The Popular History Of England 8

Author : Charles Knight
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781333542733
Total Pages : 632 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (427 download)

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Download or read book The Popular History of England, Vol. 8 written by Charles Knight and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2016-09-09 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Popular History of England, Vol. 8: An Illustrated History of Society and Government From the Earliest Period to Our Own Times; From the Peace With the United States, 1815, to the Final Extinction of the Corn-Laws, Feb;, 1849 We now propose, as intimated in our previous volume, to review the progress of this unhappy war with the United States.' To render this narrative more intelligible, we shall take a brief view of the position of the Union at the period of the rupture with Great Britain, in June, 1812. The Federal government as then constituted, and as still subsisting, entered upon its functions in 1789. On the 21st of February, 1787, Congress had declared that it was unable to conduct the government under the articles of the first confederation of 1777. Each of the thirteen States had then its separate legislature, each being, in fact, an independent republic assuming, an absolute sovereignty. There was no sufficient central authority to act for the whole of the States as composing one nation. An assembly of fifty-five members, with Washington as its president, framed the second constitution, by which the authority is divided between the Federal government and the States. The object aimed at was, that each State should continue to govern itself in whatever concerned its internal affairs, but that the Union should represent one compact body, providing for the general exigencies of the people. The Constitution did not attempt to prescribe the government of the separate States, each of which had its own constitution. The nature and duties of the Federal government were defined with an exactness which shows how comprehensive was the prevision of the able men who drew up the articles which during a very long period maintained so many con icting interests in tolerable harmony. The Federal government was endowed with legislative, executive, and udicial powers. All legislative authority was vested in a Congress of the United States. Consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate was composed of two members from each State, whether large or small. The House of Representatives was composed of a varying number from each State, according to the amount of population. With the Congress abided the power of raising an army and navy, of declaring war, of making peace, of levying taxes for the common defence and welfare of the United States. The executive power was vested in an elective President of the United States, who, in some particulars, was to act under the advice and with the consent of the Senate. The judicial power of the Federal government was vested in one supreme court, in district courts, and in circuit courts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."