first and fourth clauses of the section could not be amended prior to the year 1808.

The greatest restrictions upon the powers of Congress are those contained in what is known as the Bill of Rights. Besides the second and third clauses of the ninth section of the first article, the Bill of Rights includes most of the provisions contained in the Amendments. The Bill of Rights is the subject of Chapter VIII of this Book.

CHAPTER IV.

THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

SECTION 47. IN GENERAL.

There was no executive department in the government of the United States, under the Articles of Confederation. The President of Congress was merely the presiding officer of that body, and all executive business was carried on through committees appointed by and under the control of Congress. There was under this form of government no division of powers among distinct departments; whatever power the National government possessed, at this period, was centered in Congress.1

The threefold division of powers among the legislative, executive and judicial departments, however, was to be found in the Constitutions of all the thirteen States. In eleven of the States the executive power was vested in a single officer, in the other two in an executive council."

In England, at this time, the change was just being completed by which the executive authority passed from the King to a Ministry responsible, no longer to the King, but to Parliament and primarily to the House of Commons. This change, the result of which was to largely do away with the division of power among separate departments and make the House of Commons practically supreme, was not yet appreciated by American

1 Articles of Confederation, Article

IX.

The two States having an execu

tive council instead of a Governor were Pennsylvania and Delaware.

students and statesmen. These still looked at the form, rather than the substance of the English government, and to them this government still appeared to be one, where the powers of government was divided among distinct and independent departments.

The whole experience and training of the framers of the United States Constitution thus were such as to lead them towards a government with sharply defined legislative, executive and judicial departments. Such were the governments of their States, and such as it seemed to them, was the government of England. Such a division, it is true, had not existed under the Articles of Confederation, but the Articles of Confederation had proved a failure, and was not an instrument after which the new structure of government could wisely be modeled.

SECTION 48. THE PRESIDENT.

The Constitutional Convention finally determined to vest the Executive power of the new government in a single person to be known as the President of the United States, to hold office during the term of four years. The Constitution also provides for a Vice-President to be elected for the same term. No restrictions are placed upon the eligibility of either officer for re-election.

SECTION 49. ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT

AND VICE-PRESIDENT.

The question as to the method to be used in the election of a President was debated by the Convention for a number of days before it finally was settled. Among the various methods proposed were elections by the people; by the executives of the different states, See Chapter X in the Subject of Legal History.

the executive of each state having one vote; by the executives of the different states, the executive of each having a vote proportionate to the population of the State; by Congress; by the Senate; and by Presidential electors. This last method, which was finally adopted, was suggested by the method used to elect State Senators in Maryland. The provision contained in the Constitution as finally adopted is as follows:

"The Executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same term, be elected as follows:

"Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof shall 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 or trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed as elector.

"The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate, shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives, open the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be President, if such number be the majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if there be more