SEC. V. Nothing contained in this article shall be so construed as to prevent white male persons above the age of twenty one years, who are compelled to labor on the roads of their respective townships or counties, and who have resided one year in the State, from having the right of an elector.

ARTICLE V.

SECTION I. Captains and subalterns in the militia shall be elected by those persons in their respective company districts, subject to military duty.

SEC. II. Majors shall be elected by the captains and subalterns of the battalion. SEC. III. Colonels shall be elected by the majors, captains and subalterns of the regiment.

SEC. IV. Brigadiers general shall be elected by the commissioned officers of their respective brigades.

SEC. V. Majors general and quarter-masters general shall be appointed by joint ballot of both Houses of the Legislature.

SEC. VI. The Governor shall appoint the adjutant general. The majors general shall appoint their aids and other division staff officers. The brigadiers general shall appoint their brigade majors, and other brigade staff officers. The commanding officers of regiments shall appoint their adjutants, quarter-masters, and other regimental staff officers. The commanding officers of regiments shall appoint their adjutants, quarter-masters, and other regimental staff officers; and the captains and subalterns shall appoint their non-commissioned officers and musicians.

SEC. VII. The captains and subalterns of the artillery and cavalry shall be elected by the persons enrolled in their respective corps; and the Majors and Colonels shall be appointed in such manner as shall be directed by law. The colonels shall appoint their regimental staff; and the captains and subalterns their non-commissioned officers and musicians.

ARTICLE VI.

SECTION I. There shall be elected in each county, one sheriff and one coroner, by the citizens thereof, who are qualified to vote for members of the Assembly ; they shall be elected at the time and place of holding elections for members of Assembly; they shall continue in office two years, if they shall so long behave well, until successors be chosen and duly qualified, provided that no person shall be eligible as sheriff for a longer term than four years in any term of six years.

SEC. II. The State Treasurer and Auditor shall be triennially appointed by a joint ballot of both Houses of the Legislature.

SEC. III. All town and township officers shall be chosen annually by the inhabitants thereof duly qualified to vote for members of Assembly, at such time and place as may be directed by law.

SEC. IV. The appointment of all civil officers not otherwise directed by this Constitution shall be made in such manner as may be directed by law.

ARTICLE VII.

SEC. I. Every person who shall be chosen or appointed to any office of trust or profit under the authority of this State, shall, before entering on the execution thereof, take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States and of this State, and also an oath of office.

SEC. II. 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 two years to serve in the office for which he was elected, and be subject to such other punishment as shall be directed by law.

SEC. III. No new county shall be established by the General Assembly which shall reduce the county or counties, or either of them, from which it shall be taken, to less contents than four hundred square miles; nor shall any county be laid off of less contents. Every new county, as to the right of suffrage and representation, shall be considered as a part of the county or counties from which it is taken, until entitled by numbers to the right of representation.

SEC. IV. Chillicothe shall be the seat of government, until the year one thousand eight hundred and eight. No money shall be raised until the year one thousand eight hundred and nine, by the Legislature of this State, for the purpose of erecting public buildings for the accommodation of the Legislature.

SEC. V. That after the year one thousand eight hundred and six, whenever twothirds of the General Assembly shall think it necessary to amend or change this Constitution, they shall recommend to the electors, at the next election for members to the General Assembly, to vote for or against a Convention, and if it shall appear that a majority of the citizens of the State, 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 General Assembly, to be chosen in the same manner, at the same place, and by the same electors that choose the General Assembly, who shall meet within three months after the said election for the purpose of revising, amending, or changing the Constitution. But no alteration of the Constitution shall ever take place so as to introduce slavery or involuntary servitude into the State.

[Here follows the boundary of the State.]

ARTICLE VIII.

That the general, great and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized, and forever unalterably established, we declare:

SECTION I. That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety; and every free republican 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 necessary.

SEC. II. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, 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 indenture 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 exceeds one year, be of the least validity, except those given in the case of apprenticeships.

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SEC. III. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of conscience; that no human authority 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 religious 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 essentially necessary to good government and the happi ness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encouraged by Legislative provision, not inconsistent with the rights of conscience.

SEC. IV. Private property ought and ever shall be held inviolate, but always subservient to the public welfare, provided a compensation in money be made to the owner.

SEC. V. 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 evidence of the fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose offences are not particularly described, and without oath or affirmation, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be granted.

SEC. VI. 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 conduct of men in a public capacity, or where the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may always be given in evidence; and in all indictments for libels, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the courts, as in other cases.

SEC. VII. That all courts shall be open, and every person, for an 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.

SEC. VIII. That the right of trial by jury shall be inviolate.

SEC. IX. That no power of suspending laws shall be exercised, unless by the Legislature.

SEC. X. That no person arrested or confined in jail shall be treated with unnecessary rigor, or be put to answer any criminal charge, but by presentment, indictment or impeachment.

SEC. XI. That in all criminal prosecutions, the accused hath a 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 compulsory 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 offence shall have been committed; and shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself, nor shall he be twice put in jeopardy for the same offence.

SEC. XII. That all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offences, where the proof is evident or the presumption great; the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

SEC. XIII. Excessive bail shall not be required; excessive fines shall not be imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.

SEC. XIV. All penalties shall be proportioned to the nature of the offence. No wise Legislature will affix the same punishment to the crime of theft, forgery and the like, which they do to those of murder and treason. When the same undistinguished severity is exerted against all offences, 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 offences. For the same reasons, a multitude of sanguinary laws are both impolitic and unjust; the true design of all punishments being to reform, not to exterminate mankind.

SEC. XV. The person of a debtor, where there is not strong presumption of fraud, shall not be continued in prison after delivering up his estate for the benefit of his creditor or creditors, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. XVI. No expost facto law, nor any law impairing the validity of contracts, shall ever be made, and no conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate.

SEC. XVII. That no person shall be liable to be transported out of this State, for any offence committed within the State.

SEC. XVIII. That a frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of civil government is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty.

SEC. XIX. That the people have a right to assemble together in a peaceable

manner, to consult for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and to apply to the Legislature for a redress of grievances.

SEC. XX. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence 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 subordination to the civil powers.

SEC. XXI. That no person in this State, except such as are employed in the army or navy of the United States, or militia in actual service, shall be subject to corporal punishment, under the military law.

SEC. XXII. 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.

SEC. XXIII. That the levying taxes by the poll is grievous and oppressive; therefore, the Legislature shall never levy a poll tax for county or State purposes. SEC XXIV. That no hereditary emoluments, privileges, or honors shall ever be granted or conferred by this State.

SEC. XXV. 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 universities 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 preferenee whatever, contrary to the intent for which said donations were made.

SEC. XXVI. 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 this State, an equal participation, according to their number of adherents, of the profit arising from the land granted by Congress for the support of religion, agreeably to the ordinance or act of Congress making the appropriation.

SEC. XXVII. That every association of persons, when regularly formed 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 personal, for the support of their schools, academies, colleges, universities, and for other purposes.

SEC. XXVIII. 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.

[Here follows Schedule, which is omitted.]

Done in Convention at Chillicothe, the twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and two, and of the independence of the United States of America the twenty-seventh.