USA > Wisconsin > Lafayette County > History of Lafayette county, Wisconsin > Part 44
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ARTICLE XII.
SECTION 1. Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed in either house of the Legis- lature, and referred to the next Legislature and published for three months previous. If agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then the amendment or amendments shall submit them to the vote of the people; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, they shall become a part of the Constitution.
SEC. 2. If a convention to revise or change the Constitution shall be deemed necessary by the Legislature, they shall recommend to the electors of the State to vote at the next general election for or against the same. If the vote shall be for the calling of such convention, then the Legislature, at its next session, shall provide for the same.
ARTICLE XIII. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.
SECTION 1. The political year for Wisconsin shall commence on the first Monday in Jan- uary in each year. General elections shall be holden on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November.
SEC. 2. A duelist shall not be qualified as an elector in this State.
SEC. 3. United States officers (except Postmasters), public defaulters, or persons convicted of infamous crimes, shall not be eligible to office in this State.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
ARTICLE VIII.
FINANCE.
SECTION 1. Taxation shall be uniform, and taxes shall be levied upon such property as the Legislature may prescribe.
SEC. 2. [No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of an appro- priation by law. Claims made against the State must be filed within six years after having accrued.] As amended in 1877.
SEC. 3. The credit of the State shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual, association or corporation.
SEC. 4. The State shall never contract any public debt, except in the cases and manner provided in this Constitution.
SEC. 5. A tax shall be levied each year sufficient to defray estimated expenses.
SEC. 6. Debts not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars may be contracted by the State, which shall be paid within five years thereafter.
SEC. 7. The Legislature may borrow money to repel invasion, suppress insurrection or defend the State in time of war.
SEC. 8. All fiscal laws in the Legislature shall be voted on by yeas and nays.
SEC. 9. State scrip shall not be issued except for such debts as are authorized by the sixth and seventh sections of this article.
SEC. 10. No debt for internal improvements shall be contracted by the State.
ARTICLE IX. EMINENT DOMAIN AND PROPERTY OF THE STATE.
SECTION 1. The State shall have concurrent jurisdiction on all rivers and lakes border- ing on Wisconsin.
SEC. 2. The title to all property which has accrued to the Territory of Wisconsin shall vest in the State of Wisconsin.
SEC. 3. The ultimate property in and to all lands of the State is possessed by the people.
ARTICLE X. EDUCATION.
SECTION 1. The supervision of public instruction shall be vested in a State Superintend- ent and such other officers as the Legislature shall direct. The annual compensation of the State Superintendent shall not exceed twelve hundred dollars.
SEC. 2. The school fund to support and maintain common schools, academies and nor- mal schools, and to purchase apparatus and libraries therefor, shall be created out of (1) the proceeds of lands from the United States; (2) out of forfeitures and escheats; (3) out of moneys paid as exemptions from military duty ; (4) out of fines collected for breach of penal laws; (5) out of any grant to the State where the purposes of such grant are not specified; (6) out of the proceeds of the sale of five hundred thousand acres of land granted by Congress Sep- tember 14, 1841; and (7) out of the five per centum of the net proceeds of the public lands to which the State shall become entitled on her admission into the Union (if Congress shall con- sent to such appropriation of the two grants last mentioned.)
SEC. 3. District schools shall be established by law which shall be free to all children be- tween the ages of four and twenty years. No sectarian instruction shall be allowed therein.
SEC. 4. Each town and city shall raise for common schools therein by taxation a sum equal to one-half the amount received from the school fund of the State.
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SEC. 5. Provisions shall be made by law for the distribution of the income of the school fund among the several towns and cities for the support of common schools therein ; but no appropriation shall be made when there is a failure to raise the proper tax, or when a school shall not have been maintained at least three months of the year.
SEC. 6. Provision shall be made by law for the establishment of a State University. The proceeds of all lands granted for the support of a university by the United States shall consti- tute "the University fund," the interest of which shall be appropriated to the support of the State University. No sectarian instruction shall be allowed in such university.
SEC. 7. The Secretary of State, Treasurer and Attorney General shall constitute a Board of Commissioners to sell school and university lands and for the investments of the proceeds thereof.
SEC. 8. School and university lands shall be appraised and sold according to law. The Commissioners shall execute deeds to purchasers, and shall invest the proceeds of the sales of such lands in such manner as the Legislature shall provide.
ARTICLE XI. CORPORATIONS.
SECTION 1. Corporations without banking powers may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the Legislature, the objects of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws.
SEC. 2. No municipal corporation shall take private property for public use, against the consent of the owner, except by jury trial.
SEC. 3. Cities and incorporated villages shall be organized, and their powers restricted by law so as to prevent abuses. [No county, city, town, village, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall become indebted to exceed five per centum on the value of the taxable property therein. ] As amended in 1874.
SEC. 4. Banks shall not be created except as provided in this article.
SEC. 5. The question of " bank " or "no bank " may be submitted to the voters of the State; and if a majority of all the votes cast shall be in favor of banks, the Legislature shall have power to grant bank charters, or pass a general banking law.
ARTICLE XII.
SECTION 1. Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed in either house of the Legis- lature, and referred to the next Legislature and published for three months previous. If agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then the amendment or amendments shall submit them to the vote of the people; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, they shall become a part of the Constitution.
SEC. 2. If a convention to revise or change the Constitution shall be deemed necessary by the Legislature, they shall recommend to the electors of the State to vote at the next general election for or against the same. If the vote shall be for the calling of such convention, then the Legislature, at its next session, shall provide for the same.
ARTICLE XIII. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.
SECTION 1. The political year for Wisconsin shall commence on the first Monday in Jan- uary in each year. General elections shall be holden on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November.
SEC. 2. A duelist shall not be qualified as an elector in this State.
SEC. 3. United States officers (except Postmasters), public defaulters, or persons convicted of infamous crimes, shall not be eligible to office in this State.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
SEC. 4. A great seal for the State shall be provided, and all official acts of the Governor (except his approbation of the laws), shall be authenticated thereby.
SEC. 5. Residents on Indian lands may vote, if duly qualified, at the polls nearest their residence.
SEC. 6. Elective officers of the Legislature, other than the presiding officers, shall be a Chief Clerk, and a Sergeant-at-Arms, to be elected by each House.
SEC. 7. No county with an area of nine hundred square miles or less, shall be divided, without submitting the question to the vote of the people of the county.
SEC. 8. [The Legislature is prohibited from enacting any special or private laws, for locating or changing any county seat.] See amendment adopted in 1871, as Sec. 31 (Subdivision 5) of Art. IV.
SEC. 9. Officers not provided for by this Constitution shall be elected as the Legislature shall direct.
SEC. 10. The Legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant, and also the manner of filling the vacancy, where no provision is made for that purpose in this Constitution.
ARTICLE XIV. SCHEDULE.
SECTION 1. All rights under the Territorial government are continued under the State government. Territorial processes are valid after the State is admitted into the Union.
SEC. 2. Existing laws of the Territory of Wisconsin not repugnant to this Constitution shall remain in force until they expire by limitation or are altered or repealed.
SEC. 3. All fines, penalties or forfeitures accruing to the Territory of Wisconsin shall inure to the use of the State.
SEC. 4. Territorial recognizances, bonds and public property shall pass to and be vested in the State. Criminal prosecutions, offenses committed against the laws, and all actions at law and suits in equity in the Territory of Wisconsin shall be contained in and prosecuted by the State.
SEC. 5. Officers holding under authority of the United States or of the Territory of Wis- consin shall continue in office until superseded by State authority.
SEC. 6. The first session of the State Legislature shall commence on the first Monday in June next, and shall be held at the village of Madison, which shall be and remain the seat of government until otherwise provided by law.
SEC. 7. Existing county and town officers shall hold their offices until the Legislature of the State shall provide for the holding of elections to fill such offices.
SEC. 8. A copy of this Constitution shall be transmitted to the President of the United States to be laid before Congress at its present session.
SEC. 9. This Constitution shall be submitted to the vote of the people for ratification or rejection on the second Monday in March next. If ratified, an election shall be held for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, Attorney General, members of the State Legisla- ture and members of Congress, on the second Monday of May next.
SEC. 10. [Omitted. See Section 1, Chapter 3, Acts of Extra Session of 1878.]
SEC. 11. The several elections provided for in this Article shall be conducted according to the existing laws of the Territory of Wisconsin.
SEC. 12. [Omitted. See Section 1, Chapter 3, Acts of Extra Session of 1878.]
SEC. 13. The common law in force in the Territory of Wisconsin shall continue in force in the State until altered or suspended by the Legislature.
SEC. 14. The Senators first elected in the even-numbered Senate districts, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and other State officers first elected under this Constitution, shall enter upon their duties on the first Monday of June next, and hold their offices for one year from the first Monday of January next. The Senators first elected in the odd-numbered districts and the
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members of the Assembly first elected shall enter upon their duties on the first Monday of June next, and continue in office until the first Monday in January next.
SEC. 15. The oath of office may be administered by any Judge or Justice of the Peace, until the Legislature shall otherwise direct.
We, the undersigned, members of the Convention to form a Constitution for the State of Wisconsin, to be submitted to the people thereof for their ratification or rejection, do hereby certify that the foregoing is the Constitution adopted by the Convention.
In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, at Madison, the 1st day of Feb- ruary, A. D. 1848.
MORGAN L. MARTIN,
President of the Convention and Delegate from Brown County.
THOMAS MCHUGH,
Secretary.
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. CONDENSED.
PREAMBLE.
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, 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.
SECTION 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
SEC. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the States, and electors shall have qualifications for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.
Representatives must be twenty-five years of age, and must have been seven years citizens of the United States, and inhabitants of the State in which they shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States according to population, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including apprentices and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of Congress, and every ten years there- after in such manner as Congress shall by law direct. States shall have one Representative only for each thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, New Hampshire shall choose three; Massachusetts, eight ; Rhode Island, 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.
Vacancies in the representation from any State shall be filled by elections, ordered by the executive authority of the State.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
SEC. 3. The Senate shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six years ; and each Senator shall have one vote.
Senators shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes immediately after assem- bling, in consequence of the first election. The first class shall vacate their seats at the expira- tion of the second year; the second class, at the expiration of the fourth year, and the third class, at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and vacancies happening by resignation or otherwise during the recess of the Legislature of any State may be filled by temporary appointments of the Executive until the next meeting of the Legislature.
All Senators shall have attained the age of thirty years, and shall have been nine years citizens of the United States, and shall be inhabitants of the State for which they 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 divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President,
The Senate shall have the sole power to try impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President is tried, the Chief Justice shall pre- side, and concurrence of two-thirds of the members present shall be necessary to conviction.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall be limited to removal from office and disqualifica- tion to hold any office under the United States ; but the party convicted shall be liable to trial and punishment according to law.
SEC. 4. The Legislature of each State shall prescribe the times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, but Congress may make or alter such regu- lations, except as to the place of choosing Senators.
Congress shall assemble annually, on the first Monday in December, unless a different day be appointed.
SEC. 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 number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel attendance of absent members, under. penalties.
Each House may determine its own rules of proceeding, punish its members, and, by a two- thirds vote, expel a member.
Each House shall keep a journal, which shall be published at their discretion, and one-fifth of those present may require the yeas and nays to be entered on the journal.
Neither House shall adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other, nor to any other place than that in which they are sitting.
SEC. 6. The compensation of Senators and Representatives shall be fixed by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall be privileged from arrest during attendance at the session of their respective Houses, except for treason, felony and breach of the peace, and shall not be questioned in any other place for any speech or debate in either House.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the United States which shall have been created or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding office under the United States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.
SEC. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but may be amended by the Senate.
Every bill passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President ; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return
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CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
it, with his objections, to that House in which it originated, who shall enter the objections on their journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after reconsideration, two-thirds shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other House, and, if approved by two- thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the yeas and nays shall be taken, and entered upon the journal of each House, respectively. Any bill not returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, shall be a law, as if he had signed it, unless Congress, by adjournment, shall prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution or vote requiring the concurrence of the Senate and House of Rep- resentatives (except a question of adjournment), shall be approved by the President before tak- ing effect ; or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by a two-thirds vote of each House, as in the case of a bill.
SEC. 8. Congress shall have power :
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 excises shall be uniform throughout the United States ;
To borrow money on the public credit ;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States and with the Indian tribes ;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bank- ruptcies ;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof and foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures ;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States ;
To establish post offices and post roads ;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries ;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the laws of nations ;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water ;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years ;
To provide and maintain a navy ;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces ;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insur- rection and repel invasions ;
To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and for governing such parts of them as may be employed in the service of the United States-the several States to appoint the officers and to train the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress ;
To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases, over the seat of Government, and over all forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards and other needful buildings ; and
To make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution all powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
SEC. 9. Foreign immigration or the importation of slaves into the States shall not be pro- hibited by Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed not exceeding ten dollars for each person so imported.
The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless required by the public safety in cases of rebellion or invasion.
No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.
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No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enu- meration hereinbefore directed to be made ..
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State.
In regulating commerce or revenue, no preference shall be given to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.
No money shall be drawn from the Treasury unless appropriated by law ; and accounts of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States ; and no person holding any office under them shall accept any present, emolument, office or title from any foreign State, without the consent of Congress.
SEC. 10. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money ; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except for the execution of its inspection laws; and all such duties shall be for the use of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of Congress.
No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State or with a foreign power, or engage in war unless actually invaded or in imminent and immediate danger.
ARTICLE II.
SECTION 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President. He shall hold office for four years, and, together with the Vice President chosen for the same term, shall be elected as follows :
Each State shall appoint in the manner directed by the Legislature, a number of electors equal to the whole number of its Senators and Representatives in Congress; but no Senator or Representative or person holding any office under the United States shall be appointed an elector.
[ The third clause of this section has been superseded and amended by the 12th Amendment.] Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States.
A natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, only shall be eligible to the office of President; and he must have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
If the President be removed from office, die, resign, or become unable to discharge the duties of his office, the same shall devolve upon the Vice President, and Congress may provide by law for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability of both the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed or a President elected .*
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