Paradox of Self-Amendment by Peter Suber Prior constitutions: none AC amended? Yes. August 25, 1970; August 27, 1974. Arizona Current constitution: 1910 AC: Article 21 Prior constitutions: none AC amended? No. Arkansas Current constitution: 1874 AC: Article 19, §22 Prior constitutions: 1868 AC: Article 13 1864 AC: Article 4, unnumbered § after §32 1861 AC: Article 4, §34 1836 AC: Article 4, unnumbered § after §34 AC amended? Yes. February 16, 1925. Comment. The Speaker of the Akansas House initially declared that the amendment to the current AC had been defeated, January 15, 1921; the Special Supreme Court ultimately declared that it had been validly adopted in Brickhouse v. Hill, 167 Ark. 513, 268 S.W. 965 (1925). The ACs of the 1836, 1861, and 1864 constitutions were identical, preventing indirect self-amendment for those years. California Current constitution: 1879 AC: Article 18 Prior constitutions: 1849 AC: Article 10 AC amended? Yes, but only by the addition of AC §§3 and 4 in 1970. The 1849 AC §2 was amended November 4, 1856. Comment. The amendment to the 1849 AC provided procedures for ratifying a new constitution after a convention, thus paving the way for the 1879 constitution. Colorado Current constitution: 1876 AC: Article 19 Prior constitutions: none AC amended? Yes. AC §2 was amended November 6, 1900. Comment. Article 2, §2, of the Bill of Rights asserts that "the people...have the sole and exclusive right...to alter and abolish their constitution and form of government whenever they may deem it necessary, provided such change be not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States." Connecticut Current constitution: 1965 AC: Articles 12, 13 Prior constitutions: 1955 AC: Article 11 1818 AC: Article 11 1776 AC: none AC amended? Yes. November 27, 1974. Comment. The 1955 AC was repealed and replaced by its own authority, August 5, 1955. The 1818 AC was never amended. The 1776 "constitution" was actually a "constitutional ordinance" passed by the General Assembly under the authority of the colonial charter of 1662; it contains only a Bill of Rights. Delaware Current constitution: 1973 AC: Article 10 Prior constitutions: 1897 AC: Article 16 1831 AC: Article 9 1792 AC: Article 10 1776 AC: Article 30 AC amended? No. Comment. The 1776 AC contains a self-entrenchment clause immunizing several sections from "violation", apparently forever. One must assume that amendment was intended, along with violation, as it is superfluous to forbid violation of a constitution and suspect to forbid violation of only some sections. If the clause prohibited amendments, then, it was violated by the replacement of the 1776 constitution in 1792, and the violation was accepted as valid lawmaking. In December of 1851 a constitutional convention assembled, but it adjourned the next day in doubt of its own legality. It reconvened in March of 1852 and debated its legality for a week, finally deciding it had authority to write a new constitution. Its product differed very little from the 1831 constitution, which itself differed very little from the 1792 constitution. Nevertheless, the people overwhelmingly rejected it in the first popular 179