Abnormal Civil Procedure stituents in particular and America in general." This involved the independence of the United States, and was opposed by all who still trusted in a reconciliation. It would appear from the language of the resolution that the work of reorganization was to emanate from the colonial Assemblies, or their successors, known in some colonies as the Provincial Congress or colonial convention. Times were pressing, and it seemed advisable to reorganize the colonial governments as soon as possible. This may extenuate the fault, if there be any, in the advice which Congress gave. Doubtless it seemed unadvisable that the organization of representative government should be delayed in any colony by the mere preliminary procedure necessary to the calling of a normal constitutional convention. The precedent which this Congressional resolution suffered to be set up may be said to have dominated the States during the eighteenth century, for during the years from 1775 to 1800 it was the exception when a State followed what later times recognize as the normal course to obtain a constitution. Within two weeks New Hampshire followed the advice of Congress. Its Assembly, which called itself a provincial convention, decided that a new convention should be summoned. For this purpose a census of the inhabitants was taken and the delegates chosen were apportioned to the number of electors in the colony, and empowered to exercise the functions of government for one year. They met on the 21st of December at Exeter, and made the first constitution for that State.* They called their body a Congress and assumed other functions than that of making a State constitution. The convention took unto itself the title and authority of a House of Representatives, and, following the advice of Congress, elected twelve persons to be Councillors and to comprise the other House. The form of government was intended to be only provisional. Had peace between Great Britain and the colonies been restored, the government thus inaugurated would have been dissolved and the colonial organization restored. The convention, therefore, was not a normal constitutional convention, but a composite body, of revolutionary character, chosen under peculiar circumstances and exercising functions which in times of regular civil administration are never exercised by the same authority; for this convention exercised executive, legislative, and judicial functions. The Upper House, or Council, being a creation of the Lower, the traditional division of the Legislature into two branches can hardly be said to have been followed.† *Most of the towns of the State were represented by the seventy-six delegates to the Exeter Congress. Matthew Thornton was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; three members were delegates to the Continental Congress - these three and one other to the National Congress. Two committees were appointed to bring in a constitution; that of five consisted of Matthew Thornton, Meshech Weare, Ebenezer Thompson, Wyseman Cloggett, Benjamin Giles. The original draft is said to be in John Hurd's hand. General John Sullivan, though not a member, had made important suggestions. Weare became Governor in 1776; Sullivan, in 1790. See Provincial Papers, vii.; State Papers, viii. New Hampshire Provincial Papers, Vol. vii., pp. 644 et seq. Some Conventions and Their Results It was not long before the autocratic character of the new government caused popular dissatisfaction, and on the 10th of June, 1778, there assembled at Concord another convention, which continued in session nearly a year, during which time a new constitution was drawn up and submitted to the several towns for approval. This constitution was rejected, and on the second Tuesday of June, 1781, a third convention assembled at Exeter, continuing in session two years and a half. A new constitution was made during its nine sessions. Massachusetts, meanwhile, had adopted a constitution, which was closely followed by New Hampshire. At last, approved by the people in their town-meetings, the new constitution was duly inaugurated with much ceremony on the 2d of June, 1784. It has been observed by legal writers that the New Hampshire conventions of 1778 and 1781 were strictly constitutional conventions, because they were summoned in due form by the authority of the existing government of the State; their delegates were duly chosen for a specific purpose, and, met in convention, they formulated a plan of government which, having been submitted to the electors in their several town - meetings, was duly ratified. On the 1st of November, 1775, the Provincial Congress of South Carolina proceeded to frame the first constitution of that State, adjourning on the 26th of March of the following year. This Congress originated as a committee of the colony, a body distinct from the colonial Legislature. Like the first constitution of New Hampshire, this of South Carolina was to exist until a reconciliation between Great Britain and the colonies should be made. The precedent for South Carolina was obviously the analogous parts of the British government. The procedure in South Carolina was abnormal. The convention was revolutionary in character and originated not in any direct act of authority of the government of the colony, but in the advice of Congress.* The constitution thus framed was not ratified by the electors and did not give general satisfaction, though acquiesced in during the stress of Revolutionary changes. On the 5th of January, 1778, the General Assembly, though not specifically chosen to make a constitution for the State, promulgated one. Between the meeting of the first and the second conventions of South Carolina, the Declaration of Independence had been issued, and, chiefly in consequence of this act and all it implied, the people of the State acquiesced more willingly in this second constitution. But it was of no greater validity than an act of Assembly, and was so held by the Supreme Court of the State. Obviously those who made it did not comprise a constitutional convention, for they lacked the *The classic treatise on Constitutional Conventions, their History, Powers, and Modes of Proceeding, by John Alexander Jameson, LL.D., late Judge of the Superior Court of Chicago, Illinois; Chicago, Callaghan & Co. (fourth edition), 1887, remains the first and best authority on the subject. I have used its conclusions without hesitation. Before his death Judge Jameson conveyed his library to me, which, with my own collection of Conventions, Debates, and Proceedings, has enabled me to consult most of the material on the subject in existence. High Individuality of the Virginia Convention authority delegated to such a body. However, this second constitution, made in the council chamber, continued in force until 1790, when a convention assembled at Columbia on the 3d of June and promulgated a constitution, which, several times amended, continued in force until 1865. The next State to act was Virginia, which, in April, 1776, elected forty-five delegates to a provincial convention.* They met at Williamsburg *The Proceedings of the Convention of Delegates held at the Capitol, in the City of Williamsburg, in the Colony of Virginia, on Monday, the 6th May, 1776. (Reprint) Richmond, 1816; 86 pp.; Ordinances, 19 pp. See also The Virginia Convention of 1776, Grigsby, Richmond, 1855. No other convention assembled to make a State constitution has enrolled so many eminent men. Of the one hundred and twenty-three members, Jefferson was soon to write the Declaration of Independence, and, with him, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, and Chancellor Wythe were to be signers. Lee, Harvie, and Banister were to sign the Articles of Confederation; Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, George Mason, Chancellor Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Nelson, and Madison were to be chosen delegates to the Federal Convention; Henry, Nelson, and Lee refused to attend; Randolph and Mason refused to sign the constitution; Wythe was absent on the day when it was signed; Blair and Madison signed it. Nineteen of the members served as delegates to the old Congress, and twenty-one became members of the national Congress. Richard Henry Lee and Henry Tazewell became Senators of the United States; Henry, Jefferson, Nelson, Harrison, Randolph (Edmund), and James Wood became Governors of the State; Jefferson and Madison became Presidents twice; both served as Secretary of State, and Randolph as Attorney-General; Blair was appointed by Washington an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Nine were subsequently chosen Presidential Electors-Henry, Harvie, and Wood, in 1789; Blair, Wythe, and Page, 1801; Read, Wythe, and Page, 1805; Page and Harrison, 1809; Richard Henry Lee, Harrison, and |