The first instance in which, the Federal Government was called upon to construe this guaranty clause was in connection with Dorr's Rebellion in Rhode Island in 1841. The salient facts of this incident were these. The Constitution under which the people of Rhode Island had lived since the separation from England provided for a very limited suffrage. With the development of more democratic ideas this condition of affairs became very unsatisfactory to those who were thus denied the right to vote. Numerous attempts were made to have the Constitution amended, but these were always defeated by the small oligarchy of legal voters who did not wish to share their special privileges with others. Finally, in 1841, mass meetings of the discontended were held, and, without any instruction or permission from the existing government, the citizens were directed to elect, by a universal manhood suffrage, delegates to a constitutional convention. This was done, and at that convention a Constitution was framed that later was adopted by a clear majority of the adult male resident citizens of the State. Thereupon, the convention, meeting again, declared: "Whereas, by return of the votes upon the Constitution, it satis-factorily appears that the. citizens of this State, in their original sovereign capacity, have ratified and adopted said Constitution by a large majority; and the will of the people, thus decisively known, ought to be implicitly obeyed and faithfully executed: We do therefore resolve and declare that said Constitution rightfully ought to be, and is, paramount law and Constitution of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and we further resolve and declare for ourselves and in behalf of the people whom Ave represent, that we will establish said Constitution and sustain and defend the same by all necessary means." Attempts were made to put into operation the government provided for in the instrument thus declared in force, Dorr being elected Governor under it.

All of the above acts, it will be observed, were unsanctioned by any law of the old de jure government. Upon an appeal being made by that government to the Federal Government for aid. the President of the United States recognized that government as the de jure government of the State and took steps to extend the aid that was requested. By this federal executive action two important facts were, established with reference to the u guaranty " clause of the federal Constitution. The first of these was that, according to this clause, the Federal Government was obligated to protect the several States not only against the attempts of foreign powers to impose upon them governments not of their own choos-ing, but against revolutionary action on the part of their own citizens. The second was that it was thus decided that it is not a violation of the provision that a state government shall be republican in form that it rests upon the legal will of a minority of its adult male citizens. In effect it was determined that the old government of Rhode Island, being accepted as republican in form at the time that the State became a member of the Union, it could not be changed by any extra-legal means against the desire of those who by the old instrument were given the sole power of expressing the legal will of the State. This last clause "against the desire of those who by the old instrument were given the sole power of expressing the legal will of the State," is advisedly added, for, as repeated instances have shown, the Federal Government has not felt itself obligated under the guaranty clause to see to it that none of the state Constitutions are ever amended or replaced by new instruments except in strict accordance with the provisions governing constitutional changes existing at the time the changes are made. When such changes, even though brought about in a manner not formally constitutional, have been accepted as valid by the old governments, the Federal Government has not felt itself obligated to interfere. But when, as was the case in Rhode Island, the revolutionary change is resisted by those exercising authority under the old instrument of government, the Federal Government, upon appeal to it for assistance, will almost surely consider itself called upon to recognize and support the old government.