Constitution of Florida
One of the requirements for a United States territory to become a State of the Union is that its constitution must be approved by the United States Congress. In order to fulfill that requirement, an Act was passed by the Florida Territorial Council in 1838, approved by Governor Richard Keith Call, calling for the election of delegates in October 1838 to a convention to be held at St. Joseph, Florida. The delegates were to draft a constitution and bill of rights for the Territory of Florida. The Constitutional Convention convened on December 3, 1838, with Robert R. Reid presiding as president and Joshua Knowles secretary. The work of the Convention was carried out by eighteen committees, whose members were familiar with that particular area of government. The process was a relatively simple one since they used the constitutions of several other Southern states as models. Only on the subject of banking did much debate take place. The Convention adjourned "sine die" on January 11, 1839.
Constitution of Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia has had ten different constitutions in its history. Prior to having a formal constitution, a document entitled Rules and Regulations of the Colony of Georgia, drafted in 1776, was in effect. A year later, in 1777, the first formal constitution was drafted, followed by the constitutions of 1787, 1798, 1861 (after joining the Confederate States of America), 1865, 1868, 1877, 1945, 1976, and 1983. All constitutions up until 1945 were drafted by constitutional convention. That year, Governor Ellis Arnall appointed a twenty-three member commission, composed of all three branches of government, to write a new constitution.