Talk:Constitution of Massachusetts

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The authors of the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are listed on this site: Massachusetts Facts

Speaking of John Adams, historian David McCullough, said, " Between times he also drafted the oldest written Constitution still in use in the world today -- the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, written 10 years before our own Constitution, and had great influence on the national Constitution."

-REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AND HISTORIAN DAVID MCCULLOUGH AT CEREMONY OF 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WHITE HOUSE, Nov.1, 2000 (White House Press release)

San Marino's constitution

Is the Sammarinese constitution (1600) not older than the Massachusetts constitution? ekrub-ntyh ^talk 19:40, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

San Marino's government has had several disruptions since 1600. I believe the article ought to have the additional distinction that the Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest living constitution **in continuous effect**.

Oldest Continuous Constitution

This line that claims with no sources that this constitution is the oldest constitution in continuous effect needs to be sourced or deleted because I know the Constitution of Vermont has been in effect uninterrupted since July 8, 1777, so that would be longer than Mass. Drms 11:49, 18 October 2007 (UTC)drms

The Constitution of the Republic of Vermont was ratified in 1777 but was changed when Vermont became a state in the 1790's. --75.67.173.178 (talk) 01:29, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Wrong. Vermont continued to have the same constitution when it was admitted to the Union. It was amended in 1793 and on later occasions, just as the constitution of Massachusetts has been. Michael Hardy (talk) 19:33, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

Morison's observation

Samuel Eliot Morison observation has to be made out of context, unfortunately. This sentence only was specifically germane to Massachusetts. His original point (which was not Massachusetts) was that Locke and Polybius' observation on what became known as "checks and balances" works best (people's happiness maximized) with a strong executive, a legislature to represent the people and a senate to represent capital. Capital representation was destroyed by the US Supreme Court in the 60s, but apparently undermined earlier in Massachusetts. I suspect (but do not know) that was his point. Student7 (talk) 02:20, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Substantial Revisions

I'm looking to thoroughly clean up and substantially add to this article in the coming days, to include the section on the Amendment articles. Before I invest the time, are there any issues anyone wants covered or would like to air out before I do?

By the way, that was my unsigned addition on the "sub-sub committee of one" quote in the "History section. Dexta32084 (talk) 03:13, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

preamble

It should read that the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States bears resemblance to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, because the latter precedes the former by seven years. X which is already in effect CAN'T be impacted by Y which hasn't occurred yet; that's ahistorical thinking. It's like saying I convinced my father to marry my mother before I was even born; it's not logical and doesn't make any better sense to me than it does to you. Please rewrite to reflect reality and be quick about it. 74.69.121.132 (talk) 01:06, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

Circular citation?

The Wikipedia page cites "Kemp, Roger (2010). Documents of American Democracy. p. 59." as a source. However Kemp says that the cited text was originally published as the Wikipedia page. Is there actually a reputable source for the information about the Massachusetts constitution being the oldest constitution in continuous effect? 23.25.231.214 (talk) 15:39, 16 December 2013 (UTC)

I removed the Kemp citation. The Levy citation is all we need. I'll clean this up a bit more later. Bmclaughlin9 (talk) 20:36, 16 December 2013 (UTC)

References

Oldest?

This article says:

remains the oldest functioning written constitution in continuous effect in the world

And I ask: What about the constitution of Vermont? It was drafted in July 1777. The government under its provisions began to operate in March 1778. A somewhat altered version went into effect in 1786, and another in 1793, but today's constitution of Vermont is in most respects not much different from that of 1777. Michael Hardy (talk) 05:45, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

And then this article says

Only the Constitution of San Marino has sections still in force that are older.

That is plainly false, in that the 1777 constitution of Vermont is a counterexample. Michael Hardy (talk) 05:47, 1 August 2021 (UTC)