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of all the voters, and which possesses supreme political power, controlling all the governments, federal and State and local. This electorate has in its keeping the welfare and the happiness of the American people. When, therefore, the voter takes his place in this governing body, that is, when he enters the polling-booth and presumes to participate in the business of government, he assumes serious responsibilities. In the polling-booth he is a public officer charged with certain duties, and if he fails to discharge these duties properly he may work great injury. What are the duties of a voter in a self-governing country? If an intelligent man will ask himself this question and refer it to his conscience, as well as deliberate upon it in his mind, he will conclude that he ought at least to do the following things:

(1) To vote whenever it is his privilege.

(2) To try to understand the questions upon which he votes.

(3) To learn something about the character and fitness of the men for whom he votes.

(4) To vote only for honest men for office.

(5) To support only honest measures.

(6) To give no bribe direct or indirect, and to receive no bribe direct or indirect.

(7) To place country above party.

(8) To recognize the result of the election as the will of the people and therefore as the law.

(9) To continue to vote for a righteous although defeated cause as long as there is a reasonable hope of victory.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. What has been the origin of political rights?

2. How does the right of voting differ from a natural right? What is the policy of governments in reference to the suffrage?

3. What restrictions are placed on the State in the matter of granting suffrage?

4. State the qualifications which are usually placed upon the suffrage.

5. To what extent does female suffrage prevail in the United States? 6. What is the general rule in reference to the right of holding office? 7. In what sense is a voter an officer of government?

8. Enumerate the duties of a voter.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Examine the constitution of your State for answers to the following questions:

(1) What is the qualification of voters as to age? as to residence
— (a) in the State? (b) in the county? (c) in the election
district? as to sex? as to education? as to the possession of
property? as to citizenship? Can an alien vote in this
State?

(2) What special immunities have voters on election day?
(3) What persons are disqualified to vote in this State?

2. Are the qualifications and disqualifications mentioned in the State constitution all just and proper? If not, state where you would have changes made.

3. After careful thought state the arguments for and against an educational qualification for voting.

4. Discuss the subject of female suffrage from the standpoint (a) of justice, (b) of woman's fitness for voting, (c) of the effect upon politics, (d) of the effect upon woman herself.

5. Give the meaning of the following words: elector, resident, inhabitant, denizen, citizen, subject.

6. Would you vote for or against a bill that compelled citizens to vote? Give reasons for your answer. What proportion of the voting population of the United States voted at the last presidential election? 7. Of the duties of the voter mentioned in the last section which are the easiest to fulfil?

8. When you shall become qualified do you intend to vote? What personal advantage may you reap from voting? State the losses that society would sustain if you should be deprived of your right to vote.

9. What influence and considerations will probably determine your vote?

10. Suppose the people of an absolute monarchy enjoyed to the fullest extent all civil rights, would they profit any by having the political right granted to them?

11. What are the constitutional provisions in this State in reference to holding public office?

Topics for Special Work.-Political Rights: 1, 62–103. Suffrage and Elections: 5, 423-430. Qualifications for Voting: 25, 10-21. The Education of Voters: 30, 118-126. The Responsibility of Citizenship: 30, 126-128.

XV

A REVIEW

The Characteristic Features of American Government. The essentials of our political system have now been presented. If we will review the previous chapters and analyze their contents we shall find that the characteristic features of the American government may be indicated in the following propositions:

I. It is democratic. It is "of the people and by them and for them." In small matters and in great matters the wishes of the people are consulted and their will obeyed.

II. It is representative. In but few instances do we find the people governing as a pure democracy. They are content that the actual business of government shall be conducted by chosen officers.

III. Its powers are sharply separated and nicely balanced. The law-maker has his peculiar duties, and so has the executive and the judge. Each department acts independently of the others. One department may check another, but it may not control another or usurp its powers.

IV. It is constitutional. Public business is conducted and laws are enacted according to the plain provisions of a formal instrument. Officers of government swear to support the Constitution, and the people are under a solemn obligation not to violate it.

V. It is federal. Everywhere a central power administers the great affairs which pertain to the national welfare, while other affairs are left to be administered by the

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authority of the State. The federal relation is firmly established and clearly defined: the State and the federal government working together give us a Union which cannot be dissolved, and a State which cannot be destroyed.

VI. It is expansive. It is always extending the area of its influence. A community under the protection and authority of the Union is usually admitted as a State soon after it is prepared to govern itself in the American way. VII. It is decentralized as to local affairs. All power does not radiate from a central source. Large authority resides in the State as well as in the Union, and local selfgovernment lodges power in places still further removed from the centre.

VIII. It is conducted by political parties. The popular will is ascertained by the efforts of political organizations, and the organization that gets the most votes is deemed the rightful possessor of political power.

IX. It yields a full measure of civil liberty. The American people are the political heirs of all the ages. Collectively they are provided with every means of resisting tyranny and injustice, while the individual citizen enjoys all the civil and political rights that can be enjoyed consistently with the safety and welfare of society.

X. It rests upon the performance of individual duty. The more we study the American government the plainer this truth appears. We learned at the outset that the success of democracy depends upon the conduct of individuals, and in the examination of the various political contrivances by which our government is operated we have discovered no device for relieving the individual of a personal performance of political duty.

The American Spirit. Some one has said that in every high school and college there should be a "professor of America." There is just a little boastfulness in the utterance, yet it nevertheless contains a sane suggestion. One of the chief tasks of this "professor of America" would be to

train his pupils to distinguish between that which is American and that which is un-American. It should be confessed that as far as political matters are concerned such a training would be useful. It is good to be able to stamp instantly and unerringly a political act or movement or sentiment as American or as un-American.

The student ought at this point to be able to tell what is truly American and what is not. It is American to trust the people, to have implicit faith in their ability to govern themselves; it is un-American to be always carping at democracy and predicting its downfall. It is American to recognize the moral and legal equality of men and to cherish the feelings of universal brotherhood; it is unAmerican to foster the spirit of aristocracy or of class hatred. It is American to give power abundantly to leaders who have been elected at the polls, for such leaders are real representatives; it is un-American to submit tamely to the rule of a self-appointed "boss." To encourage and sustain a department of government when it is contending for its rights is American; to aid in increasing the power of a usurping department is not. To accomplish a political purpose by altering the Constitution in a formal, deliberate manner is American; to act in wanton disregard of constitutional restraint is not. It is American to exalt the Union, but it is un-American to belittle the State. It is American for the State authority to uphold and maintain justice and law and order, but it is un-American to give to the State government the management of affairs that are purely local. It is American to use the political party as a means of government, but to regard party as the end of government is un-American. To enjoy every right which belongs to a free and enlightened people is American, but it is un-American to insist upon a liberty that runs into license and riot.

By adhering to the American way we shall preserve the spirit of the American government, and the spirit of a government is as important as its form. "The letter kill

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