CHAP. IV.

CABINET MEETINGS

67

to undergo the fatigue and exertion of attendance in Congress. They have their whole time to devote to the every-day duties of their respective offices, and there is not one of them who does not work as hard as any of his clerks.

It is usual for the President to consult with the Cabinet upon all questions of public interest, but he uses his own discretion with regard to following their advice. He is responsible for all his acts-not they. An eminent Minister once told me that these Cabinet meetings are ordinarily very simple and formal in their character. They are held once a week, at the White House, the residence of the President. The President sits at the head of the table, and asks the secretary of each department whether he has any business to bring forward. If he has any he says so, and produces his papers or notes, and the matter is discussed. Should there be a difference of opinion, the question is put to the vote, and the action which the majority desire is usually taken. But the Minister to whom I refer informed me3 that there is seldom any disagreement upon departmental affairs, and in all other matters the President can, if he please, come to a decision without going through the form of consulting the Cabinet. On occasions when some question of grave importance has required a settlement the President, since the

3

3 This was in 1865. After the differences between Mr. Johnson and his Cabinet, he would probably give a different account.

war, has been in the habit of calling in to the councilboard, by special invitation, the General in command of the army, who gives his opinion with the rest. But this was a proceeding dictated by the personal popularity of the officer in question, and cannot be drawn into a precedent for future usage.

CHAP. V.

THE LEGISLATIVE.

69

CHAPTER V.

THE LEGISLATIVE.

WE have seen that the Executive is destitute of all influence or power in framing the laws of the United States. As Chancellor Kent explains his functions, he has no discretion left to him in the execution of the laws made by a body which is entirely independent of him. It is not for him to deliberate and decide upon the wisdom or expediency of the law. What has been once declared to be law, under all the cautious forms of deliberation prescribed by the Constitution, ought to receive prompt obedience."" The law-making power is vested exclusively in Congress, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The constitution of the Senate is simple. Each State in the Union, regardless of its population or area, is entitled to send two members to this body. The House of Representatives is constructed upon a different plan. The Constitution originally directed that to the whole number of free persons in each

1 'Commentaries on American Law,' Part II. Lect. xiii. (The edition quoted in this book is the eleventh, published at Boston, 1866.)

State three-fifths of all other persons, excluding Indians not taxed, should be added, and representatives divided according to the population, not more than one representative being allowed for every 30,000 persons. On May 29, 1850, this plan was abolished, and it was provided that after March, 1853, the House of Representatives should be composed of 233 members, who are apportioned in the following manner:- The aggregate population of the United States, according to the last official census, is divided by 233, and the product is taken as the ratio or rule of apportionment. The population of each State is then taken, and divided by the ratio just determined, and the representatives allotted in accordance with the result.2 The senators are chosen by the votes of the State Legislatures; the representatives by the direct suffrages of the people. The entire House of Representatives is elected at various times, for two years; the six years' term of office of senators is so arranged as that one-third only shall fall vacant every second year, so that, while it is possible for the people to change the entire House of Representatives once in two years, they cannot touch more than one-third of the Senate in the same time. "This provision," remarks Chancellor Kent," is admirably calculated, on the one hand, to infuse into the Senate, biennially, renewed

2 Territories are allowed to send two delegates to the House of Representatives. They may speak in the assembly, but are not permitted to vote.

CHAP. V.

ITS FORMATION AND DIVISION.

71

public confidence and vigour; and, on the other, to retain a large portion of experienced members, duly initiated into the general principles of national policy, and the forms and course of business in the House."3

Thus, then, the Legislative is divided into two bodies, each having a control over the other, and the concurrence of both being requisite to make laws. The popular branch was intended to be the direct representative of the people, the Senate of the people incorporated as States, all the States returning through their Legislatures the same number of senators irrespective of their area, wealth, or population. By this double contrivance it was thought that no class or interest in the country would be left without its due share of representation in the councils of the nation. The precise ends which the founders of the Constitution aimed to accomplish will be most satisfactorily explained by a brief reference to the expounders of it "It is the people only," said President Adams in his inaugural address, "that are represented: it is their power and majesty that is

3' Commentaries,' Part II. Lect. xi.

It was the original design that the Senate should be a check upon the popular power. Thus, in the Convention of 1787, Mr. Randolph said,—" He observed that the general object was to provide for the evils under which the United States laboured; that in tracing these evils to their origin, every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy; that some check therefore was to be sought for against this tendency of our government; and that a good Senate seemed most likely to answer the purpose." (Madison's Reports,' p. 138.)