DIAMONDS.GOLD.AND BRITISHIMPERIALISM
quently, in spite of some heated debates, the convention moved fairly
rapidly toward consensus. In February 19°9 the delegates signed a draft
constitution, and in May they amended it in the light of modifications
recommended by the colonial parliaments. The document was then ap-
proved unanimously by the parliaments of the former republics, with two
dissentients in the Cape parliament, and by a three-to-one majority in a
referendum of the voters in Natal. 61
The constitution contained four major principles that have profoundly
affectedthe course of South African history. First and foremost, it followed
the British model, creating a unitary state with parliamentary sovereignty.
It included no substantial concessions to Natal's demands for federalism.
The four colonies became the provinces of the Union of South Africa, but
the central government was legally supreme over all local institutions.
Moreover, powers were not divided within the-center. As in Great Britain,
the executive was responsible to a majority in the lower house of parlia-
ment, named the House of Assembly; the Senate, the upper house, was
indirectly elected and weaker in several respects; and there was no bill of