ceived word five minutes ago that he passed
the Bar Examination. (Applause,)
Delegate Weidemeyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Mr.
President, members of the Convention, I
think congratulations are in order for
Atlee Wampler on our staff and our good
Sergeant-at-Arms, Richard Rothenburg.
THE PRESIDENT: Correct, and also a
third member of the staff, Thomas Mc-
Carty, who is one of the draftsmen in the
Chief Clerk's office helping you draft pro-
posals. Three members of the staff—Ser-
geant-at-Arms, Richard Rothenburg, Atlee
Wampler, administrative assistant to the
Committee on Personal Rights, and Thomas
McCarty, draftsman in the Clerk's office—
have also passed the bar examination.
We are very fortunate today in having
with us the Honorable Alfred E. Driscoll,
former Governor of the State of New
Jersey, who served two terms from 1947
to 1954. Governor Driscoll very kindly
consented to come down to the Convention
today, where he appeared before the Com-
mittee on the Executive Branch and testi-
fied at length, at such length because of
the questions asked him, that he had to cut
short his lunch hour in order to be here
for the 2 o'clock session of the Convention.
We are particularly pleased to hear from
Governor Driscoll because he was Governor
of New Jersey prior to and during the
Constitutional Convention of New Jersey
held in 1947, following which New Jersey's
new Constitution was overwhelmingly
adopted by the voters of that state in No-
vember, 1947. I present to you Governor
Alfred E. Driscoll of New Jersey. (Stand-
ing ovation.)
GOVERNOR DRISCOLL: Mr. President,
ladies and gentlemen of the Convention,
you are engaged in an historic assignment.
You are engaged in the task of constitution-
making at a time when the world is beset
with doubts, misunderstandings, preoccu-
pied with the clash of apparently conflicting
opinions.
Nonetheless, the future of our federal
system is largely dependent upon the virility
of component parts, namely, the 50 states.
It may be said of you that you have, when
your work is concluded, deserved the favor-
able opinion of your fellow citizens. Based
upon my own experience in 1947, when
our convention began in June, in no small
measure was the success of the convention
due to the fact that citizens of great im-
portance and great dignity and great in- |
tegrity hammered out a constitution that
their fellow citizens recognized was not one
of compromise but one based upon their
beliefs, their convictions.
It is easy sometimes to weaken in the
presence of pressure. There will be pres-
sures, I am sure. But the path that follows
that of conviction and integrity is the path
that leads to success. It is hardly neces-
sary to emphasize the far-reaching impor-
tance of the work you have undertaken.
The American people, foremost among
the world's populations in their veneration
of a written constitution, look upon a con-
stituent assembly chosen for the specific
purpose of making a constitution as an ex-
pression of basic sovereignty.
The making of a modern constitution is
a difficult process, the more so when we seek
agreement upon the complex issues of
modern society in a popularly elected as-
sembly such as yours.
The course of your work will undoubtedly
be. trying. It will test your capacity for
statesmanship. It is part of our tradition,
however, and a valuable tradition it is, that
when we revert to fundamentals in govern-
ment, we look to the highest form of repre-
sentative democracy as well as the ultimate
consent of the governed, expressed through
the process of free elections.
I am sure that your fellow citizens ex-
pect a great work from you. While your
state has lived under its present Constitu-
tion, I am told, for a considerable period
of time, I know from my own experience
they are now looking for something better,
not changed for the purpose of change
alone, but changed for the purpose of bring-
ing your fundamental doctrine in line with
modern society and capable of permitting
your representatives, be they in the ju-
diciary, the executive branch of the govern-
ment, to better cope with those issues.
It is your task to appraise the forces
that are for and against this and that issue.
It is your task as I see it to develop a con-
stitution that may very well exist for an-
other hundred years, even though I would
recommend that provision be made for the
calling of a constitutional convention peri-
odically at regular intervals, so that an
audit may be made of your basic document.
This provision might very well include call-
ing of such a convention by the legislature
and in the absence of the legislature calling
the convention, then having the governor
call it.
I would hope that you would strive for a
simple constitution, one that more nearly |
