Government and the citizen

Front matter

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Preface

In preparing this little book for use in schools, the author has attempted to describe those activities of our governments which will be of especial value and interest to youthful citizens. Historical accounts, comments on provisions of the state and national constitutions, and descriptions of the machinery of government have therefore been made as brief as possible.

The text is arranged with the expectation that the pupils will recite on topics. If the topics considered in the numbered sections are too long, even when the marginal notes are used to help the pupil in his recitation, each pupil may be asked to recite on one paragraph only, or on a part of a paragraph, using the marginal notes as the headings of these shorter topics. Care should be taken to see that the pupils really discuss these topics, not only presenting in their own language the substance of the text, but giving additional information or suggestions of their own whenever possible. Some of the sections or paragraphs are perhaps too long, too difficult, or too general for treatment in this way. A few of these may simply be read in class, and others may be disvi PREFACE

cussed with the books open. All words or expressions which are given at the close of each chapter, in the list of terms to be explained, should be understood by the pupils before they finish studying the lessons in which these terms occur. If they are likely to have difficulty in ascertaining the meaning of any expression, it should be explained when the lesson is assigned. Pupils should be encouraged to mention examples of governmental activities that have come under their own observation or have attracted their attention in reading. Teachers will often be surprised to learn how much information, perhaps of an unscientific character, many of the pupils possess on these matters, and will find that great interest can often be aroused by persuading the boys and girls to ask their parents and friends about the work of government, and to investigate further for themselves.

Many of the " Text Questions" at the close of each chapter are suggestive only — -questions to be answered from the text by a little search or thought. In the "Supplementary Questions" a limited number of references have been given, but the teachers or pupils who wish to examine a larger amount of material on subjects discussed in this book should make use of the extensive bibHographies in the author's "American Government" or in his "American Federal State."

Introduction

PAGE I

Part I The Citizen's Part In Government

CHAPTER

I. Suffrage and Elections . . . • 15

II. The Political Parties and their Work . 28

III. Financial Support of the Governments . 36

IV. The Protection of Individual Rights . 51

Part II State And Local Government

V. Protection of the Public

VI. Our Public Schools

VII. Public Charities

VIII. The Government and Business

IX. Town and County Government

X. City Government .

XI. The State Governments

XII. The State Constitutions

100 108 119 130

PART III THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT XIII. The Constitution of the United States

XIV. Congress vu

VUl

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

The National Courts .

Public Lands and National Development

PAGE

Appendix. The Constitution of the United States 229

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Capitol at Washington

Frontispiece

Facing

A Sample " Australian " Ballot .

A Sample Voting Machine Court Room Scene ....

Making a Macadam Road in the South Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts City Hall, San Francisco, California . New York State Capitol, Albany, New York The United States, 1903 (Map) Signing the Constitution .

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Senate Chamber The Hall of Representatives Number of Representatives in the House The Form of a Law ....

The White House ....

The Inauguration of a President A Cabinet Meeting ....

The Justices of the Supreme Court .

A Cruiser — the Olympia .

A Battleship — the Indiana Using a Gun with Disappearing Carriage Where Coins are made The United States Government Building, Chicago, Illinois

Facing The Congressional Library .... "

Territorial Growth of the United States (Map) . Following

Method of making Surveys

The Sections of a Township

Facing

PAGE 20

57- 94 ^

no

no

140 , 140

149 149 152

165^

174/

183/ 187/

187 189^

200 /

205 ^ 205 /" 208 /'

216 217

IX

INTRODUCTION

WHY WE HAVE GOVERNMENTS

1. Personal Needs. — Human needs are so various Personal that no individual supplies himself with more than how^the"yar( a few of the things necessary to his existence and satisfied. comfort. In all probability, no one of the articles of clothing that he wears was made with his own hands, and very little of the food that he eats was grown by himself. He lives in a house which another man built, a second painted, and a third provided with plumbing. His carpets probably came from one state, his furniture from another, and his pictures from a third. He does not obtain his newspaper, his periodicals, and his books from the same source. The needs that he has every day have been supplied by the exertions of a multitude of workers, many of whom live in foreign lands. But these articles which we have mentioned, essential though they are to his continued existence, do not come to him for the asking. He can obtain them only by exchanging for them some of the money which he has in his possession, or which he is earning day by day. Because these articles satisfy pei^sonal needs, and because they

The need of roads.

The need of protection for life and property.

may be obtained through regular purchase, each man must provide them for himself and for those dependent on him. He cannot expect his neighbors to supply him with such articles as he may want, for they will not do for him what he can do for himself.

2. Public Needs. — Besides food, clothing, shelter, and other personal requirements, there are many things which we need that cannot be bought from other people. In order that we may go from our homes to the stores where goods are sold, there must be roads, which will, of course, cross the property of a great many persons. A road cannot be laid out unless the property owners or their representatives agree upon a route to be followed, nor can it be used to advantage unless the width is everywhere the same and unless it is constructed in the same way throughout its entire length. A road which, even for a short distance, is nothing but a narrow footpath is useless for wagons, and therefore is valueless for trade of any importance.

Much more necessary than roads is the need of protection for ourselves and our property. If some villain steals our food or burns our houses, we shall suffer personal want, nor can we properly protect ourselves if obliged to depend exclusively on our own efforts. Have you ever stopped to think what would happen if every person from whom anything is stolen were obliged to hunt up the offender, and, if the thief could be found, to punish him for his misdeed ? In how many cases would it be possible to learn who the guilty party was .? How long would it be before thieves and murderers would seize property and destroy life without any risk whatever, if every man were obliged to protect his possessions and the members of his family from those who desire to do him injury? Is it not clear that life and property How the cannot be safe unless the members of a community ['J^^^^t df" organize to protect themselves against wrongdoers? Not only must they organize for this purpose, but they must have for their protection some uniform rules which people must obey, if serious dangers are to be avoided. Furthermore, since what is everybody's business is nobody's business, they must have certain members of the community who see that the rules or laws are obeyed, and that lawbreakers are brought to justice and punished.

These are but two examples of the many needs Public needs which must be met if we are to continue to live and needs.^^^°^^ do business. Our houses will be of little value to us if any one may burn them without risk of punishment. We should not long enjoy the privilege of purchasing what is necessary for the satisfaction of our personal needs, unless there are rules or laws under which business may be transacted and which will protect the honest dealer from the sharper and the swindler. In short, public needs must be satisfied before we can satisfy our personal needs. Indeed, there could be no civilization such as that in the United States to-day, unless we may live and care for our personal interests in security ; and this security can be preserved in no other way than by a permanent and responsible organization which exists for the purpose of satisfying our public or political needs.

What 3, Government. — To this permanent organization,

fs°Ind"what which cares for these vital public interests of ours it does. ^j^^^ make civilization possible, the name govern-

ment is given. If we were to look into the history of mankind, we should find that at no time was there lacking some kind of government, because these public needs have existed everywhere and always. But we should also find, as we should expect, that because our Ufe is very different from that found among semibarbarous peoples whose homes are scattered and often temporary, our government is very much more elaborate than theirs. Nevertheless, we shall find that the governments have this in common, that in every case government is a permanent political organization^ which possesses authority to m,ake^ enforce, and interpret rules for the public protection and welfare. It is a permanent organization because these interests cannot be cared for properly except by an organization that is ready for action every day in the year. It has been found advisable to leave not only such vital subjects as the protection of life and property, but all other public matters of common interest, to our governments, which are fitted for these duties, both on account of their organization and by virtue of the authority which they possess.

WHAT OUR GOVERNMENTS ARE LIKE

4. Why we have Three Departments of Government. — It would be unwise to leave all the work of governing to one person, even if this were con- An example venient, but it is clearly impossible. The poHceman govrrnment who arrests an offender in the street cannot send him ^^ ^°^^- to prison as a punishment for his offense. The act of arrest simply brings him before a court, where he is detained only in case a definite charge is brought against him. The court listens to the evidence which is presented, and decides whether the accused man is guilty of the crime with which he is charged. If it appears that he is not guilty, he is at once released ; otherwise the court sentences him to imprisonment, or compels him to pay a fine. But the court may not try the accused man unless he is supposed to have committed an offense that is named in a law which has been passed at some previous time for the protection of the community.

We can see, then, that officials connected with our The legisiagovernments have been engaged in three distinct tive'and^"" acts: (i) the act of viaking the law, when the crime judicial

departments.

was defined and a suitable punishment proposed for those who break the law ; (2) the act of enforcing the law, which was performed by the policeman ; and (3) the act of interpreting the law, when the court decided what the law was and whether the accused man had broken the law. Because these acts are distinct, we have three departments of government, each of which performs one set of duties and one only : the legislative departme?it^ which makes the laws ; the executive department, which enforces them ; and the judicial departmejit, which interprets or explains the meaning of the law.

Why we have written constitutions.

What the constitutions are like.

5. The Need of Constitutions for our Governments.

Not only do our governments need machinery or

departments with which to carry on their work, but they must have authority. If any person or set of persons may perform acts which interfere with the work of our governments, and the governments have no authority to overcome this opposition, they certainly will fail to perform their tasks. Without authority a government would be an object of ridicule and contempt. In this country none of our governments have any inherent authority, that is, no authority that comes from themselves ; they derive all of their authority from the people, who give them certain duties to perform and confer upon them the necessary powers. But for fear that the governments may assume duties and powers to which they have no right, and that they may exercise their authority by restricting the liberty of the people, the people have adopted documents called written constitutions. These constitutions set forth in some detail what machinery the governments shall have, that is, how the different departments shall be composed or organized, and what powers they shall be permitted to exercise. The constitutions, therefore, serve the double purpose of conferring powers on the governments and of limiting the powers of the governments. They do this because too little government is anarchy, whereas too much government is tyranny.

6. Our National and State Constitutions. — In studying geography we noticed that we live not only within the United States, but within a particular why we state as well. At the present time, therefore, each kinds, one of us lives under two constitutions, that of the nation and that of our state. The national constitution not only shows how the national government shall be organized, as explained in the next section, but confers on this government the right to regulate all foreign affairs and all other matters that no one state can do for itself, the state governments being prohibited from doing these things. The state constitutions give the form and the general duties of all other governments, state and local, under which we live.

7. The National Government. — The Constitution Adoption of of the United States, from which our national gov- con^Stut^on ernment derives its authority, was drafted by a convention held at Philadelphia in 1787, and was ratified by conventions elected for that purpose in the thirteen states that then composed the Union. It has since been amended fifteen times. This Constitution provides for a legislative body of two houses called Congress. Congress. The smaller house, known as the Senate, is composed of two senators from each state. In the larger chamber, the House of Representatives, each state has a number of members dependent on its population. The chief executive official of the The United States is the President, who is chosen for a term of four years, and appoints nine advisers, called his Cabinet. He is, however, assisted by about two hundred and fifty thousand persons who help him in executing the laws and in looking after

The courts.

The three departments.

How state officials are chosen.

Popular character of local government.

the business of the national government. The judicial department consists of a single Supreme Court, which always meets at Washington, and numerous inferior courts which try cases in different parts of the country.

8. The State Governments. — All of the states in the American Union have governments that are very much ahke. At the state capital there meets every year or every second year the body of men called the legislature, which makes the laws. As with Congress, there are always two houses of the legislature, but the members of both houses are elected by the voters from districts into which the state is divided. Corresponding to the President is the state governor, who is elected by the people of the state, and who is assisted in the enforcement of the law by numerous officials, most of whom are also chosen by popular vote. There are in every state courts which interpret the laws. The system is the same in form as that used for the government of the United States as a whole, but there is this important difference, — the people elect a great many of their representatives in the state government, whereas comparatively few of those connected with the national government are selected directly by popular vote.

9. Local Government. — Our local governments are even more distinctly governments of the people than are the state governments, for a still larger proportion of the officials are chosen by the voters for local offices than for state positions. This is perfectly natural, for the people are more interested in the public work being done near them than at a distance and will give more time to it. They wish to super- Forms of vise very carefully the officials who perform the work ment^^^^^"^" of local government — the county officials and those of their city, town, village, or school district. All of us live under county governments because every state is subdivided into counties, and most of us are - under the protection and supervision of either town, village, or city officials as well. Each of these governments has its courts, its executive officials like the city mayor, the county sheriff or the town constable, and its lawmaking body.

To us these local governments should be and are Our interest the most real of all. We know where the courthouse government. and the city hall are located, although we may never have been inside the court rooms or offices they contain. The bridges which our local governments have built, the streets and roads that they have laid out, the schoolhouses they maintain, are all familiar objects. It makes more difference to us whether a local official is honest and industrious than it does if a state or national official is careful in performing his duties, and we therefore watch his actions with greater interest.

CITIZENS : THEIR RIGHTS AND DUTIES

10. Who are Citizens. — In the first part of this The definichapter we spoke of the members of this commu- citizenship, nity. Instead of the word fnember the word citizen will be used hereafter to designate those who make up the great nation that we call the United States. In order to learn who are citizens, and its let US consult the Fourteenth Amendment of our national Constitution, which gives us this definition : "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." Now, many people have the impression explanation, ^j^^^ ^^j^ voters are citizens, but this is a mistake, for women and children are just as much members of the community as men are, and this amendment clearly states that all persons born in the United States are citizens. Men, women, and children are therefore citizens, provided they have been born in the United States and are under the protection of its governments, for that is what '' subject to the jurisdiction thereof " really means.

11. Naturalized Citizens. — But the amendment also says that naturalized persons are citizens. That is, foreigners who come to this country and make a permanent home among us, can become citizens by a process of "naturalization." As nearly one million foreigners came to the United States during the last year (1903), and as nearly twenty millions of them have come to America since 1850, it would be very unwise to prevent them from becoming citizens. If they were among us, although not really members of our communities, with no interest in or rights under our governments, but still loyal to the country from which they came, they would be a menace to our prosperity and safety. That danger is avoided by permitting them to become citizens after they have resided in this country a period of five years.

Why foreigners are allowed to become citizens.

INTRODUCTION II

The process by which foreigners become citizens is How as follows : (i) the applicant for citizenship must bJco^r^ first declare, before some court of record, that he citizens. intends to become a citizen of the United States, that he will support the Constitution, and must renounce his previous allegiance to any foreign state or sovereign ; (2) not less than two years after making this declaration, he must prove before a similar court by means of witnesses that he has resided in this country at least five years, and has conducted himself properly. He then renounces his allegiance to his former sovereign and swears to support the Constitution. His wife and minor children become citizens without further formalities.

12. Rights and Duties of Citizenship, — If a person some of a is a citizen of the United States, he owes something obUgations. to his country and deserves something from it. First of all, he owes it his allegiance. In time of peace or in time of war, he must be ready to uphold the honor of his country and must be willing to give his help in protecting her from foes within and without. Under ordinary circumstances, this help can be given best by obeying the laws, by paying cheerfully and honestly his share of the government's expenses, by studying his country's needs and voting intelligently when opportunity offers, and by using his influence on all occasions for the preservation of law and order.

Besides these duties, which will be considered more Some rights at length in Part I of this book, he enjoys many i^ges^ofT rights and privileges which come to him because of citizen.

his citizenship. Many of these rights are discussed in later chapters, but it may not be amiss to mention that no nation confers on its citizens greater poHtical privileges than does ours, nor is there any other country where a citizen may speak, write, worship, or act with the same freedom as in the United States of America. Nowhere is Hfe considered more sacred or the rights of property treated with such consideration. Truly it is, as we have long beUeved, a land of the free, and our gratitude for this freedom, without blinding us to our national faults or to the defects of our government, should make us serve our country to the best of our ability.

I. Give the distinction between personal and public needs. 2o Why must public needs be satisfied before we can satisfy personal needs?

3. Give the definition of government and explain all of its provisions.

4. What are the three departments of government and what does each do?

5. Why do we have written constitutions ? What double purpose do they serve?

6. How is the national legislative department composed? Who is the chief executive official of the national government, the state government, the local governments ?

7. Name the different forms of local government.

8. What is the chief diff"erence between the national, state, and local governments ?

9. Who are citizens?

10. Why should foreigners be allowed to become citizens?

1 1 . How are aliens naturalized ?

12. Look up the definitions of the following words : " representatives" (§ 2), "organization" (§ 2), "departments" (§ 4),

"machinery" (§ 5), "authority" (§ 5), "document" (§ 5), "anarchy" (§ 5), "tyranny" (§ 5), "convention" (§ 7), "menace" (§ 11), "sovereign" (§ 11), "renounces" (§ 11). [Use your dictionaries to learn the meaning of all other vv^ords in this chapter or in later chapters which you do not understand ; a few are given in this and a few succeeding chapters only.]

13. Explain the meaning of the following words or expressions : "permanent and responsible organization" (§ 2), "interpreting the law" (§ 4), "machinery" of government (§ 5), "inherent authority" (§ 5), "popular vote" (§ 8), "naturalization" (§ 11), "allegiance" (§ 11), "political privileges" (§ 12), [Dictionaries may help some in learning the meaning of these terms, but the best way of understanding them is to read the sentence in which they occur, noting carefully the connection in which they are used.]

1 . Name other personal needs besides those mentioned in § i.

2. Give additional examples of public needs.

3. Why is protection of ourselves and our property more necessary than roads ?

4. Name some of the essential duties of government and some of those less necessary. (Consult Ashley's " American Government," §§ 2, 3.)

5. Why do we need national, state, and local governments?

6. What do you know about Washington ? Where is our state capital ? Do we live at the county seat ? If not, how far from it ?

7. What other government buildings have you seen besides those mentioned in § 9 ? Do all of these belong to the local government ?

8. What is meant by a "federal system" of government ? (Ashley, "American Government," §11.)

9. How many members of this class are citizens? Are any of them naturalized citizens ?

10. Give the principal rights and duties of citizens. (Hart, " Actual Government," § 10.)

11. How might the government be "restricting the liberty of the people " (§ 5) ?

Chapter I

13. The Voter and the Citizen. — We are in the why aii dti habit of calling our governments " popular govern- 1^^^^^.^^^ ^° ments " because they represent the people, but of course not all the people — not all of the citizens even — have a share in the election of our officials or in the work of government. As we noticed in the introduction, children are citizens if they were born in this country, or if their parents have been naturalized. Yet it would be absurd if they were allowed to vote. To vote intelligently, a person must have some knowledge of political affairs and some experience in dealing with men. For these reasons, only who are men have been allowed to vote heretofore, as they ^° ^^^' have owned most of the property and done most of the business of the nation. Many states allow only men who are citizens, but about one third of them confer the privilege of voting on foreigners who have declared their intentions of becoming citizens. So i6 that it is not true that all citizens vote, although it is practically true that none but citizens may vote, for no foreigner may cast a ballot unless he will soon become a citizen.

14. Historical Changes in the Suffrage. — Although we have to-day what we call "manhood suffrage," all men being allowed to vote, it is not many years since the honor of voting was the privilege of the few. In colonial times no man was permitted to share in the election of public officials unless he owned real estate. Our ancestors thought that it was dangerous to give the elective franchise^ to those who were not landed proprietors. Gradually this idea that a property qualification was necessary disappeared, and the laws were changed so that most adult male white citizens voted. Then came the Civil War, at the close of which the United States adopted the Fifteenth Amendment (1870), conferring the franchise on negroes. Since that time many laws have been passed to exclude the most ignorant of the whites and blacks, because they had not been able to vote wisely.

15. Who may vote at Present. — We should notice first of all that there is no national suffrage law, all laws with regard to voting being made by the states and placed in the state constitutions. The United States Constitution, however, prevents the states from denying to citizens the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, so that, although the requirements are not the same in

1 That is, the right to vote.

all of the states, the differences are, on the whole, not very great. The universal age limit is twenty-one, no one younger than that being allowed to vote anywhere. All voters must also have been, for a short time, residents of the district in which they vote, and of their state from three months to two years. In over two thirds of the states all voters are citizens, but thirteen give the right of suffrage to foreigners who have declared their intention of becoming citizens. In four states, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah, women may take part in all state and local elections. In Kansas they may vote at municipal elections, and in twenty other states they help to select school trustees or vote on questions of taxation if they own property.

16. Who may not Vote. — Not only are children Disquaiificaexcluded from voting everywhere, and women in voters. most of the states, but several classes of adult male citizens are denied the franchise for reasons more or less excellent. Persons who are insane, or otherwise mentally incompetent, are universally excluded from voting, as are men convicted of some serious crime for which they have not been pardoned subsequently. Paupers in public institutions are often debarred from the suffrage, and many states demand the prepayment of taxes. Three of the New England states and a few others have attempted to raise the intellectual standard of the voters by shutting out those who cannot read or write. The majority of the Southern states, in their efforts to protect themselves from the ignorance of many of the blacks within

From noml8 GOVERNMENT AND THE CITIZEN

their borders, have passed laws that no one shall vote unless he owns property or can read.^

17. The Steps in Popular Election. — Having learned ination to ^^iQ mav vote, let us now turn to the election meth-