The Texas Constitution The current Texas Constitution was ratified in 1876. It was a natural and necessary reaction to the previous constitution which was imposed by carpetbaggers and radical reformists. The new constitution better represented the political culture of home-grown Texans: limited government and maximum freedom of the citizens. This constitution not only limited the power of government, it also limited governmental terms and set the salaries of government officials. Farmers and [then] conservative democrats were primarily responsible for the current Texas Constitution. The Texas Constitution of today is very much the same one from 1876, plus a few (over 400) amendments. It is also similar to the U.S. Constitution. For instance,
In my analysis of the Texas Constitution I will assess the three branches of our State Government, the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch and finally the Judicial Branch. Our State Government resembles our National Government in various ways but also in very different ways which we will review in this essay. I will identify a handful of criticisms and problems associated with the provisions in each of these branches of our State Government and identify suggested reforms that many feel are needed.
As time passes by, changes are required to settle down thing and to improve what we have before, that is the main reason why Texas constitution is amended 467 times. "The amendments are the newest in a long line of legislative proposals to update the state Constitution. Since the Constitution was ratified in 1876, Texas voters have considered 646 proposed amendments and approved 467, according to the Legislative reference library. Texas is not alone in its prodigious accumulation of constitutional amendments, however. Alabama leads that contest. Its voters, According to the Texas politics, have amended their constitution almost 800 times since its creation in 1901".
The state of Texas has had six constitutions. The constitution that took effect on February 15, 1876 is the current one still used today. The Texas Constitution is the second longest constitution in the United States, and one of the oldest still in effect. Since the constitution has been adopted it has been
The constitution helped with the Texas economy by restricting the government’s power to tax the people, which led to the limited salaries the state officials had. All salaries were reduced from $5,000 to $4,000. The government also saved money by decentralizing public education, meaning that the powers were administered over to a concentrated area. The reason why they saved money for education was because the schools were eventually segregated and white landowners didn’t have to pay taxes if they were were giving education to African American
On September 17, 1787, the U.S. constitution was signed. The U.S. constitution is a document that has a set of rules, guidelines, and principles that governs our nation. This constitution is the oldest written national document and has had 27 amendments. The current Texas constitution is the seventh document written for Texas. The previous six were all when Texas was still apart of Mexico. The current constitution hasn’t been revised since 1876, which makes it the longest state constitution in the United States.
The 1876 Texas State constitution is the basic framework of today’s legislature it consists of three branches the legislative branch which is comprised of the house and senate, and the executive and judiciary branch. In the following paragraphs we will discuss the Texas legislature’s major responsibilities relative to checks and balances.
However, what distinguishes the two moreover, are the circumstances on which they were created, the U.S constitution is more general while Texas’s constitution is very specific. Having a vague and general constitution gives the government flexibility to interpret the constitution and be able to meet specific changes based on the public. Because of how the U.S constitution is set up, it does not have nearly as much amendments as does the Texas constitution. As a result of the long and detailed constitution Texas has in place, when public police challenges arise they only have the option of making amendments to act outside of their detailed language. I conclude that it is more efficient to have a constitution that is broad and does not require a lot of amending in the constitution. As mentioned before the processor making an amendment is fairly easy but it does take away a great amount of time in the legislator where more important matters should take
Texas and California are two states in the US that are comparable in terms of their population, resources, size, economy and constitution. The Texas Constitution is the foundation of the statehood of Texas within which the government operates in the same way that U.S. constitution governs the affairs of the whole country with its allocated power. The Texas constitution has a huge influence on the daily lives of Texans Possibly even more than the U.S. Constitution. Although all states have its own constitution, Texas and California have different ways in which they gained their constitution. Like most state in the U.S. The state of California gained its constitution after the civil war, the constitution was ratified in 1879 and It is similar to the Texas constitution in many ways. Both constitutions are founded on the unanimous vote of its people and are grounded by the rule of
Texas v U.S. Constitution The United States Constitution compared to the Texas Constitution has many differences of course one being for the entire nation and the other just for Texas citizens (The Texas Constitution). Also some of the other differences are the two were based on two different historical circumstances (The Texas Constitution). The United States Constitution was based on the early Article of Confederations and was to empower the government from its weakness the American government struggled from (The Texas Constitution). The Texas Constitution is the complete opposite of that, it is based on the power for the people and not the government (The Texas Constitution).
From all the constitutions that Texas has had throughout the years, the one that has stood out from the rest it would be the 1876 version, which is the one Texas still uses in this current point of time. All throughout history we have had 7 constitutions in Texas all through the time of 1836-1876. So, with all these different versions of the constitution of Texas the real question is where did Texas get the foundation for its constitution? The answer is from the U.S constitution, which leads to the purpose of this essay. We will be discussing the similarities and differences, the historical reasons for the restrictive nature of the Texas Constitution, limiting state government, details and how the bill of rights for both Texas and U.S protects
Texas has been through a lot of changes and constitutions. After constants debates of what the constitution should be, the current Texas constitution was established in 1876 and is the 7th constitution Texas has had. It created 3 branches of government: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The current constitution has great qualities, but it also contains a lot of weaknesses that shouldn’t be ignored for the sake of pride.
The constitution mandates the legislators to hold biennial sessions; however, the governor also has the constitutional power to call for special or emergency sessions. Accordingly, the constitution empowers the legislators to amend the constitution, set policies, and also manage all state run institutional affairs. As mentioned in the first question, the constitution empowers the legislators to conduction processes such as legislative oversight and constituent functions, which are necessary whenever it comes to the implementation of government policies and programs. In a nutshell, the constitution of Texas simply provides a means for the legislators to follow the law especially when it comes to performing critical functions of the
A couple centuries ago, to be specific 1827 was the year of the very first Texas Constitution. The first Texas constitution was called, The Constitution of Coahuila y Tejas. The population of what is now Texas was about four-thousand. Before declaring its independence from Mexico, Texas operated under the Mexican Constitution where there were two houses of congress.
The Texas Constitution has evolved in many ways throughout history. Before the current constitution there were five predecessors. There were many factors that effected each of the five constitutions. After very long governance by Spain and Mexico and a small war with Mexico, the Texans finally won their independence. The first constitution had become official in September of 1836. This first constitution was called the Republic Of Texas Constitution. After struggling for about nine years to become apart of the Union, Texas’s second constitution was created. The Second constitution was called the Statehood Constitution and was thought to be one of the best constitutions of time. The Jacksonian Democracy greatly influenced the Statehood Constitution. The idea of the Jacksonian Democracy was to increase the people’s participation in the government. This Constitution lasted about 16 years until Texas joined the Confederate Sates of America in 1861. This third constitution was called the Civil War Constitution. The main goal was to modify the
The Constitution of the State of Texas is the document representing the structure and function of the Texas government. The current Constitution took effect on February 15, 1876 and is the sixth Constitution in the history of Texas. When first constructed, the Texas Constitution was a poorly organized document that did not explain clearly the responsibility for government actions. Since its conception (through June 2011), there have been 646 proposed amendments and 476 adopted amendments added to this document. The Texas Constitution is also highly restrictive; it only grants enumerated powers to the State of Texas and does not allow for implied powers. The constant change to this Constitution has added to its poor organized condition that is extremely difficult to understand, even by the courts.