few very small isles in the Pacific Ocean: Baker, Howland, Midway, Wake, and others, all practically uninhabited, hence requiring no government. The Canal Zone. By an act of 1912, the zone of land five miles on each side of the center line of the route of the Panama Canal, excluding the cities of Panama and Colon, is designated as the Canal Zone. Congress authorized the President to discontinue the commission by which the zone was formerly governed whenever he should deem it advisable; accordingly, this was done in 1914. Instead of the commission, the control is now vested by the President in a civil governor, a court elsewhere mentioned, and such other persons as the President may designate. The cities of Colon and Panama, while still belonging to the state of Panama, are under the complete jurisdiction of the United States as far as sanitation and quarantine are concerned. The United States acquired the Canal Zone from the Republic of Panama by treaty upon the payment of $10,000,000 and the further payment, beginning 1913, of $250,000 a year forever. Guam. This is really only a naval station, the island having only two hundred square miles. The commandant of the naval station is also, by appointment of the President, governor of the island. In 1908 the population was 11,490. Samoa. Great Britain, Germany, and the United States formerly had a tripartite government over the Samoa Isles; but this was dissolved in 1900. By the treaty then agreed to the United States secured three small isles, the only important one being Tutuila, which has a good harbor and contains fifty-four square miles. It is a naval station, presided over by a commandant who is appointed by the President, and who also acts as governor. Cuba. The island of Cuba does not belong to the United States, but there is practically an American protectorate over it. The United States has promised she would not annex the island, but in turn required Cuba to agree to no treaties with foreign nations endangering her independence, to contract no debts for which she had no probable revenues, to concede the right of American intervention, and to grant the United States naval stations upon the island. Cuba agreed to these demands in 1901. In 1906 a rebellion broke out and the United States took possession of the island until January, 1909. Since that date Cuba has managed her own affairs. LIBRARY REFERENCES Bryce: The American Commonwealth, I (3d ed.), 350-358; 578-588. Callender: Economic History of the United States, 666-692. Channing: Students' History of the United States, rev. ed. (See index.) Fish: The Development of American Nationality, ch. XXVII. Fiske: Critical Period, ch. V. Forman: Advanced Civics, 184-193. Garner: Government in the United States, ch. XIX. Guitteau: Government and Politics, ch. XXXIII. Hart: Actual Government, ch. XVIII. Hart: Essentials in American History, 180-183; 191-193; 332335; 551-563. James and Sanford, Government in State and Nation, rev. ed., ch. XXVIII. McLaughlin: The American Nation, rev. ed. (See index.) Source Material and Supplementary Aids. - Copies of acts pertaining to the government of Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. Reports of the general land office. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. Why was so much territory ceded to the general government during, and soon following, the Revolution? 2. Describe the method of surveying used in the West. 3. By what methods has foreign territory been added to the United States? 4. What was meant by conservation of resources? 5. Explain how a territory ordinarily becomes a state. 6. What is the status of our insular possessions and of Alaska? Why forbid citizenship to the insular possessions? 7. Why have Americans been largely managing the government of Porto Rico and the Philippines? QUESTIONS FOR DEBATE Resolved, That full citizenship should be granted to Porto Ricans and the Filipinos. Resolved, That the United States should sell or turn over the Philippines to the people of the islands. CHAPTER XVI THE SUPREMACY AND RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION Article V, dealing wholly with the amending of the Constitution, logically belongs last in the discussion and will be noted in the next chapter with the amendments. I. DEBTS CONTRACTED PREVIOUS TO THE CONSTITUTION Article VI, Clause 1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. Debts of the Confederation. The nation was born before the Constitution was written. A government had been organized, and it sought to form a more perfect union and government through the operation of the Continental Congress and the government organized under the Articles of Confederation. This clause makes the federal government under the new Constitution assume all the debts and engagements entered into by the Confederation. Our forefathers thus set the seal of disapproval upon the repudiation of debts and inculcated a deep moral obligation. II. THE SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION Article VI, Clause 2. -This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. The Supreme Law of the Land. The plan of a republic gives the people the power to make the supreme law, which becomes the authority for the enactment of any federal laws, and likewise the authority for making treaties with foreign nations. Each state had equal power in the making of the organic law of the land, hence it is only right that each should fully recognize the sovereign demands and requirements of the supreme law which governs all the states. This clause declares that the Constitution, and the laws and treaties arising thereunder, shall be the supreme law of the land; and that the judges of each state shall be bound thereby regardless of the state constitution and laws. This clause establishes the sovereignty of the nation, and makes it the duty of the judges of a state to declare null and void any state law in conflict with the supreme law of the land. Comparatively few laws of Congress, only twenty-one, have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Nullification of a federal statute by a state has been tried only a few times, and the cases occurred prior to the Civil War. It must be clear that a treaty of the nation with a foreign power is part of this supreme law, and hence that no state may abrogate it. III. OATH OF OFFICE Article VI, Clause 3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. |