Civil Government in the United States Considered with Some Reference to Its OriginsFiske, John
History
Civil Government in the United States Considered with Some Reference to Its Origins
Fiske, John
United States -- Politics and government
a. The circular letter of Massachusetts in 1768.
b. Town committees of correspondence in Massachusetts in
1772.
c. Colonial committees of correspondence in 1773.
d. The habit established through these committees.
5. The Continental Congress:--
a. The immediate causes that led to it.
b. How it might have been temporary.
c. How it became permanent.
d. Its date, place of meeting, and duration.
e. Why "continental" as distinguished from "provincial?"
f. The nature and extent of its authority.
g. The states represented in it never fully sovereign.
6. Give an account of the "Articles of Confederation."
7. Distinguish between the Continental Congress and the
Federal.
8. The powers of the Continental Congress:--
a. Its homelessness and wandering.
b. Its delegates and their voting power.
c. Its presiding officer.
d. Its management of executive matters.
e. The finance committee and its problems.
f. The raising of money.
g. The compelling of obedience.
9. The Continental Congress not a sovereign body:--
a. The nature of real government.
b. Some functions of sovereignty exercised by the Congress.
c. The situation illogical.
10. Explain the "implied war powers" of the Congress.
11. When was the Congress at the height of its reputation, and
why?
12. Explain the decline in its reputation from 1778 to 1783.
13. The alarming weakness of the union after 1783:--
a. The effect of peace upon the union.
b. Local prejudices.
c. State antagonisms.
d. The gloomy outlook in 1786.
14. The Federal Convention in 1787:--
a. The reluctance to make the change that was felt to be needed.
b. Some facts about the Convention.
c. The character of its delegates.
d. The fundamental weakness of the Continental Congress.
e. The fundamental power of a strong government.
f. The objection to granting the power of taxation to the Continental
Congress.
g. The sort of assembly demanded for exercising the taxing power.
h. The model on which the federal government was built.
Section 2. _The Federal Congress._
[Sidenote: The House of Representatives.]
The federal House of Representatives is descended, through the state
houses of representatives, from the colonial assemblies. It is an
assembly representing the whole population of the country as if it were
all in one great state. It is composed of members chosen every other
year by the people of the states. Persons in any state who are qualified
to vote for state representatives are qualified to vote for federal
representatives. This arrangement left the power of regulating the
suffrage in the hands of the several states, where it still remains,
save for the restriction imposed in 1870 for the protection of the
southern freedmen. A candidate for election to the House of
Representatives must be twenty-five years old, must have been seven
years a citizen of the United States, and must be an inhabitant of the
state in which he is chosen.
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