Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 22.pdf/262

 Reviews of Books THE AMERICAN PO LITY Readings in American Government and Politics. By Charles A. Beard. Ph. D.. Adjunct Professor of Politics in Columbia University, The Macmillian Co.,) New York. Pp. xxiii, 620+index 4. ($1.90 not.

Readings on American Federal Government. Edited by Paul S. Reinsch. Professor of Political Science in the University of Wisconsin. Ginn &

Co., Boston, paid.)

Pp. xii, 8 5+index 4.

($2.95. post

The American Executive and Executive Methods By ohn H. Finley, President of the College of the ity of New York, and John F. Sanderson, of the Pennsylvania bar. Century Co., New York. Pp. 328+appendix 14 and index 6. (81.25 net.) The Philoso by of the Federal Constitution By Henry C. ughes, Neale Publishing Co., New York and Washington. Pp. 164, no index. (81.50.)

logical and complete exposition of the American Constitution is a desideratum. The writer who is to achieve this will have to utilize contributions from a great variety of sources, but the result will need to be more than merely a reproduction of the opinions of previous writers. Our Constitution is by no means so simple in its nature as to be com prehensible without the aid of a keen ana lytical commentary. To begin with, no complete account of the Constitution can omit reference to the epoch-making decisions of the Supreme Court. It is a favorite as sumption that we have in this country only a written Constitution, but the nature of con

stitutional law, as has been frequently pointed out, depends less upon its source than upon its content. While it is convenient to use the word Constitution as signifying the written document, it is idle to try to force any technical distinction between the Con stitution and constitutional law. There is, then, an unwritten law of the Constitution, notwithstanding the validity of a distinction based upon a lower grade of formal solemnity and of enduring stability. Even then, however, when the student of the Constitutionincludes within his investigation its unwritten law, he has given no attention to its real founda tions in the structure and habits of Ameri can society. Underlying the formal Consti tution of law is the real political and social constitution to which the lawyer cannot be utterly indifferent, though he may treat it as of subordinate importance from the juristic standpoint.

Professor Beard has compiled a volume which, while it does not aim to include a complete presentation of the constitutional law of the federal and state governments, nevertheless sets forth leading principles in a satisfactory way. The scope of the book is broad. It begins with the Colonial period, and the historical development of the struct ure and modus operandi of the American polity is traced in the ﬁrst seven chapters, serving as an introduction to an exposition to the principles of the federal government in Part II, and those of state government in Part III. In the historical portion the selections give a most readable account of the establishment of an independent nation, the adoption of the Constitution, the method by which it has been amended and expanded, and the development of political issues and of party machinery. Part I will be valued as an interesting epitome of leading phases of American history. In the second part, the topics treated include the distribution of powers in the federal government, the mode of choosing the President, his powers, the practical workings of the administration, Congress, its powers.

its practice, the federal judiciary, foreign aﬁairs, national defense, taxation and ﬁnance, commerce, national resources, and the terri

tories. It may readily be seen how sym metrical and comprehensive a portrayal of the political institutions of the United States is given. In the third part state government receives an equally well-balanced treatment. The completeness of the selection is marred only by the omission of a chapter dealing with the general relations of the federal and state powers. The Nulliﬁcation theory still survives in some quarters, and the inde structibility of the Union might well have been dealt with by extracts from a literature of much signiﬁcance, including opinions of the United States Supreme Court. The readings have been selected from public records, reports of debates, the Feder alist, Congressional documents, opinions of the Supreme Court, writings and speeches of eminent statesmen and jurists, statutes of

the nation and the states, and, to a more restricted extent, the articles of specially