The outline of government in the United States

Foreword

THE purpose of this publication is to put into a brief form the essential facts about government and politics in the United States. It aims to give information clearly and concisely in language which can be easily understood. But it has a more important purpose than this. It seeks to put the facts of government into their proper perspective, to show the relation of one set of facts to another, to indicate the various topics that belong in a study of citizenship, and by omission, the matters that do not belong in such a course. It is in fact an outline rather than a treatise.

The influence of women in politics is going to be felt only in proportion to their intelligent conception of the realities of government and politics. It is better that slow progress be made with a constantly increasing diflFusion of knowledge than that a temporary success be gained in the shape of the immediate adoption of ready-made reform. An intelligent electorate can, if it will, secure satisfactory results from imperfect institutions; an unintelligent electorate will be victimized by the unscrupulous under the most perfect forms of government. This book is dedicated to no specific type of reform; it has carefully avoided propaganda of all sorts; its sole purpose is to inform.

In the selection of material moreover we have kept strictly within the field of government and politics. The tendency of many modern civics texts is to include so much sociology, economics, engineering, natural science, and general philosophy that the student is left without specific conception of government at all. This tendency, a committee of the American Political Science Association has recently condemned, stating that civics "is becoming superficial, and under present conditions it gives the student a mere smattering of many things." This outline has been prepared in a spirit of thorough sympathy with the opinion of that committee and has in some degree been guided by its suggestions as to subject matter.

We have sought to keep in mind two sorts of readers in the preparation of this outline, the well-informed leader, and the intelligent though uninformed person who desires to secure in small compass reliable information for guidance in participating in public affairs.

A very vital fact must be kept in mind by the reader of the outline. Government is not a simple thing. It cannot be understood through learning a few formulas. In large measure government is shaped and given reality through the processes of politics, while politics is rooted in the mysterious and little understood recesses of human nature. Great as has been the progress of modern psychology, it is still a science in the making and has as yet contributed little to a proper understanding of political life. Political wisdom is unstable, it follows winding and devious courses, and the reform of today may tomorrow be rejected by friend and enemy alike.

The leader who is not too ready to seek short cuts to political perfection, who hears propaganda for new things with fairness but refuses the impulse to join every crusade, will probably be more permanently saved from the cynicism and hopelessness that result from expecting too much in a short time. That person will retain longest a capacity for effective service who keeps constantly in mind the fact that while modern democracy is only a few generations old, the perversities and complexities of mankind were well established before Moses and Elijah were born.

Contents

Chapter Page

I. Free Government in the United States 7

II. Forms of Government 11

CHAPTER I FREE GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES A Democracy in a Republic

THE United States is a democracy because power is widely distributed, and exists, in theory at least, in all of the people. In practice, this means the majority of those who vote. A democracy is to be distinguished from a monarchy, in which power is held by a single ruler, and from an "aristocracy" or oligarchy, where a few men rule by right of birth, wealth, or the exercise of some kind of religious office.

We speak of a democracy as distinguished from a republic, on account of the fact that while democracy is a term used to indicate the widespread distribution of the power of government, a republic is the form which a given government takes. A republic may be as autocratic as any kingdom, as the republic of Mexico under Diaz, and a kingdom such as Great Britain, may be democratic in fact and in practice. Bryce in his great work on Modern Democracies, applies the term "democracy" to the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay.

A democracy may be "a pure democracy," in which the citizens transact their business through mass meetings, such as the New England town meetings. This kind of government has never proved practicable where large numbers of people and large areas are involved. For such larger units there has been developed the representative form of government, which in our case is called, a republic. It is perhaps the only practicable form by which a large nation can have popular government. An elected chief executive, and an elected body of representatives are characteristic of modern republics.

The Liberty of the Individual

At the basis of our institutions is the liberty of the individual.

"Two great declarations," says Bryce, who is perhaps the greatest modern writer on government, "delivered authoritatively by two bodies of men at two moments of far-reaching historical importance, contain the fundamental dogmas of a sort of Apostles' Creed of Democracy."

"One, the Declaration of Independence, says:

*We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are

8 FREE GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with

certain inahenable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty

and the Pursuit of Happiness, that to secure these rights.

Governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the

consent of the governed.'

"The other, the Declaration of Rights of Man, made by the National Assembly of France, August, 1791, says:

'Men are born and continue equal in respect of their rights.

The end of political society is the preservation of the natural

and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty,

property, security, and resistance to oppression.

'The principle of all Sovereignty resides essentially in the

nation. Nobody, no individual, can exert any authority which

is not expressly derived from it.

'All citizens have a right to concur personally, or through

their representatives in making the law. Being equal in its

eyes, then, they are all equally admissible to all dignities,

posts, and public employments.

'No one ought to be molested on account of his opinions,

even his religious opinions.' "

Our constitution was made in a period when the protection of the rights of the individual was the deep concern of most men interested in government. The makers of our constitution were men who had seen the government of England override the rights of citizens, both in America and in England itself. They therefore wanted to protect the individual citizen not only from tyrannical government, but from the possible tyranny of a majority of citizens. This protection is given through the making of a written constitution which is supreme over citizens and government alike, and which specifically protects certain "imprescriptible" rights of the individual.

The Growth of Political Democracy in America

When our constitution was made in 1787, most of the people had no power in public affairs. Most of the adult males everywhere were excluded from voting by property qualifications and religious tests. Moreover, there were fixed social classes. Much of the South was governed in practice by great land owners, who ruled not only the slaves which they owned, but through their economic power, a large part of the whites. New York illustrated the flower of the rule of aristocracy. Roosevelt, in his "Gouverneur Morris," states that New York in those days was, "an aristocratic republic" in which "the power lay in the hands of certain old and wealthy families, such as the Livingstones, Schuylers, Van Cortlandts, Phillipses, Morrisses," who formed a "proud, polished, and powerful aristocracy."

FREE GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES 9

Not until after 1820 did a more democratic spirit show itself in our institutions.

"Farrand dates the real beginning of distinctively American history, not from the Declaration of Independence in 1776, nor from the adoption of the Constitution in 1788, but from the close of the War of 1812. The years following this war witnessed the birth of a true national spirit, which was at once American and democratic .

"There arose a new democracy, different from anything which was readily conceivable by an earlier generation. Of this new American democracy Andrew Jackson, elected to the presidency in 1823, was the chosen representative. Of all the presidents of the United States he was the one who sprang most directly from the people; and the years of this triumph were marked by the development of the distinctive features which we have been accustomed to regard as characteristic of American political life — the adoption of universal suffrage, the multiplication of elective offices, and the complex system of party organization which has lasted with but slight change until the present time."i

Nearly thirty years after the Jacksonian revolution, there was formed the political party which eventually put an end to slavery, and thus won another victory for democracy in America.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by such new features as the direct primary, the initiative, referendum, and recall, the direct election of United States Senators, and finally, equal suffrage for men and women.

The Origins of Our Republican Institutions and Ideas

Most of our governmental institutions were imported from England. This is, of course, a natural consequence of the early settlement and conquest of America by Englishmen. However, some writers have claimed altogether too much for "Anglo-Saxon" institutions, saying that their more democratic character is due to some inherent capacity 'for free government in Anglo-Saxon peoples. Modern scholars have shown that actually many of the free institutions really were imported into England from elsewhere (some of them coming down from the Roman Empire), and that the individual has probably had more political freedom in England because England was protected from hostile neighbors by the sea, and consequently had less need for an autocratic government. Democracy and freedom then, are not the invention of any "chosen people," but the creation and heritage of the world. The political institutions of the United States are, to a remarkable degree, not the creation of any one group

1. HadUy, TJndercurrentt in American Politics.

10 FREE GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

of personages, but the result of long and complex evolutionary growth.

The office of state governor originated in the office of colonial governor, who was the appointee and personal deputy of the King.

The two-chambered legislature grew up as a result of the combination of the early oligarchic governors' council with a more recently formed house of deputies, elected usually by the land owners of the colony. It is interesting to note that none of the arguments now advanced for keeping a two-chambered legislature were advanced when the institution was developing.

Our judicial institutions are patterned almost entirely after English models, with very .little improvement in character and methods in these latter days.

Municipal government up to 1820 followed the English model of a single-chambered council, with both legislative and executive powers, similar in this way to the present-day commission government. The elective mayor did not come until after 1820.

The famous doctrine of the divison of powers into three branches of government was set forth^ by a French writer, Montesquieu, in The Spirit of Laws, a work which seems to have greatly impressed the makers of our Federal Constitution.

The doctrines contained in the Declaration of Independence were drawn by Jefferson from widely scattered sources. It is probable that John Locke, an English philosopher, influenced him most, although he had studied Rousseau and other French radicals of the time.

The Making of the Federal Constitution

The Federal Constitution was made by a convention which met in Philadelphia in 1787. It was made up of representatives of the thirteen states called by act of Congress to amend the Articles of Confederation. The people back of the calling of the convention were convinced that the Articles of Confederation allowed the states altogether too much independence, and that unless there could be a strong central government, disintegration and ruin would overtake the new nation. The members of the Convention were much more conservative than those who wrote the Declaration of Independence, and the constitution which they wrote reflected their conservative ideas. After many compromises, the Convention finally agreed upon the Constitution, which after a hard fight, was adopted by the required number of states, and became the law of the land in 1789. Unity and power for the central government was secured by the four great powers given to the Federal government: to lay and collect taxes, to create and support an army and navy, to regulate foreign and domestic commerce, to do all things necessary to carry out the powers given by the Constitution.

1. It was not original with him.

' CHAPTER II FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

The Government of the Nation

THE most important fact about the Government of the United States is its federal character. Thus, instead of having a central government Hke France, we have a division of powers between the nationfand the several states.

The Constitution provides that the nation shall have "enumerated" powers, while the states have all other powers which are not expresslyprohibited. Thus, the nation can do only what the Constitution authorizes it to do, while the states can do all that is not forbidden them, or^given to the national government.^

The Organization of the National Government The national government is divided into three branches: Congress — the legislative or law-making branch, the executive branch with the President at its head, the judicial branch composed of the Supreme Court and inferior federal courts.

The Constitution describes in a general way the organization of these divisions of government.

The legislative department is the Congress, consisting of a Senate, andfa House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of two senators from each state, elected by popular vote, for six years. The House of Representatives is made up of representatives chosen from the states. Congress determines the number of representatives to which each state is entitled, upon the basis of the census taken every ten years. The state through its legislation then determines how its own representatives shall be elected. The usual method followed by the states is to divide the territory of the state, and to elect one representative from a district. Under the census of 1910 the House is composed of 435 members. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.

^"The executive power," says the Constitution, "shall be vested in a" President of the United States." The President is elected for a term of four years, by electors chosen by the voters of each state. The number of electors to which each state is entitled, is the number of senators and representatives from that state.

The; President is at the head of a very large and complex mass of governmental machinery.^ There are ten departments with a cabinet

1. The powers of the nation and examples of the things the states may do, are to be found in Mag-

ruder, American Government in 1921, Chapter 4.

2. His powers are set forth in the Constitution, Article II, Sections 2-4.

member at the head of each. There are, in addition, a large number of administrative boards and commissions.

The Government of the States

Each state is governed under a state constitution, which is usually composed of a preamble, a bill of rights, provision for the organization of the three departments of government, provision for future changes and amendments, and provisions of miscellaneous character. The later state constitutions are distinguished from the older state constitutions by the fact that they are much longer, containing a wide variety of subjects concerning matters which in earlier days were left to legislative action.

In every state there is a legislative body commonly called the "General Assembly" or the "Legislature." In every state this body is composed of two houses, usually called the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Every state has a governor as its chief executive officer. He is elected by the voters of the state. The Governor has three sorts of powers :

1. executive, such as the appointment and control of state administrative offices. This is of course his chief function.

2. legislative, such as sending messages to the legislature and approving or vetoing laws.

2. judicial, such as pardoning persons accused of crime.

In most states several offices exist, which because they are also subject to popular election, are independent of the governor. The most important of these are lieutenant governor, secretary of state, the state auditor, state treasurer, and the attorney general.

In many states there has recently been a tendency to a reorganization of the state administrative offices, for the purpose of efficiency and economy. This is on account of the fact that in the course of years there have been created a great many boards, commissions, and institutions. These have become so numerous that the governor has not the time to supervise them properly. Therefore, a tendency has arisen to reorganize the state administrative agencies on the plan of the Federal government, under a few main departments, with a director at the head of each. Perhaps the best example of this plan of reorganization is that of Illinois, which is shown in the graph on the opposite page.

The Government of Cities

In the United States cities are governed either under a special charter or by general acts of the legislature. A large number of states

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30UBUIJ now have "home rule" for cities, that is, cities are permitted to form their own charters, and in general, to determine their own kind of government. There are three types of city government in the United States — council-mayor, commission, and manager. Most cities are still governed under the council-mayor type which provides for a city council with a single chamber,^ and a mayor elected by the people, who is the head of the executive branch of the government.

The principle of the commission type of city government is that both legislative and executive powers are given to a single commission, made up usually of five or seven members. The commission form of government has been rapidly outstripped in its popularity by the commission-manager form of government. Usually these cities have a small council of not over nine members. The council then chooses a city manager, who is the administrative head of the city government. The manager usually serves not for a fixed term, but as long as the council desires to retain him. The following charts indicate the organization of the two important types of city government.

SUBORDINATE OFFICERS AND BUREAUS f j Elective (

Appoiniive Officials Depanments or Bureaus

MAYOR-COUNCIL GOVERNMENT

1. AJfew'cities, notably Baltimore, still have two-chambered councils.

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VOTERS OF THE CITY

MANAGER

Law

Public Service

Public Safety

Public Welfare

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Finance

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Elective Officials

Appointive Officials or Departments

CITY-MANAGER GOVERNMENT, DAYTON, OHIO

Other Types of Local Government

All states are divided into counties, which are not separate governments as cities and states, but are divisions of the state for the purpose of administering certain state laws. Most county officers are chosen by popular vote, and in many cases the county constitutes a very complex and unwieldly government, and the large number of elective offices adds very greatly to the number of names on an already long ballot.

The Merit System in the Civil Service

"To the victor belong the spoils," has been for generations an accepted principle of party control of government. In pursuance of this principle, each party on gaining power, is expected to clear out of all governmental positions the members of the opposite party, and fill the jobs with its own followers. But this system is wasteful and inefficient. Because of this indefensible practice, many people have come to believe in the "merit system." The principle upon which the merit system is supposed to operate, is that "public office is a public trust," which should be entrusted only to persons who have proved their fitness by means of competitive examinations. It also seeks to protect employees from dismissals for reasons other than lack of fitness, and to regulate promotions on the basis of merit. More recently it has recognized the need of active effort to recruit the civil service by going into the market for men and women of ability, and also by devising means of pensioning civil service employees.

In 1883, Congress passed the first great Civil Service Act, governing employees of the Federal government. It first applied to less than fourteen thousand employees, but gave the President power to extend its provisions. Since then, successive presidents have extended it until in 1916 it included 296,926, or 62% of all government employees in the executive civil service. The Civil Service Commission, consisting of three members appointed by the President and Senate, administer the provisions of the civil service law.

Following this reform in the national government, the merit system has recently been extensively applied in city and state governments. Many cities have commissioners supposed to be non-political, which give examinations for appointment, and regulate removals.

CHAPTER III Citizenship

THE citizen is the basis of the democratic state. He is the ultimate source of power. Citizenship is defined by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States as follows: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the states wherein they reside."

In the famous case of the United States vs. Wong Kim Ark (169 U. S. 649), the Supreme Court decided that a son of Chinese parents residing in California, who were not, and could not be, citizens of the United States, was himself a citizen of the United States. In this case, the Court said that the Constitution "contemplated two sources of citizenship and two only; birth and naturalization." Citizenship by naturalization, can be acquired by naturalization under the authority and forms of the law. But citizenship by birth is established by the mere fact of birth in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.

Naturalization is the process provided, for making a foreigner into a citizen of the United States. The power to naturalize is vested by Congress in any court of record in the United States. This includes both state and federal courts.

There are two main steps in taking out citizenship papers; the filing of the declaration of intention, or "First Papers," and the filing of the petition, or "Second Papers." The first paper may be filed any time after the arrival in the United States. The second paper may be filed at least two years after the first paper, and five years after arrival in the United States.

On September 22, 1922, a new law, relative to the naturalization and citizenship of married women was enacted. It makes the following changes in the citizenship laws:

1. "The right of a woman to become a naturalized citizen shall not be denied or abridged because of her sex or because she is a married woman."

2. An alien woman, shall not become a citizen because of her marriage to a citizen.

3. The wife of an alien does not become a citizen because of the naturalization of her husband. In other words the citizenship of a wife does not "follow" that of her husband.

4. A woman citizen of the United States does not lose her citizenship by marriage to an alien.

5. An alien woman who marries a citizen may become a citizen by a much easier process than an unmarried alien woman.

She need not file a first paper, and one year's residence is sufficient for second papers. For unmarried alien women the requirements are the same as for men.

6. A woman who is an American citizen and who before the passage of this law lost her citizenship by reason of her marriage to an alien may recover her citizenship by the method above described for an alien woman who marries a citizen.

Political Parties

Probably the most important means of organizing public opinion for the control of government is the political party. A fair definition of a political party is found in Ray's "Political Parties and Practical Politics" — "A political party is a durable organization of individuals, or groups of individuals, fluctuating in personnel and numbers, united by common principles or a common policy, and having for its immediate end the control of the government through the carrying of elections and the possession of office."

National Parties

Parties have existed almost from the beginning of our career as a nation. During and after the Constitutional Convention of 1787, there was widespread difference of opinion as to the extent to which the nation should go in controlling the economic life of the country. Upon a division, which was roughly between the commercial and the farming interests of the country, there rose the Federalist and Republican parties. In the time which has followed, the names of the national parties have changed many times, till now the Democratic and Republican Parties are the dominant groups of the country. Throughout the history of the United States, there has seemed to be a permanent tendency toward a two-party system. Many small parties have arisen, but have disappeared after a short time, while the two major parties have continued to exist.

Present-Day National Parties

The two great national parties are loose organizations which are drawn together and put into action only at the time of the congressional and presidential elections. Each has a National Committee, composed of one representative from each state. A convention is held by each party every four years, for the purpose of nominating candidates for the Presidency. These conventions are, roughly speaking, composed of delegates from the various states. The number of delegates to which a state is entitled is, with a small exception, in the Democratic Party, twice the number of the niembers of Congress to which that state is entitled. In the RepubHcan Party this proportion is greatly reduced in the southern states which have Republican voters. The rule is that districts having 2,500 Republican votes have one delegate and those having 10,000 or more, two, based upon the 1920 vote. The national campaign is carried on by the National Committee, under the direction of the National Chairman, who is generally selected by the presidential candidate.

Local Party Organization

Political party life in the United States is largely based upon the local political organization. In most states, the form of the local party organization is determined by state law. In general, the state party organization is in the hands of the State Central Committee, chosen usually on the basis of Congressional Districts of the state. In addition to this State Committee, each county generally has a Central Committee, while a well-organized party organization has its officials scattered out in every ward and precinct, and in the country, in every township. The best example of local political organization is Tammany Hall, the New York City Democratic Organization.!

Nominations

Bryce has given to our elections the more exact title, "selections." This is literally true, for the voter at election time is called upon to make a choice among a relatively few candidates for public office, who have been selected by some mode of nomination. It has long been recognized by those who have been interested in democratic government, that the citadel of power is really in the nomination.

Four kinds of nominations have developed in the course of our history. The first type of nomination was by the caucus. Early in our history, the members of Congress belonging to a given party, would hold a caucus, and select the party candidate for President. This mode of nomination was common up to the administration of Jackson. At that time it fell into disfavor, and was supplanted by the convention. For three-quarters of a century, the convention was the approved method of selecting candidates for office, but the rise of grave abuses caused a demand for a more direct way of selecting candidates with the result that the direct primary to a considerable extent, supplanted the convention.

In the direct primary, the person who desires to become a candidate, gets his name placed on the primary ballot through a petition. On the day of the primary, the voter goes to the polling place, receives the ballot of his party, and selects from among the candidates appearing thereupon. There are two kinds of direct primary — the closed primary and the open primary. In the closed primaries,

\. An excellent description of this organization can be found in Ray's Political Parties and Practical Politics, Chapter 16.

participation is limited to those who have been previously enrolled in the party, or who have complied with some test of party allegiance. In the open primaries, the voter may vote for the candidates of any party, and no attempt is made to prevent Democrats from taking a hand in the Republican nominations. The best example of the open primary is that of the State of Wisconsin. ^

The fourth method of nominating candidates, is nomination by petition. By this method a candidate is entitled to have his name placed on the ballot after filing with the proper officer a special petition, signed by a certain number of voters.