Preview

Texas Constitution

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
410 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Texas Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Texas is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Texas. Texas has had 7 constitutions, and the current one is the 1876 constitution. The current 1876 Constitution is among the longest of state constitutions in the United States. There are 17 articles in the Texas Constitution, which starts with the Preamble.
The Preamble states “Humbly invoking the blessings of Almighty God, the people of the State of Texas, do ordain and establish this Constitution.” Article One is the Texas Constitution’s bill of rights. Most of the article's provisions concern specific fundamental limitations on the power of the state government and certain rights granted to citizens that cannot be ignored under any circumstances. Article Two provides for the separation of the powers of the government. Article 3 vests the legislative power of the state in the "Legislature of the State of Texas", and establishes that the legislature consists of the state Senate and House of Representatives. It also lists the qualifications required of senators and representatives and regulates the details of the legislative process. Article Four describes the powers and duties of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, comptroller of public accounts, commissioner of the general land office, and attorney general. Article Five describes the composition, powers, and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, the District, County, and Commissioners Courts, and the Justice of the Peace Courts. Article Six denies voting rights to minors, felons, and people who are deemed mentally incompetent by a court.
Article Seven is about education, while Article Eight and Nine discuss about taxation and revenue, and counties respectively. The Texas Constitution also discusses these aspects in particular: Railroads, municipal corporations, Spanish and Mexican land titles, public land and land office,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The constitution, weather the state or national, is a blueprint or outline in regards to the distribution of power. There are two main purposes to a constitution, the first reason is to establish a government and second reason is to delegate certain powers. Every state have a state constitution that is designed for that state, however the US Constitution override all state constitution. Although Texas is the oldest constitution in the US, the constitution have many revised many time. Since the establishment of Texas Constitution in 1876, the document have been revised or amended approximately 666. There have been so many revisions to the constitution over the years, the question stand what are the strengths and weakness of the current…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I believe the federal constitution could be improved if it was more in-depth as the Texas constitution. I agree that both framers of the constitution wanted limited government; however, it looks like Texas has done a better job with their constitution.…

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The United states constitution is meant to serve as guide lane for all states for all states where the document is meant only to provide a basic structure to the government, and all decisions on meaning are to be interpreted by the Judiciary branch. As said by "J. Harvie Wilkinson III" "Americans…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Arizona Constitution affects counties, municipalities, corporations, and schools in many ways. In Article 11 of the Constitution, there are many points covered that ensure the success of Arizona schools. Some of these points include disability regulations, fairness of the members of the state board, and maintenance of the schools.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    texas constution

    • 11211 Words
    • 45 Pages

    A constitution is a charter or plan of government that represents, in essence, a pact between the government and the governed. Like any pact or contract it identifies mutually agreed powers, duties, obligations and limitations on contracting parties, and establishes procedures for action, including law-making and citizen-voter participation. In performing these functions, constitutions also provide the fundamental law on which legal systems are established. They are usually set forth in written documents, although the English Constitution is not, depending instead on traditional precedents.…

    • 11211 Words
    • 45 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mr Alex Rusby

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The US constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America, it consisted originally of seven articles but has been continually amended since its codification in 1787. The adding of amendments, such as the Bill of Rights 1789, involves a process which was laid out by the Founding Fathers. The amendment process of the US constitution was made rigid, this was so that every amendment made was properly scrutinised and would not destroy the foundations of the constitution.…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Legislature of the State of Texas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The Legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. The Legislature is arguably considered the most powerful arm of the Texas government not only because of its power of the purse to control and direct the activities of state government and the strong constitutional connections between it and the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, but also due to Texas's plural executive. Texas has a bicameral (two chamber) legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate.…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Constitution served as the creation of the national government. The document addressed how the government will operation as a national and sovereign government, limits the government’s powers, and ultimately that power is held by the government’s citizens. In addition the Constitution dictated fundamental laws and guaranteed basic rights for its citizens. Among these rights included the 3/5 Compromise which addressed the issue of representation and direct taxation and concluded that each slave represented 3/5 of a free person. With this law in place, the Constitution supported racial superiority and slavery. As a result led to the Missouri Compromise.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    To understand and what the Texas Constitution is, we must define the word constitution. A constitution is the legal structure of a government, which establishes its power and authority as well as the limits on that power. Both the U.S and Texas Constitutions share many fundamental values. They both share that political power should be derived from the people, separation of powers which from the three branches of government we know today, checks and balances to prevent one branch becoming too powerful, prevent tyranny of any sort, and to have both a central and regional government, or federalism. Although we have the U.S Constitution, each state has their own constitution. Texas has been through seven different constitutions, and each draft…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The US Constitution is 7,000 words in length, while the Texas Constitution is 90,000 or more words. That is a 1,186 % increase in word length! That seems to be unnecessarily long for a state constitution. The ideas listed in the Texas Constitution mainly match up to the US constitution. For Example, the general principles like popular sovereignty, limited government, representative government, social contract theory, and the separation of powers. The major difference that I see is, the Texas Constitution amendment process is significantly easier than the US amendment process. This is a major factor as to why the Texas Constitution is as disorganized and long as it…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cole Murphey
 
 Both of the documents limit the government's power from infringing individual rights. State constitutions are generally more in-depth than the Un.S. Constitution. Not to say that there are not similarities between what is contained in the state constitutions and the federal Constitution. For instance, Oklahoma constitution and the U.S. Constitution both include a preamble that lists general rights afforded to the people of Oklahoma and, the United States. Both constitutions contain articles specifying the powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Oklahoma constitution has 29 articles compared to 7 in the U.S. Constitution. Within these articles…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The constitution in the state of Texas is a document that outlines the function and structure of the government of the United States of Texas. The Texas constitution provides separation of powers which incorporates the bill of rights directly into the constitution. The Texas constitution took effect on February 15 1876. The Texas constitution is the eight to include Mexican constitution in Texas history. Since 1876 the United States legislature has proposed 666 amendments, 662 have gone before Texas voters; only 483 have been approved. (W.W. Norton and Company)The current Texas constitution is among the longest of the states constitutions that have been set into place. The Texas constitution has been described by many has weird and misconstrued as well. To live in Texas is to have your own unique set Constitution that has been adopted to have quality of life amongst Texans. (Texas Politics)…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Texas Constitution Essay

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The influences that shaped the Texas Constitution of 1876 were The Constitution of 1845 (the Statehood Constitution), the Civil War Constitution of 1861, The 1866 constitution (that was created after the Civil War) and the 1868–1869, constitution that centralized power in the Texas state government.( CTC Texas Politics pg. 42-44) The Individuals and groups that played a role in drafting the document include the Union that forced Texas to change its stance on slavery, the 1845 constitution modeled off of other southern states, Andrew Jackson aka Jacksonian democracy that increased the general populations participation in government although it was mostly the white male population, and the confederacy that modified the constitution in 1861…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Texas Legislature should not be changed to a full-time operation. This would ultimately lead to more of the ever growing political corruption that plagues the legislation. We have done so much in the way of changing or amending what the constitution has provided for our Government yet what we could be benefitting from the most is, keeping the fundamental basics that the constitution provided to us. Without the fundamental basis this Country was built on, The Texas Legislature will continue to use corrupt redistricting and gerrymandering for their political parties gain. There is no denying the corruption that plagues Texas politics. Allowing the Legislature to become full-time annual sessions. In chapter 6 it states that “Voters have consistently rejected amendments providing for annual sessions.” This feeling is based off of the idea that “Government power and spending” could destroy what little…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Public Education In Texas

    • 1912 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The origins of public education in Texas can be traced to the pre-Republic times when Texas was a part of Mexico. During this time, Texans wanted the Mexican government to establish a system of public education in Texas, but the government did not meet their requests. As a result, the writers of Texas’ Declaration of Independence listed the Mexican government’s refusal to set up a system of public education as one of the grievances against Mexico. Because of this, the Constitution of the Republic of Texas included a provision that called for a system of public education in Texas; however, no system was established during the years when Texas was an independent nation, as Texas passed a bill in 1854, after it joined the Union in 1845, that…

    • 1912 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays