Origin And Development Of The Texas Constitution

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The Origin and Development of the Texas Constitution Texas has a vastly rich history in which Texas has had to adopt six different constitutions. Though a surprising amount of constitutions, Texas has not had significant variations among the six documented constitutions. In fact, the constitution that Texas uses today has lasted for more than a hundred and thirty years. Despite that little fact, there has been continuous efforts to amend the constitution to better keep up with what is best for the people and the state. The first constitution was written during the year of 1824 while Texas had still been a part of Mexico. But much like other developing regions, Texas was not satisfied with what it currently had. Texas was not happy about their …show more content…

In 1845, Texas had to write another state constitution before the United States would adopt the nation into its statehood. With this new constitution, Texas guaranteed property rights for married women and set up a permanent school fund. These two new additions are still in the current constitution. However, when the United States started to abolish slavery, Texas did not want to go along with the US so they seceded from the Union. As a result of their secession, Texas wrote yet another constitution that was very similar to the Constitution of 1845. Unfortunately, the Constitution of 1861 further protected slavery and made any attempt in freeing any slaves against the …show more content…

It took a year after the Constitutional Convention of 1875 for Texas to adopt the Constitution of 1876. This sixth and final constitution is the one that Texas still has in effect today. This current constitution is among the United States’ longest of all the state constitution. This being a well-deserved acknowledgement considering the number of constitutional amendments that have been implemented since the adoption of said constitution. With over 600 amendments being proposed, over 480 of them were approved and tacked onto the constitution. Considering all the amendments, Texas has succeeded in making sure that its government has restricted powers and that they, more or less, operate in a manner that suits the people of