burden of responsibility for errors and shortcomings. Only one who has gone over the same ground can appreciate how many there are; but I trust they will be viewed with charity by those who know how difficult a thing it is to describe a complex political organism which is swiftly changing under our very eyes. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY; CHARLES A. BEARD. PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION THE call for a revision of this volume came unexpectedly at the opening of a busy academic year, and I was not able to undertake a leisurely re-writing of the entire work in accordance with my present ideal of a college text. I have confined myself largely to the task of recording the leading changes of the last four years; but in doing this I have materially reduced the details and references to matters of a local and temporary interest, with which the first edition was overloaded. I have furthermore recast several sections in such a manner as to emphasize broad tendencies and general principles. The necessity for including a mass of data on current practices, destined to become obsolete soon, is no longer imperative, because students now have an annual survey, The American Year Book, to which they can turn for the latest grist of constitutional amendments, statutes, and party programmes. I am indebted to Professor C. A. Dykstra, Dr. Louis A. Mayers, Professor B. F. Moore, and Professor T. R. Powell for pointing out errors in the first edition, and I shall be grateful to learn of mistakes which have escaped me in this revision. CHARLES A. BEARD. NOVEMBER, 1913. TABLE OF CONTENTS 126 VIII. THE GENERAL FEATURES OF THE FEDERAL SYSTEM Of Gov. |