Name:______________________________ Date: ________
Government
Unit #7
State and Local Government
Texas Constitution and Government
THE TEXAS CONSTITUTION
The first Texas constitution was the Constitution of Coahuila y Tejas (1827) when Texas was a
Mexican state. Catholicism was the official religion of the state and Spanish was the official
language. Following the Texas Revolution, the state was governed by the Constitution of the
Republic of Texas (1836). Texas was an independent country at this time with a President and Vice
President. The constitution resembled that of the United States.
When Texas joined the United States in 1845, a new constitution had to be written for the new state.
The constitution provided for an elected bicameral legislature which met every other year. The
governor was elected to a two-year term and could serve no more than four years in any six-year
time period. This constitution also protected private homesteads from foreclosure, guaranteed
separate property rights for married women and established a permanent fund for support of public
schools. It also contained a stipulation that Texas could later divide itself into as many as five states.
When Texas seceded from the Union in 1861 to join the Confederate States of America, another
constitution was written. New provisions included requiring public officials to take a pledge of loyalty
to the Confederacy, greater protection for slavery, and a prohibition against freeing one's slaves.
This constitution also cemented the legacy of state's rights.
When the Confederacy lost the war, Texas was occupied and controlled by the national
government. Following the easy means of rejoining the Union set forth by President Andrew
Johnson, Texas wrote a new constitution in 1866. The requirements were modest and included the
abolition of slavery, the repudiation of the right of secession and the repudiation of all debts and
obligations incurred under the Confederacy. While slavery was eliminated, freed slaves still
had limited rights.
Radical Reconstructionist in Washington soon required southern states to rewrite their constitutions
under tougher standards, so yet another constitution was written in 1869. These requirements
included granting African Americans the right to vote. This constitution did not conform to the wishes
of most Texans. This document also centered more power in
the position of governor and lessened local government powers. Radical Republican Governor
Edmund Davis abused these powers and paved the way for a new constitution that would severely
limit government powers. When Davis was ousted by the voters in 1874, he refused to leave the
governor’s office until the Texas militia forced him to go. The desire to limit the powers of the
government led to another constitutional convention in 1876.
The Constitution of 1876 is still the current Texas constitution. This constitution was predicated on
the theory that governmental excesses could be minimized by carefully defining what governments
could and could not do. The document was patterned after the U.S. constitutional tradition and
embodies the principles of popular sovereignty, limited government, and separation of powers. The
post-Reconstruction Texan preference for an independent judiciary is reflected in an elected judicial
branch. The document contains many provisions which would be more appropriately
addressed in state statutes (laws), but the Texans who wrote it wanted very narrow limits on
governmental powers drafted into the constitution itself. This is what has led to over 450
amendments being added to the document. In contrast, the U.S. Constitution, almost 100 years
older, has only 27 amendments.
Efforts to overhaul the 1876 Constitution have failed. Consequently, the state has been forced to
amend the document continually on a piecemeal basis. In 1974 Texas held a constitutional
convention in hopes of revising, if not rewriting, the Constitution. This effort failed because of special
interests and fights over gambling and a right-to-work provision. In 1999, a proposal to rewrite the
constitution, the first such proposal in twenty years, was rejected by the Legislature. This process
has produced some success in modernizing the charter, but many structural problems of state
government require major institutional changes that cannot be resolved through this amendment
process.
TEXAS BILL OF RIGHTS SUMMARIZED
In contrast to the U.S. Constitution which included its Bill of Rights only as an addendum in the first
ten amendments, the Texas Constitution puts the Bill of Rights at the beginning in Article I. Originally
29 sections long (expanded to 32 sections), the Texas Bill of Rights might seem to be more
extensive than its national counterpart, but many of the rights are simply reordered. For instance, the
U.S. Bill of Rights covers freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition in one
amendment; The Texas Bill of Rights uses nine separate sections to address the same freedoms. It
also bans discrimination based on sex, race, color, creed, or national origin, found in the U.S.
Constitution in amendments 13 and 14, outside the original Bill of Rights. Religious tests for office
are banned in the Texas Bill of Rights; in the U.S. Constitution such tests are banned in Article VI of
the body of the Constitution. The U.S. Constitution defines treason in Article III of the body of
the document; the Texas Bill of Rights contains this definition.
Here is a summary of the rights guaranteed in the Texas Bill of Rights:
1. Texas is a free and independent state, subject to the Constitution of the United States.
2. Texas has a republican form of government in which the people of the state make decisions for
the state.
3. Equality shall not be denied based on sex, race, color, creed, or national origin.
4. No religious test shall ever be required for any public office; no one will be disqualified from
holding office because of his religious sentiments as long as he acknowledges the existence of a
Supreme Being.
5. No person will be disqualified from testifying in court because of his religious beliefs.
6. All persons have the right to worship God as they please; no one is forced to worship. No
preference shall ever be given by law to any religion.
7. No government money will be used to support any religion.
8. Every person is free to speak, write, or publish his opinions on any subject.
9. People are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures of their person, houses, paper,
and possessions, and warrants cannot be issued without probable cause.
10. A person accused of a crime has the right to a speedy, public trial by an impartial jury and to be
informed of the charges. He does not have to testify against himself and has the right to confront the
witnesses against him and to subpoena witnesses in him behalf. The accused also cannot be
brought to trial in a felony without the indictment of a grand jury.
11. The only offense for which bail may automatically be denied is a death penalty case. Bail for
other offenses can be denied only after a hearing for reasons defined by law (prior felony
convictions, particularly violent crimes, if a deadly weapon is used) and decided by a judge.
12. The right to obtain a writ of habeas corpus shall never be denied.
13. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor cruel and unusual punishment imposed. All courts shall
be open. Any person suffering a wrong or injury in his lands, goods, person or reputation shall have
access to the courts.
14. No one can be tried twice for the same criminal act once he is found innocent of that act.
15. Persons accused of a crime have the right to a trial by jury.
16. No bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, or laws impairing the obligations of contracts shall be
passed.
17. No property can be taken for public use without paying fair compensation.
18. No person can be put in prison for debt.
19. No citizen of the state can be deprived of life, liberty, property, privileges, and immunity, nor may
the right to vote be denied to anyone, except by the laws of the land (due process of law).
20. No person can be outlawed or removed from the state as punishment for committing a crime
within the state.
21. A person’s conviction for a crime does not reflect on his blood relatives or cause his heir’s to be
denied inheritance.
22. Treason is defined as waging war or helping an enemy wage war against Texas and requires
two witnesses to testify to the same act or an open confession to convict someone of treason.
23. Every citizen has the right to have a gun to protect himself or the state, but the Legislature can
regulate the carrying of guns.
24. The military must obey civil authority (state laws).
25. Citizens will not be required to keep soldiers in their homes in peace time.
26. Monopolies are prohibited, and laws permitting only the eldest son to inherit property are not
allowed.
27. Citizens have the right to peaceably assemble and to ask the government to hear their
grievances.
28. No one can suspend laws except the Legislature.
29. This Bill of Rights cannot be removed and any laws contrary to it are invalid.
30. Crime victims have certain rights: to be treated with dignity, to be protected from the accused, to
be informed of court proceedings and be present, to be informed of the punishment given to the
accused, and to restitution for damages.
31. A fund for the compensation of victims of crimes is established and may only be used for that
purpose.
32. Marriage in the state of Texas shall consist of the union of one man and one woman.
What similarities exist between the Texas and United States governments?
What differences exist between the Texas and United States governments?
How does the history of Texas explain the differences in state and national government?
How does a bill become law in Texas?
What factors must be considered in passing a bill into law?