. The American commonwealth . d on by the citizens; in the latter thelegislature, so soon as the citizens have voted for the holdingof a convention, provides for the election by the people ofthis convention. When elected, the convention meets, sets towork, goes through the old constitution, and prepares a newone, which is then presented to the people for ratification orrejection at the polls. Some States provide for the submis-sion to the people at fixed intervals, of seven, ten, sixteen, ortwenty years, of the propriety of calling a convention torevise the constitution, so as to secure that t
. The American commonwealth . d on by the citizens; in the latter thelegislature, so soon as the citizens have voted for the holdingof a convention, provides for the election by the people ofthis convention. When elected, the convention meets, sets towork, goes through the old constitution, and prepares a newone, which is then presented to the people for ratification orrejection at the polls. Some States provide for the submis-sion to the people at fixed intervals, of seven, ten, sixteen, ortwenty years, of the propriety of calling a convention torevise the constitution, so as to secure that the attention of thepeople shall be drawn to the question whether their scheme ofgovernment ought or ought not to be changed. Be it ob-served, however, that whereas the Federal Constitution canbe amended only by a vote of three-fourths of the States, aconstitution can in nearly every State be changed by a baremajority of the citizens voting at the poUs. Hence we mayexpect, and shall find that these instruments are altered more. STATE CONSTITUTIONS 177 frequently and materially than the Federal Constitutionhas been. A State constitution is not only independent of the cen-tral national government (save in certain points alreadyspecified), but it is also the fundamental law of the Stateitself. The State exists as a commonwealth by virtue of itsconstitution, and all State authorities, legislative, executive,and judicial, are the creatures of, and subject to, the Stateconstitution. All State statutes must be consistent with theState constitution, and the State courts will determine thequestion when brought before them, the same as in the inter-pretation of the United States Constitution by the Federalcourts. A State constitution is really nothing but a law madedirectly by the people voting at the polls upon a draft sub-mitted to them. The importance of this character of a State constitutionas a properly-enacted law, overriding every minor State law,becomes all the greater when the co
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