USA > Rhode Island > The Dorr war; or, The constitutional struggle in Rhode Island > Part 27
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. 3. All the votes given for Governor, Lieutenant - Governor, Secretary of State, General Treasurer, Attorney - General, sheriffs, and also for Senators, shall remain in the ballot -boxes till the polls be elosed. These votes shall then, in open town and ward meetings, and in the presence of at least ten quali- fied voters, be taken out and sealed up, in separate envelopes, by the moder- ators and town elerks, and by the wardens and ward elerks, who shall eertify the same, and forthwith deliver or send them to the Secretary of State, whose duty it shall be seeurely to keep the same, and to deliver the votes for State offieers and sheriffs to the Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives, after the House shall be organized, at the June session of the General Assembly. The votes last named shall, without delay, be opened, eounted, and deelared, in sueh manner as the House of Representatives shall direet; and the oath of office shall be administered to the persons who shall be deelared to be elected, by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and in the presence of the House; provided that the sheriffs may take their engagement before a Senator, judge, or justiee of the peaee. The votes for
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Senators shall be counted by the Governor and Secretary of State within seven days from the day of election; and the Governor shall give certificates to the Senators who are elected.
4. The boxes containing the votes for Representatives to the General Assembly in the several towns shall not be opened till the polls for Repre- sentatives are declared to be closed. The votes shall then be declared by the moderator and clerk, who shall announce the result, and give certificates to the persons selected. If there be no election, or not an election of the whole number of Representatives to which the town is entitled, the polls for Representatives may be re-opened, and the like proceedings shall be had, until an election shall take place: provided, however, that an adjournmient of the election may be made to a time not exceeding seven days from the first meeting.
5. In the city of Providence, and other cities, the polls for Representa- tives shall be kept open during the whole time of voting for the day; and the votes in the several wards shall be sealed up, at the close of the meeting, by the wardens and ward clerks, in the presence of at least ten qualified elec- tors, and delivered to the city clerks. The mayor and aldermen of said city or cities, shall proceed to count said votes within two days from the day of . election ; and if no election, or an election of only a portion of the Represent- atives whom the representative districts are entitled to elect, shall have taken place, the mayor and aldermen shall order a new election to be held, not more than ten days from the day of the first election; and so on, till the election of Representatives shall be completed. Certificates of election shall be furnished to the persons chosen, by the city clerks.
6. If there be no choice of a Senator or Senators at the annual election, the Governor shall issue his warrant to the town and ward clerks of the several towns and cities in the senatorial district or districts that may have failed to elect, requiring them to open town or ward meetings for another election, on a day not more than fifteen days beyond the time of counting the votes for Senators. If, on the second trial, there shall be no choice of a Senator or Senators, the Governor shall certify the result to the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and the House of Representatives, and as many Senators as shall have been chosen, shall forthwith elect, in joint. com-
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APPENDIX B.
mittee, a Senator or Senators, from the two candidates who may receive the highest number of votes in each district.
7. If there be no choice for Governor at the annual election, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall issue his warrant to the clerks of the several towns and cities, requiring them to notify town and ward meetings for another election, on a day to be named by him, not more than thirty nor' less than twenty days beyond the time of receiving the report of the committee of the House of Representatives who shall count the votes for Governor. If on this second trial there shall be no choice of a Governor, the two Houses of the General Assembly shall, at their next session, in joint committee, elect a Governor from the two candidates having the highest num- ber of votes, to hold his office for the remainder of the political year, and until his successor be duly qualified.
8. If there be no choice of Governor and Lieutenant -Governor at the annual election, the same proceedings for the choice of a Lieutenant - Gov- "ernor shall be had as directed in the preceding section: provided, that the second trial for the election of Governor and Lieutenant - Governor shall be on the same day; and also provided, that, if the Governor shall be chosen at the annual election, and the Lieutenant - Governor shall not be chosen, then the last - named officer shall be elected in joint committee of the two Houses, from the two candidates having the highest number of votes, with- out a further appeal to the electors. The Lieutenant - Governor, elected as provided in this section, shall hold his office as is provided in the preceding section respecting the Governor.
9. All town, city, and ward meetings for the choice of Representatives, justices of the peace, sheriffs, Senators, State officers, Representatives to Con- gress, and electors of President and Vice-President, shall be notified by the town, city, or ward clerks, at least seven days before the same are lield.
IO. In all elections held by the people under this constitution, a majority of all the electors voting shall be necessary to the choice of the person or persons voted for.
II. The oath, or affirmation, to be taken by all the officers named in this article shall be the following : You, being elected to thic place (of Governor, Lieutenant - Governor, Secretary of State, General Treasurer, Attorney - Gen-
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eral, or to the places of Senators or Representatives, or to the office of sheriff or justiee of the peace), do solemnly swear, or severally solemnly swear, or affirm, that you will be true and faithful to the State of Rliode Island and Providenee Plantations, and that you will support the constitution thereof ; that you will support the constitution of the United States; and that you will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of your afore- said office, to the best of your abilities and understanding : so help you God ! or, this affirmation you make and give upon the peril of the penalty of perjury.
ARTICLE XI. Of the Judiciary.
I. The judicial power of this State shall be vested in one supreme court, and in sueli other courts, inferior to the supreme court, as the legislature may, from time to time, ordain and establish; and the jurisdietion of the su- preme and of all other courts may, from time to time, be regulated by the General Assembly.
2. Chaneery power may be conferred on the supreme court; but no other eourt exercising ehaneery powers shall be established in this State, except as is now provided by law.
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3. The justiees of the supreme court shall be eleeted in joint committee of the two Houses, to hold their offiees for one year, and until their places shall be deelared vaeant by a resolution to that effeet, which shall be voted for by a majority of all the members eleeted to the House in which it may originate, and be eoncurred in by the same vote of the other House, without revision by the Governor. Such resolution shall not be entertained at any other than the annual session for the election of public officers; and, in de- fault of the passage thereof at the said session, the judge, or judges, shall hold his or their place or places for another year. But a judge of any eourt shall be removable from office, if, upon impeachment, he shall be found guilty of any official misdemeanor.
4. In ease of vaeancy by the death, resignation, refusal, or inability to serve, or removal from the State, of a judge of any court, his place may be filled by the joint committee, until the next annual election; when, if eleeted, lie shall hold his office as hierein provided.
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5. The justices of the supreme court shall receive a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
6. The judges of the courts inferior to the supreme court shall be annually elected in joint committee of the two Houses, except as herein provided.
7. There shall be annually elected by each town, and by the several wards in the city of Providence, a sufficient number of justices of the peace, or wardens resident therein, with such jurisdiction as the General Assembly may prescribe. And said justices or wardens (except in the towns of New Shoreham and Jamestown) shall be commissioned by the Governor.
8. The General Assembly may provide that justices of the peace, who are not re-elected, may liold their offices for a time not exceeding ten days beyond the day of the annual election of these officers.
9. The courts of probate in this State, except the supreme court, shall remain as at present established by law, until the General Assembly shall otherwise prescribe.
ARTICLE XII. Of Education.
I. All moneys which now are, or may hereafter be, appropriated, by the authority of the State, to public education, shall be securely invested, and remain a perpetual fund for the maintenance of free schools in this State; and the General Assembly are prohibited from diverting said moneys or fund from this use, and from borrowing, appropriating, or using the same, or any part thereof, for any other purpose, or under any pretence whatsoever. But the income derived from said moneys or fund shall be annually paid over, by the General Treasurer, to the towns and cities of the State, for the support of said schools, in equitable proportions: provided, however, that a portion of said income may, in the discretion of the General Assembly, be added to the principal of said fund.
2. The several towns and cities shall faithfully devote their portions of said annual distribution to the support of free schools; and, in default thereof, shall forfeit their shares of the same to the increase of the fund.
3. All charitable donations for the support of free schools, and other purposes of public education, shall be received by the General Assembly,
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and invested and applied agreeably to the terms prescribed by the donors : provided the same be not inconsistent with the constitution, or with sound public policy ; in which case the donation shall not be received.
ARTICLE XIII. Amendments.
The General Assembly may propose amendments to this constitution by the vote of a majority of all the members elected to each House. Such propositions shall be published in the newspapers of the State; and printed copies of such propositions shall be sent by the Secretary of State, with the names of all the members who shall have voted thereon, with the yeas and nays, to all the town and city clerks in the State; and the said propositions shall be, by said clerks, inserted in the notices by them issued for warning the next annual town and ward meetings in April; and the town and ward clerks shall read said propositions to the electors, when thus assembled, with the names of all the Representatives and Senators, who shall have voted thereon, with the yeas and nays, before the election of Representatives and Senators shall be had. If a majority of all the members elected at said annual meetings, present in each House, shall approve any proposition thus made, the same shall be published as before provided, and then sent to the electors in the mode provided in the act of approval; and, if then approved by a majority of the electors who shall vote in town and ward meetings, to be specially convened for that purpose, it shall become a part of the consti- tution of the State.
ARTICLE XIV. Of the Adoption of the Constitution.
I. This constitution shall be submitted to the people, for their adoption or rejection, on Monday, the 27th day of December next, and on the two succeeding days; and all persons voting are requested to deposit in the bal- lot - boxes printed or written tickets in the following form: I am an American citizen, of the age of twenty-one years, and have my permanent residence, or home, in this State. I am (or not) qualified to vote under the existing
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APPENDIX B.
laws of this State. I vote for (or against) the constitution formed by the convention of the people, assembled at Providence, and which was proposed to the people by said convention on the 18th day of November, 1841.
2. Every voter is requested to write his name on the face of his ticket ; and every person entitled to vote as aforesaid, who, from sickness or other causes, may be unable to attend and vote in the town or ward meetings assembled for voting upon said constitution, on the days aforesaid, is re- quested to write his name upon a ticket, and to obtain the signature, upon the back of the same, of a person who has given his vote, as a witness thereto. And the moderator, or clerk, of any town or ward meeting con- vened for the purpose aforesaid, shall receive sucht vote, on either of the three days next succeeding the three days before named for voting on said constitution.
3. The citizens of the several towns in this State, and of the several wards of the city of Providence, are requested to hold town and ward meet- ings on the days appointed, and for the purpose aforesaid; and also to choose, in each town and ward, a moderator and clerk, to conduct said meetings, and receive the votes.
4. The moderators and clerks are required to receive, and carefully to keep, the votes of all persons qualified to vote as aforesaid, and to make registers of all the persons voting; which, together with the tickets given in by the voters, shall be sealed up, and returned by said moderators and clerks, with certificates signed and sealed by them, to the clerks of the con- vention of the people, to be by them safely deposited and kept, and laid before said convention, to be counted and declared at their next adjourned meeting, on the 12th day of January, 1842.
5. This constitution, except so much thereof as relates to the election of the officers named in the sixth section of this article, shall, if adopted, go into operation on the first Tuesday of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
6. So much of the constitution as relates to the election of the officers 'named in this section shall go into operation on the Monday before the third Wednesday of April next preceding. The first election under this constitu- tion, of Governor, Lieutenant - Governor, Secretary of State, General Treasurer,
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and Attorney - General, of Senators and Representatives, of sheriffs for the several counties, and of justices of the peace for the several towns, and the wards of the city of Providence, shall take place on the Monday aforesaid.
7. The electors of the several towns and wards are authorized to assein- ble on the day aforesaid, without being notified, as is provided in section 9th of article 10, and without the registration required in section 7th of article 2, and to choose moderators and clerks, and proceed in the election of the officers named in the preceding section.
8. The votes given at the first election for Representatives to the Gen- eral Assembly, and for justices of the peace, shall be counted by the mod- erators and clerks of the towns and wards chosen as aforesaid ; and certificates of election shall be furnished by them to the Representatives and justices of the peace elected.
9. Said moderators and clerks shall seal up, certify, and transmit to the House of Representatives all the votes that may be given in at said first election for Governor and State officers, and for Senators and sheriffs; and the votes shall be counted as the House of Representatives may direct.
10. The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, at the first session of the same, qualify himself to administer the oath of office to the members of the House, and to other officers, by taking and subscribing the same oath in the presence of the House.
II. The first session of the General Assembly shall be held in the city of Providence on the first Tuesday of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, with such adjournments as may be necessary; but all other sessions shall be held as is provided in article 4 of this constitution.
12. If any of the Representatives, whom the towns or district are entitled to choose at the first annnal election aforesaid, shall not be then elected, or if their places shall become vacant during the year, the same proceedings may be had to complete the election, or to supply vacancies, as are directed concerning elections in the preceding sections of this article.
13. If there shall be no election of Governor or Lieutenant - Governor, or of both of these officers, or of a Senator or Senators, at the first annual election, the House of Representatives, and as many Senators as are chosen, shall forthwith elect, in joint committee, a Governor or Lieutenant - Governor,
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APPENDIX B.
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or both, or a Senator or Senators, to hold their offices for the remainder of the political year ; and, in the ease of the two officers first named, until their successors shall be duly qualificd.
14. If the number of the justices of the peace determined by the several towns and wards on the day of the first annual eleetion shall not be then chosen, or if vaeaneies sliall oecur, tlie same proceedings shall be had as are provided for in this article in the case of a non-election of Representatives and Senators, or of vacancies in their offices. The justices of the peace thus , eleeted shall hold office for the remainder of the political year, or until the second annual eleetion of justiees of the peaee, to be lield on sueh day as may be preseribed by the General Assembly.
15. The justiees of the peaee elected in pursuanee of the provisions of this article, may be engaged by the persons acting as moderators of the town and ward meetings, as herein provided; and said justiees, after obtaining their certificates of eleetion, may diseharge the duties of their offiee, for a time not exceeding twenty days, without a commission from the Governor.
16. Nothing contained in this article, inconsistent with any of the pro- visions of other artieles of the constitution, shall eontinuc in foree for a longer period than the first politieal year under the same.
17. The present government shall exercise all the powers with which it is now elothed, until the said first Tuesday of May, one thousand eight hun- dred and forty-two, and until their sueeessors, under this constitution, shall be duly eleeted and qualified.
18. All eivil, judicial, and military offieers now eleeted, or who shall here- after be elected by the General Assembly, or other competent authority, be- fore the said first Tuesday of May, shall hold their offiees, and may exereise their powers, until that time.
19. All laws and statutes, public and private, now in force, and not re- pugnant to this constitution, shall continue in force until they expire by their own limitation, or are repealed by the General Assembly. All contraets, judg- ments, actions, and rights of action, shall be as valid as if this constitution had not been made. All debts eoutraeted, and engagements entered into, be- fore the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against the State as if this eonstitution had not been made.
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20. The supreme court, established by this constitution, shall have the same jurisdiction as the supreme judicial court at present established ; and shall have jurisdiction of all causes which may be appealed to, or pending in the same ; and shall be held at the same times and places in each county, as the present supreme judicial court, until the General Assembly shall other- wise prescribe.
21. The citizens of the town of New Shoreham shall be hereafter exempted from military duty, and the duty of serving as jurors in the courts of this State. The citizens of Jamestown shall be forever hereafter exempted from military field duty.
22. The General Assembly shall, at their first session after the adoption of this constitution, propose to the electors the question, whether the word " white," in the first line of the first section of article 2 of the constitution, shall be stricken out. The question shall be voted upon at the succeeding annual election ; and if a majority of the electors voting shall vote to strike out the word aforesaid, it shall be stricken from the constitution; otherwise not. If the word aforesaid shall be stricken out, section 3d of article 2 shall cease to be a part of this constitution.
23. The President, Vice- Presidents, and Secretaries shall certify and sign this constitution, and cause the same to be published.
Done in convention, at Providence, on the 18th day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, and of American independ- ence the sixty-sixth.
JOSEPH JOSLIN, President of the Convention. WAGER WEEDEN,
SAMUEL H. WALES, S
Vice-Presidents.
Attest :
WILLIAM H. SMITH,
JOHN S. HARRIS,
Secretaries.
APPENDIX C.
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"THE FREEMEN'S CONSTITUTION."
We, the people of the State of Rhode Island and Providenee Plantations, do ordain and establish this constitution for the government thereof.
ARTICLE I.
Declaration of Certain Constitutional Rights and Principles.
In order effectually to seeure the religious and political freedom established here by our venerated ancestors, and to preserve the same for their posterity, we do declare that the inherent, essential, and unquestionable rights and prineiples hereinafter mentioned, among others, shall be established, main- tained, and preserved, and shall be of paramount obligation in all legislative, judicial, and executive proeeedings.
SECTION 1. Every person within this State ought to find a certain remedy, by having reeourse to the laws, for all injuries or wrongs which he may receive in his person, property, or charaeter. He ought to obtain right and justiee freely and without being obliged to purchase it, completely and with- out denial, promptly and without delay, conformably to the laws.
SEC. 2. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, papers, and possessions, against unreasonable searehes and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no warrant shall issue, but on complaint in writing, upon probable eause, supported by oath or affirmation, and describing, as nearly as may be, the place to be searelied, and the persons or things to be seized.
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SEC. 3. No person shall be holden to answer for a capital or other in- famous crime, unless on presentment or indictment by a grand jury, except in cases of impeachment, or such offences as arc usually cognizable by a justice of the peace; or, in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger. No persons shall be tried after an acquittal, for the same offence.
SEC. 4. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted ; and all punishments ought to be propor- tioned to the offence.
SEC. 5. All persons imprisoned ouglit to be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offences, when the proof is evident, or the presumption great. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety shall require it ; nor ever, without the authority of the General Assembly.
SEC. 6. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the privilege of a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury; to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining them in his favor ; and to have the assistance of counsel in liis defence, and be at liberty to speak for himself ; nor shall he be deprived of life, liberty, or property, un- less by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land.
SEC. 7. The person of a debtor, where there is not strong presumption of fraud, ought not to be continued in prison after he shall have delivered up his property for the benefit of his creditors, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 8. No ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall be made.
SEC. 9. No man, in a court of common law, shall be compelled to give evidence criminating himself.
SEC. 10. Every man being presumed innocent until pronounced guilty by the law, all acts of severity that are not necessary to secure an accused per- son shall be repressed.
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