History
The constitution was ratified in November 1842 after the Dorr Rebellion, and the constitution became effective in May 1843. Prior to this time, the state was governed by the original royal charter granted in 1663 even after American independence in 1776. Much of the text of the 1663 charter language was adopted in the 1843 version.
In 1984, Rhode Island voters approved a referendum proposal to call a new Constitutional Convention, which was elected in November 1985 and convened in January 1986. On January 20, 1987, "the state's first new constitution in 144 years was officially entered into the state Archives".
Read more about this topic: Rhode Island Constitution
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“History ... is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
But what experience and history teach is this—that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)