The next phase of the Texas constitution occurred from 1845 to1861 and it was wen Texas decided to be independent from the United States forabout 9 years. There were made to the legislature and the House ofRepresentatives and once again they made things like revenue bills and theprocess of the two-thirds vote similar to that one of the United States. Theyprovided the election of a lieutenant governor that could serve a total of fourterms lasting two years each.
There were few changes and kept the same thingslike being separate and dividing itself into five states. In 1861 was whenTexas joined the confederacy. It was difficult to get Texas to join the UnitedStates because it would disturb the balance between slave and free states. OnJanuary 1861 a special convention was held to discuss slavery and it consistedof mostly slave owners which made it an outcome of secession from the union andjoining the confederacy in February 23, 1861. The constitution had very fewchanges made once again. Loss in the civil war caused a state constitution in 1866.
A conventionwas held in November 15, 1865 and delegates were elected in January 8, 1866.There was a right to rejecting secession and rights to sue in it was includedin the Constitution of 1866. Latervoters managed to ratify the constitution of 1866.
In 1869 Texas wrote anotherconstitution that has the requirements of the Congressional Reconstruction Actsof 1867. There was a constitutional convention easily won by radicalrepublicans. In the constitution 1869 slavery was forbidden, blacks were giventhe right to vote, the fourteenth amendment guaranteed equality and the threebranches of government were slightly changed. Democrats regained control of thestate government. The final stage of the process of founding Texas happens oncethe Constitution of 1876 was passed. In 1875 a constitutional convention wasformed.
They wrote the document known as the Constitution of 1876 which isstill used today. They focused on control of state government, they believed inlimiting the state government, looked for economy in the government and farmerspromoting agrarian interest. The constitution limited the power of taxing. Theydidn’t want people to be there too long so they limited the terms. Thegovernment is limited and their main point is to prevent the expansion ofgovernmental authority. In conclusion I believethat John E.
Paynter thinks that the Texas constitution is an example of hownot to write one because he was probably thinking about the U.S. constitutionwhile making that decision. Since in history a lot of the Texas constitution issimilar to the United States, they are compared to each other which makes theTexas constitution look bad.
It also went through 491 revision and some believeit to be unnecessarily long compared to that of the United States. Finally,because Texas had a similar founding period and
