PSY EXAM 2: The Texas Constitution

What are some of the problems of the current Texas constitution?

1) Policymaking by amendment 2) Texas Legislature is limited 3) weak governors 4) elected judiciary

What were the special provisions in the Texas annexation agreement?

1) divide TX into 5 states 2) TX pay debt 3) TX retains rights to public lands

Radical Republicans

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What motivated the men who wrote the current Texas constitution, and how were those motivations manifest?

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Confederacy

Distrust National government Promote state powers

Texas equal rights amendment

Equality regardless of sex, race, color, religion, or ethnicity

Plural executive

Executive branch has been divided

Bill of rights in Texas (Compared to the US)

Freedom of religion- to hold office in Texas you have to believe in a supreme being habeas corpus act = must be told why you're going to jail TXERA = TX can't be racist 2005, marriage = man/woman

Governor Davis

Governor after Civil War Most Texans hated him He postponed an election to keep office

Policymaking by amendment

Legal code > fundamental law

The grange

Militant farmers Association

What are the similarities and differences between the US Constitution and the current Texas constitution?

SIMILARITIES: 1) consent of government -popular sovereignty 2) three branches 3) Bill of Rights DIFFERENCES: 1) length - TX is longer 2) Texas is easier to amend than the US 3) Texas has no elastic clause

What were the problems with the 1869 constitution and why did most Texans not consider it a legitimate constitution?

We had representatives in our government and we were democratic at the time

How does the Texas constitution constrain the legislature?

much of The Texas constitution is a list of things that the legislature can't do

What is required to amend the constitution in Texas?

• 2/3 vote by congress • explanatory statement • majority vote

The Texas constitution of 1845

• wives own property •Texas funds public schools (permanent Univertsity fund) • slavery allowed

Know the Historical developments that led to the current Texas constitution

•Battle of San Jacinto, TX independence from Mexico, treaty of Velasco • TX lost in civil War • Abraham Lincoln 10% plan, Abe is shot • reconstruction acts