Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution
Since 1780, the Massachusetts State Constitution has been amended 121 times. Some amendments affected more than one section of the constitution. Each square below represents when a section was changed by an amendment.
Scroll through the timeline to view amendments to the constitution by year. Additional historical context is forthcoming.
Each block on this histogram represents a change—e.g., a substantive change, repeal & replace, or renumbering—to an individual section rather than an amendment. Some amendments result in multiple changes, resulting in multiple blocks being attributed to one amendment. Likewise, a section may be amended more than once in an year, but these amendments will only appear as one block on the histogram. When a block or blocks are marked red in a specific year, that means that a new constitution went into effect that year.
The Massachusetts Constitution & Its Amendments
The Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest U.S. state constitution still in effect today. Adopted in 1780, it is older even than the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified in 1788. The Massachusetts Constitution can be amended by three methods: legislatively-referred, indirect citizen-initiated, and convention referred constitutional-amendments.
Massachusetts State Capitol. Carol M. Highsmith.