Question

explain the Constitution of 1876 using the previous Texas constitutions. Is this constitution still relevant in today's society?

Answer 1

The 1876 Constitution is the sixth constitution that governs Texas since its achievement of independence from Mexico in 1836. It was framed by the 1875 Constitutional Convention, and adopted by a vote of 136,606 to 56,652 on February 15, 1876, and remains Texas' fundamental organic law. The constitution includes several distinctly Texan provisions, many of which are examples of the peculiar past of the City. Some may be traced, for example, to Spanish and Mexican influence. Parts dealing with land titles and property law in general, debtor relief, judicial processes, marital relationships and adoption, and water and other mineral rights are amongst them.

The article also mandated a court in each organized county with original jurisdiction over misdemeanors that were not granted to the peace courts and certain civil cases, and appealed jurisdiction in cases that originated in the peace courts' justice. Peace magistrates' courts, not less than four or more than eight in each district, were given jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases involving no more than $200 in dispute or punishment. The commissioners' court was to consist of the county judge and four elected commissars, one from the precinct of each commissioner.

The 1876 Constitution provided for the creation of the University of Texas and made Texas A&M, which the legislature had established in 1871, a branch thereof. The constitution further required the legislature to set up a higher education institution to educate the state's black youth. The constitution set aside one million acres of the public domain to support the university and its branches, with all revenues and proceeds from this being deposited in a Permanent University Fund. It also provided that the proceeds from the land previously granted for the establishment and maintenance of the university and all future grants belonged to the university permanently

The law allowed the legislature to grant the railroads sixteen pieces of public land for each mile of road built to facilitate the development of new track. It prevented the state from chartering banks, but required the legislature to pass general laws for the establishment of private companies other than banks, which would provide the public and individual shareholders with sufficient protection.

Provisions affecting the financial structure of the State have been altered to allow the implementation of new spending systems and the utilization of new revenue streams. Other constitutional changes have eased some of the burden of detail imposed on the governor's office in 1876, revamped the basic suffrage requirements, altered the chartering method for municipal corporations, extended the term of office for many state and local officials, and established an ever-increasing number of specifically allocated funds in the state treasury. However, given its cumbersome existence, its need for regular amendments and its occasional obscurity, Texans have continued to abide by the Constitution of 1876