16. Amendment to the Constitution. The framers of the Constitution recognized that the instrument would need amendment, and so they provided two ways in which amendments may be proposed. No amendment can take effect without the sanction of the people of three-fourths of the States,. no matter how it may have been proposed, expressed either through their legislatures or conventions.

(1) Proposed by Congress.-Two-thirds of both Houses of Congress may, whenever they deem it necessary, propose an amendment to the Constitution, and may submit it to the States for ratification in one of two ways, as Congress may determine: (a) by the legislature of each State; or (b) by a convention chosen in each State, as was the case in the adoption of the original Constitution.

(2) Proposed by Convention.-If the States desire amendments which the Congress will not propose, upon the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the States, the Congress must call a convention for proposing amendments. The convention may propose amendments and forward them to Congress to be submitted to the States for ratification in one of the two ways above mentioned, namely, (a) by the legislature of each State; or (b) by a convention chosen in each State.

It will be observed that no matter how the amendment is proposed the mode of adoption must be the same. As a matter of fact no convention to amend the Constitution has ever been called, and no amendment has ever been ratified by any State by a State Convention, as the original Constitution was ratified. All amendments that have been adopted have been submitted by Congress and ratified by the legislatures of at least three-fourths of the States.

I.

CHAPTER XLI.

THE CONGRESS.

The National Legislature.-The Legislative power of the United States is vested in a body called the Congress, which consists of two Houses, one known as the Senate and the other as the House of Representatives. The word "congress," like most words, has a number of meanings. Among nations it means an assembly of envoys for settling international questions, as at the Congress of Vienna; in a South American republic it means the lower house of the legislature; in Spain it means the lower house of the Cortes or national legislature; with us it means the whole national legislative body. When the colonies acted separately they naturally used the international word to describe their meetings, as the Albany Congress, the Continental Congress, etc.; and so the word has come into use to designate the national legislature.

2. The House of Representatives.-At first the character of the new government was not very well understood; indeed it was many decades before the mass of the people began to comprehend the wonderful scheme of government that had been set going by the adoption of the Constitution. Even at this day many new questions of construction and usage arise to plague us. It was at one time questioned whether the representatives were mere delegates from their States or whether they represented the people of the United States as well as the people of the State from which they were chosen. It is well settled now that they are under no obligation to take instructions from those who elected them. They may out of prudence heed the wishes of their constituents, but they are free to vote according to their own wishes.

(1) Membership.-The House of Representatives is composed of members chosen directly by the people of the several States every second year. They may be elected by the State at large or by districts laid off by the Legislature. Represent

atives must be twenty five years of age, and must have been citizens of the United States for seven years. They must be inhabitants of the State from which they are chosen, but they need not live in the district from which they are elected. It has become a part of the unwritten custom, however, that a representative must reside in his district.

(2) Apportionment.-Representatives are apportioned among the several States in proportion to population, excluding Indians not taxed. Each State, however, is entitled to at least one representative. Just after the census in every ten years Congress decides the number of people that shall constitute the basis of representation, and determines the number of representatives that each State is entitled to under the new basis. Fractions are taken account of, and if the fraction is large enough it may entitle the State to a representative. The basis after the census of 1890 was nearly 174,000. On this basis West Virginia with a population of 762,794 had four representatives.

(3) Election.-All persons who may vote for members of the most numerous house of the State Legislature may vote for representatives in Congress. At the time of the formation of the Constitution the mass of the people did not vote for the upper house at all; but there is no distinction now. The States prescribe the times, places, and manner of holding elections for representatives, but the Congress has the power to make a complete Federal election law, taking the control away from the States, except as to the place of choosing Senators. But Congress has seen fit to leave the matter of the regulation of Federal elections with the States, except as to Senators. Federal law provides for the election of Senators. The legislature of each State has the right to divide the State

into Congressional districts, keeping the territory contiguous and as nearly equal in population as may be. In the desire to gain political advantages districts are sometimes laid off in a very disgraceful manner, in all sorts of odd shapes and sizes. This practice is known as gerrymandering, so named from a Massachusetts man named Gerry, who put the idea into prac

tice.

(4) Vacancies.--Whenever a vacancy occurs the Governor of the State in which it takes place issues a proclamation, in the nature of a writ of election, announcing the vacancy and appointing a day upon which the voters of the district shall chose a man to fill the place.

(5) Organization.-On the day fixed for the meeting of a Congress the clerk of the preceeding House calls the new House to order and presides until a speaker is elected.

The Speaker

He was liter

The House

is so called, because in early times he was the "spokesman" between the king and the House of Commons. ally the "speaker" of all official communications. organizes by choosing one of its own members as the Speaker. As a member of the House he has a right to vote on all questions. In the last quarter of a century he has become an officer of great power in the Government, because he appoints the committees, and has absolute power of recognizing members who desire to be heard. He directs in fact the legislation of Congress. It is possible but very difficult to bring up a measure to which the Speaker is opposed. The House upon organization elects a Clerk, Sergeant-at Arms, Doorkeeper, and other officers. The Speaker appoints the chairman of the committees as well as the committees. The committees are so powerfully organized that they in fact control nearly all the acts of the House.

3. The Senate.—Each State large or small is entitled to two Senators, who are elected by the legislature of the State for the term of six years; and any person who has been a citizen

of the United States nine years, who has reached the age of thirty, and who at the time of his election resides in the State for which he is chosen, may be elected. The Senate is divided into three classes, so that one class goes out of office every two years. The Senate is therefore a continuous body, that is, it never expires as a whole, as is the case with the House. Twothirds of the Senate is always in existence. The Senators may be said to represent the people of the State in their organized political capacity; but each Senator is entitled to vote according to his individual opinion. The Senators from the same State often vote on different sides of the same question. Their election and the filling of vacancies have been discussed in Chapter XXXV, and it is unnecessary to repeat here what is said there.

(1) Organization.-The Vice President of the United States is President of the Senate; but he is not a member, he is merely the presiding office. He has no vote except in case of an equally divided vote among the Senators, when he has the casting vote. If the Vice President should become President, or be absent or incapacitated from any cause, the Senate may choose one of its own number a President pro tempore. The Senate elects its committees: they are not appointed as in the House. It also chooses its own clerk and other officers.

(2) The Senate as an Executive Council.-The first Senate contained only twenty-six members. The original intention seems to have been to make the body a sort of executive council. Hence it was given the power to participate in presidential appointments to office, and in the ratificatian of treaties. But it has so increased in numbers that it has become more and more every year an active and coordinate branch of the national legislature.

4. Privileges and Duties of the Two Houses. Each House is made the final judge of the election and qualification of its own members. If the right of a member to sit in either House is called into question, the House in which the question arises