1788] POWERS OF CONGRESS. 309 impeachments. [The term speaker is borrowed from the English House of Commons; and the presiding officer is so called because it is through him that the house speaks, or communicates with the other branches of the legislature.] Congress meets every year at the national capital on the first Monday in December. The members are paid from the public treasury [$5,000 a year], and are privileged from arrest for all offences except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, while attending a session of their respective houses, or on their way to or from such a session. No person can at the same time be a member of either house and hold office under the United States. Congress has power to collect taxes and duties; to borrow money on the credit of the United States; to regulate foreign commercial relations; to establish laws respecting naturalization and bankruptcy; to coin money and provide a punishment for counterfeiting; to fix the standard of weight and measures; to establish postoffices; to grant authors and inventors exclusive privileges by copyrights and patents; to declare war; to raise armies and maintain a navy; to provide for organizing the militia; to make laws for the District of Columbia, or any other tract that may become the seat of government; &c., &c. Bills for appropriating money must originate in the house of representatives, but may be amended or rejected by the senate. A bill passed by a concurrent vote of the two houses of Congress, before it can become a law, must be signed by the president of the United States; if he vetoes it (that is, returns it unsigned with his objections), it is null and void, unless passed by two-thirds of both houses. THE EXECUTIVE POWER of the government is vested in a President, who holds his office for four years, and who, with the Vice-President, is thus elected. The people of each state [in South Carolina, the legislature] choose as many Electors What are the requisites for filling this office? How are vacancies filled? What power is confined to this house? Whence is the term speaker derived? Why is the presiding officer so called? How often does Congress meet? When? How are the members paid? What privilege do they enjoy? What is forbidden to the members of both houses? Mention the powers vested in Congress. Where must bills appropriating money originate? What power has the serate over them? What is necessary before a bill can become a law? In whom is the executive as they have senators and representatives in Congress. These electors meet in their respective states, and ballot for a president and vice-president. A record of the votes is made and transmitted sealed to the seat of government; where they are opened in the presence of the senate and the house of representatives. The person who has a majority of the electoral votes becomes president. If there is no majority, the election goes to the house of representatives; in that case, the members from each state cast one vote, and a` majority of the states elects. The president of the United States must be a native citizen and thirty-five years of age, and must have resided in the country for at least fourteen years. In case of the president's death, resignation, removal from office, or inability to discharge its duties, the vice-president takes his place; and, in case of the vice-president's disability, the president of the senate pro tempore officiates as president. The president is commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and with the consent of the senate makes treaties, and appoints ministers, consuls, judges of the supreme court, and other officers. [The salary of the president is $25,000 a year; that of the vice-president, $8,000.] 66 THE JUDICIAL POWER of the United States is vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as Congress may from time to time order and establish". The judges of the Supreme Court hold office during good behavior. Their jurisdiction extends to all cases arising under the laws and treaties of the United States; to controversies in which different states, ambassadors, ministers, or consuls, are concerned; &c. Due provision is made for the amendment of the constitution, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary. power vested? Describe the manner in which the president and vice-president are chosen. If there is no majority, how is the president elected? What are the requisites for making a person eligible to the presidency? In case of the president's death or disability, who takes his place? What is done in case of the vicepresident's disability? What are the salaries of these officers? What powers are vested in the president? In whom is the judicial power vested? How long 1788] THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 311 421. About the time of the framing of the constitution, Congress, having obtained from several of the states a cession of large tracts in the west, included in their charters but still unsettled, organized the region bounded by the Ohio, the Mississippi, the great lakes, and Pennsylvania, into “the North-west Territory ". do the judges hold office? To what does their jurisdiction extend? When may the constitution be amended? 421. What was done by Congress in 1787 ? PART IV. CONSTITUTIONAL PERIOD, FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF A GOVERNMENT UNDER THE FED- CHAPTER I. WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1789-1797. 422. On the 14th of April, 1789, Washington received an official announcement that he had been unanimously elected president of the United States under the new constitution. Two days afterwards he bade adieu to Mount Vernon and set out for New York, where Congress was in session. Official receptions, addresses, and triumphal arches, awaited him everywhere on the route. On reaching the city, he was received by Gov. Clinton and conducted with military honors, in the midst of a vast concourse, to a residence which was placed at his disposal. On the 30th of April, he was inau-, gurated, at Federal Hall, on the site of the present Subtreasury. The oath of office was administered by Chancellor Livingston, on the balcony in front of the Hall, in the presence of a great multitude. Immediately after the ceremony, Washington proceeded to the senate-chamber, and delivered an address replete with exalted sentiments. 423. John Adams had been elected vice-president; and both houses, having organized a few weeks before the inau 422. Who was elected first president under the new constitution? When did Washington receive the announcement? When did he start from Mount Vernon? What is said of his journey and his reception in New York? When and where did his inauguration take place? Describe the scene. What was done by guration, proceeded to business. They found many dif ficulties to contend with. A strong party was opposed to the constitution and the new government formed under it. The Spanish authorities had prohibited Americans from navigating the Mississippi. The people of the west naturally looked to this river as their only means of reaching a market; and, that they might not lose the advantages it offered, some of the frontier settlers proposed to separate from the republic, and unite with the Spanish territory of which New Orleans was the metropolis. The hostility of the Indians, who had not as yet laid aside the tomahawk, was a fruitful source of anxiety. These were Washington after the ceremony? 423. Who had been elected vice-president? Enumerate the difficulties by which the new government was embarrassed. To |