that there ought to be a fundamental written instrument, superior to any act of Parliament. In 1647 the army began to draw up written schemes of government, of which the most important was the so-called "Agreement of the People," issued in 1649. It declared itself to be intended "for a secure and present peace, upon grounds of common right, freedom, and safety"; it reformed the representation, by apportioning it according to population; it fixed the electorate, established a council of state, and contained liberal provisions with regard to religion; it gave to the representative body "supreme trust in order to the preservation and government of the whole "; ... except that six Particulars "are, and shall be, understood to be excepted and reserved from our Representatives."

This constitution was never put into force; but in December, 1653, a so-called "Instrument of Government" was drawn up, because, as Cromwell said, "In every government there must be somewhat fundamental, somewhat like a Magna Charta, which shall be standing, unalterable." This is the only written constitution which has ever prevailed in England, and it came to an end with the death of the Protector, in 1658.

The idea of a superior written law was clearly revived in the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, the Bill of Rights of 1689, and the Act of Settlement of 1701, though in theory those acts were all revocable. The best examples of written constitutions in this period are the royal charters of the three New England colonies, and the famous Fundamental Orders, drawn up by the people of Connecticut in 1638, which is the first wellarticulated constitution ever made by representatives of a popular community for their own government. When the Revolution broke out, the states made documentary constitutions for themselves.

The Articles of Confederation were intended to be a national constitution, and have three of the characteristics already mentioned they were fixed in writing, superior to statutory law, and required a special process for amendments.

To carry out the third criterion of a written constitution,

that it shall be superior to other laws, — is a hard thing i federation where there are several forms of law. A pri difficulty of the Confederation was the lack of a method which the supremacy of the federal constitution could asserted over state constitutions. The constitution of 17 distinctly reformed that difficulty by a clause providing th "This Constitution and the Laws of the United States whi shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, which shall be made, under the Authority of the United Stat shall be the Supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in eve State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."

Under the federal constitution has been created a hierarc of laws. First and supreme is the constitution of the Unit States; second, come federal treaties and laws, consonant wi the constitution; third in efficacy are the state constitution which must conform to the federal constitution and also consonant laws and treaties; fourth, comes state legislatio which must not be in contravention with either one of th three higher forms of law; fifth, come the ordinances of loc and municipal governments, which must not go beyond an of the four higher forms of law; sixth, come the by-laws corporations of every kind, such as universities, commercia companies, benevolent societies, all of which must not go con trary to any of the five higher forms already mentioned.

(4) A good constitution must be brief, or else it become a code of laws. The original federal constitution has 4,00 words, and may easily be committed to memory by any quic student; the state constitutions vary in length, the first New Hampshire constitution of 1776 having 900 words, and th Louisiana constitution of 1898 having 40,000 words. In gen eral, the longer and more detailed the text of the constitution the more opportunity for dispute about its meaning. Th increase in length is due to the habit of looking upon a consti tution as superior to a law: conventions insert in a new consti tution anything that it is desired to put beyond the power of

legislation; hence the constant tendency is to increase the prohibitions and limitations in the written constitution, and thus to tie the hands of public officials for the time being.

29. Preparation of Constitutional Amendments. The fifth criterion of a written constitution is that it be subject to a special form of amendment. Though in some European countries constitutions are enacted like ordinary laws, a special method is essential if the distinction between ordinary statutes and a supreme constitution is to be observed. Efficient methods of constitutional amendment must call for special consideration, must attract public attention and invoke public opinion; for a poor constitution once adopted cannot easily be changed.

The federal constitution provides two different methods for its own amendment. The first is the calling of a convention, similar to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, on the applications of the legislatures of two thirds of the states; it has never been employed, although there was a movement for a convention in 1788, and in 1861 there was strong pressure for a convention to find a means of obviating the Civil War. The ordinary method for the submission of federal amendments is a concurrent vote of two thirds of both houses. Hence the initiative of amendment may be taken by states through their senators, or by any member of either house who cares to submit a joint resolution.

In the first century of the federal government, more than 1,900 amendatory resolutions were submitted, many of them including more than one clause. Out of all those 1,900, only nineteen have ever received the adhesion of two thirds of both houses, of these only fifteen have actually been added to the constitution, and these fifteen are the result of two periods of discussion, 1787 to 1802, and 1865 to 1869.

In the states the submission of separate amendments is much more common, and complete revisions by conventions appointed for that purpose are also frequent. Various methods

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of amendment are prescribed by the state constitutions. some states, no amendment can be considered which has n been recommended by two successive legislatures; anoth method is to require a special majority in each house, som times as many as three fourths of the members; in some state amendments cannot be submitted oftener than once in a fixe number of years; in a few cases commissions have been create to draft a constitution and report it to the legislatures. Delaware, the legislature makes constitutional amendment but only after a previous legislature has voted them and a ne election has been held. The most common method is tha amendments shall be approved by a special majority of bot houses, and thereupon submitted to the people for their rati fication. No complete constitution has been drawn up by state legislature since 1778, with one exception, — Nebrask in 1866.

A constitution loses coherence after it has been several time: amended, and the growth of the community sometimes requires a new statement of principles. In some states conventions must be called at fixed intervals, usually about once in twenty years. Conventions have rarely any other functions than to prepare revised constitutions, and the members are chosen by special election. Men will attend a constitutional convention who would not give their time for service in the legislature; hence the personnel of the convention is usually higher, and it is more accustomed to defer to the expert authority of jurists and public men. A convention sometimes sits for months, and usually submits its work as a whole, sometimes setting apart for a special popular vote some clause upon which the whole constitution does not depend. For instance, the New York Convention of 1894 subjected to separate votes clauses on apportionment and canal improvement.

From 1792 until near 1890, about a fifth of the new constitutions were put in force by the fiat of the convention. Nevertheless the attempt in 1858 to admit Kansas as a slave state, under

a constitution which had not been completely submitted to popular vote, was thought to be a violation of the dearest rights of the American people. However, since 1890, conventions in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Virginia have assumed the right to declare a new constitution in force without a popular vote, for the simple reason that the voters under the old constitution, if they had been consulted, would have shown a considerable majority against the new constitution; and such action is legal if the previous constitution does not require a popular vote on amendments.

30. Ratification of Constitutional Amendments.

Both separate amendments and complete constitutions usually require popular ratification after they have been formulated by a legislature or by a convention. Every amendment to the federal constitution has received formal ratification by the state legislatures in three fourths of the states: but the concurrence of sixty-eight legislative houses in thirty-four states is a degree of agreement almost impossible except in the face of a manifest public danger. Out of the series of twelve amendments submitted by Congress in 1789, only ten got the threefourths majority; the Eleventh Amendment- on the judiciary -passed both houses almost unanimously in 1794, but was nearly four years in process of ratification; the Twelfth Amendment, submitted in December, 1803, — on the election of the president, was ratified in nine months. In 1803, President Jefferson urged the adoption of a constitutional amendment covering the annexation of Louisiana; but he could not even get it introduced. A curious amendment, prohibiting the granting of titles of nobility by states, passed both houses with very little difficulty in 1810, and got twelve of the necessary thirteen state ratifications. In 1861 the so-called "Corwin Amendment," intended to prevent secession by a compromise, was passed by two thirds of both houses and received the unnecessary signature of the president, but was ratified by only three states, and was speedily dropped. The three great Re