Massachusetts established a constitution-making process that involved drafting a constitution by a specially convened constitutional convention, followed by approval through direct popular ratification by town meetings and voters. Specifically, John Adams drafted the Massachusetts Constitution in 1779, which was then submitted to town meetings for approval. After this local approval process, the constitution was ratified by the people on June 15, 1780, and became effective on October 25, 1780
. This process was innovative for its time because it involved a convention called specifically to draft the constitution rather than having it created by the legislature, and it included direct voter ratification rather than approval solely by legislative bodies. This approach influenced the later process used for the U.S. Constitution, where special ratifying conventions were held in each state to approve the document, bypassing state legislatures to ensure broader public consent
. In summary, Massachusetts established a constitution-making process characterized by:
- A dedicated constitutional convention to draft the document,
- Approval by local town meetings,
- Ratification by popular vote of the citizens.
This process was a model for the U.S. Constitution's creation and ratification.
