This book is the first from the Comparative Constitutions Project, a long-term research initiative we began several years ago with the goal of understanding the origins, characteristics, and consequences of written constitutions for most independent states. As part of this project, we have since identified and collected the texts of nearly all national constitutions from 1789 onward, and we are engaged in a systematic effort to code their contents along a wide range of dimensions. Readers interested in details of the project can find more information at www.comparativeconstitutionsproject.org. Logically prior to the collection of constitutional texts and a coding of their contents comes an accounting of when, exactly, the various documents came to exist and when they were replaced. This sort of census requires comprehensive historical information on the chronologies of national constitutions, including dates of birth, death, and amendment. In seeking genealogical data about, say, the whereabouts of the Ecuadorian constitution of 1830, we frequently came across veritable “obituaries” that reported the circumstances of death. It was not long before we were deeply engaged in questions of the mortality and endurance of these constitutions ourselves.

This book has its origins at the University of Illinois, where Elkins and Ginsburg were colleagues in the Political Science Department and the Law School, respectively, and where Melton received his doctorate. We are especially grateful to Peter Nardulli, Director of the Cline Center for Democracy at the University of Illinois, for his early and continuing support, friendship, and faith in our project, and to Richard Cline for his vision in endowing the Center and our efforts.