Georgia has had ten different constitutions in its history. Prior to having a formal constitution, a document entitled Rules and Regulations of the Colony of Georgia, drafted in 1776, was in effect. A year later, in 1777, the first formal constitution was drafted, followed by the constitutions of 1789, 1798, 1861 (after joining the Confederate States of America), 1865, 1868, 1877, 1945, 1976, and 1983.All constitutions up until 1945 were drafted by constitutional convention.That year, Governor Ellis Arnall appointed a twenty-three member commission, composed of all three branches of government, to write a new constitution.
To perpetuate the principles of free government, insure justice to all, preserve peace, promote the interest and happiness of the citizen and of the family, and transmit to posterity the enjoyment of liberty, we the people of Georgia, relying upon the protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish.
Our United States Constitution is based on certain basic concepts that include three primary principles: inherent rights, government by the people, and separation of powers. Self-government is the most important principle in the U.S. Constitution.
Georgia ratified the new and revised constitution for many reasons.It was mainly because as more and more people began to move into Georgia, they began to push westward into the land occupied by Indians, yet the Indians were determined to hold onto their lands.
Explanation:
Constitution of 1983Edit
In 1977, a select committee was created to discuss revision of the 1976 constitution. Members included the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House, the Attorney General, representatives of the General Assembly and the judicial branch.Agreement on a constitution was made in August 1981 and in August and September of that year the document was submitted to the General Assembly in a special session.The constitution was approved on 25 September 1981 and went to vote in the general election and was ratified on 2 November 1982. The current Constitution streamlined the previous one and did away with authorization for local amendments.Of all U.S. States, Georgia has had the most State Constitutions of all, with 10 to date.
The United States Constitution has served as the supreme law of the United States since taking effect in 1789. The document was written at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention and was ratified through a series of state conventions held in 1787 and 1788. Since 1789, the Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; particularly important amendments include the ten amendments of the United States Bill of Rights and the three Reconstruction Amendments.
The Constitution grew out of efforts to reform the Articles of Confederation, an earlier constitution which provided for a loose alliance of states with a weak central government. From May 1787 through September 1787, delegates from twelve of the thirteen states convened in Philadelphia, where they wrote a new constitution. Two alternative plans were developed at the convention. The nationalist majority, soon to be called "Federalists," put forth the Virginia Plan, a consolidated government based on proportional representation among the states by population. The "old patriots," later called "Anti-Federalists," advocated the New Jersey Plan, a purely federal proposal, based on providing each state with equal representation. The Connecticut Compromise allowed for both plans to work together. Other controversies developed regarding slavery and a Bill of Rights in the original document.
The drafted Constitution was submitted to the Congress of the Confederation in September 1787; that same month it approved the forwarding of the Constitution as drafted to the states, each of which would hold a ratification convention. The Federalist Papers, published while the states were debating ratification, provided background and justification for the Constitution. Some states agreed to ratify the Constitution only if the amendments that were to become the Bill of Rights would be taken up immediately by the new government. In September 1788, the Congress of the Confederation certified that eleven states had ratified the new Constitution, and directed that elections be held. The new government began on March 4, 1789, assembled in New York City, and the government authorized by the Articles of Confederation dissolved itself.
