C. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution, why were the people suspicious? D. Name some officers now in service of the National government: (a) in the executive department, (b) in the legislative department, (c) in the judicial department. E. Write a statement of the attitude of the people of the States when the Constitution was submitted to them for ratification, what was the subject of public discussion, what parties were formed, and what was done to secure the consent of the people to ratify the Constitution? F. Write in 100 words or less a summary of what the United States Constitution is. XXVII. STATE CONSTITUTIONS The Grant And Limitations Of Power Expressed By The People In The Constitutions Of The States Every human organization had a beginning. This is a large city in which we now live, but there was a time within the memory of men still living, when there was nothing here but an unbroken prairie. A log cabin was the first building where the city now stands. Then came the cultivated fields. A flour mill was erected down on the river bank, then a blacksmith shop, a store, a livery stable, some modest dwellings, then a school house, and a church. Thus came the little village which through the years has slowly grown into the present city. Thus came all the cities, and thus came the States. There was a time not so long ago when there were no white people within what is now the borders of our State. There was the “first white settler”, the first cultivated patch of ground, the first log house, the little settlements, the lonely log cabins in between, and then the State. Thus were the thirteen colonies founded, and thus were founded the thirty-five States which have been admitted to the Union since the adoption of the Constitution. Every human organization with any degree of permanence has something in the nature of a constitution. It may be in writing, it may be oral, or it may rest in a mutual understanding expressed only by acts and conduct. It may be manifest from customs which have been observed by all the members of the group. The proud boast of America is that it was the first Nation in the world which adopted a complete written Constitution binding upon the Nation and upon the people, a Constitution which provides for courts with the power of restraining the Nation and the individual from acts or conduct which violate its provisions, designed to guard human rights.