8 question 12 minutes Could Washington, Madison, and the other framers of the Federal Constitution revisit the earth in this year 1922, it is likely that nothing would bewilder them more than the recent Prohibition Amendment. Railways, steamships,5 the telephone, automobiles, flying machines, submarinesall these developments, unknown in their day, would fill them with amazement and admiration. They would marvel at the story of the rise and downfall of the German Empire; at the growth and present greatness of 10 the Republic they themselves had founded. None of these things, however, would seem to them to involve any essential change in the beliefs and purposes of men as they had known them. The Prohibition Amendment, on the contrary, would evidence to their minds the breaking 15 down of a principle of government which they had deemed axiomatic, the abandonment of a purpose which they had supposed immutable. 1. It can be inferred that the paragraph is intended as A. an introduction to a discussion of a constitutional amendment B. a summary of social and political change since the writing of the Federal Constitution C. an introduction to a history of the Constitution D. a clarification of the authors view of a controversy E. a summation of a discussion on political history |