USA > Illinois > Illinois, historical and statistical, comprising the essential facts of its planting and growth as a province, county, territory, and state, Vol. II > Part 52
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§ 2. All votes shall be given by ballot.
§ 3. Electors shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning from the same.
§ 4. No elector shall be obliged to do militia duty on the days of election, except in time of war or public danger.
§ 5. No elector shall be deemed to have lost his residence in this state by reason of his absence on the business of the United States, or of this state.
§ 6. No soldier, seaman, or marine in the army or navy of the United States, shall be deemed a resident of this state in consequence of being stationed at any military or naval place within the state.
§ 7. No person shall be elected or appointed to any office in this state, civil or military, who is not a citizen of the United States, and who shall not have resided in this state one year next before the election or appointment.
§ 8. The general assembly shall have full power to pass laws excluding from the right of suffrage persons convicted of infamous crimes.
§ 9. The general elections shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, biennially, until otherwise provided by law.
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Art. VII .- Counties. § I. No new county shall be formed or established by the general assembly which will reduce the county or counties, or either of them, from which it shall be taken, to less contents than 400 square miles; nor shall any county be formed of less contents; nor shall any line thereof pass within less than 10 miles of any county-seat of the county or counties proposed to be divided.
§ 2. No county shall be divided, or have any part stricken therefrom, without submitting the question to a vote of the people of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of the county voting on the question shall vote for the same.
§ 3. All territory which has been or may be stricken off by legislative enact- ment from any organized county or counties, for the purpose of forming a new county, and which shall remain unorganized after the period provided for such organization, shall be and remain a part of the county or counties from which it was originally taken, for all the purposes of county and state government, until otherwise provided by law.
§ 4. There shall be no territory stricken from any county unless a majority of the voters living in such territory shall petition for such division, and no territory shall be added to any county without the consent of a majority of the voters of the county to which it is proposed to be added.
§ 5. No county-seat shall be removed until the point to which it is proposed to be removed shall be fixed by law, and a majority of the voters of the county shall have voted in favor of its removal to such point.
§ 6. The general assembly shall provide, by a general law, for a township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the voters of such county, at any general election, shall so determine; and whenever any county shall adopt a township organization, so much of this constitution as provides for the management of the fiscal concerns of the said county by the county court may be dispensed with and the affairs of said county may be transacted in such manner as the general assembly may provide.
§ 7. There shall be elected in each county in this state, by the qualified electors thereof, a sheriff, who shall hold his office for the term of two years, and until his- successor shall have been elected and qualified : Provided, that no person shall be eligible to the said office more than once in four years.
Art. VIII .- Militia. § 1. The militia of the state of Illinois shall consist of all free male able-bodied persons (negroes, mulattoes, and Indians excepted), resi- dent of the state, between the ages of 18 and 45 years, except such persons as now are or hereafter may be exempted by the laws of the United States or of this state, and shall be armed, equipped, and trained as the general assembly may provide by law.
§ 2. No person or persons conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty in time of peace, provided such person or persons shall pay an equivalent for such exemption.
§ 3. Company, battalion, and regimental officers, staff officers excepted, shall be elected by the persons composing their several companies, battalions, and regiments.
§ 4. Brigadier and major generals shall be elected by the officers of their brigades and divisions, respectively.
§ 5. All militia officers shall be commissioned by the governor, and may hold. their commissions for such time as the legislature may provide.
§ 6. The militia shall in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at musters and election of officers, and in going to and returning from the same.
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Art. IX .- Revenue. § I. The general assembly may, whenever they shall deem it necessary, cause to be collected from all able-bodied free white male inhabitants of this state over the age of 21 years and under the age of 60 years, who are entitled to the rights of suffrage, a capitation tax of not less than 50 cents nor more than $1 each.
§ 2. The general assembly shall provide for levying a tax by valuation, so that every person and corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his or her property; such value to be ascertained by some person or persons to be elected or appointed in such manner as the general assembly shall direct, and not otherwise; but the general assembly shall have power to tax peddlers, auctioneers, brokers, hawkers, merchants, commission merchants, showmen, jugglers, inn-keepers, gro- cery-keepers, toll-bridges and ferries, and persons using and exercising franchises and privileges, in such manner as they shall, from time to time, direct.
§ 3. The property of the state and counties, both real and personal, and such other property as the general assembly may deem necessary for school, religious, and charitable purposes, may be exempted from taxation.
§ 4. Hereafter, no purchaser of any land or town lot, at any sale of lands or town lots for taxes due either to this state or any county, or incorporated town or city within the same, or at any sale for taxes or levies authorized by the laws of this state, shall be entitled to a deed for the lands or town lot so purchased until he or she shall have complied with the following conditions, to-wit: Such purchaser shall serve, or cause to be served, a written notice of such purchase on every person in possession of such land or town lot, three months before the expiration of the time of redemption on such sale; in which notice he shall state when he purchased the land or town lot, the description of the land or lot he has purchased, and when the time of redemption will expire. In like manner he shall serve on the person or persons in whose name or names such land or lot is taxed, a similar written notice, if such person or persons shall reside in the county where such land or lot shall be situated; and in the event that the person or persons in whose name or names the land or lot is taxed do not reside in the county, such purchaser shall publish such notice in some newspaper printed in such county; and if no newspaper is printed in the county, then in the nearest newspaper that is published in this state to the county in which such lot or land is situated; which notice shall be inserted three times, the last time not less than three months before the time of redemption shall expire. Every such purchaser, by himself or agent, shall, before he shall be entitled to a deed, make an affidavit of his having complied with the conditions of this section, stating particularly the facts relied on as such compliance; which affi- davit shall be delivered to the person authorized by law to execute such tax deed, and which shall by him be filed with the officer having custody of the records of lands and lots sold for taxes and entries of redemption in the county where such land or lot shall lie, to be by such officer entered on the records of his office, and carefully preserved among the files of his office; and which record or affidavit shall be prima facie evidence that such notice has been given. Any person swearing falsely in such affidavit shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and punished accordingly. In case any person shall be compelled under this section to publish a notice in a newspaper, then, before any person who may have a right to redeem such land or lot from tax sale shall be permitted to redeem, he or she shall pay the officer or person who by law is authorized to receive such redemption money, the printer's fee for publishing such notice, and the expenses of swearing or affirming to the affidavit, and filing the same.
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§ 5. The corporate authorities of counties, townships, school districts, cities, towns, and villages may be vested with power to assess and collect taxes for cor- porate purposes; such taxes to be uniform in respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. And the general assembly shall require that all the property within the limits of municipal corporations, belonging to individuals, shall be taxed for the payment of debts contracted under authority of law.
§ 6. The specification of the objects and subjects of taxation shall not deprive the general assembly of the power to require other objects or subjects to be taxed, in such manner as may be consistent with the principles of taxation fixed in this constitution.
Art. X .-. Corporations. § I. Corporations, not possessing banking powers or privileges, may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special acts, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the general assembly, the objects of the corporation can not be attained under general laws.
§ 2. Dues from corporations, not possessing banking powers or privileges, shall be secured by such individual liabilities of the corporators, or other means, as may be prescribed by law.
§ 3. No state bank shall hereafter be created, nor shall the state own or be liable for any stock in any corporation or joint-stock association for banking pur- poses, to be hereafter created.
§ 4. The stockholders in every corporation, or joint-stock association for bank- ing purposes, issuing bank-notes, or any kind of paper credits to circulate as money, shall be individually responsible, to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in any such corporation or association, for all its debts or liabilities of every kind.
§ 5. No act of the general assembly, authorizing corporations or associations with banking powers, shall go into effect, or in any manner be in force, unless the same shall be submitted to the people at the general election next succeeding the passage of the same, and be approved by a majority of all the votes cast at such election for and against such law.
§ 6. The general assembly shall encourage internal improvements, by passing liberal general laws of incorporation for that purpose.
Art. XI .- Commons. All lands which have been granted, as a common, to the inhabitants of any town, hamlet, village, or corporation, by any person, body politic or corporate, or by any government having power to make such grant, shall forever remain common to the inhabitants of such town, hamlet, village, or incor- poration; but the said commons, or any of them, or any part thereof, may be divided, leased, or granted, in such manner as may hereafter be provided by law, on petition of a majority of the qualified voters interested in such commons, or any of them.
Art. XII,-Amendments to the Constitution. § I. Whenever two-thirds of all the members elected to each branch of the general assembly shall think it neces- sary to alter or amend this constitution, they shall recommend to the electors, at the next election of members of the general assembly, to vote for or against a con- vention; and if it shall appear that a majority of all the electors of the state voting for representatives have voted for a convention, the general assembly shall, at their next session, call a convention, to consist of as many members as the house of repre-
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sentatives at the time of making said call, to be chosen in the same manner, at the same place, and by the same electors, in the same districts that chose the members of the house of representatives; and which convention shall meet within three months after the said election, for the purpose of revising, altering, or amending this constitution.
§ 2. Any amendment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either branch of the general assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by two- thirds of all the members elect in each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be referred to the next regular session of the general assembly, and shall be published at least three months previous to the time of holding the next election for members of the house of representatives; and if, at the next regular session of the general assembly after said election, a majority of all the members elect in each branch of the general assembly shall agree to said amendment or amendments, then it shall be their duty to submit the same to the people at the next general election, for their adoption or rejection, in such manner as may be pre- scribed by law; and if a majority of all the electors voting at such election for members of the house of representatives shall vote for such amendment or amend- ments, the same shall become a part of the constitution. But the general assembly shall not have power to propose an amendment or amendments to more than one article of the constitution at the same session.
Art. XIII .- Declaration of Rights. That the general, great, and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized and unalterably estab- lished, we declare :
§ I. That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, and of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property and reputa- tion, and of pursuing their own happiness.
§ 2. That all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness.
§ 3. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; that no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent; that no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience, and that no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious establishments or modes of worship.
§ 4. That no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this state.
§ 5. That all elections shall be free and equal.
§ 6. That the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, and shall extend to all cases at law, without regard to the amount in controversy.
§ 7. That the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and pos- sessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures; and that general warrants, where- by an officer may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of the fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose offences are not particularly described and supported by evidence, are dangerous to liberty, and ought not to be granted.
§ 8. That no freeman shall be imprisoned or disseized of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed or exiled, or in any manner deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land.
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§ 9. That in all criminal prosecutions the accused hath a right to be heard by himself and counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him; to meet the witnesses face to face; to have compulsory process to compel the attend- ance of witnesses in his favor; and in prosecutions by indictment or information, a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district wherein the offence shall have been committed, which county or district shall have been previously ascer- tained by law, and that he shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself.
§ IO. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offence unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases of impeachment, or in cases cognizable by justices of the peace, or arising in the army or navy, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger: Provided, that justices of the peace shall try no person, except as a court of inquiry, for any offence punishable with imprisonment or death, or fine above $100.
§ II. No person shall, for the same offence, be twice put in jeopardy of his life or limb; nor shall any man's property be taken or applied to public use without the consent of his representatives in the general assembly, nor without just compen- sation being made to him.
§ 12. Every person within this state ought to find a certain remedy in the laws for all injuries or wrongs which he may receive in his person, property, or character; he ought to obtain right and justice freely, and without being obliged to purchase it, completely and without denial, promptly and without delay, conformably to the laws.
§ 13. That all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offences where the proof is evident or the presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
§ 14. All penalties shall be proportioned to the nature of the offence; the true design of all punishment being to reform, not to exterminate mankind.
§ 15. No person shall be imprisoned for debt unless upon refusal to deliver up his estate for the benefit of his creditors, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, or in cases where there is strong presumption of fraud.
§ 16. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, ex- cept as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
§ 17. No ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall ever be made; and no conviction shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture of estate.
§ 18. That no person shall be liable to be transported out of this state for any offence committed within the same.
§ 19. That a frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of civil govern- ment is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty.
§ 20. The military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.
§ 21. That the people have a right to assemble together in a peaceable manner to consult for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and to apply to the general assembly for redress of grievances.
§ 22. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, except in manner prescribed by law.
§ 23. The printing presses shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the general assembly, or of any branch of government; and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free communica-
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tion of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man; and every citizen may freely speak, write, and print, on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.
§ 24. In prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the official con- duct of officers, or of men acting in a public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and in all indictments for libels, the jury shall have the right of determining both the law and the fact, under the direction of the court, as in other cases.
§ 25. Any person who shall, after the adoption of this constitution, fight a duel, or send or accept a challenge for that purpose, or be aider or abettor in fighting a duel, shall be deprived of the right of holding any office of honor or profit in this state, and shall be punished otherwise, in such manner as is or may be prescribed by law.
§ 26. That from and after the adoption of this constitution, every person who shall be elected or appointed to any office of profit, trust, or emolument, civil or military, legislative, executive, or judicial, under the government of this state, shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office, in addition to the oath prescribed in this constitution, take the following oath :
I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I have not fought a duel, or sent or accepted a challenge to fight a duel, the probable issue of which might have been the death of either party, nor been a second to either party, nor in any manner aided or assisted in such duel, nor been knowingly the bearer of such challenge or acceptance, since the adoption of the consti- tution; and that I will not be so engaged or concerned, directly or indirectly, in or about any such duel, during my continuance in office. So help me God.
Art. XIV. The general assembly shall, at its first session under the amended constitution, pass such laws as will effectually prohibit free persons of color from immigrating to and settling in this state; and to effectually prevent the owners of slaves from bringing them into this state for the purpose of setting them free.
Art. XV .- Two-Mill Tax. There shall be annually assessed and collected, in the same manner as other state revenue may be assessed and collected, a tax of two mills upon each dollar's worth of taxable property, in addition to all other taxes, to be applied as follows, to-wit: The fund so created shall be kept separate, and shall annually, on the first day of January, be apportioned and paid over pro rata upon all such state indebtedness, other than the canal and school indebtedness, as may, for that purpose, be presented by the holders of the same, to be entered as credits upon, and, to that intent, in extinguishment of the principal of said in- debtedness.
Schedule. , That no inconvenience may arise from the alterations and amend- ments made in the constitution of this state, and to carry the same into complete effect, it is hereby ordained and declared :
§ I. That all laws in force at the adoption of this constitution, not inconsistent therewith, and all rights, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts of this state, individuals or bodies corporate, shall continue and be as valid as if this constitution had not been adopted.
§ 2. That all fines, penalties, and forfeitures due and owing to the state of Illinois under the present constitution and laws, shall inure to the use of the people of the state of Illinois under this constitution.
§ 3. Recognizances, bonds, obligations, and all other instruments entered into or executed before the adoption of this constitution, to the people of the state of Illinois, to any state or county officer, or public body, shall remain binding and
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valid, and rights and liabilities upon the same shall continne, and all crimes and misdemeanors shall be tried and punished as though no change had been made in the constitution of the state.
§ 4. That Article XI, entitled Commons, is hereby adopted as a part of the constitution of this state, without being submitted to be voted upon by the people.
§ 5. That at the first election fixed by this constitution for the election of judges, there shall be elected one circuit judge in each of the nine judicial circuits now established in this state.
§ 6. The county commissioners' courts and the probate justices of the several counties shall continue in existence and exercise their present jurisdiction until the county court, provided in this constitution, is organized in pursuance of an act of the general assembly to be passed at its first session.
§ 7. That the clerk of the circuit court, in each county fixed by this constitution as the place for holding the supreme court, except in the county of Sangamon, shall be ex-officio clerk of the supreme court, until the clerks of said court shall be elected and qualified as provided in this constitution, and all laws now in force, in relation to the clerk of the supreme court, shall be applicable to said clerks and their duties.
§ 8. That the sheriffs, state attorneys, and all other officers elected under this constitution, shall perform such duties as shall be prescribed by law.
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