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Municipal'Law ? , . ' • i <br />Page 2-' .. ' ? ?. ! ' . <br />.?. <br />. . i . . .. _ . . . . <br />governments were quite small at the time and the demands for public regulation <br />and services..were fucused in the burgeoning citles; To'provide these services <br />' efficiently, cities needed independence from the often corr.upt state politics and <br />: reform of their-own corrupt -political machines. The reformers. at the 'time thus : <br />-focused on cieaning up local politics and creating a legal status, for.cities that <br />protected them from state politics. The Rorftan concept of municipality was ideal for <br />..:these purposes arid was soon embedded in the law bf most states. The basic legal derrmand of tlie reformers was-f.or home rule.. Under this <br />system, cities were municipal corporations, separate legal 'entities, with t$e ability :. <br />to' draf? an?d adopt their own Charter.? The reforrners often amended state Constitutions to achieve th'is erripowerment of the city. Reformers in Obio, led by . <br />Clevelanders such •as Newton .Baker, May.or 'and later a membex of President :. ... <br />Woodrow Wilson's Cabinet, amended the Ohio Constitution and provided, arguably, the rriost legally. empowered municipalities in a1F fhe states. We will <br />review the specific provisions of the Ohio Constitution shortly; however, we need to outline the philosophy of American government to understand more fully what <br />these provisions mean legally and politically. . . <br />American Government == The Most Complex System ever Devised <br />The founding fathers were greatly discouraged by the state of government 'in <br />the decade following the successful Revolutionary War. The national governrnent <br />created under the Articles of Confederation proved inadequate for the task of <br />creating.a national community. James Madison spearheaded the calling of a <br />Constitutional Convention to develop an effective national government.3 The <br />Convention met in complete secrecy for nine (9) months and the resulting <br />Constitution was narrowly aclopted; in some states such as New York, by only one <br />(1) vote in the ratifying convention. Philosophically, the Constitution created a Federal system. Under a <br />Federal system, there is more'than one constitutional government. Constitutions <br />for the founding fathers were derived from the people. -- not, necessarily the <br />electorate or what We usually think of as the people. Rather'it was the collective <br />cornmunity in which sovereignty resided and that community delegated some of its <br />authority to national and state governments in writing.4 For our purposes, the most <br />important fact is that cities and other- local governments are not part of legal <br />Federalism. These local entities are not constitutional and derive all of their <br />authority from state governmen'ts. Local, governments, are, in the classic and <br />ringing words of Judge Ditlon of Iowa, the leading legal authority during the First <br />Urban Revolution, "creatures of state government." This fact compelled the <br />reformers in Ohio to amend the Ohio Constitution and explicitly empower Ohio <br />cities. '