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Drafting the Ohio Comstitution of 1802
Thirty-five delegates convened to draft an Ohio state constitution. -
Presentation of the Ohio Constitution to Congress
Thomas Worthington personally carried the document to Washington, DC. He arrived on December 19, and formally presented the Constitution to Congress -
Voting rights in 1803
The Ohio Constitution of 1803 provided all white men with the right to vote, assuming that they paid taxes or that they helped build and maintain the state's roads -
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The Start of the Ohio Constitution
The Ohio Constitution was created in 1803, and had given great power to the Ohio General Assembly. The legislature had complete control over the government. The Constitution of 1803 also required the Supreme Court to meet once each year in every county in the state. Over the next fifty years the number of counties increased until it was virtually impossible for the Supreme Court to fulfill its obligations under the original constitution. -
The Ohio Constiution of 1803 is passed
The Constitution became law on February 19, 1803, when Congress passed an act stating that the citizens of Ohio had adopted a constitution in accordance with the 1802 Enabling Act and the said state had become one of the United States of America. -
The Constitutional Convention
During the Constitutional convention, the new constitution of Ohio was drafted. The convention was set to take place Columbus, but was moved to Chillicothe as a result of the cholera epidemic. -
The Constitution if 1851
The Ohio Constitution of 1851 gave Ohio voters the right to elect the governor, other high-ranking state officials, and judges. Rather than having only two levels of courts within the state, a third level of district courts was added between the Ohio Supreme Court and common pleas courts. The majority of delegates voted against extending suffrage to African-American men and women of all races -
Constitutional Convention of 1851 adjourned
The Constitutional Convention of 1851 adjourned its proceedings. Seventy-nine delegates voted in favor of the constitution, while fourteen opposed it. The people in opposition primarily belonged to the Whig Party and the Free Soil Party. -
Noble County Established
The last county created in Ohio was Noble County. This was several months before the Constitution of 1851 went into effect. -
Approval of the Ohio Consititution from the voters
To go into effect, Ohio voters had to approve the constitution. They did so overwhelmingly. Although numerous amendments have been made over the years, the Constitution of 1851 remains the fundamental law of Ohio. -
Constitution proposal rejected by voters
A new constitution was proposed in hopes that annual sessions of the legislature would be provided from them on. In addition, a veto for the governor which could be overridden by a three-fifths vote of each house, establishment of state circuit courts, eligibility of women for election to school boards, and restrictions on municipal debt would be put into effect. It was soundly defeated by the voters in August 1873. -
Progressive Era Change
In the Progressive Era, pent-up demand for reform led to the convening of another constitutional convention in 1912 -
Changes to the 1851 Constitution
The 1912 convention drafted and submitted to the voters a series of amendments to the 1851 Constitution. The amendments expanded the state's bill of rights, provided for voter-led initiative and referendum, established civil service protections, and granted the governor a line-item veto in appropriation bills. -
Transition to the 1912 Constitution
On September 3, 1912, despite strong conservative opposition, voters adopted 33 of the 41 proposed amendments. It was so sweeping a change to the 1851 Constitution that most legal scholars consider it to have become a new "1912 Constitution." -
Change to the 1912 Constitution
Voters originally rejected a proposal to strike the word "white" from the 1851 Constitution's definition of voter eligibility. Although blacks could vote in all State and Federal elections in Ohio due to the Fifteenth Amendment, the text of the State Constitution was not changed until 1923.
