USA > Indiana > An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 58
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
SEC. 11. The General Assembly is not prohibited from investing the Trust Funds in a bank with branches ; but in case of such investment, the safety of the same shall be guaranteed by unquestionable security.
SEC. 12. The State shall not be a stockholder in any bank, after the expiration of the present bank charter; nor shall the credit of the State ever be given, or loaned, in aid of any person, association, or corporation ; nor shall the State hereafter become a stockholder in any corporation or association.
SEC. 13. Corporations, other than banking, shall not be created by special act, but may be formed under general laws.
SEC. 14. Dues from corporations, other than banking, shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators, or other means, as may be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE XIL.
MILITIA.
SECTION 1. The militia shall consist of all able-bodied white male per- sons, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such as may be exempted by the laws of the United States, or of this State; and shall be organized, officered, armed, equipped and trained, in such manner as may be provided by law.
SEC. 2. The Governor shall appoint the Adjutant, Quartermaster and Commissary Generals.
SEC. 3. All militia officers shall be commissioned by the Governor, and shall hold their offices not longer than six years.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall determine the method of dividing the militia into divisions, brigades, regiments, battallions and companies, and fix the rank of all staff officers.
SEC. 5. The militia may be divided into classes of sedentary and active militia, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 6. No person conscientiously opposed to bearing arms, shall be compelled to do militia duty ; but such person shall pay an equivalent for exemption, the amount to be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE XIII.
NEGROES AND MULATTOES.
SECTION 1. No negro or mulatto shall come into, or settle in, the State, after the adoption of this Constitution.
SEC. 2. All contracts made with any negro or mulatto coming into the State, contrary to the provisions of the foregoing section shall be void ; and any person who shall employ such negro or mulatto, or otherwise encour- age him to remain in the State, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars.
SEC. 3. All fines which may be collected for a violation of the provis- ions of this article, or of any law which may hereafter be passed for the purpose of carrying the same into execution, shall be set apart and appro-
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APPENDIX.
priated for the colonization of such negroes and mulattoes, and their descendants, as may be in the State at the adoption of this Constitution, and may be willing to emigrate.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall pass laws to carry out the provis- ions of this article.
ARTICLE XIV
BOUNDARIES.
SECTION 1. In order that the boundaries of the State may be known and established, it is hereby ordained and declared, that the State of Indiana is bounded on the East by the meridian line which forms the western bound- ary of the State of Ohio; on the South by the Ohio river, from the mouth of the Great Miami river to the mouth of the Wabash river; on the West by a line drawn along the middle of the Wabash river, from its mouth to a point where a due north line, drawn from the town of Vincennes, would last touch the northwestern shore of said Wabash river; and thence by a due north line until the same shall intersect an east and west line, drawn through a point ten miles north of the southern extreme of Lake Michi- gan; on the North by said east and west line, until the same shall intersect the first mentioned meridian line, which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio.
SEC. 2. The State of Indiana shall possess jurisdiction and sovereignty co-extensive with the boundaries declared in the preceding section; and shall have concurrent jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, with the State of Kentucky on the Ohio river, and with the State of Illinois on the Wabash river, so far as said rivers form the common boundary between this State and said States respectively.
ARTICLE XV. MISCELLANEOUS.
SECTION 1. All officers, whose appointment is not otherwise provided for in this Constitution, shall be chosen in such manner as now is, or here- after may be, prescribed by law.
SEC. 2. When the duration of any office is not provided for by this Con- stitution, it may be declared by law; and, if not so declared, such office shall be held during the pleasure of the authority making. the appointment. But the General Assembly shall not create any office, the tenure of which shall be longer than four years.
SEC. 3. Whenever it is provided in this Constitution, or in any law which may be hereafter passed, that any officer, other than a member of the Gen- eral Assembly, shall hold his office for any given term, the same shall be construed to mean, that such officer shall hold his office for such term, and until his successor shall have been elected and quailified.
SEC 4. Every person elected or appointed to any office under this Con- stitution, shall, before entering on the duties thereof, take an oath or affirm-
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
ation, to support the Constitution of this State, and of the United States, and also an oath of office.
SEC. 5. There shall be a Seal of State, kept by the Governor for official purposes, which shall be called the Seal of the State of Indiana.
SEC. 6. All commissions shall issue in the name of the State, shall be signed by the Governor, sealed with the State Seal, and attested by the Sec- retary of State.
SEC. 7. No county shall be reduced to an area less than four hundred square miles ; nor shall any county, under that area, be further reduced.
SEC. 8. No lottery shall be authorized; nor shall the sale of lottery tickets be allowed.
SEC. 9. The following grounds, owned by the State in Indianapolis, namely: the State House Square, the Governor's Circle, and so much of out-lot numbered one hundred and forty-seven, as lies north of the arm of the Central Canal, shall not be sold or leased.
SEC. 10. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide for the permanent enclosure and preservation of the Tippecanoe Battle Ground.
ARTICLE XVI.
AMENDMENTS.
SECTION 1. 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 a majority of the members elected to each of the two Houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall, with the yeas and nays thereon, be entered on their journals, and referred to the General Assembly to be chosen at the next general election; and if, in the General Assembly so next chosen, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each House, then it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to submit such amendment or amendments to the electors of the State; and if a majority of said electors shall ratify the same, such amendment or amendments shall be- come a part of this Constitution.
SEC. 2. If two or more amendments shall be submitted at the same time they shall be submitted in such manner that the electors shall vote for or against each of such amendments separately; and while such an amend- ment or amendments, which shall have been agreed upon by one General Assembly, shall be awaiting the action of a succeeding General Assembly, or of the electors, no additional amendment or amendments shall be pro- posed.
SCHEDULE.
This Constitution, if adopted, shall take effect on the first day of Novem- ber, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and shall super- sede the Constitution adopted in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixteen. That no inconvenience may arise from the change in the govern- ment, it is hereby ordained as follows :
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APPENDIX.
First. All laws now in force, and not inconsistent with this Constitu- tion, shall remain in force until they shall expire or be repealed.
Second. All indictments, prosecutions, suits, pleas, plaints and other proceedings, pending in any of the courts, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution ; and all appeals, writs of error, certiorari and injunctions, shall be carried on in the several courts in the same manner as is now provided by law.
Third. All fines, penalties and forfeitures, due or accruing to the State, or to any county therein, shall inure to the State, or to such county, in the manner prescribed by law. All bonds executed to the State, or to any offi- cer in his official capacity, shall remain in force, and inure to the use of those concerned.
Fourth. All acts of incorporation for municipal purposes shall continue in force under this Constitution until such time as the General Assembly shall, in its discretion, modify or repeal the same.
Fifth. The Governor, at the expiration of the present official term, shall continue to act until his successor shall have been sworn into office.
Sixth. There shall be a session of the General Assembly commencing on the first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
Seventh. Senators now in office and holding over, under the existing Constitution, and such as may be elected at the next general election, and the Representatives then elected, shall continue in office until the first general election under this Constitution.
Eighth. The first general election under this Constitution shall be held in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
Ninth. The first election for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Judges of the Supreme Court and Circuit Courts, Clerk of the Supreme Court, Pros- ecuting Attorney, Secretary, Auditor, and Treasurer of State, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction, under this Constitution, shall be held at the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two; and such of said officers as may be in office when this Constitu- tion shall go into effect, shall continue in their respective offices until their successors shall have been elected and qualified.
Tenth. Every person elected by popular vote, and now in any office which is continued by this Constitution, and every person who shall be so elected to any such office before the taking effect of this Constitution, (except as in this Constitution otherwise provided,) shall continue in office until the term for which such person has been or may be elected, shall expire : Provided, that no such person shall continue in office after the taking effect of this Constitution, for a longer period than the term of such office in this Constitution prescribed.
Eleventh. On the taking effect of this Constitution, all officers thereby continued in office, shall, before proceeding in the further discharge of their duties, take an oath or affirmation to support this Constitution.
Twelfth. All vacancies that may occur in existing offices, prior to the
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
first general election under this Constitution, shall be filled in the manner now prescribed by law.
Thirteenth. At the time of submitting this Constitution to the electors for their approval or disapproval, the article numbered thirteen, in rela- tion to negroes and mulattoes, shall be submitted as a distinct, proposition in the following form: "Exclusion and Colonization of Negroes and Mulattoes," "Aye," or "No." And if a majority of the votes cast shall be in favor of said article, then the same shall form a part of this Consti- tution; otherwise it shall be void, and form no part thereof.
Fourteenth. No article or section of this Constitution shall be sub- mitted as a distinct proposition to a vote of the electors otherwise than as herein provided.
Fifteenth. Whenever a portion of the citizens of the counties of Perry and Spencer shall deem it expedient to form, of the contiguous territory of said counties, a new county, it shall be the duty of those interested in the organization of such new county, to lay off the same by proper metes and bounds, of equal portions as nearly as practicable, not to exceed one- third of the territory of each of said counties, The proposal to create such new county shall be submitted to the voters of said counties, at a general election, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law. And if a majority of all the votes given at said election shall be in favor of the organization of said new county, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to organize the same out of the territory thus designated.
Sixteenth. The General Assembly may alter or amend the charter of Clarksville, and make such regulations as may be necessary for carrying into effect the objects contemplated in granting the same; and the funds belonging to said town shall be applied according to the intention of the grantor.
Done in Convention at Indianapolis, the tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one; and of the Independence of the United States, the seventy-fifth.
GEORGE WHITFIELD CARR, President.
Attest:
WM. H. ENGLISH, Principal Secretary
GEORGE L. SITES,
HERMAN G. BARKWELL, 1 Assistant Secretaries. ROBERT M. EVANS,
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