any office in this state, until such person shall have accounted for and paid into the treasury all sums for which he may be accountable or liable.

7. The person of a debtor, where there is not a strong presumption of fraud, shall not be detained in prison after delivering up, bona fide, all his estate, real and personal, for the use of his creditors, in such manner as shall be hereafter regulated by law.

§ 8. Convictions on impeachments which have heretofore taken place, are hereby released, and persons lying under such convictions restored to citizenship.

§ 9. The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

§ 10. No person within this state shall, upon any pretence, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping God in a manner agreeable to his own conscience, nor be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall he ever be obliged to pay tythes, taxes, or any other rate, for the building or repairing any place of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or hath voluntarily engaged to do. No one religious society shall ever be established in this state, in preference to any other; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of any civil right, merely on account of his religious principles.

§ 11. There shall be no future importation of slaves into this state, from Africa or any foreign place, after the first day of October next. The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of each of their respective owners, previous to such emancipation. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants from either of the United States to this state, from bringing with them such persons as may be deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States.

§ 12. Any person who shall maliciously dismember or deprive a slave of his life, shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like offence had been committed on a free white person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection by such slave, and unless such death should happen by accident, in giving such slave moderate correction.

§ 13. The arts and sciences shall be promoted, in one or more seminaries of learning; and the legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, give such further donations and privileges to those already established, as may be necessary to secure the objects of their institution; and it shall be the duty of the general assembly, at their next session, to provide effectual measures for the improvement and permanent security of the funds and endowments of such institutions.

§ 14. All civil officers shall continue in the exercise of the duties of their several offices, during the periods for which they were appointed, or until they shall be superceded by appointments made in conformity to this constitution: And all laws now in force shall continue to operate, so far as they are compatible with this constitution, until repealed; and it shall be the duty of the general assembly to pass all necessary laws and regulations for carrying this constitution into full effect.

§15. No part of this constitution shall be altered, unless a bill for that purpose, specifying the alterations intended to be made, shall have been read three times in the house of representatives, and three times in the senate, on three several days in each house, and agreed to by two-thirds of each house respectively; and when any such bill shall be passed in manner aforesaid, the same shall be published at least six months previous to the next ensuing annual election for members of the general assembly; and if such alterations, or any of them, so proposed, shall be agreed to in their first session thereafter, by two-thirds of each branch of the general assembly, after the same shall have been read three times, on three separate days, in each respective house, then, and not otherwise, the same shall become a part of this constitution.

WE, the underwritten delegates of the people of the state of Georgia, chosen and authorized by them to revise, alter, or amend the powers and principles of their government, do declare, ordain, and ratify the several articles and sections contained in the six pages hereunto prefixed, as the constitution of this state; and the same shall be in operation from the date hereof.

In testimony whereof, we, and each of us, respectively, have hereunto set our hands, at Louisville, the seat of government, this thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and in the twenty-second year of the Independence of the United States of America; and have caused the great seal of the state to be affixed thereto.

Article 4th, section 11th, and first line, the following words being interlined, to wit-"after the first day of October next."

JARED IRWIN, President,

Joseph Clay, jun.
J. B. Maxwell,

John Pray,

Benjamin Davis,
John Morrison,

John Milton,

James Bird,

G. W. Foster,

Jonas Fauche,

James Nisbet,
Chas. Abercrombee,

Thomas Lamar,

Matt. Rabun,

Peter J. Carnes,

William Fleming,
R. D. Gray,
George Wilson,
James Pittman,
Joseph Humpheris,
James Cochran,

James Powell,
James Dunwody,
Henry Ware,
Gibson Woodridge,
Jared Gore,

John H. M'Intosh,
James Gignilliat,
Benjamin Harrison,
John Watts,
John Jones,
John Lumpkin,
Thomas Duke,
Burwell Pope,

Robert Watkins,

JAMES M. SIMMONS, Secretary.

AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF GEORGIA.

A recent amendment of the 4th and 5th sections of the 3d article of the constitution of Georgia, provides, substantially, as follows: Five justices of the inferior court shall be elected, annually, by voters in each county, to preside in the inferior courts of the county; and justices of the peace shall be elected, annually, by the voters in every militia captain's district.

CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY.

The Constitution or form of government for the State of Kentucky.

WE, the representatives of the people of the state of Kentucky, in convention assembled, to secure to all the citizens thereof the enjoyment of the right of life, liberty, and property, and of pursuing happiness, do ordain and establish this constitution for its government:

ARTICLE 1.

Concerning the Legislative Department.

§ 1. The powers of the government of the state of Kentucky shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them be confided to a separate body of magistracy, to wit: those which are legislative, to one; those which are executive, to another; and those which are judiciary, to another.

2. No person, or collection of persons, being one of those departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others; except in the instances hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.

ARTICLE 2.

Concerning the distribution of the powers of the Government.

§. 1. The legislative power of this commonwealth shall be vested in two distinct branches; the one to be styled the house of representatives, the other the senate, and both together, the general assembly of the commonwealth of Kentucky.

2. The members of the house of representatives shall continue in service for the term of one year from the day of the commencement of the general election, and no longer.

3. Representatives shall be chosen on the first Monday in the month of August in every year; but the presiding officers of the several elections shall continue the same for three days, at the request of any one of the candidates.

4. No person shall be a representative, who at the time of his election is not a citizen of the United States, and hath not attained to the age of twenty-four years, and resided in this state two years next preceding his election, and the last year thereof in the county or town for which he may be chosen.

5. Elections for representatives for the several counties entitled to representation shall be held at the places of holding their respective courts, or in the several election precincts into which the legislature may think proper, from time to time, to divide any or all of those counties: Provided, that when it shall

appear to the legislature that any town hath a number of qualified voters equal to the ratio then fixed, such town shall be invested with the privilege of a separate representation, which shall be retained so long as such town shall contain a number of qualified voters equal to the ratio which may from time to time be fixed by law, and thereafter elections, for the county in which such town is situated, shall not be held therein.

6. Representation shall be equal and uniform in this commonwealth; and shall be forever regulated and ascertained by the number of qualified electors therein. In the year eighteen hundred and three, and every fourth year thereafter, an enumeration of all the free male inhabitants of the state, above twenty-one years of age, shall be made, in such manner as shall be directed by law. The number of representatives shall, in the several years of making these enumerations, be so fixed as not to be less than fifty-eight, nor more than one hundred, and they shall be apportioned for the four years next following, as near as may be, among the several counties and towns, in proportion to the number of qualified electors: but, when a county may not have a sufficient number of qualified electors to entitle it to one representative, and when the adjacent county or counties may not have a residuum or residuums, which, when added to the small county, would entitle it to a separate representation, it shall then be in the power of the legislature to join two or more together, for the purpose of sending a representative: Provided, that when there are two or more counties adjoining, which have residuums over and above the ratio then fixed by law, if said residuums when added together will amount to such ratio, in that case one representative shall be added to that county having the largest residuum.

7. The house of representatives shall choose its speaker and other officers.

8. In all elections for representatives, every free male citizen (negroes, mulattoes, and Indians excepted) who, at the time being, hath attained to the age of twenty-one years, and resided in the state two years, or the county or town in which he offers to vote one year next preceding the election, shall enjoy the right of an elector; but no person shall be entitled to vote, except in the county or town in which he may actually reside at the time of the election, except as is herein otherwise provided. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at, going to, and returning from elections.

9. The members of the senate shall be chosen for the term of four years; and when assembled shall have the power to choose its officers annually.

10. At the first session of the general assembly after this constitution takes effect, the senators shall be divided by lot, as equally as may be, into four classes: the seats of the sena

Ꮓ