Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/84

 76 influence in all the proceedings of the government, than ever existed in any antecedent period.

§ 595. If we bring our inquiries nearer home, it will be found, that the history of the American colonies before the revolution affords an equally striking proof of the diversity of opinion and usage. It is very well known, that the principle of representation in one branch of the legislature was (as has been already stated) established in all the colonies. But the periods of election of the representatives were very different. They varied from a half-year to seven years. In Virginia the elections were septennial; in North and South-Carolina, biennial; in Massachusetts, annual; in Connecticut and Rhode-Island, semi-annual. It has been very justly remarked by the Federalist, that there is not any reason to infer, from the spirit and conduct of the representatives of the people prior to the revolution, that biennial elections would have been dangerous to the public liberties. The spirit, which every where displayed itself at the commencement of the struggle, and which vanquished the obstacles to independence, is the best of proofs, that a sufficient portion of liberty had been every where enjoyed to inspire both a sense of its worth, and a zeal for its proper enlargement. This remark holds good, as well with regard to the then colonies, whose elections were least frequent, as to those, whose elections were most frequent. Virginia was the colony, which stood first in resisting the parliamentary encroachments of Great Britain; it was the first also in espousing, by a public act, the resolution of independence. Yet her house of representatives