UNITED STATES. 41 head was divided into three estates or branches, con¬ sisting of the President, Senate, and House of Re ¬ presentatives. The last consists now of 118 members, or about one for 40,000 inhabitants. They sit two years, when another general election takes place by uni¬ versal suffrage. The State legislatures have no share, except by party influence, in the general elections. They, however, have each the privilege of sending a member to Congress, where he is entitled to sit and speak, but not to vote. The Senate, again, is elected by the legislatures of the respective States ; each sending two members, which now make forty-eight. The members of the Senate, which may be considered the aristocratic body, must be thirty years old; they sit for six years, but a third are changed every two years. The president is elected by a body of distinct electors, chosen from within each State. These votes are sent under seal to Congress, who have the right of electing the president, if the candidate has not more than half the number of votes in his favour. The powers of the president are very extensive. He has the supreme command of the military and naval forces ; and, with the approbation of two-thirds of the Senate, the patronage of, and appointments to, all civil and military offices. He cannot give a negative to a law, but he can suspend its operations, until it be again presented to him, with the votes of two-thirds of both houses in its favour. He is elected for four years, and may then be re-elected.