Georgia Capitol Museum

It's part 2 of our Georgia Day post! Here is a guide to Georgia's Constitutions (1865-1983)

Milledgeville, Georgia 1865
After the Civil War ended, Georgia had to create a new state constitution to rejoin the United States. This constitution repealed the Ordinance of Secession, abolished slavery, and repudiated its war debt.
To repudiate debt is when a borrower outright rejects or refuses to honor a debt of obligation; a refusal to pay.

Atlanta, Georgia 1868
During Reconstruction in Georgia, the federal government sanctioned a second constitutional convention. This time 37 Black delegates were present, all moderate and radical Republicans. This constitution upheld suffrage for Black men in Georgia.

Henry McNeal Turner
Henry McNeal Turner was one of the 37 Black delegates at the 1868 constitutional convention. He served as a state representative from Macon. Later, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him postmaster of Macon.

Atlanta, Georgia 1877
After years of federal oversight, this state constitution reasserted Georgia’s power to control its own constitutional convention. This constitution was written by 193 elected members and ratified through a popular vote in December of 1877.

Atlanta, Georgia 1945
After the University of Georgia’s Institute of Public Affairs published “A Proposed Constitution for Georgia,” Governor Ellis Arnall yielded to pressure to update the state’s constitution. He appointed a 23-member commission to write a new constitution. The commission worked for two years and wrote a streamlined document. This constitution created the Lieutenant Governor’s office and established a clear line of succession.

Atlanta, Georgia 1976
George Busbee pushed to reorganize the 1945 document without making significant changes to government operations.

Atlanta, Georgia 1983
The goal of the 1983 state constitution was “brevity, clarity, flexibility.” It prohibited the inclusion of “local” constitutional amendments relating to only a particular county, city, or other local subdivision.