Tracking Pennsylvania's Constitution via "50 Constitutions"

"Constitutions are the fundamental law of the land within a particular jurisdiction. A constitution describes the nature of the government and the relationship between the different branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. It also describes various rights provided to the people of that state." Pennsylvania Legal Research Handbook 7 (Frank Y. Liu, et al, 2008).

"The Constitution of Pennsylvania is the supreme law within the realm and sphere of its authority, and all acts of the Legislature and any governmental agency are subordinate to it." 10 Pennsylvania Law Encyclopedia Constitutional Law § 2 (2nd ed. 2019).

Compared to the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions are amended far more frequently. While the U.S. Constitution has been amended only 27 times, the nation’s state constitutions have been amended at least 7,000 times in total. 

As one of the original 13 colonies, Pennsylvania has a long constitutional history. Since 1776, the Pennsylvania Constitution has undergone five versions, seven constitutional conventions, and 113 amendments. This can make it difficult to clearly track changes in the state constitution over time.

The University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative recently published their “50 Constitutions” project. While the project is ongoing, the aim is to make state constitutions more accessible by providing a repository of searchable constitutional text and research tools. Notably, the project features tools to track constitutional change over time; users can compare a provision's language as it existed on different dates and pinpoint textual changes.

This project allows users to track changes to Pennsylvania’s Constitution by provision, or by year. The Constitution’s provisions are organized into articles, and each article is split into sections.

Exploring by provision allows users to view an outline of the Constitution, see the Constitution’s full text as it stood on any date since ratification, and compare any amended provision of the Constitution to its earlier version. If choosing to explore by year, users can access a histogram timeline illustrating amended sections by year. This method of exploration also presents users with historical context for specific amendments. 

Overall, the 50 Constitutions Project is a highly useful new tool, freely available to anyone interested in Constitutional history. Be sure to also take a look at our Pennsylvania Constitution research guide for more information