putrefaction of Pennsylvania is greater than I had any idea of".

During the 19th century, the culture of corruption in the General Assembly got so bad that from 1866 to 1873, about 8,700 of 9,300 acts passed in that timeframe were local or special acts. The frustration of the people of the commonwealth with its legislature finally boiled over in 1871 and resulted in a 1873 constitutional convention and an 1874 constitutional amendment. One of the amendment's reforms was to prohibit the General Assembly from writing statutes covering