Conclusion and Additional Resources

by John L. Sanders, Director of the Institute of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The people of North Carolina have treated their Constitution with conservatism and respect. The fact that we have adopted only three Constitutions in two centuries of existence as a state is the chief evidence of that attitude. (Some states have adopted as many as five or ten Constitutions in a like period.) The relative fewness of amendments, even in recent years, is another point of contrast to many states. It reflects the fact that North Carolina has been less disposed than have many states to write into its state Constitution detailed provisions with respect to transitory matters better left to legislation. The Constitution has allowed the General Assembly wide latitude for decision on public affairs, and legislators have been willing to accept responsibility for and act on matters within their authority instead of passing the responsibility for difficult decisions on to the voters in the form of Constitutional amendments.

Constitutional draftsmen have not been so convinced of their own exclusive hold on wisdom or so doubtful of the reliability of later generations of legislators that they found it necessary to write into the Constitution the large amount of regulatory detail often found in state Constitutions. Delegates to Constitutional conventions and members of the General Assembly have acted consistently with the advice of the late John J. Parker, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (1925-58), who observed:

The purpose of a state Constitution is two-fold: (1) to protect the rights of the individual from encroachment by the State; and (2) to provide a framework of government for the State and its subdivisions. It is not the function of a Constitution to deal with temporary conditions, but to lay down general principles of government which must be observed amid changing conditions. It follows, then, that a Constitution should not contain elaborate legislative provisions, but should lay down briefly and clearly fundamental principles upon which government shall proceed, leaving it to the people's representatives to apply these principles through legislation to conditions as they arise.

References and additional resources:

1835 amendments to the North Carolina Constitution. LEARN NC. http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newnation/4528.

Connor, Henry G. 1908. The Convention of 1835. Raleigh: Edwards A. Broughton Printing Company. http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/connor08/connor08.html.

Government & Heritage Library digital collections

Internet Archive search on North Carolina Constitution (digitized texts)

NC LIVE

North Carolina Constitutional Convention. 1835. Journal of the convention, called by the freemen of North-Carolina, to amend the constitution of the state, which assembled in the city of Raleigh, on the 4th of June, 1835, and continued in session until the 11th Day of July thereafter. Raleigh: J. Gales & Son. http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/conv1835/menu.html.

North Carolina Constitutional Convention. 1868. Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the state of North-Carolina, at its session 1868. Raleigh: J.W. Holden, Convention Printer. http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/conv1868/menu.html.

State Archives digital collections

Walbert, David. 2009. The 1868 constitution. LEARN NC. http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-civilwar/5164.

WorldCat (Searches numerous library catalogs)

• North Carolina Constitution
• North Carolina Constitution of 1776
• North Carolina Convention of 1835
• North Carolina Convention of 1861-62
• North Carolina Convention of 1865-66