b. The relation of the courts to laws that violate the consti

tution.

c. The importance of this relation.

d. The American origin of the written constitution.

2. The germs of the idea of a written constitution :a. The theory of a "social contract."

b. The objection to this theory.

c. Roman origin of the idea of contract.

3. Mediæval charters:

a. The charter of a town.

b. The word charter.

c. Magna Charta.

d. The difference between a charter and a constitution.

e. The form of Magna Charta as contrasted with its essential nature.

4. Documents somewhat resembling written constitutions :— a. The Declaration of Rights.

b. The Bill of Rights.

5. The foreshadowing of the American idea of written constitutions :

a. Two conditions especially notable in England in the sev

enteenth century.

b. The influence of these conditions on popular views of gov

ernment.

c. The "Instrument of Government."

d. Sir Harry Vane's proposition.

e. Why allude to Vane's scheme when nothing came of it? 6. Early suggestions of written constitutions in America:

a. The compact on the Mayflower.

b. Wherein the compact fell short of a written constitution. c. The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut."

7. The development of the colonial charter into a written constitution :

a. The limitation of the powers of colonial assemblies.

b. The decision of questions relating to the trangression of a charter by a colonial legislature.

c. The colonial assembly as contrasted with the House of Commons.

d. The difference between the written constitution and the charter for which it was substituted.

e. The readiness of the people to adopt written constitutions. 8. The extensive development of the written constitution in some states

a. The simplicity of the earlier constitutions.

b. Illustrations of the legislative tendencies of later consti

tutions.

c. The motive for such extension of a constitution.

d. The difficulty of amending a constitution.

e. The legislative method of amendment.

f. The convention method of amendment.

g. The presumed advantage of embodying laws in the consti

tution.

h. A comparison with the Swiss Referendum.

i. Objections to the Swiss Referendum.

j. Other objections to the practice of putting laws into the constitution.

1. Do

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS.

you belong to any society that has a constitution? Has the society rules apart from the constitution? Which may be changed the more readily? Why not put all the rules into the constitution?

2. Read the constitution of your state in part or in full. Give some account of its principal divisions, of the topics it deals with, and its magnitude or fulness. Are there any amendments? If so, mention two or three, and give the reasons for their adoption. Is there any declaration of rights in it? If so, what are some of the rights declared, and whose are they said to be?

3. Where is the original of your state constitution kept? What sort of looking document do you suppose it to be? Where would you look for a copy of it? If a question arises in any court about the interpretation of the constitution, must the original be produced to settle the wording of the document?

4.

Has

any effort been made in your state to put into the constitution matters that have previously been subjects of legislative action? If so, give an account of the effort, and the public attitude towards it.

5. Which is preferable, -a constitution that commands the approval of the people as a whole or that which has the support of a dominant political party only?

6. Suppose it is your personal conviction that a law is unconstitutional, may you disregard it? What consequences

might ensue from such disregard ?

7. May people honestly and amicably differ about the interpretation of the constitution or of a law, in a particular case? If important interests are dependent on the interpretation, how can the true one be found out? Does a lawyer's opinion settle the interpretation? What value has such an opinion? Where must people go for authoritative and final interpretations of the laws? Can they get such interpretations by simply asking for them? 8. The constitution of New Hampshire provides that when the governor cannot discharge the duties of his office, the president of the senate shall assume them. During the severe sickness of a governor recently, the president of the senate hesitated to act in his stead; it was not clear that the situation was grave enough to warrant such a course. Accordingly the attorney-general of the state brought an action against the president of the senate for not doing his duty; the court considered the situation, decided against the president of the senate, and ordered him to become acting governor. Why was this suit necessary? Was it conducted in a hostile spirit? Wherein did the decision help the state? Wherein did it help the defendant? Wherein may it possibly prove helpful in the future history of the state?

9. Mention particular things that the governor, the legislature, and the judiciary of your state have done or may do. Then find the section or clause or wording in your state constitution that gives authority for each of these things. For example, read the particular part that authorizes your legislature:

a. To incorporate a city.

b. To compel children to attend school.

c. To buy uniforms for a regiment of soldiers.

d. To establish a death penalty.

e. To send a committee abroad to study a system of waterworks.

10. Trace the authority of a school-teacher, a policeman, a selectman, a mayor, or of any public officer, back to some part of your constitution.

II. Mention any parts of your constitution that seem general and somewhat indefinite, and that admit, therefore, of much freedom in interpretation.

12. Show how the people are, in one aspect, subordinate to the constitution; in another, superior to it.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS. Very little has been written or published with reference to the history of the development of the idea of a written constitution. The student will find some suggestive hints in Hannis Taylor's Origin and Growth of the English Constitution, vol. i., Boston, 1889. See Henry Hitchcock's American State Constitutions; a Study of their Growth, N. Y., 1887, a learned and valuable essay. See also J. H. U. Studies, I., xi., Alexander Johnston, The Genesis of a New England State (Connecticut); III., ix.-x., Horace Davis, American Constitutions; also Preston's Documents Illustrative of American History, 1606-1863, N. Y., 1886; Stubbs, Select Charters and other Illustrations of English Constitutional History, Oxford, 1870; Gardiner's Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, Oxford, 1888.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FEDERAL UNION.

§ 1. Origin of the Federal Union.

HAVING now sketched the origin and nature of written constitutions, we are prepared to understand how by means of such a document the government of our Federal Union was called into existence. We have already described so much of the civil government in operation in the United States that this account can be made much more concise than if we had started at the top instead of the bottom and begun to portray our national government before saying a word about states and counties and towns. Bit by bit the general theory of American self-government has already been set before the reader. We have now to observe, in conclusion, what a magnificent piece of constructive work has been performed in accordance with that general theory. We have to observe the building up of a vast empire out of strictly self-governing elements.

English in

There was always one important circumstance in favour of the union of the thirteen American colonies into a federal nation. The inhabitants were all substantially one people. It is true that stitutions in in some of the colonies there were a good many persons not of English ancestry, but the English type absorbed and assimilated everything else.

all the colo

nies.