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Idaho State Constitutional Convention 1889

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Idaho's Constitutional Convention went from July 4, 1889 - August 6, 1889. Using the work that began in the standing committees, drafted reports or articles became the ratified Idaho Constitution in November 1889.

Person icon People: 90, Procedure icon Procedures: 1298, Document icon Documents: 152, Voting icon Decisions: 2147 View more »

The Constitution of Idaho (1889) was written from July to August 1889. Following the 1889 Agreement and without the authorization of an Enabling Act by the U.S. Congress, 72 delegates from 18 counties met in Boise City to draft the state’s foundational text.

Like other state constitutions of a similar time, the Convention did not begin with a full, coherent draft of a constitution (such as the Virginia Plan in the 1787 Federal Constitutional Convention), nor did it follow the open proposition approach taken by other contemporary state constitutional conventions, such as the Washington (1889) and the Arizona (1910). In those constitutions, delegates proposed constitutional text in the form of propositions, which were referred to standing committees appointed to consider certain subjects. These committees drafted reports or articles from these propositions, which were returned to the Convention for approval. The Idaho Convention adopted an approach to constitution writing that depended heavily on the work of standing committees. Rather than being presented to the Convention by individual delegates, articles originated in the standing committees. After consideration in the Convention, the articles were enrolled as the Constitution of Idaho, approved by the Convention, and ratified in November 1889.

To construct the Quill timeline, the editors consulted a number of sources, most notably the Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention of Idaho, as well as copies of the propositions deposited in the Idaho State Archives. These documents provided a detailed overview of what occurred in each plenary sitting of the Convention. The committee sittings were modelled from information that could be inferred based on the plenary record. Therefore, the committees provide a rich opportunity for future scholarship.

Compared to other state constitutional conventions, the Idaho Convention was uncomplicated in its committee approach. However, users may be interested in how pieces of proposed constitutional text circulated throughout the Convention. This procedure is captured in a document event’s “Related Events” tab. A more general overview of documents’ journeys throughout the Convention is provided by the “Calendar View”. The “Document Library” view provides a zoomed out look at all documents that were introduced in the Convention and will be compelling to those users who are approaching the project with an interest in particular documents.

LDJ

Senior Documentary Editor

Quill Project

Pembroke College, Oxford.

July 2023.

Part of: Constitution Writing in the American West (NEH).

Full Record

This page shows the complete source-material for this negotiation.

Users with the appropriate permission can use this screen to make changes to the convention records from here.

Full Record »

Guided Research Tools

Guided Research Tools

This page gives access to the main visualizations used to explore the work of committees or individuals.

It is the best place to start if you have specific research questions to investigate.

Guided Research Tools »

Calendar View

Calendar View

This view shows a timeline of the events with an indication the
flow of documents between committees.

This will help make sense of the relationship between committees. The page also shows how busy committees were at different times.

Calendar View »

PCA Analysis

PCA Analysis

This view offers a set of tools to examine shifting alliances.

PCA Analysis »

Topic Overview

Topic Overview

This view shows a summary of the topic keywords associated with events during this negotiation, and
allows users to find events associated with each keyword.

Topic Overview »

Activity Summary

Activity Summary

This page offers a series of views for exploring the work of those involved in this process of negotiation, focusing on the hierarchical
relationship of proposals rather than on the sequence of events. Other tools presented here show the volume of work handled by each committee, or the number of events that each
individual played a leading roll in.

Activity Summary »

Current Document Library

Current Document Library

A tool mostly useful for those using Quill to run meetings.

This page shows the documents currently agreed to or under consideration by various committees.

Current Document Library »

A collection of the Idaho Proceedings and Debates from the 1889 Constitutional Convention.

A collection of the Idaho Proceedings and Debates from the 1889 Constitutional Convention.

A collection of the Idaho Proceedings and Debates from the 1889 Constitutional Convention.

A collection of the Idaho Proceedings and Debates from the 1889 Constitutional Convention.

A collection of the Idaho Proceedings and Debates from the 1889 Constitutional Convention.

A collection of the digital scans of the original newspaper, Idaho News, for the record of the Idaho Constitutional Convention 1889.

A collection of the Idaho Proceedings and Debates from the 1889 Constitutional Convention.

A collection of the digital scans of the original newspaper, the Lewiston Teller, for the record of the Idaho Constitutional Convention 1889.

A collection of the Idaho Proceedings and Debates from the 1889 Constitutional Convention.

A collection of the Idaho Proceedings and Debates from the 1889 Constitutional Convention.

A collection of the Idaho Proceedings and Debates from the 1889 Constitutional Convention.

Cite as: Hector Manzanerez, Joseph Andersen-Stanley, Yana Anderson-Stanley, Ethan Bassett, Daniel Little, Ashlynn Poleman, Caleb Stowell, Hannah Thayne, Nicholas Cole, Lauren Davis, Idaho State Constitutional Convention 1889, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, 2020-2023).