First, one is extremely long, longer than the United States Constitution, and the other is very short. This shortness allows for a better and easier to understand constitution, whereas the longer one allows for many misunderstandings that lead to constant amendments. This key difference leads to the overall effectiveness of one constitution over the other. In the case of the Texas Constitution versus the Vermont Constitution, the two constitutions vary drastically in size, amounts of amendments, and overall effectiveness because of their drastic difference.
The first way that the two states vary in their constitutions is the overall amount of constitutions the two states have had. Texas has had a long and colorful history of constitutions, mainly because Texas is one of the few states that once belonged to another country, Mexico. After the initial fight for Texas's independence from Mexico the first of five constitutions, not including, "The Constitution of the State of Coahuila and Texas" of 1827, which occurred before Texas declared its independence from Mexico (2008). The first constitution was in 1836 after the Declaration of independence, "The Constitution of the Republic of Texas (2008)." This first constitution was made with the idea that Texas was an independent entity from both Mexico and the United States, in other words it was a country of its own under this constitution. Eventually, Texas decided to join the United States and thus created the constitution of 1845, "The Constitution of Texas," which made it a state (2008). During the Civil War Texas, like many states seceded from the United States to form the Confederate States, during which time "The Constitution of Texas of 1861" was created and upon rejoining the United States "The Constitution of Texas of 1866" was created (2008). In 1868 the Constitution changed again to "The Constitution of the State of West Texas" but was shortly changed again in 1869 to "The Constitution of Texas" because of reconstruction (2008). The last change was in 1876 and was entitled, once again, "The Constitution of Texas." These chronic changes have made the Texas Constitution very confusing, mainly because the people of Texas are constantly afraid of strong government; therefore they designed and redesigned the constitution to be unbelievably strict and controlling of the government.
The Vermont Constitution does not have this same constitutional change, however. Instead, Vermont has one of the oldest and least reformed constitutions in the United States. The Vermont Constitution was made in 1793 on July ninth and has never been redesigned or remade (2002). This shows that it is a strong constitution, if it has never been revised then there has never been a fault or, perhaps there has never been a reason to revise. This means the constitution was written to allow for some flexibility in the government, whereas the Texas Constitution was written to have no flexibility. By writing the constitution to allow for no political flexibility, the constitution has to be constantly revised when a political issue arises that cannot be dealt with.
The constitutions also vary in their length. The Texas Constitutions is a remarkable 98000 plus words (2009). Once again, a lot of this has to do with the fact early Texans were scared of an overly controlling government. So, when "The Constitution of Texas" was created the people writing it tried to create a no loophole constitution. They wanted to make it to where there were no gray areas in politics. At the time, they thought this would make their government strong because the politicians of the time would not be able to bend rules for their own corrupted reasons as was very common at the time and still is. Now, however, this makes it extremely difficult for politicians to function. It seems at every turn they have to amend some portion of the Texas Constitution to actually participate in government. This makes it very difficult to work in the Texas government.
Vermont's Constitution on the other hand is very short at just 8,295 words (2002). This shortness has allowed Vermont politicians to work very easily. The constitution is very pliable which means very few amendments are ever necessary. This creates a stronger government because the government is allowed to function whereas the Texas government has to amend something before it can even think of creating new laws.
The two states continue to differ in the sheer amounts of amendments one state has over the other. Vermont's Constitution has been amended a total of nineteen times since its creation in 1793 (2002). Texas's Constitution on the other hand has been amended over four hundred and fifty six times, not including the one hundred and seventy six amendments that were defeated by Texas voters (2009). This constant need for revision in the constitution shows that it was either very poorly written or was written to be too specific. For the most part it seems that the later statement is the better reason.
The Texas Constitution was made to be so specific for fear of political corruption that it became impossible to change anything without amending a portion of the constitution first. Vermont, on the other hand, has had no need to amend anything because it has a very flexible constitution. This is shown through the fact that Vermont's last amendment was granting women the right to vote in 1919, whereas Texas's last amendment was to "continue the constitutional appropriation for facilities and other capital items at Angelo State University on a change in the governance of the university (2002)." If a state has to right an amendment to continue something as trivial as a change in a University then the constitution is obviously weak.
When it comes to the Texas Constitution compared to the Vermont State Constitution it is obvious that the Vermont Constitution is by far better written and more practical. The Texas Constitution is just too big, too detailed, and too hard to function politically with. It really needs a reform so it is easier for the governing bodies to actually be a governing body. If state officials have to amend something every time a new law is made then the constitution is too strict. With this in mind, it seems that the Vermont Constitution is the better one.
Work Cited (2002, November). The constitution of the state of vermont. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from The Vermont Statues Online (2008). Texas constitution 1824-1876. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from The University of Texas at Austin (2009). Legislative reference Library. Retrieved March 13, 2009, from Constitutional Amendments
Copyright (c) 2009 James Holan
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