CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS. The fact that conventions may be made up of delegates repre k.enting the whole body of the people of a State, and chosen specifically to represent the popular will in a particular matter, has made them a favorite instrument for framing a new scheme of government or for amending an old one. The convention is thus a more immediate representa tive of the people, with a higher and more im perative mandate than the legislature. There has been only one national constitutional con vention in the United States—that which framed the Constitution; but the high character of this assemblage, the patriotic spirit and wisdom which animated it, and the astonishing success which has attended its labors, have made it the immortal type of such gatherings. In the Unit ed States its are revered as the 'Fathers of the Constitution.' This convention met, pursuant to the call of the Congress, in Philadelphia, on the 14th of May, 1787, to frame measures fur the preserva tion of the union of the States and the estab lishment of a stable and efficient government; and, under the presidency of George Washing ton, it completed its hihors on the 17th of September. It included most of the men of au thority and influence in the country, among them such well-known figures as Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Roger Sher man, Robert Morris. }Abridge Gerry, and Rufus King, and all but one (Rhode island) of the original thirteen States were represented in its deliberations and in the final vote by which the Constitution was adopted. The Constitution (art. v.) provides for its own amendment by the process of a convention called upon the demand of two-thirds of the States; but the greater ease and simplicity of the alternative method, of proposing amend ments to the several States by a two-thirds vote of the two Houses of Congress, has caused the latter method to be preferred. Sec CONSTITU
TION OF TUE UNITED STATES.
In the States composing the American Union, however. the convention method of amending their constitutions has usually been followed. The ordinary procedure is for the Legislature to call a convention to be chosen by vote of the electors, and providing for the submission of the results of its work to the Legislature, and then to the people for ratification. In many eases the proposed amendments are submitted directly to the people, without previous reference to the Legislature, and in at least one recent ease (Mis sissippi, 1890) an amended constitution was promulgated and put into effect by the con stitutional convention which framed it, without ratification by the people or the Legislature, Doubtless such amendment. by convention only, is valid, if the powers of that body are not limit ed by the statute calling it into existence. But where the Legislature, in calling a convention, prescribes for the submission of its conclusions to the Legislature or the people, or both, for ratification, the amendments do not acquire the force of law until such ratification has been had. See Jameson. Treatise on Constitutional Conran tions (4th ed., Boston, 1887).