The American Commonwealth. Viscount James Bryce

      The American Commonwealth

      This book is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a foundation established to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.

      The cuneiform inscription that serves as our logo and as a design element in Liberty Fund books is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.

      © 1995 by Liberty Fund, Inc.

      Front cover: Declaration of Independence in Congress, at the Independence Hall, Philadelphia, July 4th, 1776 (detail) by John Trumbull, 1786–1819. United States Capitol Art Collection. Photograph courtesy Architect of the Capitol.

      This eBook edition published in 2011.

      eBook ISBN: E-PUB 978-1-61487-121-7

       www.libertyfund.org

      To my friends and colleagues

      Albert Venn Dicey

      Thomas Erskine Holland

      Contents

      

VOLUME I

Introduction

Publisher’s Note

Preface to the First Edition

Preface to the Edition of 1910

Note to the Edition of 1914

List of Presidents

Dates of Some Remarkable Events in the History of the North American Colonies and United States

Area, Population, and Date of Admission of the States

1 Introductory

PART I

The National Government

2 The Nation and the States

3 The Origin of the Constitution

4 Nature of the Federal Government

5 The President

6 Presidential Powers and Duties

7 Observations on the Presidency

8 Why Great Men Are Not Chosen Presidents

9 The Cabinet

10 The Senate

11 The Senate as an Executive and Judicial Body

12 The Senate: Its Working and Influence

13 The House of Representatives

14 The House at Work

15 The Committees of Congress

16 Congressional Legislation

17 Congressional Finance

18 The Relations of the Two Houses

19 General Observations on Congress

20 The Relations of Congress to the President

21 The Legislature and the Executive

22 The Federal Courts

23 The Courts and the Constitution

24 The Working of the Courts

25 Comparison of the American and European Systems

26 General Observations on the Frame of National Government

27 The Federal System

28 Working Relations of the National and the State Governments

29 Criticism of the Federal System

30 Merits of the Federal System

Supplementary