1. Long before college basketball rivalries, North Carolina was one of the original colonies to draft a constitution amid the Revolutionary War. This week we explore that constitution’s birth & subsequent Tar Heel constitutional history. #50Weeks50Constitutions
2. The 1st NC constitution was adopted in December 1776 by a provincial congress. This congress had the benefit of surveying other early state constitutions and actually received a letter from John Adams, a noted constitution expert, advising them how to proceed. 
3. Because the drafters believed “all political power is vested in and derived from the people only” they placed the Declaration of Rights prior to the provisions setting up the structure of the government. Other early state constitutions, but not all, were similar.
4. Intriguingly and uniquely, a provision explicitly requiring the separation of the judicial, legislative, and executive powers was put in the Declaration of Rights while the prohibition on the state establishing a religion was found in the body of the constitution.
5. As in other states at the time, you had to be Protestant to hold a government position. Also, the general assembly (a Senate & a House of Commons) appointed the governor and judiciary. That doesn’t seem too separate, does it? But I digress.
6. An unexpected element of North Carolina’s first constitution is that it did not explicitly prohibit African Americans from voting. It allowed all free men to vote in state elections if they met the property & tax requirements. Unfortunately, this didn’t last.
7. A convention significantly amended the constitution in 1836. One of the changes made was that free African Americans were no longer constitutionally able to vote.
8. That convention proposed many other amendments. The major impetus them was similar to that in the other early states. As the population moved west & away from the major areas people began to demand a change in how representation was apportioned.
9. North Carolina’s second constitution was drafted by a convention in 1868, after the Civil War. This constitution added a section to the Declaration of Rights stating “all men are created equal” and have “certain unalienable rights.” Sound familiar?
10. As the Reconstruction Congress demanded, another new provision stated: “this State shall ever remain a member of the American Union” & that “there is no right . . . of this State to secede” & all citizens of the state owe their allegiance to the federal Constitution.
11. This constitution abolished slavery (obviously), provided for universal male suffrage (sorry ladies), eliminated religious tests for office holding, provided for the popular election of judges, and increased the governor’s term to 4 years.
12. However, the constitution in this form did not last long. As power was regained by the elites, a convention met in 1875 which drafted 30 amendments that were then approved by the people.
13. The amendments denied the right to vote to those convicted of certain crimes, introduced a one-year residency requirement for voting, allowed for “non-discriminatorily” segregated public schools, and banned interracial marriages. So much for progress.
14. This second constitution continued to be amended until 1971, when a convention drafted the “third” constitution. This constitution introduced many significant reforms, but the structure of the government was left largely unchanged.
15. Like many states, the constitution of North Carolina is often amended. In fact, in 2018, a new section was appended to the Declaration of Rights, enshrining the right of North Carolinians to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife.
16. State constitutions can be more responsive than the federal. This is why it’s so important to know and use the state constitutions to ensure that rights are protected and that the government is held in check. Thanks for joining us on our #50Weeks50Constituions journey.
