1st Edition
Periodic State Constitutional Convention Referendums Their Development Since America’s Founding
1. Introduction
Part 1: History
2. PCCR’s Democratic Function and Functional History
3. PCCR’s Intellectual History
4. PCCR’s Political History
Part 2: Contemporary Case Studies
5. Maryland 2010: Sedating the Sovereign 1
6. Maryland 2010: Sedating the Sovereign 2
7. Alaska 2022: Campaign Finance
8. Rhode Island 2024: Messaging 1
9. Rhode Island 2024: Messaging 2
Part 3: Recommendations
10. Conclusion
Part 4: Appendices
Appendix Directory
Appendix A: Mandatory Constitutional Convention Call Referendums (1795–2024)
Appendix B: New Hampshire Constitutional Convention Data
Appendix C Maryland 2010 Majority Denominator Data
Appendix D: Alaska 2022 Campaign Finance Data
Appendix E: Rhode Island 2024 Campaign Materials
Index
Biography
J.H. Snider is the leading American expert on the intellectual history and politics of the Periodic Constitutional Convention Referendum and editor of The State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse, with a focus on state-specific clearinghouses when a particular state has a Constitutional Convention Referendum on the ballot.
"Snider's book is a rigorous, unsettling account of how the periodic constitutional convention referendum went from democratic cornerstone to democratic orphan, and what it would take to restore it. "
--Andy Moore, Executive Director, National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers
“Conventions were once called on a regular basis to revise the constitutions of the 50 states and enact significant governmental reforms. In this excellent book, J.H. Snider, the foremost expert on the topic, focuses on the automatic periodic constitutional convention referendum – tracing the origin and development of this institution, demonstrating its benefits and recommending some improvements, and also analyzing and drawing lessons from several recent referendum campaigns.”
--John Dinan, author of The American State Constitutional Tradition
"J. H. Snider has written a truly illuminating book about the most important single political idea of the last 400 years--popular sovereignty, This is a first-rate book in applied political theory that makes very clear the importance of truly popular conventions to the realization of genuine democracy. Political scientists will find especially interesting (and quite dismaying) the carefully developed case studies of several states that elaborate on the hurdles placed in the way of reviving an important aspect of America's constitutional order. The book is especially timely as we consider the full implications of the Declaration and of Independence 250 years ago."
--Sanford Levinson, University of Texas Law School and author of Framed: America's 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance
