The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-01

history; they seem like an entrance full o
! grandeur and simplicity into a wide TEN.
| pie The truth Is. however that there is q
marked and suggestive similarity between
the preamble Of the Federal Constitution
and that Of the first Massachusetts Consti.
tuition, adopted in 1850 we, therefore
7 the people OF Massachusetts form
ing a new Constitution Of civil government
! for ourselves and posterity dc
ordain and establish the following
A. the Constitution Of the Common
wealth Of Massachusetts,. A IL happened
MIR. Gorham Of Massachusetts, was a mem
her Of the committee appointed 10 draft a
Constitution for that State, and he was also
member OF the Committee of Detail APP
pointed 10y the Philadelphia Convention to
prepare a preliminary draft OF the Federal
Constitution 1t is probable enough as
our author holds. that these facts account
for the sirnilarities Of phraseology II is
also pointed out that the terms setting forth
the fundamental reasons for forming a
Constitution are in part at least traceable
to d resolution offered in the Constitutional
Convention on May 2s 1851. by Edmund
Randolph Of Virginia. Resolved. that the
Articles Of Confederation ought 20 be so
corrected and enlarged as TO accomplish
the objects proposed by their institution;
namely. common defence, security Of
liberty. and general welfare. The title
The United States of America had APP
peared for the first time officially In the
Articles OF Confederation. and may have
been suggested ey the name Of the United
Netherlands, or the United States of the
Netherlands to which the members Of
the Constitutional Convention so often re-
ferred A early as June 20, i778 a Phila-
delphia newspaper, the Pennsylvania Eren-
ing Poet, had published communication in
which the name The United States Of
America was proposed, and soon after
the Declaration of Independence was put
forth the Continental Congress appointed
a committee. consisting Of John Adams.
FRANKLIN and Jefferson. to prepare de-
vice for a seal for The United States Of
America
1t IS well known that the preamble of our
Constitution has been the rock upon which
many Of the great champions Of nationality
among American statesmen have planted
themselves III their conflicts with the par
tisans of State sovereignty. Thus Webster.
in the reply TO Calhoun. delivered in the
United States Senate on Feb l6. 1875 in
quired Finally. sir how can any man get
over the words of the Constitution itself;
We. the people Of the United States do or
dAin and establish this Constitution? These
words must be obterated from the parch-
ment upon which they are written before
any human ingenuity can turn the instrl-
ment into a mere compact between SOW
eregn States Ii would now however.
be generally admitted that Prof Moran Is
right in saying that Wehster's yiew of the
significance of the words quoted could not
have been foreseen much less deliberately
approved, by the members OF the Philadel-
phia Convention inasmuch a. the preamble
was adopted without dissenting voice
On the threshold OF the Constitution we
are met by an explicit and concise aeser-
ton Of the bicameral principle An
legislative powers herein granted shall
be vested ia Congress Of the United States
which shall consist OF Senate and House Of
Representatives. The superiority Of a
bicameral to a unicaDeral assembly is
now 50 generally acknowledged in highly
civilized countries that we are apt 70 forget
that the latter type Of legislature had been
established by the Articles OF Confedera-
ton. Even now the uncamera system
obtains IN Greece, in Bulgaria, IN Servla
and in Norway. II has been tried and dis
carded in France Spain. Naples, Portugal
and America. II Was tried for short
time in England during the great rebellion
Spain and Franco also experimental with
Legislatures consisting of three houses.
and Sweden tried one made up Of four
chambers. With the exception Of the
brief interval just mentioned under the
E Commonwealth, the English Parliament
had been divided into two houses for more
than four hundred years at the time when
our Federal Constitution was formulated
other and doubtless more Influential prece-
dents for the bcameral system were at hand
in the Legislatures OF most Of the States
A. the close OF the Revolution indeed the
legislatures of all the States. except those
n Pennsylvania and Georgia, consisted
)f two houses Georgia adopted the bi-
eameral scheme in i7Sa. and PENNSYLVANIA
i, the following year The Legi ,la;ures
If all the later States were similarly con-
.tituted upon their admission to the Union.
With the single exception Of Vermont.