Origins of the Washington State Constitution

In 1888 the authors of Washington State's constitution had dozens of other states and 99 years of experience with the U.S. Constitution to provide them guidance on how to write a state constitution. They also had a powerful belief in liberty and a trust in the people to lead our government. Not to mention a healthy concern about the rail road companies, the most powerful "special interest group" of their day.

Together these influences led our founders to entrust more power over our government to the people and to offer more clearly worded and forceful protections to civil rights than found in the U.S. Constitution and other state constitutions.

People Power

Relative to other states the voters of Washington have more say over our government. Not only do the people select our Governor and legislature, but also many state executive offices and the members of the judiciary. "People Power" was further expanded when the constitution was amended to provide for direct democracy in the form of the rights of Initiative, Referenda and Recall.

Our founders believed that special interest groups could unduly influence Governors, Legislators, Judges and other elected officials, but that they could never control the people and therefore entrusting so many offices to election was a safeguard against corruption.

The people of Washington enjoy superior protections for:

• Free Speech
• The Right to Privacy
• Property Rights
• Rights of the Accused
• The Right to Keep and Bear Arms
• The Separation of Church and State
• Freedom of Conscience

Many of the rights listed above can be argued to be "liberal" or "conservative" but just like the authors of our constitution the Justice for Washington Foundation is committed to protecting them all. We believe in "One Constitution."