The Alabama Constitution is the basic governing document of the U.S. state of Alabama. It was adopted in 1901 and is the sixth constitution that the state has had. At over 310,000 words, the document is 12 times longer than the average state constitution, 40 times longer than the U.S. Constitution, and is the longest constitution anywhere in the world. About 90 percent of the document's length comes from its 743 amendments. About 70 percent of those amendments cover only a single county or city, and some deal with salaries of specific officials [1] (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeOfAlabama/Constitution/1901/CA-246323.htm).

This length is both due to and the cause of heavy centralization of government power in the state capitol, Montgomery, leaving very little authority to local units. Counties cannot even legislate on local issues, requiring the state legislature to spend about half of its time passing local laws. The document has been amended for such diverse topics such as bingo [2] (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeOfAlabama/Constitution/1901/CA-246351.htm), mosquito control, catfish, soybeans, dead farm animals, beaver tails, and prostitution. The complexity of the document has led some to term it "a monster" and has prompted a movement to replace it with a seventh state constitution.

The document has been heavily criticized for racist elements, as the constitution deliberately disenfranchised Black American voters. Until as recently as 2000, it prohibited interracial marriage: "The legislature shall never pass any law to authorize or legalize any marriage between any white person and a Negro, or descendant of a Negro." The constitution still requires racially segregated education in the state [3] (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeOfAlabama/Constitution/1901/CA-245806.htm), though federal law makes these provisions moot. A proposal to strike the segregation requirement was defeated narrowly in 2004. [4] (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6596687/).

The constitution includes many other provisions that are archaic or inappropriate, although these too have often been rendered moot by federal laws and court rulings. For instance, section 86 mandates that "The legislature shall pass such penal laws as it may deem expedient to suppress the evil practice of dueling." Section 97 prohibits deceased officials from receiving a salary. Section 177 denies women the right to vote by confining voting rights to "male citizens." Section 191 deals with "the evils of intoxicating liquors at elections." The rather wordy (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeOfAlabama/Constitution/1901/CA-245791.htm) section 244 deals with granting of free railroad tickets to elected officials; section 245 prohibits railroads from misleading customers as to their rates.

Efforts to remove or amend these have so far proved unsuccessful.

External links

• Text of the Constitution (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeOfAlabama/Constitution/1901/Constitution1901_toc.htm)
• Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (http://www.constitutionalreform.org/)