USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County : Containing a detailed narrative of the principal events that have occured since its first settlement down to the present time > Part 15
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THE STATE OF OHIO.
voting for representatives, have voted for a convention, the general assembly shall, at their next session, call a convention, to consist of as many members as there be in the gener- al assembly, to be chosen in the same manner, at the same place, and by the same electors that choose the general assem- bly, who shall meet within three months after the said election, for the purpose of revising, amending, or changing the consti- tution. But no alteration of this constitution shall ever take place so as to introduce slavery, or involuntary servitude into this state.
6. That the limits and boundaries of this state be ascer- tained, it is declared, that they are as hereafter mentioned- that is to say, bounded on the east by the Pennsylvania line ; on the south by the Ohio river, to the mouth of the Great Mi- ami river ; on the west by the line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami aforesaid ; and on the north by an east and west line, drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east after intersecting the due north line aforesaid, from the mouth of the Great Miami, until it shall intersect Lake Erie or the territorial line, and thence with the same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line aforesaid: Provided, always, and it is hereby fully understood and de- clared by this convention, that if the southerly bend, or ex- treme of Lake Michigan should extend so far south, that a line drawn due east from it, should not intersect Lake Erie, or if it should intersect the said Lake Erie east of the mouth of the Miami river of the lake, then, and in that case, with the assent of the Congress of the United States, the nor- thern boundary of this state shall be established by, and extend- ed to a direct line running from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of the Miami Bay, after intersecting the due north line from the mouth of the Great Miami river as aforesaid, thence north-east to the ter-
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ritorial line, and by the said territorial line to the Pennsylvania line.
ARTICLE VIII.
That the general, great, and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized, and forever unalter- ably established, we declare,
§ 1. That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights, among which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety ; and every free, republi- can government, being founded on their sole authority, and organized for the great purpose of protecting their rights and liberties, and securing their independence-to effect these ends they have at all times a complete power to alter, reform, or abolish their government whenever they may deem it neces- sary.
2. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted ; nor shall any male person, arrived at the age of twenty-one years, or female person, arrived at the age of eighteen years, be held to serve any person as a servant under the pretense of indenture, or otherwise, unless such person shall enter into such inden- ture while in a state of perfect freedom, and on condition of a bona fide consideration received or to be received for their service, except as before excepted. Nor shall any indenture of any negro or mulatto hereafter made and executed, out of the state, or if made in the state, where the term of service ex- ceeds one year, be of the least validity, except those given in the case of apprenticeships.
3. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to wor-
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THE STATE OF OHIO.
ship Almighty God according to the dictates of conscience ; that no human authority can in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience; that no man shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent ; and that no preference shall ever be given by law to any re- ligious society or mode of worship : and no religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office of trust or profit. But religion, morality, and knowledge, being essen- lially necessary to good government. and the happiness of man- kind, schools, and the means of instruction, shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision, not inconsistent with the rights of conscience.
4. Private property ought, and shall ever be held inviolate, but always subservient to the public welfare, provided a com- pensation in money be made to the owner.
5. That the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and possessions, from unwarrantable searches and seizures ; and that general warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected places, without probable evi- dence of the fact committed, or to seize any person or per- sons, not named, whose offenses are not particularly described, and without oath or affirmation, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be granted.
6. That the printing presses shall be open and free to every citizen who wishes to examine the proceedings of any branch of government, or the conduct of any public officer ; and no law shall ever restrain the right thereof. Every citizen has an indisputable right to speak, write, or print, upon any subject, as he thinks proper, being liable for the abuse of that liberty. In prosecutions for any publication respecting the official con- duct of men in a public capacity, or where the matter publish- ed is proper for public information, the truth thereof may al-
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ways be given in evidence ; and in all indictments for libels, the jury shall have a right to determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court, as in other cases.
7. That all courts shall be open, and every person, for any injury done him in his lands, goods, person, or reputation, shall have remedy by the due course of law ; and right and justice administered without denial or delay.
8. That the right of trial by jury shall be inviolate.
9. That no power of suspending the laws shall be exercised unless by the legislature.
10. That no person arrested or confined in jail shall be treat- ed with unnecessary rigor, or be put to answer any criminal charge, but by presentment, indictment, or impeachment.
11. That in all criminal prosecutions, the accused hath & right to be heard by himself and his counsel, to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof ; to meet the witnesses face to face ; to have com- pulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor ; and in prosecutions by indictment or presentment, a speedy public trial, by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense shall have been committed, and shall not be com- pelled to give evidence against himself-nor shall he be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.
12. That all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties unless for capital offenses, where 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 rebel- lion or invasion the public safety may require it.
13. Excessive bail shall not be required, excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments in- flicted.
14. All penalties shall be proportioned to the nature of the offense. No wise legislature will affix the same punishments
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to the crime of theft, forgery, and the like, which they do to those of murder and treason. When the same undistinguish- ed severity is exerted against all offenses, the people are led to forget the real distinction in the crimes themselves, and to commit the most flagrant with as little compunction as they do the slightest offenses. For the same reasons, a multitude of sanguinary laws are both impolitic and unjust ; the true de- sign of all punishments being to reform, not to exterminate. mankind.
15. The person of a debtor, where there is not strong pre- sumption of fraud, shall not be continued in prison after de- livering up his estate for the benefit of his creditor or credit- ors, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.
16. No ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the va- lidity of contracts, shall ever be made ; and no conviction shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture of estate.
17. That no person shall be liable to be transported out of this state for any offense committed within the state.
18. That a frequent recurrence to the fundamental princi- ples of civil government is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty.
19. That the people have a right to assemble together, in & peaceable manner, to consult for their common good, to in- struct their representatives, and to apply to the legislature for redress of greivances. !
20. That the people have a right to bear arms for the de- fense of themselves and the state ; and as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they shall not be kept up, and that the military shall be kept under strict subor- dination to the civil power.
21. That no person in this state, except such as are employ- - ed in the army or navy of the United States, or militia in ao-
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tual service, shall be subject to corporeal punishment under the military law.
22. That no soldier in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in the manner prescribed by law.
23. That the levying taxes by the poll is grievous and op- pressive ; therefore, the legislature shall never levy a poll tax for county or state purposes.
24. That no hereditary emoluments, privileges, or honors shall ever be granted or conferred by this state.
25. That no law shall be passed to prevent the poor in the several counties and townships within this state, from an equal participation in the schools, academies, colleges and universi- ties within this state, which are endowed, in whole or in part, from the revenue arising from donations made by the United States for the support of schools and colleges ; and the doors of the said schools, academies, and universities, shall be open for the reception of scholars, students, and teachers of every grade, without any distinction or preference whatever, contra- ry to the intent for which the said donations were made.
26. That laws shall be passed by the legislature which shall secure to each and every denomination of religious societies, in each surveyed township, which now is, or may hereafter be. formed in the state, an equal participation, according to their number of adherents, of the profits arising from the land granted by Congress for the support of religion, agreeably to the ordinance or act of Congress, making the appropriation.
27. That every association of persons, when regularly form- ed within this state, and having given themselves a name, may, on application to the legislature, be entitled to receive letters of incorporation, to enable them to hold estates, real and per- sonal, for the support of their schools, academies, colleges, uni- versities, and for other purposes.
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28. To guard against the transgression of the high powers which we have delegated, we declare that all powers not hereby delegated, remain with the people.
SCHEDULE.
§ 1. That no evils or inconveniences may arise from the change of a territorial government to a permanent state gov- ernment ; it is declared by this convention that all rights, suits, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts, both as it re- spects individuals and bodies corporate, shall continue as if no change had taken place in this government.
2. All fines, penalties, and forfeitures, due and owing to the territory of the United States, north-west of the river Ohio, shall inure to the use of the state. All bonds executed to the governor or any other officer in his official capacity in the ter- ritory, shall pass over to the governor, or the other officers of the state, and their successors in office, for the use of the state, or by him or them to be respectively assigned over to the use of those concerned, as the case may be.
3. The governor, secretary, and judges, and all other offi- cers under the territorial government shall continue in the ex- ercise of the duties of their respective departments, until the said officers are superseded under the authority of this con- stitution.
4. All laws and parts of laws now in force in this territory, not inconsistent with this constitution, shall continue and re- main in full effect until repealed by the legislature, except so inuch of the act entitled " An act regulating the admission and practice of attorneys and counsellors at law ; and of the act made amendatory thereto, as relates to the term of time which the applicant shall have studied law, his residence within the territory, and the term of time which he shall have practiced as
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an attorney-at-law, before he can be admitted to the degree of a counsellor-at-law.
5. The governor of the state shall make use of his private seal until a state seal be procured.
6. The president of the convention shall issue writs of elec- tion to the sherifs of the several counties, requiring them to proceed to the election of governor, members of the general assembly, sherifs, and coroners, at their respective election dis- tricts in each county, on the second Tuesday of January next, which elections shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the existing election laws of this territory ; and the members of the general assembly then elected, shall continue to exer- cise the duties of their respective offices until the next annual or biennial election thereafter, as prescribed in this constitu- tion, and no longer.
7. Until the first enumeration shall be made, as directed in the second section of the first article of this constitution, the county of Hamilton shall be entitled to four senators and eight representatives ; the county of Clermont one senator and two representatives ; the county of Adams, one senator and three representatives ; the county of Ross two senators and four representatives ; the county of Fairfield one senator and two representatives ; the county of Washington two senators and three representatives ; the county of Belmont one senator and two representatives ; the county of Jefferson two senators and four representatives ; and the county of Trumbull one senator and two representatives.
Done in convention, at Chillicothe, the 29th day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and two, and of the independence of the United States of Amer- ica the twenty-seventh.
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In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.
EDWARD TIFFIN, President.
Jos. DARLINGTON,
JOHN REILLY,
ISRAEL DONALDSON,
JOHN SMITH,
THO. KERKER,
JOHN WILSON,
JAMES CALDWELL,
RUDOLPH BEAR,
ELIJAH WOODS,
GEO. HUMPHREY,
PHILIP GATCH,
JOHN MILLIGAN,
JAMES SARGENT,
NATH. UPDEGRAFF,
HENRY ABRAMS,
BAZ. WELLS,
EM, CARPENTER,
MICH. BALDWIN,
JOHN W. BROWNE,
JAMES GRUBB,
CHARLES W. BYRD,
NATH. MASSIE,
FRA. DUNLAVY,
T. WORTHINGTON,
WM. GOFORTH,
DAVID ABBOTT,
JOHN KITCHELL,
SAM. HUNTINGTON,
JER. MORROW,
EPH. CUTLER,
JOHN PAUL,
BEN. IVES GILMAN,
JOHN M'INTIRE,
RUFUS PUTNAM,
Attest : THO. SCOTT, Secretary.
CONSTITUTION
OF
THE UNITED STATES.
WE, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquil- lity, provide for the common defense, promote the general wel- fare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
ARTICLE I.
§ 1. All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a . senate and house of representatives.
2. The house of representatives shall be composed of mem- bers chosen every second year, by the people of the several states ; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifica- tions requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.
No person shall be a representative who shall not have at- tained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elec- ted, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
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Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states, which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers; which shall be deter- mined by adding to the whole number of free persons, inclu- ding those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons.
The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of repre- sentatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative : and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three ; Massachusetts eight ; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one ; Connecticut five ; New York six ; New Jersey four ; Pennsylvania eight ; Del- aware one; Maryland six; Virginia ten; North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
The house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers ; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
§ 3. The senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature there- of, for six years ; and each senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled, in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year ; of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year ; and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year ; so that one third may be chosen every second year ; and if vacancies hap-
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pen, by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the leg- islature of any state, the executive thereof may make tempo- rary appointments, until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabit- ant of that state for which he shall be chosen.
The vice president of the United States shall be president of the senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally di- vided.
The senate shall choose their other officers, and also a pres- ident pro tempore, in the absence of the vice president, or when he shall exercise the office of president of the United States.
The senate shall have the sole power to try all impeach- ments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the president of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall preside ; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the men- bers present.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and en- joy any office of honor, trust or profit, under the United States ; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment ac- cording to law.
4. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof ; but the Congress may at any time by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year ; 19
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and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
5. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business ; but a smaller num- ber may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide.
Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, pun- ish its members for disorderly behavior, and with the concur- rence of two-thirds, expel a member.
Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their judgment require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house, on any question, shall, at the de- sire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.
6. The senators and representatives shall receive a compen- sation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to or returning from the same ; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the au- thority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time, and no person holding any office under the United
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States shall be a member of either house during his continu- ance in office.
7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representatives ; but the senate may propose, or concur with amendments, as on other bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the house of representa- tives and the senate, shall, before it become a law, be present- ed to the president of the United States ; if he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to recon- sider it. If, after such reconsideration, two thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, 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 that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill, shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days, (Sundays ex- cepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the senate and house of representatives may be necessary, (except on a question of adjournment,) shall be presented to the president of the United States ; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed by two-thirds of the senate and house of representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
8. The Congress shall have power :
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To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises ; to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States ; but all duties, imposts and exci- ses shall be uniform throughout the United States:
To borrow money on the credit of the United States:
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states and with the Indian tribes:
To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws . on the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the United States:
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures :
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securi- ties and current coin of the United States :
To establish post-offices and post-roads :
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by secu- ring, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries :
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