The New Hampshire State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse

Information on New Hampshire's constitutionally mandated Nov. 8, 2022 constitutional convention referendum, including news, opinion, and history

Comparative Data on New Hampshire Constitutional Conventions

 

“The New Hampshire Constitution of 1784 was the first to contain the specific requirement not only of a separate convention for constitutional action, but also that the work of such convention should be submitted to the approval of the people.”

--Dodd, Walter F. "The first state constitutional conventions, 1776-1783." American Political Science Review 2, no. 4 (1908): 561.

Introduction

In 1778, New Hampshire was the first jurisdiction in the world to change a written constitution via both an independently elected constitutional convention and a popular referendum on its proposals. Its previous 1776 constitutional convention, which included a legislature convened as a convention and no popular vote on the convention’s proposals, was typical at that time.

The first three times New Hampshire voters exercised their new approval power, they vetoed the convention’s proposed constitution. Only the fourth time did they approve–the result of which, New Hampshire’s 1784 Constitution, is the second oldest constitution in the world, .

In 1792, New Hampshire was the first political jurisdiction in the world to implement a periodic constitutional convention. The original period, once every seven years, was later changed to once every ten years. Even when the official period was once every seven years it sometimes had to be changed to an eighth year so it would correspond to a revised general election date.

More than any other state with the periodic constitutional convention referendum, understanding how New Hampshire’s constitutional convention process has worked in practice requires reading more than the spartan description of the process in New Hampshire’s Constitution. New Hampshire’s early tradition of having a convention meet for more than one session, albeit relatively briefly in each session, may be most notable. If a convention proposed amendments the public didn’t like, the convention sometimes came back a second or even third time, usually to see if they could formulate something the public would like. For example, New Hampshire’s current 1784 Constitution was the third try of the same convention. In contrast, the previous convention, convened in 1779, gave up after one defeat.

A convention provides New Hampsherites with options they wouldn’t otherwise get. New Hampshire citizens have been very picky in choosing which proposed amendments to support. That discrimination is a good thing, as it signals voters have been paying attention or don’t want to vote for something they don’t adequately understand.

New Hampshire’s constitution also baked in a high disapproval rate by requiring a two-thirds popular majority to pass an amendment. If a simple majority had been used, the approval rate would have been significantly higher. In 1964, the approval threshold was reduced to three-fifths.

New Hampshire’s 35 Convention Call Referendums Since 1799

Year Yes # No #  Total # Yes % No % Majority? Convened? Convention # Nearest Census Pop. % Pop. Voting ^
2022 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2020 1,377,529 ?
2012 215,679 384,014 599,693 35.96% 64.04% No No N.A. 2010 1,316,470 45.55%
2002 177,721 184,042 361,763 49.13% 50.87% No No N.A. 2000 1,235,786 29.27%
1992 210,340 217,575 427,915 49.15% 50.85% No No N.A. 1990 1,109,252 38.58%
1982 115,351 105,207 220,558 52.30% 47.70% Yes Yes 17 1980 920,610 23.96%
1972 96,794 73,365 170,159 56.88% 43.12% Yes Yes 16 1970 737,681 23.07%
1962 94,597 49,418 144,015 65.69% 34.31% Yes Yes 15 1960 606,921 23.73%
1954 64,813 37,494 102,307 63.35% 36.65% Yes Yes 14 1950 533,242 19.19%
1946 49,230 29,336 78,566 62.66% 37.34% Yes Yes 13 1950 533,242 14.73%
1937 20,559 20,462 41,021 50.12% 49.88% Yes Yes 12 1940 491,524 8.35%
1928 29,848 21,831 51,679 57.76% 42.24% Yes Yes 11 1930 465,293 11.11%
1924 22,520 42,616 65,136 34.57% 65.43% No No N.A. 1920 443,083 14.70%
1916 21,589 14,520 36,109 59.79% 40.21% Yes Yes 10 1920 443,083 8.15%
1910 23,105 15,541 38,646 59.79% 40.21% Yes Yes 9 1910 430,572 8.98%
1900 10,571 3,287 13,858 76.28% 23.72% Yes Yes 8 1900 411,588 3.37%
1896 14,099 19,831 33,930 41.55% 58.45% No No N.A. 1900 411,588 8.24%
1894 13,681 16,689 30,370 45.05% 54.95% No No N.A. 1890 376,530 8.07%
1885 *   11,466 10,213 21,679 52.89% 47.11% Yes Yes 7 1890 376,530 5.76%
1883*  13,036 14,120 27,156 48.00% 52.00% No No N.A. 1880 346,991 7.83%
1875 *  28,971 10,912 39,883 72.64% 27.36% Yes Yes 6 1880 346,991 11.49%
1869 * No vote recorded No N.A. N.A. 1870 318,300 N.A.
1868 *  12,219 12,346 24,565 49.74% 50.26% No No N.A. 1870 318,300 7.72%
1864 *  18,422 15,348 33,770 54.55% 45.45% Yes No**** N.A. 1860 326,073 10.36%
1862 *  1,044 12,428 13,472 7.75% 92.25% No No N.A. 1860 326,073 4.13%
1860 *  11,078 9,753 20,831 53.18% 46.82% Yes No**** N.A. 1860 326,073 6.39%
1857*  2,822 18,449 21,271 13.27% 86.73% No No N.A. 1860 326,073 6.52%
1849 *  28,877 14,482 43,359 66.60% 33.40% Yes Yes 5 1850 317,976 13.64%
1846 *  4,583 12,415 16,998 26.96% 73.04% No No N.A. 1850 317,976 5.35%
1844 *  10,855 20,994 31,849 34.08% 65.92% No No N.A. 1840 284,574 11.19%
1837 *   2,821 16,830 19,651 14.36% 85.64% No No N.A. 1840 284,574 6.91%
1833 * July  5,973 12,183 18,156 32.90% 67.10% No No N.A. 1830 269,328 6.74%
1833 * January  4,623 11,818 16,441 28.12% 71.88% No No N.A. 1830 269,328 6.10%
1820 *  2,407 13,853 16,260 14.80% 85.20% No No N.A. 1820 244,155 6.66%
1813 *  532 16,141 16,673 3.19% 96.81% No No N.A. 1810 214,460 7.77%
1806 *  1,722 10,903 12,625 13.64% 86.36% No No N.A. 1810 214,460 5.89%
1799 *  2,478 4,246 6,724 36.85% 63.15% No No N.A. 1800 183,858 3.66%
1791 ** N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. Yes 4 1790 141,885 N.A.
1781 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. Yes 3 N.A. N.A. N.A.
1778 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. Yes 2 N.A. N.A. N.A.
1776 *** N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. Yes 1 N.A. N.A. N.A.

Sources: New Hampshire State Library Legislative Service; New Hampshire Red Book; The State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse
^ % of the Voting Population: In the 18th Century women, blacks, and those without substantial property weren’t allowed to vote. Not until the 20th Century would women receive the vote, hence the low % here.
*Date of legislative act authorizing the referendum.
** 1791: The call was mandated by the 1784 constitution.
*** 1776: Called directly by the legislature; that is, without a popular vote.
**** 1860 and 1864: The convention call received a majority vote in both 1860 and 1864 but the legislature refused to convene a convention due to the Civil War.
Missing Call: The legislature failed to place the constitutionally required constitutional convention call on the ballot in 1827.

New Hampshire’s 17 Constitutional Conventions

Convention Number Year Convention Began Session Number Date Session Began Date Session Ended Delegates # Amendments Proposed by Session # Date of Ratification Vote Convention tallies ratification vote Amendments Approved # Amendments Rejected # Amendments Receiving Majority #* Amendments Receiving Majority Rejected #
17 1984 1 5/9/1984 6/28/1984 ? 10 amendments ? No 6 4
16 1974 1 5/8/1974 6/26/1974 ? 5 amendments ? No 2 3
15 1964 1 5/13/1964 7/8/1964 ? 8 amendments ? No 5 3
14 1856 2**** 12/2/1959 12/4/1959 ? 1 amendment ? No 1 0
14 1956 1 5/13/1956 5/13/1956 ? 3 amendments ? No 2 1
13 1948 1 5/12/1948 6/4/1948 ? 11 amendments 11/1948 and 11/7/1950*** No 3 8
12 1941 2 9/23/1941 9/26/1941 ? 3 amendments 11/3/1942 No 3 0
12 1938 1 5/11/1938 6/1/1938 ? 4 amendments 11/6/1938 No 1 3
11 1930 1 6/4/1930 6/13/1930 ? 5 amendments ? No 0 5
10 1923 4 2/16/1923 2/16/1923 ? 1 amendment ? No 0 1
10 1921 3 1/28/1921 1/28/1921 ? ? ? No 0 ?
10 1920 2 1/13/1920 1/29/1920 ? 7 amendments ? No 0 7
10 1918 1 6/5/1918 6/7/1918 ? 0 N.A. N.A. 0 0
9 1912 1 6/5/1912 6/22/1912 ? 12 amendments ? No 4 8
8 1902 1 12/2/1902 11/4/1902 ? 10 amendments ? No 4 6
7 1889 1 1/2/1889 1/12/1889 ? 7 amendments 3/1889 No 5 2
6 1876 1 12/6/1876 12/17/1876 ? 15 amendments 3/13/1877 No 11 4
5 1850 2 12/3/1850 1/3/1851 ? 3 amendments 3/1852 Yes; 4/17/1852 1 2
5 1850 1 11/6/1850 11/22/1850 ? 15 amendments 3/1851 (2nd Tuesday) Yes 0 15
4 1791 2 5/31/1792 8/27/1792 ? 1 amendment ? Yes; 9/5/1792 1 0
4 1791 1 9/7/1791 2/241792 ? 72 amendments ? Yes; 5/30/1792 46 26
3 1781 3 6/1783 (first Tuesday) ? 54 One Constitution ? Yes; 10/31/1783 1 0
3 1781 2 8/21/1782 ? 54 One Constitution ? Yes; 12/1782 (last Tuesday) 0 1
3 1781 1 6/1781 (1st Tuesday) ? 54** One Constitution ? Yes; 1/1782 (4th Wednesday) 0 1
2 1778* 1 6/10/1778 6/5/1779 74 One Constitution ? Yes; 9/1779 (3rd Tuesday) 0 1
1 1775 1 12/21/1775 1/5/1776* from 102 towns One Constitution N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A.

* 1778: First time in U.S. history and possibly world history where a convention of elected delegates separate from the legislature had met to propose written constitutional laws that were then submitted to popular vote.
** 1781: More than half the towns failed to send delegates to the convention.
*** 1948: Six of the amendments were on the 1948 ballot and five on on the 1950 ballot.
**** 1956: One amendment passed in 1956 was invalidated in 1957 by a New Hampshire court because the question was improperly worded. The convention reconvened in 1959 and reworded the question, and in 1960 the voters approved the reworded question.