Constitutional Convention, 1846

Petitions to the legislature from voters in twenty-four counties in 1844 asked for legislation authorizing the people to vote on the question of calling a Constitutional Convention. The legislature responded by passing such an act on May 13, 1845. The voters approved the Constitutional Convention at the polls that November. Delegates to the convention produced a major reorganization of the judiciary article of the constitution. Among the other issues debated at the convention were land tenure; suffrage; liquidation of canal debts; limiting state debts; state aid to private enterprise; corporations; and banking. The convention resulted in an essentially new state constitution, retaining unchanged only eleven sections from the 1821 Constitution. The proposed constitution was submitted as a whole to the voters in November 1846. Only one provision, that granting suffrage to blacks, was submitted separately. The new constitution was approved by the voters, but the suffrage provision was rejected. The new constitution took effect on January 1, 1847.