UNITED STATES. Constitution and Government. THE Declaration of Independence of the thirteen States of which the American Union then consisted was adopted by Congress July 4, 1776. On November 30, 1782, Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States, and on September 3, 1783, the treaty of peace was concluded. The form of government of the United States is based on the Constitution of Sept. 17, 1787, to which ten amendments were added Dec. 15, 1791; an eleventh amendment, Jan. 8, 1798; a twelfth amendment, Sept. 25, 1804; a thirteenth amendment, Dec. 18, 1865 (slavery abolished); a fourteenth amendment, July 28, 1868; a fifteenth amendment, March 30, 1870 (equal rights for white and coloured citizens); a sixteenth amendment, February 25, 1913 (income tax authorised); a seventeenth amendment, May 31, 1913; an eighteenth amendment, January 29, 1919 (liquor prohibition amendment); and a nineteenth amendment, August 26, 1920 (woman suffiage). By the Constitution, the government of the nation is entrusted to three separate authorities, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. The executive power is vested in a President, who holds his office during the term of four years, and is elected, together with a Vice-President chosen for the same term, in the mode prescribed as follows:- Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.' The practice is that in every State the electors allotted to the State are chosen by direct vote of the citizens on a general ticket, on the system known in France as scrutin de liste. The Constitution enacts that 'the Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States'; and further, that 'no person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States'. The quadrennial election is held every fourth (leap) year. Electors are chosen in the several States on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November; the electors meet and give their votes at their respective State capitals on the second Monday in January next following their appointment; and the votes of the electors of all the States are opened and counted in the presence of both Houses of Congress on the second Wednesday in February. The presidential term begins on March 4, in the year following leap years. The President is commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and of the militia in the service of the Union. The Vice-President is ex-officio President of the Senate; and in the case of the death or resignation of the President, he becomes the President for the remainder of the term. President of the United States.-Warren Gamaliel Harding, of Ohio, born near Blooming Grove, Morrow County, in Okio, November 2, 1865; educated at Ohio Central College; journalist since 1884; senator in the legislature of Ohio, 1899-1903; Lieutenant-Governor of Ohio, 1904-1906; defeated candidate for Governor, 1910; United States Senator from Ohio, 1915-1920. Vice-President of the United States.-Calvin Coolidge, of Massachusetts, born at Plymouth, Vermont, July 4, 1872; graduated at Amherst College, 1895; admitted to the Bar, 1897; meinber of the State Senate, 1912-1915; President of the Senate, 1914 and 1915: Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, 1916-1918; Governor, 1919 and 1920. Since the adoption of the Constitution the offices of President and VicePresident have been occupied as follows: By a law which came into force Jan. 19, 1886, in case of removal, death, resignation, or inability of both the President and Vice-President, the Secretary of State, and after him, in the order of the establishment of their departments, other members of the Cabinet, shall act as President until the disability of the President is removed or a President shall be elected. On the death of a Vice-President the duties of the office shall fall to the President pro tempore of the Senate, who receives the salary of the Vice-President. The administrative business of the nation is conducted by ten chief officers, or heads of departments, who form what is called the Cabinet.' They are chosen by the President, but must be confirmed by the Senate. Each of them presides over a separate department, and acts under the immediate authority of the President. They are, in the order prescribed by law for their succession to the Presidency, in case both the President and the VicePresident die or become unable to take office : 1. Secretary of State.-Charles Evans Hughes, of New York, born in New York, 1862; graduated at Brown University, 1881; admitted to the Bar in New York, 1884; Lecturer and Professor of Law in Columbia and Cornell Universities, 1891-1900; Governor of New York, 1907-1910; Associate Justice Supreme Court of the United States, 1910-1916; defeated candidate for President, 1916. Present appointment, March 4, 1921. 2. Secretary of the Treasury.-Andrew William Mellon, of Pennsylvania, born in Pennsylvania, 1852; educated at the University of Pittsburg; prominent in the development of coal, coke, and iron industries, and in banking. Present appointment, March 4, 1921. 3. Secretary of War.-John Wingate Weeks, of Massachusetts, born in New Hampshire, 1860; graduated at Annapolis Naval Academy, 1881; member of Congress, 1905-1913; Senator from Massachusetts, 1913-1919. Present appointment, March 4, 1921. 4. Attorney-General.- Harry M. Daugherty, of Ohio, born in Ohio, 1860; university education; admitted to the Bar, 1881; member of the Ohio legislature, 1888-1893. Present appointment, March 4, 1921. 5. Postmaster-General. - Will H. Hays, of Indiana, born in Indiana, 1879; Chairman (1920) of the Republican National Committee. Present appointment, March 4, 1921; retired March 4, 1922. For successor, see Additions and Corrections. 6. Secretary of the Navy.-Edwin Denby, of Michigan, born in Indiana, 1870; graduated at the University of Michigan Law School, 1896; admitted to the Bar, 1896; gunner's mate, U.S. Navy, in the Spanish War, 1898; member of the Michigan legislature, 1902-1903; member of Congress, 19051911; enlisted private U.S. Marine Corps, 1917; promoted sergeant and major, 1919. Present appointment, March 4, 1921. 7. Secretary of the Interior.-Albert Bacon Fall, of New Mexico, born in Kentucky, 1861; Associate Justice and Attorney-General of New Mexico (Territory); United States Senator from New Mexico (State), 1912-1921. Present appointment, March 4, 1921. 8. Secretary of Agriculture.-Henry Cantwell Wallace, of Iowa, born in Illinois, 1866; educated at Iowa State College; editor of papers devoted to agriculture; Chairman of war work, and member of the International Committee of the Y.M.C.A. Present appointment, March 4, 1921. 9. Secretary of Commerce.-Herbert Clark Hoover, of California, born in Iowa, 1874; graduated civil engineer, Leland Stanford Jr. University, 1895; engaged in mine development in America, Australia, and China; Chairman (in London) of the American War Relief Committee, 1914-1915; American Food Administrator, 1917-1919; Administrator of Food Relief for Belgium, 1915-1918; Commander of the French Legion d'honneur. Present appointment, March 4, 1921. 10. Secretary of Labour.-James John Davis, of Illinois, born in Wales, 1873; prominent officer in Labour organisations. Present appointment, March 4, 1921. The Ministry for Labour was created in 1913. Each of the above ministers has an annual salary of 12,000 dollars, and holds office during the pleasure of the President. The whole legislative power is vested by the Constitution in a Congress, consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate consists of two members from each State, chosen by popular vote for six years. Senators must be not less than thirty years of age; must have been citizens of the United States for nine years; and be residents in the States for which they are chosen. Besides its legislative functions, the Senate is entrusted with the power of ratifying or rejecting all treaties made by the President with foreign Powers, a two-thirds majority of senators present being required for ratification. The Senate is also invested with the power of confirming or rejecting all appointments to office made by the President; and its members constitute a High Court of Impeachment. The judgment in the latter case extends only to removal from office and disqualification. The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeachment. The House of Representatives is composed of members elected every second year by the vote of citizens who, according to the laws of their respective States, are qualified to vote for members of the State legislature. By amendments of the Constitution, disqualification on the ground of race, colour, or sex, is forbidden. Accordingly the electorate consists practically |