The Delaware Constitution of 1776 was the first governing document for Delaware state government and was in effect from its adoption in September 1776 until its replacement by the 1792 constitution.
Background
On June 15, 1776, at the urging of Patriot leader Thomas McKean the General Assembly "suspended government under the Crown", effectively ending the Proprietary government in the Lower Counties, as Delaware was then known. After the passage of the United States Declaration of Independence, the General Assembly met in July 1776 and enacted legislation calling for the August 1776 election of a State Constitutional Convention. There were to be ten members from each County.
The convention met in New Castle, Delaware on August 27, 1776. George Read was elected its President and Thomas McKean was a major contributor to the content of the finished product. The writing was quickly finished and put into effect upon its adoption September 20, 1776 by the convention, less than a month later. It was never submitted for popular approval and was the first state constitution written by a convention elected for that purpose subsequent to the Declaration of Independence.
The members of the convention were generally moderates or conservatives who sought to keep the government as close to the existing one as possible. The major change was the replacement of the Proprietary Governor with an Executive Privy Council, chaired by a President. A second house of the Legislature was created as well. Both measures were meant to restrict the perceived arbitrary exercise of executive authority.
The first independent General Assembly was elected and convened in October 1776, and elected the Privy Council and its President in January 1777.
Provisions
Name
The name was to be The Delaware State. It replaced the old awkward, The Counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex upon Delaware, and its more common informal abbreviation, the Lower Counties of Delaware.
Legislature
The Legislature was called the General Assembly of Delaware and was to meet at least once every year. Only freeholders were eligible for election.
The upper house of the General Assembly was called The Legislative Council, and consisted of nine persons, three persons from each county, popularly elected every third year by the freeholders of the county. They served for a term of three years, except that two of the first persons chosen from each county were chosen for shorter terms to establish the cycle. As a result, there was to be one term expiring each year in each county.
The lower house of the General Assembly was called the House of Assembly, and consisted of twenty-one persons, seven persons from each county, popularly elected each year by the freeholders of the county. They served for a term of one year.
Each House was given rights to organize itself by choosing its Speaker and officers, judging qualifications and elections of its members, establishing its own procedures and rules for filling vacancies. Anticipating what was to come in the U.S. Constitution of 1787, all money bills were to originate only in the House of Assembly.
Delegates to the Congress of the Confederation were chosen annually by joint ballot of both Houses of the General Assembly, meaning a majority of thirty persons would win the election.
Executive
The executive authority of the state was vested in a President or Chief Magistrate. The President was chosen by joint ballot of both Houses of the General Assembly. In the event of a tie, The Legislative Council would have an additional vote and break the tie. The President was to have a term of three years and no longer, and was to be eligible for reelection only after three more years had passed from when he was last in office.
The President was to be paid and had authority, with the concurrence of the Privy Council, to lay embargoes, grant pardons in certain circumstances, and exercise other unspecified executive powers of government. He was also Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the state and had the authority to call the General Assembly into session, but could not prorogue, adjourn or dissolve it. In the event of a vacancy, the Speaker of the House of Assembly was to assume the powers of the President until the General Assembly could select a new person.