First Amendment to the United States Constitution restrained but by despotic Governments." Eight of the other twelve states made similar pledges. However, these declarations were generally considered "mere admonitions to state legislatures", rather than enforceable provisions. After several years of comparatively weak government under the Articles of Confederation, a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia proposed a new constitution on September 17, 1787, featuring among other changes a stronger chief executive. George Mason, a Constitutional Convention delegate and the drafter of Virginia's Declaration of Rights, proposed that the Constitution include a bill of rights listing and guaranteeing civil liberties. Other delegates—including future Bill of Rights drafter James Madison—disagreed, arguing
Adoption of the Constitution of Ireland did not re-accredit diplomats as would be expected were the post-1937 Ireland a successor state of the previous Irish Free State. The date of the coming into operation of the Constitution was contained in Article 62, a transitory provision of the Constitution which is omitted from the official published text. Article 48 provides that the Constitution of the Irish Free State is repealed as of that date. No resolution of the Dáil was passed by the 9th Dáil, which was elected the same day as the plebiscite on the Constitution, and the Constitution came into force on 29 December 1937,