SEC. 3. The Legislative authority of this State shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives, both dependent on the people.

SEC. 4. An enumeration of the qualified voters and an apportionment of the Representatives in the General Assembly, shall be made in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, and within every subsequent term of ten years.

SEC. 5. The number of Representatives shall, at the several periods of making the enumeration, be apportioned among the several counties or districts according to the number of qualified voters in each; and shall not exceed seventy-five, until the population of the State shall be one million and a half; and shall never thereafter exceed ninety-nine; provided, that any county having two-thirds of the ratio, shall be entitled to one member.

SEC. 6. The number of Senators shall, at the several periods of making the enumeration, be apportioned among the several counties or districts, according to the number of qualified electors in each, and shall not exceed one-third the number of Representatives. In apportioning the Senators among the different counties, the fraction that may be lost by any county or counties, in the apportionment of Members to the House of Representatives, shall be made up to such coonty or counties in the Senate as near as may be practicable. When a district is composed of two or more counties, they shall be adjoining; and no county shall be divided in forming a district.

SEC. 7. The first election for Senators and Representatives shall be held on the first Thursday in August, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five; and forever thereafter, elections for Members of the General Assembly shall be held once in two years, on the first Thursday in August; said elections shall terminate the same day.

SEC. 8. The first session of the General Assembly shall commence on the first Monday in October, one thousand eight hundred and thirtyfive; and forever thereafter, the General Assembly shall meet on the first Monday in October next ensuing the election.

SEC. 9. No person shall be a Representative, unless he shall be a citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years, and shall have been a citizen of this State for three years, and a resident in the county he represents one year immediately preceding the election.

SEC. 10 No person shall be a Senator unless he shall be a citizen of the United States, of the age of thirty years, and shall have resided thee years in this State, and one year in the county or district, immediately preceding the election. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be eligible to any fice or place of trust, the appointment to which is vested in the Executive or the General Assembly, except to the office of Trustee of a literary institution.

of

SEC. 11. The Senate and House of Representatives, when assem bled, shall each choose a Speaker and its other officers, be judges of the qualifications and election of its members, and sit upon its own adjourn

ments from day to day. Two-thirds of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized by law to compel the attendance of ab

sent members.

SEC. 12. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member, but not a second time for the same offence; and shall have all other powers necessary for a branch of the Legislature of a free State.

SEC. 13. Senators and Representatives shall in all cases, except treason, felony or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from the same; and, for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

SEC. 14. Each House may punish by imprisonment, during its session, any person not a Member, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the House, by any disorderly or contemptuous behaviour in its presence.

SEC. 15. When vacancies happen in either House, the Governor for the time being, shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

SEC. 16. Neither Iouse shall, during its session, adjourn withcut consent of the other for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shal! be sitting.

SEC. 17. Bills may originate in either house, but may be amended, altered or rejected, by the other.

SEC. 18. Every bill shall be read once on three different days, and be passed each time in the House where it originated, before transmission to the other. No bill shall become a law, until it shall be read and passed on three different days in each House, and be signed by the respective Speakers.

SEC. 19. After a bill has been rejected, no bill containing the same substance shall be passed into a law during the same session.

SEC. 20. The style of the laws of this State shall be, "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee."

SEC. 21. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish it, except such parts as the welfare of the State may require to be kept secret; the ayes and noes shall be taken in each House upon the final passage of every bill of a general character, and bills making appropriations of public moneys; and the ayes and noes of the members on any question shall, at the request of any two of them, be entered on the journal.

SEC. 22. The doors of each House and of Committees of the Whole, shall be kept open, unless when the business shall be such as ought to be kept secret.

SEC. 23. The sum of four dollars per day, and four dollars for every twenty-five miles travelling to and from the Seat of Government, shall be allowed to the Members of the first General Assembly, as a compensation for their services. The compensation of the Members

of the succeeding Legislatures, shall be ascertained by law; but no law increasing the compensation of the Members shall take effect until the commencement of the next regular session after such law shall have been enacted.

SEC. 24. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law and an accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money, shall be attached to and published with the laws at the rise of each stated session of the General Assembly.

SEC. 25. No person, who heretofore hath been, or may hereafter be, a collector or holder of public moneys, shall have a seat in either House of the General Assembly, until such person shall have accounted for and paid into the treasury, all sums for which he may be accountable or liable.

SEC. 26. No Judge of any court of law or equity, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Register, Clerk of any court of record, or person holding any office under the authority of the United States, shall have a seat in the General Assembly; nor shall any person in this this State hold more than one lucrative office at the same time: Provided, that no appointment in the militia, or to the office of Justice of the Peace, shall be considered a lucrative office, or operate as a disqualification to a seat in either House of the General Assembly.

SEC. 27. Any member of either House of the General Assembly shall have liberty to dissent from, and protest against, any act or resolve which he may think injurious to the public or to any individual, and to have the reasons for his dissent entered on the journals.

SEC. 28. All lands liable to taxation, held by deed, grant, or entry, town lots, bank stock, slaves between the ages of twelve and fifty years, and such other property as the Legislature may from time to time deem expedient, shall be taxable. All property shall be taxed according to its value; that value to be ascertained in such manner as the Legislature shall direct, so that the same shall be equal and uniform throughout the State. No one species of property from which a tax may be collected, shall be taxed higher than any other species of property of equal value. But the Legislature shall have power to tax merchants, pedlars, and privileges, in such manner as they may, from time to time, direct. A tax on white polls shall be laid, in such manner and of such an amount, as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 29. The General Assembly shall have power to authorize the several Counties and Incorporated Towns in this State, to impose taxes for county and corporation purposes respectively, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law; and all property shall be taxed according to its value, upon the principles established in regard to State taxation. SEC. 30. No article manufactured of the produce of this State, shall be taxed otherwise than to pay inspection fees.

Sec. 31. The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves, without the consent of their owner or

owners.

ARTICLE III.

SECTION 1. The Supreme Executive power of this State, shall be vested in a Governor.

SEC. 2. The Governor shall be chosen by the electors of the Members of the General Assembly, at the times and places where they shall respectively vote for the members thereof. The returns of every election for Governor shall be sealed up, and transmitted to the seat of government, by the returning officers, directed to the Speaker of the Senate, who shall open and publish them in the presence of a majority of the members of each House of the General Assembly. The person having the highest number of votes, shall be Governor; but if two or more shall be equal, and highest in votes, one of them shall be chosen Governor by joint vote of both Houses of the General Assembly. Contested elections for Governor, shall be determined by both Houses of the General Assembly, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 3. He shall be at least thirty years of age, shall be a citizen of the United States, and shall have been a citizen of this State seven years next before his election.

SEC. 4. The Governor shall hold his office for two years, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified. He shall not be eligible more than six years in any term of eight.

SEC. 5. He shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of this State, and of the militia, except when they shall be called into the service of the United States.

SEC. 6. He shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons, after conviction, except in cases of impeachment.

SEC. 7. He shall, at stated times, receive a compensation for his services, which shall not be increased or diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected.

SEC. 8. He may require information in writing, from the officers in the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.

SEC. 9. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the General Assembly, by proclamation; and shall state to them, when assembled, the purposes for which they shall have been convened; but they shall enter on no legislative business, except that for which they were specially called together.

SEC. 10. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. SEC. 11. He shall, from time to time, give to the General Assembly, information of the state of the government, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge expedient.

SEC. 12. In case of the removal of the Governor from office, or of his death, or resignation, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve on the Speaker of the Senate; and in case of the death, removal from office, or resignation of the Speaker of the Senate, the powers

and duties of the office shall devolve on the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

SEC. 13. No member of Congress, or person holding any office under the United States, or this State, shall execute the office of Gov

ernor.

SEC. 14. When any officer, the right of whose appointment is by this Constitution vested in the General Assembly, shall, during the recess, die, or the office, by the expiration of the term, or by other means, become vacant, the Governor shall have the power to fill such vacancy, by granting a temporary commission, which shall expire at the end of the next session of the Legislature.

SEC. 15. There shall be a Seal of this State, which shall be kept by the Governor, and used by him officially, and shall be called the Great Seal of the State of Tennessee.

SEC. 16. All grants and commissions shall be in the name and by the authority of the State of Tennessee, be sealed with the State Seal, and signed by the Governor.

SEC. 17. A Secretary of State shall be appointed by joint vote of the General Assembly, and commissioned during the term of four years he shall keep a fair register of all the official acts and proceedings of the Governor; and shall, when required, lay the same, and all papers, minutes and vouchers relative thereto, before the General Assembly and shall perform such other duties as shall be enjoined by law.

ARTICLE IV.

SECTION 1. Every free white man of the age of twenty-one years, being a citizen of the United States, and a citizen of the County wherein he may offer his vote, six months next preceding the day of election, shall be entitled to vote for Members of the General Assembly, and other civil officers, for the County or District in which he resides provided, that no person shall be disqualified from voting in any election on account of color, who is now by the laws of this State, a competent witness in a court of justice against a white man. free men of color, shall be exempt from military duty in time of peace, and also from paying a free poll tax.

All

SEC. 2. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage, persons who may be convicted of infamous crimes.

SEC. 3. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest or summons, during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning from them.

SEC. 4. In all elections to be made by the General Assembly, the Members thereof shall vote viva voce; and their votes shall be entered on the journal. All other elections shall be by ballot.