That the citizen of one State may be a citizen of all the States. That there may be an uniform coinage, uniform weights and measures, uniform patent and copyright laws, and a general postage system. That treaties of commerce may be made with foreign nations for the benefit of all the States. In order to make this confederation effectual, each State is prohibited from declaring war, or making treaties on its own account; and tribunals are provided for the determination of disputes between the different States, as well as disputes between the citizens of the different States. It is unnecessary at present to detail with particularity the respective powers of the several States, and of the confederation; suffice it to say, that in all matters except those which concern the common welfare of all the States, each Republic is entirely supreme and independent in all the branches of its government. Hence we find the constitutions, the governments, and the laws of the various States, differing from each other. The matters affecting the welfare of all the States are dealt with by the president, the senate, and the house of representatives. These are all chosen by the people of the various States, according to certain provisions of the federal constitution, which also specifies the powers of congress, and of each branch of that body. The federal constitution is such as to secure the separate and independent rights of the several States in the confederation, so far as those rights are compatible with the confederation itself. The German states have lately proposed to follow the excellent example afforded by the American confederation, so that Germany will have a national army and navy-every German will be a citizen of all the German states-there will be free trade between the various states, and so forth. The constitution of a state is formed by all the eligible voters within its limits who choose to attend in their respective districts and vote in the election of delegates, who assemble in convention to form the organic law for the whole people. We have recently seen an example of this in the great European republic of France. II. Constitution-making is quite common in the United States. The older republics frequently alter their constitutions, and new republics are being added every year or two to the gigantic Union. The vast territory within the limits of the United States is for the most part uninhabited, except by a few Indians. When a sufficient number of white people have emigrated to a new territory, the confederation assumes the government of it, until the population becomes sufficiently numerous to form a State, and then the people elect delegates to make the constitution under which they are to live. It must be a republican constitution, and no aristocracy can be permitted. When the population of a territory numbers 60,000 it may obtain the rights of a State. Whilst the territory is under the control of congress, the people enjoy self-government to a great extent, and are trained to political action; but the principal officers are appointed by the president, with the consent of the senate. The people of the territory are represented by agents in congress, who have a right to speak, but not to vote. The unoccupied territory beyond the limits of the old States belongs to the confederation in trust for the States, and is disposed of by congress from time to time to private individuals. When the colonies rebelled against England they were thirteen in number; each of them had its separate legislature and government, and was subject only to the British crown and parliament. The governments of the several colonies had no connexion with each other. During the rebellion they formed a confederation to resist the mother country, and after the successful termination of the war with Great Britain they agreed to form a more perfect union, on the principle already in part explained. III. The different States, as before observed, have different constitutions, governments, and laws. In some of them the whole body of the white male adult population elects the governor and legislature; in one or two a property qualification for the voters is required; in some the judges are elected by the people, in others by the legislature, whilst in others the governor has the appointment of them. The laws of real property, and indeed nearly all the laws, vary in the different States. But it will be sufficient to examine the constitution and government of one of the States to enable the reader to understand the general character of all of them. We will take the State of Ohio as an example; and we may observe that all the new Western States have from the first had purely democratic constitutions, and that many of the old States have been for the last few years gradually becoming more and more democratic, so that there is now much more uniformity in the provisions of the constitutions of the various States than there was formerly. Most of the New England States, the colonies settled by the Puritans who fled from England, disgusted at the tyranny of the government, and the licentiousness and immorality of English society, have enjoyed the benefits of a large measure of democracy from the beginning, and accordingly we find the people of those States excel in morality, intelligence, and prosperity. The State of Ohio, whose constitution we have selected by way of illustration, has been peopled from the old States, particularly the free States, and from Germany, Great Britain, and Ireland. Its constitution was organised on the 29th of November, 1802, and it has undergone no change since. This constitution was formed by the representatives of the whole mass of the people, delegated to a convention assembled for that specific purpose. The object of this, like that of all other American constitutions, is to prescribe the form of government, provide how the legislature shall be elected, define its powers, direct how the executive shall be appointed, and what shall be its powers and duties. IV. A written constitution, defining the powers of the legislature and executive, is established in every one of the Republics; and the courts of law will pronounce any act of the legislature unconstitutional and void which may transcend the prescribed boundaries. This is a peculiarity of the American system. The Americans do not choose to entrust the ordinary legislative bodies with absolute power over the citizens. The several constitutions accordingly declare that the power of legislation shall be confined within certain ascertained limits. Under no pretence whatever can the people be deprived of those fundamental rights which are so frequently trifled with by the British parliament. The constitution provides the means of its own amendment. If twothirds of the legislature recommend the electors at the next election to vote for a convention to alter the constitution, then if a majority of the electors follow that advice, the legislature will call a convention, which is to be chosen in the same way as the members of the legislature are elected, and to assemble at a suitable time and place. This convention, thus specially appointed for the purpose, may alter the whole system of legislation and government, provided it does not violate the federal compact-the constitution of the union, which within its limits must be paramount. This power to amend the constitution in a peaceable way prevents the necessity for a resort to the inherent right of revolution in case the institutions of the country become unsuited to the age. But there is no fear of hasty and ill-advised alterations, seeing that a large majority of the people's representatives must concur, in the first instance, in the opinion that a fundamental change is necessary, before the people can be called upon to say whether there shall be a convention. The constitution of Ohio provides that the general assembly shall consist of a senate and house of representatives, the latter not to exceed seventy-two members, the former not more than half that number. It provides for equal electoral districts; and to secure that object, it directs that there shall be an enumeration of the male adult population every four years, according to which census the members of both branches of the legislature are apportioned. It directs that the members of the house of representatives shall be chosen every year by the voters in their respective districts. The suffrage is practically universal:-every white male adult citizen, who has resided in the State one year, and has been charged, or is chargeable, with a tax, is entitled to a vote in the district in which he resides at the time of the election. All are charged with a roadtax of four shillings per year; except aliens and negroes, who are not permitted to vote. Foreigners may become citizens after five years' residence in the United States. The representatives of the people are not required to hold any property by way of qualification, but they must be of a certain age, and residents of the State. The voting is by ballot; and the members are paid eight shillings per day for their services whilst the legislature is sitting, out of the funds of the State. The ballotting is effected in a very simple manner. The names of the candidates selected by the voter are written or printed on a slip of paper, and the voter hands it in to the poll-clerk folded up: it is not signed: it is thrown amongst the other ballots, and no man can tell how the elector has voted if he chooses to keep his own counsel. The candidates supply the printed tickets. But American electors have, under ordinary circumstances, no occasion to conceal their votes; they are too proud and independent to disguise their sentiments; there is no aristocracy to coerce or browbeat them. But the truth is, that the voting by ballot or ticket is far more convenient than viva voce voting. It would be troublesome for each voter to name the candidates, and for a clerk to note how the elector voted. As to the objection that there can be no scrutiny, the answer is that none is necessary. The right of the elector to vote is, in many places, settled before he goes to the poll; and the agents of the respective parties take care that no man votes twice, nor out of his district. The elections under this system are, with few and slight exceptions, quiet and orderly, and befitting the character of a highly intellectual people. The elections in Great Britain and Ireland are of a very inferior description, even now that numerous polling-places are provided. A few years ago the elections in England were absolutely disgraceful to the nation. At almost every contested election there were rows, fights, and the most outrageous exhibitions of drunkenness, to say nothing of bribery and coercion, vulgarity and debauchery. And even under the present system the evil is only partly removed. The Senate of Ohio is chosen as follows:-At the first election the senators were chosen for two years: on their being convened they were divided into two classes. The seats of the senators of one of these classes were vacated at the expiration of the first year, and of the other class at the end of the second year; and there has been ever since an annual election of half the total number of the senators, and of all the members of the other house. The only qualification required is that the senator shall be thirty years of age, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the district. The constitution defines the power of both houses, and prescribes some of the most important rules for the conduct and management of their proceedings. Bills may originate in either house, and the consent of the governor is not necessary for them to become laws. He has no part in the legislation of the State whatever. In all the Republics, without a single exception, there are two representative bodies, both elected directly by the people. The main difference between the one house and the other is this, the senate is not so frequently elected as the house of representatives, and the senators represent larger districts. The object of the provision that there shall be two houses is to lessen the probability of hasty and ill-advised legislation; two separate discussions of every measure by different bodies of men must take place, and what may be taken for granted in one house, may not pass muster in the other. The one chamber is not more democratic than the other; and although the members of the one are less frequently elected, and are men of riper age than the members of the other, yet in founding two chambers it is no part of the scheme of the constitution to restrain the power of the majority of the electors. To ensure due deliberation is the object in view, and this object is greatly advanced by requiring two separate bodies to concur in a new project of law; those bodies being not only elected at different times, but also by different electoral districts. The second chamber-the senate-provided by the federal constitution, is certainly much less democratic in its character than the house of representatives; but it must be recollected that a leading object of the framers of that constitution was the preservation of the separate sovereignties of the various States. In the new state constitutions it is invariably provided that the members of both chambers shall be elected directly by the people, at short intervals. As a farther protection against crude and ill-advised legislation, it would be well to provide that all bills should be subjected to the scrutiny of a board of able lawyers, before being passed into law. And no new law should be enacted, nor any old law repealed, by a mere majority; the consent of two-thirds of the members of both chambers should be required in all cases. V. It will appear to many English readers, that the elections of the legislators are too frequent, and it may be supposed that there is too much vacillation, too little stability under such a system. But it will be found, upon examination, that there is more stability in American than in English legislation, and less frequent fluctuations in the policy of congress and of the various state governments. Changes of the ministry occur frequently in England, and these |