CONSTITUTION.
The constitution is often called the supreme law of the State. In other words, it is the supreme act of the people, for the purpose of organizing themselves as a body politic, of formulating their government, and of fixing the limits of its power. It is a contract between the whole society as a political body, and each of its members. Each binds himself to the whole body, and the whole body binds itself to each, in order that all may be governed by the same laws for the common good. The constitution of each State is a written instrument, modeled after the Constitution of the United States, with which it must not conflict.
The constitutions of England and most other countries of Europe are unwritten. They consist of the common usages and maxims that have become fixed by long experience. In those countries, when a new political custom grows into common practice it thereby becomes a part of the national constitution.
FORMATION AND ADOPTION.--As the whole people can not assemble in one place to frame and adopt a constitution, they elect delegates to a constitutional convention. The convention usually meets at the capital, deliberates, frames articles for a proposed constitution, and in nearly all cases submits them to the people. The people make known their will in a general election, and if a majority vote in favor of adopting the proposed constitution, it becomes the constitution of the State. If the proposed constitution is rejected, another convention must be called to propose other articles to be voted upon by the people.
PURPOSES.--The purposes of the constitution are to guard the rights of the people, to protect the liberties of the minority, to grant authority to the government, to separate the functions of the three departments, to prescribe the limits of each, and to fix in the public policy those maxims of political wisdom that have been sanctioned by time.
The special tendency in recent amendments of State constitutions has been to limit the power of the legislature. Constitutions, like other political institutions, are largely matters of growth, and from time to time must be revised to meet the changing wants of society. For this purpose the constitution of almost every State contains a provision, called the open clause, which authorizes the legislature, under certain restrictions, to propose amendments to the constitution to be adopted or rejected by a vote of the people.
VALUE.--The people of any State may, at their pleasure, frame and adopt a new constitution, which must be in harmony with the Constitution of the United States. The right to make their own constitution is one of the highest and most important rights that freemen can possess. It is in this and in the right of suffrage that their freedom principally consists.
The constitution protects the people by prescribing the limits of official authority. The legislature can not legally pass a law which the constitution of the State forbids, and when such a law is passed it is declared unconstitutional by the State courts. A provision of a State constitution becomes void when declared by the supreme court of the United States to be in conflict with the national Constitution.
CONTENTS.--The constitutions of the several States are based upon the Constitution of the United States as a model, and are therefore much alike in their general provisions. Each contains:
A preamble setting forth the purposes of the constitution;
A lengthy declaration called the bill of rights;
Provisions for distributing the powers of government into three departments; and
Articles relating to suffrage, debt, taxation, corporations, public schools, militia, amendments, and other public affairs.