By their Constitution the people of a State proclaim and establish their power superior to the power of the legislature of the State or any officer of the State. The power expressed in the Constitution is the power of the people. They have, by their solemn document—the Constitution—established certain rules, regulations, principles, and guaranties, which cannot be changed by ordinary legislation.(105) Of course the people can change and modify the Constitution of State or Nation. Every Constitution provides some method of amendment. Some States provide for a constitutional convention from time to time, where the people through their representatives selected for such a purpose assemble to consider the question of change or modification. In other States the legislature may propose amendments which must be submitted to the people for their approval. In all States some procedure is provided which requires careful deliberation and consideration by the people before the Constitution is changed.(106) Now it is very important that every citizen shall have a knowledge of the Constitution of his State. It is of the highest importance that every man, woman, and child shall know and feel the solicitude, the care, which has been exercised in the framing of the Constitution to guard individual rights. As I have heretofore explained, the purpose of government is to guard human rights and human liberty. This is true of the government of the United States, and it is true of the government of each State. Always keep in mind that in this country, what we call “the government” is merely an agency of the people—an expression of the power of the people in a defined way, agreed upon by them, through which they protect themselves against wrong by the agencies of government which they have created, and against wrong by their neighbors. Inspiring indeed is it to contemplate the spirit in which the founders of the American Nation and of the States of America studied the methods by which human rights should be protected. They were unselfish; they were in the highest degree inspired by a holy purpose to guard the people of America against the wrongs, the abuses, the cruelty which their ancestors in the past had suffered; and to accomplish their purpose they exercised the greatest care to maintain the power of government in the people themselves—the power to make laws and to enforce them. I suppose it may be said that the highest achievement of the American people in creating a National government and the governments of the States is expressed in the words of Lincoln when he proclaimed this to be “a government by the people”. ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS 1. What is a village? 2. What is a State? 3. When were the colonies first called States? 4. What States adopted Constitutions before the adoption and ratification of the Constitution of the United States? 5. Can the people of the State of New York enact a law punishing a person for coining silver dollars? Why?