II. HISTORY OF THE SUPREME COURT

The first provincial congress met in Exeter on July 21, 1774, while Governor John Wentworth struggled to maintain royal authority.¹⁰ The last act of the royal governor was taken on the Isles of Shoals on September 25, 1775, when Wentworth sent word to adjourn the assembly until the following spring. This action had no effect. As the royal government faded away, there was no official government for New Hampshire. New Hampshire, unlike the other New England colonies, had no royal charter that could serve as a temporary basis for government.

The Continental Congress responded on November 3, 1775, and recommended that New Hampshire call “a full and free representation of the people” which could, if necessary, “establish such a form of government as… will best produce the happiness of the people… during the continuance of the present dispute between Great Britain and the Colonies.” It was this newly formed house of representatives in Exeter that adopted the first Constitution of the State of New Hampshire on January 5, 1776, some six months before the Declaration of Independence. The people of New Hampshire never voted to accept this Constitution; it was presented to them as a fait accompli by the body they had elected to set up a government.

The brief 1776 Constitution, only 911 words long (about one-third of which consisted of the preamble) was adopted during a time of duress and emergency. A commentator states that the final draft of this Constitution was probably written by Meshech Weare, who had served on important committees in all five provincial congresses and was the president pro tem in two of the congresses. During the Revolution, Weare served simultaneously as chairman of the powerful committee of safety, chief justice of the superior court (which was then the highest state court) and was president of the council, the upper house of the legislature.

All power of government was concentrated in the legislature.

This first Constitution had no bill of rights, no independent executive, no independent judiciary or separation of powers.

In June of 1778, New Hampshire claims the distinction of being the first place in the world where a convention was elected and met for the sole purpose of drawing up a constitution, to be adopted when submitted to and approved by popular referendum. Thus, the convention of 1778 was the first true constitutional convention.

In the spring of 1781, the legislature authorized an election for another constitutional convention. The convention which met in June of 1781 followed the procedure of referring the matter of drafting a constitution to a committee and then reconvening at a later date to vote on the draft.

The drafts presented to New Hampshire voters in 1781 represented a victory for the advocates of an independent judicial branch. Judges, appointed by the Governor and Council, were to serve “during good behavior,” and restrictions were put in place to prevent the holding of several important offices by the same person.

This draft, although similar in basic form to the Constitution of today, was too controversial for the times in 1781 and was voted down. The second draft of the 1781 convention was submitted to the voters in August 1782 and was also rejected.

The third draft of the convention of 1781 did receive the required two-thirds approval of the voters in 1783 and took effect June 2, 1784.

The New Hampshire Constitution of 1784 is the second oldest permanent constitution in the United States, after the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.