The Constitution of the State of Alabama is the state constitution of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. It was adopted on November 28, 2022, as a recodification of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 which had been in effect since November 28, 1901, with the current version being Alabama's seventh

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. The Constitution of Alabama is currently the longest active written constitution in the world at 369,380 words, more than two-and-a-half times the length of the second-longest, the English language version of the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

History

Alabama has had seven constitutions to date, all but the current one established via State Conventions: (converting

Alabama Territory The Territory of Alabama (sometimes Alabama Territory) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States. The Alabama Territory was carved from the Mississippi Territory on August 15, 1817 and lasted until December 14, 1819, when i ...

into a State), 1861 (

Secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

), 1865 (

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

), 1868 (Reconstruction), 1875 ( ending Reconstruction), 1901 (

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

) and the current document, adopted in 2022.

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Kay Ivey Kay Ellen Ivey ( ; born October 15, 1944) is an American politician who is the 54th governor of Alabama, serving since 2017. A Republican since 2002, Ivey was the 38th Alabama state treasurer from 2003 to 2011 and the 30th lieutenant governor o ...

formally proclaimed the new constitution to be in effect on Monday, November 28, 2022, shortly after the state's election results were certified.

Recompilation of the Alabama Constitution of 1901

The current Alabama Constitution is a recompilation of the Alabama Constitution of 1901. The recompilation had five objectives, as follows: *arranging it in proper articles, parts, and sections; *removing all racist language (examples of racist language being removed included Section 102 of Article IV of the former Constitution, which forbade "marriage between any white person and a

Negro In the English language, the term ''negro'' (or sometimes ''negress'' for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black people, Black African heritage. The term ''negro'' means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from ...

, or descendant of a negro".); *deleting duplicative and repealed provisions; *consolidating provisions regarding economic development; and *arranging all local amendments by county of application.

General overview

The Alabama Constitution, in common with all other state constitutions, defines a tripartite government organized under a

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

. Executive power is vested in the

Governor of Alabama A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

, legislative power in the Alabama State Legislature (

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

, composed of the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

and

Alabama Senate The Alabama State Senate is the upper house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alabama. The body is composed of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, with each district con ...

), and judicial power in the Judiciary of Alabama. Even after the recompilation of the constitution and the removal of obsolete, duplicative, and overtly racist provisions, the constitution is still the longest in America at an estimated 369,380 words, being more than three times the length of the

Constitution of Texas The Constitution of the State of Texas is the document that establishes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. state of Texas and enumerates the basic rights of its citizens. The current document was adopted on February 15, 187 ...

. Further, many of the issues which plagued the 1901 Constitution still exist, including the heavy centralization of power at the state level over local issuesAs an example, 37 entire pages are devoted solely to issues involving

Mobile County, Alabama Mobile County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is the third-most populous county in the state after Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson and Madison County, Alabama, Ma ...

. and a large part of the tax code (both at the state and local levels) being written into the constitution itself.

References

External links

* * Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama Constitutions
* {{authority control 2022 establishments in Alabama 2022 in Alabama 2022 in American law 2022 documents November 2022 in the United States Alabama law