ration and Perpetual Union" as
long as the war lasted, but as soon as peace was proclaimed it was, as
Washington said, no better than anarchy. The famous Convention of 1787
was therefore held, and the Constitution was drawn up. One guiding
principle of its framers was to divide power so as to place checks on
the will of the people, and on outbursts of popular passion, which were
then greatly dreaded. One means of attaining this object was the
attempted separation of the legislative and executive functions. We say
attempted advisedly, for time has but shown that the two are
inseparable. But the framers of the Constitution divided the legislative
function between the two Houses, and vested the executive function
almost entirely, as they thought, in the President. Montesquieu, in his
"_Esprit des Lois_" had laid down that the great merit of the English
Constitution was the separation of these functions, and the Americans
accepted this view. But, in truth, the English cabinet system had not
then been fully developed. The King was still, not only in appearance,
but to some extent also in fact, the head of the executive, and there
was nothing to indicate that ministers were so soon to become the real
leaders.

The effect of this provision was a struggle between the two branches for
supremacy, and the legislatures have won. The President has been
degraded to a mere agent, and the legislatures have absorbed the greater
part of executive functions, even to the control of finance. Now, the
framers of the Constitution were apprehensive that the President might
become a mere party agent, and they tried to strengthen his position by
two devices. First, they gave him the power to veto statutes unless
overruled by a two-thirds majority of Congress; and, secondly, they
provided for his election by an electoral college, or by a double system
of election. This second provision was designed to ensure the election
of a President for personal instead of for party reasons; but it has
proved a complete failure. Almost from the first the electoral delegates
have had to pledge themselves to support the party nominee. The veto,
therefore, has also become practically useless. Thus it has come about
that Congress is a body entirely without leaders.

A second defect in the Constitution was that it said nothing about the
right of any State to withdraw from the Union. After nearly 70 years
this omission was responsible for the Civil War. The legal b