In Pakistan's first decade, establishing good government meant refining received traditions: concepts of rights, representation and authority were reiterated in their untarnished, ideal forms for the new state. The exercise failed from its inception because its authors refused to understand that such concepts were meaningful only when applied consistent with the intended structure of power, and that a constitution autocratically conceived cannot be popularly legitimate or democratic. From its first decade, the country has therefore shouldered the burdens of constitutions unequal to the task of governing the Pakistani state. The 1950s Basic Principles committees comprehended the need to provide a principled grounding for the future constitution but did not accommodate its diverse sources and applications. The second Constituent Assembly shared these problems under the influence of the Governor General and the army, who were anxious to defuse challenges to their power.