Similarities Between Us And Texas Constitution

The Constitution of the Republic of Texas was the supreme law of Texas from 1836 to 1845. On March 2, 1836, Texas declared itself an independent republic due to a lack of support from the U.S. in their revolutionary movement. The citizens of Texas approved an annexation ordinance and a new constitution on October 13, 1845. On December 29, 1845, the U.S. admitted the State of Texas to the Union. After the Texas voters ratified secession from the Union on February 23, 1861, the Secession Convention reconvened. Convention delegates believed it was their duty to direct the transition of Texas from a state in the U.S. to one of the Confederate States of America. Most laws not in conflict with the Confederacy remained valid. A clause permitting

and Texas Constitutions are similar documents. They both represent the principles of representative democratic government, in which power originated from the people. Both contain a bill of rights that protects civil liberties from government infringement, both provide for two branches of legislature with a House of Representatives and a Senate and both request a system of checks and balances and separation of powers between legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. They also both divide government power between upper and lower levels of government. In the U.S. Constitution the states are subordinate to the federal government, and in the Texas Constitution the counties are subordinate to the state government. But beyond these general features, the two constitutions could not be more different. These differences result from the fact that the two documents arose out of very different historical circumstances and for radically opposite complaints with the document each was meant to replace. With the U.S. Constitution, the problem with the earlier Articles of Confederation was that government was too decentralized and not powerful enough. The U.S. Constitution was designed to overcome these weaknesses and offer a degree of centralization and increased government power. However, this is exactly what the Texas Constitution was designed to reverse and avoid. The framers of the U.S. Constitution wanted to enable government action;

In order to ratify, three-fourths of all state legislatures must ratify or three-fourths must approve via Ratifying Conventions. Initiative and referendum are powers granted to the electorate by the constitution of several states and refer to the processes that allow voters to vote directly on certain legislation. They represent direct check on democracy as people can exercise their powers to accept or reject a piece of legislation. Texas does not provide for this, however, states such Arizona has initiated statues and amendments and New Mexico has referendum only. The current Texas Constitution is ridiculed by scholars as being a burden by excessive detail, outdated and contradictory provisions as well as too hard to amend and it is too unclear in outlining the separation of powers which exists in Texas. The Constitutional Convention of 1974 failed because no one could agree. In an election held in 1975, all of these propositions were rejected by overwhelming