The Tennessee Constitution: “Least Imperfect and Most Republican of the State Constitutions”

This essay is part of a 50-state series about the nation’s constitutions. We’ve asked an expert from each state to dive into their constitution, narrate its history, identify its quirks, and summarize its most essential components for our readers.  

The Tennessee Constitution has evolved with the state, from its frontier beginnings to accommodating its 1800s urbanization to a spate of modern amendments. Its text was sometimes progressive when it came to suffrage, allowing non-wealthy men to vote earlier than most states, while also creating barriers for Black men well after the end of the Civil War. Its 1870 Constitution is still the law of the land, but updates have accommodated legislative apportionment and gubernatorial terms, as well as ensured the state constitution could not be read to protect a right to abortion.

History

North Carolina surrendered its western lands, comprising the Union of the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio — better known as the Southwest Territory, to the federal government shortly after it ratified the new U.S. Constitution in 1789 to help pay off its war debts and to raise revenue for the new national government. Seven years later, the Tennessee Constitution paved the way for the admission of Tennessee (the Southwest Territory) as the 16th state. The area’s frontier culture was a contrast to the planter culture that dominated colonial states, as its diverse settlers, who were rich and poor, Black and white, freemen and slaves, pushed west across the mountains and established settlements amid Native territory. The name “Tennessee” comes from the Native American word “Tanasi.”

It was William Blount, appointed territorial governor by President George Washington, who had initiated steps in 1794 to create the state of Tennessee. The first step was satisfied when a 1795 census showed the territory’s population was more than 75,000, easily surpassing the 60,000-citizen requirement for federal statehood. The second requirement was satisfied when the territory’s citizens voted in favor of statehood, prompting Blount to call for a constitutional convention in Knoxville.

Tennessee’s Original Constitution

At the 1796 convention, a 55-member delegation met to establish the framework for the state’s government. Five delegates were selected from each of the territory’s 11 counties, with Blount serving as convention president. Other notable delegates included Andrew Jackson, James Robertson, and William Cocke. The delegates adopted several provisions from the U.S. Constitution as well as from the constitutions of North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

The Tennessee Constitution formed a bicameral legislature vested with nearly total control of the state government. It also provided for a governor who would be elected by popular vote and have limited powers. The newly created legislature had the power to set up the court system, and the judiciary was dependent on legislative appointments. Additionally, reflecting the frontier culture and the fact that many of the drafters were invested in land speculation, the constitution provided for “equal and uniform taxation” of land and slaves. This system of taxation prioritized acreage over actual value, including improvements made to the land, which likely impacted land development and benefited owners of large, undeveloped tracts of land.

The Declaration of Rights in Tennessee’s first constitution was, in many ways, similar to the U.S. Bill of Rights and mirrored standard provisions from North Carolina and Pennsylvania’s constitutions, including freedoms of religion, speech, and the press, as well as rights to assemble peaceably, trial by jury, and counsel. It also prohibited double jeopardy and ex post facto laws.

But unlike the constitutions of North Carolina and Pennsylvania, two aspects of Tennessee’s constitution also distinguished it at the time: its provisions on individual rights and its approach to suffrage. Drawing on the ideals of individual rights and limited government, a core principle of Tennessee’s founding, the original charter asserted the unalienable right of its citizens to actively oppose tyranny, safeguard their freedoms, and hold the government accountable, explicitly rejecting the doctrine of non-resistance. It also specified that only “judgment of his peers” or the “law of the land” could strip a citizen of life, liberty, or property, explicitly recognizing its citizens’ “unalienable and indefeasible right” to overthrow the government.

While nearly every state that ratified the U.S. Constitution had based its voting rights on property ownership, Tennessee extended voting rights to all white and Black freemen 21 years and older who either owned a freehold or resided in a Tennessee county for six months. This approach to suffrage evidenced its unique frontier culture that “recognized each man’s equal share of the risks posed by the wilderness and its native inhabitants.” Tennessee also gave men who served in the militia the right to elect officers. Based on this, Thomas Jefferson reportedly noted that the Tennessee Constitution was the “least imperfect and most republican of the state constitutions.”

Tennessee’s constitution was not submitted to its citizens for ratification. The delegates rushed the document to Washington when they’d finished, hoping for approval before Congress adjourned for the spring. Federalists, concerned that the new state would not support its presidential candidate in the upcoming election, objected to Tennessee’s admission. The Tennessee delegation agreed to a compromise, accepting an initial allotment of a single representative in the U.S. House in exchange for an immediate award of statehood. On June 1, 1796, Tennessee became the 16th state.

Revisions and Amendments

Tennessee’s constitution was revised in 1834 and again in 1870. The first revision made substantial changes to the state’s voting rights, government structure, state taxation system, and addressed the emancipation of enslaved people. Throughout, its Declaration of Rights has remained a constant.

At the time of the second constitutional convention in 1834, the population in Tennessee had grown to almost 700,000 from just over 77,000 in 1795. The explosion in population shifted the state from its frontier culture to that of a growing, urbanized, and established state, which required a more complex form of government. Tennessee’s original constitution was criticized for granting excessive power to the legislature and insufficient authority to the governor and for creating an inefficient and constantly changing court system. There were also serious concerns regarding taxation and state representation.

Sixty delegates assembled in Nashville in May for that second constitutional convention and chose William Carter as president of the proceeding. The delegates’ goal was to craft a new constitution capable of governing a much larger, growing, and urbanized population. Their primary focus was on voting rights, government structure, the court system, and taxes.

Like several other states responding to political pressures to include more white men in democracy while excluding more Black men, the revision explicitly limited the right to vote to white men, disenfranchising property-owning Black freemen who were granted voting rights in 1796. It also removed property ownership as a voting requirement for white men, permitting residency alone to determine voter eligibility for those Tennesseans. This changed the white electorate by eliminating a barrier for less wealthy men.

Like the original constitution, the 1834 revision included a residency requirement of six months. It also substituted “citizen” for “inhabitant,” reflecting Tennessee lawmakers’ new focus on a person having to qualify as a permanent resident of the state and county to gain the right to vote. Qualified, white male voters could elect all county officials, including trustees and sheriffs.

The revised document increased the governor’s power relative to the legislature and altered the process of determining legislative representation from the number of taxable citizens to the number of qualified voters. It also established a state supreme court that consisted of three judges, each hailing from one of the state’s grand divisions: West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and East Tennessee, and defined the county-level court system by creating county Chancery Courts.

Additional changes subjected local officials, including justices of the peace, county registers, and county trustees, to popular elections. The legislature grew to 99 seats in the House, and the Senate was set at one-third the number of representatives, 33, once the state reached 1.5 million residents. An explicit provision addressing the separation of powers was added. Prohibitions were also added related to judicial salaries, and divorce and lottery laws were suspended.

Delegates also focused on tax reform, as the system under the original constitution was outdated and unable to generate sufficient revenue for a rapidly expanding population. The 1834 constitution required all property to be taxed based on its value, which eliminated a long-standing objection from farmers of small farms who complained that owners of fertile land with numerous improvements paid no more taxes than they did. Counties were also granted the power to levy taxes for their own purposes.

Finally, although abolitionists filed 30 petitions to end slavery, their appeals were rejected. Instead, the delegation added a provision prohibiting Tennessee’s legislature from passing any laws for the emancipation of enslaved people, absent their owners’ approval.

The revised document was presented to eligible voters and ratified in March 1835

Post-Civil War Amendments

The government created by the 1834 revision dissolved less than 30 years later. The election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860 led several southern states to secede from the union. While an initial proposal for a state convention to consider severing ties with the United States was defeated by a majority of Tennesseans in February 1861, an attack on South Carolina’s Fort Sumter the following April and Lincoln’s response led a large majority of voters to ratify secession and affiliate with the Confederacy on June 8, 1861, making Tennessee the last state to join. Undergoing “its most volatile and dramatic transformation in the state’s history,” the union prevailed in multiple battles in Middle and West Tennessee and gained control of most of the state.

In March 1862, after the majority of the state had been retaken, Lincoln appointed Andrew Johnson, who had been serving a term as a Tennessee senator as the state’s military governor in recognition of his unwavering support for the union. Johnson ruled with a heavy hand, exercising authoritarian control over the state government. In 1864, Lincoln chose Johnson as his running mate, as a symbol of national unity and reassurance to southerners that they would be treated fairly after the war. Following his 1864 nomination, Johnson prompted the call for a convention in the hope of gaining Tennessee’s free electoral vote. While voting took place in Tennessee during the 1864 election, the electoral votes for Lincoln were not included due to the state’s succession from the union and recent rebellion status.

In January 1865, two months before the end of the Civil War, more than 500 Unionist delegates convened to address amending the state’s constitution and formally rejoining the union. The delegation revoked Tennessee’s secession, voided its Confederate actions, and confirmed Johnson as military governor. It also amended the constitution to abolish slavery. Union party members passed a resolution, allegedly amending the 1834 Constitution, that disenfranchised anyone who was a member or sympathizer of the Confederate government or army. The result was that only those loyal to the union were qualified to vote.

The acts of the delegation, which were approved solely by Unionist voters on February 22, 1865, led to Tennessee’s readmission to the union. Johnson was elected U.S. vice president in March of that year and became president following Lincoln’s assassination. He approved and signed a congressional resolution in July 1866 making Tennessee the first state to rejoin the union after the Civil War.

Six days before Tennessee’s readmission, the state ratified the 14th Amendment. In February 1867, Tennessee’s General Assembly passed legislation that allowed all eligible male state citizens, including Black men aged 21 and older, to vote, provided they had no association with the Confederacy. Of note, while Black male Tennessee citizens were eligible more than three years before the ratification of the 15th Amendment, voting rights were not restored to former Confederates until Tennessee revised its constitution again in 1870. Still, when it came time to ratify the 15th Amendment, some state lawmakers were working to “negate” Tennessee’s law extending the right to vote to Black men, and the state did not ratify the amendment until 1997.

The 1870 Constitution

Just five years after the 1865 amendment that reflected the Union’s victory and disenfranchised former Confederates, Tennessee again amended its constitution to undo the effects of the policies enacted by Unionists, removing political tests and oaths as a prerequisite to vote, and limited gubernatorial powers. A 69-member delegation convened in Nashville in January 1870 to resolve nearly a decade of conflicting interpretations and irregularities in the application of the 1834 constitution. Ex-Confederate general John C. Brown was elected to chair the convention.

The most significant change achieved by the 1870 delegation was the permanent end to slavery in Tennessee.

While the Tennessee delegates were committed to restoring universal white male suffrage to those disenfranchised due to their Confederate ties, there was disagreement over the right for Black men. However, at the time of the convention, the 15th Amendment, which prohibited the federal government and any state from denying a citizen’s right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” had already passed both houses of Congress and was in the process of receiving the required ratification of three-fourths of the states. Although Tennessee would vote not to ratify the amendment, delegates realized they could not repeal the voting rights of Black male Tennesseans because Congress was closely monitoring former Confederate states and presented a legitimate threat of intervention. Therefore, voting rights were available to all male citizens 21 and older. 

While the revision did not explicitly repeal Black suffrage, it created a system with considerable roadblocks designed to prevent the exercise of voting rights. A provision was added that required payment of a poll tax as a prerequisite to voting, compelling all eligible voters to pay “not less than fifty cents and not more than one dollar per annum,” with exemptions for age and infirmity. To vote, a man had to show sufficient evidence that he had paid the assessed tax. While the poll tax was an effective tool to limit Black suffrage, it also impacted poor white men.

Multiple limits were placed on the governor, shifting gubernatorial power to the legislature. These limits included restrictions on suspending habeas corpus, calling out the militia without legislative consent, and appointing local judges or county officials. A provision was included to allow a simple majority of the General Assembly to override a governor’s veto. Any declaration of martial law had to be approved by the General Assembly. The new constitution also set up three constitutional officers: the treasurer, secretary of state, and comptroller, each of whom was appointed by the General Assembly rather than the governor.

Further attempting to gain back the delegates own control, limits were placed on the legislature, including its ability to engage in marathon paid legislative sessions, enact omnibus bills, and commit the state to large debts or lend money or credit to private corporations.

The new constitution also raised the total number of justices on the Tennessee Supreme Court to five, with no more than two justices permitted to be residents of the same grand division. The attorney general’s position was no longer elected, but appointed by the Supreme Court, and the term was extended from six to eight years.

The revision did not alter the amendment process, which relied on the original constitution’s procedure requiring legislative action. The 1870 constitutional revision was adopted in convention in Nashville in February 1870 and its citizens approved the changes by a majority vote the next month. 

Longevity and Later Amendments

The 1870 Constitution was the oldest unamended state constitution in the nation, not undergoing changes until 83 years later in 1953. Subsequent conventions were limited, only focused on amendments rather than drafting entirely new documents. 

In 1953, delegates adopted a Suffrage Clause extending the right to vote to women (though the provision had little practical effect because the federal Constitution’s 19th Amendment extended suffrage to women in 1920), removed the poll tax, and changed the residency requirement to 12 months. While the question of the voting age was a central topic of debate, it was not lowered. Eight amendments were addressed concerning state governance, two of which impacted municipalities. The two key amendments would limit the Tennessee legislature’s power to pass private or special legislation, and the controversial “optional home rule amendment” would permit cities to gain more local control by allowing the adoption of so-called home rule charters. Additional amendments doubled the governor’s term from two years to four years, but prohibited serving terms in succession, provided the governor with a line-item veto, and increased per diem for the General Assembly.

The delegation also addressed the process of amending the constitution itself. It eliminated the requirement that an amendment originating in the legislature could not be considered more frequently than six years, allowing amendments by a majority vote of those voting for governor. A six-year limit was placed on the frequency of constitutional conventions, and all revisions recommended by a convention were subject to voter approval.

Voters ratified these amendments in November 1953.

Limited Constitutional Conventions

In line with the six-year rule, additional conventions took place in 1959, 1965, 1971, and 1977 — with only some resulting in notable changes. The 1965 convention was limited to addressing legislative provisions. The delegates altered the requirements for apportioning legislative seats to one based on population, set apportionment every 10 years, extended Senate terms to four years and staggered them, and reset biennial legislative meetings to meet annually. In addition, legislative vacancies could be filled by county courts, representatives and senators were required to be qualified voters in their districts, and legislators were paid a salary for the first time in addition to per diem. Split sessions were allowed, and the legislature was permitted to call a special session on the written request of two-thirds of each house. The proposals received public approval.

In 1977, the convention permitted the governor to serve two successive terms, barred the state from undertaking deficit spending, and required a balanced budget. Other amendments changed the voting age to 18, struck the interracial marriage ban, and removed a school segregation provision due to federal court rulings. County governments were also modernized. Twelve of the 13 amendments received voter approval in March 1978. Although a proposed amendment to elect Tennessee Supreme Court justices by ratification elections instead of popular vote did not receive voter approval, the Tennessee legislature enacted the Tennessee Plan in 1994, which was very similar to the 1977 amendment rejected by voters.

Further amendments have been proposed directly by the General Assembly and approved by voters through referendums, with most occurring in the late 1990s and after. Examples of significant amendments approved through referendum include the 1998 Victims’ Rights Amendment, a 2002 repeal of the ban on lotteries, and the 2006 Tennessee Marriage Protection Amendment, which restricted marriage to unions between one man and one women. The Tennessee Constitution has been amended 11 times since 2006, including four amendments in 2022, that barred mandatory union membership as a condition of employment, allowed for changes to the line of succession for the governorship, removed constitutional language allowing the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishments, and more.

The Tennessee legislature has proposed several amendments expected to be included on the ballot in November 2026. If passed, they will eliminate the right to pretrial bail for individuals accused of serious felonies, establish and expand enforceable rights and protections for crime victims, and prevent legislature from imposing, authorizing, or permitting any state tax on property.

Interpreting the Tennessee Constitution

Among the most significant decisions that illustrate the Tennessee Supreme Court’s interpretation of the state’s constitution are those addressing privacy interests when determining abortion rights, the custody and use of frozen embryos following divorce, a right to bail, and a limit on municipal fines.

In a case of first impression, the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1992’s Davis v. Davis addressed a former couple’s post-divorce dispute over the custody and use of their frozen embryos, determining that the resolution turned on the parties’ constitutional right to privacy. The court interpreted the Tennessee Constitution’s “law of the land” clause, which mirrors the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause, as encompassing a broad right to individual privacy. The court held that the right to procreate — including the right to avoid procreation — was a vital part of an individual’s right to privacy. The court found the state’s interest in potential human life was insufficient to justify infringing on a couple’s procreational autonomy and decision-making authority over their frozen embryos. When members of a couple disagree over whether to engage in the IVF process or donate the frozen embryos, like the parties did in this case, any prior agreement would prevail, the court determined. If none existed, in most circumstances the party wishing to avoid procreation should prevail.

In Planned Parenthood of Middle Tennessee v. Sundquist in 2000, the Tennessee Supreme Court addressed whether a woman’s right to obtain a legal termination of her pregnancy was a vital part of the right to privacy guaranteed by the state’s constitution. The plaintiffs challenged abortion restrictions like a 48-hour waiting period and a requirement that the procedure be performed at a hospital. The court concluded that the Tennessee Constitution grants broader rights to abortion than the U.S. Constitution’s Due Process Clause and held that the right to terminate a pregnancy is a “vital part of the right to privacy,” the right is fundamental, and the restrictions at issue violated that right.

The ruling struck down certain abortion access regulations but was later overturned in effect by voters who approved Amendment 1 in 2014. Based on the Sundquist holding, several legislators believed any proposed law attempting to limit abortion would fail, so the Tennessee legislature initiated Amendment 1 to resolve the perceived discrepancy. The 2014 amendment provides that “nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.” The amendment meant that abortion rights were no longer protected under the Tennessee Constitution during the time that the right remained protected at the federal level until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. (Abortion is now prohibited in Tennessee at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions where there is serious risk of bodily harm to the pregnant person.)

Tennessee is the only state to constitutionally prohibit fines in excess of a certain amount, unless assessed by a jury. Article VI, Section 14, known as the Fifty Dollar Fine Clause, dates back to 1796 and states, “No fine shall be laid on any citizen of this state that shall exceed fifty dollars, unless it shall be assessed by a jury of his peers, who shall assess the fine at the time they find the fact, if they think the fine should be more than fifty dollars.” In the 2003 case Town of Nolensville v. King, the state’s supreme court held the clause could not be adjusted for inflation, which prevents municipal judges from assessing fines over that amount for ordinance violations.

Tennessee’s Constitution Today

The 1870 Tennessee Constitution is still the fundamental charter for the state. Scholars have labeled it one of “the most difficult of all state constitutions to amend,” resulting in amendments more frequently taking place via the convention process rather than through legislative means. This reference recognizes that amendments through the legislative process require the approval of two consecutive General Assemblies — a majority of members elected to both houses for the first passage and two-thirds of the members elected the following year to both houses for a second passage. To be ratified, a majority of all citizens voting for governor must approve the amendment. Tennessee’s constitutional history reflects the state’s growth from a rural frontier culture of independence and diversity to a war-torn state with divided loyalties and a shifting political landscape, to a state overcoming challenges faced during post-Civil War Reconstruction, to a state with an industrial economy and an active role in the civil rights movement. Established by the persistent and collective efforts of its people, the Tennessee Constitution provides an enduring legal framework for a democratic and representative system of government.

Regina L. Hillman is an assistant professor at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

Suggested Citation: Regina L. Hillman, The Tennessee Constitution: “Least Imperfect and Most Republican of the State Constitutions”, Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ Cᴏᴜʀᴛ Rᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ (Jan. 12, 2026), https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/tennessee-constitution-least-imperfect-and-most-republican-state