Twenty-six States declare that " all men have a nat-
tural, inherent, and inalienable right to enjoy and defend
life and liberty."



STATE CONSTITUTIONS 179

Eighteen declare that all men have " a natural right to
acquire, possess, and protect property."

All in one form or another secure the freedom of writ-
ing and speaking opinions, and some add that the truth of a
libel may be given in evidence.
Nearly all secure the freedom of public meeting and
petition.
Many provide that no ex post facto law, nor law impair-
ing the obligation of a contract, shall be passed by the State
legislature; and that private property shall not be taken by
the State without just compensation.
Many forbid the creation of any title of nobility.
Some forbid imprisonment for debt, except in case of
fraud, and secure the acceptance of reasonable bail, except
for the gravest charges.
Several declare that " perpetuities and monopolies are
contrary to the genius of a free State, and ought not to be
allowed."

These instances, a few out of many, may suffice to show
how remote from the common idea of a Bill of Rights, are
some of the enactments which find a place under that head-
ing. The Constitution-makers seem to have inserted here
such doctrines or legal reforms as seemed to them matters of
high import or of wide application, especially when they
could find no suitable place for them elsewhere in the
instrument.
