Minnesota Constitution
Nearly 120 amendments have been approved (often multiple items at once), with perhaps the most significant being a reorganization in 1974 to simplify the document, making it easier for modern readers to comprehend and reducing the extensive verbiage.
Minnesota's settlement and organization were influenced by three factors: force, as it was conquered by European powers and later the United States; accident, as some European settlers arrived following the fur trade and American civilians drifted into the territory seeking opportunities; and choice, as the American settlers in the territory decided to establish a civil society.
The part of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River within the Iowa Territory remained unoccupied by European Americans.
The area east of the Mississippi River had several hundred American settlers and was organized as St. Croix County within Wisconsin Territory.
In response, the settlers in the area held a convention in Stillwater and passed resolutions calling for Congress to establish a new territory named Minnesota.
Congress responded to this request by passing the Organic Act of Minnesota, which established the territory and provided for its government.
It also had a legislative assembly consisting of a nine-member council and an eighteen-member house of representatives, which the territory's residents elected.
The Organic Act of Minnesota established the territory and provided for its government, including creating a legislative assembly and a judicial system.
Local governments were also established, with the right to appoint or elect officers as determined by the territorial governor and legislative assembly.
The two versions were then submitted to the voters of the state as required by the Enabling Act and both were approved, resulting in Minnesota having two original constitutions.
The two were essentially identical, but had about 300 differences in punctuation, grammar, and wording because of errors in transcription produced as copyists worked late into the night on August 28.
After reviewing the document for two years, it was recommended that the constitution be amended to rewrite it in modern language and allow easier reference.
The earlier wording of the constitution, including all of the amendments approved since adoption in 1857, is printed in the Minnesota Legislative Manual 1973–74, pages 445–484.
There are seventeen sections, including many that echo the amendments to the United States Constitution by subject, but not necessarily by language.
For example, Section 3 states that "the liberty of the press shall forever remain inviolate, and all persons may freely speak, write and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right."
Despite the affirmative protections of Section 3, the Minnesota Supreme Court has followed the majority position of most states, rejected the position of the Supreme Court of California in the landmark case of Robins v. Pruneyard Shopping Center, and stubbornly refused to interpret such language any differently from the First Amendment.
The court's most recent case on this issue was State v. Wicklund, in 1999, which involved a failed attempt by fur-coat protesters to demonstrate at the privately owned but publicly financed Mall of America.
In the 1994 case of Ascher v. Commissioner of Public Safety, the court held that DWI sobriety checkpoints, while constitutional under the Fourth Amendment, were unconstitutional under Article 1, Section 10.
Article XIV of the constitution is dedicated to discussing the public highway system of the state and the methods of funding.
Still, it includes explicit provisions for the powers and duties of state officers, schools, taxes, banking, highways, and legislative apportionment, as well as extensive sections on natural resource conservation and progressive social policy[1]
