19.  The secretary of the treasury:—­
  a.  His rank and importance.
  b.  His various duties.
  c.  His chief assistants.
  d.  The administration of the treasury department since 1789.

20.  The duties of the remaining cabinet officers:—­
  a.  Of the secretary of war.
  b.  Of the secretary of the navy.
  c.  Of the secretary of the interior.
  d.  Of the postmaster-general.
  e.  Of the attorney-general.

Section 4. The Nation and the States.

We have left our Federal Convention sitting a good while at Philadelphia, while we have thus undertaken to give a coherent account of our national executive organization, which has in great part grown up since 1789 with the growth of the nation.  Observe how wisely the Constitution confines itself to a clear sketch of fundamentals, and leaves as much as possible to be developed by circumstances.  In this feature lies partly the flexible strength, the adaptableness, of our Federal Constitution.  That strength lies partly also in the excellent partition of powers between the federal government and the several states.

[Sidenote:  Difference between confederation and federal union.] We have already remarked upon the vastness of the functions retained by the states.  At the same time the powers granted to Congress have proved sufficient to bind the states together into a union that is more than a mere confederation.  From 1776 to 1789 the United States were a confederation; after 1789 it was a federal nation.  The passage from plural to singular was accomplished, although it took some people a good while to realize the fact.  The German language has a neat way of distinguishing between a loose confederation and a federal union.  It calls the former a Staatenbund and the latter a Bundesstaat.  So in English, if we liked, we might call the confederation a Band-of-States and the federal union a Banded-State.  There are two points especially in our Constitution which transformed our country from a Band-of-States into a Banded-State.

[Sidenote:  Powers granted to Congress.] The first was the creation of a federal House of Representatives, thus securing for Congress the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common welfare of the United States.  Other powers are naturally attached to this,—­such as the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States; to regulate foreign and domestic commerce; to coin money and fix the standard of weights and measures; to provide for the punishment of counterfeiters; to establish post-offices and post-roads; to issue copyrights and patents; to define and punish felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations; to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water; to raise and support an army and navy,