In January of 1973 an act was passed by the General Assembly of Rhode Island to convene a Constitutional Convention to amend the state's constitution. It was the eleventh convention to gather in the state and only the fifth to be held in a limited form. A limited convention is called to restrict the proceedings to specific prearranged constitutional questions. These included the revision of election laws, the repeal of the prohibition of lotteries, the review of legislator compensation, and the reform of Grand Jury functions in the Judicial System.
The convention opened on September 4, 1973 and the delegates began working on producing an item by item referendum to be voted upon during the Nov. 6th general election of that year. During the month the convention was in session a total of ninety-one proposals were submitted as amendments to the constitution. Of those proposals only seven were approved to be on the election ballot. On November 6, 1973 voters passed five of those seven amendments.
The most important amendments that passed dealt with the reforming of election laws, the procedures for amending the state's basic law, and the procedures for calling future open conventions at regular intervals. The two proposals that were rejected in close voter races, were reforms increasing legislative pay to $2,000 per year and giving four year terms to the state's general officers.
The 1973 Rhode Island Constitutional Convention can be called one the more productive gatherings in Rhode Island's Constitutional history producing some of the greatest changes in the state's basic law.
In 1973 the Rhode Island electorate voted to call a convention to discuss amending specific sections of the State Constitution. Several amendments were adopted by voters during the general election of November 6, 1973. Included here are convention rules and other administrative documents, session journals, publicity, and research on the issues considered.
The collection is arranged in three series
Researchers wishing to find materials related to this collection should search the HELIN catalog with these index terms --
Open for research.
The collection was donated in 1974 by Patrick T. Conley.
Prior to its donation to Providence College, the collection was acquired and maintained by Patrick T. Conley while he was acting as the Secretary of the Convention.
Rhode Island Constitutional Convention of 1973, Providence College, Phillips Memorial Library, Special and Archival Collections
The collection was originally processed in 1974 and re-processed in 2009.
Some materials may be restricted. For further information contact Special and Archival Collections, Phillips Memorial Library, Providence College.
Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Librarian of Special and Archival Collections when in compliance to the College's policy on copyright and publication.
Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Providence College Phillips Memorial Library. Although Providence College has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Certain restrictions may be imposed to protect the confidentiality of living individuals.
Digital ImagesThis finding aid includes links to digital images of some or all of the collection. The images presented here are provided as historical resources in support of study and research.
The digital images linked to this finding aid may be used for educational and scholarly purposes, but any such use requires that the preferred citation is included with that use. For commercial use contact Special and Archival Collections, Phillips Memorial Library, Providence College.
Prior to the 1973 convention, a similar convention was held in 1964 in an attempt to rewrite the Rhode Island Constitution, and in 1986, a third convention was held again in an attempt to amend the Rhode Island Constitution. Providence College holds the records of both of these conventions.
For the availablity of bound copies of the official Journal of the proceedings, see:
There are no known separated materials.
This series contains the typed manuscripts and the published journals detailing each session of the convention. The published journal for the September 25th session (vol. 1, no. 6) is missing, however, the typed manuscript for that session is available.
The series is arranged chronologically.
This series contains the typed minute notes of committee meetings, hand written minute notes of meetings, research materials collected, and reports completed by individual committees.
The series is arranged alphabetically.
This series contains the final proposals and resolutions of the 1973 Rhode Island Constitutional Convention, newspaper clippings, and lists of delegates and officers who attended the convention. The collection also contains correspondence and public statements by Patrick T. Conley concerning the convention.
This series has no special arrangement.