Amendment and Revision of State Constitutions in Michigan and the Middle West

Abstract

In the study and discussion of American political ideas and methods the emphasis has been laid on the powers and activities of the National Government, and far too little attention has been given to the developments within the States. The State Constitutions of the revolutionary period have been examined, but mainly for the purpose of tracing the development of the Constitution of the United States. Almost nothing has been done to analyze the fundamental changes in the American political system by the revision and amendment of State constitutions in the two or three decades before 1850. The reconstruction period in the Southern States has been studied mainly with reference to the questions of secession and slavery; and other important changes made during that period, both in Southern and Northern States, have been practically neglected. And the full significance of alterations in State Constitutions during the past decade or so are far from being thoroughly appreciated. It is the purpose of this paper to examine briefly the more recent changes in the Constitutions of the States of the Middle West, including the States of the old Northwest territory and the adjacent states west of the Mississippi river. At first sight, such a subject seems to offer comparatively little material for study. With the exception of Michigan, whose revised Constitution goes into effect with the beginning of 1909, none of these states have made a general revision of its Constitution since 1870; most of the constitutions date from before the Civil War, and a number from the middle of the last century.