4. Bryce, Chapters XXVIII-XXIX. Defects and Merits of Federalism

Chapter XXVIII. Criticism of the Federal System. Topics. Necessity of a federal system. The faults commonly charged. Their causes. Management of foreign relations. Weakness in domestic government. Liability to dissolution. States combined into groups. Lack of uniformity in private law. The struggle over slavery.

Supplementary Questions. -1. Was any form of national government but federalism possible in 1789? 2. What was its real alternative? 3. Find instances of equally serious evils in the history of centralized states. 4. Do not the faults pointed out belong rather to the imperfections of our national life rather than to the federal form of government?

Chapter XXIX. Merits of the Federal System. Topics. -Two lines of argument in behalf of federal government. Arguments in behalf of Federalism proper. Arguments in behalf of local self-government. Further benefits. Conclusions drawn from American experience. Problem of all federal governments. Explanation of American

success.

Supplementary Questions. -1. Do our people value highly the separate authority of the state of California? 2. Do our people value highly the opportunities of local self-government? 3. What is the effect of national politics upon separate state action? upon local self-government? 4. Show how the French Revolution of 1789 illustrated the evils of inexperience in local self-government? 5. Make a list of the merits of our federal system. 6. Can you add anything to Mr. Bryce's comments on either the faults or the merits of Federalism?

5. References on Other Federal States

Statesman's Year Book. Accounts of constitutions of the following: Argentine Republic, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Switzerland, Venezuela.

Report upon such of the above states as are described in the following works:

Sergeant, ed. Government year book.

Wilson. The state.

Hart. Federal government.

Freeman.

and Italy).

History of federal government (Greece

See also cyclopedia articles as follows:

Lalor. Cyclopedia. Article on Confederation. Encyclopedia Britannica. Article on Federal govern

ment.

Johnson's Cyclopedia. Article on Federation.

CHAPTER X

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

1. Bryce, Chapter XXX. Amendment of the
Constitution

Topics. Two methods of proposing amendments. Two methods of adoption. One exemption from amendment. Classification of the amendments already added. Difficulty of carrying amendments. Advantages.

1 Copies of the constitutions of these states (in English) in New York Constitutional Convention Manual, 1894, Pt. II : vol. III.

Supplementary Questions. 1. Show the benefit of having two ways of originating, and two ways of enacting, amendments. 2. Read the amendments in connection with the chapter, and report on the following questions. a. Make a list of the personal rights guaranteed in the first ten amendments. b. Why was not this declaration of rights included in the original document? c. Was the Constitution improved by these ten amendments? d. Do any of these provisions apply to the state governments? e. Relate the circumstances of the eleventh amendment, and point out precisely what change it produced. f. Relate the circumstances of the twelfth amendment, and state precisely what change it produced. g. Relate the circumstances of the thirteenth amendment; why was it necessary? h. How many distinct matters are dealt with in the fourteenth amendment? How many of its provisions affect state governments? What method is used to influence the suffrage laws? What suffrage is favored? i. Was there any need of the fifteenth amendment? Is it consistent with the fourteenth? Has it been enforced? 3. Is it reasonable to expect to accomplish reforms in the country by means of constitutional amendments? (e.g. temperance reform.) 4. Read Lalor's Cyclopedia, Article on Amendments, I: 607-610. Make a written summary.

2. Bryce, Chapters XXXI-XXXIII. Development of the Constitution

Chapter XXXI. Interpretation of the Constitution. Topics. — Brevity of the Constitution. Necessity of interpretation. The interpreting authorities. The courts and their province. Expansion by construction. Marshall's principles of construction, - powers must have been granted; powers granted must be broadly construed. Three lines of development, taxation, regulation of commerce, war powers. Assumption of power by

the executive or Congress. Purchase of Louisiana. Embargo acts. Powers used in dealing with secession. Restraint of the interpreting authority,-by the character of the courts, by public opinion. Prevalence of legal discussion. Political parties associated with constitutional views. True relation of constitutional questions. Results of discussion.

Supplementary Questions. 1. Show how the form and language of the Constitution bear evidence of the wisdom of its framers. 2. Find an example of some constitutional question that has been settled by the courts; of one that has been settled outside the courts. 3. Gather from party platforms all expressions in regard to interpretation of the Constitution, and state what parties have favored a broad, and what ones a strict, construction. (See Cooper, American Politics, and McKee, ed. Political Platforms, Statistical Publishing Co., Washington.) 4. Are any living questions still debated on constitutional grounds? 5. Read Lalor's Cyclopedia, Article on Construction, I: 612–613, and compare with Bryce.

Practical Questions. I. What parties are now in existence having a national organization? (See Political Almanac.) 2. Does any one of these parties stand for strict construction? 3. Point out some act of the present Congress that proves acceptance of a broad construction. 4. Was this measure opposed in Congress? 5. Was the opposition on constitutional grounds? If not, why not? (See also References on "Interpretation of the Constitution" in Chapter XX, below.)

Chapter XXXII. Development of the Constitution by Usage. Topics.- Expansion of the Constitution by creation of new machinery. Modes of action that have been supplied: (1) by legislation; (2) by usage. Illustration of this development. Expansion of the suffrage.

The higher law than the Constitution. The Constitution changes with the nation.

Supplementary Questions. - I. Compare the American (or written) with the English (or unwritten) Constitution. In what points is there difference in character; in what ways are they the same? 2. What advantages has an unwritten constitution over a written? 3. What advantages has a written constitution over an unwritten? 4. Why is it better for new constitutional ideas to be developed slowly with the growth of the nation, than to have the Constitution subject to frequent written amendments? (Consider France in the Revolutionary period.) 5. Read Tiedeman's The Unwritten Constitution of the United States, esp. chs. xi, xii.

Chapter XXXIII. Results of Constitutional Development. Topics. -The force of time and habit. The original scheme of checks and balances. The struggle of every office to extend itself. Results thus developed, -the President, the Cabinet, Senate, Vice-President, Speaker, committee chairmen, the judiciary. Comparison with English political growth. The struggle between the National government and the states. Victory for the former. How the victory has been won. Underlying causes, economic, moral. Real value of the written constitution. It has been a conservative influence.

Supplementary Questions. -1. What is in reality the full extent of our constitutional history? Does it begin with 1789 ? 2. With what spirit and interest should we study our Constitution and our history? 3. What are our duties as citizens?

From the work done in Part II, write out the following: