Page:Back to the Republic.djvu/58

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Chapter V

THE CONSTITUTION

MANY books have been written upon the Constitution and many eloquent and deserved tributes have been paid to it; but there have been comparatively few brief, clear, accurate statements telling just what the Constitution is and what it contains.

Many have come to regard the wording, the style and the tradition of the Constitution as almost sacred, but to my mind the most sacred thing about the Constitution is that it embraces just four elements: (1) An executive and (2) a legislative body, who, working together in a representative capacity, have all power of appointment, all power of legislation, all power to raise and expend money, and who are required to do just two things: (3) to create a judiciary to pass upon the justice and legality of their governmental acts and (4) to recognize certain inherent individual rights.

It has been the general custom of writers to divide our government into three departments,

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