The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-14

|1s19. deposited with the legislature the
 sole power of amending and revising g
 the constitution" subject to the ap-
 proyaI of majority of all Who mishe
 vote for representatives at the ne%s
 succeeding general election and fur ther subject the ratification of the leg |islature next following by a two-thirds vote in each branch.
 The convention of 1861, which made the second constitution, derived no au- thority from that of 1919, except that found in the proviso of the bill of rights.
 Section 20. This proviso reads: All political power is inherent in the peo- pie of all free governments, are founded on their authority and instituted for their benefit, and therefore they have at all times an inalienable and indc- feasible right to alter, reform or abol- ish their form of government in such
 manner as they may think expedient" The legislature elected in August, 1857, passed joint resolutions, approved | by Governor Moore on February 24. 1860, requiring the governor to order
 an election in each county for delegates
 to convention of the state' to con-
 slider, determine and do whatever IS
 the opinions of said convention the rights. interests and honor of the state of Alabama requires to be done for republican party should elect The President eight months later. The joint resolutions were consti- tutionally submitted to the governor They were not submitted to the peo- pie. The intent of the joint resolutions was to enable the state, upon contir- gency and <by 8 convention, to take ac
 tion which would require amendment
 and revision of the constitution. The
 authority of the expectations con-
 vention to amend or revise lay solely
 In the proviso just cited from the bill of
 rights.
 We come to the second constitution.
 that of 1861. Made by the convention.
 ordered by the aforesaid joint resolu- tions
 The constitution of 1861 repeated tho mode of that of 1919 for amending and revising the constitution to which was
 added this Provided convention of
 the people of the state may be called by vote of two-thirds of each branch of the general assembly, under such
 rules and regulations as the legisla- lure may prescribe. to amend the con stitution, or for any other purpose"
 The codicil was equivalent to confess
 sion that the constitution of 1879 had
 not provided for a sovereign conven- tion except by the bill of rights.
 The third constitution, that of 1865,
 the best the state has ever had. re- enacted the mode of 1919 for amending
 and revising, adding this: "After the expiration of 12 months from the ador-
 tion of this constitution, no conven- tion shall. be held for the purpose of
 altering or amending the constitution of the state, unless the question cf convention for no convention shall be first submitted to vate of the state and approved by majority of tine electors voting at said election. The fourth constitution was that pre- pared under the orders of the major general commanding the military dis trict, while he sat in full uniform at the side of the presiding officer of the
 
 negroes and depraved native whites The instrument was put into force ia 1868, solely by act of Congress. after rejection at the polls by great ma jority.
 This so-called constitution repeated
 the mode of amendment and revision ordained by the pre-existing organic laws of Alabama.
 To recapitulate this presently inter- QS in nf V- eral constitutions of Alabama, that Of 1S19 made no specific provisions for holding sovereign state conventions that of 1881 (the secession convention) made such provisions which was TO- adopted In effect by those of 1865 and 1868.
 In none of these constitutions four in all, had sthe authority of the gov ernor been made to appear in the mode of amending or revising the instru- lment. Governor Moore was instructed without qualifica tion, to order an elec- tion of delegates to the first sovereign convention, that of 1861, provided he should ascertain. by the newspapers, perhaps, that Abraham Lincoln had been elected President. In the other cases, the governors office was not recognized at all.
 Political experience had become very ample and of very ragged nature when the constitutional convention of l1S75 assembled. The importance of pre- serving the theory of the three-in-one system had been acutely developed. lrhe operation of the coordinate pow CTS of the government, legislative, -ex- ecutive and Judicial needed renewed definition that each power should be known and felt in its distinctiveness and in It's de jure status of co-ordina- tion as well. We come now to the fifth constftu- ton of Alabama in order of succession, that of 1875 What was the meaning |of the "parenthetical proviso in the section 13, to-wit:
 And every vote, order or resolution, to which the concurrence of both houses may be necessary (except ques- tons of adjournment, and of bringing on elections by the two houses and of amending this constitution) shall bc presented to the governor, etc. Imagine that the legislature of 1885, 99 had passed the enabling act to per init the electors to determine upon the question: convention or no convention. without presentation to the governor Then imagine the sheriffs had in all the counties held elections for delegates as the act commanded. Finally i'm Iagine that the convention did assem- lble and did prepare amendments and lnew constitution. In the executive Of |alI these processes under the enabling act without the governors approval or against his wishes. did it lie in the of fho QoverpOr arrest