§ 63. There are three great departments of government:

The Legislative enacts laws; the Judicial interprets and applies them; the Executive enforces them.

The

64. The Constitution of the United States separates these three departments, makes each one independent of the others, and places them in different hands. Constitutions of the States have also done so; for experience has shown that the separation of these powers is far more favourable to liberty than is their union in the same person. The first article of the Constitution treats of the legislative department; the second article, of the executive department; the third article, of the judicial.

ARTICLE I.

The first article treats of the legislative department of the government.

"SECTION 1. 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."

§ 65. By the Articles of Confederation, the legislature consisted of only one body. Instances of a single legislative body are also found in the first Constitution of Georgia, and of Pennsylvania, and in the Constitution of Vermont prior to the amendments of 1828; but in the constitutional convention, all the States, except Pennsylvania, were in favour of dividing Congress into two distinct bodies-a Senate and a House of Representatives.

§ 66. In England, the Parliament consists not only of

the House of Lords and the House of Commons, but of the king in his political capacity. With us, Congress means the Senate and House of Representatives, and does not include the President.

§ 67. The advantages of vesting the legislative powers in two branches are chiefly the following. It is more apt to check hasty legislation and temporary excitement by delaying the final passage of a proposed law until there shall have been ample time for reflection and inquiry. It makes it less likely that laws will be passed from private and personal influence, for in a single assembly of men it generally happens that there are a few leaders who exercise great control over the others. It increases the probability that good laws will be passed, because they may be altered, and must be revised and concurred in, by a separate and independent body.

"SECTION 2. [Clause 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."

§68. Under the Articles of Confederation, the delegates to Congress were appointed for one year, in such manner as the State legislatures should direct, with power reserved to the States to recall their delegates within the year, and send others in their place for the remainder of the year. (Art. V. §1.) The delegates were, in fact, chosen by the State legislatures, except in Rhode Island and Connecticut, where they were chosen by the people. The Constitution changed this system by requiring the representatives

to be elected by the people of the several States, and by extending the term of service to two years.

§ 69. The Constitution does not prescribe uniform qualifications for those who may vote for representatives. The differences in the qualifications of voters in the several States were so great, and each State was so strongly attached to its own provisions on the subject, that an attempt to introduce uniformity of qualifications throughout all the States might have resulted in a rejection of the whole Constitution.

§70. This clause avoids the difficulty by declaring that all who are qualified to vote for members of the most numerous branch of the State legislature, shall be qualified to vote for representatives in Congress. If, therefore, we wish to ascertain what persons in a particular State are qualified to vote for members of Congress, we must consult the Constitution or laws of that State, and ascertain who are qualified to vote for members of the most numerous branch of the State legislature; the Constitution of the United States declares that the qualifications of the voters shall be the same in both cases.

§ 71. If popular elections take place at long intervals, they do not properly represent the will of the people; if they are too frequent, society is kept in a state of excitement, and public measures become uncertain and fluctuating; besides, much inconvenience is thus occasioned to communities spread over a large extent of territory, and expense is incurred and time lost in travelling to and from the place of voting.

§ 72. The period of service in the legislature should not be so long that members will begin to lose their feeling of responsibility to the people who have elected them; nor should it be so short as to expire just at the time they

have acquired a practical knowledge of public affairs and the details of business. A proper medium is to be selected between those two extremes.

§ 73. The framers of the Constitution thought that elections for representatives once in two years were sufficiently frequent; hence it is provided by this section that representatives shall be chosen every second year. In England, members of Parliament occupy their seats for seven years, which is the duration of each Parliament, unless dissolved sooner by the king. By the Articles of Confederation, the delegates to Congress were chosen every year. The Constitution went into operation, March 4, 1789, and the term of service in the House of Representatives consequently commenced at that time, and continued for two years. On the fourth day of March, therefore, in every other year, there is said to be a new Congress.*

* As in public documents and official proceedings, the Congresses are frequently referred to by their successive numbers, as the first, second, third, fourth, &c., it has been thought that the following table, showing the commencement of the first session of each Congress, will be found useful for reference:

Assembled.

1st Congress.........March 4, 1789. | 18th Congress

Assembled. Dec. 1, 1823.

[Clause 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."

§ 74. The qualifications of a representative consist of these three particulars :

(1.) He must be not less than twenty-five years of age. (2.) He must have been a citizen of the United States for seven years.

(3.) He must be an inhabitant of the State in which he shall be chosen.

These are the only qualifications established by the Constitution, and the better opinion is that the States have no right to require other or different qualifications.

§ 75. A representative is not required to be a citizen of the United States by birth. If a foreigner by birth, he may become a citizen by naturalízation, and then becomes eligible as a representative after a citizenship of seven years.

§ 76. At the time of the adoption of the federal Constitution, many of the inhabitants of the colonies, and many who had fought bravely in the Revolutionary war, were emigrants from Europe, and it was deemed just that they should be entitled to share in the offices and honours of the new government which they had aided in establishing. They were, therefore, made eligible as representatives, though the limitation of a previous seven years' citizenship was thought necessary, lest such representatives might be disposed to favour their native country in managing the foreign affairs and other subjects of legislation. An alien must reside here five years before he becomes a