people and placed in the constitution; but it is a law that cannot be repealed by the legislature.

Constitutions provide not only for their own amendment, but also for their own complete revision. They provide for the calling of a constitutional convention, which shall have power to revise the old constitution and frame a new one. A general revision of a State constitution is usually accomplished in the following way: The legislature submits to the people the question whether or not a convention shall be called to frame a new constitution. In several States this question must be submitted to the voters every twenty years; in Michigan it must be submitted every sixteen years; in Iowa every ten years. If the vote is in favor of a convention, delegates are elected, and the work of revision begins. It is the custom to submit the revised constitution to the people for their approval, although this is not always done.

Whatever may be the regulation for amendment and revision the constitution cannot be suddenly altered. Usually two or three years must elapse before a proposed change can be fully effected. This necessary delay has its disadvantages, but upon the whole it results in good. It gives time for discussion and reflection. A constitution would not be worthy of its name if caprice or passion could change it in a day.

Constitutions the Safeguard of Liberty. We may now answer the questions asked at the beginning of this chapter: The people may protect themselves from themselves, and from their rulers, by means of a constitutional government. They may formally and solemnly declare their will in a written constitution, and demand that government be conducted according to the terms of this document. When a person maps out for himself a course of right conduct, and rigidly abides by the rules he makes for himself, he is a free and self-governing being; and likewise, if a people will impose upon themselves a fundamental law, a constitution,

and will abide faithfully by its terms, civil liberty and selfgovernment will be assured.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. What was a colonial charter?

2. Give an account of the first charter of Connecticut.

3. What place did the charter occupy in the political life of the colony?

4. How did the charters become constitutions?

5. To what extent are written constitutions employed in the United States?

6. What are the general features of a written constitution?

7. From what source does a constitution obtain its authority?

8. How may a constitution be amended?

9. How may a new constitution be secured?

10. Show that constitutional government is a safeguard of liberty.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. What is the derivation of the word charter? constitution? 2. Compare the constitution of your State in outline with the outline indicated in the text.

3. Give briefly the constitutional history of your State, stating when the first constitution was adopted, what revisions have been made, the date of the adoption of the present constitution and the amendments that have been added.

4. Mr. Bryce, an Englishman, imagines that the American people could govern themselves without written constitutions. Give reasons why an American would hardly be able to imagine such a thing.

5. Explain fully the following sentence: The United States is a democratic, representative, constitutional republic.

6. Is it generally understood that the constitution of your State needs revision or amendment? If so, how may it be revised? How may it be amended?

7. Draw up a constitution for the government of a debating society. (In preparing this exercise remember that a constitution describes only the outline of government, and states only general principles.)

8. Would it be wise for your State to exchange constitutions with a neighboring State? Give reasons for your answer.

Topics for Special Work.-Contents of State Constitutions: 2, 306316. The Written and Unwritten Constitution: 5, 10-13; 192-193; 30, 51-55. How the Colonies were Governed: 6, 36-51.

VI

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The Different Kinds of Political Unions. An alliance is an agreement between two or more sovereign states to cooperate in the accomplishment of some mutually desirable purpose. A state entering into an alliance does not surrender or impair its sovereignty. Since an alliance may be dissolved at the pleasure of any of the contracting parties, it is the weakest of all political unions. Another kind of union between states is the confederation or league. A confederation is formed by two or more states uniting and establishing a central government, vesting it with certain powers, but withholding from it the right of exercising authority over individuals. In exercising its power the central government of a confederation must operate through the agency of the states which compose the union. The confederation, therefore, is a "band of states" (Staatenbund) united more firmly than they would be by an alliance, but not so closely and so intimately as to form an indestructible and indivisible union.

The strongest of all political associations is the federal union. In the federal union the uniting states establish a central (federal) government which is independent of themselves, and which operates with organs of its own, its power extending even to individuals. In the formation of the federal union, or the federal state, as it may very properly be called, the federal government is made sovereign, in respect to matters which concern all the states taken collectively, while each separate state retains its sovereignty in respect to those matters which concern only itself. The

federal principle is an outgrowth of the representative principle, and federal government is the latest important development in political science.

The Complexity of American Government. The United States is a federal republic, and its government is complicated and difficult to understand. Under our system authority flows from two sources: we have one government of the nation and another government of the State; we have two constitutions and two sets of laws to be obeyed, and two sets of officers to enforce the laws; we have forty-six States working side by side, each attending to its own affairs in its own way, and over and through and in all these States there is the federal government attending to the affairs of the nation. How is this twofold authority possible? How can a person serve two masters? Suppose the federal government should command what the State forbids, which shall be obeyed? Where is the line which divides the authority of the federal government from the authority of the State? Such questions as these early force themselves upon the student of American government. We may best approach the task of answering them by taking a glance at history.

The Growth of Federalism in America. The American union as we see it to-day is the result of nearly three centuries of political association of colony with colony and State with State. The story of our union properly begins with an account of the New England Confederation. In 1643 commissioners from Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth met and resolved:

Whereas we live encompassed by seuerall Nations and strang languages which hereafter may proue injurious to vs or our posteritie, and forasmuch as the Natives have formerly committed sondry insolences and outrages vpon seuerall plantacons of the English . wee therefore doe conceiue it our bounden Dutye without delay to enter into a present consotiation amongst ourselues for mutual help and strength in all our future concernments.

...

The "concernments" were the encroachments of the Dutch and the ravages of the Indians. Each colony was represented by two commissioners. The Confederation had full power to determine all matters relating to peace and war. The league fulfilled the purposes for which it was formed and dissolved in 1684. It lasted long enough and accomplished enough to show to the colonies the great benefit of union, and the lesson it taught was never forgotten.

In 1754, when the colonists were hard pressed by the French and Indians, delegates from seven colonies met at Albany and agreed upon a Plan of Union drawn up by Benjamin Franklin, whose long life was devoted to the cause of union. The plan proved to be acceptable neither to the people of the colonies nor to the English government, and the work of the Albany convention came to naught.

In 1765, nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress that met in New York to protest against the unjust and oppressive acts of England. This Congress was so vigorous in its declaration of American rights and so thoroughly animated by the spirit of coöperation that it has been called the "day-star of American Union."

We see how the idea of union was enlarging. In the confederation of 1643 four colonies joined; in the Albany convention seven were represented; in the Stamp Act Congress nine. In 1774, a Congress of delegates from twelve colonies met at Philadelphia, and after making a declaration of rights, recommended a cessation of trade with England, commended Massachusetts for opposing the oppressive acts of Parliament, and resolved that all the colonies ought to support her in her resistance. As the union grew larger the colonists grew more determined and aggressive. In 1775, a Continental Congress of delegates from all the colonies met in Philadelphia.

The Congresses before 1775 had merely talked and petitioned and passed resolutions. The Continental Congress of 1775 began at once to act like a real government. It took