Thread by @IJSanders

1. Hewed out of the Missouri Territory, & before that the Louisiana Territory, once part of the French Empire, & sitting atop the Ozark Plateau, Arkansas took a bit to find a constitution it liked, & then stuck with it thru thick & thin. #50Weeks50Constitutions tells this tale.

2. Arkansans couldn’t wait for statehood. Before Congress gave approval they held a constitutional convention anyway, & even w/o the territorial governor’s OK. But US AG Benjamin Butler said it was fine b/c the delegates were simply exercising their 1st Am right to petition.

3. The resulting constitution was a short document largely reflecting the US version. It also had an article on education, & various other, somewhat idiosyncratic provisions, including a ban on the sale of lottery tickets (this actually become common in state constitutions).

4. While the governor & legislature were elected, many other offices, including the treasurer & judges were selected by a joint legislative session. About a dozen years later it was amended to make circuit judges elected.

5. Some of the bill of rights was copied from Alabama’s, including the combined “Baby 9th/Baby 10th Amendment”. Alabama’s is different, & less poetic, today, but Arkansas’ proudly remains. You want your rights protected? Hard to beat this.

6. As with many southern states, the next time Arkansas acquired a new constitution was in seceding from the Union. In the convention the delegates at first opposed succession, but after a recess (& the shelling of Fort Sumter), they overwhelming voted to secede.

7. The resulting 1861 constitution had very small revisions to the old version, further trying to safeguard slavery, and substituting “Confederate” in place of “United.”

8. Three years later things were a bit different. By 1863 Union forces occupied much of the state. President Lincoln offered a general amnesty if the state rejoined & a certain number of ex-confederates swore an oath. Delegates convened for a new constitution.

9. The new constitution was essentially the 1836 version with language banning slavery (& extending voting rights to blacks) & tying the state to the Union. It was subsequently approved at the polls by an extremely suspicious 98% of votes.

10. But the 1864 constitution wasn’t to last long. With the second phase of Reconstruction, the state had to submit a new constitution in order to rejoin the Union. Thus came the 1868 Constitution.

11. The delegates in 1868 were overwhelmingly Republican, including 8 African Americans. The new document strengthened the governor’s office, & created new offices as well. Congress approved the constitution, but it was followed by several years of corrupt Republican rule.

12. That then led to another convention in 1874. Here Democrats predominated. The result-nicknamed the “Thou Shalt Not” constitution-had an extremely weak governor, restricted borrowing, & created 2 year terms for most offices. It also led to dozens of amendments since.

13. Since then various Arkansas leaders have tried their darndest to adopt a new constitution (& not just amend over & over again) with . . . not much to show for it.

14. First, in 1918 the legislature called a convention, that drafted a constitution, & submitted it to the voters, who rejected it. It didn’t help that turnout was low, so low that in many precincts there were zero votes recorded.

15. In the early 1960s momentum grew for a convention by the so-called “Young Turks.” This failed until the 1st GOP governor since Reconstruction, Winthrop Rockefeller came to power & allied with them. The “Rockefeller-Young Turks Convention” followed.

16. The convention drafted a very revised, and much shortened, constitution. Which, in 1970 was soundly defeated when presented to the people.

17. So, the powers-that-be held ANOTHER convention a few years later, presenting ANOTHER constitution to the people. Which, in 1980 was, yet again, rejected by the people. Seems the people were happy to leave things as they are (amended, a lot).

18. Sources:

Kay Collett Goss, The Arkansas State Constitution (1993)
encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/arkans…
constitutingamerica.org/arkansas-a-bri…