Happy Constitution Day, New York!

On April 20, 1777, New York ratified its first constitution.

Here's a THREAD of fun facts and tidbits about New York's constitutional history.

Today I'll cover the 1777 constitution up until before the 1894 constitutional convention. Tomorrow I'll pick up and go through the end of 2000.

I can't say enough good things about this book: "Ordered Liberty, A Constitutional History of New York" by Peter J. Gaile. 2/

Everything in this thread comes from the book, with no rhyme or reason other than I found it interesting. There's a lot I won't get to, so check out the book if you want more.

We have to understand our constitution if we want to understand how state government functions. 3/

New York’s constitution today clocks in at 20 articles and more than 55,000 words. If you haven’t read it yet, you should: https://www.dos.ny.gov/info/constitution/ 4/

New York’s first constitution was approved on April 20, 1777 in Kingston. John Jay and Gouvernur Morris were both principal drafters of the document, and would both go on to sign the U.S. Constitution in 1787. 5/

Robert Livingston was also a drafter, and he was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and administered the oath of office to George Washington. 6/

The 1st constitution had 42 sections. There was no bill of rights but it did include a right to trial by jury, right to counsel in felony cases, due process, prohibition against bills of attainder, protection of religious freedom & liberty of conscience. 7/

The first assembly consisted of 70 members elected annually, and 24 senators of which ¼ were elected every four years.

Unlike the federal constitution, there was no grant of exclusive authority to the assembly to originate appropriations bills. 8/

New York’s Constitution was the first to require legislative districts of equal size based on population, as well as require periodic redistricting to account for population changes. 9/

The 1777 constitution created hybrid legislative-executive bodies called the Council of Appointment and the Council of Revision. The Council of Appointment nominated individuals for government appointment subject to the approval of the senate. 10/

The Council of Revision was comprised of the governor and four judges with the power to revise or veto any legislation. This was intended to not give the governor too much direct control over the legislative process. 11/

New York’s 1st constitution was in many ways a precursor to the federal constitution adopted 10 years later. For example, the state senate was designed to be a filter of public sentiment, much like the saucer that cools the tea analogy of the federal system. 12/

John Jay proposed barring Catholics from citizenship, but the convention delegates rejected that proposal.

It did not include a process for amendment.

The first constitution did not mention slavery or education. 13/

In 1780, the legislature created a commission to help run government while the legislature was in recess. The Council of Revision vetoed the bill b/c the people of the state vested lawmaking authority only in the legislature, and not in any other extra-constitutional body. 14/

This is a very familiar argument in the context of the legislative pay raise and public financing commissions which were created in 2018 and 2019, only to have courts scrap all or most of the commissions’ enactments. 15/

In 1801, almost as a preview of his role in Marbury v. Madison, then-Governor John Jay got into a constitutional fight over having his candidates approved by the Council of Appointment, which was controlled by Jay’s Federalist opponents, the Democratic-Republicans. 16/

The dispute, over who had the power to control the appointment power delegated to the Council of Appointment, resulted in a new constitutional convention in 1801, which was chaired by Vice President Aaron Burr. 17/

The convention’s delegates (overwhelmingly Demcoratic-Republican) sided against Jay by reaffirming that any member of the Council of Appointment could nominate individuals for government positions. 18/

This, effectively, turned on the patronage spigot in New York and led to the rise of the ‘spoils system’ in the state. 19/

In 1821, after a stalemate between the legislature and the Council of Revision over calling a new constitutional convention, voters approved a new convention. NY's population exploded by more than a million new residents since 1777, and state government needed to adjust. 20/

The 1821 convention expanded voting rights by granting almost universal suffrage to white males. However, the convention tightened the restrictions for African-Americans to vote from mere property owners to property owners who owned land debt free in excess of $250. 21/

The convention also permitted the state legislature to disenfranchise felons from voting.

In line with the budding notion of legislative primacy over the executive, the convention abolished the Council of Appointment and instead...22/

granted the legislature the power to appoint the treasurer, attorney general, comptroller, & surveyor general. It also prohibited the gov from addressing the legislature in person!

The governor did receive the full power to veto, as the Council of Revision was abolished. 23/

The 1821 convention adopted a formal Bill of Rights, largely modeled on the federal Bill of Rights. It included provisions concerning habeas corpus, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain, and free speech. 24/

NY's free speech clause from the 1821 Bill of Rights: “Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press...25/

"...In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends...26/

"...the part shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.” 27/

The 1821 constitution began a long and continuing history of constitutionalizing existing public policy. New York’s constitution was the first to include public policy that was unrelated to the structure, powers, or limits of government authority. 28/

The 1821 constitution included an article concerning the state’s canals, Erie and others. The article included sections dealing with construction and toll rates. 29/