tion and assessment of much the larger portion of our direct taxes, and for the proper expenditure of the same-for all this, and much more, we depend upon the honesty and wisdom of our General Assembly [of Onio], and not upon the Congress at Washington." 1 Mr. Woodrow Wilson, discussing the same subject, says the twelve greatest subjects that have occupied the public mind of England in the present century are: Cathclic emancipation, Parliamentary reform, the abolition of slavery, the amendment of the poor laws, the reform of municipal corporations, the repeal of the corn laws, the admission of the Jews to Parliament, the disestablishment of the Irish Church, the alteration of the Irish land-laws, the establishment of national education, the introduction of the ballot, and the reform of the criminal law. And all of these except the corn laws and the abolition of slavery would have been, under our system, so far as they could be dealt with at all, subjects for State regulation exclusively. 2 1 Works Vol. I., p. 733. 2 The State, p. 487. CHAPTER L. STATE CONSTITUTIONS. REFERENCES. Jameson, The Constitutional Convention (particularly Chap. IV.); Hitchcock, American State Constitutions; Poore, The Federal and State Constitutions, etc. The origin of this class of governmental instruments was treated in Chapter IV. More definitely, the following topics were considered: Independence, the Colonies Reorganized as States, the First Constitutions, Sources of the New Constitutions, Models of the New Constitutions, the Transition from Colony to State. Only one of these topics calls for fuller treatment. 659. The First Constitutions.-These were framed by State conventions and congresses, some of them composed of members of the Legislatures, and some of them composed of men especially elected for that purpose. The constitution of Massachusetts was the only one submitted to the people for ratification. Connecticut and Rhode Island, finding the charters granted by Charles II. in 1662 and 1663 sufficient for their purposes, did not frame constitutions until 1818 and 1842. The following are the dates of the Constitutions of the eleven other States:1 New Hampshire, January 5, 1776. Virginia, June 26, 1776. Maryland, November 11, 1776. Georgia, February 5, 1777. Pennsylvania, September 28, 1776. Massachusetts, June 15, 1780. 1 With a single exception, the above dates are given on the authority of Poore. He does not tell us when the constitution of Massachusetts took effect. The following information is furnished by the Office of the Attorney-General of that State. A constitution framed by the General Court of 1777-78, acting as a constituent assembly, was submitted to the people and rejected. In September, 1779, Hastily formed as most of these constitutions were, and the first of their kind, it would have been strange indeed if some of them had not proved to be very defective. Such was the case. The public dissatisfaction is shown by the early action of States either to amend their constitutions or to form new ones. South Carolina adopted a new one in 1778, New Hampshire in 1784, Delaware in 1792, Georgia in 1798, Pennsylvania in 1792, while Maryland amended hers the next year after its adoption. Measured by this test, the constitution of Massachusetts was the most perfect of all; it was not amended until 1820 and is still in force. New York adopted a second constitution in 1801, Virginia in 1830, North Carolina in 1834, New Jersey in 1844. 660. The Later Constitutions.-As a class, the later constitutions differ from the earlier ones in several features, of which the following may be particularized: 1. They are framed by constitutional conventions, or constituent assemblies, duly convoked and elected for that purpose. The first constitutions were all revolutionary acts. 2. They are submitted to the people for ratification by a popular vote. This had become the uniform rule until broken by Mississippi in 1890. 3. They are much more elaborate and complete. This is partly due to the increased complexity of government growing out of the increased complexity of society. For the rest, it may be attributed to popular jealousy of authority, and to a desire so to limit and qualify the powers of government as to prevent abuses. a convention of delegates chosen by the people met at Cambridge for the purpose of drafting a constitution; it seems to have adjourned in November, and then to have met March 2, 1780, when it passed a resolution submitting to the people the draft of constitution that had been drawn up. Between that date and June 14 following, an election was held; and on the 15th of that month the convention resolved "that the people of the State of Massachusetts Bay have accepted the constitution as it stands in the printed form submitted to their revision." I have assumed that the constitution took effect with the adoption of this resolution. 661. Amendments.-The State constitutions make provision for their cwn amendment. This involves the two steps of proposal and ratification. The first step is taken by the Legislature; in some States a majority, in some three-fifths, and in some two-thirds of all the members-elect are necessary for this purpose. A few States require the concurrence of two successive Legislatures. As a rule, the ratification is by the popular vote; in some States a majority of all the votes cast at the election is required; in some, a majority of those cast on this particular question suffices. The Legislature of Rhode Island must approve an amendment by a two-thirds' vote of each branch after the people have approved it. In Delaware the ratification is given by the Legislature succeeding the one that proposed the amendment. The Legislature of New Hampshire cannot propose amendments, but it may submit to the people the question of calling a convention to do so. 662. Constitutional Conventions.-Many of the constitutions provide for calling such conventions. Some Legislatures are required to submit that question to the people at stated periods: In New Hampshire, once in 7 years; in Iowa, once in 10; in Michigan, once in 16; and in New York, Ohio, Maryland, and Virginia, once in 20. All constitutions framed by such conventions, and all amendments proposed by them, as well as those proposed by Legislatures, must then be subjected to the constitutional method of ratification. 663. Limitations of the State Governments.-As stated in Chapter XII, the State governments possess inherent powers; the Federal Government, delegated powers. It must also be borne in mind that the American people did four things when they ordained the National Constitution: Delegated certain powers of government to the Union; Prohibited certain powers to the Union; Prohibited certain powers to the States; Reserved all powers that they had not delegated to the Union, or prohibited to the States, to the States, or the people,-thus making the States their residuary legatees. Still it must not be supposed that the State governments possess or exercise all the reserved powers. The reservation is made to the people of the States, not to the State governments; and the people, in the State constitutions, deny such reserved powers to their State governments as they see fit. From the first, the people have withheld powers from the governments that they have constituted, and in later years they have withheld more such powers than formerly. Thus, the States might establish State churches, deny to citizens the right of petition, or the right to bear arms, and unduly limit, or even deny, the right of trial by jury; but the State constitutions carefully guard these points and many more besides. For example, the Pennsylvania bill of rights closes with this declaration: "To guard against transgression of the high powers which we have delegated, we declare that everything in this article is excepted out of the general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate." 664. Scope of the Present Inquiry. It is neither possible nor desirable in the present work to examine in detail all the forty-five State constitutions, or even any one of them. The full discussion of the National Constitution renders that superfluous. A general statement of the nature and operation of the State governments, with some account of the principal variations, will amply suffice for the present purpose. 665. Three Departments.-The States all preserve the old three-fold division of governmental powers and departments, and it constitutes the main frame work of their constitutions. The National Constitution, by devolving certain duties upon the Legislatures and Governors, makes this three-fold division necessary; a State without it would not have a republican form of government within its meaning. 666. Assumptions of the Constitution.-The Na |