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State Constitutions: Historical Research

Information on researching state constitutions and their history. Includes a 50-State A to Z list of resources for finding the full text of state constitutions, information on amendment process, pending and historical amendments, artifacts and documents.

Sources

Sources and Documents of United States Constitutions

  • A multivolume set that provides all enacted constitutions, in chronological order, and other constitutional documents for each state, including notes, editorial comments, bibliographies and indexes.
  • Location: Reference  KF4530 .S94

NBER/Maryland State Constitutions Project

  • Online source that provides access to searchable and indexed texts to approximately 150 state constitutions made available since 1776 that have been amended roughly 12,000 times.
  • The site’s goal is to provide searchable and indexed text for every one of the roughly 150 state constitutions since 1776, as well as quantitative databases on the characteristics of state constitutions

Indiana Sources

Constitution Making in Indiana: a Source Book of Constitutional Documents with Historical Introduction and Critical Notes (Kettleborough, Charles).

  • Contains documents which illustrate and interpret the constitutional growth and development of the state of Indiana from 1780 to 1960
  • v. 1. 1780-1851, v. 2. 1851-1916, v. 3. 1916-1930, v. 4. 1930-1960.  Includes indexes. 
  • Location: KFI3400 .K45 v. 1-4

The Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851 (Donald F. Carmony)

  • A complete reprint of the 1931 master’s thesis of Dr. Donald F. Carmony, one of Indiana’s best known and most respected state historians
  • Explores and explains Indiana’s second constitutional convention, with references to primary source materials (records of the convention and contemporary newspapers)
  • Indexed by name and subject
  • Location: KFI 3401 1851 .A29 2009