constitution prepared by a committee of eighteen, was duly
debated, and November 4 it was adopted by a vote of 739 to 30.

The Constitution of 1848 declared the Republic to be perpetual and the
people to be sovereign. It asserted, furthermore, that the separation
of powers is the first condition of a free government. In respect to
the organs of government it provided, in the first place, for a
legislative assembly consisting of a single chamber of 750
members[437] chosen integrally for three years, directly by secret
ballot on the principle of departmental _scrutin de liste_, and by
electors whose only necessary qualifications were those of age
(twenty-one years) and of non-impairment of civil rights.[438]
Executive powers were vested in a president of the Republic, elected
for a term of four years by direct and secret ballot, and by absolute
majority of all votes cast in France and Algeria. Under stipulated
conditions, e.g., if no candidate should receive an absolute majority
and at the same time a total of at least two million votes, the
president was required to be chosen by the Assembly from the five
candidates who had polled the largest votes. Save after a four-year
interval, the president was ineligible for re-election. Upon him were
bestowed large powers, including those of proposing laws, negotiating
and ratifying treaties with the consent of the Assembly, appointing
and dismissing ministers and other civil and military officers, and
disposing of the armed forces. With respect to the functions and
powers of the ministers the constitution was not explicit, and whether
the instrument might legitimately be interpreted to make provision for
a parliamentary system of government was one of the standing issues
throughout the days of its duration.[439]

[Footnote 437: Including representatives of Algeria
and the colonies.]

[Footnote 438: Electoral law of March 15, 1849.
Duguit et Monnier, Les Constitutions, 247-265.]

[Footnote 439: Dupriez, Les Ministres, II.,
308-312. The text of the Constitution of 1848 is in
Duguit et Monnier, Les Constitutions, 232-246;
Helie, Les Constitutions, 1102-1113; and Anderson,
Constitutions, 522-537. Summary in Block,
Dictionnaire General, I., 510-513. Cambridge Modern
History,