A FEW COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE STATE AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS.
Q. Name one similarity between the State and National governments?
A. Each has three divisions, the Legislative, Executive and
Judiciary.
Q. Name a similarity in the Legislative department?
A. Each has two branches. In the State they are called Assembly and Senate; in the National government they are called House of Representatives and Senate. The Assembly and House of Representatives each elect their own speaker; the State Senate is presided over by the Lieutenant Governor. The National Senate is presided over by the Vice-President.
Q. What is the number of members in each at the present time?
A. In the Assembly there are one hundred and twenty-eight, in the
House of Representatives two hundred and ninety-three, in the
State Senate thirty-two, in the National Senate seventy-six.
Q. How do their terms of office compare?
A. The members of the Assembly are elected for one year, of the House of Representatives for two years, of the State Senate for two years, of the National Senate for six years.
JUDICIARY.
Q. In what respect are the State Courts and National Courts similar?
A. Each has a Supreme and Circuit court.
Q. What are the names applied to United States Courts?
A. The Constitution of the United States calls them Inferior
Courts, and one Supreme Court.
A TABULAR VIEW OF UNITED STATES COURTS.
I. Inferior
1. District Courts.
2. Circuit Courts.
II. Supreme.
Q. How many District Courts are there at present?
A. Sixty-five; fifty-six of them being in the States, and nine of them in the Territories.
Q. What is the largest number of districts into which any State is divided?
A. Three; Alabama, New York and Tennessee have three districts
each; Ark., Fla., Ill., Mich., Miss., Mo., N. C., Ohio, Penn,
Texas, Va. and Wis. have two districts each, and the remaining
States and Territories one each.
Q. What officers in the District Court?
A. One District Judge, a District Attorney, Assistant District
Attorneys, a Marshal, a Clerk, and a large number of Deputy
Marshals; and also Registers in Bankruptcy.
Q. What jurisdiction has a District Court?
A. Original jurisdiction.
Q What are the salaries of the District Judges?
A. Four thousand dollars each.
Q. What does the territory of several districts constitute?
A. A Circuit.
Q. How many Circuits are there?
A. Nine, each presided over by a Circuit Judge; and their names are as follows:
1. Circuit consisting of Maine, N. H, Mass., R. I. John Sowell, Judge.
2. Circuit consisting of Conn., Vt. and N. Y. Samuel J. Blatchford, Judge.
3. Circuit consisting of Penn., N. J. and Del. Wm. McKennan, Judge.
4. Circuit consisting of N. C., S. C., Md. and Va. Hugh L. Bond, Judge.
5. Circuit consisting of Miss., La., Ala., Fla., Ga. and Texas. William B. Woods, Judge.
6. Circuit consisting of Ohio, Mich., Ky., Tenn. and W. Va. John Baxter, Judge.
7. Circuit consisting of Ind., Ill. and Wis. Thomas Drummond, Judge.
8. Circuit consisting of Minn, Iowa, Mo., Ark., Kan. and Nebraska. George W. McCrary, Judge.
9. Circuit consisting of Cal., Oregon, Nevada and Colorado. Lorenzo Sawyer, Judge.
Q. What jurisdiction has the Circuit Court?
A. Original. Salary of the Judges, $6,000.
SUPREME COURT.
Q. What territory is embraced in the jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court?
A. The whole of the United States.
Q. How many judges constitute the Supreme Court?
A. Nine; corresponding with the number of the Circuits.
Q. What are the names of the Supreme Judges.
CHIEF JUSTICE.
Morrison R. Waite … appointed 1874
ASSOCIATE JUSTICES.
Nathan Clifford … appointed 1858
Noah H. Swayne … appointed 1862
John M. Harlan … appointed 1877
Samuel F. Miller … appointed 1862
Stephen J. Field … appointed 1863
Wiliam Strong … appointed 1870
Joseph P. Bradley … appointed 1870
Ward Hunt … appointed 1872
Q. When does the Supreme Court meet?
A. The first Monday in December, at Washington.
Q. What is its jurisdiction?
A. Principally Appellate; it has Original jurisdiction in a few cases, as mentioned in Constitution.
Q. By whom are all these judges appointed?
A. By the President and Senate.
Q. What is the salary of the Supreme Court Judges?
A. The Chief Justice receives ten thousand five hundred dollars.
Associates receive ten thousand dollars.
Q. For how long a term are all these judges appointed?
A. They hold the office for life, or during good behavior, or until they resign. Election of a President and Vice-President of the United States.
ELECTION OF A PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Q. Under how many heads may this topic be treated?
A. Two: the first being the manner pursued by the political parties for nominating candidates; the second, the constitutional provisions for electing them.
Preliminary action of political parties.
I. Calling of a National Convention.
II. Calling of State Conventions.
III. Calling of County or Assembly District Conventions.
IV. Calling of Town Caucuses.
Q. By whom is the National Convention called?
A. By a National Committee appointed at the last National
Convention, or the one held four years before.
Q. By whom is the State Convention called?
A. By a State Committee, appointed at the State Convention held the year before.
Q. By whom is the County or Assembly District Convention called?
A. By a County or District Committee, appointed at a previous convention.
Q. By whom is a Town Caucus called?
A. By a Town Committee, appointed at a previous meeting. Q. Which meeting is held first?
A. The Town Caucus, and delegates are elected at this meeting to attend a County or Assembly District Convention,
Q. Which Convention is held next?
A. The County or Assembly District Convention, which elects delegates to attend the State Convention.
Q. Which Convention is held next?
A. The State Convention, which elects delegates to attend the
National Convention.
Q. What Convention is held next?
A. The National Convention. The delegates then and there assembled nominate candidates for the offices of President and Vice- President; and adopt their political platform.
Q. When do these conventions just named take place?
A. Once in four years, in the months of April, May and June, preceding the presidential election.
Further actions by political parties.
I. State Convention for nominating
the Electors for President and Vice-President.
II. Voting for these Electors at
the annual election.
Q. When does the State Convention for nominating the Electors meet?
A. At a time when it is convenient to nominate State officers: for instance, August or September.
Q. To how many Electors is each State entitled?
A. As many as it has Representatives and Senators. For instance, New York has thirty-three Representatives in the House, and two Senators; therefore New York is entitled to thirty-five electoral votes. Colorado has one Representative, and two Senators, and is entitled to three electoral votes.
Q. How are these Electors distributed about the State?
A. One Elector is elected for each Congressional District; the two others are called Electors at Large, and are selected from any part of the State.
Q. What must each political party do that it may get its candidates before the people?
A. It must have its conventions and nominate the required number of Electors.
Q. What are these Electors intended to represent?
A. The views of the party nominating them.
O. How frequently, and when is a Presidential election held?
A. Once in four years, on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, throughout all the States.
Q. What must each voter do, in the State of New York, that he may cast a ballot for President and Vice-President?
A. He must hand to the inspectors of election a ballot upon, which is printed the names of the thirty-five Electors.
Q. By whom are these votes to be canvassed (or counted)?
A. By the same officers that canvass other votes. In New York State the inspectors of election canvass for their respective election districts, and certify the same to the Board of County Canvassers; the County Canvassers canvass for counties, and certify to the State Canvassers; the State Canvassers canvass for the State; and the Executive authority of each State causes three lists of the Electors of such State to be made and certified and delivered to the said Electors, on or before the first Wednesday in December.
MEETING OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS.
Q. What must the Electors that have been declared elected then do?
A. I. They must meet on the first Wednesday in December succeeding their election, at such place in each State as the Legislature thereof shall designate (usually the capital), and vote for President and Vice-President, one of whom shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves.
II. The Electors must make and sign three certificates of all the votes by them given for President and Vice-President, annexing to each a certificate of the Electors furnished by the authority of the Executive.
III. These certificates must be sealed, certifying, on the outside of each, that there is contained therein a list of the votes of such State for President and Vice-President.
IV. A person duly appointed by the Electors, or a majority of them, must take charge of and deliver one of these certificates to the President of the Senate, at the seat of government
V. The second certificate must be forwarded through the mails to the President of the Senate, at the seat of government.
VI. The third certificate must be delivered to the Judge of the
District Court in which the electors assemble.
OPENING AND COUNTING THE ELECTORAL VOTES.
Q. When and by whom must these certificates be opened?
A. On the second Wednesday in February the President of the Senate, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, must open these certificates, and the votes must then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes, if that number be a majority, shall be the President; and the person having the greatest number of votes for Vice-President, if that number be a majority, shall be the Vice-President
Q. Who must count the votes?
A. Tellers appointed for that purpose by the House and Senate.
Q. In case neither candidate for the presidency has a majority of all the electoral votes cast, what must be done?
A. The election goes to the House of Representatives.
ELECTION BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Q. How does this election take place?
A. I. Two-thirds of the States must be represented to constitute a quorum.
II. The candidates must be those already voted for, and must be confined to those receiving the highest number, not exceeding three.
III. Each State is entitled to only one vote: and it will be cast according to the wishes of a majority of the members in the House from that State. If, for instance, a State has fifteen members, eight belonging to one party and seven to another; the eight, being a majority, will, if agreed, cast the one vote, the minority having no voice in the election. Should there be an even number of members from any State, and should they be equally divided between two candidates, there might be one-half of a vote for each candidate.
Q, In case of a failure on the part of the House of Representatives to elect a President before the fourth of March, what then?
A. The Vice-President must act as President.
ELECTION OF VICE-PRESIDENT BY THE SENATE.
Q. Can the Senate ever elect a Vice-President?
A. Yes, when the people have failed to elect a Vice-President, then the Senate must elect.
Q. How is this done?
A. I. Two-thirds of all the Senators constitute a quorum.
II. The Senate must vote for the two persons who received the highest number of votes for Vice-President.
III. A majority of all the members elected to the Senate is necessary to a choice.
IV. Should there be a tie in the Senate, the Vice-President may give the casting vote.
V. Should the Vice-President have succeeded to the presidency, or have vacated his office, and the President pro tem, (a Senator), preside, in that case there might be a tie, and no election reached.
THE PRESIDENT PRO TEM.
Q. What are the provisions for filling temporarily the office of
President, when vacant?
A. I. In case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability, of both the President and Vice-President of the United States, the President of the Senate pro tem., and in case there be no President of the Senate, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall act as President of the United States for the time, until the disability be removed, or a President be elected.
II. In case of a vacancy in both the offices for President and Vice-President, the Secretary of State of the United States, shall notify the Governors of all the States, and cause the same to be printed in at least one newspaper in each State, ordering an election for electors of President and Vice-President: PROVIDED there shall be a space of two months between the ordering of the same and the first Wednesday in December following.
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE.
I. The term "Electoral College" means the presidential Electors when assembled as a body to cast the vote for President and Vice- President
II. Each State may provide by law for the filling of any vacancy which may exist in its college of electors, when such college meets to cast its electoral vote.
ELIGIBILITY.
I. No person shall hold the office, either of President or Vice- President, except native born citizens, or those who were in this country at the time of the adoption of the Constitution.
II. The candidate must have been a resident of the United States for fourteen years.
III. He must be at the time of his election thirty-five years of age.
DUTIES.
Q. What are some of the duties of the President?
A. I. He is Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States.
II. And of the Militia of the several States when called into the actual service of the United States.
III. He has power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
IV. He has power to make treaties when two-thirds of the Senate present concur.
V. He nominates, and, by and with the consent of the Senate of the
United States, appoints Ambassadors, Public Ministers, Consuls,
Judges of the United States Courts, and all other United States
officers not otherwise provided for.
VI. He may fill all vacancies that happen during recess of the Senate, by granting commissions that expire at the close of the next session.
VII. He must from time to time give to Congress information in regard to the condition of affairs in the United States, and recommend such measures as he deems expedient. For further duties, see Constitution of the United States, Art. II.
VICE-PRESIDENT.
I. The Vice-President is President of the United States Senate, and has a vote only in case of a tie.
II. In case he succeeds to the presidency, then he performs the duties of the President, and the President pro tem. (a Senator) performs the duties of Vice-President and Senator.
SALARIES. [Footnote: The President's salary cannot be increased or diminished during his term of office.]
The President receives $50,000. The Vice-President receives $8,000.
A tabular view showing how some United States officers get their authority, and from whom.
From the people.
I. Electors
1. President.
2. Vice-President.
Members of the House of Rep's.
President sometimes. [Footnote: In 1801, and 1825. Who?]
From the State Legislatures
U. S. Senators
V. President sometimes.
[Footnote: Richard M. Johnson was elected Vice-President by the Senate in 1837. This is, thus far, the only instance.] Appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
President's Cabinet consisting of:
1. Sec. of State. 2. Sec. of Treasury. 3. Sec. of War. 4. Sec. of Navy. 5. Sec. of Interior. 6. Postmaster Gen. 7. Attorney Gen.
Governors of territories.
Ambassadors.
Ministers to foreign countries.
Consuls.
Judges of the U. S. Supreme Court.
Judges of the U. S. Circuit Courts.
Judges of the District Courts.
Postmasters.
And many other officers.
Q. What class of officers in the State performs nearly the same duties as the Cabinet officers in the Nation?
A. Those classed as "Administrative," on page 55; in the State they are elected by the people; in the Nation they are appointed by the President.
DUTIES
Q. What are some of the duties of the Cabinet officers?
A. I. THE SECRETARY OF STATE, at the head, of the State Department, preserves the public archives, records, laws, arguments and treaties, and supervises their publication; conducts all business and correspondence arising out of foreign relations, makes out and records passports, commissions, etc.
II. THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, at the head of the Treasury Department, receives and has charge of all moneys paid into the United States Treasury, has general supervision of the fiscal transactions of the Government, the collection of revenue, the auditing and payment of accounts and other disbursements; supervises the execution of the laws relating to Commerce and Navigation, the Revenues and Currency, the Coast Survey, the Mint and Coinage, the Lighthouse Establishments, Custom Houses, etc.
III. THE SECRETARY OF WAR, at the War Department, has charge of business growing out of military affairs, keeps the records of the army, issues commissions, directs the government of troops, superintends their payment, stores, clothing, arms, equipments and ordnance, constructs fortifications and conducts works of military engineering, river and harbor improvements.
IV. THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, at the head of the Navy Department, has charge of the Naval establishments and all business connected therewith, issues Naval commissions, instructions and orders, supervises the enlistment and discharge of seamen, the construction of Navy Yards and Docks, the construction and equipment of vessels, Coast Surveys, etc.
V. THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, at the head of the Department of the Interior, has charge of the survey, management, sales and grants of Public Lands, the examination of Pension and Bounty Land claims, the management of Indian affairs, the award of Patents, the distribution of Seeds and Plants, the taking of Censuses, the management of Government mines, etc. The Bureau of Education is a branch of this department.
VI. THE POSTMASTER GENERAL, at the head of the Post-office Department, has charge of the Postal System, the establishment and discontinuance of Post-offices, the appointment of Agents, the contracts for carrying the mails, etc.
VII. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, at the head of the Department of
Justice, is the legal adviser of the President and members of the
Cabinet, examines titles, applications for pardons and judicial
and legal appointments, conducts and argues suits in which the
Government is concerned, etc.
Q. Name the present Cabinet officers.
AMBASSADORS, MINISTERS AND CONSULS.
Q. What is an Ambassador?
A. An Ambassador is a minister of the highest rank, appointed to represent the interests of a country at the court, or seat of government of some other country.
Q. What is a Minister Plenipotentiary?
A. A Minister Plenipotentiary is an Ambassador or Envoy, invested with full powers to negotiate a treaty, or do some other special business, without being a permanent resident of such country. Under such circumstances, he is called Ambassador extraordinary.
Q. What is a Consul?
A. A person commissioned to reside in a foreign country as an agent or representative of a government, to protect the rights, commerce, merchants and seamen of the country, and to aid in commercial, and sometimes in diplomatic transactions, with such foreign country; he is sometimes called Ambassador or Minister ORDINARY.
SALARIES.
Q. What are the salaries of the Cabinet officers?
A. Each member receives eight thousand dollars a year.
Q. What are the salaries of Senators, and Representatives in
Congress?
A. Each receives an annual salary of five thousand dollars a year, and an allowance of twenty cents per mile for travel in going to and returning from Washington.
Q. Name a few of the highest salaries paid Ambassadors, Ministers and Consuls.
To London,
To Paris,
To Berlin,
To St. Petersburgh,
$17,500 each.
To Vienna,
To Madrid,
To Pekin,
To Rome,
To Yeddo,
To Mexico,
To Rio Janerio,
$12,000 each.