The Texas and the U.S constitution are very similar in principle, a constitution in the book is defined as “the legal structure of a government, which establishes its power and authority as well as the limits on power.”(pg.71) This definition sets the basis of which the Texas and U.S consititution are based on, essentially they are a governing document. In addition there are five major ideologies that unite both constitutions. The first, is political power being derived from ‘the people’. This may be done through our voting system. Second, Three separate branches of government (division of political power) these are the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Third, the governing document has a system created to ensure that no branch, party, or person may abuse their duty or responsibility; also known as the system of “checks and balances”. Fourthly, the idea of individual rights; “the concern for preventing the emergence of tyranny is also found in the fourth idea”(pg.71) and Finally the concept of federalism, which is a system of power is divided within the government, that included and central government, and many more regional (by area) …show more content…
Article VI of the U.S Constitution contains the supremacy clause and is essentially declaring that it is “the supreme law of the land and superior to all laws adopted by any state or subdivision”(pg.71). In addition another main difference is the necessary and proper clause which is found in Article I, Section 8. This clause provides Congress to make all laws “necessary and proper to carry out its powers.”(pg.72) Throughout the history of Texas’s constitutions, drafters of the constitution have been unwilling to let government interfere as much with the state by essentially constricting officeholder with extensive grants of discretionary
The U.S Constitution also contains articles the Texas Constitution doesn't. The U.S. constitution talks about what privileges the states have. The rules they have to abide by to make the nation one. In the Texas Constitution it goes more into depth about what the state wants the people to abide by. The U.S. Constitution also talks about how our
Despite, all of the revisions the Texas Constitution still has its strengths and weaknesses. The strengths it has a clear definition of restrictions on what government officials can and can’t do. It has the Bill of
The U.S. constitution and the Texas constitution have similarities and differences. Both constitutions have a Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is a summary of the rights given to all people. These constitutions also talk about suffrage and taxes. Just like how both of these constitutions have similarities, they also have differences. The Texas constitution is longer than the U.S. constitution and discusses the rights first. It also deals with state and local issues not brought up in the U.S. constitution. Both constitutions have a Bill of Rights, but the Texas constitution discusses citizens’ rights at the beginning of article one. The Texas Bill of Rights has the same protections for citizens like the U.S. Bill of Rights does, but the Texas Bill of Rights extends beyond federal protections. The executive branch is the branch that the president is in charge of. The definition of the executive branch is “The branch of federal and state government that is broadly
The Texas State Constitution is the document that describes the structure and function of the government. Texas has had seven constitutions, and the current one is the one that was ratified in 1876. The current constitution is among the largest of state constitutions in the United States, coming in fourth behind Alabama, California, and South Carolina. This constitution has many strengths and weaknesses; one weakness being that it limits the way government can be involved in certain problems that arise. This document has its positive attributes and its negative ones, but it is a necessity for the state to be able to function.
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
Another even more alarming problem the Texas Constitution has, is the fragmented executive branch. The governor doesn’t have control over other states authorities, instead, he shares authority with them. The governor’s powers are limited.
Next, we review the structure and content of the current Texas constitution. Of special concern here is the length, detail and overall organization (or disorganization, as some critics might have it) of the fundamental plan of state government and cornerstone of state law. We then turn attention to what the constitution says about local governments (counties and municipalities). The framers of the constitution had a lot to say about these local governments, and the way they specified their organization and function directly affects the communities we call home.
The state of Texas was birthed through conflicts over land, which resulted in tensions between Mexico and the Republic of Texas reaching a boiling point. Having declared their independence from Mexico, the Republic of Texas needed to establish some form of structure to be able to run and function as a Government (Newell et al. 40). The Republic of Texas constitution is setup to almost mirror the United States constitution, while having varying differences. In order to keep each branch of government honest, they were separated and needed to work with each other to reach common ground or come to an agreement. The three branches of government each have their own functions to help the
Given that, Texas had to fight with the Confederacy when the Civil War began. Since the Confederacy lost, all the states who fought on the side of the Confederacy had to go under a period of reconstruction. This period was intended to help bring the states back to a working state and to help with the now freed slaves. This was not in Texas’s favor. Since Texas didn’t really depend on slavery, its economy bounced back pretty fast but still had to go through a reconstruction period. This ended up making the government centralized. The governor had a lot of power and didn’t use it wisely. When this period ended, and it was time to write a new constitution, Texas made one where the governor had extremely limited power and that the government was comprised of a plural executive.
The Texas constitution is one of the oldest constitutions which was initially adopted in 1876. Since the adoption of the Texas Constitution, the Legislature has proposed 662 amendments. Out of these amendments, the electorate has approved 483 while the voters ' majority has defeated 179. From the many modifications and many more proposals pending or that are yet to come, it is evident that the Texas Constitution is not a perfect one as many other constitutions of individual states. As argued by Maxwell, Crain, and Santos, there is enough evidence to assert that constitutions have several setbacks, and there is no ideal constitution that can serve the interests of all the fifty states or permanently meet the diverse and changing needs of the citizens (Maxwell et.al, 51). Therefore, both the Texas state and the overall U.S. Construction, are not an exception in this context. However, the more the amendments, the more likely unsatisfactory a constitution is to the citizens and thus the reason for the many amendments.
The Texas constitution in my opinion is very boring and nonsensical. Maybe its because I am not from Texas consequently I don’t necessarily believe this is a constitution that works when it really doesn’t. I feel it needs a whole lot of improvements and reevaluations due to so many amendments being tact on time after time which makes it very hard to understand! I’m just saying! Its all great and wonderful that most of the power to make “changes” in our society was given to the Texas electorates and not the elected. How nice of you to have the voters come back out to the polls two years after legislature to disapprove a bunch of issues that really have no relevance to the statewide issues at hand. The Texas constitution seems to a little long,
The structure of the Texas constitution has a continuity between the sections that is not found in the Oklahoma constitution. Each section in Texas’ constitution has a more defined relationship between sections; sections preceding one is related to the one following it, and so on. Although this is not required to have in a constitution, having relating sections near each other helps with readability.
When the founding fathers came together and created the greatest country ever, they made sure the power stayed within the states and the people inside them. Because of this, states have the right to design and create their own governments and the laws in which they govern by. Texas took full advantage of the law and created a government system even more geared for the people. Whenever the United States purposes a bill, the president has the power to veto a bill as a whole or if
The article “The Texas Constitution” by Lawrence W. Miller is mainly about the stages of leading up to the creation of our current Texas Constitution, and the lengthiness that seems to ne be taken into consideration when creating the final draft. The framers of the Texas Constitution did not seem to learn much from their predecessors, the writers of the U.S. Constitution.
Constitutions in general are a reflection of the history of that particular nation or state. With each large change in the state of Texas has come a new Constitution. The Constitution of 1876 is no exception. During the time of the Radical Republican Governor Edmond J. Davis’ reign in Texas, he reigned absolutely. But during this time after Reconstruction, Texas was requiring just that. Although, he did have some fellow Radical Republicans come assist him with the transition and they oversaw issues not within their jurisdiction (Glenn). At this time, the Constitution of 1869 had been in effect for a while now and the people were starting to feel the negative impacts of it and were hopeful for a change. The government had too much power, the