Government and Administration of the United States by Westel W. Willoughby and William F. Willoughby
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Westel W. Willoughby and William F. Willoughby >> Government and Administration of the United States
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11 JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES
IN
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History--_Freeman_
NINTH SERIES
I-II
GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
OF THE
UNITED STATES
BY
WESTEL W. WILLOUGHBY, A.B.
_Fellow in History_
AND
WILLIAM F. WILLOUGHBY, A.B.
_U.S. Department of Labor_
1801
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Chapters.
I. Preface
II. Government
Monarchy
Absolute
Limited
Aristocracy
Democracy
Republic
Popular Government
III. Functions of Government
Necessary
Optional
IV. Colonial Governments: Their Relation to Each
Other, and to England
Provincial
Proprietary
Charter
V. Steps Toward Union--Articles of Confederation
New England Confederation
Albany Convention
Stamp Act Congress
First Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress
Articles of Confederation
Elements Tending to Separation and to Union
Purposes of the Confederation
Scheme of Government under the Articles
Defects of the Articles
VI. Adoption of the Constitution
The Constitutional Convention
Arguments For and Against Adoption
VII. Presidential Succession
VIII. Election of Senators
IX. Congressional Government
X. Cabinet and Executive Departments
State Department
Treasury Department
War Department
Navy Department
Interior Department
Commissioner of Land Office
Commissioner of Pensions
Commissioner of Patents
Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Education
Commissioner of Railroads
Geological Survey
Superintendent of the Census
Post Office Department
Department of Justice
Department of Agriculture
Department of Labor
Interstate Commerce Commission
Fish Commission
Civil Service Commission
Government Printing Office
National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and Bureau
of Ethnology
Librarian of Congress
XI. The Federal Judiciary
Federal Judicial System
District Courts
Circuit Courts
Jurisdiction
XII. Ordinance for Government of the Northwest Territory
XIII. Government of Territories
Admission of a Territory as a State
XIV. State Governments
State Constitutions
State Legislatures
State Executives
State Judiciary
XV. Local Government
In New England
In the South
In the West
XVI. City Government
XVII. Government Revenue and Expenditure
Federal Government
State and Local Taxes
Expenditures
Maryland
Baltimore
XVIII. Money
Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates
Silver Dollars and Silver Certificates
Subsidiary and Minor Coins
Treasury Notes
Notes of National Banks
XIX. Public Lands of the United States
Educational Grants
Land Bounties for Military and Naval Service
Land Grants to States for Internal Improvement
Sale of Public Land
Under Pre-emption Acts
Under Homestead Acts
Under Timber Culture Act
Certain Lands to States
Grants to Pacific and other Railroads
XX. Reconstruction
XXI. Party Machinery
XXII. National Conventions and Presidential Campaigns
History and Development of the National Convention
Method of Procedure
XXIII. Introduction to the Study of the History of
Political Parties in the United States
Bibliographical Note
GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER I.
Preface.
These chapters were originally prepared for and used as a manual in the
public schools of the District of Columbia. In a revised and amplified
form they are now published as one of Johns Hopkins University Studies
in History and Politics.
The aim of this revision is to furnish assistance to students beginning
the study of the history and practical workings of our political
institutions. It is not the purpose to furnish a complete text-book upon
the government of the United States and its administration, but, by a
clear, concise statement of the salient points of our federal system,
and a description of the actual workings of the characteristic features
of our institutions, to give to the student a better understanding of
the manner in which the same are administered, than is to be obtained
from the ordinary text-books on Civil Government.
These Outlines are intended as an aid to both teacher and pupil, and for
use in a class whose members are already familiar with the leading
events and names in United States history. The work is intended to
furnish such supplementary information as can be obtained only with
great difficulty by most teachers, and which for the most part cannot be
obtained at all by the pupils.
The authors have endeavored to make prominent the fact that our present
form of government is far from being contained in the written
constitution of 1787, and consequently, that a study of that instrument
alone will give a very inadequate idea of our government as it is. The
constitution was but a foundation upon which to build a government.
Nothing like an analysis or commentary upon the constitution of the
United States is here attempted. The public is already well supplied
with books covering that ground. History proper, except as showing the
basis and reason for the establishment of our institutions, has likewise
found no place here.
The book is to be used chiefly as a manual, to supply information that
would otherwise need to be dictated by the instructor. The Outlines are
in many particulars merely suggestive. Many topics are simply mentioned,
which the teacher must elaborate and explain at greater length.
Lastly, though this book does not pretend to give a connected account of
our administration or politics, yet the subjects have been carefully
arranged in such an order as would most naturally be followed in a
course to which the work is intended to be an aid.
CHAPTER II.
Government.
From the earliest times of which history furnishes authentic record, and
in all countries inhabited by man, people have found it necessary to
bind themselves together by civic regulations so that certain things may
be done by all in common--in short, to establish some form of
government.
Now, as has always been the case, there are certain things which, from
their very nature, cannot be left to each individual to do, or not to
do, as he may choose, or to do in his own way. First of all, there is
the necessity of some means by which the weak may be protected from the
strong. The individual must be protected in his life and liberty, and
there must be some guarantee to him, that if he is industrious the
enjoyment of the product of his labor will be secured to him. Human
nature being imperfect, disputes and injustice are sure to arise. Hence
comes the necessity of some power above the citizens and able to command
their obedience, some power that can administer justice according to the
rights and not according to the strength of individuals.
To thus control the actions of individuals, this power above the
citizens, this government, must possess functions of three kinds. First,
legislative power, or power to declare the rules of conduct to which the
citizen must conform; second, judicial power, or power to interpret and
declare the true meaning of these rules, and to apply them to the
particular cases that may arise; and third, the executive power, or
power to carry into execution these laws, and to enforce the obedience
of the citizens.
To the student nothing could be more interesting and instructive, than
to trace how, as tribes and nations have progressed in civilization,
government has advanced in its development. How, as men have progressed,
first from the condition of savage hunters to the roving feeders of
flocks, then to tillers of the soil with fixed places of abode, and
finally to builders of cities teeming with trade, commerce and
manufactures; how as men have thus improved in civilization and material
well-being, their mutual duties and common interests have become more
and more important and numerous, and government as controlling these
interests and duties, has developed in form and improved in structure
until it has become an all-powerful, complex machine, controlling in
many ways the actions, and even the lives of its citizens.
For thousands of years, governments have been developing and changing in
form and functions, and a very large part of the history of the nations
of the globe is identified with the history of the development and
changes of their governments. As new conditions and needs have arisen,
governments have adapted themselves to them. In some cases this has been
done peacefully, as in England, and in others violently, by
revolutionary means, as in France. In some cases functions previously
exercised have been relinquished, in others, new powers have been
assumed; but in the majority of cases, the change has been merely in the
manner of exercising this or that power.
All peoples have not the same characteristics, nor have they developed
under the same conditions of climate, soil or situation. Different
nations have, therefore, developed for themselves different forms of
government. Yet these governments, however different in their structures
and administration, are in all cases distinctly referable to four well
defined types: Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy, and the Republic.
_#Monarchy.#_--A monarchy is a nation at whose head is a personal ruler,
called King, Emperor, or Czar, who has control of the government,
appoints the principal officers of state, and to whom in theory at
least, these appointees are responsible for their actions. Thus England,
Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and others are monarchies. The sovereign
holds his position for life, and usually acquires his throne by
inheritance. Where the crown is nominally elective, as in England,
kingship is practically hereditary, the regular line of descent being
departed from only upon rare occasions.
The amount of power actually exercised, the responsibility borne by the
sovereign varies widely in different countries, and upon the basis of
these differences monarchial forms of government are classified under
the two heads, Absolute and Limited Monarchies.
_#An Absolute Monarchy.#_--An absolute monarchy is one in which the
sovereign or ruler is possessed of supreme power and authority, and
controls absolutely, without limitation or interference, all the powers
of government. His word is law and requires not the sanction of the
people. His commands are absolute and require not the formality of
judicial procedure, and are not necessarily in conformity with existing
laws. Implicit obedience to his commands, however arbitrary, may be
demanded, and there is no appeal. These are, theoretically, the powers
of the absolute monarch. Practically, however, he is constrained to keep
within fair bounds of justice and good policy, lest his subjects be
goaded to rebellion and revolution. The absolute form of monarchy exists
to-day in the empires of Russia and Turkey.
_#A Limited Monarchy.#_--A limited monarchy is one in which the
ruler, though at the head of the government, is not absolute, but is
limited in his powers by the action of a body of men, selected by the
people, who make the laws by which the nation is to be governed. The
respective rights and powers of the sovereign and of the law-making
body, are determined by a collection of rules, written or unwritten,
collectively known as the constitution. The constitution contains the
fundamental law of the land. All acts of the government to be valid,
must be constitutional, that is to say, in conformity with the rules
laid down in the constitution. For this reason limited monarchies are
also known by the name of Constitutional Monarchies.
England is the most conspicuous example of a limited or constitutional
monarchy. In consideration of our former connection with her, and the
extent to which we have derived our ideas of government from her
political institutions, it will be of great assistance to us if we stop
for a moment to consider her government, before proceeding to a study of
our own.
The sovereign of England is termed King or Queen. Originally possessed
of almost absolute power, the English ruler, at the present day
possesses very little actual power and influence, much less in fact than
the people of the United States have entrusted to their President. The
constitutional history of England is largely the narrative of the
successive steps by which the people have wrested from royal hands and
taken under their own control, the powers of government.
The rights of the English people in the participation of their own
government are not contained in the written document, such as we possess
in our constitution, but rest upon established custom and precedent, and
various charters wrested from their kings.
The English Parliament, or, to speak more exactly, the lower branch of
the Parliament, called the House of Commons, rules the English people.
The Parliament or law-making branch of the English government, is
divided into two houses, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons.
The House of Lords is, as its name denotes, composed mainly of members
of the noble families of England, who owe their seat in that body to the
chance of birth. Theoretically possessed of powers of legislation equal
to those exercised by the lower and more numerous branch (the Commons),
the Lords have in reality but a small voice in the control of public
affairs. The House of Commons is composed of members elected by the
people. In this body reside almost all the powers of government. Its
acts require the assent of the House of Lords and of the King, but this
assent is almost wholly formal. The sphere of legislation allowed the
English Parliament is unlimited, differing in this respect fundamentally
from our Congress, which is limited in its legislative field by the
Constitution. From the English Parliament is selected the "Cabinet"
consisting of the principal executive officials, who guide the House in
its legislation, and at the same time conduct the executive affairs of
the nation. These ministers, as they are called, are appointed by the
king from the party in the majority in the House of Commons. They are
responsible to that body for all their actions, and retain their offices
only so long as they retain the confidence and good will of the Commons.
_#An Aristocracy.#_--An aristocracy is a government in the hands of a
select few, called the aristocracy, who transmit this authority to their
children. There are to-day no aristocratic governments proper, though
many nations exhibit aristocratic tendencies. In nearly all of the
European countries, one branch, at least, of their legislatures is
composed of members holding their seats on account of noble birth, thus
admitting the aristocratic element into their governments.
_#Democracy.#_--A pure democracy is a government in which all the people
rule directly, meeting in popular assemblies in which is determined by
the votes of the majority how the government is to be administered. This
form of government is obviously possible only in very small communities.
Several of the Grecian states governed themselves after this manner. No
perfect example of a nation with this form of government can be said to
exist at this time. The nearest approach to pure democracy is found in
certain cantons of Switzerland. The Roman historian Tacitus tells us
that the early Germans governed themselves in a purely democratic
manner, and the first governments of several of our American colonies
were of the democratic type. When we come to the study of local
government in the United States we shall see the democratic form
followed in the New England Town Meetings.
_#Republic.#_--A republic is a democracy adapted by means of the
introduction of the representative principle, to the government of a
large and widely separated people. Under this form of government the
people rule themselves, not directly, as in a democracy, but through
agents or representatives of their own selection. The participation of
the people in their own government consists therefore merely in the
choice of officers to represent them and carry out their wishes. There
exist at present several republics, the tendency seeming to be for
nations to approach more nearly this form of government. France has
been, since 1870, the best European example of a republic. Our own
government--the United States of America--is to us the most interesting
and important example of a republic.
_#Popular Government.#_--By the word 'popular' is meant, of or by the
people, and by popular government is to be understood a government in
the administration of which the people as a whole participate. Every
change by which new and greater political powers are given into the
hands of the common people is considered a step towards the full
realization of popular government. During the last one hundred years
great strides have been made in this direction by all European nations
except Turkey and Russia. The extent to which this movement towards
popular control of government can be safely and successfully carried is
a question of very great importance. To a very large extent it depends
upon the intelligence, previous training, and natural political ability
of the people who are to be entrusted with their own government.
CHAPTER III.
The Functions of Government.
Broadly speaking, the functions performed by government are of a
threefold order: the establishment, interpretation, and enforcement of
laws. A division of government into three branches is thus called for:
the legislative, the judicial and the executive. The manner in which
these departments are related to each other, the extent to which they
are vested in the same hands, and the degree in which they are separate
from each other and independent in their workings, differ in different
countries. In England, as we have seen, the executive and legislative
functions are closely united. In our government, as we shall see when we
come to consider its structure, complete independence of the three
departments has been aimed at.
All statesmen agree that a good government should possess ample power to
interpret its own laws, and sufficient strength to fully enforce them.
When we come, however, to the question of what are the proper subjects
for control by government, and what for free management by individuals,
we reach a subject upon which writers and thinkers have been unable to
agree.
Under the great question, over how broad a field it is expedient and
right to extend the activities of government, are embraced many of the
great topics at present agitating the public mind. Difference upon this
point has been one of the underlying causes of the existence of
political parties in the United States, and has furnished one of the
real springs of our history. Communism, socialism, and anarchy, may be
embraced under this question. This it is that makes the study of the
principles of government, especially in the United States, so important
to every one who would understand the political life around him, and be
able to form an intelligent decision upon the questions of the day.
Shall the nation or the state own and manage the railroads, the
telegraph lines, and the canals? Shall education receive the support of
the state? Shall the employment of women and children in mines and
factories be regulated by law? Shall the city own its own street
railways, its markets, its water and gas supply, its telephones, and its
water fronts? Shall this or that duty be delegated to the city or to the
state, or shall it be left to the chance performance of individuals or
corporations? These are some of the many questions of supreme importance
that meet us at every point, and the better we understand the true
nature and structure of our government, the better shall we be able to
give intelligent answers.
Among the many functions of government, there are many so obviously
necessary to the existence of a nation, however organized, that there is
no discussion concerning the expediency of their exercise by the state.
We may, therefore, group governmental duties under two heads: the
necessary, and the optionable; or, as Professor Wilson has named them,
the _Constituent_ and the _Ministrant_.[1] Under the first head is
embraced all those functions which _must_ exist under every form of
government; and under the second title those "undertaken, not by way of
governing, but by way of advancing the general interests of society."
The following is Professor Wilson's classification:
_#I. The Necessary or Constituent Functions.#_--
(1). The keeping of order and providing for the protection of
persons and property from violence and robbery. (2). The fixing of
the legal relations between man and wife, and between parents and
children.
(3). The regulation of the holding, transmission, and interchange
of property, and determination of its liabilities for debt or for
crime.
(4). The determination of contract rights between individuals.
(5). The definition and punishment of crime.
(6). The administration of justice in civil causes.
(7). The determination of the political duties, privileges, and
relations of citizens.
(8). Dealings of the state with foreign powers; the preservation of
the state from external danger or encroachment, and the advancement
of its intellectual interests.
_#II. Optional or Ministrant Functions.#_
(1). The regulation of trade and industry. Under this head we must
include the coinage of money, and the establishment of standard
weights and measures, laws against forestalling, engrossing, the
licensing of trades, etc., as well as the great matters of tariffs,
navigation laws, and the like.
(2). The regulation of labor.
(3). The maintenance of thoroughfares, including state management
of railways, and that great group of undertakings which we embrace
within the comprehensive terms 'Internal Improvements,' or 'The
Development of the Country.'
(4). The maintenance of postal and telegraph systems, which is very
similar in principle to (3).
(5). The manufacture and distribution of gas, the maintenance of
water-works, &c.
(6). Sanitation, including the regulation of trades for sanitary
purposes.
(7). Education.
(8). Care of the poor and incapable. (9). Care and cultivation of
forests and like matters, such as stocking of rivers with fish.
(10). Sumptuary laws, such as 'prohibition' laws.
Under this second head have been included by no means all of the
functions whose exercise by the government has been attempted or
proposed, but they show the principal ones, and serve to indicate the
nature of the optional field of governmental activity.
[Footnote 1: Wilson, _The State_, Section 1232.]
CHAPTER IV.
Colonial Governments; Their Relation to Each Other, and to England.
To understand clearly the early history of our country; to appreciate
the reasons for the grievances of the colonists against their mother
country; and to gain an intelligent idea of the events of that most
critical period of our history, when the colonies, then free, were in
doubt as to the nature of the federal government they should adopt;
properly to understand all these facts, it is of essential importance
that we should gain a correct knowledge of the condition of the colonies
during those times, their relations to one another, their governmental
connection with and attitude towards England.
The thirteen American colonies, which in 1775 dared defy the might of
Great Britain, and which in a stubborn struggle were able to win their
independence, were settled at various times, and by colonists actuated
by widely different motives. At the time of the beginning of their
resistance to the oppressive acts of their mother country, they were, in
their governments, entirely separate from and independent of each other.
"Though the colonies had a common origin, and owed a common allegiance
to England, and the inhabitants of each were British subjects, they had
no direct political connection with each other. Each in a limited sense,
was sovereign within its own territory.... The assembly of one province
could not make laws for another.... As colonists they were also excluded
from all connection with foreign states. They were known only as
dependencies. They followed the fate of their mother country both in
peace and war.... They could not form any treaty, even among themselves,
without the consent of England."[1]
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