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There have been several versions of the Constitution of Indiana. The first was created in when the Territory Of Indiana sent forty-three delegates to a constitutional convention on June 10 1816 to establish a constitution for the proposed State Of Indiana after the United States Congress had agreed to grant statehood, and the constitution was approved 33-8. In preparing Indiana's fundamental law they borrowed heavily from existing state constitutions, especially those of Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. The original constitution was adopted without being submitted to the people.Manuscript Constitution, Indiana State Library; Kettleborough (ed.), Constitution Making in Indiana, I, 83-125; Barnhart and Carmony, Indiana, I, 151-160; Dunn, Indiana, I, 295-313. The current constitution is the Constititution of 1851, with numerous amendments.


PREAMBLE

The changes in society and the concerns can be noted by the comparison of the preambles to the original 1816 constitution, and the current constitution. The preamble to the original 1816 constitution read

The preamble of the current constitution reads, The remainder of this article will discuss the text of the current Constitution of 1851, as amended.


ARTICLES

The Constitution consists of a preamble and 16 articles. They are as follows:
# Bill of Rights
# Suffrage and Election
# Distribution of Powers
# Legislative
# Executive
# Administrative
# Judicial
# Education
# State Institutions
# Finance
# Corporations
# Militia
# Indebtedness
# Boundaries
# Miscellaneous
# Amendments


GENERAL PROVISIONS

  • The entire article 3 is the shortest provision of the entire constitution, having one section consisting of one sentence

  • Article 5, Section 1, provides that the Governor may not serve more than 8 years in any twelve-year period.

  • Article 5, Section 8, prohibits anyone holding federal office from being governor.

  • Article 7, Section 2, declares the state Supreme Court to have one Chief Justice and not less than four nor more than eight associate justices.

  • Article 7, Section 15, provides that the four-year Term Limit for elective office set forth in article 15, section 2 does not apply to judges and justices.

  • Article 9 provides for the state to create and fund "education of the deaf, the mute, and the blind; and for the treatment of the insane" and "institutions for the correction and reformation of juvenile offenders" but provides that counties may "provide farms, as an asylum for those persons who, by reason of age, infirmity, or other misfortune, have claims upon the sympathies and aid of society."

  • Article 12, Section 1, declares the Militia to be "all persons over the age of seventeen (17) years, except those persons who may be exempted by the laws of the United States or of this state".

  • Article 13 currently only has one section, (sections 2 through 4 having been repealed) limiting indebtedness of municipal corporations to two percent of the property tax base except in the event of a war or certain other defined emergencies, if requested by petition of certain property owners in the area.

  • Article 15, Section 2, provides for creation by law of offices not defined by the constitution, and where someone is appointed, may be for a term "at the pleasure of the appointing authority" but elected offices may not have a term longer than four years.

  • Article 15, Section 7, prohibits making any county less than 400 square miles or reducing the size of any existing county which is smaller than this.



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SEE ALSO