158  CIVIL    GOVERNMENT    OF    LOUISIANA

discontent  and  dissatisfaction  .that  would,  in  turn,
interfere  with  the  prosperity  of  the  people.  The  con-
stitution of  Louisiana  has  no  article  concerning  a  new
instrument  of  government;  that  is,  it  has  no  provision
for  its  own  destruction.  Nevertheless  the  General
Assembly  may,  by  a  simple  majority  of  its  members
and  the  approval  of  the  governor,  or  by  a  two-thirds
vote  in  case  of  his  disapproval,  order  that  a  conven-
tion shall  assemble  and  frame  a  new  constitution  for
the  State.  The  delegates  to  such  a  convention  are
elected  by  the  people,  and,  when  they  have  drawn  up
a  constitution,  it  is  often  submitted  to  the  people  for
their  approval.  If  the  majority  vote  for  its  adoption,
it  takes  the  place  of  the  old  constitution.  In  the
South,  of  late  years,  there  has  been  a  strong  tendency
to  accept  the  constitution  as  framed  by  the  conven-
tion without  submitting  it  to  the  people.  In  Mis-
sissippi, South  Carolina,  and  Louisiana  the  present
constitutions  went  into  effect  without  the  direct  ap-
proval of  the  people.  This  is  a  return  to  the  method
by  which  the  earliest  constitutions  of  the  States  were
generally  adopted.
