within the limits of the existing territorial-Federal
 relationship, a constitution for local self-government.

 B. The constitution had to recognize the sovereignty of
 the United States and the supremacy of the
 Constitution, treaties and applicable laws of the
 United States. The Constitution also had to provide
 for a republican form of government with executive,
 legislative, and judicial branches, and a bill of rights.

 C. The members of the constitutional convention were
 to be chosen based on the enactment of local law,
 provided that only citizens of the United States who
 were qualified voters in the Virgin Islands could be
 members.

 D. When completed, the proposed constitution was to
 be submitted to the Governor, who was to submit it to
 the President of the United States. Within sixty days
 of its receipt, the President was to submit the
 constitution, along with his comments, to the
 Congress.

 E. When the Congress received the constitution, it had
 sixty days within which to approve, modify, or amend
 it. As approved or amended by the Congress, the
 constitution was then to be submitted to the voters of
 the Virgin Islands for acceptance or rejection
 through a referendum election. If approved by a
 majority of the votes cast, not counting blank ballots,
 the constitution would then take effect in accordance
 with its provisions.

 The Constitutional Authorization Act represented a substantial political step for
the Virgin Islands. Theoretically, after six decades of being a territory of the United
States, first under military rule and then under Congressionally-enacted Organic Acts,
the people of the Virgin Islands were finally granted the chance to write the document
that would establish their own local government. It was hailed, considering the
elective governorship that had been instituted six years before, as a culminating step
in transforming the Virgin Islands into a self-governing community. It may have been a
reason why the United States finally permitted a visit of the United Nations
Decolonization Committee to the Virgin Islands in 1977.

 However, some residents were disappointed with some of the Act's provisions,
particularly those which made the document subject to Congressional rewriting and
the restriction that the constitution had to be drafted within the existing territorial-