State constitution (United States)/sandbox

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In the United States, each member State has its own constitution.

Usually, they are longer than the 8,500-word federal Constitution and are more detailed regarding the day-to-day relationships between government and the people. The shortest is the Constitution of Vermont, adopted in 1793 and currently 8,295 words long. The longest is Alabama's sixth and current constitution, ratified in 1901, at 357,157 words long. Both the federal and state constitutions are organic texts: they are the fundamental blueprints for the legal and political organizations of the United States and the states, respectively.

Article III, section 1, of the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for the United States, provides that "The powers not expressly and intentionally delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor by the same expressly and intentionally prohibited to the States, are expressly and exclusively reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The Guarantee Clause of Article 4 of the Constitution states that "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government." These two provisions indicate states did not surrender their wide latitude to adopt a constitution, the fundamental documents of state law, when the U.S. Constitution was adopted.

Typically state constitutions address a wide array of issues deemed by the states to be of sufficient importance to be included in the constitution rather than in an ordinary statute. Often modeled after the federal Constitution, they outline the structure of the state government and typically establish a bill of rights, an executive branch headed by a governor (and often one or more other officials, such as a lieutenant governor and state attorney general), a state legislature, and state courts, including a state supreme court (a few states have two high courts, one for civil cases, the other for criminal cases). Additionally, many other provisions may be included. Many state constitutions, unlike the federal constitution, also begin with an invocation of God.

Some States allow amendments to the Constitution by initiative.

Many States have had several constitutions over the course of their history.

The organized territories of the United States also have constitutions or organic acts of their own, if they have an organized government through an Organic Act passed by the federal Congress. These constitutions are subject to congressional approval and oversight, which is not the case with state constitutions. If territories wish to enter the Union (that is, to attain statehood), they seek an enabling act from Congress and must draft an acceptable state constitution as a prerequisite to statehood.

List of constitutions[edit | edit source]

The following is a list of the current constitutions of the United States of America and its constituent political divisions. Each entry shows the original number of the current constitution, the official name of the current constitution, and the date on which the current constitution took effect.

Federal constitution[edit | edit source]

No. Official name Date of effect Notes
1st Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union March 1, 1781 [1]
2nd Constitution of the United States of America March 4, 1789

State constitutions[edit | edit source]

No. Official name Date of effect Notes
1st Arizona, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Arizona February 14, 1912
2nd California, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of California January 1, 1880
1st Colorado, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Colorado August 1, 1876
1st HawaiiConstitution of the State of Hawaiʻi August 21, 1959 [2]
1st Idaho, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Idaho July 3, 1890
1st Kansas, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Kansas January 29, 1861 [3]
2nd Montana, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Montana July 1, 1973
2nd Nebraska, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Nebraska November 1, 1875
1st Nevada, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Nevada October 31, 1864
1st New Mexico, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of New Mexico January 6, 1912
1st North Dakota, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of North Dakota November 2, 1889
1st Oklahoma, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Oklahoma November 16, 1907
1st Oregon, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Oregon February 14, 1859
1st South Dakota, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of South Dakota November 2, 1889
4th Texas, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Texas February 17, 1876 [4]
1st Utah, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Utah January 4, 1896
1st Washington, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Washington November 11, 1889
1st Wyoming, Constitution of the State ofConstitution of the State of Wyoming July 10, 1890

Fœderal Capital Territory charter[edit | edit source]

No. Official name Date of effect Notes
1st Fœderal Capital Territory, Charter of theCharter of the Fœderal Capital Territory December 24, 1973

The Fœderal Capital Territory (Seat of the Government of the Union in the Fœderal Capital Territory) has a charter similar to charters of major cities, instead of having a constitution like the States and Union. The Fœderal Capital Territory Organic Act establishes the Council of the Fœderal Capital Territory which governs the entire Territory and has certain devolved powers similar to those of major cities. Congress has full authority over the Territory and may amend the charter and any legislation enacted by Council.

Territorial constitutions[edit | edit source]

Organic acts[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Despite its very different title, the United States Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union, adopted on November 15, 1777, and ratified on March 1, 1781, was actually the first constitution of the United States of America. See Christian G. Fritz, American Sovereigns: The People and America's Constitutional Tradition Before the Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 2008) at p. 131 [ISBN 978-0-521-88188-3 (noting that "Madison, along with other Americans clearly understood" the Articles of Confederation "to be the first federal Constitution.")
  2. Excludes the constitutions of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the Republic of Hawaiʻi.
  3. The Wyandotte Constitution supplanted the rejected Topeka Constitution, Lecompton Constitution, and Leavenworth Constitution.
  4. Excludes the constitution of the Republic of Texas.
  5. Proclamation 4534--Constitution of the Northern Mariana Islands

Bibliography[edit | edit source]

  • Bryce, James, viscount. The American Commonwealth (2nd ed., rev.; London: Macmillan and Co., 1891), vol. 1, p. [413]-445, [683]-724, et passim.
  • Hammons, Christopher W. (1999). Was James Madison wrong? Rethinking the American preference for short, framework-oriented constitutions. American Political Science Review. Dec. 1999.
    • The appendices to this article contain substantial data on state constitutions.

External links[edit | edit source]

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