Talk:Constitution of New York

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Untitled[edit]

shouldn't the title of this page read New York State Constitution? or was this intended to be a separate page?

I suspect this is supposed to deal with all of the ones the state's had, and have links to seperate pages going into greater detail about each of them. 68.39.174.238 03:58, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

New York State has only had one constitution (which has been amended) BradMajors 18:29, 26 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This seems not to be correct. According to the source mentioned in the article (please check there), New York State has had five Constitutions. The original one of 1777 was amended only by the Convention in 1801, but the Convention of 1821 revised such a big part of it that it became known as the "Constitution of 1821" The same happened with the Constitution of 1846, and later ones. The current Constitution is of 1938, several times amended. If you can give different opinions or sources who say otherwise, please do so. Kraxler 20:05, 6 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You are correct there has been more than one constitution. The confusion arises, for example, when people refer to the "Constitution of 1801". A new constitution is not created every time the constitution is amended. BradMajors 00:09, 7 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Constitution of 1771[edit]

The content of the Constitution of 1777 article is the same as the content in this article and should be merged into this article. BradMajors (talk) 23:18, 28 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ok. Kraxler 15:22, 30 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

1894 constitution[edit]

It is not helpful to add a list of empty headings to the article. It should contain text, like all other sections. That's not too difficult to understand, or is it? Besides, the 1894 constitution is not the current constitution of New York, the current one is known as the 1938 constitution with amendments. Kraxler (talk) 01:24, 24 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Prior to your most recent changes, the article referenced the 1894 constitution four times, but otherwise had absolutely no mention of what the 1894 constitution contained, or what it even was. This was an even more egregious omission given that all the references made clear that the 1894 constitution formed the basis of the current constitution. (Despite your assertion to the contrary here, the introduction of the article clearly states that the 1938 constitution was in fact only a modification of the 1894 constitution (albeit a major one), rather than an entirely new constitution.) I reinstated the section on the 1894 constitution precisely for this reason, as I do not believe that the flaws of the section outweighed the benefits. (Incidentally, note that the section was not "a list of empty headings"; each subsection summarized its general purpose and contents.) The state of the article should remain whole at all times, and should not depend on what one editor plans to do "in a few weeks" (in contrast to an edit lock). The point is mostly (though not, IMO, entirely) mooted now because of your most recent edits, but I hadn't noticed the reversion or the talk page topic until now. —Gordon P. Hemsley→✉ 20:58, 30 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'll add more info, especially the changes, later. All New York constitutions have been copies of the previous one, about half of the present constitution was already in similar form in the Constitution of 1777. The "revised constitution" of 1894 contained exactly 33 amendments (compared to what was in force in 1893): the legislative apportionment (a really major change), the canal improvements (a lot of money involved), and 31 miscellaneous little things, like moving the first day of the meeting of the Legislature from Tuesday to Wednesday. Since 1938 was the last Convention which managed to produce amendments that were accepted by the voters, the current Constitution is known as "The Constitution of 1938, amended", at least the sources say so... Happy New Year! Kraxler (talk) 22:51, 30 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]