Georgia’s Constitution of 1945 became effective, replacing the Constitution of 1877 after nearly sixty-eight years. Its adoption marked a major institutional moment in twentieth-century Georgia government. The document emerged from a reform movement that sought to reorganize a state constitution burdened by hundreds of amendments and provisions accumulated since Reconstruction. Although the new constitution retained much of the substance of its predecessor, it reorganized Georgia’s fundamental law, established several new constitutional offices and agencies, and provided the governmental framework under which the state operated during a critical period of postwar economic, political, and social change.
The Constitution of 1877 had been created after Democrats regained political control of Georgia following Reconstruction. Its framers deliberately restricted governmental authority and included extensive detail concerning taxation, public debt, corporations, local government, and other subjects. Over time, those restrictions made constitutional amendments necessary for matters that often could have been handled by ordinary legislation. During its existence, the 1877 constitution was amended 301 times. The growing number of amendments produced calls for comprehensive revision as Georgia became increasingly urbanized and its governmental responsibilities expanded.
An important step toward revision occurred in 1931, when the University of Georgia’s Institute of Public Affairs published A Proposed Constitution for Georgia. Although intended primarily to encourage discussion, the publication helped sustain interest in constitutional reform. The effort gained political force after Ellis Arnall became governor in 1943. In March 1943, the General Assembly authorized a twenty-three-member commission to revise the constitution. Arnall chaired the commission, whose membership represented Georgia’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
The procedure itself was historically significant. Previous Georgia constitutions had normally resulted from constitutional conventions. The 1945 document instead became the first state constitution in the United States proposed through a constitutional commission rather than a convention. The commission worked through subcommittees for approximately two years and completed its proposed document in January 1945. The General Assembly subsequently conducted public hearings before considering the proposal. Rather than formally abolishing the Constitution of 1877 and beginning through an entirely separate convention process, lawmakers presented the new constitution as House Resolution No. 11, a single comprehensive amendment replacing the articles and accumulated amendments of the existing constitution.
Georgia voters approved the proposed constitution in August 1945. Governor Arnall proclaimed it on August 13, establishing the Constitution of 1945 as the state’s fundamental law. Despite the extensive revision process, the resulting document represented continuity as well as reform. Approximately 90 percent of its provisions derived from the Constitution of 1877. Much of the revision concerned organization, clarification, consolidation, and the incorporation of governmental institutions that had developed since the nineteenth century.
Several substantive changes nevertheless carried lasting importance. The constitution created the office of lieutenant governor, adding a separately elected constitutional officer to Georgia’s executive structure. It provided for new constitutional offices and formally recognized government functions that had developed as the state administration expanded. It established a State Board of Corrections and a Department of Veterans Service, reflecting major areas of public administration in the mid-twentieth century. The veterans provision was especially timely in 1945, when hundreds of thousands of Georgians who had served during World War II were entering the postwar period.
The constitution also authorized women to serve on juries. Georgia women had obtained voting rights through the Nineteenth Amendment and state legislation decades earlier, but jury participation remained separately regulated. Constitutional authorization of female jury service therefore represented an important alteration in the formal civic responsibilities available to women. The document also increased the Georgia Supreme Court from six justices to seven, modifying the structure of the state’s highest judicial body.
The Constitution of 1945 proved important partly because of its longevity and partly because its limitations encouraged later constitutional reform. Although more orderly than the heavily amended Constitution of 1877, it continued many detailed restrictions inherited from the nineteenth-century document. Amendments again accumulated as state and local governments confronted changing administrative needs. Efforts to revise it began by the early 1960s. Georgia ultimately adopted another constitution in 1976, followed by the substantially reorganized Constitution of 1983.
The events of August 13, 1945, therefore represented both constitutional change and constitutional continuity. Georgia replaced a Reconstruction-era governmental charter while preserving most of its substantive provisions. At the same time, the state established new institutions, reorganized existing governmental authority, and adopted a constitutional structure better aligned with mid-twentieth-century administration. The Constitution of 1945 governed Georgia during decades that included rapid economic development, urban growth, civil rights conflicts, judicial changes, and major transformations in state government. Its adoption remains a significant milestone in Georgia’s continuing history of constitutional revision.
References / More Knowledge:
Digital Library of Georgia. “Constitution of the State of Georgia, 1945.” Georgia Archives, Enrolled Acts and Resolutions, House and Senate, Legislature, RG 37-1-15.
https://dlg.usg.edu/record/gaarchives_adhoc_288
Digital Library of Georgia. “Constitution of the State of Georgia Ratified, August 7, 1945, Proclaimed, August 13, 1945.” University of Georgia, Map and Government Information Library.
https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bc600-b-ps1-bc6-b1971
Hill, LaVerne W., and Melvin B. Hill. “Georgia Constitution.” New Georgia Encyclopedia. University of Georgia Press and Georgia Humanities.
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/georgia-constitution/
State of Georgia. “Georgia Constitution of 1945, Effective August 13, 1945.” University of Georgia School of Law, Current and Historical Georgia Constitutions & Related Materials.
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/ga_constitutions/31/
State of Georgia. “Records of the Commission of 1943–1944 to Revise the Constitution of Georgia, Vol. II.” University of Georgia School of Law.
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/ga_constitutions/83/
Saye, Albert B. “Georgia’s Proposed New Constitution.” American Political Science Review 39, no. 3 (1945): 459–463.
https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/apsrev/v39y1945i03p459-463_05.html