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welcome back everyone uh this week we
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are starting to talk about federalism
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and the Constitutions of of Texas I know
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a lot of information is available in the
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book and for that reason I will attempt
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to keep the lectures shorter this week
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than um than they were last week uh or
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than last week's lectures I hope you
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guys are enjoying the semester and I
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want to reiterate that if you have any
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questions or if something's unclear uh
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please contact me and I will do my best
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to help you over the internet and if you
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need additional Assistance or help we
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can schedule an appointment and uh meet
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on campus so next up we'll discuss
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constitutional
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government the US Constitution as well
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as the 50 state constitutions including
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the Texas Constitution derive their
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Authority from popular sovereignty
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popular sovereignty is also known as the
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freely granted approval of the people in
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other words this is the notion that
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there is no higher power than the people
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and that governments get their power
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from the will of the people so
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technically speaking the people are are
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in charge uh Constitutions are written
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documents they provide or constitute
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basic or fundamental laws Superior to
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and controlling the everyday acts of
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government
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constitutions describe the structure of
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government and the powers of each office
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uh also they describe the processes by
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which officials are elected or sometimes
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appointed to office and last but not
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least constitutions describe the rights
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and Liberties of citizens and this is
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very important because constitutions
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both award and limit political
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Authority so often we see the degree of
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limits uh that are placed on the
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government to protect the rights of the
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people rights or Liberties things like
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free speech uh right to exercise your
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religion things of that sort uh so for
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example think of the US Constitution and
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the Bill of Rights the US Constitution
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uh when it was written shortly after it
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was supplemented by uh the Bill of
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Rights which protects or which provides
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the people with certain rights and
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Liberties it is really a document that
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uh supplements
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uh the Constitution so the reason I uh
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am talking about this is that most
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constitutions do indeed uh in have
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Provisions that protect the rights of of
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the people and the Liberties that they
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have some of the Constitutions of Texas
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however place the Bill of Rights so to
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speak or the protections of the people
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from the government at the very front of
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the
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Constitution the US Constitution and the
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50 state constitutions all mandate or
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you could say require uh similar
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institutions they all employ separation
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of powers they all employs employ uh
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checks and balances by cameralism and
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the explicit protection of individual
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liberties through a Bill of Rights as we
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work through these uh slides we'll talk
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more about what these things uh mean as
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mentioned the Bill of Rights is a series
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of outline rights that protect citizens
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from
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government now I mentioned B cameralism
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and Nebraska I want to point out is the
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only exception when it comes to this uh
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it does not have a bomal legislature it
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only have bamal legislature means there
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are two Chambers right just like the
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house and the Senate Nebraska has what
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we call unical legislature meaning there
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is only one chamber in addition to these
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uh legislator there are of course things
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like Judicial Systems and uh states have
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their own uh trial and appet courts uh
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so there are variations but uh there are
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some commonalities as well uh and I
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mentioned those things like separation
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of powers checks and balances and of
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course the fact that constitutions of
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the 50 states do protect the rights of
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the
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people so we discussed some similarities
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and uh there are plenty of those but I
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want to point out that states very
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widely in how they understand the
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balance of power in American federalism
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the debates surrounding federalism are
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as old as the United States and older
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than the state of Texas in fact you may
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say that before the ink on the US
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Constitution was dry Alexander Hamilton
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speaking for much Northern opinion
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argued that national government was
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in contrast Thomas Jefferson speaking
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for quite a southern opinion argued that
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argued that federal powers were narrowly
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or are narrowly limited we have seen
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that Regional opinions hardened uh not
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only in the first half of the 19th
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century but over time as well generally
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speaking uh Southern States uh tend to
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believe that uh the federal government
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should have a narrow uh narrow role in
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American politics this Southern fear of
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government uh translates into the
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opinions that most Texans have about the
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role of the government generally uh they
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tend to believe that the role of the
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government should be quite limited but
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historically uh this was also the case
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uh as an independent nation from 1836 to
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1845 Texas were was even prickle about
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states rights than the rest of the South
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uh in fact when the Civil War came Texas
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without hesitation uh joined the
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Confederacy uh and as all of you know
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the Confederacy was structured around
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State sovereignty and limited national
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Powers that's what the federal uh the
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confederal a confederal system is and
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looking at Texas politics today and
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trying to contrast that with uh let's
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say politics up north or or or or in the
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west uh
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we definitely tend to believe that the
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powers and the scope of the national
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government is limited and uh as you can
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imagine the powers of States uh are are
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considered much greater uh than in in
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other
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states governmental systems are often
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classified into three types based on
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their degree of centralization
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centralization means how much power the
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central government or the national
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government uh the main government in the
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country has there are three different
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types of
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centralization these are unitary
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confederal and
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federal most nations in the world are
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governed by a unitary system in which
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the national government has ultimate
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Authority unitary government may be
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Democratic like those governments in
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let's say Japan or Denmark or they may
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be undemocratic like the governments in
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China or Saudi Arabia these are all
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unitary governments because one central
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government governs the entire nation
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unitary governments may choose to create
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Regional or local governments for
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administrative purposes but those local
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governments are creations of the
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national government and have only
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whatever power
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the national governments Choose Or chose
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to give
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them uh Great Britain had a centralized
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unitary system at the time of the
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American Revolution the colonists
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regarded this as excessive
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centralization and this sparked the
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movement for independence from
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England after Independence uh was was
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gained Americans pretty much overreacted
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to their experiences with their
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excessively government or excessively
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centralized
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government and and I said they
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overreacted because what was created was
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a government so
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decentralized uh that it was pretty much
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unworkable under the Articles of
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Confederation all power was placed in
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the hands of the state governments uh
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the central government had only the
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power the states had chosen to give it
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such a system in which Regional
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governments have all the authority uh
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with c institutions sub subordinate to
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them or less important than those local
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or state governments uh was simply
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unstable and this this type of a system
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we would call a Confederal
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System uh I said this was
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unstable uh
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especially uh in the case of uh of of of
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the United States at that time because
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we took it to an extreme really and uh
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the the fact that there are no true
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confederacies in modern world pretty
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much indicates to us that
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uh this is not a viable form of the
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government some say that the European
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Union is the Confederacy but this is
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really a a stretch uh those are 28 uh
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Sovereign and independent countries
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which share uh common currency and and
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and Common Market but uh other than that
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they are fully sovereign
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because Americans learned from their
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colonial experiences that a unitary
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government can be uh remote and
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potentially abusive they turned to this
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confederal form which proved to be
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completely ridiculous it it proved to be
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completely
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unworkable so they came to a compromise
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and the compromise was a federal system
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or federalism as a result the US
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constitutional convention in 1787
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uh the Americans invented this entirely
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new form of government like I said
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federalism and
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federalism was new or is or at that time
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was new uh in that it attempted to
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combine the advantages of a unitary
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government where the national government
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like we discussed has all the power and
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gives uh unity and uniformity when
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necessary that was combined with the
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advantages of A Confederacy or a
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confederal system in which Regional
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governments have all the power so these
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two advantages were melted and the
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concept of federalism was born and
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indeed flourished this has been
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especially uh this has been wildly
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adopted especially in countries or
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nations with uh large and diverse
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populations to govern like the United
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States is a huge country large
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population fairly diverse so federalism
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was uh was the right choice and it
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definitely made sense at that time uh
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today other countries have uh Federal
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systems uh you know Mexico does uh
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Canada does both of which are uh big
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countries Australia uh Brazil those are
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among the largest nations that use uh
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the federal system so a federal system
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is a system in which governmental power
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uh is divided and shared between
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National or central government and state
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or Regional governments in the United
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States power is shared among the
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national government state governments
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and local governments
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Texans declared their independence from
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Mexico on March 2nd
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1836 and the chaotic days that followed
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the fall of the Alamo as some Houston
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struggled to build an army Texas
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political officials worked to produce a
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new
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constitution the Republic of Texas
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Constitution adopted on March 17th
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1836 reflected basic us principles
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including things like separation of
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powers checks and balances and uh
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bicameralism and then this once again is
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very typical of states in general uh for
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example all states like I mentioned
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before with the exception of Nebraska
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have have by camel state
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legislators the president of the
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Republic of Texas in
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1836 was limited to a single three-year
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term but while in office he enjoyed many
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of the powers of the US president for
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example he was commanderin-chief of the
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of the Republic of Texas Armed Forces uh
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he was forbidden
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from uh from commanding in person
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without uh the consent from the Congress
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uh he was also empowered to negotiate
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iate treaties he could make uh senior
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appointments uh once again with the
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advice and consent uh of Congress and he
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had the power to Grant uh reprieves and
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pardons the Congress of the Republic of
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Texas was made up of the house and the
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Senate uh members of the House served
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oneyear terms and senators serve served
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threeyear terms while onethird of the
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Senate elected was elected annually uh
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so Supreme Court judges and state judges
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were elected by a joint ballot of the
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Congress for four-year terms and were
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eligible for reelection so basically to
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to sum up the constitution of Texas
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looked quite a bit like the US
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Constitution for individual Texans
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slavery and freedom stood side by side
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in the Republic of Texas slavery was
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legalized and free African-Americans
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were forbidden to live live in Texas
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without the expressed permission of
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Congress they were of course not treated
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well uh while all white men were assured
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a broad array of Rights and Liberties
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including a homestead if they did not
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already possess one uh all white men
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enjoyed the right to vote and to run for
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for
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office the the Constitution concluded
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with the Declaration of Rights which was
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very similar to the US Bill of Rights
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however this Declaration of Rights was
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uh addressed primarily to white men um
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it guaranteed freedom of speech press
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religion it guaranteed the right against
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self-incrimination the right to a speedy
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trial and the prohibition of or against
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cruel and unusual
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punishment it also guaranteed against or
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included some guarantees um against
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imprisonment for for debt and declared
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that monopolies are contrary to what
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they call the genius of free government
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in summary the constitution of 1836 of
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the Republic of Texas was very similar
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and valued similar things that are
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addressed or similar to those that are
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addressed in the US Constitution in
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addition uh to African-Americans being
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or not being allowed to live free in
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Texas uh without the express consent of
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Congress priests could not hold office
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uh because they emphasize the separation
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of church and state uh Texas was also
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distinctly unitary in the sense that all
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of the Power resided in the hands of the
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Republic's governor
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Texas joined the United States of
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America as the 28th state in
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1845 the statehood Constitution was
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modeled on the US Constitution and the
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Constitutions of Southern States that
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had already joined the union Universal
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white male suffrage and slavery were
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again embraced white men could still
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vote and slavery was still legal on the
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one hand all white men including Mexican
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men which was considered to be very
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Progressive at that time in history were
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permitted to vote and to hold state and
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local offices on on the other hand
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however slavery and the rights of
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slaveholders were
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reinforced the legislature was forbidden
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to emancipate slaves without
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compensation compensation or to prohibit
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immigrants to Texas from bringing them
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their slaves with them uh the governor's
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term was cut to two years but reelection
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was permitted as long as the governor
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served for not more than 4 years in any
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6-year period the legislature was now to
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meet by
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annually uh or every other year rather
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than annually as it had before members
00:18:36
of Texas of the Texas house served 2year
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terms and members of the Senate served
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four-year terms the Texas Judiciary was
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comprised of district courts of original
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jurisdiction and a three member Supreme
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Court to hear
00:18:52
appeals the governor appointed with the
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advice and consent uh of the Senate the
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Secretary of State the attorney general
00:19:01
and members of the Judiciary the
00:19:03
legislature by joint ballot elected a
00:19:06
state treasurer and controller of Public
00:19:10
Accounts finally the Bill of Rights was
00:19:13
moved to the front of the Constitution
00:19:15
as article one and included all the
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protections that we talked about when we
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talked about the constitution of
00:19:23
1836 and actually additional protections
00:19:26
as well so in addition to protecting
00:19:29
rights and Liberties the constitution of
00:19:32
1845 uh sought to protect citizens
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against predatory corporations and
00:19:37
predatory business practices once again
00:19:39
they also uh tried prohibiting uh
00:19:45
monopolies and uh generally generally
00:19:49
speaking uh the constitution of Texas at
00:19:51
that time uh protected individual rights
00:19:55
or protected individual uh liberties in
00:19:58
light of economic vulnerability of most
00:20:02
Texans at that time finally which is uh
00:20:05
really interesting uh the Constitution
00:20:07
mandated that on10th of the state's
00:20:10
Revenue be set aside to create a
00:20:13
permanent School fund
00:20:50
well there's not that much to say about
00:20:52
the constitution of
00:20:55
1861 uh really the the the 1861
00:20:58
Constitution was basically the same as
00:21:01
that of
00:21:02
1845 except that it reflected that Texas
00:21:05
had become one of the Confederate States
00:21:08
at war with the Union another thing that
00:21:11
it did is that in it increased the debt
00:21:13
ceiling and prohibited the emancipation
00:21:16
of
00:21:23
slaves while earlier constitutions
00:21:25
contained a number of elements still
00:21:27
found in today's Texas Constitution
00:21:30
which we'll talk about uh next week it
00:21:33
was the aftermath of the Civil War and
00:21:35
the political reaction to reconstruction
00:21:38
that confirmed Texas's fear of
00:21:40
government and set the stage for the
00:21:43
writing of today's state
00:21:45
constitution after the Civil War Texans
00:21:48
wrote the 1866 Constitution which they
00:21:52
thought would satisfy the unionists and
00:21:54
permit the readmission of Texas under
00:21:57
the uh president Andrew Johnson's mild
00:21:59
reconstruction program this document
00:22:03
nullified uh secession abolished slavery
00:22:06
and renounced Confederate War Debs under
00:22:10
this these terms a civilian government
00:22:13
was elected and operated for several
00:22:15
months despite some interference from
00:22:18
the fredman's bureau the 1866
00:22:22
Constitution soon became null and void
00:22:25
because the Radical Republicans in
00:22:27
Congress passed the Reconstruction Act
00:22:30
of
00:22:31
1867 that required Confederate states to
00:22:35
oppose to to adopt constitutions met
00:22:38
with the approval of the US Congress
00:22:40
under its Authority the military deposed
00:22:43
civilian elected officials and
00:22:45
effectively restored military rule in
00:22:48
other words while the constitution of
00:22:51
1866 was based primarily on the 1845
00:22:54
Constitution while it abolished slavery
00:22:57
it need it did not Grant equal rights to
00:23:01
African-Americans the main point to
00:23:03
remember here is that the 1866
00:23:06
Constitution was
00:23:13
shortlived with most whites either apart
00:23:16
from the election or choosing to boycott
00:23:18
it voters selected members of the
00:23:21
Constitutional Convention in
00:23:23
1868 It produced a document that
00:23:26
centralized state power in the hands of
00:23:29
the governor lengthened the chief
00:23:31
executive's term to four years and
00:23:33
allowed the governor to appoint all
00:23:35
major State offices including judges so
00:23:39
again the constitution of 1869 was very
00:23:42
centralized meaning that that most of
00:23:45
the power was granted to the core
00:23:47
government or the the main state
00:23:49
government and actually most of that
00:23:52
power was granted to the chief executive
00:23:55
or the governor this constitution
00:23:58
provided annual legislative sessions so
00:24:00
now they would meet no longer every um
00:24:04
every other year but but every year and
00:24:07
also what the Constitution did is um it
00:24:12
required now compulsory Elementary
00:24:15
education which was funded by about a
00:24:17
quarter of the state's annual tax
00:24:20
revenues the convention of
00:24:23
1868 reflected little of the fear of
00:24:26
centralized government power that was
00:24:28
later to become the Hallmark of te
00:24:30
Hallmark of Texas government this
00:24:33
proposed Constitution was ratified in
00:24:38
1869 in 1869 the Constitution served as
00:24:42
an instrument of government for an error
00:24:45
that most Texans and traditional
00:24:47
historians would regard as the most
00:24:49
corrupt and abusive in the state's
00:24:52
history under the Republican Governor EJ
00:24:55
Davis large Gifts of public funds were
00:24:57
made to interest such as railroads tax
00:25:00
rates
00:25:01
skyrocketed uh mostly because they
00:25:04
needed to pay for ambitious and often
00:25:07
wasteful public programs land owners of
00:25:10
course refuse to pay high property taxes
00:25:13
that in some cases amounted to as much
00:25:15
as 1 F of their personal income most
00:25:18
Texans like the land owners simply
00:25:22
refuse to pay these absorbent taxes and
00:25:25
the government as a result accumulated
00:25:28
an incred incredible amount of public
00:25:31
debt as such the line of order collapsed
00:25:34
and much of the state state fell prey to
00:25:38
Desperados instead of using the state
00:25:41
police and militia to maintain peace
00:25:43
Governor Davis made them a part of his
00:25:46
powerful political machine he took
00:25:49
control of voter registration and
00:25:52
intimidated even unsupportive newspapers
00:25:55
and arrested several political opponents
00:25:58
in fact this this kind of sounds like a
00:26:00
crazy dictatorship so I guess too much
00:26:03
power in the hands of one individual may
00:26:05
not be the best thing in 1874 his
00:26:09
handpicked Supreme Court used the
00:26:12
location of a semicolon in the state
00:26:14
constitution as a pretext for
00:26:17
invalidating the election of a Democrat
00:26:19
Richard K and he wired President Grant
00:26:23
to send federal troops to sort the
00:26:26
overwhelming Democratic victory
00:26:28
the president refused and Democrats went
00:26:31
past guards at the capital and gathered
00:26:34
in the legislative CH Chambers to form a
00:26:37
new government and according to Legend
00:26:40
Davis was so determined not to give up
00:26:43
his office that he surrounded his
00:26:45
himself with armed State Police in the
00:26:48
capital and only when a well-armed group
00:26:51
of uh of coke supporters marched towards
00:26:56
the capital singing uh the yellow rows
00:26:58
of Texas Davis finally vacated his
00:27:02
office and in fact for most Texans
00:27:05
reconstruction left a bitter memory of a
00:27:08
humiliating corrupt and extravagant and
00:27:11
even tyrannical government
