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{{Short description|State constitution}}
{{Infobox constitution
| document_name = Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
| image =
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| date_ratified = October 25, 1780
| date_effective =
| system = [[
| branches = 3
| chambers = Two ([[Massachusetts General Court]]):<br/>[[Massachusetts Senate]]<br/>[[Massachusetts House of Representatives]]
| executive = [[Governor of Massachusetts]]
| courts = [[Judiciary of Massachusetts|Supreme, Appeals, Trial]]
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| date_first_court = October 25, 1780
| date_repealed =
| number_amendments =
| date_last_amended = November 8, 2022
| location_of_document =
| commissioned = [[Massachusetts Provincial Congress]]
| writer = [[John Adams]]
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}}
The '''Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts''' is the [[Constitution|fundamental governing document]] of the [[Commonwealth of Massachusetts]], one of the 50 individual [[U.S. state|states]] that make up the [[United States|United States of America]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitution of Massachusetts |url=Art. VIII. The senate shall be a court, with full authority to hear and determine all impeachments made by the house of representatives, against any officer or officers of the commonwealth, for misconduct and maladminstration in their offices; but, previous to the trial of every impeachment, the members of the senate shall, respectively, be sworn truly and impartially to try and determine the charge in question, according to the evidence. Their judgment, however, shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold or enjoy any place of honor, trust, or profit under this commonwealth; but the part so convicted shall be, nevertheless, liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to the laws of the land. |website=The NATIONAL HUMANITIES INSTITUTE |access-date=13 February 2021}}</ref>
Created by the [[Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779–1780|Massachusetts Constitutional Convention]] of 1779, the document was primarily authored by American [[Founding Fathers of the United States|founding father]] and future president [[John Adams]]. Following its approval by convention delegates, it was approved by voters on June 15, 1780 and became effective October 25 of that year.
The Massachusetts Constitution was the last to be written among the initial thirteen U.S. states. It was unique in being structured with chapters, sections and articles, as opposed to being a list of provisions. It served as a model for the U.S. Constitution, drafted seven years later, both structurally and substantively, and also influenced later revisions of many other state constitutions.
The Massachusetts Constitution is among the oldest functioning written constitutions in continuous effect in the world,<ref name="levy">{{cite book|last=Levy|first=Leonard|title=Seasoned Judgments: The American Constitution, Rights, and History|year=1995|pages=307|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7lKq0dfs54C&pg=PA307|isbn=9781412833820}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Murrin|first=John|title=Liberty, Power, and Equality: A History|year=2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CADtJymgzk4C&pg=PT222|isbn=978-0495915874}}</ref> predated only by sections of the [[Constitution of San Marino]] and the [[Magna Carta]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Slomp, Hans|title=Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LmfAPmwE6YYC&pg=PA693|access-date=6 July 2011|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-39181-1|page=693}}</ref> It was also the first constitution in history to be created by a convention called for that purpose, rather than by a legislative body.<ref name="levy" />
It has been amended 121 times as of 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=Massachusetts Constitution |url=https://malegislature.gov/Laws/Constitution |access-date=6 January 2023 |website=Massachusetts General Court}}</ref>
==History==
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▲ | image1 = Title Page of the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.jpg
▲ | image2 = First Articles of the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.jpg
▲}}
In the spring of 1775, Adams took the position that each state should call a special convention to write a constitution and then submit it to a popular vote. He told the Continental Congress that:<ref name=samuelson>Richard Samuelson, "John Adams and the Republic of Laws," in Bryan-Paul Frost and Jeffrey Sikkenga, eds., ''History of American Political Thought'' (Lexington Books, 2003), 120-1</ref>
{{quote|We must realize the theories of the Wisest Writers and invite the People, to erect the whole Building with their own hands upon the broadest foundation. That this could be done only by conventions of representatives chosen by the People.... Congress ought now to recommend to the People of every Colony to call such Conventions immediately and set up Governments of their own, under their own Authority; for the People were the Source of all Authority and the Original of all Power.}}
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The next several Articles within the "Part the First" in the original 1780 Constitution of Massachusetts called upon the people of the Commonwealth as being their "right as well as the duty of all men" (Article II) to a strong religious conviction and belief.
{{quote|Article II. It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator, and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his conscience, or for his religious profession or sentiments, provided he doth not disturb the public peace or obstruct others in their religious worship.
Article III continued by noting that "the happiness of a people" and "preservation of civil government" is explicitly tied to religion and morality. This article established the possibility of "town religions" by allowing the state legislature, though Massachusetts cannot declare or recognize a [[state religion]], to require towns to pay for the upkeep of a [[Protestant]] church out of local tax funds, with the town to determine by majority vote the denomination it would support as its [[parish church]].
From 1780 to 1824 these democratically selected parish churches were considered the only churches with full legal rights, as "voluntary" churches ran against the [[Federalism in the United States|Federalist]] ideal of a [[commonwealth]]. Until 1822 all residents of a town were required to belong to the parish church. In that year they were allowed to attend a neighboring town's church instead, and in 1824 full [[religious freedom]] was granted. However, the parishes remained beneficiaries of local taxes and were unable to expel dissident parishioners, since as residents they were members of the parish until they declared otherwise. Soon both dissident churches and the majority [[Congregational church|Congregational Church]] increasingly recognized that this system was contrary to the voluntary nature of religious worship. This section of the constitution was amended by bipartisan consensus in 1834 at the same time that several [[Blue laws in the United States|blue
{{quote|Article III. As the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality, and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community but by the institution of the public worship of God and of the public instructions in piety, religion, and morality: Therefore, To promote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic or religious societies to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily.
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==Articles of Amendment==
There are
The amendment process is governed by the 48th Article of Amendment to the Constitution, which establishes an [[initiatives and referendums in the United States|indirect initiative process]] that requires action by the state legislature, followed by a referendum.
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*[[Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1820–1821]], [[Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1853|submitted]] a number of articles to a popular vote, resulting in the adoption of the first nine amendments and the rejection of a number of other proposals
*[[Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1853]]
*
==See also==
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[[Category:1779 documents]]
[[Category:1779 in the Province of Massachusetts Bay]]
[[Category:1780 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts Bay]]
[[Category:1780 in law]]
[[Category:History of Massachusetts|Constitution]]
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