The general outline of the new Constitution seems to be English; it was
really colonial. The President's powers of military command, of
appointment, and of veto were similar to those of the colonial governor.
National courts were created on the model of colonial courts. A
legislature of two houses was accepted because such legislatures had been
common in colonial times. In the English Parliamentary system as it
existed before 1760 the Americans had had no share; the later English
system of Parliamentary responsibility was not yet developed, and had
never been established in colonial governments; and they expressly
excluded it from their new Constitution.

[Sidenote: State experience.]

They were little more affected by the experience of other European
nations. Just before they assembled, Madison drew up an elaborate abstract
of ancient, mediaeval, and existing federal governments, of which he sent a
copy to Washington. It is impossible to trace a single clause of the
Constitution to any suggestion in this paper. The chief source of the
details of the Constitution was the State constitutions and laws then in
force. Thus the clause conferring a suspensive veto on the President is an
almost literal transcript from the Massachusetts constitution. In fact,
the principal experiment in the Constitution was the establishment of an
electoral college; and of all parts of the system this has worked least as
the framers expected. The Constitution represents, therefore, the
accumulated experience of the time; its success is due to the wisdom of
the members in selecting out of the mass of colonial and State
institutions those which were enduring,

[Sidenote: Novelties.]