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offices during good behaviour; but may be removed by impeachment; and the governor shall also remove them on the address of two-thirds of the members of each house of the general assembly; all other judges and justices of the peace shall be appointed annually. No judge or justice of the peace shall be capable of holding his office after he shall arrive at the age of seventy years.

ARTICLE 6.

Of the Qualifications of Electors.

1. All persons who have been, or shall hereafter, previous to the ratification of this constitution, be admitted freemen, according to the existing laws of this state, shall be electors.

§ 2. Every white male citizen of the United States, who shall have gained a settlement in this state, attained the age of twenty-one years, and resided in the town in which he may offer himself to be admitted to the privilege of an elector, at least six months preceding, and have a freehold estate of the yearly value of seven dollars, in this state; or having been enrolled in the militia, shall have performed military duty therein, for the term of one year next preceding the time he shall offer himself for admission, or being liable thereto, shall have been, by authority of law, excused therefrom; or shall have paid a state tax within. the year next preceding the time he shall present himself for such admission, and shall sustain a good moral character, shall, on his taking such oath as may be proscribed by law, be an elector.

§3. The privileges of an elector shall be forfeited, by a conviction of bribery, forgery, perjury, duelling, fraudulent bankruptcy, theft, or other offence, for which an infamous punishment is inflicted.

§ 4. Every elector shall be eligible to any office in this state, except in cases provided for in this constitution.

5. The selectmen and town clerk of the several towns shall decide on the qualifications of electors, at such times, and in such manner, as may be prescribed by law.

§ 6. Laws shall be made to support the privilege of free suffrage, prescribing the manner of regulating and conducting meetings of the electors, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence therein, from power, bribery, tumult, and other improper conduct.

§ 7. In all elections of officers of the state, or members of the general assembly, the votes of the electors shall be by ballot.

§8. At all elections of officers of the state, or members of the general assembly, the electors shall be privileged from arrest during their attendance upon, and going to and returning from, the same, on any civil process.

9. The meetings of the electors for the election of the several state officers, by law annually to be elected, and members of the general assembly of this state, shall be holden on the first Monday of April in

each year.

ARTICLE 7.
Of Religion.

§ 1. It being the duty of all men to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the Universe, and their right to render

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that worship in the mode most consistent with the dictates of their consciences no person shall, by law, be compelled to join or support, nor be classed with, or associated to, any congregation, church, or religious association. But every person now belonging to such congregation, church, or religious association, shall remain a member thereof, until he shall have separated himself therefrom, in the manner hereinafter provided. And each and every society or denomination of Christians in this state, shall have and enjoy the same and equal powers, rights, and privileges; and shall have power and authority to support and maintain the ministers or teachers of their respective denominations, and to build and repair houses for public worship, by a tax on the members of any such society only, to be laid by a major vote of the legal voters assembled at any society meeting, warned and held according to law, or in any other manner.

§ 2. If any person shall choose to separate himself from the society or denomination of Christians to which he may belong, and shall leave a written notice thereof with the clerk of such society, he shall thereupon be no longer liable for any future expenses which may be incurred by said society.

ARTICLE 8.

Of Education.

1. The charter of Yale college, as modified by agreement with the corporation thereof, in pursuance of an act of the general assembly, passed in May, 1792, is hereby confirmed.

§ 2. The fund, called the School Fund, shall remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated to the support and encouragement of the public or common schools throughout the state, and for the equal benefit of all the people thereof. The value and amount of said fund shall, as soon as practicable, be ascertained in such manner as the general assembly may prescribe, published, and recorded in the comptroller's office; and no law shall ever be made authorizing said fund to be diverted to any other use than the encouragement and support of public or common schools, among the several school societies, as justice and equity shall require.

ARTICLE 9.

Of Impeachments.

1. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of imreaching.

When sitting § 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate. for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. When the governor is impeached, the chief justice shall preside.

§ 3. The governor, and all other executive and judicial officers, shall be liable to impeachment; but judgment in such cases shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualifications to hold any office of honour, trust, or profit, under this state. The party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, and punishment, according to law.

§ 4. Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against it, or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. No conviction of treason or attainder shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture.

ARTICLE 10.

General Provisions.

§ 1. Members of the general assembly, and all officers, executive, and judicial, shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take the following oath or affirmation, to wit:

You do solemnly swear, (or affirm, as the case may be,) that you will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Connecticut, so long as you continue a citizen thereof; and that you will faithfully discharge, according to law, the duties of the office of to the best of your abilities. So help you God.

§ 2. Each town shall annually elect selectmen, and such officers of local police, as the laws may prescribe.

§ 3. The rights and duties of all corporations shall remain as if this constitution had not been adopted ; with the exception of such regulations and restrictions as are contained in this constitution. All judicial and civil officers now in office, who have been appointed by the general assembly, and commissioned according to law, and all such officers as shall be appointed by the said assembly, and commissioned as aforesaid, before the first Wednesday of May next, shall continue to hold their offices until the first day of June next, unless they shall, before that time, resign or be removed from office according to law. The treasurer and secretary shall continue in office until a treasurer and secretary shall be appointed under this constitution. All military officers shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices, until they shall resign, or be removed according to law. All laws not contrary to, or inconsistent with, the provisions of this constitution, shall remain in force until they shall expire by their own limitation, or shall be altered or repealed by the general assembly, in pursuance of this constitution. The validity of all bonds, debts, contracts, as well of individuals as of bodies corporate, or the state, of all suits, actions, or rights of action, both in law and equity, shall continue as if no change had taken place. The governor, lieutenant-governor, and general assembly, which is to be formed in October next, shall have, and possess, all the powers and authorities not repugnant to, or inconsistent with, this constitution, which they now have and possess until the first Wednesday of May next.

§ 4. No judge of the superior court, or of the supreme court of errors : o member of congress; no person holding any office under the authority of the United States; no person holding the office of treasurer, secretary, or comptroller; no sheriff or sheriff's deputy; shall be a member of the general assembly.

ARTICLE 11.

Of Amendments of the Constitution.

Whenever a majority of the house of representatives shall deem it necessary to alter or amend this constitution, they may propose such al

terations and amendments; which proposed amendments shall be continued to the next general assembly, and be published with the laws which may have been passed at the same session; and if two-thirds of each house, at the next session of said assembly, shall approve the amendments proposed, by yeas and nays, said amendments shall, by the secretary, be transmitted to the town clerk in each town in this state; whose duty it shall be to present the same to the inhabitants thereof, for their consideration, at a town meeting, legally warned and held for that purpose; and if it shall appear, in a manner to be provided by law, that a majority of the electors present at such meetings shall have approved such amendments, the same shall be valid, to all intents and purposes,' as a part of this constitution.

Done in convention, on the fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States the forty-third.

By order of the convention.

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WE, the people of the state of New York, acknowledging with gratitude the grace and beneficence of God in permitting us to make choice of our form of government, do establish this constitution.

ARTICLE 1.

§ 1. The legislative power of this state shall be vested in a senate and an assembly.

2. The senate shall consist of thirty-two members. The senators shall be chosen for four years, and shall be freeholders. The assembly shall consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members, who shall be annually elected.

3. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business. Each house shall determine the rules of its own proceedings, and be the judges of the qualifications of its own members. Each house shall choose its own officers, and the senate shall choose a temporary president, when the lieutenant-governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor.

4. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same, except such parts as may require secrecy. The doors of each house shall be kept open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjour for more than two days.

5. The state shall be divided into eight districts, to be called senate districts, each of which shall choose four senators.

The first district shall consist of the counties of Suffolk, Queens, Kings, Richmond, and New York.

The second district shall consist of the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan.

The third district shall consist of the counties of Green, Columbia, Albany, Rensselaer, Schoharie, and Schenectady.

The fourth district shall consist of the counties of Saratoga, Montgomery, Hamilton, Washington, Warren, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, and St. Lawrence.

The fifth district shall consist of the counties of Herkimer, Oneida, Madison, Oswego, Lewis, and Jefferson.

The sixth district shall consist of the counties of Delaware, Otsego, Chenango, Broome, Cortland, Tompkins, and Tioga.

The seventh district shall consist of the counties of Onondago, Cayuga, Seneca, and Ontario.

The eighth district shall consist of the counties of Steuben, Livingston, Monroe, Genesee, Niagara, Erie, Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauque.

And as soon as the senate shall meet, after the first election to be held in pursuance of this constitution, they shall cause the senators to be divided by lot into four classes, of eight in each, so that every district shall have one senator of each class: the classes to be numbered, one, two, three, and four. And the seats of the first class shall be vacated at the end of the first year; of the second class, at the end of the second year; of the third class, at the end of the third year; of the fourth class, at the end of the fourth year; in order that one senator be annually elected in each senate district.

6. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the state shall be taken, under the direction of the legislature, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and at the end of every ten years thereafter; and the said districts shall be so altered by the legislature, at the first session after the return of every enumeration, that each senate district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, paupers, and persons of colour not taxed; and shall remain unaltered, until the return of another enumeration, and shall at all times con sist of contiguous territory; and no county shall be divided in the formation of a senate district.

7. The members of the assembly shall be chosen by counties, and shall be apportioned among the several counties of the state, as nearly as may be, according to the numbers of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens, paupers, and persons of colour, not taxed. An apportionment of members of assembly shall be made by the legislature, at its first session after the return of every enumeration; and, when made, shall remain unaltered until another enumeration shall have been taken. But an apportionment of members of the assembly shall be made by the present legislature according to the last enumeration, taken under the authority of the United States, as nearly as may be. Every county heretofore established, and separately organized, shall always be entitled to one member of the assembly, and no new county shall hereafter be erected, unless its population shall entitle it to a member.

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