14. The general American doctrine is of the separation of delegated powers, and is commonly set forth in State constitutions.[35] Such separation of powers is not expressly declared in the Constitution of the United States; the principle here is of limitation no further than is necessary for the protection of each department of government. Fundamentally it is a question of functions. Whatsoever authority is necessary and proper for a department of government to exercise, belongs to that department. The separation of powers,—legislative, executive, judicial,—is a matter of agreement or convention made by the sovereign. Government is a _unit_, not a tripartite machine or device. But in order to administer government, and make it, as the business man would say, “a going concern,” it is conceived and organized into departments. Sovereignty in America vests legislative power, so far as the people of the United States have delegated that power,—in Congress. The Constitution does not specify all the powers so delegated. Such specification is impossible. Such specification “could scarcely be embraced by the human mind”; its details “would partake of the prolixity of a legal code.”[36] The practical procedure is followed in the Constitution of selecting general—that is, large, comprehensive powers, or groups of powers, and authorizing Congress to exercise them. As a matter of practical government, had the American people chosen to declare in the Constitution that Congress shall have power to make all laws necessary and proper for the government of the United States, the grant would be essentially the same as that made by naming the powers of Congress in that instrument. The powers delegated to Congress are mentioned chiefly in the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution. In other parts of the same article other powers of Congress are declared, such as the power of each House over its members; to choose a presiding officer; the power of the Representatives to impeach; of the Senators to convict,—or try impeachments, and the respective powers of the Houses, under some circumstances, to elect a Vice-President, or a President,—and other powers, as of proposing amendments.[37]