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SEC. 2. All laws now in force in the Territory of Arkansas, which are not repugnant to this constitution, shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitations, or be altered or repealed by the general assembly.

SEC. 3. All fines, penalties and escheats, accruing to the Territory of Arkansas, shall accrue to the use of the State.

SEC. 4. All recognizances heretofore taken, or which may be taken before the change of territorial to a permanent State government, shall remain valid, and shall pass over to, and be prosecuted in the name of the State; and all bonds executed to the governor of the Territory, or to any other officer or court, in his or their official capacity, shall pass over to the governor or State authority, and their successors in office, for the uses therein respectively expressed; and may be sued for and recovered accordingly. All criminal prosecutions and penal actions which may have arisen, or which may arise, before the change from a territorial to a State government, and which shall then be pending, shall be prosecuted to judgment and execution in the name of the State. All actions at law, which now are, or may be pending, in any of the courts of record in the Territory of Arkansas, may be commenced in, or transferred to any court of record of the State which shall have jurisdiction of the subject-matter thereof; and all suits in equity may, in like manner, be commenced in, or transferred to, the court having chancery jurisdiction.

SEC. 5. All officers, civil and military, now holding commissions under authority of the United States, or of the Territory of Arkansas, shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices until they shall be superseded under the authority of the State. SEC. 6. The first session of the general assembly of the State of Arkansas shall be held at the city of Little Rock, which shall be and remain the seat of government until otherwise provided for by law.

SEC. 7. Elections shall be held at the several precincts, on the first Monday of August next, for a governor; also, one Representative to the Congress of the United States; also, for senators and representatives to the next general assembly, clerks of the circuit and county courts, sheriffs, coroners, county surveyors and treasurers, justices of the peace and constables.

SEC. 8. The next general assembly shall be holden on the second Monday of September next.

SEC. 9. The election shall be conducted according to the existing laws of the Territory of Arkansas; and the returns of all township elections held in pursuance thereof, shall be made to the clerks of the proper counties, within five days after the day of election. The clerks of the circuit courts of the several counties shall immediately thereafter certify the returns of the election of governor, and transmit the same to the speaker of the house of representatives, at the seat of government, in such time that they may be received on the second Monday of September next. As soon as the general assembly shall be organized, the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate shall, in the presence of both houses, examine the returns, and declare who is duly elected to fill that office; and if any two or more persons shall have an equal number of votes, and a higher number than any other person, the general assembly shall determine the election by a joint vote of both houses; and the returns of the election for member to Congress shall be made to the secretary of state, within thirty days after the day of election.

SEC. 10. The oaths of office may be administered by any judge or justice of the peace, until the general assembly shall otherwise direct.

Done in convention, at Little Rock, in the State of Arkansas, the 30th day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and in the sixtieth year of the Independence of the United States of America.

JOHN WILSON,

CHARLES P. BERTRAND, Secretary.

President.

THE ENABLING ACT FOR THE STATE OF ARKANSAS-1836.

[TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.]

An Act for the admission of the State of Arkansas into the Union, and to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the same, and for other purposes. Whereas, the people of the Territory of Arkansas did, on the thirtieth day of January, in the present year, by a convention of delegates called and assembled for that purpose, form for themselves a constitution and State government, which constitution and State government, so formed, is republican: And whereas the number of inhabitants within the said Territory exceeds forty-seven thousand seven hundred persons, computed according to the rule prescribed by the Constitution of the United States; and the said convention have, in their behalf, asked the Congress of the United States to admit the said Territory into the Union as a State, on an equal footing with the original States:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Arkansas shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever; and the said State shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River, on the parallel of thirty-six degrees north latitude, running from thence west, with the said parallel of latitude, to the Saint Francis River; thence up the middle of the main channel of said river to the parallel of thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes, north; from thence west to the southwest corner of the State of Missouri; and from thence to be bounded on the west, to the north bank of Red River, by the lines described in the first article of the treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Nation of Indians, west of the Mississippi, made and concluded at the city of Washington, on the twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight; and to be bounded on the south side of Red River by the Mexican boundary-line, to the northwest corner of the State of Louisiana; thence east, with the Louisiana State line, to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River; thence up the middle of the main channel of the said river to the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude, the point of beginning.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That until the next general census shall be taken, the said State shall be entitled to one Representative in the House of Representatives of the United States.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the laws of the United States, which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said State of Arkansas as elsewhere within the United States.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the said State shall be one judicial district, and be called the Arkansas district; and a district court shall be held therein, to consist of one judge, who shall reside in the said district, and be called a district judge. He shall hold, at the seat of government of the said State, two sessions annually, on the first Mondays of April and November; and he shall, in all things, have and exercise the same jurisdiction and powers which were by law given to the judge of the Kentucky district, under an act entitled "An act to establish the judicial courts of the United States." He shall appoint a clerk for the said district court, who shall reside and keep the records of the court, at the place of holding the same; and shall receive, for the services performed by him, the same fees to which the clerk of the Kentucky district is entitled for similar services.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That there shall be allowed to the judge of the said district court the annual compensation of two thousand dollars, to commence from the date of his appointment, to be paid quarter-yearly at the Treasury of the United States.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed in the said district a person learned in the law, to act as attorney for the United States, who shall, in addition to his stated fees, be paid by the United States two hundred dollars, as a full compensation for all extra services.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That a marshal shall be appointed for the said district, who shall perform the same duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees, as are prescribed to marshals in other districts; and he shall, moreover, be entitled to the sum of two hundred dollars annually, as a compensation for all extra services.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the State of Arkansas is admitted into the Union upon the express condition, that the people of the said State shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands within the said State, nor shall they levy a tax on any of the lands of the United States within the said State; and nothing in this act shall be construed as an assent by Congress to all or to any of the propositions contained in the ordinance of the said convention of the people of Arkansas, nor to deprive the said State of Arkansas of the same grants, subject to the same restrictions, which were made to the State of Missouri, by virtue of an act entitled “An act to authorize the people of the Missouri Territory to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States, and to prohibit slavery in certain Territories," approved the sixth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty. APPROVED, June 15, 1836.

SUPPLEMENTARY ENABLING ACT FOR ARKANSAS-1836.* [TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.]

An Act supplementary to the act entitled, "An act for the admission of the State of Arkansas into the Union, and to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the same, and for other purposes."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in lieu of the propositions submitted to the Congress of the United States, by an ordinance passed by the convention of delegates at Little Rock, assembled for the purpose of making a constitution for the State of Arkansas, which are hereby rejected; and that the following propositions be, and the same are hereby, offered to the general assembly of the State of Arkansas, for their free acceptance or rejection, which, if accepted, under the authority granted to the general assembly for this purpose, by the convention which framed the constitution of the said State, shall be obligatory upon the United States:

First. That section numbered sixteen in every township, and, when such section has been sold or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted to the State for the use of the inhabitants of such township for the use of schools.

Second. That all salt-springs not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections of land adjoining to each, shall be granted to the said State, for the use of said State, the same to be selected by the general assembly thereof on or before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty; and the same, when so selected, to be used under such terms, conditions, and regulations, as the general assembly of the said State shall direct: Provided, That no salt-spring, the right whereof is now vested in any individual or individuals, or which may hereafter be confirmed or adjudged to

*The following acts of Congress are in substantial modification of the enabling act, viz:

I. "An act to authorize the legislatures of the States of Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee to sell the lands heretofore appropriated for the use of schools in those States," approved February 15, 1843.

II. "An act giving the assent of Congress to a change of the compact entered into between the United States and the State of Arkansas, on her admission into the Union," approved July 29, 1846. [Authorizing the general assembly of the State to appropriate for the use and benefit of common schools, or in any other mode deemed proper, for the promotion of education, certain lands, known as "Seminary Lands," therefore, by direction of act of Congress, appropriated solely to the use and support of a university.]

III. Section 3 of "An act to give the consent of Congress to the sale of certain salt-spring lands, heretofore granted to the States of Michigan, Illinois, and Arkansas," approved March 3, 1847.

any individual or individuals, shall by this section be granted to said State: And provided, also, That the general assembly shall never sell or lease the same, at any one time, for a longer period than ten years, without the consent of Congress; and that nothing contained in the act of Congress entitled, "An act authorizing the governor of the Territory of Arkansas to lease the salt-springs in said Territory, and for other purposes," or in any other act, shall be construed to give to the said State any further or other claim whatsoever, to any salt-springs or lands adjoining thereto, than those hereby granted.

Third. That five per cent. of the net proceeds of the sale of lands lying within the said State, and which shall be sold by Congress from and after the first day of July next, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be reserved for making public roads and canals within the said State, under the direction of the general assembly thereof.

Fourth. That a quantity of land not exceeding five sections be, and the same is hereby, granted to the said State, in addition to the ten sections which have already been granted, for the purpose of completing the public buildings of the said State, at Little Rock; which said five sections shall, under the direction of the general assembly of said State, be located, at any time, in legal divisions of not less than one quarter-section, in such townships and ranges as the general assembly aforesaid may select, on any of the unappropriated lands of the United States within the said State.

Fifth. That the two entire townships of land which have already been located by virtue of the act entitled "An act concerning a seminary of learning in the Territory of Arkansas," approved the second of March, one thousand eight hundred and twentyseven, are hereby vested in, and confirmed to, the general assembly of the said State, to be appropriated solely to the use of such seminary by the general assembly: Provided, That the five foregoing propositions herein offered are on the condition that the general assembly or legislature of the said State, by virtue of the powers conferred upon it by the convention which framed the constitution of the said State, shall provide, by an ordinance irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that the said general assembly of said State shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil within the same by the United States, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers thereof; and that no tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States; and that in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents; and that the bounty-lands granted, or hereafter to be granted, for military services during the late war, shall, whilst they continue to be held by the patentees or their heirs, remain exempt from any tax laid by order or under the authority of the State, whether for State, county, township, or any other purpose, for the term of three years from and after the date of the patents respectively.

APPROVED, June 23, 1836.

ORDINANCE OF ACCEPTANCE BY ARKANSAS-1836. Ordinance and acceptance of compact by the general assembly of the State of Arkansas.

Be it ordained by the general assembly of the State of Arkansas, By virtue of the authority vested in said general assembly by the provisions of the ordinance adopted by the convention of delegates assembled at Little Rock, for the purpose of forming a constitution and system of government for said State, that the propositions set forth in "An act supplementary to the act entitled 'An act for the admission of the State of Arkansas into the Union, and to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the same, and for other purposes,'" be, and the same are hereby, freely accepted, ratified, and irrevocably confirmed, as articles of compact and union between the State of Arkansas and the United States.

And be it further ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the general assembly of the State of Arkansas shall never interfere, without the consent of the United States, with the primary disposal of the soil within said State, owned by the United States, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona-fide purchasers thereof; and that no tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States; and that in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than resident; and that the bounty-lands granted, or hereafter to be granted, for military services during the late war, shall, while they continue to be held by the patentees or their heirs, remain exempt from any tax laid by order, or under the authority, of the State, whether for State, county, township, or any other purpose, for the term of three years from and after the date of the patents respectively. APPROVED, October 18, 1836.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF 1836.

RATIFIED NOVEMBER 17, 1846.

ARTICLE I. No bank or banking institution shall be hereafter incorporated, or established in this State.

ART. II. The general assembly shall have power to compel the judges of the circuit courts to interchange circuits either temporarily or permanently, under such regulations as may be provided by law.

ART. III. The general assembly shall have power to confer such jurisdiction as it may from time to time deem proper, on justices of the peace in all matters of contracts, covenants, and in actions for the recovery of fines and forfeitures, when the amount claimed does not exceed one hundred dollars, and in actions and prosecutions for assault and battery, and other penal offences, less than felony, which may be punishable by fine only.

ART. IV. Judges of the supreme and circuit courts, clerks of the supreme and circuit courts, attorneys for the State, sheriffs, coroners, county treasurers, justices of the peace, constables, and all other officers whose term is fixed by the constitution to a specific number of years, shall hold their respective offices for the term now specified, and until their successors are elected and qualified.

RATIFIED NOVEMBER 24, 1848.

ART. V. That the qualified voters of each judicial circuit in the State of Arkansas, shall elect their circuit judge.

ART. VI. That the qualified voters of each judicial circuit shall elect their prosecuting attorney for the State.

ART. VII. That the qualified voters of each county shall elect a county and probate judge.

ART. VIII. That no member of the general assembly shall be elected to any office within the gift of the general assembly during the term for which he shall have been elected.

ART. IX. That the general assembly of the State of Arkansas shall not be restricted, as to the number of counties that shall compose a judicial circuit in this State.

RATIFIED DECEMBER 2, 1850.

*

ART. X. That the words "except Washington County, which may be reduced to six hundred square miles," included in brackets in the XXIXth article, be stricken out of said constitution.

*There was no XXIXth article of the constitution of 1836. The senate journal of 1850 shows the amendment to have been of the 29th section of article IV.

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