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.

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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.

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The collection is arranged in three series

Series List

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Researchers wishing to find materials related to this collection should search the HELIN catalog with these index terms -- View the catalog record for this collection.

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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 Library, Special and Archival Collections

The collection was donated in 1974 by Patrick T. Conley.

The collection was originally processed in 1974 and re-processed in 2009.

Finding aid prepared by Margo Guditus.

Finding aid encoded by Margo Guditus, 2009

Open for research.

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.

There are no known separated materials.

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:

Rhode Island, Constitutional Convention (1973). The proceedings of the Rhode Island constitutional convention of 1973 / compiled and edited by Patrick T. Conley, secretary. Providence : Oxford, 1973.

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