§ 3. The constitution provides that "no state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.

"No state shall, without the consent of congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of congress. No state shall, without the consent of congress, lay any duty on tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war, in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay."

$4. At the head of the executive branch of the federal government is placed the president, who, together with the vice-president, is elected as follows:

5. Each state appoints, in such manner as its legislature may direct*, a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives which that state sends to congress, according to the existing apportionment. The appointment or election of electors must take place within 34 days preceding the first Wednesday in December previous to the expiration of the term for which the former president was elected, on which first Wednesday the electors must meet and give their votes at such place in each state as its legislature shall direct. The votes must be by ballot, and must state distinctly the persons voted for as president and vice-president, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with the electors. After voting, the electors must make out and sign three certificates of all the votes by them given, and annex to each a list of their names, certified by the executive of the state. They must then

* The electors are variously chosen in the different states: in some the state is divided into election districts for the purpose; in others they are elected by a general ticket; and in some of the states they are chosen by the legislature, In the 2d session of the 12th congress, resolutions were submitted to both houses proposing an amendment to the constitution, providing that each state should be divided by its legislature into a number of districts equal to the number of electors to which it might be entitled, which should not be altered unless a new apportionment should alter the number of electors for the state. This resolutioned in the senate, but no order was taken upon it in the house of repre.

seal up the certificates, certifying on each that it contains a list of the votes of the state of. for president and vice-president, forward two of them to the president of the senate, one forthwith by the post-office, the other by a person appointed to take charge of and deliver it, by a writing under the hands of a majority of them; the third certificate they must cause forthwith to be delivered to the judge of the district in which they assembled. In case of the absence of the president of the senate from the seat of government on the arrival of the certificates, they must be delivered into the office of the secretary of state, there to be safely kept, and delivered over as soon as may be to the president of the senate. The messenger employed by the electors is allowed by the general government 25 cents for every mile from the place of meeting of the electors to the city of Washington. If a list of the votes from any state shall not have been received at the seat of government on the first Wednesday in January following the election, the secretary of state must send a special messenger to the district judge for the list which had been lodged with him.

In

Congress must always be in session on the second Wednesday in February succeeding the meeting of the electors, on which day the president of the senate, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, opens all the certificates that have been received, and the votes are then counted: the person having the greatest number of votes for president being the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors; if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as president, the house of representatives immediately choose the president, by ballot. making this choice the votes are taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose consists of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states is necessary to a choice. If the house of representatives do not choose a president, when the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the following 4th of March, the vice-president then acts as president, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the president. If no person have a majority of the whole of the votes for vice-president, the senate choose that officer from the two highest numbers on the list: a quorum for that purpose consists of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number is necessary to a choice.

$6. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the constitution, is eligible to either of the offices of president or vice-president. These officers must likewise be 35 years of age, and have resided 14 years within the United States.

§ 7. The term for which the president and vice-president is elected is four years.

§ 8. The salary of the president, which cannot be increased or diminished during the period for which he is elected, is 25,000 dollars per annum, with the use of the furniture and other effects in the president's house; that of the vice-president is 5000 dollars per annum; both payable quarterly, at the treasury.

9. The president is commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States. He may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officers in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices: and he may grant reprieves and pardons, for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

By and with the advice and consent of the senate, he may make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur; and nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, judges of the federal courts, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. But the congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. All the officers of the United States are commissioned by the president.

The president is authorized to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate, by granting commissions, which expire at the end of their next session.

It is the duty of the president, from time to time, to lay before congress information of the state of the union; and to recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses or either of them; and, in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper. He receives ambassadors and other public ministers.

It is also the duty of the president to take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and whenever, from the prevalence of contagious sickness, or the existence of other circumstances, it

would, in the opinion of the president, be hazardous to the lives or health of the members to meet at the place to which the congress then stand adjourned, or at which it shall be next by law to meet, the president is authorized to convene them by proclamation, at such other place as he may judge proper.

10. In case of the removal of the president from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge its powers and duties, the vice-president shall act as president; and in case of removal, &c. both of the president and vice-president, the president of the senate pro tempore, and in case there shall be no president of the senate, then the speaker of the house of representatives, for the time being, shall act as president, until the disability be removed or a president shall be elected.

Whenever the offices of president and vice-president shall both become vacant, the secretary of state shall forthwith cause a notification thereof to be made to the executive of every state, and shall also cause the same to be published in at least one of the newspapers printed in each state, specifying that electors of the president of the United States shall be appointed or chosen in the several states within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December then next ensuing, provided there be the space of two months between the date of such notification and the said first Wednesday in December; but if there shall not be the space of two months, and if the term for which the president and vice-president last in office were elected shall not expire on the 3d day of March next ensuing, then the secretary of state shall specify in the notification that the electors shall be appointed or chosen within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December in the year next ensuing, within which time the electors shall accordingly be appointed or chosen, and the electors shall meet and give their votes on the first Wednesday in December, in the manner above mentioned.

The only evidence of a refusal to accept, or of a resignation of the office of president or vice-president, is an instrument in writing declaring the same, and subscribed by the person refusing to accept or resigning, as the case may be, and delivered into the office of the secretary of state.

11. There are four executive departments at the seat of government, viz. the department of state, the treasury department, the war department, and the navy department.

12. The principal officer in the department of state, which was formerly denominated the department of foreign affairs, is the secretary of state.

13. The salary of the secretary is five thousand dollars. The appropriation for the clerks and other persons employed in

the department for the year 1813, including the patent office, was $11,555 54.

§ 14. The business transacted in this department, which must be conducted agreeably to the instructions of the president, is the execution of such duties as may be intrusted to it by the president, agreeably to the constitution, relative to correspondences, commissions, or instructions to or with public ministers or consuls, from the United States, or to negociations with public ministers from foreign states or princes, or to memorials or other applications from foreign public ministers or other foreigners, or to such other matters respecting foreign affairs, as the president may assign to the department.

The originals of all the laws, orders, resolutions, or votes of congress are preserved in this department; they are also recorded there in books kept for that purpose. It is the duty of the secretary to cause to be printed, at the end of each session of congress, 10,000 copies of all the acts passed during the session, together with any treaties that may have been made or promulged since the laws of the preceding session were printed; and likewise to cause them to be published in the newspapers, not exceeding three in each state. It is likewise the duty of the secretary to procure and keep in his office all the statutes of the several states.

The seal of the United States is kept by the secretary, and affixed by him to all commissions to officers appointed by the president. There is a seal of office in the department, for authenticating copies of records and papers in the office.

§ 15. Attached to the department is a patent-office, in which are recorded the claims of persons to the exclusive right to use inventions and new discoveries, vested in the discoverer by law. Models and drawings of the inventions, where practicable, are likewise deposited in the office. Copies of the books, prints, charts, maps, &c. for which copy-rights are obtained, are also deposited here. Neither the patent nor the certificate of copyright confer rights, where just claims do not exist; they are merely an evidence of the claim to such rights; and on a suit for a breach of such patent or copy-right, the defendant may show that the right does not vest in the plaintiff. In the year 1812, the whole number of patents issued amounted to 237, having produced a revenue to the United States of 7110 dollars, the fee for each patent being 30 dollars.

* When appointments by the president are mentioned, "by and with the advice and consent of the senate" must generally be understood, that being ne. cessary for the appointment of all officers, excepting a few of inferior grade.