1. This week we visit the state of Alexander Hamilton & John Jay. Only one has received acclaim as the titular character of a musical, but both were ardent defenders of the U.S. Constitution. But what is known about the New York constitution? #50Weeks50Constitutions
2. A series of colonial charters containing ideas of inviolable rights & separation of powers served as a backdrop. But once your ties with the mother country were severed, how do you take those & turn them into a new fundamental law for the state?
3. The Third Provincial Congress was unsure as to whether it had the power to create a constitution. Concluding they did not, they called for a popular election so the people could choose representatives for the specific purpose of drafting their one.
4. The constitution, adopted in April 1777, incorporated the Declaration of Independence in the preamble &, in Article 1, declared that the power to create the constitution came from the people & that the government had no power not “derived from and granted by” the people.
5. The constitution established a directly elected governor with a three-year term & created a traditional bicameral legislature. More uniquely however, it also created a Council of Revision, a Council of Appointment, & a Court of Impeachment and Errors.
6. The Council of Revision consisted of the chancellor, the governor, & the judges of the supreme court. It reviewed all laws passed to ensure that the laws were constitutional & “proper.” This council could veto any bill they deemed to lack either quality.
7. The Council of Appointment consisted of the governor & one senator from each district & it appointed all officers of the state. This led to the council being the source of much strife because the constitution did not explain who had the actual appointment power.
8. The Court of Impeachment & Errors consisted of the president of the senate, the senators, the chancellor, & the judges of the supreme court. The court tried all impeachments & constituted the court of last resort for the state.
9. Intriguingly, the first New York Constitution did not have a separate bill, or declaration, of rights. Some rights however (freedom of religion, due process, right to counsel, & protections against bills of attainder) were contained within the body of the document.
10. This first constitution was amended by a convention in 1801, convened for the purpose of clarifying the appointment power. The convention determined that all members of the council held the appointment power concurrently; weakening the governor’s power.
11. The second N.Y. constitution, created by the 1821 convention, had a separate Bill of Rights, tripled the number of eligible voters by removing property qualifications, abolished the council of appointment, & bestowed the governor with the sole veto power.
12. Two admirable features bear special attention. First, the constitution required a 2/3 vote in the legislature for any bill that appropriated money for private purposes. Second, it is one of the first state constitutions, if not the first, to be enacted by popular vote.
13. While singular amendments were approved in the intervening years, the people of New York overwhelmingly voted to convene another convention in 1846. The constitution issuing from this convention is sometimes colloquially referred to as the “People’s Constitution.”
14. It is known as such because it made all state and judicial offices elective, including the secretary of state, the treasurer, & the attorney general. Senators terms were decreased to two years and twenty-two provisions were added restricting the power of the legislature.
15. Extraordinarily, the “People’s Constitution” left only 11 provisions unchanged from the previous constitution. Verbosely, this constitution contained approximately 20,400 words as opposed to the approximate 6,600 words contained in the original constitution.
16. In the spirit of Jefferson, it also required a popular vote every 20 years to see if a new convention was needed. In 1867 the people said yes. The convention created a “commission of appeals” to address the appeal back-log, which, in practice, created 2 courts of last resort.
17. The current constitution was created by a convention in 1894. Though the constitution has been amended since that time, it was the last time an entire constitution (as opposed to singular amendments) was approved by the people of New York.
18. This constitution, among many other things, established the appellate division of the Supreme Court & elevated the merit program for civil servants to a constitutional provision as opposed to a simple legislative enactment.
19. A flurry of Amendment expanding labor rights & protecting social welfare, civil liberties, & equal protection were proposed & adopted through a convention in 1938. A convention proposed a new constitution in 1965, but the people resoundingly rejected it.
