by any process of patching or mending the old constitution. In their judgment, what was needed was an entirely new frame of government. And this they proceeded to construct. Technically, they exceeded their authority, and hence, in a strict sense, their proceedings may be said to have been extra-legal, or even revolutionary. But they did not assume to impose the result of their labors upon the nation as a binding organic law, but offered it as a constitution to be discussed and to be ratified and confirmed before it should become operative. As a group of citizens, they had the unquestionable right to suggest a new constitution of government. And this was what in effect was done. The convention did not "report alterations and provisions" to be made in the articles of confederation. The authority granted to them was never exercised. But in lieu thereof, they submitted to congress and the people a new frame of government, which was eventually accepted and confirmed. The draft of the constitution was laid before congress and by them submitted to the several states. It contained a provision that as soon as it should have been ratified by nine of the states, it should become binding on those states. There ensued long, exhaustive, and acrimonious debates on the question of its adoption. But in the course of a year eleven of the states had ratified the constitution, and in September, 1788, congress made provision for the first election of federal officers and the inauguration of the national government under the new constitution. the 30th of April, 1789, the first President of the United States took the oath of office, and the present government began the exercise of its functions as marked out in the constitution. The states of North Carolina and Rhode Island were not in the Union from the beginning. The former ratified the constitution in 1789, and the latter in 1799." AMENDMENT OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. On 22. Amendments to the federal constitution may be proposed in two methods: (a) By congress. (b) By a convention called by congress for that pur pose. See 1 Story, Const. §§ 272–279. 23. Amendments proposed in either method must be ratified by three-fourths of the states; and this may be done in either of two ways, according as one or the other mode may be proposed by congress, viz.: (a) By the legislatures of the states, acting as the representatives of the people. (b) By conventions held in each state for the purpose. 24. Fifteen amendments to the federal constitution have thus far been adopted. The fifth article of the constitution provides that "the congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the congress." Thus far, fifteen amendments have been made to the federal constitution. In every case the amendment has been proposed by congress and ratified by the states. No convention for revising the constitution, or proposing amendments to it, has ever been called. It should be noted that the article which contains the provision for amendments also enacts that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate. This is the one irrepealable clause of the constitution. And it is the provision which, more than all others, secures to each state its rightful independence and autonomy. The First Ten Amendments. United States was pro- The ratification of the constitution of the cured from the states with great difficulty. fered to almost every one of its provisions. local pride and jealousies, and partly from a strong distrust of the central government about to be erected. The several states, in yielding their assent, proposed and strongly urged the addition of such amendments as would guaranty, on the one hand, the protection of personal rights and liberties against federal oppression, and on the other hand, the retention by the states of such powers It as were not specifically granted to the general government. is said that no less than 201 of such amendments were suggested in the different state conventions. So urgent was the call for a more explicit settlement of these questions that congress, at its first session, prepared and submitted to the states a series of twelve amendments to the constitution. Ten of these were ratified by eleven of the states during the next two years, that is, before the close of 1791. And these now constitute the first ten amendments. Nine of them are intended as a bill of rights. They guaranty to individuals protection (as against federal action only) in respect to those rights and immunities which were considered to be inad equately provided for in the constitution itself." The tenth establishes the principle that the government of the United States is one of delegated and limited powers, and that those powers which are not confided to it by the constitution, nor prohibited thereby to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people." The Eleventh Amendment. This amendment was adopted in consequence of the decision of the supreme court in Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall. 419, that a state of the Union was liable to be sued, like a private person, by a citizen of another state or of a foreign country. "That decision created such a shock of surprise throughout the country that, at the first meeting of congress thereafter, the eleventh amendment to the constitution was almost unanimously proposed, and was in due course adopted by the legislatures of the states. This amendment, expressing the will of the ultimate sovereignty of the whole country, superior to all legislatures and all courts, actually reversed the decision of the supreme court. It did not in terms prohibit suits by individuals against the states, but declared that the constitution should not be construed to import any power to authorize the bringing of such suits." 8 • The object of the first eight amendments to the federal constitution was to incorporate into it certain principles of natural justice which had become permanently fixed in the jurisprudence of the mother country, and therefore the construction given to those principles by the English courts is cogent evidence of what they were designed to secure, and of the limitations which should be put upon them. Brown v. Walker, 161 U. S. 591, 16 Sup. Ct. 644. 71 Story, Const. § 303; 2 Story, Const. §§ 1857-1909. • Per Bradley, J., in Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U. S. 1, 10 Sup. Ct. 504. The Twelfth Amendment. This amendment, which introduces a change in the manner of electing the President and Vice-President, was adopted in consequence of the difficulties which attended the election of 1801. In that year, when the electoral votes were counted, it was found that Jefferson and Burr had each received 73, and consequently, as the constitution then stood, the election was cast upon the house of representatives, although it was notoriously the intention of the electors that Jefferson should be President and Burr Vice-President. Hence congress, in 1803, proposed the twelfth amendment, in lieu of the original third paragraph of the first section of the second article of the constitution, and it was duly ratified by the states. The amendment remedies the defect in the original provision of the constitution by providing for the casting of separate ballots for the two offices. The Last Three Amendments. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were ratified by the requisite majority of the states in 1865, 1868, and 1870, respectively. They were rendered necessary by the events of the civil war, and the desire to prevent the possibility of any similar conflict in the future. They were designed to insure the utter and final abolition of slavery throughout the United States and all its dominions, and to secure to the newly emancipated race the same privileges of citizenship, and of personal and political rights, which were previously enjoyed by all others under the constitution. The legal effect of these amendments and of their specific provisions will be discussed in another place. President's Approval of Amendments. It has been made a question whether a proposed amendment is such an act of legislation as must be submitted to the President, before it goes to the state legislatures, for his approval, and whether he has the right to veto it. Executive and legislative precedent has settled this question in the negative, and considerations drawn from the wording of the constitution lead to the same result." Nor is the question of great practical importance, because the concurrence of two-thirds of both houses of congress is required to the • See Hollingsworth v. Virginia, 3 Dall. 378. proposing of amendments, and the same majority would be suffi cient to overrule the President's veto, should one be interposed. ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 25. All of the original states framed and adopted constitutions for themselves, eleven of them antedating the constitution of the United States. 26. Whenever a new state is admitted into the Union, its people have the right to ordain their own constitution, which, however, must conform to the federal constitution. 27. At the close of the late Civil War, the states which had been in rebellion were required to adopt new constitutions recognizing the supremacy of the Union and the validity of the new amendments. Reconstruction. At the end of the civil war, congress claimed and enforced the right to take measures for the restoration of those states which had passed secession ordinances to their normal and harmonious relations with the federal government. These acts were called the "reconstruction acts." By them, among other things, those states were required to adopt constitutions which should recognize the supremacy of federal law, the inviolability of the Union, the abolition of slavery, and such other provisions as are found in the last three amendments. This being done by those states, their senators and representatives were again admitted to their places in the national legislature, and the states themselves to all the rights and privileges of the Union. It should be noticed that this was altogether a different matter from the action which congress may take upon the admission of a new state into the Union. For these states were never out of the Union. And neither was it an attempt on the part of congress to make constitutions for those states. The constitutions were made and adopted by the people of the several states affected.1o 10 Texas v. White, 7 Wall. 700; In re Hughes, Phil. (N. C.) 57. |