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 Constitution’s provisions are organized into articles, and each article is split into sections. Here, you can view an outline of the Constitution, see the Constitution’s full text as it stood on any date since ratification, and compare any amended provision of the Constitution to its earlier version.
Explore by Year
View the constitution’s amendments by year of adoption and historical context for significant amendments.
The Utah Constitution & Its Amendments
In January 1896, after a fight spanning over four decades and six constitutional conventions, Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th state. Utah’s long journey to statehood was the result of multiple obstacles and complications, including insufficient population, Congressional concern over admitting a state that sanctioned polygamy, and struggles involving the state’s position on slavery. After almost a half-century of lobbying and population growth, and changes in the territory’s sociopolitical conditions, including an 1890 renouncement of polygamy by Mormon president Wilford Woodruff, statehood for Utah finally prevailed. Congress passed the Utah Enabling Act, authorizing admission of Utah into the Union, on July 13, 1894. Utah’s first constitution remains in effect today, although it has been amended 132 times.
To amend the Utah Constitution, a proposed amendment must first pass a two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature, then be approved by a simple majority of voters casting votes on the amendment. In 1970, voters ratified the noteworthy “Gateway Amendment,” which allowed for constitutional amendments to implement more sweeping changes across multiple sections of the constitution.
The legislature may also, by a two-thirds majority vote of each house, propose the calling of a new constitutional convention. The convention proposal must be approved by a majority of electors. Only once, in 1966, has the Utah Legislature voted to call a constitutional convention, but it was rejected by voters.
For more information about the Gateway Amendment, see 1971; and for more about the failed convention, see 1966.
Utah State Capitol. Acroterion.
Additional Resources Access links to commonly referenced sources in Utah constitutional research.
Access links to commonly referenced sources in Utah constitutional research.