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44 Ariz. St. L.J. 513 (2012)
What Didn't Make It into the Arizona Constitution

handle is hein.journals/arzjl44 and id is 517 raw text is: WHAT DIDN'T MAKE IT INTO THE ARIZONA CONSTITUTION Paul F. Eckstein* Jerica L. Peters D. Andrew Gaona*** I. INTRODUCTION After being denied admission to the Union for decades, Arizona's prospects for statehood brightened considerably in 1908 when the Republican and Democratic presidential party platforms supported statehood for the territories of Arizona and New Mexico.' Those prospects brightened even more in the fall of the following year when the new President, William Howard Taft, came to Arizona to express his personal support for statehood.2 But President Taft, ever interested in constitution- making, had a more pointed message in mind. Speaking at Phoenix City Hall on October 13, 1909, President Taft took the opportunity to lecture Arizonans on what should be in their state constitution. Arizonans should, Taft explained, follow the model of the Constitution of the United States and adopt only fundamental limitations upon your legislature and Executive.3 Arizona would be making a great mistake to adopt a constitution lay[ing] down all the limitations that are ordinarily included in a statute.' In issuing this warning, Taft had in mind one particular state constitution that Arizonans should reject as a model- the Constitution of Oklahoma, admitted to the Union two years before, in 1907. According to Taft, the Oklahoma Constitution was *. Partner, Perkins Coie LLP, Phoenix, Arizona. **. Associate, Perkins Coie LLP, Phoenix, Arizona. ***. Associate, Perkins Coie LLP, Phoenix, Arizona. 1. See Republican Party Platform of 1908, AM. PRESIDENCY PROJECT, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29632 (last visited Mar. 21, 2012); Democratic Party Platform of 1908, AM. PRESIDENCY PROJECT, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29589 (last visited Mar. 21, 2012). 2. 1 WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS FROM MARCH 4, 1909 TO MARCH 4, 1910, at 353 (1910), available at http://ia600504.us.archive.org/ 18/items/presidentialaddr00unit/presidentialaddr0Ounit.pdf 3. Id. at 354. 4. Id.

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