they even discarded some
of the then existing provisions of the state constitutions which had
been copied in the Federal Constitution. The principle of indirect
election which was everywhere recognized in the choice of the state
judiciary during the Revolutionary period was gradually abandoned for
the more democratic method of direct popular choice which has now become
the rule. The life tenure of judges which formerly existed in most of
the states has almost entirely disappeared. In all but four states the
judges are now chosen for terms varying from two to twenty-one
years--the average length of the term being eight or ten years. The
combination of direct popular choice with a fixed term of office has had
the effect of making the state judiciary much more amenable to public
opinion than the corresponding branch of the Federal government. By
reason of the relatively long term for which the judges of the state
supreme court are elected, however, and the plan of gradual renewal
which prevents present public opinion from ever gaining the ascendency
in that body, it is still the least responsible and most conservative
branch of the state government.

We see, then, two motives exerting an influence in the remolding of the
state constitutions, one being the desire to copy the Federal
Constitution and the other the belief that the state government should
reflect the will of the people. That the attainment of one of these ends
would inevitably defeat the other was not generally recognized. The
conviction which had become thoroughly rooted in the popular mind that
the system of checks and balances was the highest expression of
democratic organization ensured the embodiment of the general features
of that system in the constitutions of the various states. The
constitutional changes having this end in view largely destroyed the
responsibility of the state governments to the people and thus prevented
the very thing they were designed to accomplish. But however much this
system was in reality opposed to the principle of direct popular
control, it was adopted by the people with the idea of making the
government more readily reflect their will. They were not conscious of
any inconsistency in holding tenaciously to the doctrine of checks and
balances and at the same time seeking to give the people more control
over the state governments. The latter purpose is clearly seen in the
constitutional changes relating to the tenure and manner