The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1897-03-05
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

Dol Business Under Constitution
Sixty-Three Years Old.
Those who were fortunate enough to
hear the Hon. James H. Malone, of
Memphis, and the Hon. w. b. Swaney,
of Chattanooga, speak on this subject
at the Court House Tuesday night of
last week, were deeply impressed with
the very great importance of many
proposed changes in our fundamental
law. They presented the subject
forcibly and eloquently, and left no
room for doubt in the minds of those
who heard them.
In eloquent terms they pictured the
beginning of organized government
among the hardy pioneers of the
Watauga Settlement under written
articles of association; they traced the
progress and development of these peo-
pie until their admission to the Union
as the State of Tennessee under the
Constitution of 1886; they pointed out
the manner in which the provisions of
this charter were suited to the primitive
condition of our ancestors, and to their
rude and undevelOped state of industry
and society, but that as society adj
vanced, industry developed and pOpu-
lation increased, the people rose and
broke the written shackles which
bound in their liberty of progress, and
ordained and established the Constitu-
ton of 1894. This Constitution was
great advance over that of 1896 in a
great many particulars, and we are
practically living under this same Con-
stitution of 1884, the Constitutional
Convention of 1870 virtually adopting
it with such amendments as were made
necessary by the war.
We are then living under a Constitu-
ton 60 years old, formed at a stage of
our development which we have long
I. since passed. The average life of Con-
stitution in the various States is about
20 years, and in many States the period
for Constitutional revision is fixed in
the organic law itself and "the legisla-
ture is required at stated intervals to
submit to the people the question of
) holding such convention; as, in New
Hampshire, every seven years in Iowa,
, every ten years; in Michigan, every
sixteen years; in New York, Ohio,
Maryland, Virginia, every twenty
years" Henry Hitchcock's A mericdm
State Constitution, p. 10; quoted in John
Fiske's CiUH Government IN the United
States, p. 1851
So that it is seen in these large,
: flourishing and powerful common
: wealths experience has taught the peo-
, pie the wisdom and necessity of revis-
ing, at comparatively short intervals,
those regid and infexible rules which
must necessarily for the time being fix
the destiny of the State. Some may
T marvel at the frequent changes made
= in State Constitutions and contrast
Herewith the wonderful stability of
the Federal Pact, But a slight rehec-
. ton upon the nature and purpose of
these respective instruments will show
us that this could not and should not
:. be otherwise.
The Federal Government is an assO.
citation of the Independent States for
, the purposes of general government
e and it only has such powers as are
= specifically delegated to it by the
Y States. The proper subjects for the
e exercise of its power are, first, foreign
@ affairs second, those internal matters
q of general nature affecting two OF
more States, and which are not properly
within the province of State admins
tration. 1t has nothing to do with loca
. government, and this great problem is
i wisely left altogether to the people OF
e each State respectively; and, as said
t above, the Federal Government only
n has such powers as are specifically del
k egated 20 it by the States, and these
have been found sufficiently broad and
in some cases, entirely too broad for al
purposes for which the General Govern.
ment was originally established.
0nahe other hand, the legislatures Of
The states possess all the power of the
= peopfd themselves, unless they are
5 limited by written rules laid down by
5 the people themselves in convention
assembled. The people have this in
> herent and inalenable right to limit
and direct the law making power, anC
this they do when they form Con
stitution. A Constitution is not the
= author and source of our liberties, but
5 it is manifestation of our power and
/ an evidence of our liberty. 1t is by
this means that we protect ourselves
from the unlimited power of our legis
a latures, and restrain them in certain
: directions, wherein we fear they may
n abuse their power to our injury.
; But State Constitutions have come tC
= be more than mere inhibitions upon
legislative powers, or confined to q
. general outline of the organization of
government. They contain many
3 mandatory provisions, and many pro.
visions which formerly were left en-
tirely to the legislature. But the failure
. of legislatures to do what the people
e desired should be done, or the instability
s of legislation on some important sub
e iects, led the people to put certain mat
}. tiers of legislation in their fundamental
{ law, beyond the power of the legisla
ture to repeal or amend. Mr.. Fiske