USA > Tennessee > Hardin County > A history of Hardin County, Tennessee > Part 7
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ARTICLE VIII. MILITIA.
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SECTION 1. All militia officers shall be elected by persons subject to military duty within the bounds of their several companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, and divisions, un- der such rules and regulations as the Legislature may from time to time direct and establish.
SEC. 2. The Governor shall appoint the Adjutant-general and his other staff officers; the Major-generals, Brigadier-gen- erals, and commanding officers of regiments, shall respectively appoint their staff officers.
SEC. 3. The Legislature shall pass laws exempting citizens belonging to any sect or denomination of religion, the tenets of which are known to be opposed to the bearing of arms, from attending private and general musters.
128
CONSTITUTION OF TENNESSEE.
ARTICLE IX.
DISQUALIFICATIONS.
SECTION 1. Whereas, ministers of the gospel are, by their profession, dedicated to God and the care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their functions; therefore, no minister of the gospel, or priest of any denom- ination whatever, shall be eligible to a seat in either House of the Legislature.
SEC. 2. No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this State.
SEc. 3. Any person who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, fight a duel, or knowingly be the bearer of a challenge to fight a duel, or send or accept a challenge for that purpose, or be an aider or abettor in fighting a duel, shall be deprived of the right to hold any office of honor or profit in this State, and shall be punished otherwise in such manner as the Legislature may prescribe.
ARTICLE X. OATHS, BRIBERY OF ELECTORS, NEW COUNTIES.
SECTION 1. Every person who shall be chosen or appointed to any office of trust or profit under this Constitution, or any law made in pursuance thereof, shall, before entering upon the duties thereof, take an oath to support the Constitution of this State and of the United States and an oath of office.
SEC. 2. Each member of the Senate and House of Represen- tatives shall, before they proceed to business, take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of this State and of the United States, and also the following oath : "I,
, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that, as a member of this Gen- eral Assembly, I will, in all appointments, vote without, favor, affection, partiality, or prejudice; and that I will not propose or assent to any bill, vote, or resolution, which shall appear to me injurious to the people, or consent to any act or thing whatever that shall have a tendency to lessen or abridge their rights and. privileges, as declared by the Constitution of this State."
SEC. 3. Any elector who shall receive any gift or reward for his vote in meat, drink, money, or otherwise, shall suffer such punishment as the laws shall direct .. And any person who shall directly or indirectly give, promise, or bestow any such reward to be elected, shall thereby be rendered incapable, for six years, to serve in the office for which he was elected, and be subject to such further punishment as the Legislature shall direct.
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129
CONSTITUTION OF TENNESSEE.
SEC. 4. New counties may be established by the Legislature to consist of not less than two hundred and seventy-five square miles, and which shall contain a population of seven hundred qualified voters. No line of such county shall approach the court-house of any old county, from which it may be taken, nearer than eleven miles, nor shall such old county be reduced to less than five hundred square miles. But the following ex- ceptions are made to the foregoing provisions, viz .: New coun- ties may be established by the present or any succeeding Leg- islature out of the following territory, to-wit: Out of that por- tion of Obion County which liest west of low-water mark of Reel Foot Lake; out of fractions of Sumner, Macon, and Smith Counties-but no line of such new county shall approach the court-house of Sumner or Smith Counties nearer than ten miles, nor include any part of Macon County lying within nine and a half miles of the court-house of said county; nor shall more than twenty square miles of Macon county, nor any part of Sumner county lying due west of the western boundary of Macon county, be taken in the formation of said new county ; out of fractions of Grainger and Jefferson Counties, but no line of such new county shall include any part of Grainger County north of the Holston River, nor shall any line thereof approach the court-house of Jefferson County nearer than eleven miles-such new county may include any other terri- tory which is not excluded by any general provision of this Constitution ; out of fractions of Jackson and Overton Coun- ties, but no line of such new county shall approach the court- 'house of Jackson or Overton Counties nearer than ten miles, nor shall such county contain less than four hundred qualified voters, nor shall the area of either of the old counties be re- duced below four hundred and fifty square miles; out of frac- tions of Roane, Monroe, and Blount Counties, around the town of Loudon, but no line of such new county shall ever approach the towns of Maryville, Kingston, or Madisonville nearer than eleven miles, except that on the south side of the Tennessee River said lines may approach as near as ten miles to the court-house of Roane County. The counties of Lewis, Cheat- ham, and Sequatchie, as now established by legislative enact- ments, are hereby declared to be constitutional counties. No part of Bledsoe County shall be taken to form a new county, or a part thereof, or be attached to any adjoining county. That portion of Marion County included within the following bound- aries: Beginning on the Grundy and Marion County line at the Nick-a-jack Trace, and running about six hundred yards west of Ben. Posey's, to where the Tennessee Coal Railroad crosses the line, running thence south-east through the Pocket, near William Summers's, crossing the Battle Creek Gulf at the corner of Thomas Wooten's field ; thence running across the Lit- tle Gizzard Gulf at Raven Point; thence in a direct line to the bridge crossing the Big Fiery Gizzard; thence in a direct line 6
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130
CONSTITUTION OF TENNESSEE.
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to the mouth of Holy Water Creek; thence up said creek to the Grundy County line, and thence with said line to the be- ginning, is hereby detached from Marion County and attached to the county of Grundy." No part of a county shall be taken off to form a new county, or a part thereof, without the con- sent of two-thirds of the qualified voters in such part taken off; and where an old county is reduced for the purpose of forming a new one, the seat of justice in said old county shall not be removed without the concurrence of two-thirds of both branches of the Legislature, nor shall the seat of justice of any county be removed without the concurrence of two-thirds of the qualified voters of the county. But the foregoing provis- ion, requiring a two-thirds majority of the voters of a county to remove its county seat, shall not apply to the counties of Obion and Cocke. The fractions taken from old counties to form new counties, or taken from one county and added to another, shall continue liable for their pro rata of all debts contracted by their respective counties prior to the separation, and be entitled to their proportion of any stocks or credits be- longing to such old counties.
SEC. 5. The citizens who may be included in any new county shall vote with the county or counties from which they may have been stricken off for members of Congress, for Governor, and for members of the General Assembly, until the next apportionment of members of the General Assembly after the establishment of such new county.
ARTICLE XI. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.
SECTION 1. All laws and ordinances now in force and use in this State, not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall con- tinue in force and use until they shall expire or be altered or repealed by the Legislature. But ordinances contained in any former Constitution or schedule thereto are hereby abrogated.
SEC. 2. Nothing contained in this Constitution shall impair the validity of any debts on contracts, or affect any rights of property, or any suits, actions, rights of action, or other. pro- ceedings in courts of justice.
SEC. 3. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or House of Representatives ; and, if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members. elected to each of the two Houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays thereon, and referred to the General Assembly then next to be chosen; and shall be published six months previous to the time of making such choice; and if in the General Assembly then next chosen, as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by
131
CONSTITUTION OF TENNESSEE.
two-thirds of all the members elected to each House, then it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to submit such pro- posed amendment or amendments to the people in such man- ner and at such time as the General Assembly shall prescribe. And if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments by a majority of all the citizens of the State voting for Representatives voting in their favor, such amend- ment or amendments shall become a part of this Constitution. When any amendment or amendments to the Constitution shall be proposed in pursuance of the foregoing provisions, the same shall, at each of the said sessions, be read three times on three several days in each House. The Legislature shall not propose amendments to the Constitution oftener than once in six years. The Legislature shall have the right at any time, by law, to submit to the people the question of calling a Convention to alter, reform, or abolish this Constitution, and when, upon such submission, a majority of all the votes cast shall be in favor of said proposition, then delegates shall be chosen, and the Convention shall assemble in such mode and manner as shall be prescribed.
SEC. 4. The Legislature shall have no power to grant di- . vorces, but may authorize the courts of justice to grant them for such causes as may be specified by law; but such laws shall be general and uniform in their operation throughout the State.
SEC. 5. The Legislature shall have no power to authorize lot- teries for any purpose, and shall pass laws to prohibit the sale of lottery tickets in this State.
SEC. 6. The Legislature shall have no power to change the names of persons, or to pass acts adopting or legitimatizing persons, but shall, by general laws, confer this power on the courts.
SEC. 7. The Legislature shall fix the rate of interest, and the rate so established shall be equal and uniform throughout the State; but the Legislature may provide for a conventional rate of interest, not to exceed ten per cent. per annum.
SEC. 8. The Legislature shall have no power to suspend any general law for the benefit of any particular individual, nor to pass any law for the benefit of individuals inconsistent with the general laws of the land; nor to pass any law granting to any individual or individuals rights, privileges, immunities, or exemptions, other than such as may be, by the same law, ex- tended to any member of the community who may be able to bring himself within the provisions of such law. No corpora- . tion shall be created, or its powers increased or diminished, by special laws, but the General Assembly shall provide, by gen- eral laws, for the organization of all corporations hereafter created, which laws may, at any time, be altered or repealed ; and no such alteration or repeal shall interfere with or divest rights which have become vested,
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CONSTITUTION OF TENNESSEE.
SEC. 9. The Legislature shall have the right to vest such powers in the courts of justice with regard to private and local affairs as may be expedient.
SEC. 10. A well-regulated system of internal improvement is calculated to develop the resources of the State and promote the happiness and prosperity of her citizens, therefore it ought to be encouraged by the General Assembly.
' . SEC. 11: A homestead in the possession of each head of a fam- ily, and the improvements thereon, to the value in all of one thousand dollars, shall be exempt from sale under legal process during the life of such head of a family, to inure to the benefit of the widow, and shall be exempt during the minority of their children occupying the same. Nor shall said property be alienated without the joint consent of the husband and wife when that relation exists. This exemption shall not op- erate against public taxes, or debts contracted for the purchase money of such homestead or improvements thereon,'
SEC. 12. Knowledge, learning, and virtue, being essential to the preservation of republican institutions, and the diffusion of the opportunities and advantages of education throughout the different portions of the State being highly conducive to the pro- motion of this end, it shall be the duty of the General Assem- bly, in all future periods of this government, to cherish litera- ture and science. And the fund called the common school fund, and all the lands and proceeds thereof, dividends, stocks, and other property of every description whatever, heretofore by law appropriated by the General Assembly of this State for the use of common schools, and all such as shall hereafter be appro- priated, shall remain a perpetual fund, the principal of which shall never be diminished by legislative appropriation; and the interest thereof shall be inviolably appropriated to the support and encouragement of common schools throughout the State, and for the equal benefit of all the people thereof; and no law shall be made authorizing said fund, or any part thereof, to be diverted to any other use than the support and encouragement of common schools. The State taxes derived hereafter from polls shall be appropriated to educa- tional purposes in such manner as the General Assembly shall from time to time direct by law. No school established or aided under this section shall allow white and negro chil- dren to be received as scholars together in the same school. The above provision shall not prevent the Legislature from carrying into effect any laws that have been passed in favor of the colleges, universities, or academies, or from authoriz- ing heirs or distributees to receive and enjoy escheated prop- erty under such laws as may be passed from time to time.
SEc. 13. The General Assembly shall have power to enact laws for the protection and preservation of game and fish within the State, and such laws may be enacted for and applied and
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CONSTITUTION OF TENNESSEE.
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enforced in particular counties or geographical districts desig- nated by the General Assembly.
SEC. 14. The intermarriage of white persons with negroes, mulattoes, or persons of mixed blood, descended from a negro to the third generation, inclusive, or their living together as man and wife, in this State is prohibited. The Legislature shall enforce this section by appropriate legislation.
SEC. 15. No person shall, in time of peace, be required to perform any service to the public on any day set apart by his religion as a day of rest.
SEC. 16. The declaration of rights, hereto prefixed, is de- clared to be a part of the Constitution of this State, and shall never be violated on any pretense whatever. And to guard against transgression of the high powers we have delegated, we declare that every thing in the Bill of Rights contained is excepted out of the general powers of the government, and shall forever remain inviolate.
SEc. 17. No county office created by the Legislature shall be filled otherwise than by the people or the County Court.
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HARDIN COUNTY'S REPRESENTATIVES.
REPRESENTATIVES OF HARDIN COUNTY IN THE LOWER HOUSE OF THE LEGISLATURE.
JOEL WALKER, Representative of Hardin and Wayne from 1820 to 1823.
JAMES BARNES, from 1823 to 1825.
BENJAMIN HARDIN, Representative of Hardin, Wayne, Mc- Nairy, Hardeman, Fayette, Shelby, and Tipton, from 1825 to 1827. *
BRADLEY HALFORD, Representative of Lawrence, Wayne, and Hardin, from 1831 to 1833.
JOHN RAYBURN, Representative of Hardin, Hickman, Law- rence, Wayne. and McNairy, from 1833 to 1835.
C. C. GIBBS, from 1837 to 1839.
C. H. MCGINNIS, from 1839 to 1847.
DANIEL SMITH, from 1847 to 1851.
GEORGE M. HAMILTON, from 1851 to 1853.
CON. BROYLES, from 1853 to 1855.
B. G. BRAZELTON, from 1855 to 1857.
JAMES T. CARTER, from 1857 to 1859. D. A. ROBERTS, from 1859 to 1861.
THOMAS MAXWELL, from 1865 to 1867.
ALFRED PITTS, from 1867 to 1869.
W. F. HINKLE, from 1869 to 1873.
S. W. RIGGS, from 1873 to 1875.
D. W. HERRING, Hardin and Decatur, from 1875 to 1877. G. W. HAYNES, Hardin and Decatur, from 1877 to 1879.
E. G. YANCY, Hardin and Decatur, from 1879 to 1881.
H. B. NEELY, Hardin and Decatur, from 1881 to 1882. J. D. MARTIN, Hardin and Decatur, from 1882 to 1885. J. A. HANNA, Hardin and Decatur, from 1885 to 1887.
The names of the Representatives of the county between the years 1827 and 1831, and between the years 1835 and 1837, are unknown to us.
" Hon. H. B. Neely, after`serving one year, died, and Hon. J. D. Martin was elected to fill out the unexpired term,
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VOTE OF HARDIN COUNTY.
OFFICIAL VOTE OF HARDIN COUNTY-1884.
PRES'T.
CONG.
Gov'R.
SENATOR.
REP.
DIST'S.
Blaine.
Cleveland.
Warren.
Taylor.
Reid.
Bate ..
Smith.
Patterson.
Hanna.
Martin.
1
57
53
56
54
56
54
54
55
56
53
2
90
48
90
48
90
48
87
49
89
48
3
94
89
93
89
94
89
93
89
94
89
4
246
199
244
199
244
201
219
216
216
222
5
67
25
65
27
67
27
67
27
67
27
6
143
78
143
78
143
78
143
78
144
76
7
79
38
87
32
79
36
79
38
78
39
8
75
55
79
52
75
55
74
57
75
54
9
13
46
13
46
13
46
12
47
12
45
10
67
49
66
49
66
49
64
51
58
55
11
21
67
20
67
21
67
20
68
20
68
12
238
59
235
57
235
59
233
59
239
58
13
238
72
238
72
238
72
238
72
240
66
14
37
71
37
73
37
74
29
78
35
75
15
30
81
30
81
30
81
27
83
29
83
16
51
57
50
57
52
56
50
58
45
61
Total Majority ...
1546 1087
1546 1083
1540 1092
1489 1025
1497 1119
459
463 .
448
364
378
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MR navies Series , Val 22 Electron he Nardin # 11en
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