onstitutions were confined to a
general outline of the organization of the government. They did not
undertake to make the laws, but to prescribe the conditions under
which laws might be made and executed. Recent state constitutions
enter more and more boldly upon the general work of legislation. For
example, in some states they specify what kinds of property shall be
exempt from seizure for debt, they make regulations as to railroad
freight-charges, they prescribe sundry details of practice in the
courts, or they forbid the sale of intoxicating liquors. Until
recently such subjects would have been left to the legislatures, no
one would have thought of putting them into a constitution. The motive
in so doing is a wish to put certain laws into such a shape that it
will be difficult to repeal them. What a legislature sees fit to enact
this year it may see fit to repeal next year. But amending a state
constitution is a slow and cumbrous process. An amendment may be
originated in the legislature, where it must secure more than a mere
majority--perhaps a three fifths or two thirds vote--in order to pass;
in some states it must be adopted by two successive legislatures,
perhaps by two thirds of one and three fourths of the next; in some
states not more than one amendment can be brought before the same
legislature; in some it is provided that amendments must not be
submitted to the people oftener than once in five years; and so
on. After the amendment has at length made its way through the
legislature, it must be ratified by a vote of the people at the next
general election. Another way to get a constitution amended is to call
a convention for that purpose. In order to call a convention, it is
usually necessary to obtain a two thirds vote in the legislature; but
in some states the legislature is required at stated intervals to
submit to the people the question of holding such a convention, as
in New Hampshire every seven years; in Iowa, every ten years; in
Michigan, every sixteen years; in New York, Ohio, Maryland, and
Virginia, every twenty years.[7] A convention is a representative
body elected by the people to meet at some specified time and
place for some specified purpose, and its existence ends with the
accomplishment of that purpose. It is in this occasional character
that the convention differs from an ordinary legislative assembly.
With such elaborate checks against hasty action, it is to be presumed
that if a law can