THE VOYAGE OF OUR SHIP OF STATE
HAVE any of my young readers ever been to Europe? Likely enough some of
you may have been, for even young folks cross the ocean now-a-days. It
has come to be an easy journey, with our great and swift steamers. But
in past times it was a long and difficult journey, in which the ship was
often tossed by terrible storms, and sometimes was broken to pieces on
the rocks or went to the bottom with all on board.
What I wish to say is, that those who come from Europe to this country
leave countries that are governed by kings, and come to a country that
is governed by the people. In some of the countries of Europe the people
might almost as well be slaves, for they have no vote and no one to
speak for them, and the man who rules them is born to power. Even in
England, which is the freest of them all, there is a king and queen and
a House of Lords who are born to power. The people can vote, but only
for members of the House of Commons. They have nothing to do with the
monarch or the lords.
Of course you all know that this is not the case in our country. Here
every man in power is put there by the votes of the people. As President
Lincoln said, we have a government "of the people, by the people, and
for the people."
We did not have such a government before the 4th of July, 1776. Our
country was then governed by a king, and, what was worse, this king was
on the other side of the ocean, and cared nothing for the people of
America except as money bags to fill his purse. But after that 4th of
July we governed ourselves, and had no king for lord and master; and we
have got along very well without one.
Now you can see what the Declaration of Independence and the Revolution
meant. With the Declaration we cut loose from England. Our ship of state
set out on its long voyage to liberty. The Declaration cut the chain
that fastened this great ship to England's shores. The Revolution was
like the stormy passage across the ocean waves. At times it looked as if
our ship of state would be torn to pieces by the storms, or driven back
to the shores from which it set sail; but then the clouds would break
and the sun shine, and onward our good ship would speed. At length it
reached the port of liberty, and came to anchor far away from the land
of kings.
This is a sort of parable. I think every one of you will know what it
means. The people of this country had enough of kings and their ways,
and of being taxed without their consent. They made up their minds to be
free to tax and govern themselves. It was for this they fought in the
Revolution, and they won liberty with their blood.
And now, before we go on with the history of our country, it will be
wise to stop and ask what kind of government the Americans gave
themselves. They had thrown overboard the old government of kings. They
had to make a new government of the people. I hope you do not think this
was an easy task. If an architect or builder is shown a house and told
to build another like that, he finds it very easy to do. But if he is
shown a heap of stone and bricks and wood and told to build out of them
a good strong house unlike any he has ever seen, he will find his task a
very hard one, and may spoil the house in his building.
That was what our people had to do. They could have built a king's
government easily enough. They had plenty of patterns to follow for
that. But they had no pattern for a people's government, and, like the
architect and his house, they might spoil it in the making. The fact is,
this is just what they did. Their first government was spoiled in the
making, and they had to take it down and build it over again.
This was done by what we call a Convention, made up of men called
"delegates" sent by the several states. The Convention met in
Philadelphia in 1787 for the purpose of forming a Constitution; that is,
a plan of government under which the people should live and which the
states and their citizens should have to obey.
This Convention was a wonderful body of statesmen. Its like has not
often been seen. The wisest and ablest men of all the states were sent
to it. They included all the great men--some we know already,
Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams and many others of fine
ability. For four months these men worked in secret. It was a severe
task they had to perform, for some wanted one thing and some another,
and many times it looked as if they would never agree; but at length all
disputes were settled and their long labors were at an end.
General Washington was president of the Convention, and back of the
chair on which he sat the figure of the sun was painted on the wall.
When it was all over, Benjamin Franklin pointed to this painting and
said to those who stood near him:
"Often while we sat here, troubled by hopes and fears, I have looked
towards that figure, and asked myself if it was a rising or a setting
sun. Now I know that it is the rising sun."
The rising sun indeed it was, for when the Convention had finished its
work it had formed the noble Constitution under which we now live, the
greatest state paper which man has ever formed.
But I fancy you want to know more about the noble framework of
government built by the wise men of the Convention of 1787.
After the Union was formed there were thirteen states still, but each of
these had lost some of its old powers. The powers taken from the states
were given to the general government. Every state had still the right to
manage its own affairs, but such things as concerned the whole people
were managed by the general government.
What were these things? Let us see. There was the power to coin money,
to lay taxes, to control the post-office, and to make laws for the good
of the whole nation. And there was the power to form an army and navy,
to make treaties with other countries, and to declare war if we could
not get on in peace.
Under the Confederation which was formed during the Revolutionary War,
the states could do these things for themselves; under the Constitution
they could do none of these things, but they could pass laws that
affected only themselves, and could tax their own people for state
purposes.
I have spoken several times of the general government. No doubt you wish
to know what this government was like. Well, it was made up of three
bodies, one of which made laws for the people, the second considered if
these laws agreed with the Constitution, the third carried out these
laws, or put them in force.
The body that made the laws was named the Congress of the United States.
It consisted of two sections. One was called the Senate, and was made up
of two members from each state. As we have now more than forty-five
states the Senate at present has more than ninety members. The other
section was called the House of Representatives, and its members were
voted for directly by the people. The members of the Senate were voted
for by the legislatures of the states, who had been elected by the
people.
All the laws were to be made by Congress, but not one of them could
become a law until it was approved by the President. If he did not
approve of a law, he vetoed it, that is, he returned it without being
signed with his name, and then it could not be enforced as a law until
voted for by two-thirds of the members of Congress.
It was the duty of the President to execute or carry out the laws. He
took the place of the king in other countries. But he was not born to
his position like a king, but had to be voted for by the people, and
could stay in office for four years only. Then he, or some one else, had
to be voted for again.
Next to the President was the Vice-President, who was to take his place
if he should die or resign. While the President was in office the
Vice-President had nothing to do except to act as presiding officer of
the Senate. What we call the Cabinet are persons chosen by the President
to help him in his work. You must understand that it takes a number of
leading men and a great many men under these to do all the work needed
to carry on our government.
The third body of our government was called the Supreme Court. This was
made up of some of the ablest lawyers and judges of the country. They
were not to be voted for, but to be chosen by the President and then
approved by the Senate. The duty of the Supreme Court is to consider any
law brought to its notice and decide if it agrees with the Constitution.
If the Court decides that a law is not constitutional, it ceases to be
of any effect.
This is not so very hard to understand, is it? The President and
Congress elected by the people; the Supreme Court and Cabinet selected
by the President; the Constitution the foundation of our government; and
the laws passed by Congress the building erected on the foundation.
Its great feature is that it is a republic--a government "of the people,
by the people, and for the people." Ours is not the first republic.
There have been others. But it is the greatest. It is the only one that
covers half a continent, and is made up of states many of which are
larger than some of the kingdoms of Europe. For more than a hundred
years the Constitution made in 1787 has held good. Then it covered
thirteen states and less than four million people; now it covers more
than forty-five states and eighty million people. Then it was very poor,
and had a hard struggle before it; now it is very rich and prosperous.
It has grown to be the richest country in the world and one of the
greatest.