since freight could not be profitably transported up stream. The methods used to transport the freight down stream were of the crudest kind. The most common carrier was the flatboat, rudely constructed from timber and without any other propelling force than the current of the river. After it had carried its load to the New Orleans market it was broken up for lumber or deserted. In 1812 the first steamboat was placed upon the river, and with the improvements that rapidly followed in steam navigation, the up-stream traffic also became large. In 1820 the upward movement of freight on the Mississippi amounted to about 100,000 tons, of which 33,300 tons were carried by steamers, and the remainder by barges, etc. In 1845, 2050 steamboats and 346 keel and flat boats arrived at Saint Louis, of which 250 were from New Orleans, 406 from the Ohio, including the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, 298 from the Illinois River, 643 from the Mississippi above the Missouri, 249 from the Missouri River. and 204 from other ports. The arrivals at Saint Paul increased from 41 in 1844 to 846 in 1856. The years 1840 to 1859 constituted the palmy days of Mississippi navigation. Since then, over the greater part of the Mississippi Valley, the railroad has obtained most of the passenger traffic and most of the freight, except bulky products, chiefly coal and lumber. In 1900 the coal carried amounted to 8,539,224 tons, its movement being almost wholly upon the Ohio and its tributaries. The lumber and forest product carried in that year amounted to 9,300,641 tons, which were well distributed between the different tributaries and the main stream. In recent years the bulk of the traffic has been carried on barges towed by steamers.
Banking. See Bank, Banking.
Government—National. The outline of the national government is found in the Constitution framed in 1787 (see Constitution) and various acts of Congress passed in pursuance thereof. In structure and character it is a representative, federal, coördinated, elective, congressional government. Its representative character consists in the fact that the organization of the State is separate and distinct from that of the Government. It is federal in that it is part of a dual system under a common sovereignty. The distribution of the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the central Government, among separate and distinct organs, contributes the feature of coördination. The popular choice of the executive and law-making branches makes the Government substantially elective, while the independence of the executive as over against the legislative makes the system congressional rather than ministerial in method of action. In distributing the powers of government the framers of the Constitution followed Colonial and English precedent, and confided to separate and distinct organs the exercise of those functions which were legislative in character, those which were executive, and those which were judicial. The investment of the President with the power to recommend to the legislative department the enactment of laws, the right of a qualified veto on its acts and resolutions, and the right of the lower branch of the legislature to impeach and the right of the upper branch to try all officers of the United States for certain offenses, are well-known exceptions to the general principle of the separation of powers. The same may be said of the power confided to the upper branch of the legislature to participate with the executive in the appointment of officers and the negotiation of treaties with foreign countries.
For the Constitution, see Constitution of the United States; Constitutional Law; Federal Government.
For the legislative branch, see Congress; Parliamentary Law; Legislature; Legislation; Representation; Senate; Speaker; Committee; Quorum, etc.
For the executive branch, see President; Electoral College; Cabinet; State, Department of; Treasury, Department of, etc.
For the judicial branch, see Supreme Court of the United States; Court.
Congress. The origin of the national legislature is to be found in the so-called Second Continental Congress of 1775—a revolutionary body which was called to deliberate upon the state of public affairs growing out of the dispute with Great Britain, and which, with the acquiescence of the people, assumed plenary powers of government and the management of the war. Although its powers were undefined (there being no written constitution), the Congress exercised many of the usual functions of sovereign governments, among which may be mentioned the organization of a diplomatic service and the conclusion of treaties with foreign States; the regulation of commerce; the raising and equipment of armies; the establishment of a post-office; the creation of a national currency, etc. Delegates were usually appointed by popular conventions or legislatures, the Congress was organized in one chamber, and the States enjoyed equality of representation. The Articles of Confederation ratified in 1781 changed the basis of the Congress from a revolutionary assembly to a constitutional body, and undertook to define its powers and regulate its constitution. The principle of equality of representation and the unicameral form of organization were, however, continued; besides, its efficiency as a national legislature was impaired by other unwise provisions. It did not possess the power of taxation, nor did its commands operate upon individuals, but rather upon States which could not be coerced. A few years' experience showed that it was unequal to the task of a national legislature, and when the constitutional convention of 1787 came to deliberate upon the structure and powers of Congress it was practically unanimous in favor of the bicameral organization and of vesting Congress with more adequate powers. The troublesome question of representation was settled by an arrangement which protected the small States by giving them equality of representation in one chamber, and the large States by proportional representation in the other.
Congress was given adequate power over the source of the national revenue, besides other powers inherent in a national legislature. All its powers were enumerated by the Constitution, while a number of express prohibitions were inserted in behalf of individual liberty. Lest an express enumeration of its powers might operate to deprive it of discretion in choosing the appropriate means of carrying into execution the powers granted, a so-called ‘elastic clause’ was
