Massachusetts Constitution

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The Massachusetts Constitution ( Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ) is the Constitution of the State of Massachusetts . It was adopted in 1780 - four years after the United States' Declaration of Independence - and is still in force today in modified form. This makes it one of the oldest constitutions (in the modern sense) in the world. In addition, it is the very first constitution that an affected population voted on itself.

The constitutional text is now divided into four sections: the preamble , the declaration of the rights of the residents of Massachusetts, the provisions on government organization and finally the now over 100 constitutional amendments. Its structure influenced subsequent constitutions, including the United States Constitution .

History of origin

After the Declaration of Independence, the General Court - the legislative body of Massachusetts - recommended that a convention come together and draw up a constitution for the state of Massachusetts. This was done by the General Court of the following legislative period in 1777/78, but when the Convention proposed the constitution it had drawn up to the people, it was not approved by it.

After this unsuccessful attempt, the General Court asked the people on February 20, 1779 whether they wanted a new constitution and whether they would authorize their representatives to convene a state convention for this purpose. After a large majority had answered both questions in the affirmative, the General Court asked the citizens on June 17, 1779 to meet and appoint delegates for the Constitutional Convention, which was to meet in Cambridge on September 1, 1779 .

The convention met as planned and elected James Bowdoin as its president. After the Convention had agreed on a draft constitution, the draft was presented to the people on March 2, 1780. On June 7, the convention met again and set up a committee to evaluate the voting results coming back from the cities. On June 14th, this committee made its report, and on June 15th the convention announced that the people of Massachusetts had adopted the constitution as proposed. After the convention passed a resolution to put the new constitution into effect, it dissolved on June 16, 1780. In accordance with his last resolution, elections were held in the cities immediately; the first General Court under the new constitution met in Boston on October 25, 1780 .

swell

  1. Werner Frotscher / Bodo Pieroth : Verfassungsgeschichte , 5th edition, Munich 2005, marginal number 28.

literature

  • Robert J. Taylor (Ed.): Massachusetts, Colony to Commonwealth. Documents on the Formation of it's Constitution. 1775-1780 . University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill NC 1961.
  • Ronald Michael Peters: The political theory of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. A study of the relationship between society and the individual in the formation of a government . University Microfilms, Ann Arbor MI 1974 (Bloomington IN, Diss., 1974).
  • Ronald M. Peters: The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. A social compact . University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst MA 1978, ISBN 0-87023-143-X .

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