7221 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by HENRY FLANDERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 19099 PREFACE. No argument would seem to be necessary to prove the importance to the citizens of the United States of an accurate knowledge of the theory and practical character of the Federal Constitution. Either directly or indirectly they participate in the administration of the government which that Constitution has instituted, and surely they should be well grounded in the principles upon which it is founded. It has been the endeavor of the author in the following pages to supply a convenient manual of instruction to the youth of our country; to make clear and intelligible to the unprofessional reader the fundamental law of our Federative system of government; and at the same time to produce a work which might also be useful to the bar. In preparing it, he has sought to set forth the reasons upon which each clause of the Constitution rests, as well as the interpretation that has been given to it by the authoritative exposition of the courts, (and so far as practicable, in the precise language of the courts), or by the well-established practice of the government. |