Page:Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs (Volume One).djvu/257

Rh Convention. As is usual, the work of the committee fell upon a few members. In this case the working members were Richard H. Dana, Jr., and myself. Marcus Morton, Jr., a volunteer, was a valuable aid. After considerable experience in other places I can say that the preparation of the new Constitution was the most exacting labor of my life. The committee were to deal with the Constitution of 1780, with the thirteen amendments that had been adopted previous to 1853, and with thirty-five changes in the Constitution that had been agreed to by the Convention. The practical problem was this:—

(1) To eliminate from the Constitution of 1780 all that had been annulled by the thirteen amendments.

(2) To eliminate from the Constitution of 1780, and from each of the thirteen amendments, all the provisions that would be annulled by the adoption of the thirty-five changes that had been agreed to by the Convention.

(3) To furnish Constitutional language for the new features that were to be incorporated in the Constitution.

(4) To arrange the matter of the new Constitution, and to reproduce the instrument, divided upon topics and into chapters and articles.

All the work under the first two heads was done by myself. The language was so much the subject of criticism and of rewriting that the responsibility for item three cannot be put upon any one. The same may be said of the work under item four; although that work was unimportant comparatively. The copy of the Constitution which was used by me in making the eliminations is still in my possession.

It is to be observed that the Convention did not furnish language in which the amendments that had been agreed to were to be expressed in the Constitution.

The resolutions, as adopted, were in the form following:

“Resolved, That it is expedient so to alter and amend the