With the exception of the United States constitution, the 1876 Texas constitution serves as the supreme law of Texas. The modern constitution of 1876 has been in effect for almost one hundred and forty years now. It is the sixth constitution that has been made since Texas gained independence from Mexico in 1836. The constitution delegates and allocates powers to the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of our Texas government. Although the constitution provides the Texas government with authoritative power, it imposes limits on that power by distributing it among the three branches. Although the 1876 constitution is still in place today, major reforms need to be made in order to help efficiently govern the growing population of Texas.
The Texas constitution of 1876 has few strong suits to it. However, it does provide the fundamental structure for Texas’s democratic government. The Governor, E.J. Davis, prior to the 1876 constitution, caused tension in Texas when he issued martial law to help implement his decrees (Moneyhon). Davis and his administration were not popular and assumed to much control over political issues. Unhappy with the second reconstruction constitution of 1869, democrats elected ninety delegates, eighty-three of which actually attended the constitutional convention. About half of the delegates were members of the Texas Grange, a farmers’ organization, these members carried their vision of a strict economy into the revision of the 1869 constitution (Ericson). The democrats made sure to implement extensive revisions that clearly defined Texas’ state governmental powers (Ericson). The delegates went on to limit the role of governmental influence and as a result the new constitution helped lower the gove...
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...e flexibility with enacting laws, passing bills and adopting resolutions.
The Texas constitution of 1876 has strengths such as, limiting the government’s role in citizen affairs and defining clear boundaries dealing with the state’s authoritative power. Even with these strengths, the constitution was made in the nineteenth century. Considering that we now live in the twenty-first century, some feel that the 1876 constitution is simply outdated. Add the fact that the “Modern” constitution is out of date to the amount of jargon filled pages and you have yourself a Texas sized problem. Discouraging legislative procedures, defined by the 1876 constitution, proves passing bills and adopting resolutions to be quite difficult. Although some revisions have made it through constitutional conventions, a reformation is needed to provide Texas with an effective governing body.
It is surprising to know that in the span of 49 years, Texas went through seven different constitutions reflecting the changes of time. Every experience Texas went through made the constitution more and more detailed and showed more distrust in the government. However, time has changed Texas from an agricultural world to a technological world and yet the Constitution of 1876 remains the law of the state. Although Texas endured the Civil War and the Reconstruction period after the Constitution of 1845 was ratified, the Constitution of 1876 was drafted from the Constitution of 1845.
There is much debate in political theory about the definition of a constitution. Generally, it is considered as a “single governing document”. If that is the case, then the U.S. Constitution is the oldest in the world (Berry, 2011). The Framers, upon writing it, aimed to create a document that would stand the test of time. Despite changes in population size, racial and religious components, and even the modern day technology, the objective has clearly been achieved. Elkins claims that this is primarily due to its flexibility. Judicial review interprets the document with the rapidly changing society in mind (as cited in Garza, 2008). Many state constitutions, on the other hand, have not survived as long. Since many have been written with specific people and localities in mind, they have not been able to adapt to change well. Louisiana, for example, has had 11 state constitutions. It is common today, for states to consider overhauling their current constitutions (Morris, Henson, & Fackler, 2011).
It was a remarkable coup Texas least three of their own to serve as an important adviser in the cabinet of Wilson. Because of one-party rule in the state, members of parliament from southern Texas and can build seniority and gain positions of power simply by being elected and reelected in a noncompetitive political environment. During Wilson, the state lost power in the national government by the establishment of the Federal Reserve system and some constitutional amendment allowed the direct election of senators, Range Women's right to vote, and allowing for a federal income tax was
For almost fifty years, from 1827 to 1876, seven constitutions were adopted and implemented for Taxes and each one has its set of laws and contained specific ways, aimed at correcting the deficiencies and drawbacks of the previously adopted order. The Constitution of 1876 is the sixth one, which set the rules and laws for Texas government since the state has achieved its independence from Mexico in 1836. The constitution established the principles of Texas Democratic Government and specified the laws, which were applied to the three branches of government: legislative, juridical and executive.
The U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution have similarities and differences. First, both constitutions consist of a Bill of Rights. This is a formal summary of the rights and liberties considered essential to a people or group of people. The individual rights provide a variety of restraints on political power to protect people against unwarranted intrusions and abuses. Also, in both constitutions it outlines and talks about the powers of government in each separate department. Both talk about suffrage, taxation and revenue, along with general provisions, and modes of amending the c...
The people of Texas are diverse and carry their “big can-do attitudes and accents” (Pearson); making Texas a bigger than life state. The political culture of Texas is impacted by two different subgroups of individualistic and traditionalistic characteristics. The combination of traditionalism and individualism has had a huge impact on the state and Texas’ seven different constitutions. The shift in power between 1827 and 1876 has impacted the political diversity Texas has today. Looking at the specifics of these subcultures, the traditionalists believe government should benefit the wealthy and powerful, and that government services must be limited.
The Texas Legislature is far too archaic to provide consistent leadership for a state government; Congress has become too enmeshed with the executive branch and leaves blurry lines drawn in its separation of powers. The ideal legislature would be a modernized version of what the Texas Constitution created.
The United States House and Senate, in turn, accepted the Texas state constitution in a Joint Resolution to admit Texas as a State which was signed by the president on December 29, 1845 . Although the formal transfer of government did not occur until February 19, 1846, Texas statehood dates from the 29th of December.
In my analysis of the Texas Constitution I will assess the three branches of our State Government, the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch and finally the Judicial Branch. Our State Government resembles our National Government in various ways but also in very different ways which we will review in this essay. I will identify a handful of criticisms and problems associated with the provisions in each of these branches of our State Government and identify suggested reforms that many feel are needed.
Texas went through a great amount of political change from being dominated by the Democratic Party during the 1960s and 70s, from the Republican Party taking over in the 80s. One of the big reasons for this change was due to the political party’s views. Throughout this essay I will discuss the changes of the political stances in Texas as well as the present day factors that affect America.
The Texas government is an unusually complex institution that is composed of many different levels. Everyone asks, with a constitution like the one Texas has, can people really trust the government? The main reasons why people might not be trusting of the government are that they might believe that the officials take advantage of their power, or want to try to control them. The Texas legislature is also subject to checks and balances in the three branch system. For example, the governor 's power to veto bills, which is rarely overridden, and to call special sessions; while the court has the power of judicial review. In Texas, the Constitution divides the powers
The idea of Texas secession is not a new one. The decision in the 1869 Supreme Court Case Texas v. White set a precedent that states could not secede from the union (Rothman), but recent events show that not everyone in Texas believes this to be the case. There was a petition to the White House for the secession of Texas in 2012 (Diaz) but, more recently, support has been growing in the Republican Party. This spring the Republican platform committee voted to put the topic of secession up for discussion during the Texas State Republican Convention in early May (Baddour). While the idea still has only a small amount of support, none of that support comes from the party’s leaders (Associated Press). It’s clear from comments made in the articles that no one thought the vote would pass. Many people are surprised the movement has as much support as it does. Yet according to the article from The Washington Post, the discussion at the GOP convention was, “two votes shy of going to a floor
As the 47th governor of Texas, he has and continues to put into motion many new acts and laws that have created a more prosperous Texas. A more prosperous Texas includes the creation of more jobs, a fair legal system, and more adept schools as well as low taxes for citizens and accordingly, low state government spending. These tough economic practices have also been proven through national statistics. According to many s...
Newell, Charldean. "Inflexibility, Traditionalism, and Partisanship: The Texas Response to New Federalism." Review. Annual Review of American Federalism 12 (1981 (1983): 185-95. Publius. Oxford University Press. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
Constitution, creates a unitary executive whereas the Texas Constitution creates a plural executive government. In the Texas Constitution, the government is plural executive and disperses the power among several elected officials. On the other hand, the U.S. Constitution creates a unitary executive, which concentrates the executive power on a single representative, the president. The president has a right to veto any bill he dislikes, but the Congress is also able to approve a bill if the president refuses to adopt it. In the Texas Constitution, there is a line-veto which allows the governor to veto specific items on the legislature of bills passed. The Texas government is more of a limited government whereas the U.S. constitution grants power to the president. Furthermore, in the U.S. Constitution the legislative branch is responsible for making the laws being very limited in government spending, and in the Texas Constitution there were detailed restrictions on tax and specific policies depending on the states legislatures. Legislatures are not allowed to oppose a tax on personal income and are forbidden to make states government develop into debt. Even though the Constitution was ratified, the anti-federalist adopted the Bill of Rights, which promises basic human rights to citizens. Moreover, 27 amendments are in the U.S. Constitution; nevertheless, the state