This large compensation for travel may not have been extravagant at an early day, when traveling was more difficult; but it is believed no good reason exists for its continuance. By the present mode of travel, a member may go from Buffalo to Washington and return in six days, at a small expense, for which he receives a sum equal to that received for more than sixty days' service. Members from some of the more distant states, traveling by long and circuitous routes, yet performing them within a few days, receive for mileage, as it is called, a sum fully equal to what they receive for their whole service during the sessions of congress.

EXERCISES.

§ 1. Of what two assemblies is congress composed? How is the senate constituted? How, and for what term are senators chosen?

2. What are the qualifications of a senator?

3. How is the house of representatives constituted? For what term, and how are representatives elected?

§ 4. 5. How is the number of senators and representatives limited?

§ 6. What is the lowest ratio of representation allowed by the constitution? Why has the ratio been increased from time to time?

§ 7. How are representatives elected?

§ 8. How are slaves counted in forming the basis of representation?

§ 9. What advantage does this give to the slave states? 10. Show by example the operation of this rule of apportioning representatives

§ 11. What advantage did the free states expect in return? Show by example the advantage the free states would have in case of direct taxation.

§ 12. Why has not this advantage been realized by the free states?

§ 13. What are the qualifications of a representative?

14. How are the houses of congress organized, and what is their manner of passing bills?

§ 15. What is the compensation of members of congress?

CHAPTER XLVI.

Of the Executive Department.

1. THE executive department of the general government, is constituted in a manner similar to that of a state government. The chief executive officer is the president of the United States. He is elected for four years. There is also a vice-president, chosen at the same time, and for the same term. The general duties of these officers are much like those of the governor and lieutenant-governor of a state.

§ 2. A president must be thirty-five years of age, and a natural born citizen of the United States. When the office of president becomes vacant, the vice-president becomes president; and a president of the senate, pro tempore, chosen by the senate for the purpose, takes the place of the vicepresident.

§3. In electing a president, the people do not vote directly for him. The voters of each state choose a number of men, equal to the number of senators and representatives to which it is entitled in congress. These men, thus chosen in the several states, elect the president and vice-president. Hence they are called electors of president and vice-president or presidential clectors.

§ 4. These electors are not chosen in the same manner as senators and representatives are chosen. The names of two men corresponding to the two senators to which the state is entitled in congress, together with the names of as many other men as there are representatives of the state in congress, one to be taken from each congressional district, are all placed upon one ballot; so that every voter votes for the whole number of presidential electors to be chosen in the state. These electors are chosen on the same day in all the states; which day is the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November.

§ 5. The electors of president do not all meet in one body. Those of each state meet by themselves, in their own state, on the first Wednesday of December, and vote for president

and vice-president; and make a list of the persons voted for, and the number of votes for each; which list is sent to the president of the senate, at the seat of government of the United States, before the first of January. On the second Wednesday of February, the president of the senate, in the presence of all the senators and representatives, opens all the certificates, and the votes are counted. The person

having a majority of all the electoral votes for president, is elected.

§ 6. But a person may have the highest number, that is, a plurality, of the electoral votes, without having a majority. If no person has a majority of the electoral votes, the house of representatives must choose the president from those candidates, not exceeding three, who had the highest numbers of the electoral votes. But in so doing, the mem

bers do not all vote together, as when passing bills; but those of each state vote by themselves; and the candidate who receives the votes of a majority of the representatives of a state, has but one vote for each such majority; from which it appears, that there are only as many presidential votes as there are states; and the person who receives the votes of a majority of the states, is elected.

§ 7. This mode of electing a president may be illustrated by the election of 1824, when a president was elected in this manner. The electoral vote was divided upon four candidates; Andrew Jackson having received 99 votes, John Quincy Adams 84, William H. Crawford 41, and Henry Clay 37. Neither candidate having received a majority of all the electoral votes, the election of president devolved upon the house of representatives, and was to be made from the three candidates having received the highest numbers of the electoral votes. A majority of the states voting for Mr. Adams, he was elected president.

§ 8. If there is no election of vice-president by the electors, the senate, in a body, chooses one from the two having the highest numbers of the electoral votes. The person receiving the votes of a majority of the whole number of senators, is elected vice-president.

9. The president and vice-president go into office on the 4th day of March next after the election, and end their term

on the 3d day of March, four years thereafter; the same days on which senators every six years, and representatives every two years, commence and end their regular terms of office.

§ 10. The powers and duties of the president are numerous, and some of them very important. They are in their nature much the same as those of a governor of a state. They will be found mentioned in the constitution, article 2, sec. 2, 3. The principal duty of the vice-president is to preside in the senate.

EXERCISES.

§ 1. For what term are the president and vice-president elected?

§ 2. What are the qualifications of a president? How are vacancies in the offices of president and vice-president supplied?

3. By whom is the president elected? How are the presidential electors chosen, and what is their number? What is the number in this state?

§ 4. Describe the manner of choosing presidential electors. On what day are they chosen?

§ 5. State the time, place, and manner of making the election and counting the electoral votes ?

§ 7. How is the election made when no person receives a majority of the electoral votes ?

§ 7. How was the president elected in 1824 ?

§ 8. How is the vice-president chosen when the electors fail to elect?

§ 9. When does the presidential term of office commence and expire?

§ 10. Mention some of the principal duties of the president?

CHAPTER XLVII.

Of the subordinate Executive Departments.

§1. THE general executive business of the nation, excepting what is done by the president in person, is performed in the several executive departments, of which the following are the head officers: the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of war, the secretary of the navy, the attorney-general, and postmaster-general. These officers are consulted by the president on important public matters; and hence they are called "the cabinet." They are appointed by the president and senate.

§ 2. The secretary of state performs many duties similar to those of a secretary of a state government. Besides these, he transacts much of the business with foreign countries. If the president has instructions to give to our public ministers abroad, these instructions are communicated by the secretary of state; and he also conducts the correspondence, and transacts the business to be done, with the ministers of foreign countries residing here. The secretary has a number of clerks to assist him. The business of granting patents for new inventions is done in this department, by a commissioner of patents, under the direction of the secretary.

§ 3. The secretary of the treasury conducts the financial affairs of the government. His duties are nearly the same as those of the comptroller or auditor of a state. There are, in this department, two comptrollers and five auditors to examine and settle the public accounts, and collect the debts due the United States; a treasurer to keep and pay out the money; a register, who keeps accounts of the goods imported and exported, and of the shipping employed in our foreign trade; a solicitor; and a commissioner of the landoffice; besides a recorder and a number of clerks.

§ 4. The business of the secretary of war relates to the military affairs of the United States, and to Indian affairs. The nation supports what is called a standing army, which con its, at present, of about 10,000 armed men, stationed in