The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-02-24


to the exact form of government they
were constructing, or that that govern
ment, in all its parts, would be fully |
adapted to conditions that might exist |
after q century of growth and develop
ment. The trainers Of the original
constitution themselves recognized the
fundamental principle that popul alton
was the basis of representation in the
Legislature by providing, in section 16,
that each town within this state that
consists, or may consist, OF eighty tax
able inhabitants may choose
each two representatives; and each
other inhabited town one
representative" In the first revision
of the Constitution, seven years after
it's adoption, the council OF censors
recommended that the State, for pur-
poses of representation, be divided into
districts, having regard to equality in
population, and that each district elect
one representative to the General As
semblsge. The Declaration OF the
Rights of the Inhabitants OF the State
of Vermont" which was made the pre-
Jude to the amended constitution of
1893, in the seventh article, recognized
the possible imperfection of the work
of the members of the Convention,
and it's possible insufficiency for the
needs and new conditions Of the future
by declaring, in Article 7, that the
community hath an indubitable, I'M
alienable and infeasible right, to reform
or alter government, in such manner as
shall be, by that community, judged
most conducive to the public veal"
Article 10 further declared, "That fire.
uuent recurrence to fundamental prin-
ciples, and firm adherence to justice
are absolutely necessary to
preserve the blessings of liberty and
keep government Free"
The Constitution of the fathers thus
contains distinct and emphatic recog-
milton of the possibility, in the inevitable
course of things pertaining to the
growth of the State, to changes in
population, and to material progress
and development, that the work of
their hands would some day, in some
vital particulars, become lily adapted
to the necessities of government; that
their descendants would need "to re-
form or alter government" and the
right and duty to do this, when the
times and circumstances should de-
mand, is declared with an emphasis
that could hardly be increased.
The bottom-most of the fundamen-
tai principles" to which " frequent re-
currence is absolutely necessary to pre-
serve the blessings of liberty and keep
government free is the principle of
representation. The provision of the
Constitution which originally rendered
effective recurrence to this and other
fundamental principles possible only
at periods of seven years, and since
1870 at intervals of ten years, imparts
shade of irony to the " frequent re-
currence" clause, and is unquestion-
ably responsible, in some large meas
ure, for the continued existence of the
town system of representation in spite
of its ever-increasing inequality and
consequent injustice. A proposition
to amend the Constitution that could
be legally considered only at intervals
of seven years, and latterly ten years,
was practically withdrawn from the
arena of effective public discussion
The last state of the Constitution, in
this respect, is worse than the first.
The first and most rational amendment
of the Constitution that should be pro-
posed and adopted is the removal of
this contradictory provision and con-
stitutional imputation upon the intelli-
gence and stability of the people, so
that " frequent recurrence to funda-
mental principles may in fact be had,
and the opportunity presented, as in
the Congress of United States, as in the
Legislatures of other States of the
Union, of proposing amendments at
any regular session of the General As
sembly, preserving the same checks
against hasty and final adoption as now
exist. Then will fundamental princi-
pies be as continuously recurring for
discussion as questions pertaining to
the schools, taxation, temperance, high
ways, or any other public question.
The indubitable, unalienable and
indefeasible right" which every COM
munity hath " to reform or alter gov
eminent " is practically nulli6ed by this
absurd and irrational ten-year provi-
sion. When it shall be removed the
people of Vermont will enter upon the
full enjoyment of a sacred privilege,
guaranteed to them by the Constitution