History of The Connecticut Constitution - The Constitution of 1818

The Constitution of 1818

In the spring of 1818, the General Assembly made a significant change to voting rights in Connecticut. All white males who paid taxes or served in the militia were deemed eligible to vote. This eliminated the previous property requirements that had grown onerous as more of the population moved to jobs in commerce] or manufacturing rather than agriculture. Even more significantly, the General Assembly called for a constitutional convention that year.

One of the most important ballots cast in the General Assembly was the vote on whether only a simple majority of the legislature would be required to approve whatever constitution was ultimately drafted. Many favored requiring anywhere from a sixty to eighty percent majority for adoption of a new government. Ultimately, those in favor of a simple majority carried the vote 81-80, a resolution vital to the future success of the constitution. Each town sent a number of delegates equal to the number of representatives held in the Assembly. The convention convened in Hartford on August 26, 1818. As one of the first orders of business, a twenty-four man committee was appointed to prepare a draft constitution. The very next day the committee returned with the Preamble and Bill of Rights. Their speed was not due to ingenuity. The draft was borrowed almost verbatim from the constitution Mississippi created a year earlier in 1817. After the remainder of the constitution was drafted, the convention approved the document by a two to one margin on September 16, 1818. The voters were given three weeks to consider the proposed constitution. On October 5, a vote was held. A majority cast their ballots in favor of the constitution, with the resolution passing 13,918 to 12,364. The ultimate vote proved the importance of requiring only a simple majority’s approval, for a sixty or eighty percent requirement would not have been met.

As a result of the new constitution, the Congregational Church was finally disestablished, although Christianity remained the constitutionally favored religion. Newly received voting rights were also solidified, as the convention provided constitutional rights to vote for all white males who paid taxes or had served in the militia. With the 1818 Constitution, separation of powers was finally brought to Connecticut government. An independent judiciary was approved. Both Supreme and Superior Court judges were now given life tenure to the age of seventy (this was changed to eight years in 1856). The Supreme Court of Errors was reduced to five judges, with each judge retaining a role as a Superior Court judge. Decisions of the court could no longer be appealed to the legislature.

The constitution did not significantly change the role of the executive, and the branch remained relatively weak. The executive did however, became a constitutional and independent part of the government. The governor was no longer granted a seat in the legislature. He was granted the new power of veto, but any of his vetos could be overruled by a simple majority vote from the Assembly. This made the veto power essentially useless since any bill would have to pass both houses by a majority anyway. The General Assembly retained the authority to nominate judges under the new constitution. This was not changed until 1880, when nomination powers were transferred to the governor.

The legislative branch also experienced a few changes. The Council was renamed the Senate. By constitutional mandate, half the legislative sessions were to take place in Hartford with the other half convening in New Haven. Surprisingly, the method in which towns were assigned a number of representatives was left unchanged. Each town predating the constitution retained two representatives in the lower house regardless of population, with the exception of several newer towns which were granted one vote. Although many amendments were added over the years, the Constitution of 1818 remained in operation until 1965. There was also a Constitution of 1955, but it merely incorporated prior amendments into the main body of the constitution.