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pending. The jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings then pending in circuit courts of the several counties shall be vested in the circuit courts of said counties.

21. The Cook and Jo Daviess county courts shall continue to exist, and the judge and other officers of the same remain in office, until otherwise provided by law.

22. Until otherwise provided by law, the terms of the supreme court shall be held as follows: In the first division, on the first Monday of December, A. D. 1848, and annually thereafter. In the second division, on the third Monday of December, A. D. 1848, and annually thereafter. In the third division, on the first Monday of February A. D. 1849, and annually thereafter. The sheriffs of Jefferson and La Salle counties shall perform the same duties, and receive the same compensation as is required and provided for the sheriff of Sangamon county, until otherwise provided by law.

23. Nothing in this constitution shall prevent the general assembly from passing such laws in relation to the apprenticeship of minors, during their minority, as may be necessary and proper.

24. That the general assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry into ef fect the provisions of this constitution.

25. Elections of judges of the supreme and circuit courts shall be subject to be contested.

26. Contested elections of judges of the supreme court shall be tried by the senate, and of judges of the circuit court by the supreme court, and the general assembly shall prescribe the manner of proceeding therein.

DONE in Convention, at the Capitol, in the city of Springfield, on the thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the se venty-second.

HENRY W. MOORE, Secretary.

NEWTON CLOUD, President.

HARMAN G. REYNOLDS, Assistant Secretary.

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MICHIGAN was settled by the French as early as 1650. In 1763 it was ceded to England, and at the close of the Revolutionary War, it was ceded by Great Britain to the United States, though they held possession of Detroit till 1796, when it was surrendered to the United States. In 1805 a territorial government was formed. The British gained a temporary possession of this territory in 1812-13, but it was soon recovered by the Americans, under Gen. William H. Harrison. In 1836 Michigan became a State, and was admitted into the Union. The present Constitution was adopted in 1850. Area, 28,000 sq. m. Pop. in 1850, 397,654.

CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I.-Boundaries.

The State of Michigan consists of and has jurisdiction over the territory embraced within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at a point on the eastern boundary line of the State of Indiana, where a direct line drawn from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of the Maumee Bay shall intersect the same-said point being the north-west corner of the State of Ohio, as established by act of Congress, entitled " an act to establish the northern boundary line of the State of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union upon the conditions therein expressed," approved June fifteenth, one thousand

eight hundred and thirty-six; thence with the said boundary line of the State of Ohio till it intersects the boundary line between the United States and Canada in Lake Erie; thence with said boundary line between the United States and Canada through the Detroit river, Lake Huron and Lake Superior, to a point where the said line last touches Lake Superior; thence in a direct line through Lake Superior to the mouth of the Montreal river; thence through the middle of the main channel of the said river Montreal to the head waters thereof; thence in a direct line to the centre of the channel between Middle and South Islands in the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the southern shore of Lake Brule; thence along said southern shore and down the river Brule to the main channel of the Menominie river; thence down the centre of the main channel of the same to the centre of the most usual ship channel of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan; thence through the centre of the most usual ship channel of the said bay to the middle of Lake Michigan; thence through the middle of Lake Michigan to the northern boundary of the State of Indiana, as that line was established by the act of Congress of the nineteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixteen; thence due east with the north boundary line of the said State of Indiana to the northeast corner thereof; and thence south with the eastern boundary line of Indiana to the place of beginning.

ARTICLE II.-Seat of Government.

SEC. 1. The Seat of Government shall be at Lansing, where it is now established.

ARTICLE III.—Division of the Powers of Government.

SEC. 1. The powers of government are divided into three departments, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.

2. No person belonging to one department shall exercise the powers properly belonging to another, except in the cases expressly provided in this constitution.

ARTICLE IV.-Legislative Department.

SEC. 1. The legislative power is vested in a Senate and House of Representatives.

2. The Senate shall consist of thirty-two members. Senators shall be elected for two years, and by single districts. Such districts shall be numbered from one to thirty-two inclusive; each of which shall choose one senator. No county shall be divided in the forma tion of senate districts, except such county shall be equitably entitled

to two or more senators.

3. The House of Representatives shall consist of not less than sixty-four, nor more than one hundred members. Representatives shall be chosen for two years, and by single districts. Each representative district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal num

ber of white inhabitants, and civilized persons of Indian descent, not members of any tribe, and shall consist of convenient and contiguous territory. But no township or city shall be divided in the formation of a representative district. When any township or city shall contain a population which entitles it to more than one representative, then such township or city shall elect by general ticket the number of representatives to which it is entitled. Each county hereafter organized, with such territory as may be attached thereto, shall be entitled to a separate representative when it has attained a population equal to a moiety of the ratio of representation. In every county entitled to more than one representative, the board of supervisors shall assemble at such time and place as the Legislature shall prescribe, and divide the same into representative districts, equal to the number of representatives to which such county is entitled by law, and shall cause to be filed in the offices of the secretary of state and clerk of such county a description of such representative districts, specifying the number of each district, and the population thereof, according to the last preceding enumeration.

4. The Legislature shall provide by law for an enumeration of the inhabitants in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and every ten years thereafter; and at the first session after each enumeration so made, and also at the first session after each enumeration by the authority of the United States, the Legislature shall re-arrange the senate districts, and apportion anew the representatives among the counties and districts, according to the number of white inhabitants and civilized persons of Indian descent, not members of any tribe. Each apportionment and the division into representative districts, by any board of supervisors, shall remain unaltered until the return of another enumeration.

5. Senators and representatives shall be citizens of the United States, and qualified electors in the respective counties and districts which they represent. A removal from their respective counties or districts shall be deemed a vacation of their office.

6. No person holding any office under the United States [or this state.] or any county office, except notaries public, officers of the militia and officers elected by townships, shall be eligible to or have a seat in either house of the Legislature, and all votes given for any person shall be void.

such

7. Senators and representatives shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest. They shall not be subject to any civil process during the session of the Legislature, or for fifteen days next before the commencement and after the termination of each session. They shall not be questioned in any other place for any speech in either house.

8. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house may prescribe.

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9. Each house shall choose its own officers, determine the rules of its proceedings, and judge of the qualifications, election and return of its members; and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member. No member shall be expelled a second time, for the same cause, nor for any cause known to his constituents antecedent to his election. The reason for such expulsion shall be entered upon the journal, with the names of the members voting on the question.

nays

10. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and pub lish the same, except such parts as may require secrecy. The yeas and of the members of either house, on any question, shall be entered on the journal at the request of one-fifth of the members elected. Any member of either house may dissent from and protest against any act, proceeding or resolution which he may deem injurious to any person or the public, and have the reason of his dissent entered on the journal.

11. In all elections by either house or in joint convention the votes All votes on nominations to the Senate shall be given viva voce. shall be taken by yeas and nays, and published with the journal of its proceedings.

12. The doors of each house shall be open, unless the public welfare require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than where the Legislature may then be in session.

13. Bills may originate in either house of the Legislature.

14. Every bill and concurrent resolution, except of adjournment, passed by the Legislature, shall be presented to the governor before it becomes a law. If he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his objections to the house in which it originated, which shall enter the objections at large upon their journal, and On such reconsideration, if two-thirds of the members reconsider it. elected agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall be reconsidered. If approved by two-thirds of the members elected to that house, it shall become a law. In such case, the vote of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journals of each house respectively. If any bill be not returned by the governor within ten days, Sundays excepted, after it has been presented to him, the same shall become a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, the Legislature, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which The governor may approve, case it shall not become a law. sign, and file in the office of the secretary of state, within five days after the adjournment of the Legislature, any act passed during the last five days of the session; and the same shall become a law. 15. The compensation of the members of the Legislature shall be three dollars a day for actual attendance and when absent on account of sickness, for the first sixty days of the session of the year one

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