Sovereignty and Constitutional Rights

Abstract

A country can have a constitution which its inhabitants regard as a marvellous, even sacred, document but it is of little use if a really serious disagreement arises. Being a democracy does not help; it can actually make the conflict worse. The American Civil War was such a long, destructive bloody affair precisely because both the commitment of the populace to their cause on both sides was so strong. In the south especially, the government was able to count on the willingness of the white population to make almost unlimited sacrifices in the desperate struggle to maintain their way of life. However, democracy alone is, of course, not always the critical factor, since governments have a tendency to act in a similar way in similar situations regardless of the source of their authority. Because of this, the presence or absence of a constitution, bill of rights, or other guarantees of personal liberty has little to do with the nature of sovereignty. There is no doubt that constitutional guarantees are highly desirable, but their existence and effectiveness depend entirely on the attitudes and beliefs of the community and also, to a disheartening extent, on its uniformity. If the population is not homogeneous, then they depend on the toleration of the majority or dominant minority.