Tennessee Constitution

The Constitution of the State of Tennessee defines the form, structure, activities, character, and fundamental rules (and means for changing them) of the U.S. State of Tennessee.

The original constitution of Tennessee came into effect on June 1, 1796, concurrent with the state's admission to the Union. A second version of the constitution was adopted in 1835. A third constitution was adopted in 1870 and is the one still in use today, with subsequent amendments.

The original Tennessee state constitution was not submitted to the voters for approval, but it was approved by US Congress, in conjunction with the resolution admitting Tennessee as a state. It went into effect on June 1, 1796, when Tennessee entered the Union.

The first constitution was widely criticized as giving the executive, presumably a full-time governor, insufficient authority and investing too much authority in the legislature a part-time body. That was cited as a primary reason for its replacement.

The 1796 constitution also did not create a state supreme court, providing only for "such superior and inferior courts" as the legislature should create, with judges elected by the legislature for indefinite terms.

In spite of its shortcomings, the original document had its admirers. Thomas Jefferson described Tennessee's as the "least imperfect and most republican of the state constitutions."

The second Tennessee State Constitution, adopted in 1835, resulted from a state constitutional convention that convened in Nashville on May 19, 1834, with 60 delegates in attendance. William Carter, of Carter County, presided over the 1834 convention.

Antislavery interests petitioned the convention to abolish slavery, which was rejected by the convention delegates. The constitution adopted increased opportunities for citizens to engage in the political process, but it limited suffrage to white males. Similarly to other southern states, such as Virginia, it disfranchised free black men, who had had the right to vote under the 1796 constitution. That followed fears raised by the 1831 Nat Turner slave rebellion.

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