This page contains a curated list of resources on the history of the Massachusetts 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.
Books
Raymond Landon Bridgman, The Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1917 (1923)
Louis Adams Frothingham, A Brief History of the Constitution and Government of Massachusetts (1916)
Lawrence M. Friedman & Lynnea Thody, The Massachusetts State Constitution (2011)
Samuel Eliot Morison, A History of the Constitution of Massachusetts (1918)
Ronald M. Peters, The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 (1978)
Articles
S.B. Benjamin, The Significance of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, 10 Temp. L. Rev. 883 (1997)
Alexander G. Gray, Jr. & Thomas R. Kiley, The Initiative and Referendum in Massachusetts, 26 New Eng. L. Rev. 27 (1991)
Edward F. Hennessey, The Extraordinary Massachusetts Constitution of 1789, 14 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 873 (1980)
Robert A. Marangola, Independent State Constitutional Adjudication in Masssachusetts: 1988-1998, 61 Alb. L. Rev. 1625 (1998)
Herbert P. Wilkins, Judicial Treatment of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in Relation to Cognate Provisions of the United States Constitution, 14 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 887 (1980)
Alexander Wohl, New Life for Old Liberties—The Massachusetts Declaration of Rights: A State Constitutional Law Case Study, 25 Eng. L. Rev. 177 (1991)
Convention Records
Journal of the Convention for framing a constitution of government for the state of Massachusetts Bay
Official report of the debates and proceedings I the State convention, assembled May 4th, 1853, to revise and amend the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Debates in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention: 1917-1918, Vol. 1
Debates in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention: 1917-1918, Vol. 2
Debates in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention: 1917-1918, Vol. 3
Debates in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention: 1917-1918, Vol. 4
Additional Databases
State Library of Massachusetts, Researching the History of Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution
