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Alabama Constitution
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The Constitution of the State of Alabama is the basic governing document of the U.S. state of Alabama. It was adopted in 1901 and is the sixth constitution that the state has had.
At 357,157 words, the document is 12 times longer than the average state constitution, 40 times longer than the U.S. Constitution, and is the longest still-operative constitution anywhere in the world (the Constitution of India, the longest national constitution, comes in at approximately 117,369 words, making Alabama's constitution approximately three times longer than India's).
About 90 percent of the document's length, as of 2008, comes from its 798 amendments.
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Encyclopedia
The Constitution of the State of Alabama is the basic governing document of the U.S. state of Alabama. It was adopted in 1901 and is the sixth constitution that the state has had.
At 357,157 words, the document is 12 times longer than the average state constitution, 40 times longer than the U.S. Constitution, and is the longest still-operative constitution anywhere in the world (the Constitution of India, the longest national constitution, comes in at approximately 117,369 words, making Alabama's constitution approximately three times longer than India's).
About 90 percent of the document's length, as of 2008, comes from its 798 amendments. Thus there is in fact one amendment less than the number of the final amendment, 799, as amendment 693 does not exist. About 70 percent of those amendments cover only a single county or city, and some deal with salaries of specific officials (e.g. and the Greene County probate judge). This gives Alabama a large number of constitutional officers.
The Preamble runs:
- We the people of the State of Alabama, invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution.
Notable features
The inordinate length is both because of and the cause of heavy centralization of government power in the state capital, Montgomery, leaving very little authority to local units. Counties cannot even legislate on local issues, requiring the state legislature, and ipso facto uninvolved parts of the state, to pass local laws.
The constitution addresses many issues that are dealt with by statute in most other states. The most notable issue is taxation. Unlike most other states, a large portion of Alabama's tax code is written into the constitution. Besides prohibiting local governments from passing any ordinances on tax issues, this necessitates its amendment over minor taxation issues. This, along with the requirement that an amendment must be unanimously approved by the legislature or face a statewide vote, has resulted in local county or municipality related amendments being overwhelmingly approved, but ultimately rejected statewide.
Size and local relevance
The document has been amended for such diverse topics such as:
- Bingo ( and in Jefferson, further amended by ) and Madison Counties, in Montgomery County, in Mobile County, in Etowah County, in Calhoun County, in Morgan County, in Russell County, in Lowndes County, and in Limestone County, all of which are almost or exactly the same)
- Mosquito control taxes in Mobile County (), which was later amended by to remove a single word ("tangible"), then FURTHER amended by to expand it to "other general health purposes" so long as these purposes do not take more than 50% of the collected money.
- Boll weevil taxes on cotton growers ()
- Promotion of catfish (), soybeans (Twice, and ), cattle (Twice, and ), poultry (Twice, and amended by ), swine (Twice, and ), an omnibus amendment for peanuts, milk, and cotton (), grain (), sheep and goats (), and shrimp and seafood generally ().
- Dead farm animals ( in Limestone County by the County Commission)
- Prostitution ( in Jefferson County).
- Exhumation in Madison County ( by the County Commission), see also the above entry for Dead farm animals in Limestone county
- Forest fire tax levies in Marshall County ()
- Nuisance ( in Jefferson County)
The Legislature has also been forced to amend amendments that often concerned similarly trivial matters (See other sections for more examples):
- Public debt over Mobile County (Amendments and over )
- Promotion of Madison County and Huntsville ( over )
- Special taxation for public healthcare in Mobile County ( over )
- Taxation for "Furtherance of Education" in Jefferson County (Amendments , , and over )
- Civic center bonds ( over )
- Fire protection and trash pickup in Jefferson County (Amendments and over )
- Use of gas taxes ( over )
- Mosquito control taxes (See above)
- The State Judiciary (Amendments , , and over the original Article VI, later amendments and were made directly to the article and not previous amendments.
- School taxes in Huntsville ( over )
- Fire department districts in Etowah County ( over )
- The Jackson City Port Authority ( over )
- Constitutional amendments that deal with one county ( over
- The Madison County Judiciary ( over )
- Corporation taxation ( over )
- Fire/Emergency services taxes in Montgomery County ( over )
- Calhoun County school district taxes ( over )
- More fire protection taxes, this time in DeKalb County ( over )
- Court costs for a new Russell County jail ( over )
- Some reservoir Authority in Fayette County, Alabama ( over )
- Even more fire protection taxes, now in Pickens County ( over )
- prohibits deceased officials from receiving a salary.
The paper has also been falsely amended at least once (). This may be the reason why it has no Amendment 621, skipping from 620 to 622, however Amendment 693 is also missing. There is also a strange additional amendment, . The reason for this unusual nomenclature is unknown.
Discrimination
The document has been heavily criticized for discriminatory elements, many of which have been made moot by amendments to the state or federal constitutions or United States Supreme Court decisions.
It contains many racist elements. One provision completely disenfranchised Black American voters. The President of the Constitutional Convention stated in his inaugural address that their intention was "within the limits imposed by the Federal Constitution, to establish white supremacy in this State." () This provision has been rendered inoperative by the Voting Rights Act.
Originally it outlawed interracial marriage (), but this provision was rendered inoperative by Loving v. Virginia. It was finally removed in 2000 by . The constitution still requires racially segregated education in the state (). Although this provision has not been enforced since the 1960s, the continued existence of these provisions is seen by many as an embarrassment to the state. A proposal to strike the segregation requirement was defeated narrowly in 2004 . Nearly all organizations opposing the repeal of the segregation measure pointed to a provision stating that the state did not provide a right to a state financed education. Groups opposing the repeal of this amendment claimed that repeal would lead to court decisions requiring the state to raise taxes.
women the right to vote by confining voting rights to "male citizens," but this was rendered unenforceable by the 19th Amendment until was substituted, which contained no reference to gender.
Impropriety of parts
The constitution includes many provisions that are either wholly or partly archaic in their wording or functions, or are inappropriate for inclusion in a constitution; many of these have also been rendered unenforceable by federal laws and court rulings. For instance:
- mandates that "The legislature shall pass such penal laws as it may deem expedient to suppress the evil practice of dueling" (Other State constitutions have anti-dueling provisions.)
- gives instructions on the proper method of annexing foreign territory.
- deals with "the evils arising from the use of intoxicating liquors at all elections."
- deals with granting of free railroad tickets to elected officials.
- prohibits railroads from misleading customers as to their rates.
Efforts to remove or amend these have so far proved unsuccessful.
Reform movement
There is a growing movement for democratic reform of the Alabama constitution. It is spearheaded by the non-profit organization Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR), which was formed out of a rally in Tuscaloosa in 2000. ACCR tracks its reported successes and failures on its website. ACCR has also lent its help to a documentary titled ; the title, referring to the Constitution, comes from a comment made by a civil servant at the attorney general's office when requested for a hard copy of it.
There are a growing number of advocates agree on the need to reform the Alabama Constitution, yet they disagree on matters including the way to go about reworking the document. Some advocate for a constitutional convention to rewrite the document, including many leaders within ACCR. Other leaders, including Governor Bob Riley and House Minority leader Mike Hubbard, desire to see the Constitution rewritten through an article-by-article approach. Bills to call for a constitutional convention have appeared in the Alabama Legislature yet have not been brought to a vote.
See also
External links
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