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 61
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
SEC. 3. The State shall be divided into as many districts as there are Judges of the Supreme Court ; and such districts shall be formed of con- tiguous territory, as nearly equal in population as, without dividing a county, the same can be made. One of said Judges shall be elected from each district, and reside therein ; but said Judges shall be elected by the electors of the State at large.
SEC. 4. The Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction co-extensive with the limits of the State, in appeals and writs of error, under such regulations and restrictions as may be prescribed by law. It shall also have such original jurisdiction as the General Assembly may confer.
SEC. 5. The Supreme Court shall, upon the decisions of every case, give a statement in writing of each question arising in the record of such case, and the decision of the Court thereon.
SEC. 6. The General Assembly shall provide, by law, for the speedy pub- lication of the decisions of the Supreme Court, made under this Constitu- tion ; but no Judge shall be allowed to report such decision.
SEC. 7. There shall be elected by the voters of the State, a Clerk of the Supreme Court, who shall hold his office four years, and whose duties shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 8. The Circuit Courts shall each consist of one Judge, and shall have such civil and criminal prosecution as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 9. The State shall, from time to time, be divided into judicial cir cuits, and a Judge for each circuit shall be elected by the voters thereof. He shall reside within the circuit, and shall hold his office for the term of six years, if he so long behave well.
SEC. 10. The General Assembly may provide by law, that the Judge of one circuit may hold the courts of another circuit, in cases of necessity or
767
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
convenience ; and, in case of temporary inability of any Judge, from sick- ness or other cause, to hold the courts in his circuit, provision may be made, by law, for holding such courts.
SEC. 11. There shall be elected, in each judicial circuit, by the voters thereof, a Prosecuting Attorney, who shall hold his office for two years.
SEC. 12. Any Judge or Prosecuting Attorney, who shall have been con- victed of corruption or other high crime, may, on information in the name of the State, be removed from office by the Supreme Court, or in such other manner as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 13. The Judges of the Supreme Court and Circuit Courts shall, at stated times, receive a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
SEC. 14. A competent number of Justices of the Peace shall be elected, by the voters in cach township in the several counties. They shall con- tinue in office four years, and their powers and duties shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 15. All judicial officers shall be conservators of the peace in their respective jurisdictions.
SEC. 16. No person elected to any judicial office, shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, be eligible to any office of trust or profit, under the State, other than a judicial onc.
SEC. 17. The General Assembly may modify or abolish the Grand Jury system.
SEC. 18. All criminal prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of the State ; and the style of all process shall be "The State of Indiana."
SEC. 19. Tribunals of conciliation may be established, with such powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law ; or the powers and duties of the same may be conferred upon other courts of justice ; but such tribunals or other courts, when sitting as such, shall have no power to render judgment to be obligatory on the parties, unless they voluntarily submit their matters of difference, and agree to abide the judgment of such tribunal or court.
SEC. 20. The General Assembly, at its first session after the adoption of this Constitution, shall provide for the appointment of three Commission- ers, whose duty it shall be to revise, simplify and abridge, the rules, prac- tice, pleadings and forms, of the courts of justice. And they shall provide for abolishing the distinct forms of action at law, now in use ; and that justice shall be administered in a uniform mode of pleading, without dis- tinction between law and equity. And the General Assembly may, also, make it the duty of said Commissioners to reduce into a systematic code, the general statute law of the State ; and said Commissioners shall report the result of their labors to the General Assembly, with such recommen- dations and suggestions, as to abridgement and amendment, as to said Commissioners may seem necessary or proper. Provision shall be made, by law, for filling vacancies, regulating the tenure of office, and the com. pensation of said Commissioners.
SEC. 21. Every person of good moral character, being a voter, shall be entitled to admission to practice law in all courts of justice.
768
APPENDIX.
ARTICLE VIII.
EDUCATION.
SECTION 1. Knowledge and learning, generally diffused throughout a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to encourage, by all suitable means, moral, intellectual, scientific and agricultural improvement, and to provide, by law, for a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally open to all.
SEC. 2. The Common School fund shall consist of the Congressional township fund, and the lands belonging thereto ;
The Surplus Revenue fund ;
The Saline fund and the lands belonging thereto ;
The Bank Tax fund, and the fund arising from the one hundred and fourteenth section of the charter of the State Bank of Indiana ;
The fund to be derived from the sale of county seminaries, and the moneys and property heretofore held for such seminaries ; from the fines assessed for breaches of the penal laws of the State, and for all forfeitures which may accrue ;
All lands and other estate which shall escheat to the State for want of heirs or kindred entitled to the inheritance ;
All lands that have been, or may hereafter be, granted to the State, where no special purpose is expressed in the grant, and the proceeds of the sales thereof, including the proceeds of the sales of the swamp lands granted to the State of Indiana by the act of Congress of the twenty-eighth of Sep- tember, 1850, after deducting the expense of selecting and draining the . same ;
Taxes on the property of corporations, that may be assessed cor Com- mon School purposes.
SEC. 3. The principal of the Common School fund shall remain a per- petual fund, which may be increased, but shall never be diminished; and the income thereof shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of Com. mon Schools, and to no other purpose whatever.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall invest, in some safe and profitable manner, all such portions of the Common School fund as not hereintofore been entrusted to the several counties ; and shall make provision, by law, for the distribution, among the several counties, of the interest thereof.
SEC. 5. If any county shall fail to demand its proportion of such inter- est, for Common School purposes, the same shall be re-invested for the benefit of such county.
SEC. 6. The several counties shall be held liable for the preservation of so much of the said fund as may be entrusted to them, and for the pay- ment of the annual interest thercon.
SEC. 7. All trust funds, held by the State, shall remain inviolate, and be faithfully and exclusively applied to the purposes for which the trust was created.
SEC. 8. The General Assembly shall provide for the election, by the voters of the State, of a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, who
769
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
shall hold his office for two years, and whose duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE IX.
STATE INSTITUTIONS.
SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide, by law, for the support of Institutions for the education of the Deaf and Dumb, and of the Blind; and also for the treatment of the Insane.
SEC. 2. The General Assembly shall provide Houses of Refuge, for the correction and reformation of juvenile offenders.
SEC. 3. The county boards shall have power to provide farms, as an asylum for those persons who, by reason of age, infirmity, or other misfor- tune, may have claims upon the sympathies and aid of society.
ARTICLE X. FINANCE.
SECTION 1. The General Assembly shall provide, by law, for a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation, and shall prescribe such regu- lations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, both real and personal, excepting such only for municipal, educational, literary, scientific, religious or charitable purposes, as may be specially exempted by law.
SEC. 2. All the revenues derived from the sale of any of the public works belonging to the State, and from the net annual income thereof, and any surplus that may, at any time, remain in the treasury, derived from taxa- tion for general State purposes, after the payment of the ordinary expenses of the government, and of the interest on bonds of the State, other than Bank bonds, shall be annually applied, under the direction of the General Assembly, to the payment of the principal of the public debt.
SEC. 3. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in pursuance of appropriations made by law.
SEC. 4. An accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money, shall be published with the laws of each regular session of the General Assembly.
SEC. 5. No law shall authorize any debt to be contracted, on behalf of the State, except in the following cases: To meet casual deficits in the rev. enue ; to pay the interest on the State debt ; to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or, if hostilities be threatened, provide for the public defense.
SEC. 6. No county shall subscribe for stock in any incorporated com- pany, unless the same be paid for at the time of such subscription ; nor shall any county loan its credit to any incorporated company, nor borrow money for the purpose of taking stock in any such company ; nor shall the General Assembly ever, on behalf the State, assume the debts of any county, city, town or township, nor of any corporation whatever.
SEC. 7. No law or resolution shall ever be passed by the General Assem- bly of the State of Indiana that shall recognize any liability of this State to pay or redeem any certificate of stocks issued in pursuance of an act
49
770
APPENDIX.
(uutled " An act to provide for the funded debt of the State of Indiana, and for the completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal to Evansville," passed January 19, 1846, and an act supplemental to said act passed January 20, 1847, which, by the provisions of the said acts, or either of them, shall be payable exclusively from the proceeds of the canal lands, and the tolls and revenues of the canal in said acts mentioned ; and no such certificates or stocks shall ever be paid by this State.
NOTE .- Agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses of the General Assembly, Regular Session of 1871, and referred to the General Assembly to be chosen at the next general election. Agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly, Special Session of 1872. Submitted to the elec- tors of the State by an act approved January 28, 1873. Ratified by a majority of the electors, at an election held on the 18th day of February, 1873. Declared a part of the constitution by proclamation of Thomas A. Hendricks, Governor, dated March 7, 1873
ARTICLE XI. CORPORATIONS.
SECTION 1. The General Assembly shall not have power to establish or incorporate any bank or banking company, or moneyed institution, for the purpose of issuing bills of credit, or bills payable to order or bearer, except under the conditions prescribed in this Constitution.
SEC. 2. No banks shall be established otherwise than under a general banking law, except as provided in the fourth section of this article.
SEC. 3. If the General Assembly shall enact a general banking law, such law shall provide for the registry and countersigning, by an officer of the State, of all paper credit designed to be circulated as money ; and ample collateral security, readily convertible into specie, for the redemp- tion of the same in gold or silver, shall be required, which collateral secu- rity shall be under the control of the proper officer or officers of State.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly may also charter a bank with branches, without collateral security, as required in the preceding section.
SEC. 5. If the General Assembly shall establish a bank with branches, the branches shall be mutually responsible for each other's liabilities, upon all paper credit issued as money.
SEC. 6. The stockholders in every bank or banking company, shall be individually responsible, to an amount over and above their stock, equal to their respective shares of stock, for all debts or liabilities of said bank or banking company.
SEC. 7. All bills or notes issued as money, shall be, at all times, redeem- able in gold or silver ; and no law shall be passed sanctioning, directly or indirectly, the suspension by any bank or banking company, of specie payments.
SEC. 8. Holders of bank notes shall be entitled, in case of insolvency, to preference of payment over all other creditors.
SEC. 9. No bank shall receive directly or indirectly, a greater rate of interest than shall be allowed, by law, to individuals loaning money.
SEC. 10. Every bank, or banking company, shall be required to ceaso all banking operations within twenty years from the time of its organiza tion, and promptly thereafter to close its business.
771
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. Ducs 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-
772
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 month 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 Northi 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 thercof, take an oath or affirm.
773
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:
774
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 t'rir duties, take an oath or affirmation to support this Constitution.
Twelfth. All vacancies that may occur in existing offices, prior to the
775
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.
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.