Constitution of South Dakota
1889
South Dakota adopted its constitution in 1889 upon achieving statehood, the same year the Dakota Territory was divided and both North and South Dakota entered the Union simultaneously. The document was drafted at a constitutional convention held in Sioux Falls and reflects the agrarian and populist concerns of the Great Plains settlers who wrote it, including robust provisions on taxation, corporate regulation, and the rights of labor. It established a strong bill of rights drawn partly from the Ordinance of 1787 and has been amended frequently in the decades since, with South Dakotans making extensive use of the initiative and referendum processes added in 1898.
Preamble
We, the people of South Dakota, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberties, in order to form a more perfect and independent government, establish justice, insure tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and preserve to ourselves and to our posterity the blessings of liberty, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the state of South Dakota.
Article VI — Bill of Rights
Section 1. All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring and protecting property and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Section 2. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to defend in person and by counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him; to have a copy thereof; to meet the witnesses against him face to face; to have compulsory process served for obtaining witnesses in his behalf, and to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed. Section 3. The right to bail shall not be denied, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great. Excessive bail shall not be required, excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. Section 4. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause supported by affidavit, particularly describing the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized.