CONSTITUTION 



1558 CONSTITUTIONAL UNION PARTY 



era hemisphere is Ursa Major, commonly called 

 The Dipper, which can be readily distinguished 

 on any clear night, shining brightly in the 

 region of the North Pole. For a map of the 

 heavens, showing many constellations, see 

 ASTRONOMY. 



CONSTITUTION, kon sti tu' shun. When a 

 debating society or a club is organized there 

 is adopted a set of basic principles by which 

 all members of the society or club agree to be 

 governed. These rules form the constitution 

 of the organization; to this may be added for 

 the conduct of members a set of rules called 

 by-laws, but no by-law may declare for any 

 principle not permitted in the constitution. A 

 constitution is sometimes called a fundamental 

 law, because all other laws passed by the organ- 

 ization must agree with the rules laid down in 

 the constitution. 



The constitution of a nation is the body of 

 laws which underlie the principles by which its 

 government is guided. In most free govern- 

 ments it is the supreme law of the land, and 

 no government official or legislative body can 

 make rules or enact laws contrary to it. The 

 government of Great Britain is a noted excep- 

 tion to the above statement. There Parlia- 

 ment is supreme, and can enact such legislation 

 as the times and conditions of the empire make 

 advisable. 



A constitution differs from laws enacted by 

 legislative bodies in the following particulars: 

 It is adopted by the people, in republics, or by 

 the highest authority, in case of monarchical 

 governments. It cannot be repealed or 

 amended by any legislative body without the 

 consent of the authority by which it was 

 adopted. For these reasons constitutions are 

 not easily changed. See CONSTITUTION OF THE 

 UNITED STATES; BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT. 



CONSTITUTION, THE, a war vessel famed 

 in the history of the United States under the 

 popular name of Old Ironsides, and now given 

 permanent anchorage in the Boston navy yard. 

 Launched on October 20, 1797, this splendid 

 frigate passed unharmed through the war with 

 the Barbary powers, as Commander Preble's 

 flagship. In 1812, under command of Captain 

 Isaac Hull, the vessel fought a famous battle 

 off Cape Race with the Guerriere, an English 

 frigate, which it sank. After a number of other 

 severe but victorious battles, in 1830 the Con- 

 stitution was condemned as unseaworthy and 

 was ordered to be destroyed. But the poem 

 Old Ironsides, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, in 

 which he says 



"Oh, better that her shattered hulk 

 Should sink beneath the wave ;" 



aroused public sentiment; the project was 

 abandoned and the vessel was rebuilt in 1833. 

 In 1855 it was put out of commission, but in 





Ay, tear her tattered ensign down ! 



Long has it waved on high, 

 And many an eye has danced to see 



That banner in the sky ; 

 Beneath it rung the battle shout, 



And burst the cannon's roar ; 

 The meteor of the ocean air 



Shall sweep the clouds no more. 



HOLMES : Old Ironsides. 



1877 was again partially rebuilt. In 1897, one 

 hundred years after its launching, it was finally 

 drydocked and repaired, to be preserved as a 

 memorial of a proud period in history. 



CONSTITUTIONAL UNION PARTY, in 

 United States history a party formed chiefly 

 out of the remnant of the Whig party. It met 

 in convention in Baltimore in May, 1860, and 

 nominated John Bell of Tennessee for Presi- 

 dent and Edward Everett of Massachusetts 

 for Vice-President, on a platform which de- 

 clared only for "the Constitution of the 

 country, the union of the states, and the en- 

 forcement of the laws." The party had only 

 a scattering vote in the North, but in the 

 South it carried the border states of Kentucky, 

 Tennessee and Virginia and received a popu- 

 lar vote of about 600,000. The party virtually 

 went out of existence after this campaign. See 

 POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES ; BELL, 

 JOHN; WHIG. 



