have power to chufe their Speaker, the Treasurer of the State, and their other officers; fit on their own adjournments; prepare bills and enact them into laws; judge of the elections and qualifications of their own Members: they may expel a Member, but not a fecond time for the fame caufe; they may administer oaths or affirmations on examination of witnesses redress grievances; impeach state criminals; grant charters of incorporation; constitute towns, boroughs, cities and counties; and shall have all other powers neceffary for the legislature of a free State or Commonwealth : but they fhall have no power to add to, alter, abolish, or infringe any part of this Conftitution.

X. A Quorum of the Houfe of Reprefentatives fhall confift of two-thirds of the whole number of Members elected; and having met and chofen their Speaker, fhall each of them, before they proceed to bufinefs, take and fubfcribe, as well the oath or affirmation of fidelity and allegiance herein after directed, as the following oath or affirmation, viz.

" I

do fwear (or affirm), that as a Member of this Affembly, I will not propose or affent to any bill, vote, or refolution, which

shall

shall appear to me injurious to the people; nor do or confent to any act or thing whatever, that shall have a tendency to leffen or abridge their rights and privileges, as declared in the Conftitution of this State; but will in all things conduct myself as a faithful honest Representative and guardian of the people, ac◄ cording to the best of my judgement and abilities."

And each Member before he takes his feat, shall make and fubfcribe the following declaration, viz.

"I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, the rewarder of the good, and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the fcriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine infpiration."

And no further or other religious test shall ever hereafter be required of any civil officer or magiftrate in this State.

XI. Delegates to reprefent this State in Congrefs fhall be chofen by ballot by the future General Affembly at their first meeting, and annually forever afterwards, as long as fuch representation shall be neceffary. Any Delegate

may

may be fuperfeded at any time, by the General Affembly appointing another in his ftead. No man fhall fit in Congrefs longer than two years fucceffively, nor be capable of re-election for three years afterwards and no person who holds any office in the gift of the Congress, fhall hereafter be elected to reprefent this Commonwealth in Congrefs.

XII. If any city or cities, county or coun→ ties, shall neglect or refuse to elect and fend Representatives to the General Affembly, twothirds of the Members from the cities or counties that do elect and fend Representatives, provided they may be a majority of the cities and counties of the whole State, when met fhall have all the powers of the General Affembly, as fully and amply as if the whole were prefent.

XIII. The doors of the House in which the Reprefentatives of the freemen of this State shall fit in General Affembly, fhall be and remain open for the admiffion of all perfons who behave decently, except only when the welfare of this State may require the doors to be shut. XIV. The votes and proceedings of the General Affembly fhall be printed weekly du

ring their fitting, with the yeas and nays on any question, vote, or refolution, where any two Members require it, except when the vote is taken by ballot; and when the yeas and nays are fo taken, every Member shall have a right to infert the reafons of his vote upon the minutes, if he defire it.

XV. To the end that laws before they are enacted may be more maturely confidered, and the inconvenience of hafty determinations as much as poffible prevented, all bills of a public nature shall be printed for the confideration of the people, before they are read in General Affembly. the last time for debate and amendment; and, except on occafions of fudden neceffity, fhall not be paffed into laws until the next feffion of Affembly; and for the more perfect fatisfaction of the public, the reasons and motives for making fuch laws fhall be fully and clearly expreffed in the preambles.

XVI. The ftile of the laws of this Commonwealth fhall be, "Be it enacted, and it is hereby enacted by the Representatives of the freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Affembly met, and by the authority of the fame." And the General Affembly shall affix

their seal to every bill, as foon as it is enacted into a law, which feal shall be kept by the Afsembly, and shall be called, The Seal of the Laws of Pennfylvania, and fhall not be used for any other purpose.

XVII. The city of Philadelphia, and each county in this Commonwealth respectively, shall on the first Tuesday of November in this present year, and on the second Tuesday in October annually, for the two next fucceeding years, to wit, the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-feven, and the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, chuse fix persons to represent them in General Affembly. But as representation in proportion to the number of taxable inhabitants, is the only principle which can at all times fecure liberty, and make the voice of a majority of the people the law of the land; therefore the General Affembly shall cause compleat lifts of the taxable inhabitants in the city and each county in the Commonwealth refpectively, to be taken, and returned to them, on or before the laft meeting of the Affembly elected in the year one thousand seven hundred and feventy-eight, who shall appoint a Representation to each, in proportion to

the