[3] As such, the people of Colorado reserved specific powers in governing Colorado directly; in addition to providing for voting for Governor, state legislators, and judges,[4] the people of Colorado have reserved initiative of laws and referendum of laws enacted by the legislature to themselves,[5] provided for recall of office holders,[6] and limit tax increases beyond set amounts without explicit voter approval (via the Taxpayer Bill of Rights),[7] and must explicitly approve any change to the constitution, often with a 55% majority.

The first election in the gold fields was held for officers of Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory, on March 3.

[10] The next month, a constitutional convention was held in Denver City which proposed a new "State of Jefferson" to govern the gold fields.

On January 29, 1861, "An Act Admitting the State of Kansas to the Union" was signed into law by President James Buchanan.

However, on October 11, Colorado voters rejected this particular formulation by a vote of 1520 to 4672, primarily because it included a pre-selected slate of candidates for state and national office.

However, President Andrew Johnson refused to declare the statehood of Colorado, in part because he feared it would lead to a Republican majority in the US Congress.

This action frustrated congress, who subsequently approved a new "Colorado Statehood Bill", which Johnson vetoed May 15, 1866.

During Grant's time in office, Congress tried and failed to pass a third, fourth, and fifth Colorado Statehood Bill in 1869, 1871, and 1873 respectively.

When it was adopted in 1876, the constitution included a "Schedule" at the end, which laid out specific provisions for the transition of Colorado from its territorial government to its statehood.

In 2018, voters approved a new set of amendments related to congressional apportionment at state and federal levels intended to reduce gerrymandering.

In either of these methods, if the amendment is limited only to repealing a part of the constitution, it only needs a simple majority approval in state-wide referendum.

The first of these, Section 30b, was passed in 1992 and prohibited legislative or administrative bodies in Colorado from declaring sexual orientation a basis of protected status; this was found unconstitutional in Romer v. Evans and so is not in force.

In 1992, voters approved an amendment creating Article X, Section 20, which established the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).

This amendment was found unconstitutional in the 1998 Colorado Supreme Court case Morrissey v. State, on the grounds that a state's voters could not compel their representatives to vote or act in a legislature in any particular way, as doing so would be contrary to the republican form of government guaranteed by the Guarantee Clause of the US Constitution.

Also in 2006, "Amendment 41" was passed, creating an independent ethics commission for state officers with the intent of regulating gifts and lobbying.