Constitution of Virginia
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the document that defines and limits the powers of the
The original Virginia Constitution of 1776 was enacted at the time of the
Historic constitutions
1776
The preparation of the first Virginia Constitution began in early 1776, in the midst of the early events of the
The 1776 Constitution declared the dissolution of the rule of Great Britain over Virginia and accused England's King
Critically, the 1776 Constitution limited the right to vote primarily to property owners and men of wealth. This effectively concentrated power in the hands of the landowners and aristocracy of Southeastern Virginia.[1] Dissatisfaction with this power structure would come to dominate Virginia's constitutional debate for almost a century.[5]
1830
By the 1820s, Virginia was one of only two states that limited voting to landowners. In addition, because representation was by county rather than population, the residents of increasingly populous Western Virginia (the area that would become
The convention ultimately compromised by loosening suffrage requirements. It also reduced the number of delegates and senators to the Virginia General Assembly. The resulting constitution was ratified by a popular majority, though most of the voters in the western part of the state ended up voting against it.[9] Thus, the underlying intrastate tensions remained, and would have to be addressed later.
1851
As of the 1840 census, the majority of the white residents of the state lived in western Virginia, but they were underrepresented in the legislature because of the continued property requirement for voting; not all held sufficient property to vote. This compounded their dissatisfaction with the apportionment scheme adopted in 1830, which was based on counties rather than population, thus giving disproportionate power to the fewer, but propertied whites who lived in the eastern part of the state and kept a grip on the legislature. As the state legislature also elected the governor and the United States senators, Western Virginians felt they had little influence on state leadership. Their attempts to win electoral reform in the Virginia legislature were defeated each time. Some began to openly discuss the abolition of slavery or secession from the state.[10] Ultimately, the eastern planters could not continue to ignore their discontent, and a new constitutional convention was called to resolve the continuing tensions.
The most significant change adopted in the 1851 Constitution was elimination of the property requirement for voting, resulting in extension of the suffrage to all white males of voting age. The 1851 Constitution established popular election for the governor, the newly created office of lieutenant governor, and all Virginia judges, rather than the election of the top two state officers by the legislature, or political appointment for judges. Because of these changes, the 1851 Virginia Constitution became known as the "Reform Constitution".[11]
1864
When in 1861, the Virginia legislature voted for secession in the events leading up to the
The 1864 Constitution abolished
The foreword to the current Virginia Constitution does not include the 1864 Constitution in its list of previous constitutions. It notes that the 1864 Constitution was drafted under wartime conditions and was of uncertain legal status.[14]
1870
After the end of the Civil War, Virginia came briefly under military rule during Reconstruction, with the district commanded by
Significant provisions included expanding the suffrage to all male citizens over the age of 21, which included
1902
In the late nineteenth century, white Democrats regained power in state legislatures across the South. They passed
The
Other significant provisions of the 1902 Constitution imposed
Current constitution (1971)
As a result of the
The Commission on Constitutional Revision presented its report and recommendations to Governor Godwin and the General Assembly in January 1969, and continued to work with them to draft a final consensus version.[26] The proposed Constitution was overwhelmingly approved by the voters of Virginia (who by then included African American men and women, following passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s) and took effect on July 1, 1971.
Since 1971, additional amendments have been passed by the General Assembly and approved by the voters to conform to provisions in the U.S. Constitution, rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court and Congressional statute. The voting age has been reduced to eighteen, voting residency requirements have been removed, and voter registration conforms to the Motor Voter Act. Additionally, the Virginia Constitution now provides for a General Assembly session following a governor's veto, and the right of the people to hunt, fish and harvest game is guaranteed.[27] In 2006, Virginians passed an amendment limiting marriage to "unions between one man and one woman".[28] That has since been overturned by Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the United States.
The current Constitution of Virginia consists of twelve Articles:[29]
Article I – Bill of Rights
Article I contains the entire original
In 1997, a
On November 7, 2006, Virginia voters ratified an amendment, previously approved by the General Assembly, prohibiting
Article II – Franchise and Officers
The second Article of the Constitution sets out the procedures and mechanisms for voting, elections and holding office. Pursuant to Section 1, any Virginia resident over age 18 may vote in state elections; the voting age was reduced from 21 by a 1972 amendment to the federal constitution.[34] However, § 1 denies the vote to people who have been determined to be mentally incompetent or anyone convicted of a felony. Disfranchising convicted felons has been found to be consistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.[35] The General Assembly, pursuant to §4, is given wide power to regulate the time, place, and manner of all elections.[36]
§5 establishes that the only qualifications to hold office in Virginia are that a person must have been a Virginia resident for at least one year and eligible to vote. Any statute or rule requiring other qualifications is constitutionally invalid under this section.[37] But, the General Assembly can impose local residency requirements for election to local governmental bodies or for election to the Assembly in representation of particular districts.
Article III – Division of Powers
Article III has one section, confirming the principle of
Article IV – Legislature
Article IV establishes the basic structure and authority of the Virginia legislature. The legislative power of the state is vested in the Virginia General Assembly, which consists of the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates. §17 of Article IV gives the legislature the power to impeach members of the executive and judicial branches.
The original §14 of Article IV forbade the incorporation of churches, though the Virginia Commission on Constitutional Revision, in its 1969 report, had recognized that the prohibition was probably invalid. The federal district court for the Western District of Virginia ruled in April 2002 that this provision of the Virginia Constitution was in fact unconstitutional, because it violates the federal constitutional right to the free exercise of religion.[39] The court found that it is unconstitutional to deny a church the option to incorporate under state law when other groups can incorporate.[40] An amendment striking the ban on church incorporation was approved by Virginia voters in November 2006.[citation needed]
Article V – Executive
The fifth Article similarly defines the structure and powers of the executive branch. The Governor of Virginia is invested as the chief executive, though §1 of Article V, provides that the governor may not run for successive terms. The offices of lieutenant governor and attorney general are established as supporting elected constitutional positions.
The constitutional powers of the governor include the ability to sign legislation,
Article VI – Judiciary
Article VI vests judicial power in the
Article VII – Local Government
Article VII of the Constitution sets up the basic framework for the structure and function of
Section 4 establishes the constitutional offices of
Article VIII – Education
A compulsory and free
Article IX – Corporations
The primary purpose of Article IX is to create the Virginia
Article X – Taxation and Finance
Article X establishes the basic structure for taxation of
Significant additions to Article X include §7, a budget amendment, which became effective in 1986, and §7-A, which establishes the "Lottery Proceeds Fund", requiring that all proceeds from the
Article XI – Conservation
Article XI states that it is the general policy of the Commonwealth to preserve, protect and conserve the state's
A 2001 amendment added §4, which establishes hunting and fishing as constitutional rights of Virginians, though the legislature may enact appropriate regulations and restrictions on these rights.
Article XII – Future changes
The last Article creates the mechanism for future changes to the Constitution. Any amendment to the Constitution must first be passed by a majority in each of the two legislative houses. The proposed amendment must then be held over for consideration by the succeeding elected legislature, where it must again be passed by a majority in each house. The amendment then goes on the general ballot and becomes enacted into the Constitution if approved by a majority of the voters.
Alternatively, a two-thirds vote of both Virginia houses may call for the creation of a
There is a perennial discussion over Virginia's unique Constitutional status restricting its governor to one consecutive term, and its method of selecting both trial and appellate judges by state legislature, shared only with South Carolina.[41]
Since the current constitution was ratified, there have been 53 amendments added to the constitution, concerning issues ranging from tax exemptions and voting rules to budgeting and legislative calendars.[42] In 2020, the state redistricting process was dramatically reshaped, establishing a bipartisan redistricting commission with judicial oversight.
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ ISBN 978-0-314-32025-4.
- ^ a b Historical Census Browser, 1900 Federal Census, University of Virginia Archived August 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 15, 2008
- ^ "ONE OF THE MOST INTRIGUING MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS IN AMERICAN HISTORY". Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
- ^ Schwartz, Stephan A. (May 2000). "George Mason : Forgotten Founder, He Conceived the Bill of Rights". Smithsonian. 31 (2): 142.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8139-1015-4.
- ^ "1830 Virginia Constitution". West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
- ^ "The Story of Virginia; Becoming Southerners". Virginia Historical Society. Archived from the original on February 19, 2008. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
- S2CID 211648744.
- ^ Dabney (1971), p. 218
- ISBN 978-0-393-05820-8.
- ^ "Constitution of 1851". West Virginia Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
- ^ Salmon (1994), pp.45–47.
- ^ a b Lalor, John Joseph, ed. (1881). Cyclopædia of political science, political economy, and of the political history of the United States, Vol. 3. Chicago, Rand, McNally & company. p. 1077.
- ^ "Constitution of Virginia; Foreword" (PDF). Virginia General Assembly. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 13, 2006. Retrieved September 13, 2006.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8203-1415-0.
- ^ Salmon (1994), p. 52.
- ^ "Views of a Changing Landscape; Historical Background for Sudley Post Office". University of Maryland. Retrieved September 14, 2006.
- ISBN 978-0-8139-0182-4. OCLC 435376.
- ^ "Virginia's Constitutional Convention of 1901–1902". Virginia Historical Society. Archived from the original on October 2, 2006. Retrieved September 14, 2006.
- ^ Dabney (1971), pp. 436–437
- ISBN 978-0-8139-2609-4, p. 277-278
- ISBN 978-1-56802-373-1.
- ^ Moger (1968), pp.192–200.
- ^ Dabney (1971), pp. 439–440.
- ^ Salmon (1994), pp.78–79.
- ^ "Register of the Papers of A.E.Dick Howard for the Virginia Commission for Constitutional Revision; 1969–71". University of Virginia. Archived from the original on August 29, 2006. Retrieved September 15, 2006.
- ISBN 0-313-33208-8p.24, 216.
- ISBN 978-1-4522-0589-2, p. 19
- ^ Article and section references are to the articles and sections of the Constitution of Virginia (1971, as amended), Commonwealth of Virginia, archived from the original on January 2, 2012
- ^ Nobrega v. Commonwealth, 271 Va 508, p 516 (2006).
- ISBN 978-1-4224-5072-7.
- ^ Op. Atty. Gen., Opinion No. 06-003 (September 14, 2006), 2006 WL 4286442
- ^ Baratko, Trevor (February 13, 2014). "Virginia's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, federal judge says". Loudoun Times. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
- ^ Virginia Code Commission (2008), p. 127.
- ^ Perry v. Beamer, 933 F. Supp. 556 (1996).
- ^ Moore v. Pullem, 150 S.E. 415 (1928).
- ^ Gwaltmey v. Lyons, 166 Va. 872 (1914).
- ^ Maddex (1998), p. 407.
- ^ Falwell v. Miller, 203 F. Supp.2d 624 (W.D. Va. 2002).
- ^ "Proposed Constitutional Amendment; Ballot Question Number 2" (PDF). Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2006. Retrieved October 31, 2006.
- ^ Dinan (2006). p. 24
- ^ "The Virginia Amendments Project". amendments.rmc.edu. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
- Bibliography
- Salmon, Emily; Edward D.C. Campbell, Jr., eds. (1994). The Hornbook of Virginia History. The Library of Virginia. ISBN 978-0-88490-177-8.
External links
- Constitution of Virginia (current version, adopted 1971)
- Text of the 1776 Constitution
- Text of the 1830 Constitution
- Text of the 1971 Constitution
- List of amendments to the 1971 Constitution