10 



THE i^jETHOD OF CALLING CONVENTIONS 



The Constitutional Provision . 



Prior to 183$, the Constitution of North Carolina prescribed 

 no method for calling a convention of the people of the State. 

 The Amendments of 183$, Article IV, Section I, Clause 1, pro- 

 vided that no convention shall be called except upon the con- 

 currence of two- thirds of all the members of each house of the 

 General Assembly. No vote of the people on the question of con- 

 vention or no convention was then required. This provision re- 

 mained unchanged until 1876, when it was amended to require (in 

 addition to a favorable vote of two-thirds of each house of the 

 legislature) that the holding of a convention be approved by a 

 majority of the votes cast at an election on the proposition, 

 convention or no convention. This provision remains in force 

 today. 

 The Practice . 



While a vote of the people on whether to hold a convention 

 was not required by the Constitution until I876, the General 

 Assembly has in fact submitted that issue to the voters xnth re- 

 gard to every convention proposed by the General Assembly since 

 1789, with the exception of the Conventions of 1861-62 and l87$. 

 The Convention of 1865-66 and that of I868 were both called under 

 non-legislative authority, the former by the authority of the 

 President and the latter under the Reconstructions Acts of 

 1867, Nevertheless the question, convention or no convention, 

 was submitted to and answered affirmatively by the voters with 

 reference to the Convention of 1868. 



