Community Civics and Rural Life Part 64

Meaning of "bail," "indictment," "due process of law," "counsel for defense," "subpoena," "true bill."

Circ.u.mstances under which an appeal may be made.

The supreme court of your state.

The work of a juvenile court.

READINGS

State Const.i.tution.

Reports of the several departments of the state government.

In LESSONS IN COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL LIFE: Series B: Lesson 18, How state laws are made and enforced.

The Civil Administrative Code of the State of Illinois, compiled by Louis L. Emmerson. Secretary of State, Springfield, Ill.

The Illinois Civil Administrative Code, by Charles E. Woodward, The Academy of Political Science, Columbia University, New York City.

Beard, Chas. A., AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS, Part iii, State government.

Hart, A. B., ACTUAL GOVERNMENT, Part iii, State governments in action.

Reed, T. H., FORM AND FUNCTIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, Part iii, State government.

Bryce, James, THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH, vol. i, Part ii, The State governments.

In Long's AMERICAN PATRIOTIC PROSE: Invisible government (Elihu Root), pp. 261-264.

In Foerster and Pierson's AMERICAN IDEALS: How to Preserve the Local Self-Government of the States (Elihu Root), pp. 48-55

CHAPTER XXVII

OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT

It was the necessity for team work in carrying on the War for Independence that led the thirteen American colonies for the first time to unite under a common government. They had revolted to escape from an autocratic government, and they sought to avoid setting up another in its place. Since it had been the king whom they distrusted most, they endeavored to get along without any executive head at all. Their new government consisted solely of a Congress of delegates from the thirteen states.

THE CRITICAL PERIOD

This form of government was continued for several years after the Revolution under a const.i.tution known as the Articles of Confederation. It was, however, unsuccessful in securing anything like real national cooperation. The Congress had no power to levy and collect taxes, it had little power to make laws, and it was without means to execute the laws that it did make. The real governing power during this period was with the several states.

The result was a period of unutterable confusion which has been called "the critical period of American history." The question at stake was whether a number of self-governing state communities with a mult.i.tude of apparently conflicting interests could really become a nation.

THE NEW CONSt.i.tUTION

During the war Benjamin Franklin had said, "We must all hang together or we shall all hang separately." The states had "hung together" sufficiently to win the war; but the wise men of the time now saw the need for a government so organized and with such powers as to secure effective cooperation among all the states and all the people at all times for the welfare of the entire Union, while leaving each state free to manage its own local affairs.

Therefore a convention of delegates from all the states was called together at Philadelphia in 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation. The result was our present Const.i.tution under which our present national government went into effect in 1789.

Investigate and report:

The nature and causes of the confusion during "the critical period" of American history.

The leading men of the Const.i.tutional Convention.

How the states ratified the Const.i.tution.

Which of the original thirteen states did not ratify the Const.i.tution until after it had gone into effect.

The number of states required to ratify before the Const.i.tution went into effect (Const.i.tution, Art. VII).

POPULAR CONTROL THROUGH THE CONSt.i.tUTION

"We, the people of the United States" "ordained and established"

the Const.i.tution (see the Preamble). It was also "ordained" in the Const.i.tution (Art. V) that it could be amended only by methods designed to give the people control over the matter--greater control than they have over ordinary lawmaking. A great many amendments have been proposed in the course of time, but only eighteen have so far been adopted,[Footnote: A nineteenth amendment is at this writing before the states for ratification-- the woman suffrage amendment.] ten of these having been adopted in the very beginning as a condition on which the states would accept the Const.i.tution at all. None of these amendments changed the form of our government except with respect to the methods of electing the President and United States senators (Amendments XII and XVII).

Explain the two methods of proposing, and the two methods of ratifying, amendments (Const.i.tution, Art. VII).

Has there ever been a national const.i.tutional convention called by the states?

Which of the two methods of ratifying was used in the case of the last amendment adopted? [Footnote: Ohio by a referendum in 1919 submitted the eighteenth amendment to the people of the state for their vote, after it had been ratified by the legislature. This was the first time in our history that an amendment to the Const.i.tution was submitted to popular vote for ratification.]

Did your state vote to ratify or to reject the last amendment?

If any amendment is now before the states for ratification, watch the newspapers for the action of the various states.

OUR GOVERNMENT A GROWING THING

The Const.i.tution adopted in 1787 has met the needs of our growing nation in a most remarkable way. It would be a mistake, however, to think that it has always met new conditions perfectly, or that we are governed to-day exactly as was intended by the framers of the Const.i.tution. Although few amendments have been made, INTERPRETATIONS have been placed on the Const.i.tution that were probably unthought of by the framers or by the people who ratified it; and PRACTICES have grown up in our government that have made it quite a different government from that which was antic.i.p.ated.

Our government is a GROWING thing, and one of the chief merits of our Const.i.tution is the fact that it speaks in such general terms that it has been possible, under it, to adapt our government to new and unexpected conditions. In this respect it differs from the detailed state const.i.tutions.

DEFECTS INEVITABLE

On the other hand, conditions have arisen with the growth of our nation that our Const.i.tution has not enabled us to meet with the greatest success, and that we have not yet met by amendment. In some cases we have tried to get around the difficulties by devices not provided for in the Const.i.tution, sometimes with unfortunate results. But a recognition of defects in our government should not cause us to lose respect for the Const.i.tution. They are due not to positive blunders on the part of the framers, but to the mere absence of provision for conditions that did not exist when the Const.i.tution was framed and that could not be foreseen by the wisest men of that time. The wise course for all good citizens is to seek to understand clearly wherein our government fails to meet our needs, if it does fail, and then to seek to correct the difficulty, under the existing terms of the Const.i.tution if possible, or by amendment of the Const.i.tution if that becomes clearly necessary. Amendment of the Const.i.tution was purposely made difficult, and this was doubtless wise, for it tends to prevent changes without full consideration of their needs and probable effects. Radical changes in our form of government and in our established laws are always fraught with danger. Because of the extreme complexity of community life a change effected at one point to meet a particular evil may have consequences of the most far-reaching kind and in the most unexpected directions. A change that corrects one evil may produce conditions resulting in evils even worse than the first. Changes are necessary at times, but they should be made only after the most careful consideration by men of the widest possible experience.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

One thing that stood out clearly after the Revolution was the fear of a strong national government. Some of the states refused to ratify the Const.i.tution unless amendments were added at once guaranteeing the liberties of the people. The first ten amendments, known as the "bill of rights," were the result. To make sure that no important rights were left unguarded, the ninth amendment provides that "the enumeration in the Const.i.tution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

Read the first ten amendments and discuss the meaning of each.

A GOVERNMENT OF DELEGATED POWERS