Vermont Constitution

The Constitution of the State of Vermont is the fundamental body of law of the U.S. State of Vermont. It was adopted in 1793 following Vermont's admission to the Union in 1791 and is largely based upon the 1777 Constitution of the Vermont Republic which was ratified at Windsor in the Old Constitution House and amended in 1786. At 8,295 words, it is the shortest U.S. state constitution.

From 1777 to 1791, Vermont was an independent country, often referred to in the present day as the Vermont Republic. During that time it was usually called the State of Vermont but sometimes called the Commonwealth of Vermont or the Republic of Vermont. Its first constitution, drafted in 1777, was among the most far-reaching in guaranteeing personal freedoms and individual rights. In particular, it banned adult slavery, saying male slaves become free at the age of 21 and females at 18. The 1777 constitution's Declaration of Rights of the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont anticipated the United States Bill of Rights by a dozen years. The first chapter, a "Declaration of Rights of the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont", is followed by a "Plan or Frame of Government" outlining the structure of governance. It provided that the governor would be elected by the freemen of the state, who could vote regardless of whether they owned property, that each town would be represented in the legislative assembly, that there would be a court of law in each county, and that the legislative assembly and the governor's council would jointly hold legislative power.

In 1786, the Constitution was extensively revised to establish a far greater separation of powers than what had prevailed under the 1777 Constitution. In particular, it forbade anyone to simultaneously hold more than one of certain offices, including those of judges, legislators, members of the governor's council, the governor, and the surveyor-general. It also provided that the legislature could no longer function as a court of appeals nor otherwise intervene in cases before the courts, as it had often done.

The 1786 Constitution continued in effect when, in 1791, Vermont made the transition from independence to the status of one of the states of the Union. In particular, the governor, the members of the governor's council, and other officers of the state, including judges in all courts, simply continued their terms of office that were already underway.

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