EQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES 541 



trial opportunity, and a more stable political order made for the spirit 

 of fair play among men. But in the main, the government instituted in 

 1789 appealed to the property-loving instinct rather than to the idealism 

 of the nation. The assumption of state debts, the establishment of the 

 United States Bank, the enactment of a protective tariff, policies es- 

 poused by Hamilton, all tended to enlist men of substance on the side of 

 the government. 



The mode provided for amending the constitution contributed to the 

 same end. A two thirds majority of both houses of congress, or a con- 

 vention called on application of two thirds of the states, is necessary to 

 propose an amendment, and ratification either by conventions or legis- 

 latures in three fourths of the states is required for its adoption. The 

 people have no direct voice either in proposing or in adopting amend- 

 ments, and the obstinacy of a group of states containing a small minor- 

 ity of the population may effectually block the will of states containing 

 an overwhelming majority. According to Walter E. Weyl, less than one 

 fortieth of the voters may block the will of the remaining thirty-nine 

 fortieths.* So difficult is the mode of amendment that with the excep- 

 tion of the first twelve amendments, the first ten of which were the price 

 paid to secure the adoption of the constitution and all of which were 

 added shortly after its ratification, the only others are the three result- 

 ing from the Civil War and the two recently added. But for military 

 occupation of the southern states, it is doubtful whether all the war 

 amendments would have been ratified by the requisite number of states. 

 In no democratic country are property owners more secure against inno- 

 vations in the organic law. In England, the power to amend the con- 

 stitution is vested in the House of Commons. In France, an absolute 

 majority of the two houses in joint session suffices. And in Switzer- 

 land, proposed amendments are adopted by a majority of all the votes 

 cast at a popular election provided a majority in a majority of the can- 

 tons is at the same time received. The federal constitution of Australia 

 has copied this provision." 



Our constitutional system further safeguards property by the system 

 of checks and balances, a leading feature of which is the federal courts. 

 The power to override an act of congress is exercised by an appointive 

 judiciary holding office for life whose compensation "shall not be di- 

 minished during their continuance in office." The fifth amendment pro- 

 hibits congress from depriving any one "of life, liberty, or property, 

 without due process of law," and the fourteenth amendment imposes the 

 same prohibition upon the states. Property is mentioned along with life 

 and liberty implying that it is either on a par with or is necessary to 

 them. As the watch-dogs of both these amendments stand the federal 



* Op. cit., p. 14. 



B J. Allen Smith, "The Spirit of American Government," pp. 62-63. 



