CHAPTER 4

Constitution: Written document establishing the basic authority, rules, and procedures for national, state, and tribal governments. Charters: State or local laws that establish the basic authority, rules, and procedures for municipal governments and, in some cases, schools. HISTORY OF STATE CONSTITUTIONS - Original state constitutions were modified from their town charters. Included a Bill of Rights, but were slanted towards the elite. - Northwest Ordinance of 1787: One of the last laws passed by Congress under the Articles of Confederation that established process by which the territories of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin would be governed and admitted as states. - Establishing state admittance – equal to other states – must have 60,000 free inhabitants. (see page 91). - Slavery Dispute and the Missouri Compromise – violated by Kansas and Nebraska that led to the formation of the Republican Party. – The larger issue other than slavery, was the question whether or not the federal government could dictate the structure of state government? -

Midwest & North – Boss-voting. Machine politics. Progressive Movement – A popular reaction against machine politics and corruption that was located primarily in Northern and Western states and began in 1890’s. Progressives favored open government, party, primaries, and citizen control of agencies. - opened elections to individual citizens and grassroots. Open primaries. Creation of citizen boards and other agency heads to balance out the governor or mayor. Empower voters by: initiative (citizens can vote for a policy change without involving the governor or legislation). 2) referendum (legislatures submit policy changes to voters for their approval or rejection). 3) recall (voters can remove elected officials from office in the middle of the term). - Tribal Constitutions – Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 – focus on strengthening tribal governments. Federal government always pushing tribes to adopt a constitution. Most Native American tribal constitutions have one legislature body. To have citizenship in a tribe, one’s ancestry has to be traced back to the tribe.

Features of State Constitutions” - Average words in a state Constitution is 27,000 (the US const. is only 8,700 words) - Most state constitutions have: bill of rights, suffrage, structure and power of governmental institutions, and amendment process - Different processes to amend state constitutions: 1) Constitutional conventions and referendums 2) Legislation and Referendum 3) Initiative 4) Commission 5 types of charters 1) Special Charter 2) General Charter 3) Classified Charters 4) Optional Charters 5) Home Rule Charters Types of Local Government: Counties, Townships, Municipalities, Special Districts