Government and Administration of the United States | Page 3

one in which the sovereign or ruler is possessed of supreme power and authority, and controls absolutely, without limitation or interference, all the powers of government. His word is law and requires not the sanction of the people. His commands are absolute and require not the formality of judicial procedure, and are not necessarily in conformity with existing laws. Implicit obedience to his commands, however arbitrary, may be demanded, and there is no appeal. These are, theoretically, the powers of the absolute monarch. Practically, however, he is constrained to keep within fair bounds of justice and good policy, lest his subjects be goaded to rebellion and revolution. The absolute form of monarchy exists to-day in the empires of Russia and Turkey.
#A Limited Monarchy.#--A limited monarchy is one in which the ruler, though at the head of the government, is not absolute, but is limited in his powers by the action of a body of men, selected by the people, who make the laws by which the nation is to be governed. The respective rights and powers of the sovereign and of the law-making body, are determined by a collection of rules, written or unwritten, collectively known as the constitution. The constitution contains the fundamental law of the land. All acts of the government to be valid, must be constitutional, that is to say, in conformity with the rules laid down in the constitution. For this reason limited monarchies are also known by the name of Constitutional Monarchies.
England is the most conspicuous example of a limited or constitutional monarchy. In consideration of our former connection with her, and the extent to which we have derived our ideas of government from her political institutions, it will be of great assistance to us if we stop for a moment to consider her government, before proceeding to a study of our own.
The sovereign of England is termed King or Queen. Originally possessed of almost absolute power, the English ruler, at the present day possesses very little actual power and influence, much less in fact than the people of the United States have entrusted to their President. The constitutional history of England is largely the narrative of the successive steps by which the people have wrested from royal hands and taken under their own control, the powers of government.
The rights of the English people in the participation of their own government are not contained in the written document, such as we possess in our constitution, but rest upon established custom and precedent, and various charters wrested from their kings.
The English Parliament, or, to speak more exactly, the lower branch of the Parliament, called the House of Commons, rules the English people. The Parliament or law-making branch of the English government, is divided into two houses, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The House of Lords is, as its name denotes, composed mainly of members of the noble families of England, who owe their seat in that body to the chance of birth. Theoretically possessed of powers of legislation equal to those exercised by the lower and more numerous branch (the Commons), the Lords have in reality but a small voice in the control of public affairs. The House of Commons is composed of members elected by the people. In this body reside almost all the powers of government. Its acts require the assent of the House of Lords and of the King, but this assent is almost wholly formal. The sphere of legislation allowed the English Parliament is unlimited, differing in this respect fundamentally from our Congress, which is limited in its legislative field by the Constitution. From the English Parliament is selected the "Cabinet" consisting of the principal executive officials, who guide the House in its legislation, and at the same time conduct the executive affairs of the nation. These ministers, as they are called, are appointed by the king from the party in the majority in the House of Commons. They are responsible to that body for all their actions, and retain their offices only so long as they retain the confidence and good will of the Commons.
#An Aristocracy.#--An aristocracy is a government in the hands of a select few, called the aristocracy, who transmit this authority to their children. There are to-day no aristocratic governments proper, though many nations exhibit aristocratic tendencies. In nearly all of the European countries, one branch, at least, of their legislatures is composed of members holding their seats on account of noble birth, thus admitting the aristocratic element into their governments.
#Democracy.#--A pure democracy is a government in which all the people rule directly, meeting in popular assemblies in which is determined by the votes of the majority how the government is to be administered. This form of government is obviously possible only in very