Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

records, authenticated by them, shall be deposited, from time to time, in the archives of the respective States; transcripts of which, properly certified, may be admitted in evidence, in all questions touching the subject to which they relate. The executive authority of each State may revoke the power of either or both its commissioners; having, however, first appointed a substitute or substitutes, and may fill any vacancy happening with respect to its own commissioners; four of said commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; their decision shall be final upon all subjects within their cognizance. In case said commission shall expire, the same not having been completed, and either State shall request the renewal or filling up of the same, it shall be renewed or filled up in the same manner as is herein provided for filling the same in the first instance, and with the like powers and if either shall, after six months' notice, neglect or refuse to appoint its.commissioners, the other may fill up the whole commission.

"Seventh. All grants of lands, franchises, immunities, corporate or other rights, and all contracts for, or grants of lands not yet located, which have been, or may be, made by the said commonwealth, before the separation of said district shall take place, and having or to have effect within the said district, shall continue in full force, after the said district shall become a separate State. But the grant which has been made to the President and trustees of Bowdoin College, out of the tax laid upon the banks within this commonwealth, shall be charged upon the tax upon the banks within the said district of Maine, and paid according to the terms of said grant; and the President and trustees, and the overseers of said College, shall have, hold, and enjoy their powers and privileges in all respects so that the same shall not be subject to be altered, limited, annulled, or restrained, except by judicial process, according to the principles of law; and, in all grants hereafter to be made, by either state, of unlocated land within the said district, the same reservations shall be made for the benefit of schools, and of the ministry, as have heretofore been usual in grants made by this commonwealth. And all lands heretofore granted by this commonwealth to any religious, literary, or elemosynary corporation, or society, shall be free from taxation, while the same continues to be owned by such corporation or society.

"Eighth. No laws shall be passed in the proposed State, with regard to taxes, actions, or remedies at law, or bars, or limitations thereof, or otherwise making any distinction between the lands and rights of property of proprietors not resident in, or not citizens of, said proposed State, and the lands and rights of property of the citizens of the proposed State, resident therein and the rights and liabilities of all persons shall, after the said separation, continue the same as if the said district was still a part of this commonwealth, in all suits pending, or judgments remaining unsatisfied, on the fif teenth day of March next, where the suits have been commenced in

Massachusetts proper, and process has been served within the district of Maine; or commenced in the district of Maine, and process has been served in Massachusetts proper, either by taking bail, making attachments, arresting and detaining persons, or otherwise, where execution remains to be done; and in such suits, the courts' within Massachusetts proper, and within the proposed State, shall continue to have the same jurisdiction as if the said district had still remained a part of the commonwealth. And this commonwealth shall have the same remedies within the proposed State as it now has, for the collection of all taxes, bonds, or debts, which may be assessed, due, made, or contracted, by, to, or with the commonwealth, on or before the said fifteenth day of March, within the said district of Maine; and all officers within Massachusetts proper and the district of Maine shall conduct themselves accordingly.

"Ninth. These terms and conditions, as here set forth, when the said district shall become a separate and independent State, shall, ipso facto, be incorporated into, and become, and be a part of, any constitution, provisional or other, under which the government of the said proposed State shall, at any time hereafter, be administered; subject, however, to be modified or annulled by the agreement of the Legislature of both the said States; but by no other power or body whatsoever."

SEC. 6. This Constitution shall be enrolled on parchment, deposited in the Secretary's office, and be the supreme law of the State; and printed copies thereof shall be prefixed to the books containing the laws of this State.

Done in Convention, October 29, 1819.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION,

Adopted in pursuance of the Fourth Section of the Tenth Article of the original Constitution.

ARTICLE I.

The electors resident in any city, may, at any meeting duly notified for the choice of representatives, vote for such representatives in their respective ward meetings; and the wardens in said wards shall preside impartially at such meetings, receive votes of all qualified electors present, sort, count, and declare them in open ward meetings, and, in the presence of the ward clerk, who shall form a list of the persons voted for, with the number of votes for each person against his name; shall make a fair record thereof in the presence of the wardens, and in open ward meeting; and a fair copy of this list shall be attested by the warden and ward clerk, sealed up

in open ward meeting, and delivered to the city clerk within twentyfour hours after the close of the polls. And the aldermen of any city shall be in session, at their usual place of meeting, within twenty-four hours after any election, and in the presence of the city clerk, shall examine and compare the copies of said lists; and in case any person shall have received a majority of all the votes, he shall be declared elected by the aldermen; and the city clerk of any city shall make a record thereof, and the aldermen and city clerk shall deliver certified copies of such lists to the person or persons so elected, within ten days after the election. And the electors resident in any city may, at any meeting duly notified and holden for the choice of any other civil officers for whom they have been required heretofore to vote in town meeting, vote for such officers in their respective wards, and the same proceedings shall be had by the warden and ward clerk in each ward, as in the case of votes for representatives. And the aldermen of any city shall be in session within twenty-four hours after the close of the polls in such meetings, and in the presence of the city clerk, shall open, examine, and compare the copies from the lists of votes given in the several wards, of which the city clerk shall make a record, and a return thereof shall be made into the Secretary of State's office, in the same manner as selectmen of towns are required to do.

ARTICLE II.

No person, before conviction, shall be bailable for any of the crimes which now are or have been denominated capital offences since the adoption of the Constitution, when the proof is evident or the presumption great, whatever the punishment of the crime may be.

ARTICLE III.

All judicial officers now in office, or who may be hereafter appointed, shall, from and after the first day of March in the year 1840, hold their offices for the term of seven years from the time of their respective appointments, (unless sooner removed by impeachment or by address of both branches of the Legislature to the Executive,) and no longer, unless re-appointed thereto.

NOTE. The first article of the amended Constitution was adopted March 7, 1834; the second, on the 30th of March, 1837; and the third, on the 14th of March, 1839.

Area of Maine, 28,920 square miles-3000 sq. m. having been taken from it by the treaty at Washington, by which the boundary between the United States and Great Britain was settled. Population, in 1840, 501,703.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[graphic]

NEW HAMPSHIRE was first visited by Europeans in 1614. The first settlement was made at Dover and Portsmouth in 1623, three years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, under a charter to F. Gorges, from James I. The early inhabitants were greatly annoyed by the Indians, and, in their repeated wars with them, suffered more than any other of the colonies. This colony was twice united with that of Massachusetts. The final separation took place in 1741, when the boundaries of the two colonies were settled. New Hampshire publicly declared itself independent of Massachusetts, June 15th, 1776, and in December, of the same year, framed a temporary form of government. The first Constitution was adopted in 1784. This State was admitted into the Union in 1788. Its present Constitution was adopted in 1792. Area, 9,280 square miles. Population, in 1840, 284,574.

CONSTITUTION.

PART I.

Bill of Rights.

ART. 1. All men are born equally free and independent: Therefore, all government, of right, originates from the people, is founded in consent, and instituted for the general good.

2. All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rightsamong which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness.

the

3. When men enter into a state of society, they surrender up some of their natural rights to that society, in order to ensure protection of others; and without such an equivalent the surrender is void.,

4. Among the natural rights, some are in their very nature unalienable, because no equivalent can be given or received for them. Of this kind are the rights of conscience.

5. Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God, according to the dictates of his own conscience and rea son and no person shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshiping God in the manner most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience, or for his religious profession, sentiments, or persuasion; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or disturb others in their religious worship.

6. As morality and piety, rightly grounded on evangelical prin ciples, will give the best and greatest security to government, and will lay, in the hearts of men, the strongest obligations to due subjection; and as the knowledge of these is most likely to be propagated through a society by the institution of the public worship of the Deity, and of public instruction, in morality and religion; therefore, to promote these important purposes, the people of this State have a right to empower, and do hereby fully empower, the Legislature, to authorize, from time to time, the several towns, parishes, bodies corporate, or religious societies, within this State, to make adequate provision, at their own expense, for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality:

Provided, notwithstanding, That the several towns, parishes, bodies corporate, or religious societies, shall at all times have the exclusive right of electing their own public teachers, and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance: And no person, of any one particular religious sect or denomination, shall ever be compelled to pay towards the support of the teacher or teachers of another persuasion, sect, or denomination.

And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves quietly, and as good citizens of the State, shall be equally under the protection of the law and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another, shall ever be established by law.

And nothing herein shall be understood to affect any former contracts made for the support of the ministry; but all such contracts shall remain, and be in the same state, as if this Constitution had not been made.

7. The people of this State have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State;

« AnteriorContinuar »