An Appeal to Californians to Immediately Undertake a Peaceful Revolution in 1876, and Reorganize Their State Government: Together with an Address by the Same Author on the Same Subject, Delivered in the Senate of California, February 7th, 1856

Shaw was concerned with the small number of people, mainly outsiders, who established the first state constitution without knowing what the state would be like and what it would need. His detailed list of shortcomings included the jury system, selection of judges, local governments, taxation, and limitations on its powers. He proposed a convention to write a new constitution based on better knowledge. His first work was in 1856, seven years after the first constitution. His second proposal came on the eve of the centennial of the nation.