(3) The extension of the subjects of popular decision has been most marked, and the drift is increasingly in that direction. A further innovation, rapidly growing, is the expression of a wish or preference by the electorate where such vote is merely advisory and not binding. Office after office, once appointive, is made elective, and when so gained by the people is never surrendered again. In 1776-1783 only Georgia, among the Colonies elected judges. Today thirty-one States elect them. Then scarcely a governor was chosen by the people. At first presidential electors were named in a variety of ways. But by 1832, the right had everywhere been yielded to the people. The very many resolutions of amendment offered in Congress, providing for the election of United States Senators by direct vote, the passage of such measures repeatedly by the House, and the persistent, reiterated requests for this reform by various Legislatures, all show a deep-seated popular desire. Scarcely had America copied from Australia her ballot system, when, becoming adept as Rome in absorbing from surrounding nations, she borrowed from the Swiss the Latin terms _referendum_ and _initiative_, although the principles thereby expressed are as long established on this continent as English settlements. For centuries among Germanic peoples, there has been a steady transition of power. The right to petition the crown grew into legislation. Final power was transferred from king to parliament, and now in turn it is passing from the legislative branch directly to the electorate. None of the colonial charters, except those of Pennsylvania, had any provision for amendment, and of the original States, only Massachusetts and New Hampshire submitted their constitutions to the people for ratification. By 1787, provision for amendment, thitherto wholly lacking in all State constitutions, unless Pennsylvania’s, was added to eight of them. The custom of amending constitutions by popular vote arose, and is now established in every State except Delaware. Thus, changing the organic law, upon legislative initiative, has become commonplace. The next step—to permit the people themselves to initiate the change and finally for them to ratify or reject and even to propose important laws,—was slower of acceptance. Switzerland began this revolution in free government in 1830 and by 1848 had the principle embedded in its federal constitution. About 1886 discussions of the Swiss institutions, and especially the initiative and referendum, as seen by American students abroad, began to appear in leading American journals and magazines. In 1898 South Dakota amended its constitution by adopting a provision for initiative and referendum. In 1900 Utah followed this example. In 1902 Oregon by the decisive ratio of eleven to one in the popular vote, adopted the most clearly expressed section yet developed in our country. In 1904 Nevada added a similar feature to the organic law.