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For Immediate Release: February 23, 2007
Ohio's Original 1802 Constitution Makes Rare Public Appearance on Statehood Day
Click here to see the 1802 constitution - Click here to see the 1851 constitution. These are included in the Society's Ohio Memory online scrapbook available on the Society’s website at http://www.ohiomemory.org
COLUMBUS, Ohio. In celebration of Ohio's Statehood Day, the Ohio Historical Society will display for public viewing the preamble and signature pages of the original 1802 state constitution from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 1 in the Statehouse Atrium in downtown Columbus. The document was last on public display at the Statehouse on March 1, 1995.
There is no admission fee to visit the Statehouse or see the Ohio Constitution.
On August 7, 1953, Congress declared that Tuesday March 1, 1803, the day the Ohio General Assembly first convened, was the official date when Ohio was admitted to the Union. Ohio’s first governor, Edward Tiffin, was sworn into office on March 3, 1803.
All nineteen pages of the 1802 constitution are stored, along with other priceless historical records, in a temperature and humidity controlled vault at the Ohio Historical Center. "While it's important to preserve these records as artifacts and evidence of Ohio's' history, it's also our responsibility to make them accessible to the public,” said State Archivist Jelain Chubb. What better day to share one of the state's most historic documents than Statehood Day?"
The United States Congress approved an enabling act on April 30, 1802, empowering the Ohio territory to begin the process of becoming a state. Thirty-five delegates were elected on November 1, 1802, to form a constitutional convention. The delegates assembled in Chillicothe to write a constitution composed of sections from other state constitutions. This document was approved by Congress on February 10, 1803, and nine days later the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate passed, and President Thomas Jefferson signed, legislation receiving Ohio as a state.
The 1802 Ohio constitution gave virtually all power to the legislature. Although the constitution did ban slavery in Ohio, a motion to grant African Americans the right to vote failed by one vote in the constitutional convention. Dissatisfied with the disproportionate amount of power exercised by the two houses of the General Assembly and their inability to amend the state's constitution, Ohioans called for a new constitutional convention which convened in 1850. It is the 1851 constitution and subsequent amendments upon which state laws are based today.
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Media contact: Michael Ring: 614.297.2313 or mring@ohiohistory.org
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