The State Constitutional

Convention Clearinghouse

U.S. states where the people can use a periodic state constitutional convention referendum
to bypass the legislature's gatekeeping power over constitutional amendment

How U.S. States Got Their First Constitutions

 

The Constitution allows Congress to admit new states into the United States. Congress has exercised this power 37 times since 1791, when the United States already consisted of 13 states.

Notes:

Major sources for this chart were Albert Sturm’s Thirty Years of State Constitution-Making, National Municipal League, 1970, and Admission of States to the Union: A Historical Reference Guide, CRS, Oct. 6, 2023.

*Legislature initiated, proposed, and ratified constitution.

**Legislature in one session initiated and proposed. After an inverting election, a second legislature ratified.

+ Connecticut and Rhode Island continued using their colonial charters after the U.S. became independent of Great Britain. Not until many years later did they write their own constitutions.

++ Legislature failed to provide an opportunity for voters to vote on whether to call a convention. But note that this is not initiation power in that the legislature determines whether to put the question on the ballot.

+++ On the ratification vote, some Arkansas counties allowed voters to express an opinion about statehood on their ballots. But the vote wasn’t mandatory and wasn’t specifically to ratify the proposed state constitution.