The Constitution of the State of Montana is the primary legal document providing for the self-governance 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 sove ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. It establishes and defines the powers of the three branches of the government of Montana, and the rights of its citizens. Its provisions are sovereign within the state, subject only to the limits imposed by the federal laws and

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

of the United States. The current Montana Constitution was adopted in 1972 and is the second enacted in the state's history.

History

The

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

was organized by the United States Congress on May 26, 1864. Two years later, in 1866, Acting Territorial Governor

Thomas Francis Meagher Thomas Francis Meagher (; 3 August 18231 July 1867) was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was first sentenced to death, but received transportation for life ...

presided at Montana's first Constitutional Convention, held in Helena rather than in the territorial capital of

Virginia City Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boom ...

. The first constitution intended for Montana's statehood was written at this six-day meeting, but was lost on the way to the printer and so was never subject to a vote. A second constitution was written and ratified in 1884, but due to political reasons, Congress failed to take any action to approve Montana's admission to the Union. That document consequently never attained legal force. In 1889, Congress passed an

enabling act An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to carr ...

that finally permitted the people of Montana to be admitted to the Union after adopting and ratifying a constitution, and the third constitution for the incipient state was written and ratified later that year. It entered into force on November 8, 1889, when Montana became the 41st state admitted to the Union by the Presidential Proclamation of

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...

. The 1889 Constitution remained in force until 1972, when a new constitutional convention was held.Elison, Larry M. and Snyder, Fritz. ''The Montana State Constitution: A Reference Guide.'' Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. The 1972 Constitution was adopted by the 100 delegates to the Constitutional Convention on March 22, 1972, and was ratified by the citizens of Montana on June 6, 1972, through Referendum No. 68. Among the Articles which contained new material and embodied a contemporary vision for the State of Montana was Article X, Section 1(2), which was the primary inspiration for the act entitled Indian Education for All.

References

External links

"Constitution of the State of Montana"
(current as of 2017). Retrieved December 20, 2018.
"Constitution of the State of Montana"
(as passed in 1972). Retrieved April 4, 2016.
For This and Future Generations...
Documentary on 1972 Con-Con, produced by

Montana PBS Montana PBS is the PBS member public television network for the U.S. state of Montana. It is a joint venture between Montana State University (MSU) and the University of Montana (UM). The network is headquartered in the Visual Communications B ...

{{authority control 1889 in law 1972 in law Montana law