29 



Note that here there was no vote of the people on whether the con- 

 vention should be held, and thus the concept could not be invoked 

 that the people had, by approving the holding of the convention, 

 given their sanction to the limitations imposed on the convention 

 by the convention act. At the outset of the Convention of 1875, 

 a group of 25 delegates formally protested against the requirement 

 that the delegates take the oath, but the convention as a whole 



viewed the matter otherwise, took the oaih, and abided by moat of the 



27 

 limitations placed upon them by the convention act. 



• It is perhaps significant in this connection that the Con- 

 vention of 1875 proposed an amendment to the convention section 

 of the Constitution, requiring that as to all future conventions, 

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

 General Assembly, the question of convention or no convention must 

 be submitted to the people at the next general election, and the 

 proposed convention must be approved by "a majority of the votes 

 cast" in such election. ^° This provision not only requires an ex- 

 pression by the voters on whether a convention vdll be held; it 

 also insures that whenever the General Assembly chooses to impose 

 restrictions on a convention by means of a convention act those 

 restrictions will perforce be adopted by the voters who cast 

 their ballots in favor of a convention and will thus be binding 

 on the convention, if held. 



It should tie noted that vjhile the convention act expressly 



^ ^Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the State of 

 North Carolina, Held in 1875 , 3-U, 6 Sept. 1875 ^Raleigh: Josiah 

 Turner, 1875). 



^^Constitution of North Carolina, Art. XIII, Sec. 1. 



