HE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE AMENDMENT FEATURE OF THE CONSTITUTION

All democratic constitutions are flexible and easy to amend. This
follows from the fact that in a government which the people really
control, a constitution is merely the means of securing the supremacy of
public opinion and not an instrument for thwarting it. Such a
constitution can not be regarded as a check upon the people themselves.
It is a device for securing to them that necessary control over their
agents and representatives, without which popular government exists only
in name. A government is democratic just in proportion as it responds to
the will of the people; and since one way of defeating the will of the
people is to make it difficult to alter the form of government, it
necessarily follows that any constitution which is democratic in spirit
must yield readily to changes in public opinion.

Monarchical and aristocratic constitutions on the other hand are always
extremely conservative. Inasmuch as they express the opinion and
guarantee the privileges of a dominant class, they are bulwarks erected
against popular change. The privileged classes of any society regard
stability as the chief political desideratum. They resist, and if
possible prevent, those legal and political readjustments which the
general progress of society makes necessary. Their interests are
furthered in proportion as the system is one which renders change
difficult.

With this distinction in mind let us examine the Constitution of the
United States. Was it the intention of the framers of this instrument
that it should be merely a check upon the governmental machinery with
the view of establishing popular control over it, or was it expected to
constitute a check upon the people themselves? That it was not intended
that the people should be given direct and complete control over the
general policy of the government is clear from the fact that the
Constitution was made so difficult to amend; for the right to control
the political machinery, implies of necessity the right to make such
changes in it from time to time, as are needed to make this control
effective. It is evident from the views expressed in the Convention that
one object of the Constitution was to secure stability by placing the
government beyond the direct influence of public opinion.

Madison, who has been called the "father of the Constitution," thought
it "ought to secure the permanent interests of the country