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 1879 > Part 60
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ARTICLE II.
SUFFRAGE AND ELECTION.
SECTION 1. All elections shall be free and equal.
SEC. 2. In all elections, not otherwise provided for by this Constitu tion, every white male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty. one years and upwards, who shall have resided in the State during the six months immediately preceding such election; and every white male of foreign birth, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who shall have resided in the United States one year, and shall have resided in this State during six months immediately preceding such election, and shall have
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declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, conform- ably to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization, shall be entitled to vote in the township or precinct where he may reside.
SEC. 3. No soldier, seaman, or marine, in the army or navy of the United States, or of their allies, shall be deemed to have acquired a resi- dence in this State in consequence of having been stationed within the same; nor shall any such soldier, seaman, or marine, have the right to vote.
SEC. 4. No person shall be deemed to have lost his residence in the State by reason of his absence, either on business of this State or of the United States.
SEC. 5. No Negro or Mulatto shall have the right of suffrage.
SEC. 6. Every person shall be disqualified from holding office during the term for which he may have been elected, who shall have given or offered a bribe, threat, or reward, to procure his election.
SEC. 7. Every person who shall give or accept a challenge to fight a duel, or who shall knowingly carry to another person such challenge, or who shall agree to go out of the State to fight a duel, shall be ineligible to any office of trust or profit.
SEC. 8. The General Assembly shall have power to deprive of the right of suffrage, and to render ineligible any person convicted of an infamous crime.
SEC. 9. No person holding a lucrative office or appointment, under the United States, or under this State, shall be eligible to a seat in the General Assembly; nor shall any person hold more than one lucrative office at the same time, except as in this Constitution expressly permitted : Provided, that offices in the militia, to which there is attached no annual salary, and the office of deputy Postmaster, where the compensation does not exceed ninety dollars per annum, shall not be deemed lucrative: And pro- vided also, that counties containing less than one thousand polls, may confer the office of Clerk, Recorder, and Auditor, or any two of said offices upon the same person.
SEC. 10. No person who may hereafter be a collector or holder of pub- lic moneys, shall be eligible to any office of trust or profit, until he shall have accounted for, and paid over, according to law, all sums for which he may be liable.
SEC. 11. In all cases in which it is provided that an office shall not be filled by the same person more than a certain number of years continu- ously, an appointment pro tempore shall not be reckoned a part of that term.
SEC. 12. In all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, electors shall be free from arrest, in going to elections, during their attendance there, and in returning from the same.
SEC. 13. All elections by the people shall be by ballot; and all elec- tions by the General Assembly, or by either branch thereof, shall be viva voce.
SEC. 14. All general elections shall be held on the second Tuesday in October.
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ARTICLE III.
DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.
SECTION 1. The powers of the Government are divided into three sepa- rate departments: the Legislative, the Executive, including the Adminis- trative, and the Judicial ; and no person charged with official duties under one of these departments, shall exercise any of the functions of another, except as in this Constitution expressly provided.
ARTICLE IV. LEGISLATIVE.
SECTION 1. The Legislative authority of the State shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Repre- sentatives. The style of every law shall be: "Be it cnacted by the Gen- eral Assembly of the State of Indiana;" and no law shall be enacted except by bill.
SEC. 2. The Senate shall not exceed fifty, nor the House of Representa- tives one hundred members, and they shall be chosen by the electors of the respective counties or districts, into which the State may, from time to time be divided.
SEC. 3. Senators shall be elected for the term of four years, and Repre- sentatives for the term of two years, from the day next after their general election : Provided, however, that the Senators elect, at the second meeting of the General Assembly under this Constitution shall be divided by lot into two equal classes, as nearly as may be; and the seats of Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of two years, and those of the second class, at the expiration of four years, so that one-half, as nearly as possible, shall be chosen bienially forever thereafter. And in case of increase in the number of Senators, they shall be so annexed, by lot, to one or the other of the two classes, as to keep them as nearly equal as practicable.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall, at its second session after the adoption of this Constitution, and every sixth year thereafter, cause an enumeration to be made of all the white male inhabitants over the age of twenty-one years.
SEC. 5. The number of Senators and Representatives shall, at the ses- sion next following each period of making such enumeration, be fixed by law, and apportioned among the several counties, according to the number of white male inhabitants, above twenty-one years of age in each: Pro- vided, that the first and second elections of the members of the General Assembly, under this Constitution, shall be according to the apportion- ment last made by the General Assembly, before the adoption of this Con- stitution.
SEC. 6. A Senatorial or Representative district, where more than one county shall constitute a district, shall be composed of contiguous coun- ties, and no county for Senatorial apportionment shall ever be divided.
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SEC. 7. No person shall be a Senator or Representative, who, at the time of his election, is not a citizen of the United States; nor any one who has not been, for two years next preceding his election, an inhabitant of this State, and for one year next preceding his election an inhabitant of the county or district whence he may be chosen. Senators shall be at least twenty-five, and Representatives at least twenty-one years of age.
SEC. 8. Senators and Representatives, in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest, during the session of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from the same, and shall not be subject to any civil process, during the session of the General Assembly, nor during the fifteen days next before the com- mencement thereof. For any speech or debate in either House, a member shall not be questioned in any other place.
SEC. 9. The sessions of the General Assembly shall be held biennially at the capital of the State, commencing on the Thursday next after the first Monday of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, and on the same day of every second year thereafter, unless a different day or place shall have been appointed by law. But if, in the opinion of the Governor, the public welfare shall require it, he may at any time, by proclamation, call a special session.
SEC. 10. Each House, when assembled, shall choose its own officers, (the President of the Senate excepted,) judge the elections, qualifications and returns of its own members, determine its rules of proceeding, and sit upon its own adjournment. But neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any place other than that in which it may be sitting.
SEC. 11. Two-thirds of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may meet, adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members. A quorum being in attend- ance, if either House fail to effect an organization within the first five days thereafter, the members of the House so failing shall be entitled to no compensation from the end of said five days until an organization shall have been effected.
SEC. 12. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and pub fish the same. The yeas and nays on any question shall, at the request of any two members, be entered, together with the names of the members demanding the same, on the journal: Provided, that on a motion to adjourn, it shall require one-tenth of the members present to order the yeas and nays.
SEC. 13. The doors of cach House, and of committees of the whole, shall be kept open, except in such cases as in the opinion of either House may require secrecy.
SEC. 14. Either House may punish its members for disorderly behavior, and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member; but not a second time for the same cause.
SEC. 15. Either House, during its session, may punish by imprison- ment, any person not a member who shall have been guilty of disrespect
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to the House, by disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence; but such imprisonment shall not at any time exceed twenty-four hours.
SEC. 16. Each House shall have all powers necessary for a branch of the Legislative department of a free and independent State.
SEC. 17. Bills may originate in either House, but may be amended or rejected in the other, except that bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.
SEC. 18. Every bill shall be read by sections, on three several days in each House; unless in case of emergency, two-thirds of the House where such bill may be depending, shall, by a vote of yeas and nays, deem it expedient to dispense with this rule; but the reading of a bill by sections, on its final passage, shall in no case be dispensed with, and the vote on the passage of every bill or joint resolution shall be taken by yeas and nays.
SEC. 19. Every act shall embrace but one subject, and matters properly connected therewith, which subject shall be expressed in the title. But if any subject shall be embraced in an act which shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be expressed in the title.
SEC. 20. Every act and joint resolution shall be plainly worded, avoid ing, as far as practicable, the use of technical terms.
SEC. 21. No act shall ever be revised or amended by mere reference to its title; but the act revised or section amended, shall be set forth and published at full length.
SEC. 22. The General Assembly shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say :
Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of justices of the peace and of constables ;
For the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors;
Regulating the practice in courts of justice ;
Providing for changing the venue in civil and criminal cases;
Granting divorces ;
Changing the names of persons;
For laying out, opening and working on nighways, and for the election or appointment of supervisors ;
Vacating roads, town plats, streets, alleys, and public squares;
Summoning and empaneling grand and petit jurors, and providing for their compensation ;
Regulating county and township business;
Regulating the election of county and township officers, and their com- pensation ;
For the assessment and collection of taxes for State, county, township, or road purposes ;
Providing for supporting common schools, and for the preservation of school funds;
In relation to fees or salaries ;
In relation to interest on money ;
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Providing for opening and conducting elections of State, county, or township officers, and designating the places of voting;
Providing for the sale of real estate belonging to minors or other persons laboring under legal disabilities, by executors, administrators, guardians or trustees.
SEC. 23. In all the cases enumerated in the preceding section, and in all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, all laws shall be general, and of uniform operation throughout the State.
SEC. 24. Provision may be made by general law, for bringing suit against the State, as to all liabilities originating after the adoption of this Constitution; but no special act authorizing such suit to be brought, or making compensation to any person claiming damages against the State shall ever be passed.
SEC. 25. A majority of all the members elected to each House shall be necessary to pass every bill or joint resolution, and all bills and joint res- olutions so passed, shall be signed by the presiding officers of the respect- ive Houses.
SEC. 26. Any member of either House shall have the right to protest, and to have his protest, with his reasons for dissent, entered on the journal.
SEC. 27. Every statute shall be a public law, unless otherwise declared in the statute itself.
SEC. 28. No act shall take effect until the same shall have been pub- lished and circulated in the several counties of the State by authority, except in case of emergency, which emergency shall be declared in the preamble, or in the body of the law.
SEC. 29. The members of the General Assembly shall receive for their services a compensation to be fixed by law ; but no increase of compensa- tion shall take effect during the session at which such increase may be made. No session of the General Assembly, except the first under this Constitution, shall extend beyond the term of sixty-one days, nor any special session beyond the term of forty days.
SEC. 30. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he may have been elected, be eligible to any office, the election to which is vested in the General Assembly ; nor shall he be appointed to any civil office of profit which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during such term ; but this latter provision shall not be construed to apply to any office elective by the people.
ARTICLE V. EXECUTIVE.
SECTION 1. The executive power of the State shall be vested in a Gov- ernor. He shall hold his office during four years, and shall not be eligi- ble more than four years in any period of eight years.
SEC. 2. There shall be a Lieutenant Governor, who shall hold his office during four years.
SEC. 3. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be elected at the times and places of choosing members of the General Assembly.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
SEC. 4. In voting for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the electors shall designate for whom they vote as Governor, and for whom as Lieu- tenant Governor. The returns of every election for Governor and Lieuten- ant Governor shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of govern- ment, directed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall open and publish them in the presence of both Houses of the General Assembly.
SEC. 5. The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, shall be elected; but in case two or more persons shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for either office, the General Assembly shall, by joint vote, forthwith proceed to elect one of the said persons Governor, or Lieutenant Governor, as the case may be.
SEC. 6. Contested elections for Governor or Lieutenant Governor, shall be determined by the General Assembly in such manner as may be pre- scribed by law.
SEC. 7. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor or Lieu- tenant Governor, who shall not have been five years a citizen of the United States, and also a resident of the State of Indiana during the five years next preceding his election; nor shall any person be eligible to either of the said offices who shall not have attained the age of thirty years.
SEC. 8. No member of Congress, or person holding any office under the United States, or of this State, shall fill the office of Governor or Lieu- tenant Governor.
SEC. 9. The official term of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall commence on the second Monday in January, in the year one thou- sand eight hundred and fifty-three, and on the same day every fourth year thereafter.
SEC. 10. In case of the removal of the Governor from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the duties of the office, the same shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor, and the General Assem- bly shall, by law, provide for the case of removal from office, death, resig- nation, or inability, both of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, declaring what officer then shall act as Governor ; and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed or a Governor elected.
SEC. 11. Whenever the Lieutenant Governor shall act as Governor, or shall be unable to attend as President of the Senate, the Senate shall elect one of its own members as President for the occasion.
SEC. 12. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the militia and naval forces, and may call out such forces to execute the laws, or to sup- press insurrection, or to repel invasion.
SEC. 13. He shall, from time to time, give to the General Assembly information touching the condition of the State, and recommend such measures as he shall judge to be expedient.
SEC. 14. Every bill which shall have passed the General Assembly, shall be presented to the Governor ; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to the House in which it shall
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have originated ; which House shall enter the objections at large upon its journals, and proceed to reconsider the bill. If, after such reconsidera- tion, a majority of all the members elected to that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the Governor's objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by a majority of all the members elected to that House, it shall be a law. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within three days, Sundays excepted, after it shall have been presented to him, it shall be a law with. out his signature, unless the general adjournment shall prevent its return, in which case it shall be a law, unless the Governor within five days next after such adjournment shall file such bill with his objections thereto in the office of the Secretary of State, who shall lay the same before the Gen- eral Assembly at its next session, in like manner as if it had been returned by the Governor. But no bill shall be presented to the Governor within two days next previous to the final adjournment of the General Assembly.
SEC. 15. The Governor shall transact all necessary business with the officers of government, and may require information in writing, from the officers of the administrative department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.
SEC. 16. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
SEC. 17. He shall have the power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons after conviction, for all offenses, except treason and cases of impeachment, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law. Upon conviction for treason, he shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence until the case shall be reported to the General Assembly, at its next meeting; when the General Assembly shall either grant a pardon, commute the sentence, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. He shall have power to remit fines and forfeit- ures, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, and shall report to the General Assembly at its next meeting, each case of reprieve, com- mutation, or pardon granted, and also the names of all persons in whose favor remission of fines and forfeitures shall have been made and the sev- eral amounts remitted : Provided, however, that the General Assembly may, by law, constitute a council, to be composed of officers of State, without whose advise and consent the Governor shall not have power to grant pardons in any case, except such as may by law be left to his sole power.
SEC. 18. When, during a recess of the General Assembly, a vacancy shall happen in any office, the appointment to which is vested in the Gen- eral Assembly; or when at any time a vacancy shall have occurred in any other State office, or in the office of Judge of any Court; the Governor shall fill such vacancy by appointment, which shall expire when a suc- cessor shall have been elected and qualified.
SEC. 19. He shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies as may have occurred in the General Assembly.
SEC. 20. Should the seat of government become dangerous from dis- ease, or a common enemy, he may convene the General Assembly at any other place.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
SEC. 21. The Lieutenant Governor shall, by virtue of his office, be Pres- ident of the Senate, have a right, when in committee of the whole, to join in debate, and to vote on all subjects; and whenever the Senate shall be equally divided he shall give the casting vote.
SEC. 22. The Governor shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected.
SEC. 23. The Lieutenant Governor, while he shall act as President of the Senate, shall receive for his services, the same compensation as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and any person acting as Gover- nor, shall receive the compensation attached to the office of Governor.
SEC. 24. Neither the Governor nor Lieutenant Governor shall be eligi- ble to any other office, during the term for which he shall have been elected.
ARTICLE VI. ADMINISTRATIVE.
SECTION 1. There shall be elected, by the voters of the State, a Secre- tary, an Auditor, and a Treasurer of State, who shall, severally, hold their offices for two years. They shall perform such duties as may be enjoined by law; and no person shall be eligible to either of said offices more than four years in any period of six years.
SEC. 2. There shall be elected, in each county, by the voters thereof, at the time of holding the general elections, a Clerk of the Circuit Court, Auditor, Recorder, Treasurer, Sheriff, Coroner, and Surveyor. The Clerk, Auditor, and Recorder, shall continue in office four years; and no person shall be eligible to the office of Clerk, Recorder, or Auditor, more than eight years in any period of twelve years. The Treasurer, Sheriff, Coroner and Surveyor, shall continue in office two years; and no person shall be eligible to the office of Treasurer or Sheriff more than four years in any period of six years.
SEC. 3. Such other county and township officers as may be necessary, shall be elected, or appointed, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 4. No person shall be elected, or appointed, as a county officer, who shall not be an elector of the county; nor any one who shall not have been an inhabitant thereof during one year next preceding his appoint- ment, if the county shall have been so long organized; but if the county shall not have been so long organized, then within the limits of the county or counties out of which the same shall have been taken.
SEC. 5. The Governor, and the Secretary, Auditor and Treasurer of State, shall, severally, reside and keep the public records, books, and papers, in any manner relating to their respective offices, at the seat of government.
SEC. 6. All county, township and town officers, shall reside within their respective counties, townships and towns, and shall keep their respective offices at such places therein, and perform such duties, as may be directed by law.
SEC. 7. All State officers shall, for crime, incapacity, or negligence, be
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liable to be removed from office, either by impeachment by the House of Representatives, to be tried by the Senate, or by a joint resolution of the General Assembly; two-thirds of the members elected to each branch voting, in either case, therefor.
SEC. 8. All State, county, township and town officers, may be impeached, or removed from office, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 9. Vacancies in county, township and town offices, shall be filled in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 10. The General Assembly may confer upon the Boards doing county business in the several counties, powers of a local, administrative character.
ARTICLE VII. JUDICIAL.
SECTION 1. The Judicial power of the State shall be vested in a Suprenie Court, in Circuit Courts, and in such inferior Courts as the Gen- eral Assembly may establish.
SEC. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of not less than three nor more than five Judges, a majority of whom shall form a quorum. They shall hold their offices for six years, if they so long behave well.
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