1. This week’s edition of #50Weeks50Constitutions heads to the home state of legendary newsman @tombrokaw and famed NFL kicker @adamvinatieri. That’s right, we are heading to South Dakota, the #MountRushmoreState!
2. South Dakota is one of the many states formed from the Louisiana Purchase, but it took a while. The Dakotas did not become a separate territory until 1861 and statehood wasn’t achieved until 1889, but SD was more active in pushing for statehood than ND. 
3. The real push began after the capital moved north to Bismarck, which led people "far away" in the South to hold a convention in Huron in 1883. This called for another, constitutional, convention later that year in Sioux Falls to draft a constitution and petition for statehood.
4. The delegates at Sioux Falls focused on crafting a government with sufficient restrictions to prevent the lavish spending of the territorial legislature. They also spent considerable time debating regulating railroads and corporations in the state.
5. There was also a lot of debate over whether the right to “abolish” the government should be recognized in the Bill of Rights, like in many early states. But, in the wake of the *Civil War* the delegates instead went with the “right to alter & reform.”
6. This 1883 draft borrowed heavily from constitutions of eastern states, where many delegates were from. The people approved it by a large margin & it was sent to Congress for approval—but the North also sent a delegation to advocate against admission.
7. The Republican controlled Senate passed a bill for admission, but the Democratic House rejected it. South Dakota was very Republican and many in the House did not want to create a state that would give Republicans more power in the Senate.
8. South Dakotans tried again in 1885. The delegates for this convention spent two weeks deliberating and drafting the constitution, which they approved and sent to the people. The people then approved the constitution by an even wider margin than in 1883.
9. This constitution suffered the same fate as the 1883 draft. The Senate approved it, but the House rejected it. But this draft is largely the same as the one officially adopted in 1889 and this 1885 convention is widely seen as the most important in state history.
10. The convention had the same debate over the right of the people to “abolish” the government and came to the same conclusion as the 1883 delegates and stuck with “alter or reform.” The delegates drew heavily from the MN, WI, TN, NV, CA, OR, and TX constitutions.
11. The political landscaped finally changed with Benjamin Harrison's election. Congress offered admission to the Dakotas (& some other states) thru an 1889 Enabling Act. SD was given the choice to start from scratch or amend its 1885 Constitution to match the Act’s requirements.
12. South Dakotans voted to keep their 1885 Constitution and simply amend it to comply with Congress’s requirements. One such required amendment, known as a Blaine Amendment, prohibited any state funds from going to sectarian schools.
ij.org/issues/school-…
ij.org/issues/school-…
13. But not all amendments were required by Congress. For example, the drafters amended the constitution to place more restrictions on legislative appropriations and prohibited some special legislation as well.
14. Aside from the amendments to the Constitution itself, the convention submitted multiple separate, controversial, amendments to the people. But the only one the people approved was a prohibition on the sale of alcohol (a few decades before the federal prohibition).
15. Congress approved the changes and President Harrison signed the bill for admission in November 1889, the same day as North Dakota’s admission. But he shuffled the papers, so no one knows whether North or South Dakota was admitted first.
16. This 1889 Constitution is still in operation, though it has been amended over the years. There are already two amendments on the ballot for the 2020 election so keep your eyes open for more constitutional changes!
17. Sources for this week’s edition of #50Weeks50Constitutions:
books.google.com/books/about/Th…; papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…; sdsos.gov/general-inform…; sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/Const…;
books.google.com/books/about/Th…; papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…; sdsos.gov/general-inform…; sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/Const…;
