How the United States Government Works

Chapter I What the United States Government Is

Government is something from which no man, woman, or child can escape. It greets us at birth, and it parts company with us not even at death but only after our estate, if we are fortunate enough to leave any, is settled. Therefore, while it is not a thrilling subject, how it works is a vital one.

The word “government” comes to us through the Latin language from a Greek word borrowed by the Romans and meaning “to steer the ship.” “Govern,” therefore, does not mean to “command” in the sense that it applies to a master issuing orders to a slave. It implies rather guidance and direction.

From one angle, then, government means the directing or managing of the affairs of a people. From another angle government means the group of persons set apart to carry on, direct and manage the affairs of a people. Thus, when we speak of “the Hoover government” we mean President Hoover, the members of his cabinet, and the Republican majorities in the Senate and House and the subordinates who help to carry out their policies; and when we speak of “the Mussolini government” we mean Signor Mussolini and his “yes” men.

I have several times used the word “people” above in a rather awkward fashion. This was necessary in order to avoid the use of several other words referring to things that we assume to exist whenever we speak of government. One is a state, and the other is sovereignty. By the former we mean a body of people living within a specified territory and permanently organized as a political entity. As one of the chief purposes of the state is to provide civil government within its territorial limits, the absolute power of exercising governmental control or of providing for its exercise must be vested somewhere. This power is called “sovereignty.” Sovereignty has frequently been regarded as vested in a single ruler by divine right. But in the principal modern states it is recognized to be in the people as a whole.

The United States is a federal state, being composed of organized territorial and political units called “states,” each of which retains control over and is supreme as to its own local affairs, but is subordinate to the general government, which is supreme as to the matters delegated to it.

The government of the federal state was provided for in an instrument called the United States Constitution, which set up the machinery of federal government and specified the matters over which that government might exercise authority. But the federal government has only such powers as have been granted to it by the states and the people, in whom the final sovereignty rests.

In the modern world there are two main types of government. One carries the idea of fusion; the other, the idea of separation. The latter prevails in the United States with its principal of “checks and balances.” The former is preferred in Europe, where England has always been the best example. The new governments, including that of Germany, have followed that model rather than ours. Our insistence on keeping the different branches of the government separate and not answerable to one another does not seem most practicable and conducive to good government in the minds of European political thinkers. They are inclined to make the cabinet or ministry the actual government but responsive to the will of the legislative body. Thus in England the ministers must be members of Parliament; while with us they cannot even appear on the floor of either House. We keep a strict line drawn between the legislative branch of the government and the executive branch. In England or France or Germany the ministry, or the executive part, cannot function without the approval of the legislative branch. A vote of lack of confidence means the end of that particular government--that cabinet or ministry. With us the President is absolutely independent of Congress except with reference to treaties and appointments. In France or Germany the President acts only through his ministers. And as to the judiciary, it is subordinate in the European countries. With us, the Supreme Court is supreme.

It is no part of my purpose to discuss the respective merits of these two systems. In fact criticism is not included at all in the plan of this Little Blue Book. Here we shall be interested only in what is implied in our title, “How the United States Government Works.” We shall be concerned merely with descriptions and explanations of how the government under which we live operates.

Chapter Ii Who Makes the Laws

The law-making branch of the United States government is Congress, which consists of two separate Houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The Senate has two members from each state in the Union. The House of Representatives has a changing membership, directed by the Constitution to be fixed as to number and reapportioned among the states, according to the population as disclosed by the census to be taken every ten years. The Constitution contains a provision to the effect that each state must have at least one Representative, and that there shall not be more than one for every thirty thousand population. Of course, that minimum was discarded long ago. The ratio in effect at present, as there has been no recent reapportionment, is 211,877, which gives the House of Representatives a membership of 435.

Originally the members of the Senate were elected by the different state legislatures; but the Constitution was amended so as to provide for the election of Senators by the direct vote of the people of the different states.

The members of the House of Representatives are elected from Congressional districts into which all the states are divided, though a state may elect one or more Congressmen-at-large if it chooses so to do.

The Senate is usually known as the “upper house” and the House as the “lower house.” The term of a Senator is six years and that of a Representative, two.

A person must be at least twenty-five years of age to be a Representative. He must have been a citizen of the United States for at least seven years and must be at the time of his election a resident of the state from which he is chosen.

To be qualified for election to the Senate a person must be at least thirty years of age and have been a citizen of the United States for at least nine years, and must when elected, be a resident of the state for which chosen.

Since the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution women as well as men are competent to serve as Senators and Representatives.

SALARIES

Senators and Representatives receive a salary of $10,000 each. In addition each of them receives an allowance for a secretary and for stenographic help. Each of them also is paid mileage at the rate of ten cents a mile for each official trip from his district to Washington and return.

Chapter Iii Who Executes the Laws

The chief executive of the United States and the head of the government is the President.

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention for a while favored a proposal to let Congress choose the President. But, mindful of the “checks and balance” principle, they worked out a scheme under which each state was to “appoint” in “such manner as the legislature thereof may direct” a number of “electors” equal to the state’s combined quota of Senators and Representatives in Congress. These electors were to meet in their respective states and cast their votes in writing for two persons, of whom only one could be an inhabitant of the same state as the electors. The ballots were then to be sealed and transmitted to the president of the Senate, where they were to be counted in the presence of both houses, and the person receiving the most votes was to be President and the one obtaining the next highest number Vice-President.

In the first two elections this scheme functioned satisfactorily; but by the third election it was well understood in advance that the electors would vote either for John Adams or Thomas Jefferson, although they were not pledged in advance. By 1800, however, two well defined political parties had arisen; and at the election of that year, electors were chosen on the understanding that they would vote for the nominees of their respective parties. And that marked the end of this carefully worked out scheme, and election of the President as the choice of a political party was inaugurated. Nevertheless we still go through the form of voting for electors who elect the President and the Vice-President.

POLITICAL PARTIES

However, as things have developed, no one can understand how the United States is really governed without taking into account the part played by political parties.

The candidates for President and Vice-President of the respective parties are nominated in national conventions. The delegates to these conventions are apportioned among the states on the basis of the representation in Congress, with some exceptions so far as the Republican party is concerned with reference to the southern states. In the Democratic Convention each state has twice as many delegates as it has Senators and Representatives in Congress. The delegates are elected in some states by state conventions and in others under direct primary systems by which the delegates chosen are virtually instructed to vote for the candidate favored by the voters.

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