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and as the initiatory work in our legislation is now so largely done by the committees, this makes him the most powerful officer of the government except the President.

Impeach

England

The provisions for impeachment of public officers are copied from the custom in England. Since the fourteenth century the House of Commons has occasionally exercised the power of impeaching the king's ministers and other high public officers, and although the power was not used during the sixteenth century, it was afterward revived and conclusively established. In 1701 it was enacted that the royal pardon could not be pleaded ment in against an impeachment, and this act finally secured the responsibility of the king's ministers to Parliament. An impeachment is a kind of accusation or indictment brought against a public officer by the House of Commons. The court in which the case is tried is the House of Lords, and the ordinary rules of judicial procedure are followed. The regular president of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor, who is the highest judicial officer in the kingdom. A simple majority vote secures conviction, and then it is left for the House of Commons to say whether judgment shall be pronounced or not.

In the United States the House of Representatives has the sole power of impeachment,

Impeach

United States

and the Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. When the President of the United States is tried, the chief justice must ment in the preside. As a precaution against the use of impeachment for party purposes, a two thirds vote is required for conviction; and this precaution proved effectual (fortunately, as most persons now admit) in the famous case of President Johnson in 1868. In case of conviction the judgment cannot extend further than "to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honour, trust, or profit under the United States;" but the person convicted is liable afterward to be tried and punished by the ordinary process of law.

The provisions of the Constitution for legislation are admirably simple. All bills for raising revenue must originate in the lower house, but the upper house may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills. This provision was inherited from Parliament, through the colonial legislatures. After a bill has passed both houses it must be sent to the president for approval. If he approves it, he signs it; if not, he returns it to the house in which it originated, with a written statement of his of the presi- objections, and this statement must be entered in full upon the journal of the house. The bill is then reconsidered,

Veto power

dent

and if it obtains a two thirds vote, it is sent, together with the objections, to the other house. If it there likewise obtains a two thirds vote, it becomes a law, in spite of the objections. Otherwise it fails. If the president keeps a bill longer than ten days (Sundays excepted) without signing it, it becomes a law without his signature; unless Congress adjourns before the expiration of the ten days, in which case it fails to become a law, just as if it had been vetoed. This method of vetoing a bill just before the expiration of a Congress, by keeping it in one's pocket, so to speak, was dubbed a "pocket veto," and was first employed by President Jackson in 1829. The president's veto power is a qualified form of that which formerly belonged to the English sovereign, but has now, as already observed, become practically obsolete. As a means of guarding the country against unwise legislation, it has proved to be one of the most valuable features of our Federal Constitution. In bad hands it cannot do much harm; it can only delay for a short time a needed law. But when properly used it can save the country from laws that if once enacted would sow seeds of disaster very hard to eradicate; and it has repeatedly done so. A single man will often act intelligently where a group of men act foolishly, and, as already observed, he is apt to have a keener sense of responsibility.

§ 3. The Federal Executive.

In signing or vetoing bills passed by Congress the president shares in legislation, and is virtually a third house. In his other capacities he is the chief executive officer of the Federal Union; and inasmuch as he appoints the other great executive officers, he is really the head of the executive department, not like the governor of a state a mere member of it. His title of "President" is probably an inheritance from

The title

of "President

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the presidents of the Continental Congress. In Franklin's plan of union, in 1754, the head of the executive department was called "Governor General," but that title had an unpleasant sound to American ears. Our great-grandfathers liked president" better, somewhat as the Romans, in the eighth century of their city, preferred "imperator" to "rex." Then, as it served to distinguish widely between the head of the Union and the heads of the states, it soon fell into disuse in the state governments, and thus "president" has come to be a much grander title than "governor," just as emperor come to be a grander title than "king.""

has

There was no question which perplexed the Federal Convention more than the question as to the best method of electing the president. See above, p. 180.

There was a general distrust of popular election for an office so exalted. At one time the Convention decided to have the president elected by Congress, but there was a grave objection to this; it would be likely to destroy his independence, and make him the tool of Congress. Finally the device of an electoral col- The electoral lege was adopted. Each state is en- college

titled to a number of electors equal to the number of its representatives in Congress, plus two, the number of its senators. Thus to-day Delaware, with one representative, has three electors; Missouri, with fourteen representatives, has sixteen electors; New York, with thirty-four representatives, has thirty-six electors. No federal senator or representative, or any person holding civil office under the United States, can serve as an elector. Each state may appoint or choose its electors in such manner as it sees fit; at first they were more often than otherwise chosen by the legislatures, now they are always elected. by the people. The day of election must be the same in all the states.

By an act of Congress passed in 1792 it is required to be within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December. A subsequent act in 1845 appointed the Tuesday following the first Monday in November as election day.

By the act of 1792 the electors chosen in

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