Lawrence High School - Lawrencian Yearbook (Falmouth, MA)

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Lawrence High School 11 THE UNITED STATES LEGISLATURE IN COMPARISON WITH THE FRENCH AND GERMAN LEGISLATURES I am going to compare the United States legislature with the legisla- tive, or law making, bodies of France and Germany to show why we should maintain our present democracy. The most important legislative feature of our democracy is the Congress, which is composed of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, both of which are elected by the people. The Sen- ate consists of two men from each state. As there are forty-eight states, there are ninety-six Sen- ators. The House of Representa- tives is the more numerous body of Congress. The Constitution di- rects Congress to reapportion the membership after each census, each state being entitled to at least one member. The Senate represents the Federal principle, because its mem- bers represent the states; and the House represents the National principle, because its members re- present the people. The President of the United States, also elected by the people, has only an advisory power over Congress. He may make any suggestion he wishes, but Con- gress acts as it decides itself. Upon turning to France, we find that France has patterned its legis- lature closely after ours. The French Assembly is its most important legislative feature. The Assembly consists of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. The Senate has three hundred members, and the Cham- ber of Deputies has about six hun- dred. The Senators are chosen in- directly by a small assembly of local government authorities, and the Deputies are chosen directly by the voters. The President of France is elected by the Assembly. He has much less power than our Presi- dent, as the real head of the gov- ernment is the prime minister. Next we turn to Germany. We find an altogether different situa- tion. The head of the legislature, as well as the other government bodies, is a dictator. He is aided by a Council, which is made up of the most able men that can be found in the empire. These men are not elected by the people but are appointed by the dictator. The man who acts as the dictator’s “right-hand” man is known as the minister of propaganda. The rea- son he is so important is that it is his duty to keep the minds of the German people in harmony with the dictator’s ideas and practices. He must also keep all matter that would prove to be harmful to the dictator’s policies out of Germany. The dictator’s method of ruling is based on three principles: (1) the people must think alike, (2) they must not disagree, and (3) they must do as they are told. This, the dictator believes, results in a peace- ful, strong government. When we compare the efficiency of these three governments, we see that the United States legislature is superior. The Assembly of France is woven together loosely, and its personnel changes frequent- ly. France is faced with many per- plexities. The people do not co- operate to make a compact govern- ment, they hold frequent strikes, and they can’t decide on their for-

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10 The Lawrencian of the Constitution were entirely free from personal opinions and were influenced only by the words con- tained in the Document. In the simplicity and clarity of his inter- pretations he convinced the Amer- ican people of the correctness of his deductions. He described the im- plications of the Constitution so completely and so forcefully that even today when lawyers desire to quote Constitutional law more often than not they will use the same w T ords that John Marshall used over one hundred and thirty years ago. The faith that many of us still have in the Constitution is perhaps made possible by these early interpreta- tions of Marshall. For the first eleven years after Marshall was ap- pointed Chief Justice his decisions were adopted by the Court in every important case. In those days the bench was composed, without ex- ception, of men with unquestioned ability, men with minds of their own, men who made their decisions and stuck by them. This acceptance of Marshall’s decisions was in itself a tribute to his great ability as an interpreter of the Constitution. The case of Dartmouth College against Woodward is typical of the way these first decisions of the Court built up around the Constitu- tion the code which is still followed today. Dartmouth College was foun- ded in 1739 under a charter givsn to its trustees by the King of England, but the people of the State of New Hampshire gave little thought to the college until after the Revolutionary War, when they realized that under the college charter, the State neither received taxes from the college nor did it have any control over the board of trustees. So, using its new legislative powers the State of New Hampshire passed a statute whereby the original charter of the college was revoked and a new board of trustees created by the State to take over the business of the college. However, in 1819 the members of the old board of trustees filed suit against Woodward, chairman of the new board, for the possession of the books and the papers of the school. After the case had been re- viewed by the lower courts, it was carried to the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court passed down a decision favoring Dartmouth Col- lege, another step establishing the supremacy of the Constitution had been taken. The decision in this case did not, of course, come directly from the Constitution. It was based on that clause which has to do with contracts, stating that the violation of the sanctity of contracts is un- constitutional. The Constitution does not say definitely that a State Gov- ernment may not revoke a college charter, but it does say quite defin- itely that no State may violate the sanctity of contracts. Here it was up to the judges of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution. This case is but one of many in which situations not specifically mentioned in the Constitution have been inter- preted by the Supreme Court. Today, as in its infancy, the suc- cess of the Constitution depends more on the Judiciary than on either of the other two branches of our Government. The choosing of a new judge for the Supreme Court bench is still an extremely important step, for in the hands of these judges rests the very life of the Constitu- tion. If we are t o assure the fur- ther success of the Constitution, we must make sure that the Supreme Court has the best judges the United States has to offer. Phyllis Wood.

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12 The Lawrencian eign policy. The dictatorship of Germany keeps the people from participating in the government. Germany allows no individual free- dom, drives out unpopular minori- ties, and strictly censors all print- ing. The United States legislature neither changes its personnel fre- quently nor forbids the participa- tion of the people in the govern- ment. The United States is faced with unemployment problems and the regulation of taxation. How- ever, these problems are not nearly as bad as those facing France and Germany. Also our legislative ar- rangement allows us steady progress by a fair representation from the people themselves. Thus after our comparison we can truly say: We should maintain our present democracy. Bernice Jones CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS Over a century and a half ago a remarkable group of very able men laid the foundation of the American commonwealth. Among these were George Washington, the greatest man of his time in the world; Benjamin Franklin, who came close to the level of Wash- ington; Patrick Henry, whose mas- terpieces of oratory still stir the soul; Thomas Jefferson, to whose genius we owe the inimitable De- claration of Independence; Thomas Paine; John Paul Jones; and Alex- ander Hamilton. These were not all, but simply the greatest in their special fields, and it is doubtful if the earth ever saw an abler group of statesmen than those to whom we owe the Constitution of the United States. These men, as- sembled in convention at Philadel- phia, organized a government con- sisting of executive, legislative, and judicial departments, each with all the power necessary to make it feared and respected. With this Constitution, the United States of America first came into existence, a strong, energetic, and capable nation, its government possessed of all the powers necessary to the full control of the States and full abil- ity to make itself respected abroad, its people possessed of all the civil rights then known or demanded. The most unique feature of our government is the Supreme Court. It is an independent court which is not responsible to anyone and which acts as a check on the laws passed by Congress, since it may de- clare them either constitutional or unconstitutional, as its justices see fit. Next in importance is the system of checks and balances by which the executive, legislative, and judi- cial departments of the government all act as checks on each other. The bicameral legislature and the President check each other, and the Supreme Court can check them both. The President’s power to veto bills and the power of Con- gress to override his veto and pass the law in spite of the veto are ex- amples of the check and balance system. One of the most recent amend- ments to the Constitution is the Sixteenth, which provides that Con- gress have the power to tax in- comes, from whatever source de-