The beneficent features of the instrument were so manifest that its adoption soon followed. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire ratified it, and, being the ninth State, its provisions became operative throughout the Union. North Carolina and Rhode Island did not assent, and the Constitution went into effect without their vote. These two States had issued a good deal of paper money, and disliked the Constitution because it forbade such action. The opposition of the other States was caused by the fear that too much power was conferred upon the central government. To remove this not wholly unreasonable objection, the first ten amendments were adopted and ratified in 1791. FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION. The Constitution supplied the great requirement without which the government itself would have been a nullity: the power to act supplanted the power simply to advise. The government consists of three departments: a legislative or Congress, which makes the laws; an executive department, consisting of the President and his officers, to execute the laws made by Congress; and a judiciary department (the Federal courts), which decides disputed questions under the laws. The Constitution is our supreme law and must be obeyed by the general government, the State governments, and the people; if not, the general government punishes the offender. Congress, or the legislative department, consists of two branches, the Senate and House of Representatives. Each State, no matter what its population, is entitled to two Senators, who serve for six years and are elected by the respective State Legislatures; the Representatives are apportioned according to the population, are voted for directly by the people, and serve for two years. In this admirable manner, each State is protected by its Senators against any encroachment upon its rights, while the populous States receive the recognition to which they are entitled through the House of Representatives. Congress, the two branches acting together, lay taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, coin money, establish post offices, declare war, raise and support armies and navies, and employ militia to suppress insurrections. All States are forbidden to do any of these things, except to impose their own taxes, borrow for themselves, and employ their own militia. A majority of each house is enough to pass any bill, unless the President within ten days thereafter vetoes the act (that is, objects to it), when a two-thirds vote of each branch is necessary to make it a law. Treaties made by the President do not go into effect until approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. [Illustration: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.]