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.