The Montana Constitution Collection

The Montana Constitution Collection is a project of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center and the Blewett School of Law. It contains a record of Montana’s constitutional history leading through the 1972 Constitutional Convention.

In the rush to ratify a constitution while political conditions were favorable to statehood, the 1889 Constitutional Convention largely readopted the 1884 Constitutional Convention, which in turn borrowed heavily from the 1876 Colorado Constitution. As Professors Larry Elison and Fritz Snyder explain, “The 1889 Constitution was enacted more as a tool to achieve statehood than to provide a well-thought-out structure of governance for the new state.” The chairman of that Convention, William Andrews Clark, expressed the delegates’ understanding that given the inevitable changes the new state would undergo, “[T]he genius and wisdom of our successors will eliminate, supplement, and amend” the text of the new constitution.

Eight decades took their toll on the 1889 Constitution’s utility for a changing state. The Constitution, and, therefore, state government, became increasingly rigid and unresponsive to the people. In response, Montana became the only state from the so-called “class of 1889” states admitted in that year (Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming), and the only state in the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest, to adopt a second constitution.

The 1960s reapportionment revolution reallocated political power from rural areas to cities and towns under the principle of one-person, one-vote. In 1967 the reconstituted Legislature commissioned a report “to determine if [the 1889 Constitution] is adequately serving the current needs of the people." The resulting Legislative Council Report concluded that just 48% of the sections in the 1889 Constitution were adequate in that they did not “present a major obstacle to effective government.” The 1969 Legislature responded to the Council’s work with the appointment of a Constitutional Revision Commission and a referendum on calling a constitutional convention. More than sixty-five percent of Montana voters approved the call for a Constitutional Convention in November 1970. The state elected 100 delegates to the Convention in November 1971. After three days of orientation after the elections, the delegates formally convened in Helena on January 17, 1972 and met for 54 days. The delegates signed the proposed constitution and adjourned on March 24, 1972. Just over half of Montanans voting on the new constitution ratified it in June 1972. All but the legislative apportionment provisions of the 1972 Constitution took effect on July 1, 1973.

The Convention record spreads across several sets of documents. A seven-volume set published in 1979 and 1981 by the Montana Legislative Council contains a core of materials: convention rules and personnel; committees and witness lists; delegate proposals and committee reports; and a verbatim transcript of floor debates and votes. Before the Convention, the professional staff of the Montana Constitutional Convention Commission collected and prepared a series of documents to inform the delegates: Papers containing primary sources and prior studies by the Legislative Council and Constitutional Revision Commission, Memos concerning the organization of a constitutional convention, and Studies of subject-matter areas likely to be addressed in a new constitution. This collection also includes several less prominent but important sources: committee minutes and testimony providing a source for several key proposals and debates, the original 1972 and subsequent voter information pamphlets explaining the plain meaning of provisions, and contemporaneous and more recent commentaries on the constitutional debates.

Adapted from Professor Anthony Johnstone's article: The Constitutional Initiative in Montana, 71 Mont. L. Rev. 325 (2010).

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Constitution of the State of Montana [1884]

Montana. Constitutional Convention (1884)

Constitution of the State of Montana as adopted by the Constitutional convention of the territory of Montana, at the session thereof begun Monday, January 14, A. D. 1884, and concluded Saturday, February 9, A. D. 1884. Includes an address to the electors of the territory ... Read More
Records of the Montana Constitutional Convention, 1884

Montana. Constitutional Convention (1884)

This is the digitized microfilm of the handwritten records of the 1884 Montana Constitutional Convention.
Constitution of the State of Montana [1889]

Montana. Constitutional Convention (1889)

Constitution of the State of Montana as adopted by the Constitutional Convention held at Helena, Montana, July 4, A.D. 1889 and ending August 17, A.D. 1889. And also an address to the people.
Proceedings and debates of the 1889 Montana Constitutional convention

Montana. Constitutional Convention (1889)

Proceedings and debates of the Constitutional convention, held in the city of Helena, Montana, July 4th, 1889, August 17th, 1889.
The Consensus of the Citizens' Conference on the Montana Judicial System

Montana Citizens for Court Improvement

This report followed the Citizens' Conference on the Montana Judicial System and recommended the establishment of a nine-person steering committee that would coordinate further study or action for an organization to be named: Montana Citizens for Court Improvement.
Constitution of the State of Montana [1889], amended

Montana. Constitutional Convention (1889)

Constitution of the State of Montana as adopted by the Constitutional Convention August 17, 1889; ratified by the People, October 1, 1889; amended through the 1966 General Election; State Admitted, November 8, 1889.
Report to the Second Citizens Conference

Montana Citizens for Court Improvement

A report by the Montana Citizens for Court Improvement committee, including minutes from committee meetings.
1889-1970 The Montana Constitution: Resource or Burden?

Montana. Constitution Revision Commission

Information about the Constitutional Amendments and Convention Referendum for the general election, November 3, 1970.
Trends in Judicial Reform

Unknown

This is an appendix titled: Trends in Judicial Reform. The item to which this was an appendix is unknown. The date of this item is unknown.
Memorandum Number 01: Memorandum on Constitutional Convention Rules

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

Memorandum on constitutional convention rules: Montana (1889), Hawaii (1968), Maryland (1967), New Mexico (1969), Arkansas (1969), Illinois (1970), New Jersey (1947), New York (1967), Pennsylvania (1967).
Memorandum Number 01 Supplement: Memorandum on Constitutional Convention Rules

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

Memorandum on constitutional convention rules supplement: Alaska (1955-1956); Connecticut (1965); Michican (1961-1962); Missouri (1943-1944); New Hampshire (1964).
Memorandum Number 02: Constitutional Amendments, 1889-1971

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

This memorandom includes a revision and updating of two previously published reports on amendments to the Montana Constitution.
Memorandum Number 03: A Collection of Readings on Recent Constitutional Revision Activities in the Fifty States, 1967-1970

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

A collection of readings on recent constitutional revision activities in the fifty states, 1967-1970.
Memorandum Number 04: Sources of the Montana Constitution

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

This memoradum republishes an analysis of the sources of the Montana Constitution prepared by Elbert F. Allen in 1910 for the Montana Historical Society.
Memorandum Number 05: Index to Proceedings and Debates of the 1889 Montana Constitutional Convention

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

This memorandum republishes an index to the Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1889 that was prepared by Frank Woody and donated to the Montana Law Library in December 1923.
Memorandum Number 06: The Constitutions of the Northwest States

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

This memoradum republishes an analysis by John D. Hicks of the constitutional conventions which met in the Northwest states of North and South Dakota, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming in the summer of 1889. The study was prepared in 1916 as a doctoral dissertation and ... Read More
Memorandum Number 07: Selected Bibliography

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

A selected bibliography.
Memorandum Number 08: Memorandum on Convention Preparation, Including Preparatory Research, Public Information Programs, and Convention Arrangements

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

This Memorandum summarizes the research, public information and convention arrangement activities of the Constitutional Convention Commission.
Memorandum Number 09: Selected Readings on the Organization of Constitutional Conventions

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

This selection of readings was designed to provide a background for the delegates on the organization of recent constitutional conventions.
Memorandum Number 10: Legislative Reapportionment

Montana. Constitutional Convention Commission

The memorandum was written by Ellis Waldron and includes historical background and present trends concerning the question of constitutional treatment of legislative reapportionment.