Six Constitutions Over Texas

Six Constitutions Over Texas: Texas' Political Identity, 1830–1900 is a 2024 book by American attorney and historian William J. Chriss, published by Texas A&M University Press. The book traces the drafting and adoption of the six Texas constitutions between 1836 and 1876, arguing that each document reflected shifting contests over slavery, economic development, racial hierarchy, and the boundaries of political membership. Chriss employs constitutional theory, comparative history, and close reading of convention debates, personal writings of their participants, newspaper accounts, and other primary sources to show the compromise or resolution of contemporaneous political disputes, including how Texas political leaders used constitutional law to allocate power and resources and define and redefine who counted as a citizen. American historian H. W. Brands wrote the foreword to the book.