California Constitutional Conventions
The California Constitutional Conventions were two separate
Monterey Convention of 1849
The Monterey Convention of 1849 was the first California Constitutional Convention to take place.
The memorial presenting the proposed constitution to Congress claimed it banned slavery not because of anti-slavery sentiment, but just unanimous agreement (including convention delegates originally from
Sacramento Convention of 1878–79
The Sacramento Convention of 1878–79 amended and ratified the original 1849 constitution.[10][11][12] It took place in Sacramento, California from March 1878 to March 1879.
The Convention was composed of 152 delegates. A series of districts were apportioned 88 delegates. Some of the districts were composed of a single county, some composed of several counties, and others operated as floterial districts. The electorate of the State at-large elected 32 delegates. Each of the four Congressional district elected 8 delegates.[13]
The new California Constitution produced by the Convention was voted for on May 7, 1879, and adopted by a vote of 77,959 to 67,134.[14]
Future Conventions
Present language in the Constitution of California: "The Legislature by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership of each house concurring, may submit at a general election the question whether to call a convention to revise the Constitution. If the majority vote yes on that question, within 6 months the Legislature shall provide for the convention. Delegates to a constitutional convention shall be voters elected from districts as nearly equal in population as may be practicable." (ARTICLE XVIII AMENDING AND REVISING THE CONSTITUTION SEC. 2)[15]
Two proposition petitions circulating in 2010, 09-0066 Citizens' Constitutional Convention Act
References
- ^ a b c d Report of the Debates in the Convention of California on the Formation of the State Constitution in September and October, 1849. United States Congress. 1850.
- ^ "TEXAS v. WHITE ET AL".
- ^ Grodin 8, 16.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ 1878–1879 Constitutional Convention Working Papers Archived 2010-01-28 at the Wayback Machine, California State Archives
- ^ Wilson and Ebbert via Korey 11. Korey states, "The convention did succeed in producing what one writer has called 'a document that was the perfect example of what a constitution ought not to be.'" The work cited is Wilson and Ebbert, California's Legislature.
- ^ Biographical sketches of the delegates to the convention to frame a new constitution for the State of California, 1878 : together with a succinct review of the facts leading to the formation of the Monterey Convention of 1849, a list of its members, and the Constitutional Act of 1878
- ^ A Humorous Account of America's Past: 986 to 1898
- S2CID 233361580.
- ^ Los Angeles Herald - 1879
- ^ Rose Institute - Original Intent of California's Blaine Provision
- ^ California; Willis, E. B.; Stockton, P. K. (1880). Debates and proceedings of the Constitutional convention of the state of California, convened at the city of Sacramento, Saturday, September 28, 1878. Harvard University. Sacramento : State office, J. D. Young, Supt. State printing.
- ^ Sargent, Noel. The California Constitutional Convention of 1878-9. California Law Review, volume 6, number 1, Nov. 1917. Available online at JSTOR
- ^ "Law section". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
- ^ a b "ALLOWS VOTERS TO PLACE QUESTION OF CALLING A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION ON THE BALLOT. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT". UC Hastings College of the Law.
- ^ a b "The Call for a Citizens' Limited Constitutional Convention" (PDF). State of California Department of Justice.
External links
- Repair California, a group advocating for a constitutional convention[dead link]
- California Constitutional Convention Summit
- Recommendations of the 1996 California Constitutional Revision Commission
- The California Constitution Wiki, a wiki project to re-design the state's constitution[failed verification]
- Works by California Constitutional Conventions at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)