Problems in American Democracy

the popular sense of the term, simply as a democracy. Now, to point out that a government is democratic does not necessarily mean that it is a sound government. Granting that self-government is

characteristics of American constitutional government. When this background has been secured we shall be in a position to begin a detailed st

t levy taxes, but the Congress of the United States has adequate powers in this regard. There can be no recurrence of one of the chief financial troubles of the Revolutionary period, for at the present time the several states may neither coin money nor emit bills of credit. The Federal government has exclusive control of

balance system. By this system we mean all those constitutional provisions which divide and subdivide governmental power

the Federal government. Second, in both Federal and state governments, power is still further distributed among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches in such a way that each branch constitutes a check upon the other two. Third, in both Federal and state governments there is a division of power within each of the three branches of government. Thus both t

rom the danger of anarchy, for though ultimate control is vested in the people, sufficient powers are entrusted to the governmental mechanism to protect it against popular passion. The system likewise protects us against despotism. So long as the Constitution endures, neither

spotism or to anarchy. Within the last century many Latin-American republics have modeled their governments after ours, and yet some of these republics are constantly threatened by either revolution or despotism. The explanation of this, according to Elihu Root, is that these republics have adapted our check and bala

cherished by the American colonists, and in 1791 they formed the basis of the first ten Amendments to the Federal Constitution. Provisions similarly designed to safeguard individual rights are found in the constitution of every state in the Union. [Footnote: For an enumeration of these rights, see the first ten Ame

s since widened to include the great majority of adults, both male and female. Elections are frequent, so that ill-chosen officials may not long abuse their position. The Initiative, the Referendum and the Recall are methods of popular control which in many sections are spreading. Constitutional amendment in the United States is not easy; on

nments on the one hand, and between state and local governments on the other,

deral functions. The separation of Federal and state functions is not always clear, but such matters as contracts, property rights, crime, and education are probably best administered by the state. There is, similarly, no sharp dividin

the three sets of officials tends to concern itself with those matters with wh

has resulted in a decentralized rather than in a centralized form of government. It is equally true that the quarrel over states' rights was the fundamental cause of the Civil War. But that war settled

by the temporary dictatorship wielded by President Wilson during the World War. In both cases, the national executive became, for the period of the emergency, as powerful and as efficient as the executive of a hi

because in spite of the defects of American government, a feeling of buoyancy and optimism is characteristic of our political institutions. America might also be called the land of Sane Endeavor, for we lend force and justification to our optimism by consistently working for the attainment of our ideals. To improve every condition of American life, and yet to work in harmony with the principles o

NS ON T

s the fate of a

rnment with the strength of the government e

k and balance syste

balance system renders A

e of the Latin-American republics which

ghts of the individual under Ame

merican government sub

de for a solid foundation for the eco

bring against American government? Has history

racy with a monarchy with resp

of Hope? To what extent may it proper

as to the only true sov

RED R

ings in American De

f the fo

Government and Poli

n Commonwealth, vol.

er, Democracy in Recon

Government and Citiz

N THE REQUI

ctrine of limited governme

itutional limitations upon the Feder

he judiciary in American gove

epublics of Greece and Rome towar

with the "Anglo-Saxon id

titution be a written document? (C

he constitutional guarantees of per

lar writers generally attributed to democ

lts attributable to American de

r government to develop great

INVESTIGATI

ember, or with which you are familiar. To what extent doe

how differences in term and differences in the method of choosing them.

tion of your state. Compare this list with similar lists made from the constitutions of

e constitution of your

state, and which Federal? Do you believe that any of these functions could be more advantageously

(Tufts, The Real Business

onal system. (Beard, Readings in America

s in the United States. (Guitteau, Government a

rnment. (Bryce, Modern Democr

ern Democracies, vol. ii, chapter lxiii. See

owers. (Beard, Readings in American G

(Beard, Readings in American Gover

y. (Bryce, Modern Democra

y. (Bryce, Modern Democrac

European systems of government. (Bryce, The

ther democratic governments. (Bryce, Mod

ic forms of government. (Bryce, Modern

racy in the World War. (West, Th