of unwritten constitution, by means of which many conditions not mentioned in the Constitution have been met. The difficulty in obtaining amendments, however, causes the form of government to be quite rigid in some respects, and many have thought amendments should be made more easily.

CHAPTER XXII.

CONGRESS - MEMBERSHIP - ELECTIONS, ETC.

1. National Legislature. All the legislative power of the Nation is given to a body known as Congress, composed of two houses, known as the Senate and the House of Representatives. The President through his veto power shares in the legislative department. The word "congress" means a coming together, and was first used for a gathering of ambassadors of independent states, in which sense it is still used. Therefore it was naturally applied to those bodies of delegates from the colonies who met to plan a united resistance to Great Britain, and so became the word used for all time to refer to the legislative body which succeeded those meetings. (U. S. Const. Art. I., Sec. 1.)

2. Representatives not Delegates; Right of Instruction. Though the members are chosen by the States, they represent the interests of the whole nation, and are bound to consider what is best for other States, as well as for their own. For a long time it was questioned whether they were responsible to their constituents who had chosen them to seats in Congress. If so, they must vote according to instructions received from them, and be, in the strict use of the word, not representatives, but delegates. The custom of Congress has, however, finally established the principle that they have

full power given them to act as they see best, and are not bound by any instructions they may receive from those who elected them. Judge Cooley says: "The special fitness to legislate for all, which is acquired by the association, mutual information, and comparison of views of a legislative body, cannot be had by the constituency, and the advantages would be lost to legislation, if the right of instruction were recognized."

3. House of Representatives; Members. The House of Representatives is composed of members who are chosen directly by the people of the several States every second year. Representatives must be twentyfive years old, and have been citizens of the United States for seven years. They must be inhabitants of the State from which they are chosen, but a member of the House need not live in the district from which he is elected. (U. S. Const. Art. I., Sec. 2, Pars. 1 and 2.) The term of two years is thought not too short to cause the government to be unstable, nor too long to cause the Representative to forget his dependence on the people.

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4. House of Representatives; Apportionment. resentatives are apportioned among the several States according to their respective populations, excluding Indians not taxed but remaining in the tribal State on reservations. Each State, however, must have one representative at least, no matter how small its population may be; and so, although the number of persons now required for an average district is nearly 174,000, Nevada with 40,000 people has a representative. Congress decides how many persons there shall be to each

representative. This number is divided into the number of persons in each State, and the quotient is the number of Congressmen to be chosen from that State. A State is also generally given another Congressman, if the remainder in the above division is over half. Every ten years Congress decides what shall be the ratio for the next decade, and what fractions in the States shall have a representative. Before the abolition of (U. S. Const. Art. I., Sec. 2, Par. 3) slavery, three-fifths of the number of slaves were counted in the population, for determining the number of representatives. Thus 1000 slaves would be counted as 600 persons.

5. House of Representatives; Election. The persons who vote for Congressmen are those who vote for the most numerous house of the State legislature. There is no difference at present between those who vote for one house and those who vote for the other; but when the Constitution was adopted in some States, as in Maryland, the mass of the people did not vote for the Upper House at all, and the Constitution desired to make the suffrage for Congressmen the freest possible. The State prescribes the times, places, and manner of holding elections for the House, but the Congress has the power to change the election laws concerning Representatives, or even to take such elections entirely under its own control. While the United States does not now interfere in Congressional elections, there was formerly a law providing for Federal supervision of such elections. It would not do to give the (U. S. Const. Art. I., Sec. 4, Par. 1) Nation no right to control these elections, as some State might refuse to pass laws

on the subject, and so prevent any elections from being held in its borders. Congress permits every State to divide its territory into Congressional districts, only requiring that the territory of each district must be contiguous, and that the population of the districts must be somewhat equal. In the desire to secure Congressmen of some one political party, legislatures have often divided States in a disgraceful manner, making districts quite unequal in population and very inconvenient in their geography. This practice is known as gerrymandering.

6. House of Representatives; Vacancies. Whenever these occur the Governor of the State in whose representation the vacancy is, issues a proclamation, known as a writ of election, announcing the vacancy and appointing a day upon which the voters of the district shall choose some one to fill out the remainder of the term. (U. S. Const. Art. I., Sec. 2, Par. 4.)

7. House of Representatives; Organization. The House organizes itself, choosing its own presiding officer, who is known as the Speaker, and other necessary officers, such as Clerks, Sergeant-at-arms, Doorkeepers, Chaplain, and Postmaster. The clerk of the preceding

House calls the new House to order and presides until a Speaker is elected. The Speaker is a member of the House, and so has a right to vote on all questions. He has great power because he names the members of committees, and decides what member of the House he will recognize as being entitled to rise and speak during the sessions, to take the floor, as the saying is. (U. S. Const. Art. I., Sec. 1, Par. 5.)