in arms against the most powerful nation in the world.

The first State constitutions contained bills of rights that were in effect declarations that as to certain specific matters, each citizen was a law unto himself; that as to those matters, the governments they established were without powers of control or regulation. The powers of self-government so reserved to individuals were enumerated to the end that the governments should know the limitations upon their powers.

When the Constitution of the United States was framed, the makers contented themselves with provisions securing the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, exemption from prosecutions by bills of attainder and ex post facto laws, a clause relating to appropriations of public money, and a few limitations upon the powers of taxation and of regulating commerce.' They considered this moderate bill of rights sufficient because it was then generally taken for granted that the national government did not, and could not, have any powers except those which the States were called upon to surrender. For that reason they did not insert a bill of rights in the National Constitution.

When the States took up the question of the ratification of the proposed constitution, it became very evident that the people of the United States considered the omission of a bill of rights a serious defect. North Carolina refused to ratify it until it should have been amended. Many of the States ratified only after receiving assurances that a bill of rights would be proposed to the States by the first congress that should be held under the article which established the legislative power of the nation. Consequently, the First

Constitutional Congress proposed and the States ratified the Bill of Rights contained in the first ten amendments.

The rights specified in these amendments are practically the same as those by which the people of the States have in their State constitutions limited the powers of their State governments. They comprise the rights of religious liberty, of freedom of speech and of the press, of meeting to discuss and if necessary of criticizing the government, of each State to have a militia, of exemption from being compelled to support and board soldiers in time of peace, of security against searches and seizures of property by public officers, of exemption from criminal prosecution except in accordance with indictments in the United States' courts (and in some States under informations duly filed by prosecutors), of immunity from being prosecuted twice for the same offense or under the same charge, of being compelled to be a witness against himself in a criminal case, of being deprived by the government or by anybody acting by its authority of life or liberty or property without due process of law, and of having his property taken by the government for public purposes without just compensation.

These rights also include the right of trial by jury in criminal cases, of being informed of the charges against him when so tried, of being confronted with the witnesses against him, of having the right to compel his own witnesses to attend and testify, and of having the assistance of counsel. They give to the parties to suits at law the right in important cases of having a trial by a jury, and provide that excessive bail shall not be required of persons charged with criminal acts, that excessive fines shall not be imposed upon persons who

have been convicted of crime, and that cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted upon criminals.

The additional rights secured to citizens of the United States by subsequent amendments to the National Constitution, but not secured to citizens of the States by the State constitutions, deal with the right to vote. Prior to the Civil War, the suffrage was regulated wholly by the States. When the negroes were emancipated, the Constitution of the United States was made to provide that no person shall be deprived of the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. More recently, the National Constitution has been so amended as to secure the suffrage to women.

In the case of Orr v. Quimby,' decided in 1874 by the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, Chief Justice Doe said:

An American bill of rights is a declaration of private rights reserved in a grant of public powers, -a reservation of a limited individual sovereignty, annexed to and made part of a limited form of government established by the independent, individual action of the voting class of the people. The general purpose of such a bill of rights is, to declare those fundamental principles of the common law, generally called the principles of English constitutional liberty, which the American people always claimed as their English inheritance, and the defence of which was their justification of the war of 1776.

In the case of U. S. v. Cruikshank,' decided in 1875 by the U. S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice Waite, said:

'54 New Hampshire Rep., 590.

292 U. S. Rep., 542, 551.

The government of the United States is one of delegated powers alone. Its authority is defined and limited by the Constitution. All powers not granted to it by that instrument are reserved to the States or the people. No rights can be acquired under the constitution or laws of the United States, except such as the government of the United States has the authority to grant or secure. All that cannot be so granted or secured are left under the protection of the States.

Powers Conferred by Constitutions.

The State constitutions give the legislative power to law-making bodies composed of two houses, the members of which are elected by the people. The larger house, usually called the House of Representatives, is composed of representatives of small districts. that are nearly equal in population; the smaller house, called the Senate, is composed of representatives of larger districts also as nearly as possible equal in representation. There are exceptions to this rule, especially in the older States where the equal representation of communities rather than of the people still prevails, and in others where the assignments of representation by old constitutions have been continued long after growth of population has made the original basis unequal. For example, in Connecticut, each town has two representatives in the larger house without regard to population so that little towns of a few hundred inhabitants have as much power as large cities like New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford. Again, New York City with a larger population than all the rest of New York State, elects less than half of the senators and assemblymen.

The National Constitution assigns the legislative power to a Congress composed of a House of Repre

sentatives in which the number of members from each State is in the proportion of its population to the populations of the other States, and a Senate in which each State is equally represented by two senators. Representatives in Congress are chosen by the people of congressional districts nearly equal in population, which have been established by the State legislatures. Senators in Congress are chosen by the people of the States. The legislative power of a State extends to the making of laws imposing State taxes; appropriating money to pay the expenses of the State government; defining crimes and providing for their punishment; regulating elections; regulating public service corporations, banking, and insurance; promoting public education; establishing municipal governments; modifying, altering, or improving the rules of law for the security of individual rights of person and property; and generally to the making of all kinds of laws except those which are forbidden by the bill of rights and those which can be made only by the national legislature the Congress.

The legislative power of the United States extends to the making of laws imposing national taxes, appropriating money for governmental purposes, regulating interstate and foreign commerce and commerce with the Indians, coining money, borrowing money, regulating naturalization and bankruptcy, creating inferior national courts, providing a postal service, issuing patents and copyrights, declaring war, maintaining armies and navies, and doing everything necessary and proper for enforcing these laws and for executing the powers of the national government.

The State constitutions give the executive power to governors and other State officers elected by the people to enforce all State laws, command the militia, grant