During nearly twenty-two of the most eventful and exciting years of
American history, the Constitution thus framed and ratified has defined
the powers and regulated the duties of the government of Kansas. Three
Legislatures have voted down propositions to call a new Constitutional
Convention. Twelve or fifteen amendments have been submitted, but only
eight have been approved by the people. Finally, in 1880, the
Legislature voted to submit a proposal for a new Convention, and at the
regular election held in November of that year, this ballot was taken.
The result was an endorsement of the old Wyandotte Constitution by a
majority far more emphatic and overwhelming than that by which it was
originally adopted, the vote standing 22,870 for, and 146,279 against
the proposed Convention, or nearly seven to one.
It is doubtful whether the organic law of any other State in the Union
has more successfully survived the mutations of time and inconstant
public sentiment, and the no less fluctuating necessities of a swiftly
developing Commonwealth. Of its seventeen articles, only four, and of
its one hundred and seventy-eight sections, only eight, have ever been
amended. And of the eight amendments adopted, only five have revoked or
modified the principles or policy originally formulated, the others
being changes demanded by the growth of the State, or by the events of
the civil war. The first amendment, ratified in 1861, provides that no
banking institution shall issue circulating notes of a less denomination
than $1—the original limitation being $5. In 1864 the provision
requiring all bills to originate in the House of Representatives, was
repealed; and a section intended to prevent U. S. soldiers from voting,
but which was so worded that it deprived our volunteers of that right,
was also repealed. In 1867 an amendment was adopted disfranchising all
persons who aided the "Lost Cause," or who were dishonorably discharged
from the army of the United States, or who had defrauded the United
States or any State during the war. In 1868 the State Printer amendment
was ratified. In 1873 the number of Senators and Representatives,
originally limited to 33 and 100, respectively, was increased to 40 and
125. In 1875 three propositions, each having in view biennial instead of
annual sessions of the Legislature, were adopted. And in 1880 the
Prohibition amendment was ratified. These are all the changes that have
been made in our organic law during nearly a quarter of a century.