Constitution of Massachusetts

Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
The title page and first articles, the Declaration of Rights, in the first published edition of the 1780 Constitution
Overview
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Subordinate to	Constitution of the United States
Created	October 30, 1779
Presented	June 15, 1780
Ratified	October 25, 1780
System	Single executive
Government structure
Branches	3
Chambers	Two (Massachusetts General Court): Massachusetts Senate Massachusetts House of Representatives
Executive	Governor of Massachusetts
Judiciary	Supreme, Appeals, Trial
History
First legislature	October 25, 1780
First executive	October 25, 1780
First court	October 25, 1780
Amendments	121
Last amended	November 8, 2022
Commissioned by	Massachusetts Provincial Congress
Author(s)	John Adams
Supersedes	Massachusetts Charter
Full text
Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1780) at Wikisource

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the fundamental governing document of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the 50 individual states that make up the United States of America.^[1] It consists of a preamble, declaration of rights, description of the principles and framework of government, and articles of amendment. It is the highest legal authority in the state, subordinate only to the U.S. Constitution.

Created by the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779, the document was primarily authored by American founding father and future president John Adams. Following its approval by convention delegates, it was approved by voters on June 15, 1780 and became effective October 25 of that year.

The Massachusetts Constitution was the last to be written among the initial thirteen U.S. states. It was unique in being structured with chapters, sections and articles, as opposed to being a list of provisions. It served as a model for the U.S. Constitution, drafted seven years later, both structurally and substantively, and also influenced later revisions of many other state constitutions.

The Massachusetts Constitution is among the oldest functioning written constitutions in continuous effect in the world,^[2]^[3] predated only by sections of the Constitution of San Marino and the Magna Carta.^[4] It was also the first constitution in history to be created by a convention called for that purpose, rather than by a legislative body.^[2]

It has been amended 121 times as of 2022.^[5]

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Transcription

Even after independence, or especially after independence, Boston remains a revolutionary place. And one of the most significant achievements of this generation is the creation of the Massachusetts Constitution, which is the oldest functioning written constitution in the world. Now, initially the old provincial assembly, which the governor had suspended in 1774, kept meeting as a provincial congress and simply declared the office of governor vacant once we had declared independence in July of 1776. So, this Provincial Congress continues to meet, continues to be elected as a Provincial Congress, meeting in the Old State House in Boston. But then, the Provincial Congress is calling on people to pay taxes and to go into the military, and in fact over the course of the war almost a third of the man who serve in the Continental Army will come from Massachusetts. The people start asking what gives the Provincial Congress the power to enlist us in the military or ask us for taxes? And the Provincial Congress has said that the office of governor is vacant, well what gives them the power to do this? They're operating under the Charter of 1691. The charter was granted by the British monarch, we no longer recognize the authority the monarch. Where does their authority come from? So, in 1778 the Massachusetts assembly drafted a new constitution, they said this will be the fundamental law of Massachusetts. They sent it to the towns of Massachusetts for ratification, and much to their surprise the people in the towns rejected it. They said that this body, the Provincial Congress, does not have the authority to pass a constitution. A constitution is a fundamental law that derives from the sovereign power the people of the Commonwealth. You can't have a legislative body drawing up a Constitution which is the fundamental law. So, in the fall of 1779 a constitutional convention is elected, this convention will represent the sovereign power of the people of Massachusetts and will be able to devise a fundamental law. It's fortunate for us that John Adams happened to be in town at the time, he had come home on a six-month leave from his job as a minister in Europe. He comes home, is elected by the voters of Braintree to be one of their delegates to this assembly, this convention which assembled in Cambridge. Adams goes to the convention, there are about three hundred other people there, and they formed a committee to draw up a constitution, and as Adams said, the committee put him on a subcommittee, the subcommittee was John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Bowdoin, and then the subcommittee created a sub-subcommittee which consisted of John Adams to draft a constitution. And this Constitution creates the, or devises the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and it begins with a declaration of rights, the fundamental rights that people will enjoy, and the purpose of government is to protect these rights. It also creates a system of government, a balanced system. Adams believe there had to be a balance between rich and poor, as well as between the executive and legislative power. He thought that the government works best when there are checks on the different branches of government. So, the Massachusetts example: we have an assembly that represents the towns, in fact the people of the towns needed to have a moderate income to vote, you had to pay a pound in taxes every year, the equivalent to about forty dollars today. It is a property requirement but not an onerous one, it really is meant to represent a middle-class as we might configure it today. And to be a member of the assembly you had to have an estate worth at least 100 pounds in the town you represented, and each town would have one representative for every 150 taxpayers, or "ratable polls." Everyone in Massachusetts paid a one pound per person head tax, so for every person in town paying this tax, or for every 150 people paying this tax you have one representative in the assembly. So, the assembly would be quite large but would be very broadly representative of the people in the towns. To balance this, there would be a state senate, the senate would represent property. In order to be a member of the senate you had to have an estate worth 600 pounds, that is six times what you would need to be a member of the assembly. This body was to represent property, because Adam saw that those with property and those without property, or with less property, formed different interests. And if you simply let the rich people trample over the poor people that wouldn't be a suitable government, nor if you simply let the poor people overwhelm the rich people, because both have a certain role in society. The senate would represent property, there would be 40 senators and senatorial districts were determined by tax levies, so there would be eight senators from Suffolk County, which is where Boston is, eight from Essex County, where Salem is, one from Barnstable County, Berkshire County. The counties that contributed less in tax revenues would have fewer senators. So this balance is the rich against the poor, and Adams wrote that the "Great art of law giving is balancing the rich against the poor in the legislature." In addition, there will be governor someone who will govern. The governor will be elected directly by the people, and Massachusetts is the only state to have the governor elected by a popular vote. He is supposed to be a balance against parochial interests of the senators and the representatives. The governor has to be very rich person, he has to have an estate worth 1000 pounds, ten times what it would take to be a member of the assembly. And the idea is a really rich person is not as susceptible to bribery as someone with less means. And the governor also has to be a professing Christian. Now, most of these property qualifications have been dispensed with over the two centuries and more since the Constitution was created. So, Massachusetts creates a government with the fundamental idea of balancing different interests in the society, and Adams also wrote that the "You have to balance the executive again the legislative branch because their natural rivals, whichever doesn't have control over the other will ever be the lamb in the paws of the wolf." Periodically politicians denounced gridlock, typically if their party doesn't control the other branch of government they say you should give us control. Adams thought the gridlock with a good thing, it was an essential thing to protect liberty. And so the Massachusetts Constitution has this balance and these fundamental checks, it recognizes that people have interests but also isn't going to give your interest predominance in this system. So, it's a very carefully constructed government which recognizes that people have interests which they might pursue to the detriment of the liberty of others. So it's a marvelous achievement of 1780, creating this system of government with also a judiciary, a legal system, or a judicial system, and it also calls on the legislature to cherish education and says not only the college at Cambridge, but the grammar schools in all the towns, wanting in educated citizenry here for this new commonwealth being created. So, the Massachusetts Constitution, created in 1780, is still the fundamental governing system in Massachusetts with a three-part system, a governor, assembly, and a judiciary. The governor, elected in 1780 for a one-year term by a popular vote had a veto over legislative acts, the only governorship created in the 1770s-1780s who had a veto, also the only one who was popularly elected, and it does in some way become a model for the United States Constitution which is created seven years after the Massachusetts Constitution.

History

In the spring of 1775, Adams took the position that each state should call a special convention to write a constitution and then submit it to a popular vote. He told the Continental Congress that:^[6]

We must realize the theories of the Wisest Writers and invite the People, to erect the whole Building with their own hands upon the broadest foundation. That this could be done only by conventions of representatives chosen by the People.... Congress ought now to recommend to the People of every Colony to call such Conventions immediately and set up Governments of their own, under their own Authority; for the People were the Source of all Authority and the Original of all Power.

The legislative body of Massachusetts, known as the Massachusetts General Court, instead drafted its own version of a constitution and submitted it to the voters, who rejected it in 1778. That version did not provide for the separation of powers, nor did it include a statement of individual rights.^[7] The General Court then organized the election of delegates from each town to participate in a convention that would draft a constitution and submit their work to a popular vote with the understanding that its adoption would require approval by two-thirds of the voters.^[7] The constitutional convention met in Cambridge in September 1779.^[8]

The convention sat from September 1 to October 30, 1779. Its 312 members chose a committee of thirty members to prepare a new constitution and declaration of rights. That committee asked Adams to draft a declaration of rights. It appointed a subcommittee of James Bowdoin, Samuel Adams, and John Adams to draft the constitution and that trio delegated the drafting to John Adams alone. He later wrote that he constituted a "sub-sub committee of one".^[9] An article on religion was referred to members of the clergy, which resulted in a form of religious establishment entirely unlike that later adopted at the federal level.^[2] Adams advocated for an end to that establishment when revisions to the constitution were considered in 1820 and his views were adopted in 1832.^[6]

Adams's draft declaration of rights read in part: "All men are born equally free and independent..." Before being adopted by the constitutional convention it was revised to read: "All men are born free and equal..."^[8] At the insistence of Adams, the document referred to the state as a "commonwealth."^[10]

Male voters 21 years or older ratified the constitution and declaration of rights at the convention on June 15, 1780, and it became effective on October 25, 1780.

Preamble

The preamble of the constitution provided a model that was drawn on when the United States Constitution was composed a few years later, including some phrases near the end. It reads:

The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquillity their natural rights, and the blessings of life: and whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity and happiness.
The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals: it is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good. It is the duty of the people, therefore, in framing a constitution of government, to provide for an equitable mode of making laws, as well as for an impartial interpretation, and a faithful execution of them; that every man may, at all times, find his security in them.
We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other; and of forming a new constitution of civil government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain and establish the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Declaration of Rights

"Part the First: A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" consists of thirty articles. The first states:

Article I. All men are born free and equal and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.

This article was the subject of a landmark case in 1781 before a Massachusetts court sitting in Great Barrington, Brom and Bett v. Ashley. Elizabeth Freeman (whose slave name was "Bett"), a black slave owned by Colonel John Ashley, sued for her freedom based on this article. The jury agreed that slavery was inconsistent with the Massachusetts Constitution and awarded Freeman £5 in damages and her freedom. A few years later, Quock Walker, a black slave, sued his master for false imprisonment; the jury found for Walker and awarded him damages of £50. His master was then subject to criminal prosecution for assault and battery against Walker and was found guilty by a jury, which imposed a fine of 40/- (£2). In this manner, slavery lost any legal protection in Massachusetts, making it a tortious act under the law, effectively abolishing it within the Commonwealth.^[11]

In 1976 by amendment Article CVI, this article was amended to change the word "men" to "people". That amendment also added an additional sentence: “Equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged because of sex, race, color, creed or national origin.”^[12]

This article was also the basis for the 2003 Supreme Judicial Court's ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health required the Commonwealth to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples on an equal basis with different-sex couples.

The next several Articles within the "Part the First" in the original 1780 Constitution of Massachusetts called upon the people of the Commonwealth as being their "right as well as the duty of all men" (Article II) to a strong religious conviction and belief.

Article II. It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator, and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his conscience, or for his religious profession or sentiments, provided he doth not disturb the public peace or obstruct others in their religious worship.^[12]

Article III continued by noting that "the happiness of a people" and "preservation of civil government" is explicitly tied to religion and morality. This article established the possibility of "town religions" by allowing the state legislature, though Massachusetts cannot declare or recognize a state religion, to require towns to pay for the upkeep of a Protestant church out of local tax funds, with the town to determine by majority vote the denomination it would support as its parish church.

From 1780 to 1824 these democratically selected parish churches were considered the only churches with full legal rights, as "voluntary" churches ran against the Federalist ideal of a commonwealth. Until 1822 all residents of a town were required to belong to the parish church. In that year they were allowed to attend a neighboring town's church instead, and in 1824 full religious freedom was granted. However, the parishes remained beneficiaries of local taxes and were unable to expel dissident parishioners, since as residents they were members of the parish until they declared otherwise. Soon both dissident churches and the majority Congregational Church increasingly recognized that this system was contrary to the voluntary nature of religious worship. This section of the constitution was amended by bipartisan consensus in 1834 at the same time that several blue laws were repealed.^[13]

Article III. As the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality, and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community but by the institution of the public worship of God and of the public instructions in piety, religion, and morality: Therefore, To promote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic or religious societies to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily.
And the people of this commonwealth have also a right to and do, invest their legislature with authority to enjoin upon all the subject an attendance upon the instructions of the public teachers aforesaid, at stated times and seasons, if there be any on whose instructions they can conscientiously and conveniently attend.
Provided, notwithstanding, That the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic, or religious societies, shall at all times have the exclusive right and electing their public teachers and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance.
And all moneys paid by the subject to the support of public worship and of public teachers aforesaid shall if he require it, be uniformly applied to the support of the public teacher or teachers of his religious sect or denomination, provided there be any on whose instructions he attends; otherwise it may be paid toward the support of the teacher or teachers of the parish or precinct in which the said sums of money are raised.
And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves peaceably and as good subjects of the commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law; and no subordination of any sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law.

Frame of Government

Part II, Chapter I, Section I^[14]

The opening of the "Part the Second" lays down the official name of the State of Massachusetts.

The people, inhabiting the territory formerly called the Province of Massachusetts Bay, do hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other, to form themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent body politic, or state by the name of THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

The first three articles in Chapter I, Section I,of the Massachusetts Constitution establishes the three primary branches of government; an executive, a bicameral legislature, and an independent judiciary. The design of this system, unique at the time, was created to ensure the proper separation of power between the different entities. The framers of the state constitution intended by this means to prevent the abuse of power by any one branch.

Article I. The department of legislation shall be formed by two branches, a Senate and House of Representatives: each of which shall have a negative on the other.

Article II. No bill or resolve of the senate or house of representatives shall become a law, and have force as such, until it shall have been laid before the governor for his revisal...

Article III. The general court shall forever have full power and authority to erect and constitute judicatories and courts of record, or other courts, to be held in the name of the commonwealth...

Removal – impeachment

Massachusetts allows impeachment of government officials through the Legislature.^[12]^{: Pt. 2} They can also disqualify convicted officials from ever holding any place within the commonwealth.

Articles of Amendment

There are 121 Articles of Amendment that have been added to the Massachusetts Constitution. The most recent one places a 4% marginal tax on income over $1,000,000 and was approved by a vote of 52% to 48% in 2022.^[15]

The amendment process is governed by the 48th Article of Amendment to the Constitution, which establishes an indirect initiative process that requires action by the state legislature, followed by a referendum.

For an amendment to be placed before the voters as a referendum, a state constitutional convention, a joint meeting of both houses of the legislature sitting as one body, in each of two successive two-year legislative sessions, must provide the required number of votes, which varies according to how the proposed amendment comes before the convention.

If it is a legislative amendment proposed by a legislator, the threshold is 50% of the members. If it is an initiative amendment put forward by petition, the threshold is 25% of the members. In both cases, the calculation of the votes is based on the number of seats in the constitutional convention, not the members present or seated.

The number of certified signatures required on the petitions is 3% of the total vote cast for all candidates for governor (excluding blanks) at the immediately preceding state election.^[16]

Constitutional conventions

The state has held four constitutional conventions of elected delegates (as opposed to those that are special sessions of the legislature):

Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779–1780, drew up the original document
Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1820–1821, submitted a number of articles to a popular vote, resulting in the adoption of the first nine amendments and the rejection of a number of other proposals
Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1853
Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1917–1918

References

^ [Art. VIII. The senate shall be a court, with full authority to hear and determine all impeachments made by the house of representatives, against any officer or officers of the commonwealth, for misconduct and maladminstration in their offices; but, previous to the trial of every impeachment, the members of the senate shall, respectively, be sworn truly and impartially to try and determine the charge in question, according to the evidence. Their judgment, however, shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold or enjoy any place of honor, trust, or profit under this commonwealth; but the part so convicted shall be, nevertheless, liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to the laws of the land. "Constitution of Massachusetts"]. The NATIONAL HUMANITIES INSTITUTE. Retrieved 13 February 2021. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
^ ^a ^b ^c Levy, Leonard (1995). Seasoned Judgments: The American Constitution, Rights, and History. p. 307. ISBN 9781412833820.
^ Murrin, John (2011). Liberty, Power, and Equality: A History. ISBN 978-0495915874.
^ Slomp, Hans (2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 693. ISBN 978-0-313-39181-1. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
^ "Massachusetts Constitution". Massachusetts General Court. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b Richard Samuelson, "John Adams and the Republic of Laws," in Bryan-Paul Frost and Jeffrey Sikkenga, eds., History of American Political Thought (Lexington Books, 2003), 120-1
^ ^a ^b "John Adams and the Massachusetts Constitution". Massachusetts Judicial Branch. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
^ ^a ^b Moore, George (1866). Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts. D. Appleton & Company. pp. 200–201.
^ McCullough, David (2004). John Adams (First Paperback Edition). p. 220
^ Vile, John. The Constitutional Convention of 1787: a comprehensive encyclopedia of America's founding, Volume 1, page 467 (2005).
^ Harper, Douglass. Emancipation in Massachusetts, Slavery in the North. Retrieved 2010-05-22
^ ^a ^b ^c "Massachusetts Constitution". General Court. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
^ Neem, Johann (2004). "The Elusive Common Good: Religion and Civil Society in Massachusetts, 1780–1833". Journal of the Early Republic. 24 (3): 381–417. JSTOR 4141439.
^ Massachusetts Legislature The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
^ Chesto, Jon; Gerber, Dana (9 November 2022). "Passage of the Mass. 'millionaires tax' amends the state's flat tax rate". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
^ Massachusetts Legislature: Article XLVIII, accessed July 5, 2013

External links

Works related to Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1780) at Wikisource
Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Full Text)
Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1780 printed edition, appending an address given by convention president James Bowdoin

v t e Government of Massachusetts
Legislative	General Court Senate (Members, President) House of Representatives (Members, Speaker)
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Judicial	Boston Municipal Court District Court Superior Court Land Court Juvenile Court Housing Court Massachusetts Probate and Family Court Appeals Court (Judges) Supreme Judicial Court Essex Probate and Family Court Middlesex Probate and Family Court
Independent agencies	Board of Library Commissioners Commission Against Discrimination Commission on the Status of Women Disabled Persons Protection Commission Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board Massachusetts District Attorneys Massachusetts Inspector General Office of Campaign and Political Finance Office of the Comptroller Massachusetts Sheriffs State Ethics Commission
Law	Constitution General Laws Code of Massachusetts Regulations Abortion Alcohol Cannabis Capital punishment Crime Elder law Gambling Gun laws LGBT rights Taxation

v t e John Adams
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Presidency	Inauguration Quasi War with France XYZ Affair United States Department of the Navy Commerce Protection Act United States Marine Corps Convention of 1800 Mississippi Organic Act Alien and Sedition Acts Naturalization Act of 1798 Sick and Disabled Seamen Relief Act Marine Hospital Service Bankruptcy Act of 1800 Indiana Organic Act Slave Trade Act of 1800 District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 Navy Department Library Treaty of Tellico Treaty of Tripoli Midnight Judges Act Marbury v. Madison State of the Union Address (1797 1798 1799 1800) Cabinet Federal judiciary appointments
Other writings	Massachusetts Historical Society holdings Adams Papers Editorial Project A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams Founders Online Gray v. Pitts
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v t e State constitution (United States)
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