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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 shools, among the several school societies, as justice and equity shall require.

ARTICLE 9.

OF IMPEACHMENT.

§ 1. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeaching.

§ 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate, When sitting 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 judgments in such cases shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification 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 them, 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 m 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 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 Ŏctober 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.

OLIVER WOLCOTT, President.
Clerks.

James Lanman,
Robert Fairchild.

CONSTITUTION OF

NEW YORK,

AS AMENDED.

WE, the people of the state of New York, acknowledg ing 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 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 Westchester, 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 distrist 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 Steu

ben, Livingston, Monroe, Genesee, Niagara, Erie, Allega ny, 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 mem bers 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 legisla ture; and all bills passed by one house, may be amended by the other.

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