Compare And Contrast Us Constitution And Texas Constitution

In the Texas Constitution, there are seventeen articles in total and the first one being the Bill of Rights. On the other hand, the United States Constitution has seven articles; the first articles discuss the legislative powers. Although, Texas and the national constitution have similarities such as the protection and order of the citizens; they also have differences which is the structure and features of the constitution.

Texas has the weakest governor’s office in the nation because they have less power than most other governors in other states. This is due to Texas’s constitutional reconstruction after the Civil War. The Texas Constitution of 1876 was created to prevent the governor from having too much power and corrupting the government. There are strict guidelines that must be followed. Constitutions are meant to maintain order, while laws are meant to regulate daily activities. The Texas constitution acts more as a law for the governor. Which is restrictive to governors that try and make changes. Unless there are amendments to the states constitution, amendments rarely ever get added because they are not as prevalent.

In the Texas Constitution of 1876, to avoid corruption, instead of all of the executive power being in the hands of the governor, several powerful conservatives decided to implement the plural executive system. Giving more power to the office holders running the state government, as cited from utexas.edu “…Broad powers over the legal system, state budget and finances, education, transportation, agriculture, public utilities, and land development are delegated to officials who need not share the policies nor even be of the same political party as the governor.” Rather than the usual way that is done with the United States government, where you vote for the President, and the president appoints people who he can do essentially what ever he wants

In my analysis of the Texas Constitution I will assess the three branches of our State Government, the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch and finally the Judicial Branch. Our State Government resembles our National Government in various ways but also in very different ways which we will review in this essay. I will identify a handful of criticisms and problems associated with the provisions in each of these branches of our State Government and identify suggested reforms that many feel are needed.

The Texas Constitution and the U.S. Constitution share many similarities, but also are very different. Both documents share basic principles of a democratic government. The Texas and U.S. Constitution both contain civil liberty protections and protections against government transgression. Both constitutions share a federal government system in which the smaller areas or states have less power than the national government. Bicameral houses, checks and balances, and separation of powers are prevalent in both documents. Even though these two constitutions have many similarities, they also share many differences. The differences stem from the origin of their creation, the U.S. Constitution was created to replace the Articles of Confederation because

Although there are many weaknesses to the Texas constitution, there are also strengths present, for it has been governing a state for almost 150 years. Just like the United States Constitution, the Texas government has three branches and a system of checks and balances to ensure that no branch becomes too powerful. Each branch must give consent to the other two on any issue, and this is a positive because it ensures that the branches will stay equal and no branch will run away and take the state out of a democracy. Another positive is that the government

The Texas and the U.S constitution are very similar in principle, a constitution in the book is defined as “the legal structure of a government, which establishes its power and authority as well as the limits on power.”(pg.71) This definition sets the basis of which the Texas and U.S consititution are based on, essentially they are a governing document. In addition there are five major ideologies that unite both constitutions. The first, is political power being derived from ‘the people’. This may be done through our voting system. Second, Three separate branches of government (division of political power) these are the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Third, the governing document has a system created to ensure that no branch, party, or person may abuse their duty or responsibility; also known as the system of “checks and balances”. Fourthly, the idea of individual rights; “the concern for preventing the emergence of tyranny is also found in the fourth idea”(pg.71) and Finally the concept of federalism, which is a system of power is divided within the government, that included and central government, and many more regional (by area)

The Constitution of 1836 is notably the most important Texan Constitution. This Constitution was written to list out and define the functions of the government of the Republic of Texas. The reason why Texas declared its independence to Mexico was due to escalating tensions between Texas and Mexico. Texas declared its independence in 1836, and established itself as the Republic of Texas, and created a new constitution. The Texas Constitution of 1836 borrowed many ideas from the U.S. Constitution. The new charter was brief, and was composed of less than 6,500 words. Its features included, separation of powers into three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial—with a system of checks and balances. It created a bicameral legislature, with

The U.S Constitution also contains articles the Texas Constitution doesn't. The U.S. constitution talks about what privileges the states have. The rules they have to abide by to make the nation one. In the Texas Constitution it goes more into depth about what the state wants the people to abide by. The U.S. Constitution also talks about how our

The Texas State Constitution is the document that describes the structure and function of the government. Texas has had seven constitutions, and the current one is the one that was ratified in 1876. The current constitution is among the largest of state constitutions in the United States, coming in fourth behind Alabama, California, and South Carolina. This constitution has many strengths and weaknesses; one weakness being that it limits the way government can be involved in certain problems that arise. This document has its positive attributes and its negative ones, but it is a necessity for the state to be able to function.

The Democratic party had regained control of the state's government in 1873 and had a goal to redraft a new constitution for Texas after Governor Edmund J. Davis had left office. Out of the seven constitutions Texas has passed, The Texas Constitution of 1876 was the last and final constitution by which Texas has been under since gaining its independence from Mexico in 1836. This constitution was adopted in February of 1876 after being framed at the constitutional convention of 1875, it was passed by a vote 136,606 to 56,652. Still remaining the basic law of Texas to this day, the constitution contains some unusual provisions to it, but are uniquely Texan at the same time. Many of these provisions were the results of the state's unusual history.

Constitutions in general are a reflection of the history of that particular nation or state. With each large change in the state of Texas has come a new Constitution. The Constitution of 1876 is no exception. During the time of the Radical Republican Governor Edmond J. Davis’ reign in Texas, he reigned absolutely. But during this time after Reconstruction, Texas was requiring just that. Although, he did have some fellow Radical Republicans come assist him with the transition and they oversaw issues not within their jurisdiction (Glenn). At this time, the Constitution of 1869 had been in effect for a while now and the people were starting to feel the negative impacts of it and were hopeful for a change. The government had too much power, the

The 1876 constitution encompass a few provisions that are products of Texas history. Some could be traced back to Mexican influences. There are provisions dealing with land titles and land law in general, debtor reliefs, marital relations and adoption, judicial procedures, water and other natural rights. Some of those influences created segments prohibiting banks and necessitating tougher separation

There were a couple of things I learned about the Texas Constitution for instance that there were previsions pulled from Spanish Mexican law, and Texas can actually pull itself from the union and become its own country. However, I think what amazed me most was the fact of how many times the State Constitution has been amended. The Texas Constitution has ninety thousand words and has been amended 474 times since 1876, making it the second longest Constitution after Alabama. There are only three other states that have amended their constitution more than Texas, those are South Carolina, California, and Alabama. The US Constitution has only twenty-seven amendments in its existence, far less than our State Constitution. The amendments to the

In 1836, the new Texas Constitution was written during the war for independence which had a separation of governmental powers, a bill of rights, a bicameral legislature. This had many adopted aspects from the Spanish and Mexican laws. In 1845, was modeled after other southern states and therefore referred to as the Statehood Constitution (Newell, 44). It embraced democratic principles and was influenced by Jacksonian democracy. In 1861, the Constitution was modified when Texas joined the Confederate States of America, this was called The Civil War Constitution. This is when Texas seceded to join the confederacy. In 1866, was on the losing side of the war and Texas was ordered by Andrew Jackson to revise the document. This new document abolished slavery and declared secession illegal. In 1869, reconstruction of the Constitution happened yet again because radical reconstructionists in Washington wanted southern states to write new constitutions with tougher standards. The present constitution the document was careful about what government could do and couldn’t do. This document has changed a bit and has had over 467 revisions but it is still the document that is used present day.