68 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



formed by a constitutional convention. Of these the most common 

 method is that of amendment. The various State constitutions are 

 being constantly changed in this way. The constitutions of the older 

 States have been greatly modified by the number of amendments that 

 have been made to them. Massachusetts has amended her constitution 

 thirty-six times. 



In order that the constitution may guarantee what the form of the 

 government shall be and insure it against frequent change, it is necessary 

 that amendments may not be made too easily. In France and Prussia, 

 where it was not intended that the constitution should interfere with the 

 powers of the legislature, it has been provided that amendments may be 

 made by the law-making body. But in each of the forty-five American 

 State constitutions various restrictions have been placed on amendment. 

 It was felt by the framers that changes in the organic law should not be 

 made too frequently. In some States, as Indiana and New York, a 

 proposed constitutional amendment must be adopted by two successive 

 legislatures before it can be submitted to the people for ratification. In 

 others, as Michigan, a proposed amendment must be passed by a majori- 

 ty of the members elected to both houses before its submission to the 

 people. In two States, Mississippi and South Carolina, even after the 

 amendment has been proposed in the legislature and submitted to and 

 adopted by the people, it is not a part of the constitution until inserted 

 in that instrument by a legislative resolution. 



The object of the restrictions is, of course, to prevent rapid changes in 

 the organic law. In this way the framers of the constitutions sought to 

 give greater stability to the government. Our constitution-makers have 

 always been filled with distrust of the legislatures. In only one State, 

 Delaware, can the constitution be amended by the legislature alone, 

 without submission to the people. Great as are these restrictions, 

 however, they are not sufficient to prevent radical changes from being 

 constantly made, as the opposite table shows. 



From this table it appears that during the eight years from 1895 to 

 1903 the people of the various States voted on two hundred and eighty- 

 one different amendments to their constitutions, an average of thirty-five 

 a year. Of these one hundred and sixty-eight were adopted and one 



