government as
would "protect the minority of the opulent against the majority."[111]
This was the purpose of the system of checks by which they sought to
give the former a veto on the acts of the latter. In thus depriving the
masses of the power to advance their interests through combination, they
thought that the organization of a political party representing the many
as opposed to the few would be discouraged. On the other hand, the few
while co-operating for a common purpose, could best accomplish it
without any visible party organization or any appearance of concerted
action. Hence the Constitution as originally adopted made no provision
for the party candidate.

In view of the fact that the Constitution was intended to limit the
power of the majority, it is perfectly natural that it should have
attempted to assign to the popular branch of the government a position
of minor importance. This was, of course, in direct opposition to what
had been the uniform tendency during the Revolutionary period in the
various states. In the latter the lower house had been raised to
coordinate rank with the upper and in Massachusetts, Gerry tells us, the
people were for abolishing the senate and giving all the powers of
government to the other branch of the legislature.[112]

In the Federal Constitution we see a strong reaction against this policy
of enlarging the authority of the lower, and what was assumed to be the
more popular branch of the legislative body. The House of
Representatives was, it is true, given equal power with the Senate in
the matter of ordinary legislation. But here its equality ends. The
treaty-making and the appointing power were given to the President and
Senate, where, it was thought, they would be safe from popular
interference. The effect of this was to make the influence of these two
branches of the government greatly preponderate over that of the
directly elected House. Through the treaty-making power the President
and Senate could in a most important sense legislate without the consent
of the popular branch of Congress. They could enter into agreements with
foreign countries which would have all the force and effect of laws
regularly enacted and which might influence profoundly our whole social,
political, and industrial life. The only semblance of a popular check on
the exercise of this power was to be found in those cases where
appropriations were required to carry treaties into effect. Here the
H