California Constitutional Conventions

The 1849 handwritten copies of the Constitution of California in both English and Spanish.

The California Constitutional Conventions were two separate constitutional conventions that took place in California during the nineteenth century which led to the creation of the modern Constitution of California. The first, known as the 1849 Constitutional Convention of Monterey, held in September and October 1849 in advance of California attaining U.S. statehood the following year, adopted the state's original constitution.[1] This document maintains jurisdiction along with the current constitution[2] which was ratified on May 7, 1879, following the 1879 Constitutional Convention of Sacramento.[3] Article 3 Section 2 of the current Constitution references the original boundaries[4] as stated in the 1849 Constitution at Article 12.[5] The result of Progressive mistrust of elected officials, this later constitution took a full year to finalize (March 1878 to March 1879)[6] and has been described as "the perfect example of what a constitution ought not to be".[7] Multiple calls for a third state constitutional convention have been raised during the past quarter-century, but none has thus far gained widespread political momentum.

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "TEXAS v. WHITE ET AL".
  3. ^ Grodin 8, 16.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved January 23, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ 1878–1879 Constitutional Convention Working Papers Archived 2010-01-28 at the Wayback Machine, California State Archives
  7. ^ 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.