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Unit 6: Socio-Economic Bases and Salient Features of the Constitutions

5. Usages and Conventions: Finally, like its British counterpart, the American Constitution has Notes
also grown by usages and customs. These usages and customs are the product of the ages and
though they have their basis neither in the laws nor in the judicial decisions, they are now
essential parts of the basic framework of the fundamental rules of the government. The cabinet,
courtesy of the Senate in matters of approving foreign treaties and appointments made by the
President, working of the party system, and Presidential primaries and party conventions may
be counted among the leading instances. Although the usages and conventions have attracted
less attention than other methods of constitutional development, they have always been at
work enlarging, altering and influencing the substance of the Constitution. It cannot be denied,
however, that they have played a very important role in determining the actual governmental
process, steadily developing the ‘unwritten Constitution’ and in some respects, turning the
written provisions of the Constitution into unintended channels or into uses altogether contrary
to what the Constitution makers had contemplated. One writer goes to the extent of saying that
the “most complex revolution in our political system has not been brought about by amendments
or by statutes, but by the customs of political parties in operating the machinery of government.”
Thus, the bare outline of the American Constitution once drafted at the Philadelphia Convention
of 1787 has been steadily filled in and expanded through formal amendments, Congressional
enactments, Presidential decrees, judicial interpretations and customs and usages. This unbroken
process of growth and expansion has enabled the Constitution to keep pace with time and to
become increasingly democratic and thoroughly modernised. Thus, Lord Bryce once asserted that
the “American Constitution has necessarily changed, as the nation has changed.” Right is the
observation of Charles Beard that it is a printed document explained by judicial decisions, precedents
and practices, and illuminated by understanding and aspiration.”
Critical Appreciation: By all means, the making of the American Constitution constitutes the first
bold instance of ‘documentary constitutionalism’ in the world. For a very long time there was a
tendency in the United States “to regard the Constitution as a new invention of political science.”
And yet certain points of criticism have been made to highlight the weaknesses of the Philadelphia
Convention, the manner in which the great task was accomplished, and the provisions that
ultimately had their incorporation into the fundamental law of the land. These may be put as
under:
1. The Philadelphia Convention was not a truly representative body. The delegates were not
elected by the people, they were nominated by the legislatures of the then colonies that had
become States after the declaration of independence in 1776. A suggestion that the draft
constitution should be submitted to the people for their approval in a referendum was defeated
in the Philadelphia Convention. Hence, there was no popular approval of the Constitution that
was inaugurated some two years after its ratification by the 3/4 of the then States.
2. The Constitution prepared by the Philadelphia Convention was not at all an original creation.
It lacked originality in several important respects. Much was taken from the Constitution of the
Massachusetts and the Articles of the Confederation.
3. The American Constitution is a product of the struggle between the Federalists and Anti-
Federalists in which the former could impose their will on the latter. The Federalists (who
desired a strong government at the Centre with President and Congress in opposition to far
much power than really favoured by the Anti-Federalists) could win after a course of intense
and bitter discussion. By virtue of having a good command over the art of argumentation and
also because of having a higher national image, men like Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, John
Adams, Jay and, above all, George Washington could prevail upon the ‘old patriots’ like Patrick
Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Samuel Adams, George Mason and Elbridge.
4. However, the most poignant criticism of the American Constitution is contained in the ‘economic
interpretations’ furnished by a critic like Beard. According to him, the framers were largely
motivated by economic self-interest. While substantiating his thesis, he says that most of the
delegates were engaged in money lending, slave trade, using land for speculative purposes,
and running mercantile and manufacturing concerns. No representation was given to the class
of small farmers and wage earners.

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