Ohio's Constitution

By m.hunt

  • Ohio's first constitution created

    The first draft of Ohio's constitution contained just over 6,000 words and remained unamended for half a century.

  • Ohio's second constution adopted

    The second constitution increased the amount of words to just over 9,000 and was considered to be well-written and thorough yet concise.

  • Draft of third Ohio constitution rejected

    The draft for the third edition of Ohio's constitution, now at 15,000 words, was rejected due to its wordiness and complexity.

  • Decade of most word growth (before 2000)

    Over 6,000 words were added to the constitution between 1910 and 1920, making it the largest addage to the constitution before the 21st century.

  • Addition of 12,000 words

    Between 2000 and 2010, over 12,000 words were added to Ohio's constitution despite the addition of only 10 amendments.

  • Today's constitution

    Today's version of Ohio's constitution contains over 50,000 words and is the tenth longest state consitution. Many legislators and other state government officials believe the constitution to be excessive and overly-wordy, and have publicly criticized it.