constitution extremely rigid by requiring the support of three-quarters of
the members of the Volksraad in three successive annual sessions for con-
stitutional amendments."?
The state-making process north of the Vaal was entirely different. Not
until 1860 did the various factions unite behind a constitution,
and the
document itself, with 232
articles, was wordy, ambiguous, unsystematic,
and a curious mixture of substance and triviality. The institutions it created
were similar to those in the Orange Free State. The qualifications
for
citizenship were nowhere defined, but they were implied in Article 9: "The
people are not prepared to allow any equality of the non-white with the
white inhabitants,
either in Church or State." The internal sovereignty
issue, moreover, was obscured. The Volksraad was "the supreme authority
and the legislative power of the country," but "any matter discussed [there]
shall be decided by three-fourths of the votes recorded," while other articles
implied that sovereignty was vested in the white population as a whole."!
In practice, after a shaky start when a mob ousted the first president, the
Orange Free State constitutional framework was a success and the citizens
and officeholders developed a respect for law. Among the Afrikaners north