save in the manner prescribed by law. Congress must respect the home-rights of every citizen.

166. Personal Security.-The personal security of citizens is protected by the laws of Congress. No law can be passed by any legislative body in this country impairing that security by permitting unreasonable searches and seizures or arrests without warrant. This common-law right of the citizen is very ancient, and has grown and strengthened with the growth and strength of political rights in this country and in England. Every citizen has the right to demand the authority by which any official act is done.

167. Private Property.-Private property cannot be taken for public uses without just compensation. Sometimes private property is needed for the public welfare; in such a case, if the owner is unwilling to sell his property, commissioners or appraisers are appointed, whose duty it is to estimate the "just compensation" for the property, and the owner is compelled to accept the amount found by the commissioners. This right of Government is known as the "right of eminent domain," and may be exercised by the United States, by the State, the county, the city, and by corporations to which the right has been granted by the State.*

168. Trial by Jury.-Congress can pass no law impairing the right of the citizen to an impartial jury trial which shall be speedy and public. All the rights confirmed to the people by the common law, such as the right of a person to be informed of the accusations against him, the right to self-defence or by counsel, and the right to summon witnesses, can be protected, but not impaired, by Congress or by any other legislative body. In suits at common law where the value in controversy exceeds twenty dollars the right of trial by jury is preserved, but cases in which

the value in dispute is not over one hundred dollars are usually tried before a justice of the peace without a jury. 169. Fines and Punishments.-Neither Congress nor the State can pass any law requiring excessive bail, imposing excessive fines or inflicting cruel and unusual punishments. This right of the people to humane laws is of highest importance. The object of law is to reform the criminal as well as to punish him. Inhuman laws always fail to reform criminals or to deter them from the commission of crime. It is a principle of criminal law that the certainty rather than the degree of the punishment is the best preventive of crime.

170. The Franchise.-Slavery was abolished in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment, declared in force December 18, 1865. By the Fifteenth Amendment the right of the citizen to vote cannot be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. This amendment was declared in force March 30, 1870. The right to vote comes from the State, not from the United States.

171. Republican Form of State Government.—Congress guarantees to each State a republican form of government and protection against invasion. If the legislature of the State, or the governor when the legislature cannot be convened, applies to the Government of the United States for protection against domestic violence, as in the case of a riot, such as occurred in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1877, the United States Government must comply with the request.

172. Obligation of Contracts.-No State can pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts. The law of the obligation of contracts covers nearly all the civil cases before the American courts, and the principle is of the widest application in our institutions. The protection of all our rights, industrial, political, social and moral, is im

plied in the obligation of contracts. A contract is an agreement between two or more parties, qualified to contract, to do or not to do a particular thing. If two or more persons of the age of twenty-one or more, of sound mind, and without restraint or compulsion, actually contract to do or not to do a certain thing, they are bound by the contract, and the laws of the United States will compel them to perform their legal contracts or suffer the consequences of non-performance.

173. Powers Denied the States.-No State can enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation; grant letters of marque or reprisal; coin money; issue bills of credit;* make anything but gold or silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or grant any title of nobility.

The limitations on the States illustrate the supremacy of the United States over the States.

174. State Powers if Congress Consent.-No State, without the consent of Congress, can lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws are subject to the revision and control of Congress.

No State, without the consent of Congress, can lay any duty on tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State or with any foreign power, or engage in war unless actually invaded or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

These restrictions on the States mean that Congress

* By "bills of credit" is meant paper money, or promises to pay, issued by a State in such a way as to be used as a substitute for money. The phrase is not intended to prevent a State from borrowing money and giving its bonds for the obligation.

alone can regulate the commercial interests of the people of the United States, maintain an army and navy, make treaties or alliances with foreign States or declare war. There cannot be two sovereign powers exercising these rights in the United States.

175. The Relation of the Federal Government to the State Governments." The Government proceeds directly from the people. When thus adopted by them the Constitution was of complete obligation and bound the State sovereignties. The Government of the Union is emphatically and truly a government of the people. The Government of the Union, though limited in its powers, is supreme within the sphere of its action. Its laws, when made in pursuance of the Constitution, form the supreme law of the land. . . . The Government of the Union and those of the States are each sovereign with respect to the objects committed to it, and neither sovereign with respect to the objects committed to the other."*

*Chief-Justice Marshall.

CHAPTER X.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

176. The President of the United States represents the unity, the power and the purpose of the nation. He is the executive officer of the Federal Government. His office is the highest in the power of the people to bestow.

177. Qualifications.-No person except a natural-born citizen is eligible to the Presidency. He must be thirtyfive years of age and a resident within the United States fourteen years. He is elected to serve for four years.

A person of foreign birth might be subject to foreign influences. Tenure of office for life or for a very long term would tend to a monarchy.

178. His Election.-The President is chosen by the Electoral College, which is composed of Presidential electors elected in the several States. Each State has as many Presidential electors as it has Senators and Representatives in Congress, and each elector has one vote. No Senator or Representative or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States can serve as a Presidential elector. The purpose of this restriction is to provide an Electoral College free from Federal influence. Each political party in the State nominates its own Presidential electors, who are morally bound, if elected, to vote for the Presidential candidate of the party. The people elect the Presidential electors on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November in the year of the Presidential election. The first Presidential election was in 1789. Soon after election day it is known what electoral ticket, and consequently what Presidential candidate, has been elected.