The constitution of Nevada narrowly bears a resemblance to the United States Constitution. The two constitutions hold a lot of similarities but also they portray significant differences which are shown in the branches of government, amendment process, and the relationship between citizens and the government power. All states in America hold different needs and culture, and therefore, this is the reason why their constitution differs among the states. Article IV of the United States Constitution outlines that it’s the union mandate to develop and acknowledge new states, but this came to be effective after the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 which outlined the process of creating a new state. One of the major requirements in creating a state in future is that the state must have a well-drafted constitution that runs a republican government, and which is governed by an elected representative that is elected by the citizens. Most of these states follow the United States constitution form, including Nevada State leading to similarities between the two constitutions.
The United States’ constitution dates back in the 18 th century it is classified as one of the oldest American federal constitutions since development in the 1780s. In May 1787, the state of Philadelphia chose a delegation to structure the constitution. In 21 st March 1864, the Nevada State was amended, whereby the Nevada residence voted in 31 st October same year to resolve their constitution, create a state government together with a constitution that would be acknowledged into the union and holding equal balance as other States in the united states. The state of Nevada becomes the 36 th state in America to join the United States (Bandurraga, 1998). However, the Union Amendment procedure with the United States of America demanded the State of Nevada to amend a few things in its constitution.
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The first amendment demanded the state of Nevada to abolish all forms of slavery in its territory, which then would become punishable by a criminal conviction to anyone caught in slavery business. In 1865 the United States of America entirely abolished the slave trade and slavery (Bandurraga, 1998). The second Amendment outlined that the state of Nevada should ultimately tolerate any religious sentiment within its territory and not a single person living in this state should be ill-treated or their property damage in the account of their religious believes or worship. Thirdly, people residing in the state of Nevada should renounce their right and title to the misappropriated public land in Nevada, and hence this land should remain as property of the United States. The State of Nevada had no expectation that any land owned the United States citizens residing outside the state of Nevada to be taxed higher land rate compared to land owned by citizens living in Nevada, there was no grant to tax the United States on the land purchased within Nevada territory by the United States unless stated otherwise by the United State Congress (Reid & James, 2004).
When amending the Nevada Constitution the amendments follows the following procedure; the proposed bill or motion passes through simultaneous adjustments before the members of assembly or Senate vote to pass the bill, afterward the amendment go into particular journals. It’s the mandate of Legislature to review these journals to correct mistakes before publishing them for the next three months. The Senate or assembly house votes with must gather majority votes before the Legislature and then the proposed amendments are published in government newspaper and issued to the citizens. If the citizens residing in Nevada agree the proposed amendments through voting, the proposed amendments pass to the second stage of amendments known as the following amendments stage. At this stage, the proposed amendments are entered into the constitution if the bill doesn’t refute or affect another in the same clause. At a point where the two conflicts one another, the bill which receives majority votes is implemented to become a law, nevertheless, if another proposal affecting the clause is raised which refute the previous proposal then the Legislature won’t issue out the proposed amendment to the citizens. Furthermore, if the houses see the necessity to review the constitution or a clause in the constitution, then a request is submitted at the next member of Legislature elections, for the convention vote. If the proposal gathers majority vote, then the Legislature requests convention which is supposed to be held in less than the next six month and members of the convection should be equal or more that of both the Legislature houses and should not be less than third of members belonging to the two Legislature Houses.
When comparing the above Nevada constitution Amendment with that of the United States constitution amendment, you will find out there is significant differences between the two constitution amendments procedure. To propose the United States constitution amendment, it takes a two-thirds member from both Legislature branches to vote in for a change or two-third members of the overall Legislature from various states and must propose a legal proposal. During the amendment process three-quarter of the total convection held are needed to sanction the amendments as both involve the Congress. Nonetheless, the proposed amendments are required not to affect the first and the fourth clause in section nine of the first article which states that not a single state in America will be deprived the rights to vote in the Senate without its consensus (Jefferson, 2008).
The state of Nevada government, as stated in the State of Nevada constitution, comprises of the following government branches which include the executive, legislature and the judiciary. Similarly, the United State government holds the same three government branches. However, the power held by each branch of government is bestowed in a different office of the United States government as compared to the Nevada state.
In the state of Nevada, the authority and power of the Legislature are bestowed in the Senate as well as in the Assembly. These two houses hold sessions at the seat of the government of the state of Nevada. Members of the house of the Senate should not exceed half members of the house of assembly and not less than one-third. On the other hand, the power and authority of Legislature in the United States Constitution are bestowed in the Congress which is made up by the House of Representative and the Senate (Tooker, 2017).
In the state of Nevada, the power of the executive is assigned both to the Governor of the state of Nevada and chief magistrate while the United State president holds the executive power (Jefferson, 2008). The United State federal court is the judicial branch of the United States government as outlined by the constitution while on the other hand the judicial authority in the state of Nevada is in the court systems which consists a Supreme Court justices together with different several lower courts.
References
Bandurraga, P. L. (1998). Bowers, Michael W.," The Sagebrush State: Nevada's History, Government, and Politics"(Book Review). New Mexico Historical Review, 73(2), 175.
Jefferson, Thomas (2008). Second Continental Congress, Constitutional Convention. The Constitution of the United States of America, with the Bill of Rights and All of the Amendments; the Declaration of Independence
Reid, J. B., & James, R. M. (2004). Uncovering Nevada’s Past.
Tooker, E. (2017). The United States Constitution and the Iroquois League. In The Invented Indian (pp. 107-128). Routledge.
