During his two terms the Constitution was tested and found workable, strong national policies were inaugurated, and the traditions and powers of the Presidential office firmly fixed.

To their leaders the Constitution was a compact made by the people of sovereign states, who therefore retained the right to secede from it.

The champions of the Union maintained that the Constitution had formed, fundamentally, the united people of America, that it was a compact among sovereign citizens rather than states, and that therefore the states had no right to secede, though the citizens could.

Many believe -- and understandably -- that the great difference between the Constitution of the Southern Confederacy and the Federal Constitution was that the former recognized the right of each state to secede.

They recognized that slavery was a moral issue and not merely an economic interest, and that to recognize it explicitly in their Constitution would be in explosive contradiction to the concept of sovereignty they had set forth in the Declaration of 1776 that `` all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Though his election was interpreted by many Southerners as the forerunner of a dangerous shift in the federal balance in favor of the Union, Lincoln himself proposed no such change in the rights the Constitution gave the states.

The American Constitution was historic at this point in providing that `` Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ''.

Lincoln understood that the Federal government's power to end slavery was limited by the Constitution, which before 1865, committed the issue to individual states.

He felt such action could only be taken by the commander-in-chief using war powers granted to the president by the Constitution, and Lincoln was planning to take that action.

Nevertheless, in 1861, Lincoln justified the war in terms of legalisms ( the Constitution was a contract, and for one party to get out of a contract all the other parties had to agree ), and then in terms of the national duty to guarantee a republican form of government in every state.

The slavery issue was primarily about whether the system of slavery was an anachronistic evil that was incompatible with Republicanism in the United States, or a state system protected by the Constitution.

The 1857 Congressional rejection of the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was the first multi-party solid-North vote, and that solid vote was anti-slavery to support the anti-slavery majority in Kansas Territory.

The Secretary promulgated the Constitution of American Samoa which was approved by a Constitutional Convention of the people of American Samoa and a majority of the voters of American Samoa voting at the 1966 election, and came into effect in 1967.

Part of Title I was found unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court as it pertains to states in the case of Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett as violating the sovereign immunity rights of the several states as specified by the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Pausanias, the second king of Sparta ( see Spartan Constitution for more information on Sparta's dual monarchy ), was supposed to provide Lysander with reinforcements as they marched into Boeotia, yet failed to arrive in time to assist Lysander, likely because Pausanias disliked him for his brash and arrogant attitude towards the Spartan royalty and government.

In one of his first speeches on the floor, he commented that neither the federal nor the state government had authority to abolish slavery, asserting this was a form of property guaranteed by the Constitution.

" Johnson said it was an invasion by federal authority of the rights of the states, it had no warrant in the Constitution and was contrary to all precedents.

It was designed to put the key provisions of the Civil Rights Act into the Constitution, but it went further.

He was buried just outside Greeneville – with his body wrapped in an American flag and a copy of the U. S. Constitution placed under his head, according to his wishes.

The first Spanish Constitution was in 1812.

* Constitution of 1891 – the republic was proclaimed in 1889, but a new constitution was not promulgated until 1891.

A new Constitution was promulgated in 1947, and Chiang was formally elected by the National Assembly as the first term President of the Republic of China on May 20, 1948.

This law, which was promulgated on the same day as the Meiji Constitution, enjoyed co-equal status with that constitution.

Article 2 of the Constitution of Japan, promulgated in 1947 by influence of the U. S. occupation administration and still in force, provides that " The Imperial Throne shall be dynastic and succeeded to in accordance with the Imperial Household Law passed by the Diet.

* 1819 – The Argentine Constitution of 1819 is promulgated.

* 1833 – The Chilean Constitution of 1833 is promulgated.

The reformist period peaked with the Constitution, called the Kanûn-u Esâsî ( meaning " Basic Law " in Ottoman Turkish ), written by members of the Young Ottomans, which was promulgated on 23 November 1876.

Implementing the Council's decision, Pope Pius V promulgated, in the Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum on 14 July 1570, an edition of the Roman Missal that was to be in obligatory use throughout the Latin Church except where there was a traditional liturgical rite that could be proved to be of at least two centuries ’ antiquity.

Schemata on ecumenism ( Unitatis Redintegratio ), the official view on Protestant and Eastern Orthodox " separated brethren ", the Eastern Rite churches ( Orientalium Ecclesiarum ), and the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church ( Lumen Gentium ) were approved and promulgated by the Pope.

Thailand's ' popular Constitution ', called the " People's Constitution " was successfully promulgated in 1997 after the 1992 Bloody May incident.

* May 25 – The Chilean Constitution of 1833 is promulgated.

* February 5 – Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States promulgated.

* November 15 – The Brazilian Old Republic Constitution was promulgated.

This day () commemorates the Constitution of 1917, promulgated after the Mexican Revolution on February 5.

In 1862, a new Constitution was promulgated, which provided for a Diet representative of the people.

Dei Verbum ( official title of the Vatican's English translation: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation – Dei Verbum ) was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 18, 1965, following approval by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2, 344 to 6.

The Meiji Constitution was promulgated in February 1889.

The new Constitution of the Republic of China, promulgated on 25 December 1947, established a five-branch government with the office of president ( 總統 ) as head of state.

Pope Paul VI promulgated the revised rite of Mass with his Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum of 3 April 1969, setting the first Sunday of Advent at the end of that year as the date on which it would enter into force.

A new liberal constitution, the Constitution of 1857, was promulgated, under which Juárez became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice, under moderado ( moderate ) president Ignacio Comonfort.

It was enshrined in the 6th article of the Constitution of the Republic of China when it was promulgated in 1947.

On 9 July 1568, Pope Pius V, the successor of the Pope who closed the Council of Trent, promulgated an edition, known as the Roman Breviary, with his Apostolic Constitution Quod a nobis, imposing it in the same way in which, two years later, he imposed his Roman Missal and using language very similar to that in the bull Quo primum with which he promulgated the Missal, regarding, for instance, the perpetual force of its provisions, the obligation to use the promulgated text in all places, and the total prohibition of adding or omitting anything, declaring in fact: " No one whosoever is permitted to alter this letter or heedlessly to venture to go contrary to this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, indult declaration, will decree and prohibition.