"-insure domestic tranquillity—” The nation is like a big brother who defends all the members of his family from harm, but who compels them to stop quarreling among themselves. The only time serious trouble arose, two groups of states, the North and the South, settled it forever by a bloody war, which made the union stronger than ever. "-provide for the common defence-" Little Delaware or Rhode Island could not keep such an army as New York or Illinois to protect itself against foreign invasion. If we had no union, Wisconsin would be compelled to have a navy on lake Michigan and an army along her borders. The United States defends Wisconsin. "-promote the general welfare-" The nation aids commerce, makes forest reserves and national parks; keeps rivers navigable; guards against plague; limits the work-day; manages public works; inspects food and punishes fraud. It creates a sound money and banking system. It operates and extends the postal service. It stops lotteries. The states control many subjects of welfare, but the federal government watches over the people as a whole. "—and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity-" The best government is the one that gives happiness with the least restraint. Liberty is more than freedom to talk and act and live for today. Your children and your children's children, also, must be free. The Constitution makes each state a part of the nation, lets each state attend to its own affairs, except such as involve the common welfare of all. It is the guardian, friend and protector of every state and of every man, woman and child in the state. ARTICLE I-The Legislative Power SECTION 1-THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Congressmen and the President and Vice-President are the only federal officials ELECTED by the people. All others are APPOINTED by their superiors in office. So the law-makers and the law-enforcers directly represent the will of all the people. Only rules, orders, and regulations in harmony with the law can be made by other officials. SECTION 2-THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. Two year terms of office make Representatives face their people often. 2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen. Only a mature man, who has lived in this country long enough to know and sympathize with American ideals, can be chosen as a Representative. He must live in the state but not necessarily in the district that selects him. In England, a member of parliament may live in one part of the country and represent any other part. Although the Constitution does not require it, the custom is, for a Representative to live in the district he represents. 3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 3; Massachusetts, 8; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 1; Connecticut, 5; New York, 6; New Jersey, 4; Pennsylvania, 8; Delaware, 1; Maryland, 6; Virginia, 10; North Carolina, 5; South Carolina, 5, and Georgia, 3. The first method of fixing the number of Representatives and taxes which was a compromise to get the approval of the slave-holding states and keep them from forming a separate government, was changed by the XIVth amendment. The Northern states refused to allow the Southern states to count the negro slaves as population on which to base representation and taxation. After the Civil War, when the slaves were freed, this plan was unnecessary. Representation is now based upon population, merely excluding untaxed Indians. The ratio is now one Representative for every 212,407 people of a state. No matter how large the country grows, this guarantees an equal representation progressively. 4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. A state is responsible for keeping its vacancies in Congress filled. 5. The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. The House of Representatives chooses its own officers, and so rules itself. It has sole power to impeach other federal officials. It cannot impeach a Senator or Representative as they get their office from the people of their state. To impeach, is to accuse, and indict. It is fitting that the more popular body, chosen by the people, shall say whether government officials may be impeached. The impeachment is laid before the Senate, which acts as a court and passes final judgment upon removal from office. SECTION 3-THE SENATE 1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The people decided that Senators should be elected directly by the people, and not through the state legislatures. So, in 1914, this was done by the XVIIth amendment. This is one of the actual proofs that the PEOPLE can alter the basic law when they so desire. 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments, until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. The equality in the representation in the Senate is preserved. New York, with its nine million people, has fortythree times as many Representatives in Congress as Delaware, but the little state has two Senators in the Senate, the same as New York. The equal number of Senators from each state prevents a majority of Representatives in the lower House, which might come from less than half the states, from imposing its will on all the states. By the XVIIth amendment, the governor of a state must call an election to fill a vacancy in the Senate from that state, but the legislature may empower him to fill the vacancy until the election. Representatives must always be elected by the people, and are never appointed. 3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. Senators, handling weightier matters in some respects, and being elected for longer terms than Representatives, and accounting to the people less often, must be more mature and longer acquainted with the spirit of the country. 4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided. As each state has an equal number of Senators, the decision on a tie vote is held by the Vice-President, chosen directly by the people. 5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President Pro Tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States. The Vice-President may be absent or even become President, so the Senate chooses a presiding officer to act at such a time. 6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. If the President should be impeached, it would not be fair for the Vice-President to preside at the trial. So the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides. Two-thirds of the Senators are necessary to convict, in order that the verdict may not merely be that of a partisan or impassioned majority. Removal from office is a degradation and should not be too easy to bring about. 7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law. Impeachment aims at the office, not the man. It is to purify the government. The man may be punished for the crime, after he has been removed from office. SECTION 4-ELECTION OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES- 1. The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators. and Representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature |