of Blount County in Tennessee, followed by local conventions in many
other states. The congressional caucus met and nominated Crawford, but
this endorsement did not help him,[15] and this method was no longer
tried. In 1832 for the first time the candidates were all nominated in
national conventions.

[Footnote 15: Stanwood, _History of Presidential Elections_, pp.
80-83.]

[Sidenote: Nomination conventions.]
[Sidenote: The "primary."]
These conventions, as fully developed, are representative bodies
chosen for the specific purpose of nominating candidates and making
those declarations of principle 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
composed of delegates from primaries, it is the composition of the
primaries which determines that of the local conventions, and it is
the composition of the local conventions which determines that of the
national.[16] The "primary" is the smallest nominating convention. It
stands in somewhat the same relation to the national convention as the
relation of a township or ward to the whole United States. A primary
is a little caucus of all the voters of 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-presidency are
nominated.

[Footnote 16: Bryce, _American Commonwealth_, vol. ii. p. 145; see
also p. 52.]


[Sidenote: Qualifications for the presidency.]
The qualifications for the two offices are of course the same.
Foreign-born citizens are not eligible, though this restriction did
not include such as were citizens of the United 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.


[Sidenote: The term of office]
The president's term of office is four years. The Constitution says
nothing about his re-election, and there is no written law to prevent
his being re-elected a dozen times. But Washington, after serving two
terms, refused to accept the office a third time. Jefferson in 1808
was "earnestly besought by many and influential bodies of citizens to
become a candidate for a third term;" [17] and had he consented there
is scarcely a doubt that he would have been elected. His refusal
established 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.

[Footnote 17: Morse's _Jefferson_, p. 318.]

[Sidenote: Powers and duties of the President]
The president is commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces
of the United States, and of the militia of the several states when
actually engaged in the service of the United States; and he has the
royal prerogative of granting reprieves and pardons for offences
against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.[18]

[Footnote 18: See above, p. 221.]


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 officers, such as the
heads of executive departments and judges of the Supreme Court, and
all these appointments are subject to confirmation by the Senate. He
also appoints a vast 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
granting 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 regard 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 beginning of the next regular session.

[Sidenote: The President's message.]
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 of an annual written message. Washington and Adams began
their administrations 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 accordingly 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 a written message.[19] Besides this annual
message, the president may at any time send in a special message
relating to matters which in his opinion require immediate attention.

[Footnote 19: Jefferson, moreover, was a powerful writer and a poor
speaker.]

The effectiveness of a president's message depends of course on the
character of the president and the general features of the political
situation. That separation between the executive and legislative
departments, which is one of the most distinctive features of civil
government 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 Commons; power and responsibility
are concentrated. 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.[20]

[Footnote 20: 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. 169.]

[Sidenote: Executive departments]
[Sidenote: The cabinet]
The Constitution made no specific provisions for the creation of
executive departments, but left the matter to Congress. At the
beginning of Washington's administration three secretaryships were
created,--those of state, treasury, and war; and an attorney-general
was appointed. Afterward the department of the navy was separated
from that of war, the postmaster-general was made a member of the
administration, and as lately as 1849 the department of the interior
was organized. The heads of these departments are the president's
advisers, but they have as a body no recognized legal existence or
authority. They hold their meetings in a room at the president'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 composed of heads of executive
departments and in being, as a body, unknown to the law; in other
respects the difference is very great. The English cabinet is the
executive 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 minister; it is more like that of
the English sovereign, though the latter has not nearly so much power
as the president; and the American cabinet in some respects resembles
the English privy council, though it cannot make ordinances.

[Sidenote: The secretary of state.]
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 committee of ways and means and
its committee on appropriations, and unite them into one committee of
finance; then we must take the chairman of this committee, 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 president 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 between our
system and that of Great Britain.

Our secretary of state is our minister of foreign affairs, and is the
only officer who is authorized to communicate with other governments 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 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.

[Sidenote: Diplomatic and consular service.]
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 our commercial
interests in foreign countries. Consuls exercise a protective 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. Formerly our ministers abroad were of
only three grades: (1) "envoys extraordinary and ministers
plenipotentiary;" (2) "ministers resident;" (3) _charges d'affaires_.
The first two are accredited by the president to the head of government
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 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 inferior powers, like Denmark
or Greece or Guatemala. 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.

[Sidenote: The secretary of the treasury.]
The cabinet officer second in rank and in some respects first in
importance is the secretary of the treasury. He conducts the financial
business of the government, 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.[21] He 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 register, a
comptroller, a solicitor, a director of the mint, commissioner of
internal revenue, chiefs of the bureau of statistics and bureau of
engraving and printing, etc. The business of the treasury department
is enormous, and no part of our government has been more faithfully
administered. Since 1789 the treasury has disbursed more than seven
billions of dollars without 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." [22]

[Footnote 21: Many of these details concerning the executive
departments are admirably summarized, and with more fullness
than comports with the design of the present work, in Thorpe's
_Government of the People of the United States_, pp. 183-193.]

[Footnote 22: Schouler, _Hist. of the U.S._, vol. i. p. 95.]


[Sidenote: War and navy.]
The war and navy departments need no special description here. The
former is divided into ten and the latter into eight bureaus.
The naval department, among many duties, has charge of the naval
observatory at Washington and publishes the nautical almanac.

[Sidenote: Interior.]
The department of the interior conducts a vast and various business,
as is shown by the designations of its eight bureaus, which deal with
public lands, Indian affairs, pensions, patents, education (chiefly in
the way of gathering 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 weather bureau
forms a branch of the department of agriculture.

[Sidenote: Postmaster-general and attorney-general.]
The departments of the postmaster-general and attorney-general need
no special description. The latter was organized in 1870 into the
department of justice. The attorney-general is the president's legal
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 offices.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT.

1. Speak (1) of the president's share in legislation; (2) of his
relation to the executive department, and (3) of the origin
of his title.

2. The electoral college:--

a. The method of electing the president a perplexing question.
b. The constitution of the electoral college, with illustrations.
c. Qualifications for serving as an elector.
d. The method of choosing electors.
e. The time of choosing electors.
f. When and where the electors vote.
g. The number and disposition of the certificates of their
h. The declaration of the result.

3. What was the method of voting in the electoral college before
1804? Illustrate the working of this method in 1796 and 1800.

4. The amendment of 1804:--

a. The ballots of the electors.
b. The duty of the House if no candidate for the presidency
receives a majority of the electoral votes.
c. The duty of the Senate if no candidate for the vice-presidency
receives a majority of the electoral votes.
d. Illustrations of the working of this amendment in 1825
and 1837.

5. The electoral commission of 1877:--

a. A difficulty not foreseen.
b. Conflicting returns in 1877.
c. The plan of arbitration adopted.

6. The presidential succession:--

a. The office of vice-president.
b. The act of 1791.
c. The possibility of a lapse of the presidency.
d. The possibility of an unfair political overthrow.
e. The act of 1886.

7. Compare the original purpose of the electoral college with
the fulfillment of that purpose.

8. Explain the transition from a divided electoral vote in a state
to a solid electoral vote.

9. Show how a minority of the people may elect a president.
Who have been elected by minorities?

10. What is the advantage of the electoral system over a direct
popular vote?

11. Methods of nominating candidates for the presidency and
vice-presidency before 1832:--

a. The absence of constitutional and legislative requirements.

b. Presidents not nominated.
c. Nominations by congressional caucuses.
d. Nominations by state legislatures.
e. Nominations by local conventions.

12. Nominations by national conventions in 1832 and since:--

a. The nature of a national convention.
b. The platform.
c. The number of delegates from a state, and their election.
d. The relation of the "primaries" to district, state, and
national conventions.
e. The nature of the primary.
f. Its two duties.
g. The duty of the voter to attend the primaries.

13. The presidency:--
a. Qualifications for the office.
b. The term of office.

14. Powers and duties of the president:--
a. As a commander-in-chief.
b. In respect to reprieves and pardons.
c. In respect to treaties with foreign powers.
d. In respect to the appointment of federal officers.
e. In respect to summoning and adjourning Congress.
f. In respect to reporting the state of affairs in the country
to Congress.

15. The president's message:--
a. The course of Washington and Adams.
b. The example of Jefferson.
c. The effectiveness of the message.
d. Power and responsibility in the English system.

e. Power and
responsibility in the American system.

16. Executive departments:--
a. The departments under Washington.
b. Later additions to the departments.
c. The "Cabinet."
d. The resemblance between the English cabinet and our own.
e. The difference between the English cabinet and our own.

17. The secretary of state:--
a. Is he a prime minister?
b. What would be necessary to make an American personage
correspond to an English prime minister?
c. What are the ministerial duties of the secretary of state?
d. What other duties has he more characteristic of his title?

18. Our diplomatic and consular service:--
a. The distinction between ministers and consuls.
b. Three grades of ministers.
c. The persons to whom the three grades are accredited.
d. The grade of ambassador.

19. The secretary of the treasury:--
a. His rank and importance.
b. His various duties.
c. His chief assistants.
d. The administration of the treasury department since 1789.

20. The duties of the remaining cabinet officers:--
a. Of the secretary of war.
b. Of the secretary of the navy.
c. Of the secretary of the interior.
d. Of the postmaster-general.
e. Of the attorney-general.


Section 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 adaptableness, of our
Federal Constitution. That strength lies partly also in the excellent
partition of powers between the federal government and the several
states.

[Sidenote: Difference between confederation and federal union.]
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 a union that is
more than a mere confederation. From 1776 to 1789 the United States
_were_ a confederation; after 1789 it was a federal nation. The
passage from plural to singular was accomplished, 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 _Bundesstaat_. 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 Banded-State.

[Sidenote: Powers granted to Congress.]
The first was the creation of a federal House of Representatives, thus
securing for Congress the power to lay and collect taxes, duties,
imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common
welfare of the United States. Other powers are naturally attached to
this,--such as the power to borrow money on the credit of the United
States; to regulate foreign and domestic commerce; to coin money
and fix the standard of weights and measures; to provide for
the punishment of counterfeiters; to establish post-offices and
post-roads; to issue copyrights and patents; to define and punish
felonies committed 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
support 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 command this
militia while actually employed in the service 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 exclusive control over the District of Columbia,[23]
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 purposes with
the consent of the state legislature.


[Footnote 23: Ceded to the United States by Maryland and Virginia.]

[Sidenote: The "Elastic Clause."]
Congress is also empowered "to make all laws which shall be necessary
and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all
other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the
United 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.

[Sidenote: Powers denied to the states.]
[Sidenote: Paper currency.]
The national authority of Congress is further sharply defined by the
express denial of sundry powers to the several states. These we have
already enumerated.[24] 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
receive them in payment of debts. Now a paper dollar is not money, it
is only the government's promise to pay a dollar. As long as you can
send it to the treasury and get a gold dollar in exchange, it is worth
a dollar. It is this exchangeableness that makes it worth a dollar.
When government makes the paper dollar note a "legal tender." i.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
serious 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 dollar issued by the Continental Congress was worth only a mill,
and flour was sold in Boston for $1,575 a barrel! When the different
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 demoralization 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 Continental Congress was that it was not completely a
government and seemed to have no alternative, but there is no doubt
that the paper currency 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 being extended to
the national government, but the question was unfortunately left
undecided.[25]

[Footnote 24: See above, p.175]

[Footnote 25: See my _Critical Period of American History_, pp.
168-186, 273-276.]

[Sidenote: Powers denied to Congress.]
[Sidenote: Bills of attainder.]
Some express prohibitions were laid upon the national government. Duties
may be laid upon imports but not upon exports; this wise restriction was
a special concession to South. Carolina, which feared the effect of an
export duty upon rice and indigo. Duties and excises must be uniform
throughout the country, and no commercial preference can be shown to one
state over another; 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 appropriations 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, 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 legislative act by
which a person may be condemned to death, or to outlawry and banishment,
without the opportunity of defending himself which he would have in a
court of law. "No evidence is necessarily adduced to support it," [26] 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.

[Footnote 26: Taswell-Langmead, _English Constitutional History_,
p. 385.]

[Sidenote: Intercitizenship.]
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 manner in which such
acts and proceedings shall be proved or certified. The citizens of each
state are "entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the
several states." There is mutual extradition of criminals, 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 invasion; and on application from the legislature of a state, or
from the executive when the legislature cannot be convened, it lends a
hand in suppressing insurrection.

[Sidenote: Mode of making amendments.]
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
convention called at the request of the legislatures of two thirds of
the states. The amendments are not in force until ratified by three-fourths
of the states, either through their legislatures or through
special conventions, according to the preference of Congress. This
makes it difficult to change the Constitution, as it ought to be; but
it leaves it possible to introduce changes that are very obviously
desirable. The Articles of Confederation could not be amended except
by a unanimous vote of the states; and this made their amendment
almost impossible.

After assuming all debts contracted and engagements made by the United
States before its adoption, the Constitution goes on to declare itself
the supreme law of the land. By it, and by the laws and treaties made
under it, the judges in every state are bound, in spite of anything
contrary in the constitution or laws of any state.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT.

1. In what two features of the Constitution does its strength
largely lie?

2. Distinguish between the United States as a confederation and the
United States as a federal union. How does the German language bring out
the distinction?

3. What was the first important factor in transforming our
country from a Band-of-States to a Banded-State?

4. The powers granted to Congress:--
a. Over taxes, money, and commerce.
b. Over postal affairs, and the rights of inventors and authors.
c. Over certain crimes.
d. Over war and military matters.
e. Over naturalization and bankruptcy.
f. Over the District of Columbia and other places.
g. The "elastic clause" and its interpretation.

5. The powers denied to the states:--
a. An enumeration of these powers.
b. The prohibition of bills of credit, in particular.
c. The paper money craze of 1785 and 1786.
d. Paper money as a "legal tender."
e. The depreciation of paper money during the Civil War.
f. The depreciation of the Continental currency in 1780.
g. The demoralization caused by the states making paper money.
h. The lesson of experience.

6. Prohibitions upon the national government:--
a. The imposition of duties and taxes.
b. The payment of money.
c. The writ of _habeas corpus_.
d. _Ex post facto_ laws.
e. Bills of attainder.
f. Titles and presents.

7. Duties of the states to one another:--
a. In respect to public acts and records, and judicial proceedings.
b. In respect to the privileges of citizens.
c. In respect to fugitives from justice.

8. What is the duty of the United States to every state in
respect (1) to form of government, (2) invasion, and (3)
insurrection?

9. Amendments to the Constitution:--
a. Two methods of proposing amendments.
b. Two methods of ratifying amendments,
c. The difficulty of making amendments.
d. Amendment of the Articles of Confederation.

10. What is meant by the Constitution's declaring itself the
supreme law of the land?



Section 5. _The Federal Judiciary_.

[Sidenote: Need for a 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 constitutionality of a
law by getting the matter brought before the courts.[27] In the case of
a conflict between state law and federal 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.

[Footnote 27: See above p. 194.]

[Sidenote: Federal courts and judges.]
[Sidenote: District attorneys and marshals.]
The federal judiciary consists of a supreme court, circuit courts, and
district courts.[28] At present the supreme court consists of a chief
justice and eight associate justices. It holds annual sessions in the
city of Washington, beginning on the second Monday of October. Each of
these nine judges is also presiding judge of a circuit court. The area
of the United States, not including the territories, is divided into
nine circuits, and in each circuit the presiding judge is assisted
by special circuit judges. The circuits are divided into districts,
fifty-six 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." [29] 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 president, with the
consent of the Senate, to serve during good behaviour. Each district
has its _district attorney_, whose business is to prosecute
offenders against the federal laws and to conduct civil cases in
which the national government is either plaintiff or defendant. Each
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 usually follows that of the courts of the state in
which it is sitting.

[Footnote 28: See the second note on p.278.]

[Footnote 29: See Wilson, _The State_, p. 554. I have closely
followed, though, with much abridgment, the excellent description of
our federal judiciary, pp. 555-561.]

[Sidenote: The federal jurisdiction.]
The federal jurisdiction covers two classes of cases: (1) those
which come before it "_because of the nature of the questions
involved_: for instance, admiralty and maritime cases, navigable
waters being within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal
authorities, and cases arising out of the Constitution, laws, or
treaties of the United States or out of conflicting 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 upper 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
Constitution can be taken to the supreme court, however 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 Constitution, 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 institution of which
Americans may well be proud.