Constitution of Tennessee - Other Provisions

Other Provisions

The constitution has several provisions that are unusual for a state constitution. It mandates only three "constitutional officers" other than governor, namely secretary of state, state treasurer, and comptroller, and provides for them to be elected by the General Assembly, not the voters as is far more common. (Tennessee is the only state other than Hawaii and, arguably, New Jersey in which the governor is the sole office holder elected statewide. The Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey is elected as part of a ticket alongside the governor.) The governor's designated successor is the Speaker of the Tennessee State Senate, elected from among its membership, a provision now found in the constitutions of only a few other states; the majority now have a full-time lieutenant governor. (This office is referred to as Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee in subsequent statutory law, but not in the constitution.) General elections for state offices were moved to make them simultaneous with federal elections (Novembers of even-numbered years) with elections for county and judicial offices to be held in the Augusts of even-numbered years; this later became the traditional date for primary elections for the statewide offices to be held as well, so that the day on which, for example, a sheriff was elected would be the same day as the primary election for governor would be held.

Other provisions included are the procedure for the establishment of new counties and the recognition of three counties previously established by the legislature in contravention of provisions of the previous constitution. New counties would carry a pro-rata share of the indebtedness of the county or counties from which they were being formed, preventing the formation of new counties as a way of areas getting out from under debt that they had previously incurred. (This provision nonetheless incited a spate of new counties; ten were established in the next decade, although none have been since, and one of those established was subsequently abolished, and the provisions are such that would make the establishment of any further counties beyond those extremely difficult and unlikely.) Obviously, some current agendas of the era were reflected, as there were provisions allowing county seats to be moved in two counties with only a majority vote of the populace while a two-thirds majority was required in all others. A county line adjustment between two counties was made between two existing counties, and special provisions made for counties whose formation was already planned at the time, as well as for settling definitively the status of others which had already been created without strict adherence to the provisions for the creation of new counties which was contained in the previous constitution.

There were also provisions forbidding interracial marriages and integrated schools, allowing for a poll tax, preventing interest over 10% from being charged on loans and making this usury per se. All of these last four provisions have been either subsequently formally removed or invalidated by Supreme Court of the United States decisions and are no longer enforced; whether the prohibition of former duelists from holding office is valid has apparently not been tested.