The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944 Page: 74

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

book eminently more worthwhile. Likewise unorthodox, but
interesting and valuable, are the treatises on cattle, oil, sul-
phur, and other Texas industries.
In the reviewer's opinion, Dr. Richardson has done a signifi-
cant bit of research and writing well. The book is made par-
ticularly usable by the inclusion of a good index as well as
excellent bibliographical suggestions at the end of each chapter;
it is definitely a contribution to Southwestern History.
Southwest Texas State Teachers College CLAUDE ELLIOTT
Seven Decades of the Texas Constitution of 1876. By Seth
Shepard McKay. Lubbock, Texas (Privately printed), 1943.
Pp. viii+245.
This book is a revision and expansion of Professor McKay's
Making of the Texas Constitution of 1876, printed in Philadel-
phia in 1924. It is a straightforward factual account of the
subject. Chapter I, "Antecedents of the Constitution," sum-
marizes rather fully the constitutions of 1845, 1861, 1866, and
1869, with emphasis on the historical background of the last
two. Chapters II, III, and IV discuss the calling of the Con-
vention of 1875 and the formation and ratification of the con-
stitution. Chapter V, "The Constitution in Practice," is an
interesting and significant analysis of the amendments and
proposed amendments through the election of 1942.
So strong was the revulsion against the extravagance of the
so-called reconstruction era that the convention refused to
provide money for publication of its proceedings; and its de-
bates have to be compiled from various newspapers which re-
ported them more or less fully. It is principally from these
sources and from manuscript records of members of the con-
vention that this book is written. Professor McKay published
a bulky volume of the debates through The University of Texas
Press in 1930. That volume combined with the present study
provides a thoroughly satisfactory history of the making of our
fundamental law, which seems destined to last much more than
"seven decades."
In a lengthy appendix, Professor McKay presents a useful
tabulation of all the amendments proposed, classified under the
topics of the Bill of Rights; the Legislative, Executive, and
Judicial Departments; Suffrage; Education; Taxation and

74