Additional Records & Resources

This page contains a curated list of resources on the history of Iowa Constitution. To the extent possible, links are to publicly accessible copies of the sources listed. Where that is not possible, the link directs to an online database.

Convention Records

1844

Fragments of the Debates of the Iowa Constitutional Conventions of 1844 and 1846

Journal of the Convention for the Formation of a Constitution for the State of Iowa

1846

Fragments of the Debates of the Iowa Constitutional Conventions of 1844 and 1846

1857

The Debates of the 1857 Constitutional Convention, Vol. I

The Debates of the 1857 Constitutional Convention, Vol. II

Books

Oddis Knight Patton, Home Rule in Iowa (1914)

Todd E. Pettys, The Iowa Constitution (2017)

Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh, History of the Constitutions of Iowa (1902)

Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh, Proceedings of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Constitution of Iowa (1907)

Silas Matteson Weaver, Iowa: It's Constitution and Laws (1897)

Articles

Mark S. Cady, A Pioneer's Constitution: How Iowa's Constitutional History Uniquely Shapes Our Pioneering Tradition in Recognizing Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, 60 Drake L. Rev. 1133 (2012)

Bruce Kempkes, Rediscovering the Iowa Constitution: The Role of the Courts Under the Silver Bullet, 37 Drake L. Rev 33 (1987)

Bruce Kempkes, The Natural Rights Clause of the Iowa Constitution: When the Law Sits Too Tight, 42 Drake L. Rev. 593 (1993)

Government Publications

Iowa Constitutional Amendment Citations in the Iowa Acts

Steven C. Cross, The Drafting of the Iowa Constitution

Additional Reports & Databases

League of Women Voters of Iowa, Study of the Constitution of Iowa: The Executive Branch of Iowa Government (1960)

League of Women Voters of Iowa, Study of the Constitution of Iowa: Administrative Agencies of Iowa Government (1961)

The Iowa State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse