By Shields                                           H.C.R. No. 319
         77R17941 MMS-D                           
                             HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-1           WHEREAS, The year 2001 marks the quasquicentennial of the
 1-2     Texas Constitution, and the 125th anniversary of this foundation
 1-3     document is indeed worthy of special recognition; and
 1-4           WHEREAS, On August 2, 1875, Texas voters approved the calling
 1-5     of a convention to write a new state constitution; the convention,
 1-6     held in Austin, began on September 6, 1875, and adjourned sine die
 1-7     on November 24, 1875; then its draft was ratified in a statewide
 1-8     referendum on February 15, 1876, by a vote of 136,606 to 56,652;
 1-9     and
1-10           WHEREAS, The more than 90 delegates to the 1875
1-11     Constitutional Convention were a diverse group--most were farmers
1-12     and lawyers; some were merchants, editors, and physicians; some
1-13     were legislators and judges; some had fought in the Civil War
1-14     armies of the South as well as of the North; at least five were
1-15     African-American; 75 were Democrats; 15 were Republicans; and 37
1-16     belonged to the Grange, a non-partisan and agrarian order of
1-17     patrons of husbandry; one delegate had even served nearly four
1-18     decades earlier as a delegate to the 1836 Constitutional
1-19     Convention; and
1-20           WHEREAS, The Constitution of 1876, a richly detailed
1-21     instrument, reflects several historical influences; the Spanish and
1-22     Mexican heritage of the state was evident in such provisions as
1-23     those pertaining to land titles and land law, as well as to water
1-24     and mineral law, and remains evident in judicial procedures,
 2-1     legislative authority, and gubernatorial powers; and
 2-2           WHEREAS, Sections aimed at monied corporate domination
 2-3     together with protection of the rights of the individual and others
 2-4     mandating strong restrictions upon the mission of state government
 2-5     in general and upon the role of specific state officials grew out
 2-6     of the Jacksonian agrarianism and frontier philosophy that first
 2-7     infused the thinking of many Texans during the mid-1800's; and
 2-8           WHEREAS, Other sections, such as those providing for low
 2-9     taxation and  decreased state spending, were aimed at creating a
2-10     government quite different from the centralized and more expensive
2-11     one that had existed under the Constitution of 1869, which was
2-12     itself a product of the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era in Texas;
2-13     and
2-14           WHEREAS, Notwithstanding its age, Texas voters have been
2-15     reluctant to replace this charter, which is the sixth Texas
2-16     constitution to have been adopted since independence from Mexico
2-17     was gained in 1836; and
2-18           WHEREAS, The Constitution of 1876 has been the organic law of
2-19     Texas for 125 years, and this document, which still bears the
2-20     imprint of the region's long and dramatic history, has had--and
2-21     continues to have--a profound influence on the development of the
2-22     Lone Star State; now, therefore, be it
2-23           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas,
2-24     Regular Session, 2001, hereby commemorate the quasquicentennial of
2-25     the Texas Constitution.