Processed by: Archives Staff ; machine-readable finding aid created by:Eric Weig
Kentucky Constitutional Revision Assembly records
1964-1967
University of Kentucky Special CollectionsLexington, Kentucky 40506
Organized: Minutes, Committees, Reports, Speech, Campaign material, and Scrapbooks Arranged basically chronologically within each type of record.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Kentucky Constitutional Revision Assembly records, 1964-1967, 1M67M159, Special Collections, University of Kentucky.
7.6 cubic ft.
The 1944 Kentucky General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a convention to draw up a new constitution for Kentucky. The question was put to the voters in a 1947 referendum, but not enough support was gained for the constitutional convention. In 1948, a Constitutional Review Commission was established. Efforts to enact its recommendations for change by amendment were also unsuccessful. A call for a convention to revise only certain areas of the constitution, which was made in 1960, failed at the polls, too. The 1964 General Assembly created a Constitution Revision Assembly to write a new constitution for consideration by the voters. The new charter did not sway the voters, and the 1966 referendum on its merits had the same results as the earlier efforts.
These records contain correspondence, clippings, posters, reports, promotional literature, and other materials relating to unsuccessful attempts to revise Kentucky's 1891 constitution. The records included minutes for some of the meetings of the Constitution Review Assembley, reports from various committees and subcommittes of the Assembly, Kentucky Constitutions (1792- 1891), and pertinent correspondence from individuals interested in the proposed revision, including Governors Breathitt and A. B. Chandler. There are related clippings and scrapbooks, including several articles pertaining to the 1947 and 1966 electoral campaigns over the question of a new constitution. A speech of Earle C. Clements is also included.