," is hereby 
 amended so as to read as follovi^s : — 
 
 § 41. It shall be unlawful for any person, directly 
 or indirectly, by himself or through any other per- 
 son — 
 
 1. To pay, lend, or contribute, or offer or promise 
 to pay, lend, or contribute any money or other valua- 
 ble consideration, to or for any voter, or to or for any 
 other person, to induce such voter to vote or refrain 
 from voting at any election, or to induce any voter to 
 vote or refrain from voting at such election for any 
 particular person or persons, or to induce such voter 
 to come to the polls or remain avi^ay from the polls 
 at such election, or on account of such voter having 
 voted or refrained from voting, or having voted or 
 refrained from voting for any particular person, or 
 having come to the polls or remained away from the 
 polls at such election. 
 
 2. To give, offer, or promise any office, place, or 
 employment, or to promise to procure or endeavour to 
 procure any office, place, or employment to or for any 
 voter, or to or for any other person, in order to induce 
 such voter to vote or refrain from voting at any elec- 
 tion, or to induce any voter to vote or refrain from 
 voting at such election for any particular person or 
 persons. 
 
 3. To make any gift, loan, promise, offer, procure- 
 ment, or agreement, as aforesaid, to, for, or with any 
 person in order to induce such person to procure or 
 endeavour to procure the election of any person, or 
 the vote of any voter at any election. 
 
 4. To procure or engage, promise or endeavour to 
 
 402
 
 NEW YORK CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT 
 
 procure, in consequence of any such gift, loan, offer, 
 promise, procurement, or agreement, the election of 
 any person or the vote of any voter at such election. 
 
 5. To advance or pay or cause to be paid any 
 money or other valuable thing to or for the use of 
 any other person vi^ith the intent that the same, or any 
 part thereof, shall be used in bribery at any election, 
 or to know^ingly pay, or cause to be paid, any money 
 or other valuable thing to any person in discharge or 
 repayment of any money, wholly or in part, expended 
 in bribery at any election. 
 
 § 41^. It shall be unlawful for any person, directly 
 or indirectly, by himself or through any other per- 
 son — 
 
 1. To receive, agree, or contract for, before or 
 during an election, any money, gift, loan, or other 
 valuable consideration, office, place, or employment 
 for himself or any other person, for voting or agree- 
 ing to vote, or for coming or agreeing to come to the 
 polls, or for remaining away or agreeing to remain 
 away from the polls, or for refraining or agreeing to 
 refrain from voting, or for voting or agreeing to vote 
 or refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting for 
 any particular person or persons at any election. 
 
 2. To receive any money or other valuable thing 
 during or after an election on account of himself or 
 any other person having voted or refrained from vot- 
 ing at such election, or on account of himself or any 
 other person having voted or refrained from voting 
 for any particular person at such election, or on ac- 
 count of himself or any other person having come to 
 the polls or remained away from the polls at such 
 election, or on account of having induced any other 
 
 403
 
 APPENDIX J 
 
 person to vote or refrain from voting or to vote or 
 refrain from voting for any particular person or per- 
 sons at such election. 
 
 § 4ii^. It shall be unlawful for any candidate for 
 public office, before or during an election, to make 
 any bet or wager with a voter, or take a share or 
 interest in or in any manner become a party to any 
 such bet or wager, or provide or agree to provide any 
 money to be used by another in making such bet or 
 wager, upon any event or contingency whatever. Nor 
 shall it be lawful for any person, directly or indirectly, 
 to make a bet or wager with a voter, depending upon 
 the result of any election, with the intent thereby to 
 procure the challenge of such voter, or to prevent him 
 from voting at such election. 
 
 § 4ir. It shall be unlawful for any person, directly 
 or indirectly, by himself or any other person in his 
 behalf, to make use of, or threaten to make use of, 
 any force, violence, or restraint, or to inflict or 
 threaten the infliction by himself, or through any 
 other person, of any injury, damage, harm, or loss, or 
 in any manner to practice intimidation upon or against 
 any person, in order to induce or compel such person 
 to vote or refrain from voting at any election, or to 
 vote or refrain from voting for any particular person 
 or persons at any election, or on account of such per- 
 son having voted or refrained from voting at any elec- 
 tion. And it shall be unlawful for any person by 
 abduction, duress, or any forcible or fraudulent device 
 or contrivance whatever to impede, prevent, or other- 
 wise interfere with, the free exercise of the elective 
 franchise by any voter ; or to compel, induce, or pre- 
 vail upon any voter either to give or refrain from giv- 
 404
 
 NEW YORK CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT 
 
 ing his vote at any election, or to give or refrain from 
 giving his vote for any particular person at any elec- 
 tion. It shall not be lawful for any employer in pay- 
 ing his employees the salary or visages due them to 
 inclose their pay in " pay envelopes " upon which 
 there is written or printed any political mottoes, de- 
 vices, or arguments containing threats, express or 
 implied, intended or calculated to influence the politi- 
 cal opinions or actions of such employees. Nor shall 
 it be lawful for any employer within ninety days of 
 general election to put up or otherwise exhibit in his 
 factory, workshop, or other establishment or place 
 where his employees may be working, any hand-bill 
 or placard containing any threat, notice, or informa- 
 tion that in case any particular ticket or candidate 
 shall be elected, work in his place or establishment 
 will cease, in whole or in part, or his establishment 
 be closed up, or the wages of his workmen be reduced, 
 or other threats, express or implied, intended or cal- 
 culated to influence the political opinions or actions 
 of his employees. This section shall apply to cor- 
 porations, as well as to individuals, and any person 
 or corporation violating the provisions of this section 
 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, and any 
 corporation violating this section shall forfeit its 
 charter. 
 
 § 41*2'. Every candidate who is voted for at any 
 public election held within this state shall, within ten 
 days after such election, file as hereinafter provided an 
 itemized statement, showing in detail all the moneys 
 contributed or expended by him, directly or indirectly, 
 by himself or through any other person, in aid of his 
 election. Such statement shall give the names of the 
 405
 
 APPENDIX J 
 
 various persons who received such moneys, the spe- 
 cific nature of each item, and the purpose for which 
 it was expended or contributed. There shall be 
 attached to such statement an affidavit subscribed and 
 sworn to by such candidate, setting forth in substance 
 that the statement thus made is in all respects true, 
 and that the same is a full and detailed statement of 
 all moneys so contributed or expended by him, directly 
 or indirectly, by himself or through any other person 
 in aid of his election. Candidates for offices to be 
 filled by the electors of the entire state, or any divi- 
 sion or district thereof greater than a county, shall file 
 their statements in the office of the secretary of state. 
 The candidates for town, village, and city offices, ex- 
 cepting the city of New York, shall file their state- 
 ments in the office of the town, village, or city cleric 
 respectively, and in cities wherein there is no city 
 clerk, with the clerk of the common council wherein 
 the election occurs. Candidates for all other offices, 
 including all offices in the city and county of New 
 York, shall file their statements in the office of the 
 clerk of the county wherein the election occurs. 
 
 § 41^. A person offending against any provision 
 of sections forty-one and forty-one-a of this act is a 
 .competent witness against another person so offend- 
 ing, and may be compelled to attend and testify upon 
 any trial, hearing, proceeding, or investigation in the 
 same manner as any other person. But the testi- 
 mony so given shall not be used in any prosecution 
 or proceeding, civil or criminal, against the person so 
 testifying. A person so testifying shall not thereafter 
 be liable to indictment, prosecution, or punishment 
 for the offence with reference to which his testimony 
 406
 
 NEW YORK CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT 
 
 was given and may plead or prove the giving of testi- 
 mony accordingly, in bar of such an indictment or 
 prosecution. 
 
 § 41/". Whosoever shall violate any provision of 
 this title, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished 
 by imprisonment in a county jail for not less than 
 three months nor more than one year. The ofFences 
 described in section ^ forty-one and forty-one-a of this 
 act are hereby declared to be infamous crimes. When 
 a person is convicted of any offence mentioned in 
 section forty-one of this act he shall in addition to 
 the punishment above prescribed, forfeit any office to 
 which he may have been elected at the election with 
 reference to which such offence was committed ; 
 and when a person is convicted of any offence men- 
 tioned in section forty-one-a of this act he shall in 
 addition to the punishment above prescribed be ex- 
 cluded from the right of suffrage for a period of five 
 years after such conviction, and it shall be the duty 
 of the county clerk of the county in which any such 
 conviction shall be had, to transmit a certified copy 
 of the record of conviction to the clerk of each county 
 of the state, within ten days thereafter, which said 
 certified copy shall be duly filed by the said county 
 clerks in their respective offices. Any candidate for 
 office who refuses or neglects to file a statement as 
 prescribed in section forty-one-d of this act shall be 
 deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable as above 
 provided and shall also forfeit his office. 
 
 § 4.ig. Other crimes against the elective franchise 
 are defined, and the punishment thereof prescribed by 
 special statutes. 
 
 ^ So in the original. 
 407
 
 APPENDIX K 
 
 § 2. Section forty-one of the Penal Code, as it ex- 
 isted prior to the passage of this act, is hereby re- 
 pealed. 
 
 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. 
 
 APPENDIX K 
 
 FORM OF AUSTRALIAN BALLOT ADOPTED 
 IN MASSACHUSETTS, 1889 
 
 OFFICIAL BALLOT 
 
 Precinct , Ward 
 OF (city or town), 
 November , 18 
 
 £Fac-Simile of Signature of Secretary. 3 
 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth, 
 
 SAMPLE BALLOT,! 
 
 With explanations and Illustration. 
 
 Prepared by the Ballot Act League with the appro- 
 val of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
 Some representative districts elect one^ some two^ and 
 a few three representatives to the General Court. 
 ^ See pp. 410, 411. 
 408
 
 FORM OF AUSTRALIAN BALLOT 
 
 Worcester County elects, four commissioners of insolvency 
 instead of three as in other counties. 
 
 No county commissioners or special commissioners 
 will be voted for in the cities of Boston and Chelsea or 
 the county of Nantucket. 
 
 Forms for nominating candidates can be had at the 
 department of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
 Carefully observe the official specimen ballots to be 
 posted and published just before election day. 
 
 409
 
 APPENDIX K 
 
 To vote for a Person, mark 
 
 a Cross X 
 
 GOVERNOR 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 OLIVER AMES, of Easton 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 WILLIAM H. EA RLE, of Worcester .... 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 WILLIAM E. RUSSELL, of Cambridge .... 
 
 Democratic. | 
 
 1 
 
 LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR .... 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 JOHN BASCOM, of Williamstown . . . . 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 JOHN Q. A. BRACKETT, of Arlington 
 
 RepubHcan. | 
 
 JOHN W. CORCORAN, of Clinton .... 
 
 Democratic. | 
 
 1 
 
 SECRETARY 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 WILLIAM N. OSGOOD, of Boston 
 
 Democratic. I 
 
 HENRY B. PEIRCE, of Abington 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 HENRY C. SMITH, of Williamsburg .... 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 1 
 
 TREASURER 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 JOHN M. FISHER, of Attleborough .... 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 GEORGE A. MARDEN, of Lowell .... 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 HENRY C. THACHER, of Yarmouth .... 
 
 Democratic. | 
 
 1 
 
 AUDITOR 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 CHARLES R. LADD, of Springfield 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 EDMUND A. STOWE, of Hudson . . , . . 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 WILLIAM A. WILLIAMS, of Worcester 
 
 Democratic. | 
 
 1 
 
 ATTORNEY-GENERAL 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 ALLEN COFFIN, of Nantucket 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 SAMUEL O. LAMB, of Greenfield 
 
 Democratic. 1 
 
 ANDREW J. WATERMAN, of Pittsfield 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 1 
 
 COUNCILLOR, Third District .... 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 ROBERT O. FULLER, of Cambridge .... 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 WILLIAM E. PLUMMER, of Newton .... 
 
 Democratic. | 
 
 SYLVANUS C. SMALL, of Winchester .... 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 1 
 
 SENATOR, Third Middlesex District 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 FREEMAN HUNT, of Cambridge 
 
 Democratic. 1 
 
 CHESTER W. KINGSLEY, of Cambridge . 
 
 ( Republican. 1 
 1 Prohibition. | 
 
 i 
 
 DISTRICT ATTORNEY, Northern District 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 CHARLES S. LINCOLN, of Somerville 
 
 Democratic. | 
 
 JOHN M. READ, of Lowell 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 WILLIAM B. STEVENS, of Stoneham .... 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 1 
 
 410
 
 FORM OF AUSTRALIAN BALLOT 
 
 in the Square at the right of the name. 
 
 REPRESENTATIVES IN GENERAL COURT 
 
 First Middlesex District Vote for T^VO. 
 
 WILLIAM H. MARBLE, of Cambridge 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 ISAAC McLEAN, of Cambridge .... 
 
 . Democratic. | 
 
 GEORGE A. PERKINS, of Cambridge . 
 
 Democratic. | 
 
 JOHN READ, of Cambridge .... 
 
 . Republican. | 
 
 CHESTER F. SANGER, of Cambrid.'^e 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 WILLIAM A. START, of Cambridge 
 
 . Prohibition. | 
 
 
 
 SHERIFF - . 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 HENRY G. GUSHING, of Lowell . 
 
 . Republican. | 
 
 HENRY G. HARKINS, of Lowell .... 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 WILLIAM H. SHERMAN, of Ayer 
 
 . Democratic. | 
 
 1 
 
 COMMISSIONERS OF INSOLVENCY 
 
 . Vote for THREE. 
 
 JOHN W. ALLARD, of Framingham 
 
 . Democratic. | 
 
 GEORGE J. BURNS, of Ayer .... 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 WILLIAM A. CUTTER, of Cambridge . 
 
 . Prohibition. 
 
 FREDERIC T. GREENHALGE, of Lowell . 
 
 Republican. 
 
 JAMES HICKS, of Cambridge .... 
 
 . Prohibition. 
 
 JOHN C. KENNEDY, of Newton .... 
 
 Republican. 
 
 RICHARD J. McKELLEGET, of Cambridge . 
 
 . Democratic. | 
 
 EDWARD D. McVEY, of Lowell .... 
 
 Democratic. | 
 
 ELMER A. STEVENS, of SomerviUe 
 
 . Prohibition. | 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 COUNTY COMMISSIONER 
 
 Vote for ONE. 
 
 WILLIAM S. FROST, of Marlborough . 
 
 . Republican. | 
 
 JOSEPH W. BARBER, of Sherborn 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 JAMES SKINNER, of Woburn 
 
 . Democratic. | 
 
 1 
 
 SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS . 
 
 Vote for TWO. 
 
 HENRY BRADLEE, of Medford 
 
 . Democratic. | 
 
 LYMAN DYKE, ot Stoneham 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 JOHN J. DONOVAN, of Lowell 
 
 . Democratic. | 
 
 WILLIAM E. KNIGHT, of Shirley 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 ORSON E. MALLORY, of Lowell . 
 
 . Prohibition. | 
 
 EDWIN E. THOMPSON, of Woburn . 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 411
 
 APPENDIX K 
 
 SKETCH OF POLLING PLACE 
 
 SUGGESTIONS TO VOTERS 
 
 Give your name and residence to the ballot clerk, who, on finding your name 
 on the check list, will admit you within the rail and hand you a ballot. 
 
 Go alone to one of the voting shelves and there unfold your ballot. 
 
 Mark a cross X in the square at the right of the name of each person for 
 whom you wish to vote. No other method of marking, such as erasing names, 
 will answer. 
 
 Thus, if you wished to vote for John Bowles for Governor, you would mark 
 your ballot in this way : — 
 
 GOVERNOR 
 
 . Vote for ONE. 
 
 JOHN BOWLES, of Taunton 
 
 Prohibition. | X 
 
 THOMAS E. MEANS, of Boston . 
 
 . Democratic. | 
 
 ELIJAH SMITH, of Pittsfield 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 1 
 
 If you wish to vote for a person whose name is not on the ballot, write, or in- 
 sert by a sticker, the name in the blank line at the end of the list of candidates 
 for the office, and mark a cross X in the square at the right of it. 
 
 Thus, if you wished to vote for George T. Morton, of Chelsea, for Governor, 
 you would prepare your ballot in this way : — 
 
 GOVERNOR 
 
 . Vote for ONE. 
 
 JOHN BOWLES, of Taunton . . . . 
 
 Prohibition. | 
 
 THOMAS E. MEANS, of Boston 
 
 . Democratic. | 
 
 ELIJAH SMITH, of Pittsfield 
 
 Republican. | 
 
 George T. Morton, of Chelsea 
 
 IX 
 
 Notice that for some offices you may vote for " two " or " three " candidates, 
 as stated in the ballot at the right of the name of the office to be voted for, 
 e.g.: "Commissioners of Insolvency. Vote for Threb." 
 
 412
 
 FORM OF AUSTRALIAN BALLOT 
 
 If you spoil a ballot, return it to the ballot clerk, who will give you another. 
 You cannot have more than two extra ballots, or three in all. 
 
 You cannot remain within the rail more than ten minutes, and in case all the 
 shelves are in use and other voters waiting, you are allowed only five minutes at 
 the voting shelf. 
 
 Before leaving the voting shelf, fold your ballot in the same way as it was folded 
 when you received it, and keep it so folded until you place it in the ballot box. 
 
 Do not show any one how you have marked your ballot. 
 
 Go to the ballot box and give your name and residence to the officer in charge. 
 
 Put your folded ballot in the box with the certificate; of the Secretary of the 
 Commonwealth uppermost and in sight. 
 
 You are not allowed to carry away a ballot, whether spoiled or not. 
 
 A voter who declares to the presiding official (under oath, if required) that he 
 was a voter before May i, 1S57, and cannot read, or that he is blind or physically 
 unable to mark his ballot, can receive the assistance of one or two of the election 
 officers in the marking of his ballot.
 
 I
 
 INDEX 
 
 Adams, J. Q. , election to presidency 
 by House of Representatives, 246 ; 
 nomination, 252. 
 
 Adams, Samuel, the " man of the 
 town-meeting," 35 ; inaugurates 
 Committees of Correspondence, 
 
 179- 
 
 Agriculture, conditions in New Eng- 
 land, 17; in Virginia, 60—62; 
 state commissioners, 188 ; federal 
 department, 263. 
 
 Albany Plan, 217. 
 
 Aldermen, of Boston, 109 ; of city 
 of London, 115, 116; of city of 
 New York, 120, 121 ; of Phila- 
 delphia, 123, 124; of United 
 States cities, 125 ; concurrence 
 in appointments, 133, 137. 
 
 Almshouses, directors of, in Boston, 
 
 133- 
 
 Amendment, of state constitutions, 
 212 ; twelfth, to Federal Consti- 
 tution, 245 ; of Federal Constitu- 
 tion, 270 ; first ten, to Federal 
 Constitution, 278. 
 
 American Revolution, cause, 3, 
 176. 
 
 Andros, Sir Edmund, viceroy in New 
 England, 164. 
 
 Annapolis, early city government, 
 123. 
 
 Architect, city, in Boston, 134. 
 
 Articles of Confederation adopted, 
 220 ; text, 293. 
 
 Assessors of taxes, selectmen as, 
 20 ; duties of town, 22, 30 ; in 
 Virginia, 64, 68 ; in Maryland, 
 82 ; in Delaware, 83 ; in Penn- 
 sylvania, 84 J in New York, 85 ; 
 
 in cities, 125 ; in Boston, 133 ; 
 in Brooklyn, 144. 
 
 Assistants, in city of New York, 
 120, 121 ; in colonial Massachu- 
 setts, x6i, 162. See also Coun- 
 cil. 
 
 Attorney-general, state, 1885 fed- 
 eral, succession to presidency, 
 248 ; duties, 263. 
 
 Auditor, city, in Boston, 134; in 
 Brooklyn, 144, 145 ; state, 187, 
 188 ; national, 262. 
 
 Australian ballot system, 289 ; re- 
 sults, 290 ; form of ballot, 408. 
 
 Baltimore, Lord, power as proprie- 
 tary of Maryland, 166. 
 
 Beadle, of English township, 39 ; of 
 English parish, 42. 
 
 Bemis, Edward, on influence of 
 school districts, 102. 
 
 Bill t)f attainder, forbidden, 269 ; 
 nature, 269. 
 
 Bill of Rights, English, as a consti- 
 tution, 206 ; in the Federal Con- 
 stitution, 277, 278. 
 
 Block-house in New England town- 
 ship, 18. 
 
 Boardsof commissioners, independent, 
 in colonial Philadelphia, 123 ; and 
 single commissioners, 138; state, 
 188. 
 
 Borough-reeve in England, 1 13. 
 
 Boroughs, English, use of the term, 
 1 1 1 5 development, 1 1 1 ; as a 
 hundred, 112; as a county, 113; 
 government, 117; bulwarks of 
 liberty, 11 7-1 19; represented in 
 first Parliament, I18 ; oligarchi- 
 
 415
 
 INDEX 
 
 cal tendencies, 119, 150 ; tenden- 
 cies checked, 120. See a/so City 
 government, London. 
 
 Boston, outgrows township system, 
 108 ; elected municipal officers, 
 109, 133; appointed municipal 
 officers, 133-135. 
 
 Bribery, in legislatures, 142 n. ; pre- 
 vention at elections, 291. 
 
 Bridges, superintendent of, in Boston, 
 I 34. See a/so Highways. 
 
 Brooklyn, reform municipal govern- 
 ment, 143-147. 
 
 Browne, W. H., on Baltimore's 
 powers as proprietary, 166, 167. 
 
 Bryce, James, on gerrymandering, 
 233 ; on nominating conventions, 
 
 25.3- 
 Buildings, inspector of, in Boston, 
 
 133 5 superintendent of public, in 
 
 Boston, 133. 
 By-laws, of town-meeting, 35 ; of 
 
 vestry-meeting, 63. 
 
 Cabinet, federal and English, 258. 
 
 California, influence of school dis- 
 trict, 102. 
 
 Carr, Dabney, proposes intercolonial 
 Committees of Correspondence, 
 218. 
 
 Cemetery, trustees of, in Boston, 
 133. 
 
 Census, national bureau, 263. 
 
 Century, original meaning, 80. 
 
 Chamberlain, treasurer of city of 
 New York, 121. 
 
 Channing, Edward, on Virginia es- 
 tates, 61. 
 
 Charity. See Poor. 
 
 Charters, London, 113 ; colonial, 
 154, 161, 164-168, 170; medi- 
 aeval town, 204 ; Great, 205 ; 
 and constitutions, 205 ; colonial, 
 as constitutions, 210. 
 
 Chicago, one-chambered council. 
 
 Church congregations, origin of New 
 England townships in, 15-17. 
 See a/so Parish. 
 
 Church wardens in England, duties, 
 42 ; and selectmen, 42. 
 
 City government, representation ne- 
 cessary, 108 5 essentials in United 
 States and England, IIO; early 
 New York, 120-122 ; early 
 Philadelphia, 123 ; pattern for 
 American, 124; cause of weak- 
 ness, 124; modern, in United 
 States, 125 ; unsuccessful, 126- 
 128 5 rapid growth, 129 ; result- 
 ing problems, 130-132 ; increased 
 complexity, 132-136, 141 ; as a 
 business corporation, 136, 143; 
 attempted reforms, 136 ; lack of 
 unified responsibility, 137—139; 
 check on indebtedness, 139 ; ef- 
 fect of interference with self-gov- 
 ernment in, 139-142; corrup- 
 tion, 142 ; reform, 143— 147 ; 
 and national party politics, 146, 
 150; question of restricted suf- 
 frage, 147—150. See a/so Bor- 
 oughs, London. 
 
 City council, in New York, 121 ; 
 in United States cities, 125 ; in 
 Brooklyn, 143. See a/so Alder- 
 men, Common council. 
 
 Citizenship, duty of, and historical 
 knowledge, 13. 
 
 Civil service, national, 284 ; spoils 
 system invades state, 285 ; and 
 rotation in office, 285 ; spoils sys- 
 tem in national, 286 ; reform, 
 287-289. 
 
 Clans, development into townships, 
 37-39 ; grouped in tribes, 50. 
 
 Clay, Henry, nomination for presi- 
 dency, 252. 
 
 Clerks, town, in New England, 21 ; 
 parish and vestry, in England, 
 41 ; parish, in Virginia, 63, 64 ; 
 county, in Virginia, 67 ; in South 
 Carolina, 77 5 town, in New 
 York, 85 ; in city of New York, 
 120-122 ; in Boston, 134. 
 
 Close corporation. See Oligarchical 
 tendencies. 
 
 Collectors of taxes, in New England, 
 
 16
 
 INDEX 
 
 22 ; in Virginia, 68 ; in New 
 York, 85 ; in Boston, 133. 
 
 Colonies. See State government. 
 
 Colorado, influence of school district, 
 loz ; woman suffrage, 103. 
 
 Comitia, Roman, 37. 
 
 Commerce, maritime, parliamentary 
 control of colonial, 175. 
 
 Committees, city council, 126 ; in- 
 efficient for executive purposes, 
 137-139 ; executive, of Conti- 
 nental Congress, 222 ; of House 
 of Representatives, 238. 
 
 Committees of Correspondence, ef- 
 fect, 178 ; intercolonial, 218. 
 
 Committee of Safety, purpose, 179. 
 
 Common of New England township, 
 18. 
 
 Common council, of Boston, 109 ; 
 of city of London, 115-117; of 
 city of New Yoric, called assist- 
 ants, 120, 121 ; of Philadelphia, 
 123, 124 ; of United States cities, 
 
 Common-driver of English parish, 
 
 41- 
 
 Commonwealth, use of the term, 7. 
 
 Comptroller, of Brooldyn, 143, 145 ; 
 state, 188 ; national, 262. 
 
 Confederation and federal union, 
 264. See also Continental Con- 
 gress, Union. 
 
 Congress, use of the term, 217, 
 221 ; national, .meeting, 236, 
 256 ; procedure of bills, 240 5 
 delegated powers, 264 ; implied 
 powers, 265, 281 ; expressed pro- 
 hibitions, 268. See also House 
 of Representatives, Senate. 
 
 Connecticut, settled by church-con- 
 gregations, 1 7 ; colonial govern- 
 ment, 1 64 ; first written constitu- 
 tion, 209, 383. 
 
 Constable, in New England town- 
 ships, 21 ; in English parish, 41 ; 
 in Virginia, 67 ; high, chie'f ma- 
 gistrate of English hundred, 81 ; 
 high, in Maryland hundred, 82 ; 
 in New York towns, 84 ; in city 
 
 of New York, izi ; in Boston, 
 
 134- 
 
 Constitutions, written, position in 
 American system of government, 
 202, 210 ; germs, 203 ; and 
 charters, 205 ; English BiU of 
 Rights, 206 ; first tendency to- 
 ward, in England, 207 ; Instru- 
 ment of Government, 207 ; and 
 the Mayflower compact, 208 ; 
 first, 209 ; and the colonial char- 
 ters, 210 5 over-development in 
 recent state, 21 1-2 14; amend- 
 ment of state, 212; Articles of 
 Confederation, 220. See also 
 Federal Constitution, 
 
 Consular service, 260. 
 
 Continental Congress, no power to 
 tax, 9, 222, 226; period, 219 ; 
 why ' ' continental, " 219 ; nature 
 and powers, 221-223, 227 ; sov- 
 ereignty, 223 ; decline, 224. 
 
 Convention, defined, 213 ; Federal, 
 226 ; nominating, 253. 
 
 Coroner, English county officer, 
 choice, 53 ; duties, 54 ; in Vir- 
 ginia, 68 ; in South Carolina, 77; 
 in Pennsylvania, 84 5 in city of 
 New York, 121. 
 
 Corporation, New England township 
 as, 21 ; Massachusetts county as, 
 
 57- 
 Council, of colonial Virginia, 159; 
 
 of colonial Massachusetts, 1 61, 
 
 177; of Pennsylvania, 168; 
 
 status of colonial, 1 72 ; power 
 
 during the Revolution, 180; and 
 
 the state senate, 181. 
 
 Counsel, corporation, in Boston, 
 I 34. See also Attorney-General. 
 
 County, origin, 50 ; development of 
 English nation from counties, 51 ; 
 ancient English, 52 ; after the 
 Norman conquest, 53-55 ; why 
 so called, 53 ; decay of English, 
 55 ; beginnings of, in Massachu- 
 setts, 5 6 ; area of administration of 
 justice, 56, 66 ; modern, in Mas- 
 sachusetts, 57-59 } as unit of re- 
 
 417
 
 INDEX 
 
 presentation, 65, 77, 82, 84; size, 
 65, 78, 100 ; in Virginia, 66- 
 69 ; modern, in South Carolina, 
 111 78 j l^^y court in Delaware, 
 83; in Pennsylvania, 84; super- 
 visors in New York, 85 ; origin 
 and shape of Western, 90 ; early 
 prevailing system in the West, 
 94, 96 ; and township option in 
 the West, 97-100 ; supervisors 
 in Michigan and Illinois, 100 ; 
 supervisors and commissioners, 
 100 ; representative system, 105 ; 
 satisfactory results, 1075 borough 
 as, 113; city of New York as, 
 121 ; relation to the state, 191. 
 
 County commissioners, in Massachu- 
 setts, 57 ; in South Carolina, 77 ; 
 in Pennsylvania, 84 ; compared 
 with boards of supervisors, 100. 
 See aho Levy court. Supervisors. 
 
 County-lieutenant in colonial Vir- 
 ginia, 69. See alio Lord-lieu- 
 tenant. 
 
 County palatine, in England, 165 ; 
 Maryland as, 166. 
 
 County seat, in Massachusetts, 56, 
 58 ; in Virginia, 66 ; relation of 
 names of county and, 66, 67 n. 
 
 Courts, leet, 40 ; baron, 40 ; shire- 
 mote, 52 ; under the Normans, 
 53 ; coroner's, 54 ; Quarter Ses- 
 sions, 55 ; General Sessions in 
 Massachusetts, 5 6 ; modern coun- 
 ty, in Massachusetts, 57 ; county, 
 in Virginia, 66-69 ; South Caro- 
 lina colonial, 75 ; circuit, in South 
 Carolina, 76, 77 ; hundred, in 
 England, 81 ; no township, 112 ; 
 borough, in England, 112; com- 
 mon pleas of city of New York, 
 121 ; municipal, 125, 199 ; Mas- 
 sachusetts General Court as a ju- 
 dicial body, 163; independence 
 of state, 198 ; of justices of the 
 peace, 198 ; mayor's, 199 ; coun- 
 ty, 199 ; superior, 199 ; state su- 
 preme, 199 j of appeals, 199 ; 
 choice and tenure of state judges. 
 
 199-201 j of Appeals in Case of 
 Capture, 222 n. ; importance of a 
 federal judiciary, 271 ; federal cir- 
 cuit, of appeals, 271 n. ; federal 
 supreme, 272 ; federal circuit, 
 
 272 ; federal district, 272 ; ap- 
 pointment and tenure of federal 
 judges, 272 ; officers of federal, 
 
 273 ; federal jurisdiction, 273 ; 
 uniqueness and value of federal su- 
 preme, 274. See aho Justice of 
 the peace. 
 
 Crawford, W. H., caucus nominee 
 for presidency, 253 ; and rotation 
 in office, 285. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, dictatorship, 207. 
 
 Crowner. See Coroner. 
 
 Curia, Roman hundred, 80. 
 
 Dakota, optional township system, 
 
 99- 
 
 Debts, city, 139. 
 
 Delaware, hundred in, 83 ; levy 
 court, 83 ; settlement, 158 ; co- 
 lonial government, 167. 
 
 Democracy, in Greece, 37 ; clan, 
 38 ; in early Massachusetts, 161 ; 
 dangers, 186. See also Repre- 
 sentation, Town-meeting. 
 
 Departments, executive, in city gov- 
 ernment, independent in colonial 
 Philadelphia, 123 j modern con- 
 ditions, 125, 126, 137; various, 
 in Boston, 133-135 ; boards and 
 committees -versus single commis- 
 sioners, 138; single commission- 
 ers in Brooklyn, 144; state, 188; 
 national, 258-263. 
 
 Diplomatic service, grades, 260. 
 
 District attorney, federal, 273. 
 
 District of Columbia, congressional 
 control, 265. 
 
 District organization in South Caro- 
 lina, 76. 
 
 Division of powers, effect in city 
 government, 136-139; in state 
 governments, 185-187; effect in 
 federal government, 257. 
 
 Durham, power of the bishop, 165. 
 
 18
 
 INDEX 
 
 Ealdorman of English county, 51, 
 52 J extinction, 53. 
 
 Ecclesia^ Greek, 37. 
 
 Education. See Schools. 
 
 Edvyard I., Model Parliament, 45 ; 
 Confirmatio Chartarum, 371- 
 
 Election officers, in Pennsylvania, 
 84; in Boston, 133, 134 ; board 
 of, in Brooklyn, 144. 
 
 Electoral college, composition, 243 ; 
 election, 243, 249, 250 n. ; du- 
 ties, 244 ; theory and practice, 
 248. 
 
 Electoral commission of 1877, 247. 
 
 Eminent domain defined, 4. 
 
 England, development of the nation, 
 51 ; extent of woman suffrage, 
 103 ; claim to North America, 
 
 153- 
 
 Entail in Virginia, 61. 
 
 Executive, of towns, 20, 35, 84 5 
 of Virginia parish, 63 ; of Vir- 
 ginia county, 67; of cities, 125, 
 126, 137-139, 143 ; of colonial 
 governments, 172 ; early state 
 councils as, 180; separation from 
 legislature, 185-187, 257; state, 
 187; during the Confederation, 
 222 ; federal, 242-263 ; federal 
 departments, 257—263. See also 
 Governor, Mayor, President, Se- 
 lectmen, Sheriff. 
 
 Federal Constitution, drafted, 226 ; 
 model, 228 ; compromises on 
 slavery, 229, 277 ; compromise 
 on representation in the Senate, 
 230 ; amendments, 245, 278 ; 
 confined to fundamentals, 263 ; 
 created a federal union, 264, 271 j 
 supreme law, 270 ; mode of 
 amending, 270 j ratification, 276— 
 278 ; opposition, 277 ; text, 321. 
 
 Fence-viewer, duties, 25 ; in Eng- 
 lish parish, 41 ; in New York, 
 85 ; in Boston, 134. 
 
 Ferries, directors of, in Boston, 134. 
 
 Field-driver, duties, 24 ; in Boston, 
 134- 
 
 Fire department, city, 132 ; com- 
 missioners in Boston, 133; com- 
 missioner in Brooklyn, 144. 
 
 Firma burgi, in England, 1 1 7 j in 
 city of New York, 121. 
 
 Food, inspectors of, in Boston, 134. 
 
 France, claim to North America, 
 152; system of local government, 
 192-194. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, Albany Plan, 
 217. 
 
 Freeman, E. A., as a historian, 12. 
 
 French Revolution, cause, 3. 
 
 General Sessions, Massachusetts co- 
 lonial court, duties, 56. 
 
 George III., influence on the Revo- 
 lution, 118, 176. 
 
 Georgia, settlement, 157 ; early 
 government, 169. 
 
 Gerrymandering, 233—235. 
 
 Government, derivation of the word, 
 6 ; defined, 7 ; special use of the 
 word, 7 ; and taxation, 7—10, 
 34, 92, 223, 227 ; delusion con- 
 cerning its wealth, 33, 148 ; 
 United States as a field for study 
 of, 1 01 ; direct and indirect, 105— 
 107 ; danger in fundamental 
 changes, 186. See also Local 
 government. Self-government. 
 
 Governors, colonial, 159, 161, 164, 
 167, 168 ; kinds and positions at 
 time of the Revolution, 1 70, 
 171; relation of royal colonial, 
 to the legislatures, 173 ; post- 
 revolutionary, 181 ; veto power, 
 183, 187, 190 ; present status, 
 187 ; functions, 188 ; pardoning 
 power, 189. 
 
 Guilds, origin, 114; control of 
 English city governments, 115, 
 117. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, revenue mea- 
 sures, 279 ; loose constructionist, 
 281. 
 
 Harbour masters in Boston, 1345 
 state commissioners, 188. 
 
 419
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hayward, fence-viewer, 41. 
 
 Health department, town, 20 ; im- 
 portance of city, 132 ; commis- 
 sioners in Boston, 133 ; commis- 
 sioner in Brooklyn, 144 ; state 
 boards, 188. 
 
 Henry I., charter to London, 113, 
 117. 
 
 Highways, surveyor, 24, 41 , 84, 85 ; 
 control of, in Massachusetts, 57 ; 
 in Virginia, 67 ; overseer of, in 
 Maryland, 82 ; commissioners in 
 Delaware, 83 ; bad condition, 
 107. See also Streets. 
 
 History, purpose of its study, 12-14. 
 
 Hitchcock, Henry, on amendment 
 of state constitutions, 213. 
 
 Hosmer, J. K., on Samuel Adams, 
 35 ; Sir Harry Vane, 207 n. 
 
 Hospitals, directors of, in Boston, 
 
 133- 
 
 House of Commons, power, 10, 
 183. 
 
 House of Representatives, pattern, 
 228 ; composition, 228-230 ; 
 qualification of members, 228, 
 238 ; term, 232 ; electoral dis- 
 tricts, 232—236 ; representation at 
 large, 235 ; residence of candi- 
 dates, 236 ; time of election, 
 236 ; self-government and proce- 
 dure, 237 ; privileges and pay of 
 members, 237; Speaker, 238; 
 originates revenue bills, 240. See 
 also Congress. 
 
 Howard, G. E., on convenience of 
 public land survey, 91. 
 
 Hundred, origin, 79-81 j court, 81 ; 
 magistrate, 81 ; decay, 81 } in 
 Maryland, 82 j in Delaware, 83 ; 
 borough as, 112. 
 
 Hundredman, chief magistrate of 
 hundred, 81. 
 
 Idaho, mfluence of school district, 
 loi ; woman suffrage, 103. 
 
 Illinois, length, 26 ; character of 
 settlement, 96, 97 ; early county 
 system, 96 ; adoption of optional 
 
 township system, 97 ; county su- 
 pervisors, 100. 
 
 Immigration, state commissioners, 
 188. 
 
 Impeachment, power in England, 
 239 ; under the Federal Constitu- 
 tion, 239. 
 
 Implied powers, congressional, 265 ; 
 and party politics, 281-283. 
 
 Imprisonment for delinquent taxes, 
 22. 
 
 Indiana, subordinate township sys- 
 tem, 99. 
 
 Indians, influence on method of set- 
 tlement in New England, 17 ; 
 social condition at time of the dis- 
 covery, 38 } bureau of Indian 
 affairs, 263. 
 
 Ingle, Edward, on Virginia court- 
 day, 71- _ 
 
 Inspectors, various official, in Bos- 
 ton, 134. 
 
 Instrument of Government as a con- 
 stitution, 207. 
 
 Insurrection, suppression, 59, 270. 
 
 Interior, succession to presidency of 
 secretary of the, 248 ; depart- 
 ment, 262. 
 
 Internal improvements as a party 
 issue, 283. 
 
 Iowa, subordinate township system, 
 100 ; woman bond suffrage, 103. 
 
 Isle of Man, woman suffrage, 103. 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, originates pocket 
 veto, 241 ; nomination for presi- 
 dency, 252 J and the spoUs system, 
 286. 
 
 Jameson, J. F., on state powers, 
 
 I97- 
 Jefferson, Thomas, influences aboli- 
 tion of entail, 61 ; on Virginia 
 vestrymen, 64 ; on township gov- 
 ernment, 70 ; suggests system of 
 public land sur\'ey, 87 ; election 
 to the presidency, 245 ; refuses a 
 third term, 255 ; establishes cus- 
 tom of written message, 256 ; 
 strict-constructionist, 281. 
 
 420
 
 INDEX 
 
 Judges. See Courts. 
 
 Jurors, ancient use in coroner's in- 
 quest, 54. 
 
 Justice of the peace, origin, 54 ; du- 
 ties, 55 J in Massacliusetts, 56, 
 58 ; in Virginia, 66 ; London 
 aldermen as, 116; modern du- 
 ties, 198. 
 
 Kansas, subordinate township system, 
 100 ; municipal woman suffrage, 
 103. 
 
 Kentucky, land-grant complications, 
 86 ; local school taxation, 102. 
 
 Kingdom, defined, 10. 
 
 Land grants, in colonial Massachu- 
 setts, 1 7 ; in colonial Virginia, 
 61. 
 
 Legislature, town, 35, 85, 100; 
 of English shire, 52; of London, 
 1 1 5-1 1 7 ; of city of New York, 
 121 ; of United States cities, 
 125 ; control of cities by state, 
 139-142; labour of state, 141 ; 
 theory and practice of state, I42n. ; 
 Virginia House of Burgesses, 159 ; 
 primary, in Massachusetts, 161 ; 
 Massachusetts General Court, 
 162; other colonial, 1675 status 
 of colonial, 1 71-17 3 ; relation of 
 colonial, to the royal governors, 
 173; power to dissolve, 177, 
 178 ; modern state, 183 ; reten- 
 tion of bicameral, 184; separation 
 from the executive, 185-1875 
 state, and the constitutions, 202, 
 210 ; abnormal constitutional re- 
 strictions on state, 211— 214. See 
 also Congress, House of Repre- 
 sentatives, Senate, Veto. 
 
 Levy court in Delaware, 83. 
 
 Lieutenant-governor, colonial, 161, 
 164 ; state, 182. 
 
 Local government, Virginia and 
 New England as types, 60 ; con- 
 trasts in Virginia and New Eng- 
 land systems, 65, 70. See aho 
 City, County, Parish, Township. 
 
 "Log-rolling" in county govern- 
 ment, 100 ; in city government, 
 138 ; in state legislatures, 140, 
 142 n. 
 
 London, city of, chartered as a 
 county, 113, 116 J controlled by 
 the guilds, US; government, 
 115-1x7; extent, 116 n.; a 
 republic, 118. 
 
 London Company, jurisdiction, 153 ; 
 colony, I 54 ; charter, 1 54 ; dis- 
 solved, 155. 
 
 Lord-lieutenant of English county, 
 
 5 S.- 
 Louisiana, (state) extent of woman 
 
 suffrage, 103 ; (territory) ac- 
 quired, 275. 
 
 Low, Seth, on municipal govern- 
 ment, 130, 144. 
 
 Lumber surveyor, 25. 
 
 Lunacy, directors in Boston, 133; 
 state boards, 188. 
 
 Magna Charta, charter or constitu- 
 tion, 205 ; text, 352. 
 
 Manor in England and the township, 
 39 ; and the parish, 40. 
 
 Marcy, W. L., apothegm on the 
 spoils system, 286. 
 
 Mark, Germanic, 38. 
 
 Market, clerk of, in city of New 
 York, 121 ; superintendent of, 
 in Boston, 1 34. 
 
 Marshal, United States, 273. 
 
 Maryland, hundred government, 82 ; 
 settlement, 157 ; charter and co- 
 lonial government, 165—167. 
 
 Mason and Dixon's line, origin and 
 significance, 168. 
 
 Massachusetts, land grants to church 
 congregations, 17 ; establishment 
 of public schools, 23 ; assessment 
 of taxes, 26-32 ; beginnings of 
 counties, 56 ; organization of the 
 militia, 56 ; modern county gov- 
 ernment, 57-59 ; beginnings of 
 colonial government, 160-164; 
 changes, 1 64 ; Regulating Act, 
 1765 government during the 
 
 421
 
 INDEX 
 
 Revolurion, 178-180. See also 
 New England, Township. 
 
 Mayflower compact, ao8. 
 
 Mayor, of Boston, 109, 133 ; of city 
 of London, 115, 116; of city 
 of New York, 120-122; of 
 Philadelphia, 123, 124 ; of United 
 States cities, 12.5 ; power and 
 responsibility, 125, 136, 139, 
 143 ; under reform government 
 of Brooklyn, 143-145 ; court, 
 199. 
 
 Michigan, settled by New England- 
 ers, 95 ; development of township 
 government, 95 ; county super- 
 visors, 100. 
 
 Militia, early organization in Massa- 
 chusetts, 56 ; and in Virginia, 
 69 ; hundred commander of, in 
 Maryland, 82. 
 
 Mines, state commissioners, 188. 
 
 Minister, in colonial V^irginia, 64 ; in 
 colonial South Carolina, 75. 
 
 Minnesota, optional township system, 
 
 .99- 
 
 Missouri, optional township system, 
 
 98, 100. 
 
 Moderator of New England town- 
 meeting, 26. 
 
 Mommsen, Theodor, as a historian, 
 12. 
 
 Montana, influence of school dis- 
 trict, 102. 
 
 Morris, Robert, the Financier, 222. 
 
 National bank made a party issue, 
 283. 
 
 Navy, succession to presidency of 
 secretary of the, 248 ; depart- 
 ment, 262. 
 
 Nebraska, optional township system, 
 
 99- 
 
 Nevada, influence of school district, 
 102. 
 
 New England, method of settiement, 
 15—17; social condition of set- 
 tlers, 18 ; local government of, 
 contrasted with Virginia, 70-73 ; 
 settlement, 156; Confederacy, 
 
 217. See also Township, and 
 states by name. 
 
 New Jersey, settiement, 158 ; colo- 
 nial government, 169. 
 
 New York, local government, 84 ; 
 settlement, 157; colonial govern- 
 ment, 168. 
 
 New York city, chartered, 120; 
 early government, 120—122 ; dur- 
 ing the Revolution, 122; acquires 
 complete self-government, 122 ; 
 effect of state legislature control, 
 140-142 ; Tweed Ring, 142. 
 
 New Zealand, woman suffrage, 103. 
 
 Newspapers, political value, 34. 
 
 North Carolina, settlement, 157 ; 
 colonial government, 169. 
 
 Northwest Territory, origin, 274 ; 
 ordinance for government, 275. 
 
 Ohio, subordinate township system, 
 
 99- 
 
 Oligarchical tendencies, in English 
 city governments, 119, 150; 
 checked, 120 ; in colonial Vir- 
 ginia, 63, 66, 68, 70 ; in Phila- 
 delphia, 123. 
 
 Ordinance of 1787, 97, 275. 
 
 Oregon, (state) influence of school 
 district, 102; (territory) acquired, 
 275. 
 
 Overseers of New York township, 
 85. 
 
 Paper currency, states forbidden to 
 issue, 195, 266; nature, 266; 
 effect as a legal tender, 267 ; na- 
 tional government not forbidden 
 to issue, 268. 
 
 Pardon, governor's power, 189; 
 president's power, 255. 
 
 Parish, origin, 40 ; and the town- 
 ship, 40 ; vestry-meeting, 41 ; 
 self-taxation, 41 ; officers, 41 ; 
 powers, 42 ; origin of the New 
 England township, 42 ; in Vir- 
 ginia, 63, 64 ; in South Caro- 
 lina, 74. 
 
 Parliament, first representative, 45, 
 
 412
 
 INDEX 
 
 Il8 ; control of the colonies, 
 173—177 ; power to dissolve, 177. 
 See also House of Commons. 
 Patents, national bureau, 264. 
 
 Penn, William, proprietary of Penn- 
 sylvania, 167 J proposes a union, 
 217. 
 
 Pennsylvania, local government, 84 ; 
 settlement, 158; charter and co- 
 lonial government, 167 ; one- 
 chambered legislature, 172. 
 
 Pennsylvania Municipal Commission 
 on restricted municipal suffrage, 
 148. 
 
 Pensions, national bureau, 263. 
 
 Philadelphia, system of street num- 
 bering, 89 n. ; early* government a 
 close corporation, 123 ; indepen- 
 dent boards of commissioners, 
 123; reform, 1 24 ; accumulation 
 of debt, 148. 
 
 Phratry, social group intermediate 
 between clan and tribe, 80 ; In- 
 dian, 80. See also Hundred. 
 
 Plantation, use of the term, 159 n. 
 
 Plymouth Company, jurisdiction, 
 153 ; colony, 154 ; charter, 154; 
 surrendered, 155. 
 
 Police force, complexity of city, 
 133 ; commissioners in Boston, 
 135 ; commissioner in Brooklyn, 
 144. See also Constables. 
 
 Politics, national, and city govern- 
 ment, 146, 150; formation of 
 parties, 281 ; main issue, 282 ; 
 phases of the issue, 282 ; evils 
 and reforms, 29 1 . See also Spoils 
 system, Australian ballot. 
 
 Poll-tax, 27. 
 
 Poor, overseers of, town, 20, 22, 
 84, 85 ; English parish, 42 ; Vir- 
 ginia parish, 64; city, 125 ; di- 
 rectors in Boston, 133 ; state 
 boards, 188. 
 
 Population, urban and rural, 129. 
 
 Port-reeve of London, 113; be- 
 comes mayor, 115. 
 
 Posse comitatus in England, 53 ; in 
 Massachusetts, 59. 
 
 Postmaster-general, succession to 
 presidency, 248 ; duties, 263. 
 
 Pound-keeper, town, 25, 85. 
 
 President, title for chief executive 
 of early state governments, 180; 
 federal, veto power, 240 ; head of 
 the executive department, 242 j 
 why so called, 242 ; election, 
 242-247 ^ succession, 247 ; the- 
 ory and practice of electoral col- 
 lege, 248 ; election by minority 
 of popular vote, 250 ; reforms 
 in election of, considered, 251 j 
 nomination of candidates, 252— 
 254 ; qualifications, 254 ; term, 
 254 ; duties and powers, 255 ; 
 message, 256 ; as a party leader, 
 257 ; and the executive power in 
 England, 258. 
 
 Primary, political, nature and duties, 
 
 253- 
 
 Prime minister of England, power, 
 259. 
 
 Printing, superintendent of, in Bos- 
 ton, 134. 
 
 Prisons, state commissioners, 188. 
 
 Probate, court and register in Massa- 
 chusetts, 58 ; control of, in Vir- 
 ginia, 67 ; judge of, in South 
 Carolina, 77. 
 
 Property, seizure for delinquent taxes, 
 22 5 taxation of real estate, 28, 
 31; taxation of personal, 28; 
 undervaluation and concealment 
 of personal, from assessment, 3 1 , 
 32. 
 
 Proprietary government in America, 
 165-169. 
 
 Provincial Congress of Massachu- 
 setts, 179. 
 
 Public documents, national bureau, 
 263. See also Records. 
 
 Public lands, survey, 86—89 ; di- 
 visions, 89; subdivisions, 91; 
 sale, 92 ; reservations for public 
 schools, 92 ; bureau, 263. 
 
 Public library, parochial, in South 
 Carolina, 75 ; trustees of, in Bos- 
 ton, 133. 
 
 423
 
 INDEX 
 
 Quarter Sessions in England, 55 5 
 equivalent in Virginia, 66. 
 
 Quincy,Josiah, on town meetings In 
 Boston, 108. 
 
 Railroads, state commissioners, 188. 
 
 Ramage, B. J., on South Carolina 
 back country, 75. 
 
 Reade, Charles, story from Cloister 
 and the Hearth, 1 . 
 
 Real estate, taxation, 28, 31. 
 
 Recorder of city of New York, 
 120-122 ; of Philadelphia, 123, 
 124. 
 
 Records, keepers of, town, 21 ; 
 county, 58, 67; city, 133. See 
 also Public documents. 
 
 Reeve of English township, 39. 
 
 Referendum, Wilson on, 214. 
 
 Regulating Act for Massachusetts, 
 significance, 176. 
 
 "Regulators" in South Carolina, 
 76. 
 
 Representation, as safeguard of self- 
 government, 44, 46-48 ; in shire- 
 motes, 44, 52 ; first Parliament, 
 45 ; township as unit, 45-48 ; in 
 Virginia parish, 63 ; county as 
 unit, 65, 77, 82, 84 ; apportion- 
 ment in South Carolina, 75-77 5 
 in the hundred court, 81 ; in 
 Delaware levy court, 8 3 ; in boards 
 of supervisors, 85, 100 ; neces- 
 sary in county system, 105, 106 ; 
 necessary in city government, 108 ; 
 in English boroughs, 113, 115 ; 
 in city of New York, 121 ; in 
 United States cities, 125 ; in the 
 colonies, 159, 162, 167, 171, 
 172; in the states, 181, 183 ; 
 and the Continental Congress, 
 227 ; and taxation, 227, 229 ; 
 in the House of Representatives, 
 228-230; in the Senate, 230, 
 231. See also Oligarchical ten- 
 dencies. 
 
 Rhode Island, colonial and early state 
 government, 164. 
 
 Roads. See Highways, Streets. 
 
 Robbery and taxadon, 10. 
 
 Rotation in office, and democratic 
 principles, 36 ; introduction into 
 national civil service, 285. 
 
 Russell, Benjamin, and the gerry- 
 mander, 235. 
 
 Russia, local self-government, 46 ; 
 centralization, 47. 
 
 San Francisco, one-chambered coun- 
 cil, 125. 
 
 Schools, public, established in Massa- 
 chusetts, 23 ; duties of township 
 committee, 23 ; appointment of 
 teachers in New England town- 
 ship, 24 5 superintendent, 24 ; 
 established in South Carolina, 75 ; 
 commission in South Carolina, 
 77 ; districts as step toward town- 
 ship system, 78, 93, 96, loi — 
 103 ; sections in the public lands 
 and their influence, 92, 93 ; dis- 
 tricts and woman suffrage, 103 ; 
 committee of city of Boston, 134; 
 state superintendent and boards, 
 188 ; national bureau of educa- 
 tion, 263. 
 
 Section, division of public-land town- 
 ship, 91 ; school, 92. 
 
 Selectmen of township, duties, 20 ; 
 as the government, 21 ; power 
 and responsibility, 36 ; and English 
 churchwardens, 42 ; and Virginia 
 vestrymen, 63 ; equivalent in 
 New York, 84. 
 
 Self-government, aim of New Eng- 
 land settlers, 19, 120 ; in English 
 manor, 39 ; in English parish, 
 41 ; township, 43, 46 ; Russian 
 local, 46 5 preservation of local, 
 in United States, 191, 194; lack 
 of local, in France, 192—194 ; 
 effect of interference with city, 
 139-142. See also Oligarchical 
 tendencies, Representation. 
 
 Senate, state, origin, 181 ; status, 
 182-184; federal, compromise in 
 composition, 230, 231 ; election 
 of senators, 231 ; term of senators, 
 
 424
 
 INDEX 
 
 aji 5 qualifications of senators, 
 ■ 234 ; self-government and proce- 
 dure, 237 ; privileges and pay of 
 senators, 237 ; presiding officer, 
 238, 247 ; participation in treaties 
 and appointments, 255. See aho 
 Congress. 
 
 Sergeant-at-arms of city of Nev»r 
 York, 121. 
 
 Servants, indentured, in Virginia, 
 62. 
 
 Sewers, superintendent of, in Boston, 
 
 134- 
 
 Sexton of Virginia parish, 64. 
 
 Sheriff, of ancient English shire, 52 ; 
 after the Norman Conquest, 53 ; 
 duties, 53 ; in Massachusetts, 59 ; 
 in Virginia, 68 ; in South Caro- 
 lina, 75-77 ; in Pennsylvania, 
 84 ; of city of London, 113,117; 
 of city of New York, 121, 122. 
 
 Ship of state, use of the term, 7. 
 
 Shire. See County. 
 
 Shire-mote, 44, 52 ; as a court of 
 justice, 52. 
 
 Simon de Montfort, his Parliament, 
 45 ; and the cities, 118. 
 
 Sinking fund commissioners in Bos- 
 ton, 133. 
 
 Slavery in Virginia, 61. 
 
 Social conditions, in colonial New 
 England, 1 8 ; in colonial Virginia, 
 62. 
 
 Social Contract, theory, 203. 
 
 Solicitor, city, in Boston, 134; na- 
 tional, 263. 
 
 South, tendency toward township 
 system, 102. 
 
 South Australia, woman suffrage, 
 103. 
 
 South Carolina, dual local govern- 
 ment, 74—77 ; local government 
 since the Civil War, 77 ; coun- 
 ties much too large, 78 ; settle- 
 ment, 157 ; colonial government, 
 169. 
 
 Sovereignty, and taxation, 8-10, 
 226 ; where invested in Ameri- 
 can government, 191, 195-198, 
 
 220, 264, 270, 271 ; of the 
 Continental Congress, 223, 226. 
 
 Spain, claim to America, 152. 
 
 Speaker, origin of the title, 238 ; 
 duties and power, 239. 
 
 Spoils system, state origin, 285 ; 
 nature and development, 286, 
 287 ; attempt to suppress, 287— 
 289. 
 
 Stamp Act Congress, 218. 
 
 State government, organization of 
 the different colonial, I 59-1 70; 
 forms of, at beginning of Revo- 
 lution, 1 70 ; based on English 
 model, 173, 182, 216; relation 
 of colonial, to Parliament, 173— 
 177; transitory stage during the 
 Revolution, 1 78-1 81 5 further 
 reorganization, 1 81-183; present 
 framework, 185-190 ; division 
 of powers, 185-187; preserva- 
 tion of local self-government, 1 9 1 ; 
 sovereignty, 191, 220 ; powers for- 
 bidden to, and retained by, under 
 the Federal Constitution, 195- 
 198, 266, 278 ; independence of 
 the courts, 198 ; grades of courts, 
 198 ; status of judges, 198-201 ; 
 authority of state constitution, 
 202, 210; overdevelopment of 
 the constitution, 21 1— 214 ; repre- 
 sented in the Federal Senate, 230, 
 231 ; interrelationship under the 
 Federal Constitution, 269 ; federal 
 guarantee, 270 ; subordinate to 
 Federal Constitution, 270 ; ad- 
 mission of new, to the Union, 
 274; and the spoils system, 285. 
 
 State, secretary of, 187,188; federal, 
 succession to presidency, 248 ; 
 duties, 259. 
 
 Street lights, independent commis- 
 sion for, in Philadelphia, 123; 
 superintendent of, in Boston, 1 34. 
 
 Streets, bad condition of city, 107 ; 
 control of, in colonial Philadelphia, 
 123 ; city commissioners, 125 ; 
 commissioners and superintendents 
 of Boston, 133, 134. 
 
 425
 
 INDEX 
 
 Suffrage, woman, 103 ; why gen- 
 erally restricted to men, 103 5 
 question of restricted municipal, 
 1^7—1 50 ; modern conditions, 
 1 84 ; state control of national, 
 Z28. 
 
 Supervisors, county, in New York, 
 85 ; in Michigan and Illinois, 
 100 5 compared with county com- 
 missioners, 100. See also County 
 commissioners. Levy court. 
 
 Surveyor, city, in Boston, 134. See 
 also Highways. 
 
 Tariff, familiarity, 280 ; early state, 
 280 ; national, 280 ; as a party 
 issue, 282, 283. 
 
 Taxation, historical importance, 2 ; 
 defined, 3-6 ; essential to govern- 
 ment, 7, 34, 92 ; criterion of 
 government, 8—10, 34, 223, 
 227 ; proper and improper use of 
 power, 10; in New England 
 townships, 20, 22, 26 ; seizure 
 of property for delinquency, 22 ; 
 imprisonment for delinquency, 22 ; 
 method in Massachusetts, 26 ; 
 kinds and exemptions, 27-29 ; 
 assessment, 29 ; lists, 30 ; under- 
 valuation of property for, 31, 32 ; 
 rate, 31; burden, 32; in Eng- 
 lish parish, 41 ; in Virginia par- 
 ish, 64 ; in Virginia county, 68 ; 
 and suffrage, 74, 103, 147-150, 
 184; in Maryland hundred, 82 ; 
 by levy court in Delaware, 83 ; 
 in New York townships, 85; 
 board of county supervisors in 
 New York, 85 ; board of esti- 
 mate in Brooklyn, 145 ; origin 
 in lower house of legislature, 167, 
 171, 240 ; power not possessed 
 by Continental Congress, 222, 
 226 5 and representation, 227, 
 229 ; fear of federal, 279 ; fed- 
 eral excise, 279, 281 ; federal 
 imposts, 280 ; other federal taxes, 
 280, 281 n. See a/so Assessors, 
 Collectors. 
 
 Taylor, Hannis, on government of 
 city of London, 114. 
 
 Tennessee, local school taxation, 
 102. 
 
 Territory, origin of national, 274 ; 
 growth, 275 ; government, 276. 
 
 Tithing-man of English township, 
 39 ; of English parish, 41 n. j in 
 New England, 41 n. 
 
 Tobacco, currency in Virginia, 64, 
 68 ; viewer in Maryland hun- 
 dred, 82. 
 
 Town, origin of the term, 38 ; and 
 city, 109-111. See also Town- 
 meeting, Township. 
 
 Town-meeting, time and composi- 
 tion, 19 ; functions, 20, 25, 35 ; 
 calling of, 26 ; procedure, 26 ; 
 as a political training-school, 3 3 ; 
 34, 72, 106 ; importance during 
 the pre-Revolutionary days, 35 ; 
 in England, 39 ; and the English 
 vestry meeting, 41 ; and the 
 court-baron, 40 ; and the Virginia 
 court-day, 71 ; in New York, 
 84 ; in Michigan, 95 ; in the 
 western townships, 99, 1 00. See 
 also Township. 
 
 Township, oldest form of govern- 
 ment, 15 ; origin, 15-17, 42 ; 
 elements, 18 ; self-government, 
 19 ; officers, 20-25 ; legal cor- 
 poration, 21 ; elected officers, 25 ; 
 power and responsibility of officers, 
 35 ; and rotation in office, 36 ; 
 in Greece and Rome, 37; de- 
 velopment from clan, 37-39 ; 
 English, 39; and the manor, 39, 
 40 ; and the parish, 40 ; as unit 
 of representation and assessment, 
 45-48 ; and the Russian village- 
 community, 46 5 lacking in Vir- 
 ginia, 61, 63, 65 ; and the Vir- 
 ginia parish, 63, 65 ; Jefferson 
 on, 70 ; tendency toward, in the 
 South, 78, 102 ; and the Mary- 
 land hundred, 82; in Pennsyl- 
 vania, 84 ; in New York, 84 ; 
 use of term, in public-land sur- 
 
 426
 
 INDEX 
 
 vey, 8 7 ; origin and size of west- 
 ern, 87; division and subdivision 
 of land survey, 91 ; influence of 
 school section in development of 
 township government in the West, 
 93 ; development of, in Michigan, 
 95 ; as an optional system in the 
 West, 99 ; grades of, in the West, 
 99 ; democracy, 105 ; advantages, 
 106; limitations, 106; relation 
 to the state, 191. See also Town- 
 meeting. 
 
 Treasurer, town, 21 ; county, 57, 
 83, 145 ; sheriff as county, 68 ; 
 dual state, in South Carolina, 77 ; 
 city, 121, 134; state, 187, 188. 
 See also Treasury. 
 
 Treasury, secretary of the, succession 
 to presidency, 248 ; duties, 261 ; 
 qualifications, 262. 
 
 Tribe, group of clans, 50 ; develop- 
 ment into county, 50. 
 
 Tun, Germanic, 38. 
 
 Tungemot, 39. 
 
 Tweed Ring, 142. 
 
 Undertakers, official, in Boston, 
 
 134- 
 
 Union, usual cause, 216 ; New Eng- 
 land Confederacy, 217; Penn's 
 proposal, 217; Albany Plan, 217; 
 Stamp Act Congress, 218; in- 
 tercolonial Committees of Cor- 
 respondence, 218 ; Continental 
 Congress, 219-225 ; weakened 
 sentiment, 225 ; fear of strong, 
 226 ; confederation and federal, 
 264 ; under the Constitution, 
 264, 271. 
 
 United States, zones of settlement, 
 86, 156-159 ; as a field for study 
 of government, loi ; powers un- 
 der the Constitution, 195 ; ex- 
 pressed prohibitions in the Con- 
 stitution, 268, 269. See also 
 Congress, Courts, Federal Consti- 
 tution, President, State govern- 
 ment, Territory. 
 
 Utah, woman suffrage, 103. 
 
 Vane, Sir Henry, proposes a consti- 
 tutional convention, 207. 
 
 Vestry, meeting in English parish, 
 41 ; clerk, 41 ; in Virginia par- 
 ish, 63, 64 ; vestrymen in South 
 Carolina, 74. 
 
 Veto, mayor's, 126, 139; gov- 
 ernor's, 183, 187; president's, 
 240 ; " pocket," 241 ; value, 
 241. 
 
 Vice-president, duties, 238, 247; 
 election, 244-246; qualifications, 
 254. 
 
 Village, New England, l8 ; and 
 town, no. 
 
 Virginia, method of settlement, 60 ; 
 absence of towns, 61 ; demand 
 for cheap labor, 61 ; social con- 
 ditions, 62 5 parish government, 
 63, 64 ; oligarchical tendencies 
 in local government, 63, 66, 68, 
 70 ; county unit of representation, 
 65 ; why no township system, 
 65 ; county government, 65-69 ; 
 local government compared with 
 New England, 70-73 ; local gov- 
 ernment developed leaders, 72 ; 
 local school taxation, 102 ; set- 
 tlement, 1 54 ; colonial govern- 
 ment, 159. 
 
 War department, 262. 
 
 War governors, 189. 
 
 War, secretary of, succession to presi- 
 dency, 248. 
 
 Wards, of English borough as town- 
 ships, 113; as hundreds, 114; 
 representation, 116; first, of city 
 of New York, 120. 
 
 Washington, George, unanimous 
 election to presidency, 249 ; re- 
 fuses a third term, 255. 
 
 Washington, D. C, street arrange- 
 ment, 90 n. 
 
 Washington (state), influence of 
 school district, 102. 
 
 Water department, complexity of 
 city, 132 ; officers of, in Boston, 
 i33> 134- 
 
 427
 
 INDEX 
 
 Waywarden, surveyor of highways, 
 
 Weighers and measurers, various 
 town, 25 ; in Boston, I 34. 
 
 Weights and measures, sealer, town, 
 25 ; in city of New York, 121 ; 
 in Boston, 134. 
 
 West, zones of settlement, 86, 158 ; 
 form of townships and counties, 
 87, 90 ; influence of school sec- 
 tions and districts, 92-94, loi ; 
 early prevalence of county system, 
 94, 96 ; optional township sys- 
 tem, 97-99. See also Public 
 lands, Territory. 
 
 West Virginia, local school taxation, 
 
 102. 
 
 Whiskey Insurrection, 279. 
 
 '* White trash " in Virginia, 62. 
 
 Wilson, Woodrow, on powers of the 
 state, 196; on the referendum, 
 214; on the federal courts, 272- 
 274. 
 
 Winsor, Justin, on origin of the 
 gerrymander, 235. 
 
 Wood, measurer, town, 25 ; in 
 Boston, 134. 
 
 Wyoming, influence of school dis- 
 trict, 102 J woman suffrage, 103. 
 
 THE END
 
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