Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/214

 The constitution vests the legislative power in a Congress, consisting of a House of Representatives, and a Senate, and the executive power in the President. The members of the House of Representatives are elected biennially by the people. Each State has at least one representative, and not more than one for every thirty thousand persons in it, and two Senators, who are elected by the State legislature, at intervals of six years, and are distributed into three classes, so that the seats of a third part of them are vacated biennially. The President, and Vice-President are elected for four years by the ballot of electors appointed by the legislatures of the States; the number of electors in each State being equal to that of the representatives and senators, whom the same state has a right to send to Congress.

Bills for raising revenue originate in the House of Representatives; and every bill that passes both {182} houses, must be presented to the President for his approbation. In the event of his disapproving of a bill, it must be returned to the house where it was originated, and if two-thirds of the members of both houses agree, on re-consideration, to pass it, then the bill becomes a law. The President is commander-in-chief of the army, navy, and militia, and may in certain cases, grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States. With the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate, he appoints ambassadors, and other public ministers, consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not provided for by the constitution; but the Congress has the power of making future laws for vesting appointments in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. The President may fill up vacancies in the Senate during recess, by grant