Page:A Brief History of the Constitution and Government of Massachusetts (1925).pdf/25

Rh provision in the second charter that Councillors were to be elected by the General Court was followed in the Massachusetts Constitution. The people elect them now, but even, if a vacancy occurs, the General Court if in session fills the vacancy. The provision that a majority of the Council shall run the government in case of the death or absence of the Governor and, that the shall succeed the Governor, and that judges be appointed by the Governor with the consent of the Council, were all copied from the Province Charter. The absolute veto given the Governor under that charter and the requirement of the consent of the Council in granting commissions for exercising martial law were placed in the draft submitted by John Adams and the committee to the Convention of 1780. Neither of these provisions was finally put in the Constitution, but they and other clauses of the charter which the people had become used to and found serviceable were utilized in framing our present form of government.

The provincial Governor was a real governor. His powers were. He was military head of the government like the king and he could prorogue and dissolve the General Court without being limited by triennial or septennial acts. He could grant charters, like the king, and had the right of pardon. In later years the Assembly learned how to curb these powers. They would hold the Governor in check by granting only a temporary salary, and that often not until he had signed bills which they desired.

As time went on the members of the Assembly began also to direct military affairs. They appointed committees to