USA > Georgia > The Confederate records of the State of Georgia, Vol 4 > Part 20
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Whereupon the convention was declared adjourned conformably with the resolution this day adopted.
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APPENDIX.
PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION.
We, the people of the State of Georgia, in order to form a permanent government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity-acknowledging and in- voking the guidance of Almighty God, the author of all good government, do ordain and establish this Constitu- tion for the State of Georgia.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
ARTICLE I.
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DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.
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1. Protection to person and property is the duty of government.
2. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, except by due process of law.
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3. The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless in case of rebellion, or invasion, the public safety may require it.
4. A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
5. Perfect freedom of religious sentiment, be and the same is hereby secured, and no inhabitant of this State, shall ever be molested in person or property, nor prohibited from holding any public office or trust on ac- count of his religious opinion.
6. Freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, are inherent elements of political liberty. But while every citizen may freely speak or write, or print on any sub- ject, he shall be responsible for the abuse of the liberty.
7. The right of the people to appeal to the courts, to petition government on all matters of legitimate cog- nizance and peaceably to assemble for the consideration of any matter of public concern shall never be impaired.
8. Every person charged with an offence against the laws of the State, shall have the privilege and benefit of counsel, shall be furnished on demand with a copy of the accusation, and a list of the witnesses on whose testi- mony the charge against him is founded; shall have com- pulsory process to obtain the attendance of his own wit- nesses; shall be confronted with the witnesses testifying against him, and shall have a public and speedy trial by an impartial jury, as heretofore practiced in Georgia.
9. No person shall be put in jeopardy of life or lib- erty, more than once for the same offence, save on his or
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her own motion for a new trial after conviction, or in case of mistrial.
10. No conviction shall work corruption of blood or general forfeiture of estate.
11. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor exces- sive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
12. The powers of the courts to punish for contempt shall be limited by legislative acts.
13. Legislative acts in violation of the Constitution are void, and the judiciary shall so declare them.
14. Ex post facto laws-laws impairing the obliga- tion of contracts and retroactive laws injuriously affect- ing any right of the citizen, are prohibited.
15. Laws should have a general operation, and no general law affecting private rights shall be varied in any particular case by special legislation, except with the free consent, in writing, of all persons to be affected thereby; and no person being under a legal disability to contract, is capable of such free consent.
16. The power of taxation over the whole State shall be exercised by the General Assembly only to raise reve- nue for the support of government, to pay the public debt, to provide for the common defence, and for such other purposes as the General Assembly may be specially required or empowered to accomplish by this Constitu- tion. But the General Assembly may, by statute, grant the power of taxation for designated purposes, with such limitations as they may deem expedient, to county au- thorities and municipal corporations, to be exercised within their several territorial limits.
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17. In cases of necessity, private ways may be granted upon just compensation being first paid; and with this exception private property shall not be taken, save for public use, and then only on just compensation to be first provided and paid, unless there be a pressing, unforseen necessity, in which event the General Assem- bly shall make early provision for such compensation.
18. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no war- rant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place or places to be searched, and the persons and things to be seized.
19. The person of a debtor shall not be detained in prison, after delivery, for the benefit of his creditors of all his estate, not expressly exempted by law from levy and sale.
20. The government of the United States having, as a war measure, proclaimed all slaves held or owned in this State, emancipated from slavery, and having carried that proclamation into full practical effect, there shall henceforth be within the State of Georgia, neither slav- ery nor involuntary servitude, save as a punishment for crime, after legal conviction thereof; provided, This acquiescence in the action of the government of the United States, is not intended to operate as a relinquish- ment, waiver, or estoppel of such claim for compensation of loss sustained by reason of the emancipation of his slaves as any citizen of Georgia may hereafter make upon the justice and magnanimity of that government.
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21. The enumeration of rights herein contained is a part of this Constitution, but shall not be construed to deny to the people any inherent rights which they have hitherto enjoyed.
ARTICLE II.
SECTION 1.
1. The Legislative, Executive and Judicial Depart- ments shall be distinct; and each department shall be confided to a separate body of magistracy. No person, or collection of persons, being of one department, shall exercise any power properly attached to either of the others, except in cases herein expressly provided.
2. The legislative power shall be vested in a Gen- eral Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives, the members whereof shall be elected and returns of the elections made in the manner now pre- scribed by law, (until changed by the General Assembly) on the 15th day of November, in the present year, and biennially thereafter, on the first Wednesday of October, to serve until their successors shall be elected; but the General Assembly may, by law, change the day of elec- tion.
3. The first meeting of the General Assembly, under this Constitution, shall be on the first Monday in Decem- ber next, after which, it shall meet annually on the first Thursday in November, or on such other day as the Gen- eral Assembly may prescribe. A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to transact business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of its absent members, as each
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House may provide. No session of the General Assem- bly, after the first above mentioned, shall continue longer than forty days, unless prolonged by a vote of two-thirds of each branch thereof.
4. No person holding any military commission, or other appointment, having any emolument or compensa- tion annexed thereto, under this State or the United States, or either of them, (except justices of the infe- rior court, justices of the peace, and officers of the mili- tia) nor any defaulter for public money, or for any legal taxes required of him, shall have a seat in either branch of the General Assembly; nor shall any Senator or Representative, after his qualification as such, be elected by the General Assembly, or appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate, to any office or appointment having any emolument or compensation annexed thereto, during the time for which he shall have been elected.
5. No person convicted of any felony before any court of this State, or of the United States, shall be eligi- ble to any office, or appointment of honor, profit or trust, within this State, until he shall have been pardoned.
6. No person who is a collector or holder of public money, shall be eligible to any office in this State, until the same is accounted for and paid into the treasury.
SECTION 2.
There shall be forty-four Senatorial Districts in the State of Georgia, each composed of three contiguous counties, from each of which districts one Senator shall be chosen, until otherwise arranged, as hereinafter pro- vided.
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The said districts shall be constituted of counties as follows :
The First District of Chatham, Bryan and Effingham.
The Second, of Liberty, Tattnall and McIntosh,
The Third, of Wayne, Pierce and Appling.
The Fourth, of Glynn, Camden and Charlton. The Fifth, of Coffee, Ware and Clinch. The Sixth, of Echols, Lowndes and Berrien.
The Seventh, of Brooks, Thomas and Colquitt.
The Eighth, of Decatur, Mitchell and Miller. The Ninth, of Early, Calhoun and Baker. The Tenth, of Dougherty, Lee and Worth. The Eleventh, of Clay, Randolph and Terrell. The Twelfth, of Stewart, Webster and Quitman. The Thirteenth, of Sumter, Schley and Macon. The Fourteenth, of Dooly, Wilcox and Pulaski. The Fifteenth, of Montgomery, Telfair and Irwin. The Sixteenth, of Laurens, Johnson and Emanuel. The Seventeenth, of Bulloch, Screven and Burke.
The Eighteenth, of Richmond, Glascock and Jeffer- son.
The Nineteenth, of Taliaferro, Warren and Greene.
The Twentieth, of Baldwin, Hancock and Washing- ton.
The Twenty-First, of Twiggs, Wilkinson and Jones.
The Twenty-Second, of Bibb, Monroe and Pike.
The Twenty-Third, of Houston, Crawford and Tay- lor.
The Twenty-Fourth, of Marion, Chattahoochee and Muscogee.
The Twenty-Fifth, of Harris, Upson and Talbot.
The Twenty-Sixth, of Spalding, Butts and Fayette.
The Twenty-Seventh, of Newton, Walton and Clark.
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The Twenty-Eighth, of Jasper, Putnam and Morgan. The Twenty-Ninth, of Wilkes, Lincoln and Columbia. The Thirtieth, of Oglethorpe, Madison and Elbert. The Thirty-First, of Hart, Franklin and Habersham. The Thirty-Second, of White, Lumpkin and Dawson. The Thirty-Third, of Hall, Banks and Jackson. The Thirty-Fourth, of Gwinnett, DeKalb and Henry. The Thirty-Fifth, of Clayton, Fulton and Cobb.
The Thirty-Sixth, of Meriwether, Coweta and Camp- bell.
The Thirty-Seventh, of Troup, Heard and Carroll. The Thirty-Eighth, of Haralson, Polk and Paulding. The Thirty-Ninth, of Cherokee, Milton and Forsyth. The Fortieth, of Union, Towns and Rabun.
The Forty-First, of Fannin, Gilmer and Pickens.
The Forty-Second, of Bartow, Floyd and Chattooga. The Forty-Third, of Murray, Whitfield and Gordon. The Forty-Fourth, of Walker, Dade and Catoosa.
If a new county be established, it shall be added to a district which it adjoins. The Senatorial districts may be changed by the General Assembly, but only at the first session after the taking of each census by the United States Government, and their number shall never be increased.
2. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years and be a citizen of the United States, and have been for three years an inhabitant of this State, and for one year a resident of the district from which he is chosen.
3. The presiding officer shall be styled the Presi- dent of the Senate, and shall be elected viva voce from their own body.
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4. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, profit, or trust, within this State: but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law.
SECTION 3.
1. The House of Representatives shall be composed as follows: The thirty-seven counties having the largest representative population, shall have two Representa- tives each. Every other county shall have one Represen- tative. The designation of the counties having two Rep- resentatives shall be made by the General Assembly im- mediately after the taking of each census.
2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained the age of twenty-one years, and be a citizen of the United States, and have been for three years an inhabitant of the State, and for one year a resident of the county which he represents.
3. The presiding officer of the House of Representa- tives shall be styled the Speaker, and shall be elected viva voce from their own body.
4. They shall have the sole power to impeach all persons who have been or may be in office.
5. All bills for raising revenue or appropriating
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money shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur in amendments, as in other bills.
SECTION 4.
1. Each House shall be the judge of the election returns and qualifications of its own members; and shall have power to punish them for disorderly behavior or misconduct, by censure, fine imprisonment or expulsion ; but no member shall be expelled except by a vote of two- thirds of the House from which he is expelled.
2. Each House may punish, by imprisonment not extending beyond the session, any person not a member, who shall be guilty of a contempt by any disorderly be- havior in its presence; or who, during the session, shall threaten injury to the person or estate of any member, for anything said or done in either House; or who shall assault or arrest any witness going to or returning from or who shall rescue or attempt to rescue any person arrested by either House.
3. The members of both Houses shall be free from arrest during their attendance on the General Assembly, and in going to and returning therefrom; except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. And no mem- ber shall be liable to answer in any other place, for any- thing spoken in debate in either House.
4. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceed- ings, and publish them immediately after its adjourn- ment. The yeas and nays of the members on any ques- tion, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of the members pres- ent, be entered on the journals. The original journals
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shall be preserved (after publication,) in the office of the Secretary of State; but there shall be no other record thereof.
5. Every bill, before it shall pass, shall be read three times, and on three separate and distinct days in each House, unless in cases of actual invasion or insurrection. Nor shall any law or ordinance pass, which refers to more than one subject matter, or contains matter differ- ent from what is expressed in the title thereof.
6. All acts shall be signed by the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives; and no bill, ordinance, or resolution, intended to have the effect of law, which shall have been rejected by either House, shall be again proposed under the same or any other title, without the consent of two-thirds of the House, by which the same was rejected.
7. Neither House shall adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place, without the consent of the other; and in case of disagreement between the two houses, on a question of adjournment, the Governor may adjourn them.
8. Every Senator and Representative, before taking his seat, shall take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States and of this State; and also, that he hath not practiced any unlawful means, either directly or indirectly, to procure his election. And every person convicted of having given or offered a bribe, shall be disqualified from serving as a member of either House for the term for which he was elected.
9. Whenever this Constitution requires an Act to be passed by two-thirds of both Houses, the yeas and nays
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on the passage thereof, shall be entered on the journals of each.
SECTION 5.
1. The General Assembly shall have power to make all laws and ordinances consistent with this Constitution, and not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, which they shall deem necessary and proper for the welfare of the State.
2. They may alter the boundaries of counties, and establish new counties; but every bill to establish a new county shall be passed by at least two-thirds of the mem- bers present, in each branch of the General Assembly.
3. The General Assembly shall have power to appro- priate money for the promotion of learning and science, and to provide for the education of the people; and shall provide for the early resumption of the regular exercises of the University of Georgia, by the adequate endowment of the same.
4. The General Assembly shall have power, by a vote of two-thirds of each branch, to grant pardons in cases of final conviction for treason, and to pardon or commute after final conviction in capital cases.
5. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, at its next session, and thereafter as the public welfare may require, to provide by law for the government of free persons of color; for the protection and security of their persons and property, guarding them and the State against any evil that may arise from their sudden eman- cipation, and prescribing in what cases their testimony shall be admitted in the courts; for the regulation of
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their transactions with citizens; for the legalizing of their existing, and the contracting and solemnization of their future marital relations, and connected therewith their rights of inheritance and testamentary capacity ; and for the regulation or prohibition of their immigra- tion into this State from other States of the Union or elsewhere. And further, it shall be the duty of the Gen- eral Assembly to confer jurisdiction upon courts now existing, or to create county courts with jurisdiction in criminal cases excepted from the exclusive jurisdiction of the Superior Court, and in civil cases whereto free persons of color may be parties.
SECTION 6.
1. The General Assembly shall have no power to grant corporate powers and privileges to private com- panies, except to banking, insurance, railroad, canal, plank road, navigation, mining, express, lumber, manu- facturing, and telegraph companies, nor to make or change election precincts; nor to establish bridges and ferries ; nor to change names, or legitimate children; but shall by law prescribe the manner in which such power shall be exercised by the courts. But no bank charter shall be granted or extended, and no act passed, author- izing the suspension of specie payment by any chartered bank, except by a vote of two-thirds of each branch of the General Assembly.
2. No money shall be drawn from the treasury of this State, except by appropriation made by law; and .a regular statement and account of the receipt and expen- diture of all public money shall be published from time to time.
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3. No vote, resolution, law, or order shall pass, granting a donation or gratuity in favor of any person, except by the concurrence of two-thirds of the General Assembly.
4. No law shall be passed by which a citizen shall be compelled directly or indirectly, to become a stock- holder in, or contribute to a railroad, or other work of internal improvement, without his consent, except the inhabitants of a corporate town or city. This provision shall not be construed to deny the power of taxation for the purpose of making levees or dams to prevent the overflow of rivers.
ARTICLE III.
SECTION 1.
1. The executive power shall be vested in a Gov- ernor, the first of whom under this Constitution, shall hold the office from the time of his inauguration as by law provided, until the election and qualification of his successor. Each Governor subsequently elected shall hold the office for two years and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, and shall not be eligible to elec- tion after the expiration of a second term for the period of four years. He shall have a competent salary, which shall not be increased nor diminished during the time for which he shall have been elected; neither shall he receive within that time any other emolument from the United States; or either of them, nor from any foreign power.
2. The Governor shall be elected by the persons qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly, on the fifteenth day of November, in the year eighteen
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hundred and sixty-five, and biennially thereafter, on the first Wednesday of October, until such time be altered by law, which election shall be held at the places of hold- ing general elections in the several counties of this State, in the manner prescribed for the election of members of the General Assembly. The returns for every election of Governor shall be sealed up by the managers, sepa- rately from other returns, and directed to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representa- tives; and transmitted to the Governor, or the person exercising the duties of the Governor for the time being ; who shall, without opening the said returns, cause the same to be laid before the Senate, on the day after the two houses shall have been organized; and they shall be transmitted by the Senate to the House of Representa- tives. The members of each of the General Assembly shall convene in the Representative chamber, and the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall open and publish the returns in the presence of the General Assembly; and the person having the majority of the whole number of votes given in, shall be declared duly elected Governor of this State; but if no person have such majority, then from the two persons having the highest number of votes, who shall be in life, and shall not decline an election at the time appointed for the Legislature to elect, the General Assembly shall immediately elect a Governor viva voce; and in all cases of election of a Governor by the General Assembly, a majority of the votes of the members pres- ent shall be necessary for a choice. Contested elections shall be determined by both Houses of the General Assembly, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.
3. No person shall be eligible to the office of Gov-
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ernor who shall not have been a citizen of the United States twelve years, and an inhabitant of this State six years, and who hath not obtained the age of thirty years.
4. In case of the death, resignation, or disability of the Governor, the President of the Senate shall exercise the executive powers of the government until such dis- ability be removed, or a successor is elected and qualified. And in case of the death, resignation, or disability of the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall exercise the executive powers of the government until the removal of the disability or the election and qualification of a Governor.
5. The Governor shall, before he enters on the duties of his office, take the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will faithfully execute the office of Governor of the State of Georgia; and will, to the best of my abilities, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution thereof, and of the Constitution of the United States of America."
SECTION 2.
1. The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy of this State, and of the militia thereof.
2. He shall have power to grant reprieves for offences against the State, except in cases in impeach- ment, and to grant pardons, or to remit any part of a sentence, in all cases after conviction, except for treason, murder, or other capital offences, in which cases he may respite the execution, and make report thereof to the next General Assembly.
3. He shall issue writs of election to fill vacancies
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that happen in the Senate or House of Representatives, and shall have power to convene the General Assembly on extraordinary occasions; and shall give them, from time to time, information of the state of the republic, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he may deem necessary and expedient.
4. When any office shall become vacant by death, resignation, or otherwise, the Governor shall have power to fill such vacancy unless otherwise provided for by law; and persons so appointed shall continue in office until a successor is appointed agreeably to the mode pointed out by this Constitution, or by law in pursuance thereof.
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