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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of this constitution, shall remain in force until they shall expire by their own limitation, or shall be altered or repealed by the general assembly, in pursuance of this constitution.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; no 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 alterations 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 esta

blish 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 judge 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, adjourn 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 West

chester, Putnam, Duchess, 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, Tomkins, 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 consist 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.

8. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature; and all bills passed by one house, may be amended by the other. 9. The members of the legislature shall receive for their services a compensation, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the public treasury; but no increase of the compensation, shall take effect during the year in which it shall have been made. And no law shall be passed increasing the compensation of the members of the legislature, beyond the sum of the three dollars a day.

10. No member of the legislature shall receive any civil appointment from the governor and senate, or from the legislature during the term for which he shall have been elected.

11. No person, being a member of congress, or holding any judicial or military office under the United States, shall hold a seat in the legislature. And if any person shall, while a member of the legislature, be elected to congress, or appointed to any office, civil or military, under the United States, his acceptance thereof, shall vacate his seat.

12. Every bill which shall have passed the senate and assembly, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the governor: if he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it: if, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds of the members present, it shall become a law; but in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons, voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journals of each house respectively: if any bill shall not be returned by the governor, within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislature shall, by their adjournment prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law.

13. All officers, holding their offices during good behaviour, may be removed by joint resolution of the two houses of the legislature, if two-thirds of all the members elected to the assembly, and a majority of all the members elected to the senate, concur therein.

14. The political year shall begin on the first day of January; and the legislature shall every year assemble on the

first Tuesday in January, unless a different day shall be appointed by law.

15. The next election for governor, lieutenant governor, senators, and members of assembly, shall commence on the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two; and all subsequent elections shall be held at such time, in the month of October, or November as the legislature shall by law provide.

16. The governor, lieutenant governor, senators, and members of assembly, first elected, under this constitution, shall enter on the duties of their respective offices, on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twentythree; and the governor, lieutenant governor, senators, and members of assembly, now in office, shall continue to hold the same, until the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, and no longer.

ARTICLE 2.

1. Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been an inhabitant of this state, one year preceding any election, and for the last six months a resident of the town or county where he may offer his vote; and shall have, within the year next preceding the election, paid a tax to the state or county, assessed upon his real or personal property; or shall by law be exempted from taxation; or being armed and equipped according to law, shall have performed within that year, military duty in the militia of this state; or who shall be exempted from performing militia duty in consequence of being a fireman in any city, town, or village in this state: And also, every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been, for three years next preceding such election, an inhabitant of this state; and for the last year, a resident in the town or county, where he may offer his vote; and shall have been, within the last year assessed to labour upon the public highways, and shall have performed the labour, or paid an equivalent therefor, according to law; shall be entitled to vote in the town or ward where he actually resides, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be, elective by the people: but no man, of colour, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this state, and for one year next preceding any election, shall be seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, over and above all debts and incumbrances charged thereon; and shall have been actually rated, and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at any such election. And no person of colour shall be subject to direct taxation, unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid.

2. Laws may be passed, excluding from the right of suffrage,

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