Studies in American History 
231 
the presidential form and the other with the cabinet form of 
government, grew up side by side on the continent of North 
America is an interesting study. The American colonies de- 
clared their independence of Great Britain before the cabinet 
system of government had been perfected, or was fully un- 
derstood, and thus the United States missed whatever advan- 
tages this system of government may possess. Canada, on the 
other hand, remained with the mother country and finally 
came to enjoy “responsible” government within the Empire. 
There is a striking similarity in the steps by which the United 
States Constitution and the British North American Act of 
18^7, which constitutes an important part of the Canadian 
constitution, were made. The American student who reads of 
the Charlottetown conference, and its adjournment to Hal- 
ifax, and finally of the Quebec conference, of 1864, is contin- 
ually reminded of our Alexandria conference, Annapolis con- 
vention, and Philadelphia convention. The labors, the anxiety, 
and the compromises of Madison, Jay, Wilson, and Hamilton 
have parallels in those of John A. MacDonald, George Brown, 
D’Arcy McGee, and A. T. Galt. In both cases the “Fathers” 
worked amid the greatest difficulties and discouragements, 
and in both cases they builded even better than they dared 
to dream. The creation and the development of two such 
nations as the United States and the Dominion of Canada 
by Anglo-Saxon peoples are no mean achievement, and not 
only have two such nations grown up side by side but they 
have given to the world a practical demonstration that neigh- 
boring peoples can live together in friendship and that for- 
tified boundaries and armed vessels of war are not always the 
best guarantees of peace. 
Altho the American government was built upon a British 
foundation, our political system differs in at least two funda- 
mental points from the English constitution. These points 
are the theory of the separation of powers and the doctrine 
of constitutional limitations. Perhaps no point of the Amer- 
ican government has been believed in more thoroly than the 
idea that the division of power among legislative, executive, 
and judicial departments is essential to the preservation and 
enjoyment of political liberty, and yet this idea was founded 
upon a misconception of fact, it was never applied in practice 
as it was thought of in theory, and it may well be questioned 
