all seminaries of them, especially the university at Cambridge, public schools and grammar schools in the towns; to encourage private socie ties and public institutions by rewards and immunities for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a nat ural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings, sincerity, good humor, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people.

AMENDMENT ADOPTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS IN 1856 AND 1857, AND RATIFIED MAY 1, 1857.

ARTICLE XX. No person shall have the right to vote, or to be eligible to office under the constitution of this Commonwealth, who shall not be able to read the constitution in the English language and write his name: Provided, however, That the provisions of this amendment shall not apply to any person prevented by a physical disability from complying with its requisitions, nor to any person who now has the right to vote, nor to any person who shall be sixty years of age or upwards at the time this amendment shall take effect.

AMENDMENTS PROPOSED IN 1853.

[A constitutional convention met in this State in 1853, and submitted a new constitution and a series of amendments of the constitution to the people, all of which were disapproved at an election. The changes recommended were as follows:]

CHAPTER XII, § 1. [Corresponding with Chapter V, of former and present constitution, Article I as it now stands, with the following addition:] But the legislature shall always have full power and authority, as may be judged needful for the advancement of learning, to grant any further powers to the president and fellows of Harvard College, or to alter, limit, aunul, or restrain any of the powers now vested in them: Provided, The obligation of contracts shall not be impaired; and shall have the like power and authority over all corporate franchises hereafter granted for the purposes of education in this Commonwealth.

[ARTICLES II and III continued without change. A new article was proposed, as follows:]

ART. IV. It shall be the duty of the legislature, as soon as may be, to provide for the enlargement of the school-fund of the Commonwealth until it shall amount to a sum not less than $2,000,000; and the said fund shall be preserved inviolate, and the income thereof shall be annually appropriated for the aid and improvement of the common schools of the State, and for no other purpose.

[Chapter V, § 2, continued without change, as § V of Chapter XII of the proposed constitution.

The following proposition was submitted to a separate vote, and defeated by a vote of 65,111 to 65,512:]

PROPOSITION NUMBER SIX.--All moneys raised by taxation in the towns and cities for the support of public schools, and all moneys which may be appropriated by the

State for the support of common schools, shall be applied to and expended in no other schools than those which are conducted according to law, under the order and superintendence of the authorities of the town or city in which the money is to be expended, and such money shall never be appropriated to any religious sect, for the maintenance, exclusively, of its own schools.

MICHIGAN.

CONSTITUTION OF MICHIGAN, AS PREPARED IN 1835, AND IN FORCE FROM 1837 TO 1850.

Article X.-Education.

SECTION 1. The governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the legislature in joint vote shall appoint, a superintendent of public instruction, who shall hold his office for two years, and whose duties shall be prescribed by law.*

§ 2. The legislature shall encourage, by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scientifical, and agricultural improvement. The proceeds of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to this State, for the support of schools, which shall hereafter be old or disposed of, shall be and remain a perpetual fund; the interest of which, together with the rents of all such unsold lands, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of schools throughout the State.

§ 3. The legislature shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a school shall be kept up and supported in each school-district, at least three months in every year; and any school-district neglecting to keep up and support such school may be deprived of its equal proportion of the interest of the public fund.

§ 4. As soon as the circumstances of the State will permit, the legis lature shall provide for the establishment of libraries, one at least in each township; and the money which shall be paid by persons as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, and the clear proceeds of all fines assessed in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied to the support of such libraries.f

§ 6. The legislature shall take measures for the protection, improvement, or other disposition of such lands as have been or may hereafter be reserved or granted by the United States to this State for the support of a university; and the funds accruing from the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source for the purpose aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund for the support of said university, with such branches as the public convenience may hereafter demaud for the promotion of literature, the arts and sciences, and as may be authorized * An act to define the duties of superintendent of public instruction was passed March 28, 1836, in pursuance of this section of the constitution.

The Revised Statutes of Michigan, adopted in 1846, Title XI, chapter 58, section 114, provide for the organization and management of township-libraries, that might be formed by the board of school-inspectors, under this provision of the constitution.

by the terms of such grant. And it shall be the duty of the legislature, as soon as may be, to provide more effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the funds of said university.

ORDINANCE ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION WHICH FORMED THE CONSTITUTION OF MICHIGAN IN 1835.

Be it ordained by the convention assembled to form a constitution for the State of Michigan, in behalf and by authority of the people of said State, That the following propositions be submitted to the Congress of the United States, which, if assented to by that body, shall be obligatory on this State:

1st. Section numbered sixteen in every surveyed township of the public lands, and where 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 schools.

2d. The seventy-two sections of land set apart and reserved for the use and support of a university, by an act of Congress approved on the 20th day of May, 1826, entitled "An act concerning a seminary of learning in the Territory of Michigan," shall, together with such further quantities as may be agreed upon by Congress, be conveyed to the State, and shall be appropriated solely to the use and support of such university in such manner as the legislature may prescribe.

7th. The first Senators and Representatives elected to Congress from this State are hereby authorized and empowered to make or assent to such other propositious, or to such variations of the propositions herein made, as the interests of the State may require; and any such changes or new propositions, when approved by the legislature, shall be as obligatory as if the assent of this convention were given thereto; and all stipulations entered into by the legislature in pursuance of the authority herein conferred shall be considered articles of compact between the United States and this State; and the legislature is hereby further authorized to declare, in behalf of the people of Michigan, if such declaration be proposed by Congress, that they will never interfere with the primary disposal under the authority of the United States of the vacant lands within the limits of this State.

CONSTITUTION OF MICHIGAN, AS AMENDED IN 1850.

Article XIII.—Education.

SECTION 1. The superintendent of public instruction shall have the general supervision of public instruction, and his duties shall be prescribed by law.*

§ 2. The proceeds from the sales of all lauds that have been, or here* The duties of this office are prescribed by an act passed April 4, 1851, which took effect July 4 of that year.-Laws of Michigan, 1851, p. 116.

after may be, granted by the United States to the State for educa tional purposes, and the proceeds of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the State for like purposes, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, shall be invi olably appropriated and annually applied to the specific objects of the original gift, grant, or appropriation.

§ 3. All lands the title of which shall fail from a defect of heirs shall escheat to the State; and the interest on the clear proceeds from the sales thereof shall be appropriated exclusively to the support of primary schools.

§ 4. The legislature shall, within five years from the adoption of this constitution, provide for and establish a system of primary schools, whereby a school shall be kept, without charge for tuition, at least three months in each year, in every school-district in the State, and all instruction in said schools shall be conducted in the English language.

§ 5. A school shall be maintained in each school-district at least three months in each year. Any school-district neglecting to maintain such school shall be deprived for the ensuing year of its proportion of the income of the primary-school-fund, and of all funds arising from taxes for the support of schools.

[§ 6. There shall be elected in each judicial circuit, at the time of the election of the judge of such circuit, a regent of the university, whose term of office shall be the same as that of such judge. The regents thus elected shall constitute the board of regents of the University of Mich igan.]

§ 7. The regents of the university, and their successors in office, shal continue to constitute the body-corporate known by the name and title of "The Regents of the University of Michigan."

§ 8. The regents of the university shall, at their first annual meeting, or as soon thereafter as may be, elect a president of the university, who shall be ex officio a member of their board, with the privilege of speaking but not of voting. He shall preside at the meetings of the regents, and be the principal executive officer of the university. The board of regents shall have the general supervision of the university, and the direction and control of all expenditures from the university interestfund.

§ 9. There shall be elected at the general election in the year 1852 three members of a State board of education, one for two years, one for four years, and one for six years; and at each succeeding biennial election there shall be elected one member of such board, who shall hold his office for six years. The superintendent of public instruction shall be ex officio a member and secretary of such board. The board shall have the general supervision of the State normal school, and their duties shall be prescribed by law.

* This section was superseded in 1861 by an amendment given below.

§ 10. Institutions for the benefit of those inhabitants who are deaf, dumb, blind, or insane, shall always be fostered and supported.

§ 11. The legislature shall encourage the promotion of intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement, and shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural school.* The legislature may appropriate the twenty-two sections of salt-spring-lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, where such lands have been already sold, and any land which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such school, and may make the same a branch of the university for instruction in agriculture and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the university.

§ 12. The legislature shall also provide for the establishment of at least one library in each township; and all fines assessed and collected in the several counties and townships for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied to the support of such libraries.

AMENDMENT ADOPTED IN 1861, IN PLACE OF SECTION 6, AS ABOVE GIVEN.t

§ 6. There shall be elected in the year 1863, and at the election of a justice of the supreme court, eight regents of the university, two of whom shall hold their office for two years, two for four years, two for six years, and two for eight years. They shall enter upon the duties of their office on the first day of January next succeeding their election. At every regular election of a justice of the supreme court thereafter, there shall be elected two regents, whose term of office shall be eight years. When a vacancy shall occur in the office of regent, it shall be filled by appointment of the governor. The regents thus elected shall constitute the board of regents of the University of Michigar

AMENDMENTS PROPOSED IN 1867.

[The constitution of Michigan as amended by convention in 1867 (but not ratified) provided for the election of a superintendent of public instruction for a term of two years, and for the filling of vacancies in this office by the governor, or by the governor and senate. His salary was to be $2,500, unless changed by law, and he was not allowed to receive any other fees or perquisites. All specific State taxes were to be applied in paying the interest on primary-school, university, and other educational funds, and the interest on and principal of the State debt, in the order here mentioned, until the extinguishment of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, when such specific

*The Michigan State Agricultural College was incorporated in 1855, and organized in 1857 at Lansing.

+ This amendment was ratified by a vote of 4,363 to 1,901.