Part Two The Wyoming Constitution and Commentary, Art.I Declaration of Rights

The Wyoming Constitution’s Declaration of Rights, in contrast to the ten federal Bill of Rights amendments, contains thirty-nine separate provisions that enumerate an array of individual rights, several of which are without counterpart in the U.S. Constitution. By placing these extensive individual rights provisions in the first article, the Wyoming framers plainly expressed their belief that liberty, freedom, and equality represented important constitutional values meriting legal protection for the new state’s citizens. In 1890, despite the addition of the...