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 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
§ 2. Amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the general assembly, and if the same shall be voted for by two-thirds of all the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendments, together with the yeas and nays of each house thereon, shall be entered in full on their respective journals; and said amendments shall be submitted to the electors of this State for adoption or rejection, at the next election of members of the general assembly, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. The proposed amendments shall be published in full at least three months preceding the election, and if a majority of the electors voting at said election shall vote for the proposed amendments, they shall become a part of this constitution. But the general assembly shall have no power to propose amendments to more than one article of this constitution at the same session, nor to the same article oftener than once in four years.
SEPARATE SECTIONS.
Illinois- Central Railroad. No contract, obligation, or liability, whatever, of the Illinois- Central Railroad Company, to pay any money into the state treasury, nor any lien of the State upon, or right to tax property of said company in accord- ance with the provisions of the charter of said company, approved February Ioth, in the year of our Lord 1851, shall ever be released, suspended, modified, altered,
II29
APPENDIX-CONSTITUTION OF 1870.
remitted, or in any manner diminished or impaired by legislative or other authority; and all moneys derived from said company, after the payment of the state debt, shall be appropriated and set apart for the payment of the ordinary expenses of the state government, and for no other purposes whatever.
Municipal Subscriptions to Railroads or Private Corporations. No county, city, town, township, or other municipality, shall ever become subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad or private corporation, or make donations to or loan its credit in aid of such corporation : Provided, however, that the adoption of this article shall not be construed as affecting the right of any such municipality to make such subscriptions where the same have been authorized, under existing laws, by a vote of the people of such municipalities prior to such adoption.
Canal. The Illinois-and - Michigan Canal shall never be sold or leased until the specific proposition for the sale or lease thereof shall first have been submitted to a vote of the people of the State at a general election, and have been approved by a major- ity of all the votes polled at such election. The general assembly shall never loan the credit of the State, or make appropriations from the treasury thereof, in aid of railroads or canals : Provided, that any surplus earnings of any canal may be appro- priated for its enlargement or extension.
Schedule. That no inconvenience may arise from the alterations and amendments 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 to be as valid as if this constitution had not been adopted.
§ 2. That all fines, taxes, 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 valid; and rights and liabilities upon the same shall continue, and all crimes and misdemeanors shall be tried and punished as though no change had been made in the constitution of this State.
§ 4. County-courts for the transaction of county-business in counties not having adopted township organization, shall continue in existence and exercise their present jurisdiction until the board of county- commissioners provided in this constitution is organized in pursuance of an act of the general assembly; and the county-courts in all other counties shall have the same power and jurisdiction they now posses until otherwise provided by general law.
§ 5. All existing courts which are not in this constitution specifically enumerated, shall continue in existence and exercise their present jurisdiction until otherwise provided by law.
§ 6. All persons now filling any office or appointment shall continue in the exercise of the duties thereof according to their respective commissions or appointments, unless by this constitution it is otherwise directed.
§ 7. On the day this constitution is submitted to the people for ratification, an election shall be held for judges of the supreme court in the second, third, sixth, and seventh judicial election districts designated in this constitution, and for the election
72
II30
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
of three judges of the circuit-court in the county of Cook, as provided for in the article of this constitution relating to the judiciary; at which election every person entitled to vote according to the terms of this constitution, shall be allowed to vote, and the election shall be otherwise conducted, returns made and certificates issued, in accord- ance with existing laws, except that no registry shall be required at said election : Provided, that at said election in the county of Cook no elector shall vote for more than two candidates for circuit-judge. If, upon canvassing the votes for and against the adoption of this constitution, it shall appear that there has been polled a greater number of votes against than for it, then no certificates of election shall be issued for any of said supreme or circuit-judges.
§ 8. This constitution shall be submitted to the people of the State of Illinois for adoption or rejection, at an election to be held on the first Saturday in July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and there shall be separately submitted at the same time, for adoption or rejection : Sections nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, relating to railroads in the article entitled corporations; the article entitled counties; the article entitled warehouses; the question of requiring a three-fifths vote to remove a county-seat; the section relating to the Illinois-Central Railroad; the section in relation to minority repre- sentation; the section relating to municipal subscriptions to railroads or private cor- porations; and the section relating to the canal.
Every person entitled to vote under the provisions of this constitution, as defined in the article in relation to "suffrage, " shall be entitled to vote for the adoption or rejection of this constitution, and for or against the articles, sections, and questions aforesaid, separately submitted; and the said qualified electors shall vote at the usual places of voting, unless otherwise provided; and the said elections shall be conducted and returns thereof made according to the laws now in force regulating general elections, except that no registry shall be required at said election : Provided, however, that the polls shall be kept open for the reception of ballots until sunset of said day of election.
§ 9. The secretary of state shall, at least twenty days before said election, cause to be delivered to the county-clerk of each county, blank poll-books, tally-lists, and forms of return, and twice the number of properly -prepared, printed ballots for the said election that there are voters in such county-the expense whereof shall be audited and paid as other public printing ordered by the secretary of state is, by law, required to be audited and paid; and the several county-clerks shall, at least five days before said election, cause to be distributed to the board of election, in each election district, in their respective counties, said blank poll-books, tally-lists, forms of return, and tickets.
§ 10. At the said election the ballots shall be in the following form :
New Constitution Ticket. For all the propositions on this ticket which are not cancelled with ink or pencil; and against all propositions which are so cancelled.
For the new constitution; for the sections relating to railroads in the article entitled corporations; for the article entitled counties; for the article entitled warehouses; for a three-fifths vote to remove county-seats; for the section relating to the Illinois-Cen- tral-Railroad tax; for the section relating to minority representation; for the section relating to municipal subscriptions to railroads or private corporations; for the section relating to the canal.
Each of said tickets shall be counted as a vote cast for each proposition thereon not
II31
APPENDIX-CONSTITUTION OF 1870.
cancelled with ink or pencil, and against each proposition so cancelled; and returns thereof shall be made accordingly by the judges of election.
§ II. The returns of the whole vote cast, and of the votes for the adoption of rejection of this constitution, and for or against the articles and sections respectively submitted, shall be made by the several county-clerks, as is now provided by law, to the secretary of state, within 20 days after the election; and the returns of the said votes shall, within five days thereafter, be examined and canvassed by the auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state, or any two of them, in the presence of the governor, and proclamation shall be made by the governor, forthwith, of the result of the canvass.
§ 12. If it shall appear that a majority of the votes polled are for the new con- stitution, then so much of this constitution as was not separately submitted to be voted on by articles and sections shall be the supreme law of the State of Illinois, on and after Monday, the eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy; but if it shall appear that a majority of the votes polled were against the new constitution, then so much thereof as was not separately sub- mitted to be voted on by articles and sections, shall be null and void. If it shall appear that a majority of the votes polled are for the sections relating to railroads, in the article entitled "corporations," sections nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, relating to railroads in the said article, shall be a part of the constitution of this State; but if a majority of said votes are against such sections, they shall be null and void. If a majority of the votes polled are for the article entitled counties, such article shall be a part of the constitution of this State, and shall be substituted for article seven in the present constitution entitled counties; but if a majority of said votes are against such article, the same shall be null and void. If a majority of the votes polled are for the article entitled "warehouses, " such article shall be a part of the constitution of this State; but if a majority of the votes are against said article, the same shall be null and void. If a majority of the votes polled are for either of the sections, separately submitted, relating respectively to the Illinois- Central Railroad, minority representation, municipal subscriptions to railroads or private corporations, and the canal, then such of said sections as shall receive such majority shall be a part of the constitution of this State; but each of said sections, so separately submitted, against which respectively there shall be a majority of the votes polled, shall be null and void: Provided, that the section relating to minority representation shall not be declared adopted unless the portion of the constitution not separately submitted to be voted on by articles and sections shall be adopted; and in case said section relating to minority representation shall become a portion of the constitution, it shall be substituted for §§ 7 and 8 of the legislative article. If a majority of the votes cast at such election shall be for a three-fifths vote to remove a county- seat, then the words "a majority" shall be stricken out of § 4 of the article on counties, and the words "three-fifths" shall be inserted in lieu thereof, and the following words shall be added to said section, to wit: "But when an attempt is made to remove a county-seat to a point nearer to the centre of a county, then a majority- vote only shall be necessary." If the foregoing proposition shall not receive a majority of the votes, as aforesaid, then the same shall have no effect whatever.
§ 13. Immediately after the adoption of this constitution the governor and secre- tary of state shall proceed to ascertain and fix the apportionment of the State for members of the first house of representatives under this constitution. The apportion- ment shall be based upon the federal census of the year of our Lord one thousand
1132
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
eight hundred and seventy, of the State of Illinois, and shall be made strictly in accordance with the rules and principles announced in the article on the legislative department of this constitution : Provided, that in case the federal census aforesaid can not be ascertained prior to Friday, the twenty-third day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, then the said apportionment shall be based on the State census of the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- dred and sixty-five, in accordance with the rules and principles aforesaid. The gov- ernor shall, on or before Wednesday, the twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, make official announce- ment of the said apportionment, under the great seal of the State; and one hundred copies thereof, duly certified, shall be forthwith transmitted by the secretary of state to each county-clerk for distribution.
§ 14. The districts shall be regularly numbered, by the secretary of state, com- mencing with Alexander County as number one, and proceeding then northwardly through the State, and terminating with the county of Cook, but no county shall be numbered as more than one district, except the county of Cook, which shall consti- tute three districts, each embracing the territory contained in the now existing repre- sentative districts of said county. And on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, the members of the first house of representatives under this constitution shall be elected according to the apportionment fixed and announced as aforesaid, and shall hold their offices for two years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified.
§ 15. The senate, at its first session under this constitution, shall consist of fifty members, to be chosen as follows : at the general election held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, two senators shall be elected in districts where the term of senators expire on the first Monday of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, or where there shall be a vacancy, and in the remain- ing districts one senator shall be elected. Senators so elected shall hold their office two years.
§ 16. The general assembly, at its first session held after the adoption of this constitution, shall proceed to apportion the State for members of the senate and house of representatives, in accordance with the provisions of the article on the legislative department.
§ 17. When this constitution shall be ratified by the people, the governor shall forthwith, after having ascertained the fact, issue writs of election to the sheriffs of the several counties of this State, or in case of vacancies, to the coroners, for the election of all the officers, the time of whose election is fixed by this constitution or schedule; and it shall be the duty of said sheriffs or coroners to give such notice of the time and place of said election as is now prescribed by law.
§ 18. All laws of the State of Illinois, and all official writings, and the executive, legislative, and judicial proceedings, shall be conducted, preserved, and published in no other than the English language.
§ 19. The general assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this constitution.
§ 20. The circuit-clerks of the different counties, having a population over sixty thousand, shall continue to be recorders, ex officio, for their respective counties, under this constitution, until the expiration of their respective terms.
§ 21. The judges of all courts of record in Cook County shall, in lieu of any
II33
APPENDIX-CONSTITUTION OF 1870.
salary provided for in this constitution, receive the compensation now provided by law until the adjournment of the first session of the general assembly, after the adoption of this constitution.
§ 22. The present judge of the circuit-court of Cook County shall continue to hold the circuit-court of Lake County until otherwise provided by law.
§ 23. When this constitution shall be adopted, and take effect as the supreme law of the State of Illinois, the two - mill tax provided to be annually assessed and collected upon each dollar's worth of taxable property, in addition to all other taxes, as set forth in article fifteen of the now existing constitution, shall cease to be assessed after the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy.
§ 24. Nothing contained in this constitution shall be so construed as to deprive the general assembly of power to authorize the city of Quincy to create any indebted- ness for railroad or municipal purposes for which the people of said city shall have voted, and to which they shall have given, by such vote, their assent prior to the thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine : Provided, that no such indebtedness, so created, shall in any part thereof be paid by the State, or from any State revenue, tax or fund, but the same shall be paid, if at all, by the said city of Quincy alone, and by taxes to be levied upon the taxable property thereof : And, provided, further, that the general assembly shall have no power in the premises that it could not exercise under the present constitution of this State.
§ 25. In case this constitution and the articles and sections, separately submitted, be adopted, the existing constitution shall cease in all its provisions; and in case this constitution be adopted, and any one or more of the articles or sections, separately submitted, be defeated, the provisions of the existing constitution, if any, on the same subject, shall remain in force.
§ 26. The provisions of this constitution required to be executed prior to the adoption or rejection thereof, shall take effect and be in force immediately.
Done in convention, at the capitol, in the city of Springfield, on the thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and of the independence of the United States of America the ninety-fourth.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names:
CHARLES HITCHCOCK, President, Cook.
JOHN ABBOTT, Scott. JAMES C. ALLEN, Crawford.
WILLIAM J. ALLEN, Alexander.
*WILLIAM B. ANDERSON, Jefferson. ELLIOTT ANTHONY, Cook. WILLIAM R. ARCHER, Pike. HENRY J. ATKINS, Morgan. JAMES G. BAYNE, Woodford. REUBEN M. BENJAMIN, Mc Lean. +HENRY W. BILLINGS, Madison. WILLIAM G. BOWMAN, Gallatin. HENRY H. P. BROMWELL, Coles. *GEORGE W. BROWN, Massac. ORVILLE H. BROWNING, Adams.
SILAS L. BRYAN, Marion. HARVEY P. BUXTON, Clinton. DANIEL CAMERON, Cook. WILLIAM CARY, Jo Daviess. LAWRENCE S. CHURCH, Mc Henry.
HIRAM H. CODY, Du Page. WILLIAM FINDLAY COOLBAUGH, Cook. ALFRED M. CRAIG, Knox.
ROBERT J. CROSS, Winnebago.
SAMUEL P. CUMMINGS, Fulton. JOHN DEMENT, Lee.
GEORGE S. ELDRIDGE, La Salle.
DAVID ELLIS, Hancock.
+CHARLES EMMERSON, Macon.
* Absent, did not sign.
+ Deceased.
II34
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
JAMES W. ENGLISH, Greene. +FERRIS FORMAN, Fayette.
NATHANIEL J. PILLSBURY, Livingston. JAMES S. POAGE, Mercer.
JESSE C. Fox, Schuyler.
EDWARD Y. RICE, Montgomery.
JAMES P. ROBINSON, Richland.
LEWIS W. Ross, Fulton. JOHN SCHOLFIELD, Clark. WESTEL W. SEDGWICK, De Kalb.
JAMES M. SHARP, White.
ELIJAH MIDDLEBROOK HAINES, Lake. JOHN W. HANKINS, Macoupin. ROBERT P. HANNA, Wayne.
JOSEPH HART, La Salle. ABEL HARWOOD, Champaign. MILTON HAY, Sangamon.
SAMUEL SNOWDEN HAYES, Cook. #BEVERLY W. HENRY, Henry. JESSE S. HILDRUP, Boone. *ALEXANDER G. KILPATRICK, Warren. ROBERT A. KING, Jersey. JAMES McCOY, Whiteside.
CHARLES E. MCDOWELL, White.
JOSEPH MEDILL, Cook. JONATHAN MERRIAM, Tazewell.
CLIFTON H. MOORE, De Witt.
§WILLIAM H. NEECE, Mc Donough. JOSEPH PARKER, Ogle.
SAMUEL C. PARKS, Logan.
WILLIAM H. PATTERSON, Kankakee.
PELEG S. PERLEY, Marshall.
WILLIAM P. PIERCE, Grundy.
Attest, JOHN Q. HARMON, Secretary, Alexander. DANIEL SHEPARD, First Assistant - Secretary, Cook. A. H. SWAIN, Second Assistant - Secretary, Warren.
Amendments to the Constitution of 1870.
I.
Proposed by the general assembly, 1877; ratified by a vote of the people, Nov. 5, 1878; proclaimed adopted by the governor, November 29, 1878.
Art. IV. § 31. The general assembly may pass laws permitting the owners of lands to construct drains, ditches, and levees for agricultural, sanitary, or mining purposes across the lands of others, and provide for the organization of drainage districts, and vest the corporate authorities thereof with power to construct and maintain levees, drains, and ditches, and to keep in repair all drains, ditches, and levees heretofore constructed under the laws of this State, by special assessments upon the property benefited thereby.
* Deceased. + Elected to fill vacancy. # Resigned. § Absent, did not sign.
MILES A. FULLER, Stark. +JOHN P. GAMBLE, Kankakee. ADDISON GOODELL, Iroquois. WILLIAM C. GOODHUE, Will. JOHN CHARLES HAINES, Cook.
HENRY SHERRELL, Kendall. ONIAS C. SKINNER, Adams. WILLIAM H. SNYDER, St. Clair.
CHARLES F. SPRINGER, Madison.
RICHARD B. SUTHERLAND, Edgar. JOHN L. TINCHER, Vermilion. CALVIN TRUESDALE, Rock Island. +IIENRY TUBBS, Warren. THOMAS J. TURNER, Stephenson.
WILLIAM H. UNDERWOOD, St. Clair. WILLIAM L. VANDEVENTER, Brown. GEORGE E. WAIT, Henry. GEORGE W. WALL, Perry. DAVID C. WAGNER, Carroll.
SJAMES H. WASHBURN, Williamson. HENRY W. WELLS, Peoria. GEORGE R. WENDLING, Shelby. CHARLES WHEATON, Kane. LORENZO D. WHITING, Bureau.
JOHN H. WILSON, Monroe.
ORLANDO H. WRIGHT, Mason.
II35
APPENDIX-CONSTITUTION OF 1870.
II.
Proposed by the general assembly, 1879; ratified by a vote of the people, Nov. 2, 1880; proclaimed adopted by the governor, November 22, 1880.
Art. X. § 8. In each county there shall be elected the following county-officers, at the general election to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, A.D. 1882: a county-judge, county-clerk, sheriff, and treasurer, and at the election to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, A. D. 1884, a coroner and clerk of the circuit - court-who may be ex-officio recorder of deeds, except in counties having 60,000 and more inhabitants, in which counties a recorder of deeds shall be elected at the general election in 1884. Each of said officers shall enter upon the duties of his office, respectively, on the first Monday of December, after his election, and they shall hold their respective offices for the term of four years, and until their successors are elected and qualified : Provided, that no person having once been elected to the office of sheriff or treasurer, shall be eligible to reelection to said office for four years after the expiration of the term for which he shall have been elected.
III.
Proposed by the general assembly of 1883, and ratified by the people, Nov. 4, 1884; proclaimed adopted by the governor, Nov. 20, 1884.
Art. V .- Veto Power of the Governor. § 16. Every bill passed by the general assembly shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor.
If he approve, he shall sign it, and thereupon it shall become a law; but if he do not approve, he shall return it, with his objections, to the house in which it shall have originated, which house shall enter the objections at large upon its journal and proceed to reconsider the bill. If then two-thirds of the members elected agree to pass the same, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds of the mem- bers elected to that house, it shall become a law notwithstanding the objections of the governor; but in all such cases the vote of each house shall be determined by yeas and nays, to be entered upon the journal.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.