Plantation owners proclaimed independence from Spain, establishing the short lived nation of the Republic of West Florida on Sept. 23, 1810, but President James Madison ordered U.S. forces into the area and incorporated it into the Orleans territory.
The senate passed the petition on April 27, 1810, by a vote of 15 to 8, and ordered the territory to assemble a convention to draft a constitutional amendment.
"[citation needed]As a reaction to these comments House of Representative territorial delegate George Poindexter of Mississippi accused Quincy of treason.
With vindication Quincy continued; Louisiana statehood would produce states that were free "from their moral obligation, and that, as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare, definitely, for a separation: amicably if they can, violently if they must!
The issue of West Florida was solved with statehood but the western border dispute remained unresolved until the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819.
The period gave renewed fever to abolitionists and in 1814 the founding of the Manumission Society of Tennessee furthered anti-slavery sentiment.
[14] The convention of 1861, convened to address concerns arising from the current political conflict, modified the constitution of 1852 to reflect Louisiana's secession (January 26, 1861) from the union.
Voting rights to black men who fought for the Union, owned property, or were literate, were allowed to be authorized (but not given) by the state legislature.
The oath excluded ex-Confederate soldiers, anyone holding office in a state that seceded from the Union, or supporters of the Confederacy.
The lack of voting rights, Black codes, and a recall on the Constitutional Convention ultimately resulted in the New Orleans Riot.
Black men secured full citizenship with equal civil and political rights, state funded public education that prohibited segregated schools (Title VII; article 135) funded by one-half of the income from a poll tax (article 141), and equal treatment on public transportation.
The Reconstruction era finally came to a close in Louisiana and the rest of the South with the trading of votes at the national level that led to the election of Rutherford B. Hayes as President.
During this period election cycle violence continued to increase as white Democrats sought to suppress the black Republican vote.
The period of time from 1868 to 1879 was marked with violence against freedmen, as seen in the First Battle of the Cabildo (March 5, 1873) and the Colfax massacre April 13, 1873), both events that arose from the disputed gubernatorial election of 1872.
An annual poll tax of one dollar was levied (Article 198) on all males, ages twenty-one to sixty to be eligible to vote, with receipt of the two previous years being paid.
An annual poll tax of one dollar was levied on every male between the ages of twenty-one and sixty to be used for public school maintenance (article 231).
Loyal, honorably discharged or paroled, indigent Confederate soldiers, referred to as inmates, were provided a pension of eight dollars a month.
The 1898 constitution provided for conviction in "cases in which the punishment is necessarily at hard labor" by a verdict of nine out of twelve jurors.
[27] The series, entitled “Tilting the Scales,” debuted Easter Sunday 2018, and would later win The Advocate its first Pulitzer Prize, as well as a George Polk Award.
Praised by state lawmakers, the series had an impact on public opinion; Louisiana voters overwhelmingly voted to amend the Constitution of 1974 in November of 2018, requiring all future felony convictions to be unanimous.
[28][29] In the 2020 case Ramos v. Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court incorporated the Sixth Amendment right of a unanimous verdict against all the states.
Article IV: section 7; Authority to set minimum wage, regulate hours and working conditions for women and girls, with exceptions for agriculture and domestic service.
[35] We, the people of Louisiana, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political, economic, and religious liberties we enjoy, and desiring to protect individual rights to life, liberty, and property; afford opportunity for the fullest development of the individual; assure equality of rights; promote the health, safety, education, and welfare of the people; maintain a representative and orderly government; ensure domestic tranquility; provide for the common defense; and secure the blessings of freedom and justice to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution.Contains provisions similar to the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution, plus additional provisions unique to the State, such as Article I.27, which protects the freedom of the people to engage in traditional pastimes of hunting, trapping, and fishing, subject only to laws and regulations designed to "protect, conserve, and replenish the natural resources" of the State Arranges the state government into the traditional three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, and prohibits any branch from exercising the powers of any other branch.
Furthermore, it contains a provision for the "Legislative Auditor", who is responsible for auditing the fiscal records of the State, its agencies and political subdivisions.
Defines the composition of parishes (as counties are called in Louisiana) and municipalities, provisions for home rule charters, and other allowances and limitations.
Allows the Legislature to create new port commissions and districts, and grandfathers existing ones at the time of the 1974 Constitution adoption.
Includes various provisions involving mineral rights, regulation of natural gas and pipelines, the Wildlife and Fisheries and Forestry commissions, and certain dedicated funds.
There is presently no mention of the changing of same-sex union wording in the upcoming March 29, 2025, statewide constitutional referendum election.