USA > Michigan > History of Michigan, civil and topographical, in a compendious form; with a view of the surrounding lakes > Part 36
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this, at an early day, a great and flourishing manufacturing, as well as agricul- tural country. The value of the water power, created at the points where the dams are located for the partial improvement, will unquestionably exceed the cost of their construction.
The co-operation of the state of Indiana in the work is all important. She has now in contemplation the construction of a canal along the bank of the stream from Elkhart to South Bend, a part of an unbroken line from Fort Wayne to Michigan city. And though she may not be induced to abandon this project from Elkhart westward in favor of the contemplated improvement of the river, yet it is confidently believed so great are the advantages which she will derive from this improvement, that she will be ready to embark in it at as early a pe- riod as her sister state.
The shortness of time since the completion of the survey has rendered it im- possible to make as full a report as is desirable. Much matter, which it would be proper to introduce, is in consequence omitted. All information, however, that can be placed upon the maps and profiles, will be. 'Those which are in progress by Mr. Wm. Main will be completed and submitted at the earliest pe- riod practicable. It is proper to remark, that this survey, which has been an extensive and thorough one, will greatly reduce the future expenditures in the improvement of the river ; and much credit is due to the gentlemen who have assisted in carrying out, to the full extent, the letter of instructions.
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NOTE XI.
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.
In Convention, begun at the city of Detroit, on the second Monday of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five :
We, the people of the Territory of Michigan, as established by the act of Congress of the eleventh of January, eighteen hundred and five, in conformity to the fifth article of the ordinance providing for the government of the territory of the United States north-west of the river Ohio, believing that the time has arrived when our present political condition ought to cease, and the right of self- government be asserted ; and availing ourselves of the aforesaid ordinance of the Congress of the United States of the thirteenth day of July, seventeen hun- dred and eighty-seven, and the acts of Congress passed in accordance there- with, which entitled us to admission into the Union, upon a condition which has been fulfilled, do, by our delegates in convention assembled, mutually agree to form ourselves into a free and independent state, by the style and title of " The State of Michigan," and do ordain and establish the following constitution for the government of the same :
ARTICLE I.
1. All political power is inherent in the people.
2. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people; and they have the right at all times to alter or reform the same, and to abolish one form of government and establish another whenever the public good requires it.
3. No man or set of men are entitled to exclusive or separate privileges.
4. Every person has a right to worship Almighty God according to the dic-
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tates of his own conscience; and no person can of right be compelled to at- tend, erect, or support, against his will, any place of religious worship, or pay any tithes, taxes, or other rates, for the support of any minister of the gospel or teacher of religion.
5. No money shall be drawn from the treasury for the benefit of religious so- cieties, or theological or religious seminaries.
6. The civil and religious rights, privileges, and capacities of no individual shall be diminished or enlarged on account of his opinions or belief concerning matters of religion.
7. Every person may frecly speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right ; and no laws shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all pro- secutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury ; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libellous, is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.
8. The person, houses, papers and possessions of every individual shall be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures ; and no warrant to search any place, or to seize any person or things, shall issue without describing them, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation.
9. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.
10. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury.of the vicinage ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor ; to have the assistance of counsel for his defence ; and in all civil cases, in which personal liberty may be involved, the trial by jury shall not be refused.
11. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offence, unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases of impeachment, or in cases cognizable by justices of the peace, or arising in the army or militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger.
12. No person for the same offence shall be twice put in jeopardy of punish- ment ; all persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, ex- cept for capital offences, when the proof is evident or the presumption great ; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.
13. Every person has a right to bear arms for the defence of himself and the state.
14. The military shall, in all cases and at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power.
15. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a manner prescribed by law.
16. Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort; no person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
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17. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall be passed.
18. Excessive bail shall not be required ; excessive fines shall not be impos- ed ; and cruel and unjust punishments shall not be inflicted.
19. The property of no person shall be taken for public use without just compensation therefor.
20. The people shall have the right freely to assemble together, to consult for the common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the le- gislature for redress of grievances.
21. All acts of the legislature, contrary to this or any other article of this constitution, shall be void.
ARTICLE II .- Electors.
1. In all elections, every white male citizen above the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state six months next preceding any clection, shall be entitled to vote at such election ; and every white maleinhabitant of the age aforesaid, who may be a resident of this state at the time of the signing of this constitution, shall have the right of voting as aforesaid ; but no such citizen or inhabitant shall be entitled to vote except in the district, county, or township, in which he shall actually reside at the time of such elcction.
2. All votes shall be given by ballot, except for such township officers as may, by law, be directed to be otherwise chosen.
3. Electors shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be priviliged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning from the same.
4. No elector shall be obliged to do militia duty on the days of elections, ex- cept in time of war or public danger.
5. No person shall be deemed to have lost his residence in this state by rea- son of his absence on business of the United States, or of this state.
6. No soldier, seaman, or marine, in the army or navy of the United States, shall be deemed a resident of this state, in consequence of being stationed in any military or naval place within the same.
ARTICLE III .- Division of the powers of Government.
1. The powers of the government shall be divided into three distinct depart- ments : the legislative, the executive, and the judicial ; and one department shall never exercise the powers of another, except in such cases as are expressly provided for in this constitution.
ARTICLE IV .- Legislative Department.
1. The legislative power shall be vested in a senate and house of representa- tives.
2. The number of the members of the house of representatives shall never be less than forty-eight nor more than one hundred ; and the senate shall, at all times, equal in number one-third of the house of representatives as nearly as may be.
3. The legislature shall provide by law for an enumeration of the inhabitants of this state in the years eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, and eighteen.hun- dred and forty-five, and every ten years after the said last-mentioned time; and
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at their first session after each enumeration so made as aforesaid, and also after each enumeration made by the authority of the United States, the legislature shall apportion anew the representatives anl senators among the several coun- ties and districts according to the number of white inhabitants.
4. The representatives shall be chosen annually on the first Monday of No- vember, and on the following day, by the electors of the several counties or dis- tricts into which the state shall be divided for that purpose. Each organized county shall be entitled to at least one representative; but no county hereafter organized, shall be entitled to a separate representative until it shall have at- tained a population equal to the ratio of representation hereafter established.
5. The senators shall be chosen for two years, at the same time and in the same manner as the representatives are required to be chosen. At the first session of the legislature under this constitution, they shall be divided by lot from their respective districts, as nearly as may be, into two equal classes ; the scats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the first year, and of the second class at the expiration of the second year, so that one-half, as nearly as may be, shall be chosen annually thereafter.
6. The state shall be divided, at each new apportionment, into a number of not less than four, nor more than eight, senatorial districts, to be always com- posed of contiguous territory, so that each district shall elect an equal number of senators annually, as nearly as may be ; and no county shall be divided in the formation of such districts.
7. Senators and representatives shall be citizens of the United States, and be qualified electors in the respective counties and districts which they represent ; and a removal from their respective counties or districts shall be deemed a va- cation of their seats.
8. No person holding any office under the United States, or of this state, officers of the militia, justices of the peace, associate judges of the circuit and county courts, and postmasters excepted, shall be eligible to either house of the legislature.
9. Senators and representatives shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest ; nor shall they be subject to any civil process, during the session of the legislature, nor for fifteen days next be- fore the commencement and after the termination of each session.
10. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business . but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the atten- dance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide. Each house shall choose its own officers.
11. Each house shall determine the rules of its proceedings, and judge of the qualifications, elections, and returns of its own members; and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member ; but no member shall be expelled a second time for the same cause, nor for any cause known to his constituents antecedent to his election.
12. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same, except such parts as may require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the mem- hers of either house, on any question, shall, at the request of one-fifth of the members present, be entered on the journal. Any member of either house shall have liberty to dissent from and protest against any act or resolution which he
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may think injurious to the public or an individual, and have the reasons of this dissent entered on the journal.
13. In all elections by either or both houses, the votes shall be given vi- va voce ; and all votes on nomination made to the senate shall be taken by yeas and nays, and published with the journal of its proceedings.
14. The doors of each house shall be open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy ; neither house shall, without the consent of the other, ad- journ for more than three days, nor to any other place than that where the legis- lature may then be in session.
15. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature.
16. Every bill passed by the legislature shall, before it becomes a law, be pre- sented to the governor ; if he approve, he shall sign it ; but if not, he shall re- turn it, with his objections, to that house in which it originated, who shall en- ter the objections at large upon their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the members present agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other house, by whom it shall likewise be reconsidered ; and if approved also by two-thirds of all the mein- bers present in that house, it shall become a law ; but in such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for or against the bill shall be entered on the journals of each house respectively : And if any bill be not returned by the governor with- in ten days, (Sundays excepted,) after it has been presented to lim, the same shall become a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legis- lature by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be- come a law.
17. Every resolution to which the concurrence of the senate and house of re- presentatives may be necessary, except in cases of adjournment, shall be pre- sented to the governor, and, before the same shall take effect, shall be proceed- ed upon in the same manner as in the case of a bill.
18. The members of the legislature shall receive, for their services, a com- pensation to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the public treasury ; but no increase of the compensation shall take effect during the term for which the members of either house shall have been elected ; and such compensation shall never exceed three dollars a day.
19. No member of the legislature shall receive any civil appointment from the governor and senate, or from the legislature, during the term for which heis elected.
20. The governor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies as may occur in the senate and house of representatives.
21. The legislature shall meet on the first Monday in January in every year, and at no other period, unless otherwise directed by law or provided for in this constitution.
22. The style of the laws of this state shall be-Be it enacted by the Senate und House of Representatives of the State of Michigan.
ARTICLE V .- Executive Department.
1. The supreme power shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold his of- fice for two years ; and a lieutenant governor shall be chosen at the same time and for the same term.
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2. No person shall be eligible to the office of governor or lieutenant governor who shall not have been five years a citizen of the United States, and a resident of this state two years next preceding the election.
3. The governor and lieutenant governor shall be elected by the electors at the times and places of choosing members of the legislature. The persons having the highest number of votes for governor and lieutenant governor shall be elected ; but in case two or more have an equal and the highest number of votes for governor or lieutenant governor, the legislature shall by joint vote choose one of the said persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes, for governor or lieutenant governor.
4. The returns of every election for governor and lieutenant governor shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of government, by the returning offi- cers, directed to the president of the senate, who shall open and publish them in the presence of the members of both houses.
5. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, and of the army and navy of this state.
6. He shall transact all executive business with the officers of government, civil and military ; and may require information, in writing, from the officers in the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their res- pective offices.
7. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
8. He shall have power to convene the legislature on extraordinary occa- sions. He shall communicate by message to the legislature, at every session, the condition of the state, and recommend such matters to them as he shall deem expedient.
9. He shall have power to adjourn the legislature to such time as he may think proper, in case of a disagreement between the two houses with respect to the time of adjournment, but not to a period beyond the next annual meet- ing.
10. He may direct the legislature to meet at some other place than the seat of government, if that shall become, after its adjournment, dangerous from a cominon enemy or a contagious disease.
11. He shall have power to grant reprieves and pardon after conviction, ex- cept in cases of impeachment.
12. When any office, the appointment to which is vested in the governor and senate, or in the legislature, becomes vacant during the recess of the legis- lature, the governor shall have power to fill such vacancy by granting a com- mission, which shall expire at the end of the succeeding session of the legisla- ture.
13. In case of the impeachment of the governor, his removal from office, death, resignation, or absence from the state, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant governor until such disability shall cease or the vacancy be filled.
14. If, during the vacancy of the office of governor, the lieutenant governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, or be absent from the state, the pre- sident of the senate, pro tempore, shall act as governor until the vacancy be filled.
15. The lieutenant governor shall, by virtue of his office, be president of the
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senate; in committee of the whole, he may debate on all questions ; and when there is an equal division, he shall give the casting vote.
16. No member of congress, nor any other person holding office under the United States, or this state, shall execute the office of governor.
17. Whenever the office of governor or lieutenant governor becomes vacant, the person exercising the powers of governor for the time being shall give no- tice thereof, and the electors shall, at the next succeeding annual election for members of the legislature, choose a person to fill such vacancy.
13. The governor shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensa- tion, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the terms for which he has been elected.
19. The lieutenant governor, except when acting as governor, and the presi- dent of the senate pro tempore, shall each receive the same compensation as shall be allowed to the speaker of the house of representatives.
20. A great seal for the state shall be provided by the governor, which shall contain the device and inscriptions represented and described in the papers re- lating thereto, signed by the president of the convention, and deposited in the office of the secretary of the territory. It shall be kept by the secretary of state ; and all official acts of the governor, his approbation of the laws excepted, shall be thereby authenticated.
21. All grants and commissions shall be in the name, and by the authority, of the people of the state of Michigan.
ARTICLE VI .- Judicial Department.
1. The judicial power shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such other courts as the legislature may from time to time establish.
2. The judges of the supreme court shall hold their offices for the term of seven years ; they shall be nominated, and with the advice and consent of the senate, appointed by the governor. They shall receive an adequate compensa- tion, which will not be diminished during their continuance in office. But they shall receive no fces nor perquisites of office, nor hold any other office of profit or trust under the authority of this state, or of the United States.
3. A court of probate shall be established in each of the organized counties.
4. Judges of all county courts, associate judges of circuit courts, and judges of probate, shall be elected by the qualified electors of the county in which they reside, and shall hold their offices for four years.
5. The supreme court shall appoint their clerk or clerks ; and the electors of each county shall elect a clerk, to be denominated a county clerk, who shall hold his office for the term of two years, and shall perform the duties of clerk to all the courts of record to be held in each county, except the supreme court and court of probate.
6. Each township may elect four justices of the peace, who shall hold their offices for four years ; and whose powers and duties shall be defined and regu- lated by law. At their first election they shall be classed and divided by lot into numbers one, two, three, and four, to be determined in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, so that one justice shall be annually elected in each town- ship thereafter. A removal of any justice from the township in which he was elected, shall vacate his office. In all incorporated towns or cities, it shall be competent for the legislature to increase the number of justices,
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7. The style of all process shall be " In the name of the People of the State of Michigan ;" and all indictment shall conclude, against the peace and dignity of the same.
ARTICLE VII .- Certain State and County Officers.
1. There shall be a secretary of state, who shall hold his office for two years, and who shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and con. sent of the senate .. He shall keep a fair record of the official acts of the legis- lative and executive departments of the government; and shall, when required, lay the same, and all matters relative thereto, before either branch of the legis- lature ; and shall perform such other duties as shall be assigned him by law.
2. A state treasurer shall be appointed by a joint vote of the two houses of the legislature, and shall hold his office for the terin of two years.
3. There shall be an auditor general and an attorney general for the state, and a prosecuting attorney for each of the respective counties, who shall hold their offices for two years, and who shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, and whose powers and duties shall be prescribed by law.
4. There shall be a sheriff, a county treasurer, and one or more coroners, a register of deeds and a county surveyor, chosen by the electors in each of the sevc. ral counties once in every two years, and as often as vacancies shall happen. The sheriff shall hold no other office, and shall not be capable of holding the office of sheriff longer than four in any term of six years ; he may be required by law to renew his security from time to time, and in default of giving such se- curity, his office shall be deemed vacant ; but the county shall never be made responsible for the acts of the sheriff.
ARTICLE VIII .- Impeachments and Removals from Office.
1. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeaching all civil officers of the state for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misde- meanors; but a majority of all the members elected shall be necessary to direct an impeachment.
2. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate. When the governor or lieutenant governor shall be tried, the chief justice of the supreme court shall preside. Before the trial of an impeachment, the members of the court shall take an oath or affirmation truly and impartially to try and determine the charge in question according to the evidence ; and no person shall be convicted with- out the concurrence of two-thirds of the meinbers present. Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to removal from office; but the party convicted shall be liable to indictment and punishment according to law.
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