Illinois Con Con began 50 years ago

Law and Public Issues

By Ann M. Lousin

Ann M. Lousin has been a professor at The John Marshall Law School since 1975. Before then, she was a research assistant at the 1969-1970 Illinois constitutional convention and parliamentarian of the Illinois House of Representatives. Her treatise “The Illinois State Constitution: A Reference Guide” was published in December 2009. She can be contacted at 7lousin@jmls.edu.

Posted December 9, 2019 9:36 AM

Updated December 9, 2019 11:52 AM

On Dec. 8, 1969, the sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention opened in Springfield. Almost a century had passed since Dec. 13, 1869, when the fourth Illinois Constitutional Convention opened. That convention had drafted the constitution that the new delegates were hoping to revise.One issue dominated both conventions: How to write a basic charter for a state that often seemed split into two competing parts. The commercial Northeast often seemed unrelated to the vast and verdant prairies of downstate Illinois.When Gov …

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