Government and Administration of the United States

by Westel Woodbury Willoughby; William F. Willoughby

The Eleventh Census is now being compiled, and Bulletins are issued from time to time by the superintendent. Postmaster-General Wanamaker has recently issued a pamphlet in support of a Limited Post and Telegraph.

Concerning the constitutional powers possessed by executive officers, see A. Conkling's Powers of the Executive Departments; de Chambrun's The Executive Power, and chapter VII of Willoughby's Supreme Court of the United States. The Official Register of the United States, issued annually in two large volumes, contains the names and positions of all persons in federal employment. The second volume is devoted exclusively to the Postal Service. Very many of the government reports mentioned in this note will be sent to any address upon application.

A descriptive catalogue of all government publications arranged in chronological order, from 1774 to 1881, was prepared by B.P. Poore and published by the government.

Federal Judiciary.

Among the treatises upon the practical working of the Federal Judiciary are: B.R. Curtis' Federal Courts; Bryce's American Commonwealth; and Willoughby's Supreme Court of the United States, already referred to. For an excellent description of the relations between the Federal and State courts, see Chamberlain's lecture published in The Constitutional History of the United States as seen in the Development of its Law. The reports of decisions of cases tried in the Supreme Court are contained in one hundred and thirty-three volumes. Until 1875, these volumes were known by the names of the reporters, viz.: Dallas, Cranch, Wheaton, Peters, Howard, Black, and Wallace. Since 1875 they have been designated simply as United States Reports.

Ordinance of 1787.

For text and comments see Old South Leaflet No 13 (Heath & Co., price five cents). For The United States Constitution and the Ordinance of 1787 in Relation to Education, see Magazine of American History, September, 1888. See also Papers of the American Historical Association, Vol. III; pamphlets by Dr. Poole and F.D. Stone, and Sato's History of the Land Question in the United States, Johns Hopkins University Studies, Series IV.

Territories.

The reports of the Governors of the various territories to the Secretary of the Interior furnish an official source of information. Regarding the government of, and conditions of admission of territories as States, see especially Bannatyne's Republican Institutions in the United States.

State Governments.