, to protect the liberties of the minority, to grant
authority to the government, to separate the functions of the three
departments, to prescribe the limits of each, and to fix in the public
policy those maxims of political wisdom that have been sanctioned by
time.

The special tendency in recent amendments of State constitutions has
been to limit the power of the legislature. Constitutions, like other
political institutions, are largely matters of growth, and from time to
time must be revised to meet the changing wants of society. For this
purpose the constitution of almost every State contains a provision,
called the open clause, which authorizes the legislature, under certain
restrictions, to propose amendments to the constitution to be adopted
or rejected by a vote of the people.

VALUE.--The people of any State may, at their pleasure, frame and adopt
a new constitution, which must be in harmony with the Constitution of
the United States. The right to make their own constitution is one of
the highest and most important rights that freemen can possess. It is
in this and in the right of suffrage that their freedom principally
consists.

The constitution protects the people by prescribing the limits of
official authority. The legislature can not legally pass a law which
the constitution of the State forbids, and when such a law is passed it
is declared unconstitutional by the State courts. A provision of a
State constitution becomes void when declared by the supreme court of
the United States to be in conflict with the national Constitution.

CONTENTS.--The constitutions of the several States are based upon the
Constitution of the United States as a model, and are therefore much
alike in their general provisions. Each contains:

A preamble setting forth the purposes of the constitution;

A lengthy declaration called the bill of rights;

Provisions for distributing the powers of government into three
departments; and

Articles relating to suffrage, debt, taxation, corporations, public
schools, militia, amendments, and other public affairs.

BILL OF RIGHTS.

The bill of rights usually declares various rights of the citizen which
may be classified under the heads of republican principles, personal
security, private property, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech
and of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom from military
tyranny.

REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES.--Under this head the bill declare