The Grant And Limitations Of Power Expressed By The People In The Constitutions Of The States

Every human organization had a beginning. This is a large city in which we now live, but there was a time within the memory of men still living, when there was nothing here but an unbroken prairie. A log cabin was the first building where the city now stands. Then came the cultivated fields. A flour mill was erected down on the river bank, then a blacksmith shop, a store, a livery stable, some modest dwellings, then a school house, and a church. Thus came the little village which through the years has slowly grown into the present city.

Thus came all the cities, and thus came the States. There was a time not so long ago when there were no white people within what is now the borders of our State. There was the “first white settler”, the first cultivated patch of ground, the first log house, the little settlements, the lonely log cabins in between, and then the State.

Thus were the thirteen colonies founded, and thus were founded the thirty-five States which have been admitted to the Union since the adoption of the Constitution.

Every human organization with any degree of permanence has something in the nature of a constitution. It may be in writing, it may be oral, or it may rest in a mutual understanding expressed only by acts and conduct. It may be manifest from customs which have been observed by all the members of the group.

The proud boast of America is that it was the first Nation in the world which adopted a complete written Constitution [pg 189] binding upon the Nation and upon the people, a Constitution which provides for courts with the power of restraining the Nation and the individual from acts or conduct which violate its provisions, designed to guard human rights.

Until the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the colonies in their joint efforts for liberty and justice, were called the “United Colonies”; but after independence was proclaimed, this title gave place to that of “The United States”. Thereupon eleven of the thirteen States adopted Constitutions. In two States—Connecticut and Rhode Island by an act of the legislature, the existing charters were continued in force so far as consistent with independence. These Constitutions all came into being before the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Of course they were far from perfect, and all have been amended from time to time, so that now the Constitution of each State provides a truly American system of government.102

Nothing in the Constitution of the United States requires that each State shall have a written Constitution, but the wonderful achievement of the people in creating the Constitution of the United States has been a guide and inspiration to the people of the States, and each State has adopted a written State Constitution, following the method and spirit of the colonists in the long ago, drafting the Constitution in a convention of delegates and ratifying it by another special convention or by the vote of all the people.

Then as each new State was admitted to the Union, a Constitution was adopted.103 By the Constitution of the United States, Congress has the power to admit new States, thus by implication controlling the subject matter of the original Constitution of each State admitted.

It is not my intention to consider in detail the Constitutions of the various States. This is not essential to the purpose which I have in talking to you. I am very anxious that [pg 190] you shall realize that each State is a separate sovereignty; that when the people created the United States, and adopted the Constitution of the United States, they give to the United States limited power; that the plan of government contemplated that each State should have its own Constitution; and that in each State the people should enact their own laws governing the conduct of the people in their respective States.

An examination of the Constitutions of all the States will show how carefully the people of each State incorporated in their State Constitution the great principles of government, and the guaranties of liberty which were so carefully provided in the Constitution of the United States.

Different language is used in the different State Constitutions, but in each it will be found that the government of the State, as of the United States, is divided into three departments—the executive, the legislative, and the judicial; that the executive power in the States is vested in a Governor; that the legislative power rests in what is usually termed a “General Assembly” consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, modeled after the Congress of the United States; that the judicial power is to be exercised by courts—a Supreme Court and other courts designated as District Courts, Circuit Courts, and many other titles, varying in different States.

Public officers, servants of the people, are provided for, and usually their selection is by vote of the people at general elections for which provision is made.

The really important thing in the State Constitutions, as well as in the Constitution of the United States, is the Bill of Rights specifically guarding the natural rights and liberties of the people.

The guaranties in the State Constitutions are not all uniform, but as a general thing you will find that each State has incorporated in its Constitution those sacred guaranties [pg 191] which in the Constitution of the United States form the real foundation and protection of human liberty.

Always bear in mind that the Constitution in each State, as in the Nation, is an instrument of fundamental law, or body of laws, which prescribes the form of government, fixes the different departments of government, provides the agencies of government, and declares and guarantees the rights and liberties of the people.104

The Constitution of the United States is the Supreme law of the land, and the Constitution of each State is the supreme law of the State. These Constitutions must be respected, and must be obeyed; and any law enacted by the legislature of a State or by the Congress of the United States which is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution is null and void.

By their Constitution the people of a State proclaim and establish their power superior to the power of the legislature of the State or any officer of the State. The power expressed in the Constitution is the power of the people. They have, by their solemn document—the Constitution—established certain rules, regulations, principles, and guaranties, which cannot be changed by ordinary legislation.105 Of course the people can change and modify the Constitution of State or Nation. Every Constitution provides some method of amendment. Some States provide for a constitutional convention from time to time, where the people through their representatives selected for such a purpose assemble to consider the question of change or modification. In other States the legislature may propose amendments which must be submitted to the people for their approval. In all States some procedure is provided which requires careful deliberation and consideration by the people before the Constitution is changed.106

Now it is very important that every citizen shall have a knowledge of the Constitution of his State. It is of the highest importance that every man, woman, and child shall know [pg 192] and feel the solicitude, the care, which has been exercised in the framing of the Constitution to guard individual rights.

As I have heretofore explained, the purpose of government is to guard human rights and human liberty. This is true of the government of the United States, and it is true of the government of each State. Always keep in mind that in this country, what we call “the government” is merely an agency of the people—an expression of the power of the people in a defined way, agreed upon by them, through which they protect themselves against wrong by the agencies of government which they have created, and against wrong by their neighbors.

Inspiring indeed is it to contemplate the spirit in which the founders of the American Nation and of the States of America studied the methods by which human rights should be protected. They were unselfish; they were in the highest degree inspired by a holy purpose to guard the people of America against the wrongs, the abuses, the cruelty which their ancestors in the past had suffered; and to accomplish their purpose they exercised the greatest care to maintain the power of government in the people themselves—the power to make laws and to enforce them.

I suppose it may be said that the highest achievement of the American people in creating a National government and the governments of the States is expressed in the words of Lincoln when he proclaimed this to be “a government by the people”.

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ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS

1. What is a village?

2. What is a State?

3. When were the colonies first called States?

4. What States adopted Constitutions before the adoption and ratification of the Constitution of the United States?

5. Can the people of the State of New York enact a law punishing a person for coining silver dollars? Why?

6. Can Congress pass a law Sting the punishment of a person for stealing a horse in the State of Michigan?

7. When was the State in which we live admitted to the Union?

8. Who framed the Constitution of this State?

ADVANCED QUESTIONS

A. What is a constitution?

B. Explain fully how a Constitution of a State comes into, being.

C. Must a constitution be in writing? If not, what may be its form?

D. State how the Constitution of the United States may be amended.

E. In what way may the Constitution of a State be amended?

F. Write briefly telling the advantages of a written constitution.

G. State in writing the power of the courts in exercising their power and duty of defending the Constitution. Give an illustration.

H. Write an explanation of the power and influence of the Constitution of the United States in guiding the people in framing the Constitutions of their States, and in what things the Constitution of the States follow the Constitution of the United States.

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