Chapter XXIV: Section 3: This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been (3)

The very first attempt at constitution making in the colonies was
the Mayflower Compact, adopted on board the ship Mayflower before
landing on December 20, 1620. It reads as follows: “We, whose names
are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dred soveraigne King
James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland
King, defender of the faith, etc. having undertaken, for the glory
of God, and advancement of Christian faith and honor of our king and
country, a voyage to plant the first colony in northern parts of
Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the
presence of God, and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves
together into a civil body politic, for, our better ordering and
preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and, by virtue
hereof, to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws,
ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as
shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of
the colony. Unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names, at Cape
Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign
lord, King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and
of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini.”

The first real attempt at formal constitution making was the
“Fundamental Orders of Connecticut”, 1639. These “Orders” formed an
elementary constitution with three departments of government and the
duties and powers of each department fairly well set forth. The
Fundamental Orders are frequently referred to as the first written
constitution in America.

The Articles of Confederation were made by the _thirteen States_ in
the name of the _States_. The Constitution was made by the
_delegates of the people_ in the name of the _people of the United
States_. The first was a _compact_ or friendly agreement; the second
was a _contract_ or binding union.

102 Great modifications have been made in nearly all of the State
Constitutions, an excellent analysis of which may be found in
Bryce’s _American Commonwealth_ (Third Edition), Vol. I, p. 443.

103 Since the alliance of the original thirteen States, thirty-five have
been admitted into the Union by acts of Congress either directing
the people to select delegates and enact a Constitution or accepting
a Constitution already made by the people. An illustration of the
former method of procedure is offered in 25 U. S. St. at L. 676 c
180, providing for the admission of North Dakota, South Dakota,
Montana, and Washington into the Union, and of the latter in 26 U.
S. St. at L. 215 c 656; 222 c 664, providing for the admission of
Idaho and Wyoming. “Of these instruments (State Constitutions),
therefore, no less than of the Constitutions of the thirteen
original States, we may say that although subsequent in date to the
Federal Constitution, they are, so far as each state is concerned de
jure prior to it. Their authority over their own citizens is nowise
derived from it.”—Bryce’s _American Commonwealth_ (Third Edition),
Vol. I, p. 431.

104 “A constitution is an instrument of government, made and adopted by
the people for practical purposes, connected with the common
business and wants of human life. For this reason pre-eminently
every word in it should be expounded in its plain, obvious and
common sense.”—Per Allen J., in Peo v. New York, Cent. R. Co., 24 N.
Y. 485, 486.

105 Legislatures cannot change Constitutions. “I consider the people of
this country as the only sovereign power. I consider the legislature
as not sovereign, but subordinate; they are subordinate to the great
constitutional charter, which the people have established as a
fundamental law and which alone has given existence and authority to
the legislature.”—Per Roane, J. in Kanper v. Hawkins, 1 _Va. Cas._
20, 86.

106 “Some of the state constitutions provide for periodically submitting
to the voters the question whether a convention shall be called to
revise and amend the constitution. Regardless of whether or not
provision is made for periodical resubmission of the question of
calling a convention, the constitutions usually provide that the
legislature may, of its own volition, submit to a vote of the people
the question whether a convention shall be called, and subject to
any existing constitutional limitations, may prescribe the time and
manner of electing delegates to such convention.”

107 Teachers and school officers can perform no higher duty, can render
no greater service to America, than to encourage the use of school
buildings for public gatherings. They should be real community
centers. In the city of Minneapolis, the Superintendent of Schools
has recently reported that for the year ending July 1st, 1920, there
were 5070 meetings held in the public school buildings, with a total
attendance of 325,734 persons. There were 1434 cultural meetings,
751 civic sessions, 2501 recreative gatherings, and 334 social
festivals. Rural consolidated school buildings ought always be
planned for civic centers as well as school-houses. They ought to
provide a large assembly hall where community gatherings may be
held. They ought to provide a large and well equipped gymnasium
where both children and adults may enjoy athletic contests and
indoor games. These buildings ought to be open to the people every
evening during the week if the attendance warrants.

108 One mark of good citizenship is the respect shown to emblems of
authority. All good citizens rise to their feet and remain standing
during the playing or singing of the National anthem. We ought to
cultivate such habits until they become reflex: i. e. until we do
them as a matter of course without being told by the teacher in
school or by the leader of the choir or some other person.

Every school boy and girl ought to commit to memory the words of the
Star Spangled Banner and of America. The teacher can make the
singing of patriotic songs and the learning of patriotic poems and
speeches a part of the opening exercises of the school. Poems and
speeches learned in childhood will generally remain with us
throughout life.

109 Radicalism of thought and action can generally be traced to the
segregation of the people into small groups where the individual is
alone in his thinking. Association and cooperation tend to break up
individualism. Where men and women come together in thought and
consideration, there is always developed a tendency toward
moderation. Our present day complex society demands that every
individual yield something for the good of the whole community. The
yielding process is a moderating process. Anarchy stands for the
division of society into individuals where each individual becomes
selfish and dominating over others around him. Loyalty to the Nation
and the State requires that the individual shall coöperate with his
neighbor and that he shall work in harmony with other people in the
community. If people would more often assemble and discuss the needs
of the entire community and how each may help to make the entire
community better, we would have less of class distinction and more
of social harmony and of economic prosperity.

110 Republican government is government by the people through their
chosen representatives. Republican government can only be good
government and effective government, when every qualified voter will
assume his full duty in helping carry on the government. This duty
is exercised through the casting of an intelligent ballot on
election day. In the presidential election of 1908 the percentage of
qualified voters actually voting ranged from 15.8 per cent to 88.1
per cent, the average for all States being 60.5 per cent.

111 In colonial times in America there was nothing like universal
manhood suffrage. One-half of all the colonies required church
membership for a suffrage right. By about 1700 all colonies required
ownership of property for voting. This was not entirely abolished
until about 1850. The State of Rhode Island still requires property
to the extent of $134 for voting in municipal elections.

The colony of Virginia required the holding of a freehold of fifty
acres of land without a house, or twenty-five seres of land with a
house at least twelve feet square. Pennsylvania required a freehold
of fifty acres with twelve acres improved.

In most colonies a greater property qualification was required for
voting for members of the upper house of the legislature than for
members of the lower house.

Several colonies and early States limited office holding to
Protestants.

The Constitution of the United States now declares that no State
shall deny to any person the right to vote because of _race_,
_color_, or _previous condition of servitude_, or _because of sex_.
The Nineteenth Amendment enables women to vote on an equality with
men.

A State may add further qualifications for voting, but no State may
deny the right to vote for any of the above reasons. Several States
have added literacy tests for voting, and others have denied the
right to vote to such as are insane or who have been convicted of
crime, unless pardoned by the Governor. A few States deny suffrage
to those whose taxes are delinquent.

112 The following countries of the world have equal suffrage: New
Zealand, 1893; South Australia, 1895; West Australia, 1900; The
Australian Federation, 1902; New South Wales, 1902; Tasmania, 1904;
Queensland, 1905; Finland, 1906; Victoria, 1908; Alaska, 1913;
Norway, 1913; Manitoba, 1916; Alberta, 1916; Iceland, 1913; Denmark,
1915; England, Scotland, Ireland, 1917; Sweden, 1918; Holland, 1919;
Luxemburg, 1919; Germany, 1919; Austria, 1919. In no other country
in the world is the right of suffrage more fully granted than in the
United States since the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment.

113 “Any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the
frame) where the laws rule and the people are a party to those
laws.”—William Penn.

114 “It is, Sir, the people’s Constitution, the people’s government,
made for the people, made by the people and answerable to the
people.”—Daniel Webster.

115 “In truth success cannot be expected from any system of government
unless the individuals who compose the State entertain the respect
for the personal rights and liberties of all.”—David Jayne Hill.

116 “We cannot, we must not, we dare not, omit to do that which, in our
judgment, the safety of the Union requires.”—Daniel Webster.

117 “Americanization always implies obligation; free choice determines
its acceptance, and its extension must come through avenues of
intelligent comprehension rather than through physical or
governmental domination.”—Winthrop Talbot.

118 “The fundamental evil in this country is the lack of sufficiently
general appreciation of the responsibility of citizenship.”—Theodore
Roosevelt.

Teachers of children may well place greater emphasis on _ideals_,
_character_, and _personality_ as factors in the making of a Nation.
Teachers ought to lay greater stress on biography in the teaching of
history, civics, and citizenship. Teach children both to know and to
love Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. Teach older pupils and
students to realize that the aims, ideals, and achievements of a
Nation can never be higher than the aims, ideals, and achievements
of the individuals comprising that Nation. To know the lives and
characters of America’s great men and women is to know American
history, for they made American history what it is. Young people
enjoy the study of great characters. We all retain a love for heroes
and heroines however old we grow. Such study adds color and life to
history and government and humanizes the entire subject. Teach lives
and institutions rather than mere facts. Inculcate into the lives of
boys and girls, and of men and women, a love for our country, for
the men and women who made it, and for the institutions in which
they have a part. Teach them that patriotism and loyalty are not
duties only, but are rather the highest privileges given to the
people of a republic.

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