State Constitutions for the 20th Century

The second Constitution of the United States, succeeding the old Articles of Confederation in 1789, is now more than 180 years old. The making of constitutions for the individual states, dating from 1776, will soon be completing its second century with nearly 135 different state constitutions to trace its course of development over that period. The number of new fundamental charters adopted by the various states, with an uncounted total of many dozens of amendments, and the accelerating process of amending the Federal Constitution, with eleven of the twenty-six amendments being adopted in this century, all is taken as evidence of the adaptation of organic law to the changing requirements of a changing society. This paper suggests that the evidence may not be all that persuasive.

Federal and State Constitutional Changes, 1890–1970 … The Federal Constitution Phase … The State Constitutional Phase Toward a Theory of 20th Century State Constitutions … Thwarting the Future: Seven Rejected Charters … Judicial Doctrine and the Future … Model Constitutions Revisited