In honor the 150th anniversary of the 1874 Arkansas State Constitution, the Arkansas State Archives will original pages of the 1874 Constitution to communities across the state on a Constitution Road Trip in September and October 2024. The exhibit will give visitors a front-row view of Arkansas’s changing history through its primary legal document. This is a rare opportunity to see up close the document that shaped Arkansas.

Constitutions, federal and state alike, establish fundamental principles that prescribe the nature, functions and limits of government. Arkansas has embraced five constitutions since 1836. Each coincided with a change in the state’s political status: statehood in 1836, joining the Confederate States of America during the Civil War in 1861, returning to the Union near the end of the Civil War in 1864, Reconstruction in 1868 and reaction to Reconstruction in 1874. The 1874 document, amended over 100 times, remains the foundation of the Arkansas code. The Arkansas State Archives preserves the original engrossed copies of all five constitutions on behalf of the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office.

For questions about this or other upcoming events at Powhatan Historic State Park, give us a call at 870-878-6765 or email Park Interpreter Zachary Elledge.