It is evident that with the growth in influence and importance of the United States, the National government is gradually assuming many functions which formerly were left to the separate States.
VII
WHO CAN VOTE
There is one way in which the government of a republic like the United States differs from other forms of government—viz., in a republic the source of all power rests with the people. They choose the men to whom they give the right to speak for them and to represent them.
The right to vote for the man who is to represent you, who is to make the law for you and to enforce that law, is the most sacred right of a free country.
The success or failure of government in the United States, and in every political division of the State, rests with the men and women who have the power of the vote.
One of the great dangers of a democracy is the carelessness and indifference of the voter. If a government “by the people” is to be a success, the people themselves must see to it that honest, responsible, and efficient officials are chosen.
Every Person in the State Is Either a Citizen or an Alien. Citizenship Is Conferred by the National Government and the State Has No Power to Confer or Withhold It.
A Citizen is defined in the Constitution of the United States: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside.” Native-born Indians who have had land allotted them and have given up their tribal life are citizens. All persons born out of the country of citizen parents are also citizens, except where the father has never resided in the United States.
Naturalization: Congress makes uniform laws of naturalization for all the States.
An Alien is a person born in a foreign country who lives here but is still a subject of some other country.