No people, it was thought, could maintain a real republic and be a true democracy if they did not possess a written constitution.

The longer this was, the more precise its definition of powers and liberties, the more authentic the republic and the more genuine the democracy was thought to be.

In some countries the notion was carried still farther by an insistence upon frequent changes in the fundamental law or in the actual form of government, not so much to meet imperative needs as to satisfy a zest for experimentation or to suit the whims of mercurial temperaments.

The congresses, constituent assemblies, and the like, which drew these instruments, were supposed to be faithful reproductions of similar bodies abroad and to represent the popular will.

In fact, however, they were substantially colonial cabildos, enlarged into the semblance of a legislature, intent upon local or personal concerns, and lacking any national consciousness.