[164] In the United States the members of the Senate are elected by the Legislatures of the States, one for each State, and sit for six years. The members of the House of Representatives are elected by popular vote of the electors, the number for each State being determined by its proportional population, and each sits for a fixed term of two years. It is true there are provisions in the constitution for checking his course, or for his impeachment, but in cases in which this has been attempted to be enforced the trial has lasted longer than his term. His appointment as chief of the nation having been the result of an election contest, the President represents not the whole people, but only the political party which happened to be in the majority at the time of his election. Being, then, the elected representative of a definite political party, his acts are expected by those who have elected him to be used towards continuing their party in power, and thus the person from time to time holding the position of President becomes a distinct vehicle for the exercise of party political warfare instead of being an impartial administrator. His veto being thus supreme, all legislation has to be conducted with a view to what will meet, or will not meet, the personal views of the President, as has been most plainly shown in the framing of Tariffs for Customs and Taxation. This written constitution of the United States, admirable though it may have been thought at the time, and an improvement upon the then existing state of things, was born over a century ago, in the times of autocratic government, and though thus out of date, it has remained ever since practically unchanged; in fact, with the exception of the amendment respecting slavery, it is identically the same.