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Louisiana’s second constitution was completed in May of 1845.

The delegates gathered in 1844 for their first attempt to update the state’s 1812 founding charter at Jackson in East Feliciana Parish, a location chosen to appease rural interests. But the delegates accomplished little before adjourning.

When they reconvened in New Orleans at the St. Louis Hotel the following January, they found that the questions that had divided them the previous summer were no less challenging. Broadening the right to vote, apportioning representation, diminishing the political weight of New Orleans, protecting slavery and reforming the judiciary were among the most divisive issues.

By the time they wrapped up on May 16, delegates had crafted a much longer and more detailed document than the first constitution, one that, much like the current behemoth, reflected a distrust of the Legislature and other institutions. Delegates placed new restrictions on what lawmakers could do, limited state borrowing, and outright abolished banks and corporations.

The right to vote was extended to all free adult white males who resided in the state for twelve months and in their home parish for six months. Seats were apportioned to favor rural parishes over New Orleans, and the city lost its place as the seat of government. Public schools were required to teach white males “southern ways,” in an effort to maintain support for slavery and white supremacy.

Voters approved the update by a margin of roughly 12-1. But almost as soon as it went into effect, its limitations became apparent.

“Its provision for an unelected four-member supreme court proved problematic,” notes 64 Parishes. “Their indecision led to confusion, unsettled law, and frequent accusations of incompetence. Biennial sixty-day sessions of the general assembly hampered the business of governing. Prohibitions against banking and corporations, aimed at New Orleans, dried up capital and threatened economic strangulation across the state.”

Whigs soon began pushing for a new convention. Democrats feared possible Whig reforms, but the Whigs won the referendum to organize a new convention, which began in July 1852.

Voters narrowly approved the resulting document that November.

Editor’s note: The primary sources for this piece were 64 Parishes and the Law Library of Louisiana.

This piece first ran in the May 17, 2024 edition of LaPolitics Weekly. Wish you could have read it then? Subscribe today!

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