Georgia has had ten different constitutions in its history, not counting its royal charter, granted in 1732. The charter, approved by
George II of Great Britain (the colony's namesake), placed Georgia under the control of
Trustees, led by
James Oglethorpe. The Trustees governed Georgia until 1752, when they surrendered their charter. Georgia then became a
crown colony.
Antebellum constitutions (1776, 1777, 1789, 1798, and 1861) Prior to having a formal constitution, a document entitled Rules and Regulations of the Colony of Georgia, drafted in 1776, was in effect. This document was designed to be temporary and made the Provincial Congress the most powerful branch of government. A year later, in 1777, the first formal constitution was drafted. This document also made the legislature the most powerful branch, with the governor being forced to rely on his executive council for many decisions. he executive council was composed of 12 members composed of the legislators that were voted in by the legislators of the House of Assembly. These provisions resulted from the domination of the 1777 convention by "radicals" as opposed to the more moderate faction found in other states. Georgia would be one of the only states to establish a unicameral legislature when it established the House of Assembly. In 1795, a convention met to amend the recently adopted constitution. These amendments reapportioned the House of Representatives amongst the counties, with each county receiving one state senator. Additionally, the state capital was moved from Savannah to
Louisville, and another convention scheduled for 1797 to further amend the document. The 1802 cession by which Georgia transferred its western lands to the federal government rendered much of this provision moot, though it still applied to those lands Georgia eventually gained following the
removal of the Cherokee people. This constitution would be amended twenty-three times before the Civil War. Georgia held conventions in 1833 and 1839 to reduce the number of representatives in the legislature but voters rejected it. Just before the start of the Civil War, Georgia's Secession Convention drafted a new constitution for the state, led largely by
Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, the Convention's chairman. The new constitution largely left in place the framework of government found under the 1798 constitution, as amended. It did, however, include a longer bill of rights which was not found in the 1798 document.
Post-bellum constitutions (1865, 1868, and 1877) Following the Civil War, a new constitution was drafted in 1865. In the aftermath of the war, the federal government oversaw the state's transition back into the Union. President
Andrew Johnson appointed a provisional governor, who then convened a convention to draft a new constitution. The document retained many of the provisions of the 1861 constitution, including the bill of rights it had introduced. Major changes included a two-term limit for governors and the legislative election, rather than gubernatorial appointment of the Supreme Court. Additionally, Superior Court judges became popularly elected. The convention also abolished slavery in the state, although with great reluctance. Indeed, the constitution labeled the abolition of slavery "a war measure" by the federal government and also provided for compensation to slaveholders for the loss of their property. In 1870, Georgia was readmitted to the Union, and, by 1872, Democrats regained control of the state legislature. Many of these Democrats identified as
Bourbons, a faction representing the antebellum elite. With their return to power, the old elites quickly saw the need for a new constitution and called for a convention in 1877 to draft one. While much of the government structure remained the same, the new constitution restricted the power of the legislature significantly, including two articles devoted to taxation and state finances, and established the Secretary of State, Comptroller General and Treasurer as directly-elected offices. The two-year term for governors was reintroduced, along with the two-term limit. The document, in a reversal from 1868, mandated the segregation of the state's public schools. A prohibition of the creation of new counties was also included. Following its adoption, the 1877 constitution was amended numerous times. Many dealt with the structure of government, altering legislative apportionment and powers, introducing popular elections of judges. 188 amendments alone were made to Article VII, concerning state finances, mostly in regard to specific cities and counties. A number of new counties were also created by amendment. Most notably, an amendment in 1943 lowered the voting age to eighteen. This amendment made Georgia the first state to do so.
20th-century constitutions (1945 and 1976) In 1931, the University of Georgia's Institute of Public Affairs published a document titled "A Proposed Constitution for Georgia", which helped to spark public debate on a new constitution. That year, Governor
Ellis Arnall appointed a twenty-three member commission, composed of all three branches of government, to write a new constitution. Subsequent to the new document's adoption, a number of provisions came under judicial scrutiny and were subsequently struck down. School segregation, mandated by Article VIII, was held to violate the U.S. Constitution by the Supreme Court in the 1954 case
Brown v. Board of Education. Georgians resisted the decision, but a number of court decisions eventually forced the state's residents to comply. The system of legislative apportionment, along with Georgia's unique
system to count votes in primary elections, were struck down in 1963 by the Court in the case of
Gray v. Sanders due to their basis in counties rather than population. These cases led many to consider revisions to the constitution. Efforts in the late 1960s were rejected, however, due to the continued malapportionment of the legislature. In 1974,
George Busbee won the gubernatorial election on a platform of constitutional revision. By the time of Busbee's election, the constitution contained 831 amendments and was the nation's longest. The 1976 revision, however, produced little change beyond reorganizing the document's provisions. These amendments, now incorporated into the constitution, included correcting the legislative malapportionment and removing the office of Treasurer as a directly-elected constitutional officer.
Constitution of 1983 In 1977, a select committee was created to discuss revision of the 1976 constitution. Members included the governor,
lieutenant governor, the speaker of the House, the attorney general, representatives of the General Assembly and the judicial branch. ==Articles of the Constitution==