-in this era, despite one dominant party, recurrent divisions within state level

-and controversy between Official and Unofficial candidates

-with total inability to get senate reform past the senate, movement emerges for Article V convention

-gets support from women's suffrage movement to get amendment past

-held originally to amend constitution of United States of America

-but instead writes Constitution of the United States (1885) as there are just too many amendments

-initial convention convened in 1878 immediately after the Liberty and Union War (1868-76)

-then comes assassination of American Presidents > 1877-1879 John Wentworth (Justice) † and it's put on pause

-attempts to restart it fail

-then comes Antillean War (1880-4) and in 1881 decision made to dissolve it as overtaken by events

-and a lot of them recalled by people

-with Antillean War (1880-4) coming to an end new talk of Article V Convention

-convened with support of American Presidents > 1879-1887 Curran Emmet (Justice)

-in a sort of grand compromise it goes through with further support in return for his second term being cut by two years

-constitution comes into effect in 1886

-the party establishment of the Justice Party

-a collection of political machines, the Comunero Clubs, and state-loyal workers' and farmers' orgs

-tries to avoid radical change in this era

-a group which wants an entrenchment of labor rights in the constitution

-with a tendency towards land value tax as well as anti-monopoly

-and also a constitutional entrenchment of 8 hour day and other things

-at most radical supports land reform and cooperativism

-a number of loose constitutional reforms towards this

-Women's suffrage movement under National Women's Rights Association (NWRA) is part of effort which organizes

-Bill of Rights moved to the beginning of the Constitution

-civil rights prohibition is mostly similar to original constitution

-except formal recognition of incorporation to the states

-and formal prohibition of reading postal messages against slavery movement

-and a bit of reformatting

-on political rights

-continues recognition of birthright citizenship but also opens door to citizenship of "civilized" indigenous tribes

-formally describes that there is a single class of citizenship across the US, with citizens loyal to the center

-also provides for a definition of voting citizens, which is astonishingly wide and includes women's suffrage

-the most controversial part of the constitution

-and includes secret ballot

-includes section of land rights

-pushes effort strongest by Unofficials

-in section inspired by Cobdenite thought, declares land is common heritage (not property) of the people, but only in sense as can be taxed

-but also provides for state nationalization of unused railroad etc land, and redistribution of feudal land, to prevent monopoly

-also provides for general right of homesteading, and abolishes entail and primogeniture everywhere

-and on labor rights

-formally defines 8 hour day and bans on child labor

-also provides for public markets and a vague right of arbitration

-continues ban on convict labor

-in general with elections

-establishes a Federal Election Office, under which federal elections are centralized and headed by Commissioner of Elections

-and candidates to be nominated by petition, to break convention system, except for senators for the state who are state-controlled

-also provides for resolution of controversial elections, by Tribunal of Elections constituted by Congress, and makes joint session of Congress decide all election returns

-also adds recall provisions

-to keep party establishment from hoisting candidates

-also recall include two elections - first on whether to remove existing congressperson, and then to election excluding them - to prevent party establishment from hoisting candidate and give people a real veto

-with Congress

-with House of Representatives

-formally integrates norm of representatives nominated by district

-also includes representatives elected by organized territories

-but also declares representatives represent the whole nation, not just their constituency, and removes residency requirements

-also provides for recall, but with a pretty high number of signatures required

-with Senate

-attempts to make representation degressively proportional (as with Buenaventura's Audiencia) fail because fears it may not pass states

-but instead provides for 12 senators elected at large from entire nation, and former presidents (not impeached and convicted, anyways) get seats for life which they can't resign from

-all senators are to be elected by the people

-because senators of states represent states and not the nation, states may control qualifications for them

-likewise recall, but with lower qualification

-as part of abolition of vice presidency, Senate can now elect its own president

-in general

-senate quorum reduced to one third

-provisions for constituting Continuing Council, to exercise powers of Congress in times of recess and convene Congress, to prevent presidential usurpation

-restrictions on Congress increasing its own compensation, against controversial laws

-and restrictions on officeholders of corporations having office in Congress - against corporate influence

-now sessions of Congress opened in early Jan

-on bills

-may be proposed also by proclamation of the President now, and also by commissioner of elections on petition

-also senate may not add amendments on bills

-and to prevent senate from vetoing will of the people (and as a result of anti-senate sentiment), joint session of Congress can override senate veto by majority of the whole membership

-presidential veto can be overriden by three fifths now, and pocket vetos abolished

-powers

-removes restrictions on taxation

-can now make any money whatsoever, rather than coin

-can now make codes on commerce, mining, property, and procedure, as part of making laws uniform and reducing confusion (and preventing corporate bidding), and can also propose uniform laws to the states who have to consider it if proposed

-explicit powers on making a national bank, and on making roads, even though state has power already, and on establishing universities,

-can now make a "National Railway System", whatever that means is not stated, and can regulate rates of transport companies

-now appoints officers of militias, centralized into National Volunteers on British model

-also opens door on making District of Columbia (now a pretty bustling city) into a state

-can regulate labor

-and can now ensure voter security

-with executive power

-vice president abolished, having long been useless anyways

-and now successor to president to be secretary of state

-presidential term changed to six year, with no re-election allowed

-now opens on 30 april, in honor of washington's inauguration

-and motivated by, since American Presidents > 1869-1870 George Bancroft (Justice) †, presidential inaugurations held in the open to reassure public

-though his was originally because Extraordinary Congress could not hold enough people for inaug in Congress Hall

-president now to be elected by people direct (with one reason for election office to prevent fraud)

-and with runoff

-powers of appointment and treaty now require consent of joint session of Congress, not of Senate as part of anti-senate sentiment

-also filling vacancies when congress is in recess require consent of Continuing Council

-also now civil service examinations part of law for everything not provided by constitution or congress

-another testy provision because harms political machines

-with judicial power

-Supreme Court now has term limits of 12 years, with resignations every 4 years

-continues to have judicial divisions proportional to population (gesture in early Liberty and Union War (1868-76) to prevent repeat of southern domination of Supreme Court) but now, because of contiguous thing, exclave of State of Olympia has to be separate, and this is corrected by it being treated as contiguous to northwestern contiguous state

-also judges recallable

-judges now formally restricted from declaring Acts of Congress unconstitutional - instead that's up to the people, by voting out their representatives

-treason now includes presidential assassinations

-and general rebellion made a high crime

-general powers

-non-contiguous territories (aside from coaling stations) now cannot be acquired, a spinoff of anti-colonial sentiments from Antillean War (1880-4)

-now guarantee of "free, democratic, republican" form of government, not just republican, and general provision for US protecting states from domestic violence (turns into general police power, allowing United States of America > Civil Guard gendarmerie)

-outlawing lotteries, after one state allows for magnificent fraud - now this is supported by gambling companies to stop competition, but there is illicit trade, supported by tickets particularly from Havana and Toronto

-talk of prohibition, but instead provides for states to hold referenda for prohibition

-compulsory school education

-debts and stuff

-continued US debts from old const

-no debt from rebels, or for slave freedom

-all government officials must swear Ironclad Oath

-state powers

-formally cannot secede or nullify the law

-amendments

-reduced to three-fifths, not two thirds

-in passage

-to prevent some sort of hole of authority or some more radical provisions, party establishment shoves constitution through for ratification

-women's suffrage is by far most contentious but nevertheless

-prohibition provision inadvertently means counties cannot outlaw alcohol today

-some states do prohibit it, but eventually with Recessions > Panic of 1911 and Great Depression they allow it to get revenues

-today only Mississippi, a Colored majority state (many Colored-Americans associating alcohol with keeping slaves docile) with few big cities, bans it

-Federal Election Office has massive influence in the states in practice

-low qualifications for becoming candidate do allow many candidates, but does not kill off the convention

-House of Representatives still in practice with people from district despite removal of that

-without judiciary Congress is essentially supreme power in country

-a lot more senators than representatives get recalled due to qualifications

-Congress opening in Jan and Presidency in April causes issue with lame duck period when a second party finally rises

-culminates with both being moved to December