Store Research
California Constitution Article I, section 24
As derived from former Article I, section 21 As adopted on October 10, 1849
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Former Article I, section 21 was adopted in 1849 as part of the original California Constitution. (See Exhibit #1) On September 1, 1849, the elected delegates to the first California Constitutional Convention convened in Monterey. (See Exhibit #2) The Convention had been called by Brevet Brigadier General, U.S. Army and Acting Governor B. Riley by Proclamation of June 3, 1849. (Id. at page 5)
On Wednesday, October 10, 1849, Article by Article, the entire Constitution was read for a third time, and passed. (See Exhibit #2, pages 458 and 459) The Convention concluded its work and adjourned on October 13, 1849. (Id., page 474)
By Proclamation of October 12, 1849, the Constitution was presented to the people of California. (See Exhibit #2, Appendix) It was approved by the electorate on
November 13, 1849. (See Exhibit #3, page 4)
Surviving from the deliberations of the Convention is a document, “Report of the Debates of the Convention of California, on the Formation of the State Constitution.” (See Exhibit #2) Approximately 490 pages long, the Report is a recording by J. Ross Browne, printed in 1850 by John T. Towers, of the proceedings of the delegates forming our first Constitution. (Id.) Because this document is unindexed, we have provided a detailed summary of the debates and proceedings prepared by Legislative Intent Service. (See Exhibit #3) As you will see, by using this summary, we can extract relevant discussion from the debates.