in which it
may fail.

During what time has the president the equivalent of an absolute veto?

Does a resolution merely expressing an _opinion_ of either or both houses
need the president's signature? Does a resolution proposing an amendment
to the constitution?

Is the president bound to enforce a law passed over his veto?

_A Summary._

"We have now completed the review of the structure and organization of the
legislative department; and it has been shown that it is admirably adapted
for a wholesome and upright exercise of the powers confided to it. All the
checks which human ingenuity has been able to devise, or at least all
which, with reference to our habits, our institutions, and our diversities
of local interests, to give perfect operation to the machinery, to adjust
its movements, to prevent its eccentricities, and to balance its forces:
all these have been introduced, with singular skill, ingenuity and wisdom,
into the arrangements. Yet, after all, the fabric may fall; for the work
of man is perishable. Nay, it must fall, if there be not that vital spirit
in the people, which alone can nourish, sustain and direct all its
movements. If ever the day shall arrive, in which the best talents and the
best virtues, shall be driven from office by intrigue or corruption, by
the denunciations of the press or by the persecution of party factions,
legislation will cease to be national. It will be wise by accident, and
bad by system." [Footnote: Story's Exposition of the Constitution of the
United States.]

_Review._

Compare the organization of congress under the constitution with that of
congress under the confederation. Show the superiority of our present
organization. Specify some of the "checks" referred to by Judge Story.

Read Woodrow Wilson's Congressional Government, pp. 40, 41, 52, 219, 228,
283-5, 311. Also, Among the Lawmakers, Chapter 33.

CHAPTER XXII.

SECTION VIII.--POWERS VESTED IN CONGRESS.

_Clause 1.--Taxation._

_Congress shall have power:_

_To lay and collect taxes[1], duties, imposts and excises, to pay the
debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United
States;[2] but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout
the United States.[3]_

For discussion of methods of taxation, see page 316.

[1] The want of power in congress to impose taxes was, perhaps, the
greatest defect of the articles of confederation; therefore in the
cons