Ohio Constitutional Convention delegates

Composite portrait comprised of photographs depicting 104 delegates to the 1873-1874 Ohio Constitutional Convention. Beneath the portraits, the men's names and home counties are listed. In October 1871, Ohio voters called for the state government to organize a constitutional convention. The legislature did not act until January 1873, when it called for an election to select representatives for the convention. The convention met for the first time in May 1873 in Columbus, and included fifty members of the Republican Party, forty-six members of the Democratic Party, and nine Independents. Despite having received a mandate from Ohio residents to replace the Constitution of 1851, the convention acted slowly. It took a full year before the convention had a new constitution to submit to Ohio voters. From May to August 1873, the convention met in Columbus before reconvening in Cincinnati in December 1873, where it remained until May 1874. In August 1874, the convention sent the new constitution to Ohio's voters for ratification. Voters clearly rejected the constitution by a vote of 102,885 in favor of ratification and 250,169 opposed to the document's adoption. The state did not hold another constitutional convention until 1912