written constitutions usually contain provisions for their own amendment. In the federal constitution it is provided (Art. V) that amendments shall be proposed by Congress, two-thirds of each house concurring, which shall become effective as parts of the constitution when ratified by the legislatures of, or by constitutional conventions in, three-fourths of the several states as may be proposed by Congress; or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, Congress is directed to call a convention for proposing amendments to the constitution, which amendments shall go into effect when approved by the legislatures of, or conventions in three-fourths of the states as may be proposed by Congress; but no state without its consent can be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate. All the amendments to the federal constitution thus far made have been proposed by Congress and ratified by the legislatures of the requisite number of states, the result of the action of the states being declared by the executive department.

The methods provided for amendment of state constitutions are by no means uniform. In some states amendment by the legislature has been recognized, but the usual method is for the legislature to submit the proposed amendment to the qualified electors for approval. Whatever the method provided, it must be strictly followed, and no amendment not proposed and adopted in the method prescribed becomes a part of the constitution; and it is for the courts to determine, when such a question is properly brought before them, whether the amendment has been legally adopted. No matter how general may have been the popular approval of a proposed amendment, if the required steps have not been taken, it does not become a part of the constitution. While a constitution may become effective by general acquiescence, a government provided for by such a constitution, not adopted in accordance with previously prescribed methods, is in its origin revolutionary and not regular, and a constitution which has gone into effect as the fundamental law can be regularly changed only in accordance with its provisions. A state cannot by constitutional amendment violate the provisions of the federal constitution, so far as they impose restrictions on the exercise of state power, any more than it can do so by statute. Nor can it by amendment provide for any other than a republican form of government, for the United States is bound to guarantee that form of government to every state in the union (Const. Art. IV, § 4).