two were detached from
Virginia, and the third from Massachusetts, and admitted at once as
states. California and Texas had been independent states before admission.

As typical of the mode of restoring the southern states to their old place
in the Union, the act restoring Tennessee is given on page 358.

CHAPTER X.

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

Their purpose.--A constitution in the American sense of the term is a
written instrument defining the powers of government and distributing
those powers among the branches or departments thereof. It is the
fundamental law, the voice of the people granting or withholding power. A
primary purpose of the instrument is to give form and authority to the
government; another is to protect individuals and minorities from the
tyranny of the majority. Each of the states has a constitution.

Their origin.--In most of the countries of Europe, including England, what
is called the constitution is not written. It consists largely of the
maxims of experience, the principles sanctioned by custom. When a new
political custom becomes prevalent it gradually becomes recognized as part
of the constitution.

Written constitutions in this country probably arose from the fact that
the charters granted to the colonies and securing to them privileges, were
in writing. And these written charters themselves grew out of a practice
prevalent in England of securing the rights of towns and cities by written
charters wrung from the king. Some general charters of liberties, too, had
been secured. Among these may be mentioned the charter granted by Henry I.
in 1100; the Magna Charta, or great charter, wrung from King John in 1215;
and the Petition of Right, the Habeas Corpus Act, and the Bill of Rights,
secured in the seventeenth century.

Some of the charters granted to colonies were so liberal in their terms
that they were adopted as constitutions when the colonies became states.
The charter of Connecticut remained its constitution till 1818. And even
in 1842 it was with difficulty that the people of Rhode Island could be
prevailed upon to give up the old charter for a new constitution.

Their Contents.--The state constitutions are very much alike in their
general characteristics. After a preamble, setting forth the purpose of
the instrument, they usually contain a bill of rights, intended to secure
personal liberty and other personal rights. They then distribute the
powers of government among three b