tion, from 1783 to 1788, when the Constitution was adopted, the country nearly fell to pieces under the Articles of Confederation which gave the central government no power to raise money and otherwise tied its hands.)

Later on the other powers of the national government will be stated in full. The point for you to see now is their general aim and character.

Power of the States.-All the remaining powers of local government were left with the State governments, which thus received a free hand to run their local concerns very much as they wished. Therefore each State in the Union is a government by itself, with very great powers within its own area. (The police power is one of these powers, and that is how, as we discovered before, your policeman never happens to have "U. S." on his shield, but always the name of the locality.) This is home rule on a gigantic scale. California can build its roads and run its schools and pass laws about marriage and divorce and what-not to suit its situation and people. So can Louisiana. So can Minnesota. So can Maine. Think how vast a country America is, how many different kinds of people there are in it, and how different the States are in climate, resources, and occupations, and you will see how useful and necessary it is that this sweeping home rule exists. It is safe to say that without this home rule by States America never would have hung together and become the great nation that it is.

Home Rule Within States.-What did the States do with all these powers? Well, part of their freedom was

to run their governments as they chose (within certain limits), and, therefore, no two State governments are exactly alike. The names of divisions vary, the names of officers vary, the whole systems vary. We shall go into these divisions within the States in detail later. It is enough to say now that the same principle of home rule is respected and carried out in every State. The powers that a State possesses, it passes on to its counties, its cities, its towns, and its villages.

To go back to your policeman, a State could, if it chose, hire all the policemen throughout its cities and villages, appointing them by its central government at its State capital. But no State does. Every State turns over this police power to the local government of city, county, village, or town.

So we end where we began, with home rule as the life-saving provision of American government, a living part of the structure of the original government through the preservation of the existing States, and an honored principle of government from one end of the country to the other.

Good and Bad Government.-Under this system each community gets just as good or just as bad a government as it deserves. If the voters of a village are intelligent and interested in their local government, if they watch it carefully and do their share of work, that village will be excellently governed. If the voters are illiterate and stupid and too lazy to vote or pay attention to public affairs, their village will be poorly governed.

What is true of a village is true of a city or a State.

And it is not less true of the whole nation. Democracy is not a short cut to good government. It is no cureall. It simply enables a people fit for self-government to rule themselves as they deserve.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. What important difference is there between the lettering on a postage-stamp and the lettering on a policeman's shield?

2. Why should the postman be an officer of the national government and the policeman an officer of the city or village?

3. What does the principle of home rule grant to each community? 4. How does it apply in the family?

5. What is a centralized government and what nation has this type of government?

6. Why do Americans believe in home rule?

7. What units of our government existed before the Revolution? 8. How many were there then and how many are there to-day? 9. How important are the States to the life of the nation? 10. What does "federal" mean?

11. What was the problem that faced the Constitutional Convention of 1787?

12. Name as many powers of the national government as you can. 13. Name as many powers of the States as you can.

14. Is the principle of home rule carried out within each State? 15. What determines in America whether a community is governed well or badly?

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. How many things does your city or village do?
2. Was your State one of the thirteen original States?
3. If so, how long before the Revolution was it settled?
4. If not, when did it enter the Union as a State?

CHAPTER IX

THE PRESIDENT

1. TERM AND POWERS

Open to All. The presidency of the United States is the greatest office in the world, for which neither birth nor riches are required. Any American boy, however poor and whoever his parents may be, famous or unknown, can hope to become President. The only important restriction is that the President must have been born an American. (A naturalized citizen cannot be President.) It is also required that he be not less than thirty-five years old and have resided not less than fourteen years in the country. (Constitution, Art. II, Sec. 1, Par. 4.)'

The Executive Branch.-As we saw before, the President corresponds to the captain of a team. He leads the nation, and he sees that the laws are carried out— "executes" the laws, in the language of the Constitution, which means the same thing. From this he is usually described as the "executive branch" of our government, just as Congress, our lawmaking body, is called the "legislative," and the courts, our umpires, are called the "judicial." His first and highest duty is

1 The full text of the Constitution of the United States will be found at

pages 173 to 189. All references in parenthesis are to the Constitution, by Article, Section, and Paragraph.

to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." (Art. II, Sec. 3.)

Term and Powers.-The President is one of the most powerful rulers in the world. But two important facts must be kept in mind.

First, he is elected for a term of four years (Art. II, Sec. 1), and at the end of that time, unless the people wish him to continue in office, he loses all power and becomes a plain citizen like every one else. The President is often re-elected for a second term of four years, and there is nothing in the Constitution to prevent his election for more terms. But George Washington refused a third term on the ground that it might tend to make him seem a king, and his example has always been respected and followed. No President has had more than two terms or eight years.

Second, his powers are not anything he chooses, but, as you will see, only the definite things set down in black and white in the Constitution as his to do. These are the safeguards that prevent a President from becoming a tyrant or setting up anything like a monarchy.

Commander-in-Chief.-"The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States," says the Constitution. (Art. II, Sec. 2.) This means that he ranks above all our generals and admirals, and that every battleship and every sailor and every soldier are his to command. You may have read during the Great War that it was finally won by the Allies largely because all the Allied armies were placed under Marshal Foch, thus achieving "unity of command," as it was called. Our fighting forces are run on this same