hello class this is Dr Palmer and today we're going to be discussing the Texas state constitution the constitution of Texas is the supreme law of the state it's based on popular sovereignty and limited government it includes a Bill of Rights that guarantees basic human rights to Texans today we want to examine the history contents and importance of the first state constitutions we want to describe the history of the Texas Constitution examine the Texas Constitution today explain the process for constitutional change and discuss the reasons we have those changes and revisions here are some terms you should get to know if you don't already know them please write them down somehow incorporate them into your own vocabulary you can stop of course the video at any time the constitution of Texas is a supreme law of Texas just as the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the country the Texas Constitution sets out the ways in which the government of Texas is organized and it distributes power among the various branches of state government it authorizes the government's exercise of sovereign power but also places limits on the exercise of that power as the supreme law of Texas the state constitution is superior to all state and local laws within Texas through their constitution we Texans can structure our state government any way that we want every State's Constitution however is sub ordinate to the Constitution of the United States under article 6 section 2 the supremacy clause because of this no provision in the Texas Constitution May contradict the provisions of the United States Constitution in other words the Texas Constitution cannot take Powers away from the federal government and cannot restrict rights granted to individuals by the federal Bill of Rights the first state constitutions from the beginning government in this country has been based on written constitutions in fact the United States has sometimes been described as a land of constitutions each of the 50 states has a written Constitution America's experience with these constitutions dates from 1606 when King James I granted a charter to the Virginia Company that act led to to the settlement at Jamestown in the following year and with it the first government in British North America later each of the other English colonies also established and governed on the basis of a written Charter most of the colonial Charter served as models for the first state constitutions in Connecticut and Rhode Island the old Charters seemed so well suited to the needs of the day that they were carried over as constitutions almost without change the first state constitutions were adopted by the leg legislator without being submitted to the people for approval in 1780 a popular elected convention prepared a new constitution for Massachusetts the voters of that state then ratified the Constitution most state constitutions in effect today were drafted by assemblies representing the people and were ratified by popular vote before becoming effective because the first state constitutions came out of the revolutionary period they shared many of the same features the doctrines of separation of powers and checks and balances were built into each of the new constitutions each also proclaimed the principles of popular sovereignty and limited government that is in each of them the people were re recognized as the sole source of Authority for government and in each Constitution the powers given to the new government were closely limited seven constitutions began with a lengthy Bill of Rights all of them made it clear that The Sovereign people held certain inalienable rights that government must respect the early state constitutions also contained provisions and had some important omissions that by today's standards would seem quite undemocratic no Constitution provides for full religious freedom each Constitution also sets rigid qualifications for voting and for office holding and all gave Property Owners a high favored standing history of the Texas Constitution the constitution of the Republic of Texas was written in 1836 by a Convention of 59 delegates the people of the Republic ratified the Constitution soon after much of the document was patterned after the Constitution of the United States and those of several other states the first Texas Constitution separ ated governmental Powers into the legislative executive and judicial branches and it created checks and balances among the branches it also however allowed slavery extended citizenship to people other than Africans the descendants of Africans and Indians and it did not allow women to vote the Texas Constitution also Drew on influences from Spanish and Mexican law it adopted community property which is shared ownership by married couples and it also gave Homestead exemptions and protections and granted special relief to debtors to amend the Constitution one session of the Texas legislature had to approve the amendment then the following session had to adopt it by popular vote this process proved to be so difficult that this original Constitution was never amended in 1845 a new constitution was written to provide government for Texas as a new state of the United States the United States accepted it on December 29 1845 after Texas voted to secede from the union the state adopted the constitution of 1861 this document reflected the move from the United states to the Confederate States of America it had stronger Provisions for state rights and slavery but stopped short of legalizing the African slave trade the Constitutional Convention of 1866 completed a new Texas Constitution following the Civil War another convention was convened two years later but broke up without agreeing on a final document however the work of the 1868-69 convention was subsequently organized and published as the Constitution of 1869 and was adopted by the people in 1874 members of the Texas legislature attempted to draft a new constitution directly but could not get enough votes for it to be adopted there was strong feeling in the state that the legislative role was not Democratic and that a constitutional convention should be used instead and one was convened in 1875 the voters approved the resulting Constitution the following year where the 1874 Constitution would have increased the power of government the 1876 Constitution sharply limited governmental Powers the Texas Constitution today the present day Texas Constitution is over a 100 years old but it is also very new hundreds of Amendments have been proposed since 1876 and many have been adopted the Vigor with which the amendments were are offered debated and then either approved or rejected shows how alive the Constitution remains like all state constitutions the constitution of Texas can be described in terms of six General categories basic principles civil rights governmental structure governmental Powers processes for Change and miscellaneous provisions basic principles every State's fundamental law is built on the principles of popular sovereignty and limited government that is each state constitution recognizes that government exists only with the consent of the people and it that and that it must operate within certain often closely defined bounds the constitution of Texas pledges the preservation of a republican form of government and recognizes Texans rights to alter abolish or reform their government protections of civil rights civil con uh state constitutions typically include a Bill of Rights that list the rights that individuals hold against the state and its officers and agencies often these rights are similar to those in the United States Constitution Texas's bills of Rights provides for equal rights and guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of speech it protects against unreasonable searches and seizures and grants fundamental protections to people accused of a crime citizens may also use their state constitution to restrict the state government or to enhance individual liberty in ways that go beyond the United States Constitution Texas's Constitution prohibits outlawing or transporting a convicted felon out of state for a crime committed in Texas guarantees individual citizens the right to bear arms and gives specific rights to the victims of crimes governmental structure every state constitution deals with the structure of government at both the state and local levels a few follow the national pattern providing only a broad outline most however cover the subject of governmental organization at length and often in great detail as in all states the constitution of Texas provides for the separation of governmental Powers into three separate branches executive legislative and J and judicial like all other states Texas creates the systems of check and balances prohibiting any branch from exercising powers that are attached to another Branch governmental powers and processes all state constitutions list in detail the powers vested in the executive branch the governor and other executive officers the legislature the courts and the units of local government the powers to tax spend borrow and provide for Education are very prominent so too are such processes as elections legislation and intergovernmental or state and local relations the Texas Constitution creates a bamal legislature a senate with 31 members and a house with 150 members senators are elected for four years and representatives for 2 years the Constitution contains detailed Provisions regarding legislative functioning the Constitution also creates a state ethics commission provides for creation of rural fire prevention districts and Emergency Services districts creates a veterans land board and a Texas water development board and contains many other specific Provisions relating to legislative functions the executive department established established by the Texas Constitution includes the governor as Chief Executive Officer of the state and lieutenant governor Secretary of State controller of Public Accounts and attorney general the judicial Department includes the Texas Supreme Court the Court of Criminal Appeals civil courts of appeals district courts County courts commissioner courts courts of justice and of of the pece the legisl has the power to create other courts constitutional change like the national Constitution the state constitutions have have been altered over the years by both the formal and informal amendment processes but state constitutions tend to be more detailed and specific so there generally is much less room for informal change as a result constitutional development at the state level has come about primarily through formal rather than informal change miscellaneous Provisions most state constitutions begin with a preamble which has no legal Force but does set out the principles of those who drafted and adoped Ed the document the Texas Constitution's Preamble reads humbly invoking the blessings of almighty God the people of the State of Texas do ordain and establish this constitution state constitutions typically also contain a number of dead letter Provisions items that have no current force in effect but still remain a part of the Constitution because they have not been formally repealed for example until 1969 the Texas Constitution included an entire constitutional section dealing with Spanish and Mexican Land Titles constitutional change two kinds of formal changes have been used to amend state constitutions one amendments and two revisions which are large scale changes that affect the Constitution more broadly most of the formal changes in state constitutions have been made by Amendment the Texas con the Texas Constitution sets out the means by which it may be revised or amended the process includes twostep process proposal and then ratification the Texas legislature May propose Constitutional Amendments if 2third of the members of each house approve the proposed amendment will be submitted to the voters if a majority of votes cast favor the amendment then it becomes part of the Constitution various States have differing procedures for Constitutional Amendment as shown in as shown uh in the various ways that they they conduct the amendments in many States Amendments can be proposed by conventions however because they are both costly and timec consuming conventions are most often used for broader purpose of revision and most amendments are proposed by the legislature as we have seen Texas has used constitutional conventions to revise its constitution in the past the current state constitution however gives the legislature the exclusive authority to propose constitutional change ratification by popular vote is required in Texas as it is in every state except Delaware some states require approval by more than 50% of those voting in 17 States the voters themselves can propose Constitutional Amendments through initiative a process in which a certain number of qualified voters sign petitions in favor of a proposal the pro The Proposal then goes directly to the ballot for approval or rejection by the people the need for reform almost all state constitutions would benefit from some degree of revision and reform the typical document is cluttered with unnecessary details burdensome restrictions and obsolute sections it also carries much repetitions even contradictory material moreover it fails to deal with the many of the pressing problems that the states and their local governments currently face even the newest and most recently Rewritten constitutions tend to carry over a great deal of material from earlier documents and suffer from these same faults length was not a problem for the first state constitutions they were quite short ranging from New Jersey 1776 Constitution with 2500 words to the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution containing 12,000 words these early state constitutions Were Meant simply to be documents of basic principle and organization purposely they left to the legislature as well as to time and practice the task of filling in the details as they became necessary Through The Years however state constitutions have grown and grown Texas's Constitution is one of the longest in the nation it has 390 amendments compared to 27 in the US Constitution and is about 2.5 times longer than the average state constitution most state constitutions would be improved if it if the legislatures and the voters separated fundamental law which should properly be in the Constitution from more routine statutory law which can be passed by the legislature the line separating fundamental and statutory law may be blurry in some cases but many Provisions clearly Do Not Go In the state constitution for example California's Constitution contains a ban on taxing fruit and nut tree trees planted within the past four years putting statutory Provisions in the Constitution makes the document unnecessarily long and complex and obscures the important points of fundamental law that the con that the constitution should showcase it also makes it harder to make routine changes in governing law when they are needed