Constitution of Massachusetts

So again, back to that idea, what's going on, Massachusetts?

Well, you know, the Massachusetts Constitution is one of the oldest living constitution documents in the world right at the moment.

But it's remarkable at how arcane it is in some ways that we don't have sort of insight into the governor's office, the state legislature, that it isn't easier to register, to vote and to exercise a right.

And really, for me, We all have the right to vote if you sign up for it.

What about the Pennsylvania's constitutional requirements for men to serve we the people in the state of Pennsylvania? I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked.

Massachusetts Constitution is along the same lines.

In the state of North Carolina, it states, no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Christian religion or the divine authority, whether of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the state, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil departments within the state.

As a matter of fact, in 1892, the Supreme Court noted that each of the 44 states then in the Union had some type of God-centered declaration in its Constitution.

Table.

Popular votes upon articles of amendment to the Constitution of Massachusetts.

On November 4, 1890, two amendments were voted on.

First, change of residence in the state not to disqualify a voter for certain offices for six months.

The rest of the work in 1787 was the establishment and declaration of certain fundamental principles upon which free government was to rest.

In the Constitution itself, the makers acted on the principle that the three great branches of government, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, should be equal, independent, and coordinate.

Their action carried out in practice the fundamental principle of free government, as I conceive it, which is expressed in the Constitution of Massachusetts in specific words.

Let me quote those words to you, for they are, as I believe, a very great and noble declaration.

Here in Massachusetts, the...

Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 begins with the following words.

All men are born free and equal.

And that's going to become birthright citizenship.

We cannot hold a special election for a lieutenant governor.

There is no provision to replace a lieutenant governor in the Massachusetts Constitution.

And then you might ask, "Well, what happens if something happens to the governor? Who becomes governor then?" Or even if he's out of town, who becomes governor, acting governor if there's no lieutenant governor? Which by the way, we went through this in 2013 when, uh, Tim Murray resigned and Deval Patrick just did not, Deval Patrick did not have a lieutenant governor for the remainder of the term.

So that's the way it works.

What would happen is the line of succession means the secretary of state would next be the person who would execute the duties of governor.

They don't become governor.

The Massachusetts Constitution does not, uh, does not call for the person next in line to become governor.

It just says they will assume the duties of the governor.

There were steamships in the harbors, canals across the land, and factory whistles replacing musket fire.

Adams, once a hot-headed Boston lawyer who defended British soldiers in court and later wrote the Massachusetts Constitution, was now mostly confined to his study in Quincy, Massachusetts, reading, writing letters, occasionally muttering about Thomas Jefferson.

He was ninety, a remarkable age, especially for a man who had spent the prime of his life surrounded by war, disease, and colonial dentistry.

He was, for a while, the oldest living former president and the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.