Our Government: Local, State, and National: Idaho Edition

V. EVENTS LEADING TO THE FORMATION OF THE UNION VI. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION VII. ORGANIZATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT VIII. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE SEPARATE HOUSES...

The Preservation of Order.--The first and most important work of any government is the preservation of order. We think of this function most frequently as exercised in the arres...

common, then government would be a much simpler matter than it is. But just as almost every citizen has business and social relations outside of the neighborhood in which he liv...

The Source of Our Local Governments.--If we look further into the systems of local government which have been described, we shall find facts in the history of their origins whic...

The General Plan of City Government.--The general framework of city government is not very different from that of the other governmental divisions. There are the legislative, ex...

Colonial Relations.--Why was union so long delayed? How was it finally accomplished? These are always questions of great interest to the student of American government. We note...

Events Leading to the Constitutional Convention.--Among the many difficulties that arose during the period of the confederation were constant disputes between Virginia and Maryl...

A Congress of Two Houses.--Section i. _All legislative powers, herein granted, shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of R...

Article II, Section 4. _The President, Vice-President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, b...

Methods of Procedure Developed by Custom.--Very little can be learned directly from the Constitution concerning the actual methods employed in the enactment of laws by Congress....

The Power of Taxation.--When we speak of the finances of a country, we mean its revenues and expenditures. Revenues have their origin chiefly[20] in taxation, and the power vest...

Who Are Citizens.--Who are citizens of the United States is always a question of interest. We find it clearly answered in the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as follows...

Writ of Habeas Corpus.--Clause 2 provides: _The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety m...

The President and His Election.--We have seen that the one great weakness of the government under the confederation was that there existed no adequate executive. After much disc...

Military Powers of the President.--An eminent American historian,[43] writing of the power exercised by President Lincoln in time of war, said, "It is an interesting fact, that...

Formation of Departments.--The Constitution nowhere mentions the President's Cabinet. It was taken for granted, however, that departments similar to those found in the Cabinet w...

Establishment of an Independent Tribunal.--Alexander Hamilton characterized the lack of a judiciary as the crowning defect of government under the Confederation. If we consider...

The History of Territories.--The first Territories of the United States were formed in the region lying north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. Here several o...

Methods of Amending the Constitution.--We have already considered the effect of amendments on some of the original clauses[61]. It now remains to consider, briefly, the methods...

Kinds of Governments.--It is customary to classify the governments of the world under two heads: (1) republics, (2) monarchies. The real nature of our republic may be made more...