rior courts, shall hold their offices during the term of seven years, if they shall so long behave well, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

5. The judges of the Supreme Court shall, by virtue of their offices, be conservators of the peace throughout the State, as also the presidents of the circuit courts in their respective circuits, and the associate judges in their respective counties.

6. The Supreme Court shall hold its sessions at the seat of government, at such times as shall be prescribed by law; and the eircuit courts shall be held in the respective counties as may be directed by law.

7. The judges of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The presidents of the circuit courts shall be appointed by joint ballot of both branches of the General Assembly; and the associate judges of the circuit courts shall be elected by the qualified electors in their respective counties.

8. The Supreme Court shall appoint its own clerk; and the clerks of the Circuit Court, in the several counties, shall be elected by the qualified electors in the several counties, but no person shall be eligible to the office of clerk of the Circuit Court, in any county, unless he shall first have obtained from one or more of the judges of the Supreme Court, or from one or more of the presidents of the circuit courts, a certificate that he is qualified to execute the duties of the office of clerk of the Circuit Court: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the circuit courts in each county from appointing a clerk pro tem. until a qualified clerk may be duly elected: And provided also, that the said clerks respectively, when qualified and elected, shall hold their offices seven years, and no longer, unless reappointed.

9. All clerks shall be removable by impeachment, as in other

cases.

10. When any vacancies happen in any of the courts, occasioned by the death, resignation, or removal from office, of any judge of the Supreme or circuit courts, or any of the clerks of the said courts, a successor shall be appointed in the same manner as herein before prescribed, who shall hold his office for the period which his predecessor had to serve, and no longer, unless reappointed.

11. The style of all process shall be, The State of Indiana. All prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of the State of Indiana; and all indictments shall conclude, against the peace and dignity of the same.

12. A competent number of the justices of the peace shall be elected by the qualified electors in each township in the several counties, and shall continue in office five years, if they shall so long behave well; whose powers and duties shall, from time to time, be regulated and defined by law.

ARTICLE VI.

SEC. 1. In all elections not otherwise provided for by this Constitution, every white male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who has resided in the State one year immediately preceding such election, shall be entitled to vote in the county where he resides; except such as shall be enlisted in the army of the United States, or their allies.

2. All elections shall be by ballot: provided, that the General Assembly may, (if they deem it more expedient,) at their session in eighteen hundred and twenty-one, change the mode, so as to vote viva voce; after which time it shall remain unalterable.

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

4. The General Assembly shall have full power to exclude from electing, or being elected, any person convicted of any infamous crime.

5. Nothing in this article shall be so construed as to prevent citizens of the United States, who were actual residents at the time of adopting this Constitution, and who, by the existing laws of this territory, are entitled to vote, or persons who have been absent from home on a visit or necessary business. from the privileges of ec

tors.

ARTICLE VII.

SEC. 1. The militia of the State of Indiana shall consist of all free, able-bodied male persons, (negroes, mulattoes, and Indians excepted,) resident in the said State, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years; except such persons as now are, or hereafter may be, exempted by the laws of the United States, or of this State; and shall be armed, equipped, and trained, as the General Assembly may provide by law.

2. No person or persons, conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to do militia duty: provided, such person or persons shall pay an equivalent for such exemption; which equivalent shall be collected annually, by a civil officer, and be hereafter fixed by law; and shall be equal, as near as may be, to the lowest fines assessed on those privates in militia who may neglect or refuse to perform military duty.

3. Captains and subalterns shall be elected by those persons in their respective company districts who are subject to perform militia duty; and the captain of each company shall appoint the non-commissioned officers to said company.

4. Majors shall be elected by those persons within the bounds of their respective battalion districts, subject to perform militia duty; and colonels shall be elected by those persons within the bounds of their respective regimental districts, subject to perform militia duty.

5. Brigadiers-general shall be elected by the commissioned officers within the bounds of their respective brigades, and majors-general shall be elected by the commissioned officers within the bounds of their respective divisions.

6. Troops and squadrons of cavalry and companies of artillery, riflemen, grenadiers, or light infantry, may be formed in the said State, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law: Provided, however, that every troop or squadron of cavalry, company of artillery, riflemen, grenadiers, or light infantry, which may hereafter be formed within the said State, shall elect their own officers.

7. The Governor shall appoint the adjutant-general and quartermaster-general and also his aids-de-camp.

8. Majors-general shall appoint their aids-de-camp, and all other division staff-officers; brigadiers-general shall appoint their brigademajors, and all other brigade staff-officers; and colonels shall appoint their regimental staff-officers.

9. All militia officers shall be commissioned by the Governor, and shall hold their commissions during good behavior, or until they shall arrive at the age of sixty years.

10. The General Assembly shall, by law, fix the method of dividing the militia of the State into divisions, brigades, regiments, battalians, and companies, and shall also fix the rank of all staff-officers.

ARTICLE VIII.

Every twelfth year after this Constitution shall have taken effect, at the general election held for the Governor, there shall be a poll opened, in which the qualified electors of the State shall express, by vote, whether they are in favor of calling a convention or not; and if there should be a majority of all the votes given at such election, in favor of a convention, the Governor shall inform the next General Assembly thereof, whose duty it shall be to provide by law for the election of the members to the convention, the number thereof, and the time and place of their meeting, which law shall not be passed unless agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to both branches of the General Assembly; and which convention, when met, shall have it in their power to revise, amend, or change the Constitution. But as the holding any part of the human creation in slavery, or involuntary servitude, can only originate in usurpation and tyranny, no alteration of this Constitution shall ever take place so as to introduce slavery or involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

ARTICLE IX.

SEC. 1. Knowledge and learning generally diffused through a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government, and spreading the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the country being highly conducive to this end,

it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide by law for the improvement of such lands as are, or hereafter may be, granted by the United States to this State, for the use of schools, and to apply any funds which may be raised from such lands, or from any other quarter, to the accomplishment of the grand object for which they are or may be intended. But no lands granted for the use of schools or seminaries of learning shall be sold, by the authority of this State, prior to the year eighteen hundred and twenty; and the moneys which may be raised out of the sale of any such lands, or otherwise obtained for the purposes aforesaid, shall be and remain a fund for the exclusive purpose of promoting the interest of literature and the sciences, and for the support of seminaries and the public schools. The General Assembly shall, from time to time, pass such laws as shall be calculated to encourage intellectual, scientifical, and agricultural improvement by allowing rewards and immunities for the promotion and improvement of arts, sciences, commerce, manufactures, and natural history; and to countenance and encourage the principles of humanity, industry, and morality.

2. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit, to provide by law for a general system of education, ascending in a regular graduation from township schools to a State University, wherein tuition shall be gratis, and equally open to all.

3. And for the promotion of such salutary end, the money, which shall be paid as an equivalent, by persons exempt from militia duty, except in times of war, shall be exclusively, and in equal proportions, applied to the support of county seminaries; also, all fines assessed for any breach of the penal laws, shall be applied to said seminaries, in the counties wherein they shall be assessed.

4. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit, to form a penal code, founded on the principles of reformation, and not of vindictive justice: And also to provide one or more farms to be an asylum for those persons who, by reason of age, infirmity, or other misfortunes, may have a claim upon the aid and beneficence of society. on such principles that such persons may therein find employment and every reasonable comfort, and lose, by their usefulness, the degrading sense of dependence.

5. The General Assembly, at the time they lay off a new county, shall cause at least ten per cent, to be reserved out of the proceeds of the sale of town lots, in the seat of justice of such county for the use of a public library for such county; and at the same session they shall incorporate a library company, under such rules and regulations as will best secure its permanence, and extend its benefits.

ARTICLE X.

SEC. 1. There shall not be established or incorporated in this State any bank or banking company, or monied institution, for the purpose of issuing bills of credit, or bills payable to order or bearer:

Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the General Assembly from establishing a State Bank, and branches, not exceeding one branch for any three counties, to be established at such place within such counties as the directors of the State Bank may select; provided there be subscribed and paid in specie, on the part of the individuals, a sum equal to thirty thousand dollars: Provided also, that the bank at Vincennes, and the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Indiana, at Madison, shall be considered as incorporated banks according to the true tenor of the charter granted to said banks by the Legislature of the Indiana territory: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the General Assembly from adopting either of the aforesaid banks, as the State Bank: and in case either of them shall be adopted as the State Bank, the other may become a branch, under the rules and regulations herein before prescribed.

ARTICLE XI.

SEC. 1. 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 duties of said office, take an oath or affirmation, before any person lawfully authorized to administer oaths, to support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of this State, and also an oath of office.

2. Treason against this State shall consist only in levying war against it, in adhering to its enemies, or giving them aid and comfort.

3. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or his own confession in open court.

4. The manner of administering an oath or affirmation shall be such as is most consistent with the conscience of the deponent, and shall be esteemed the most solemn appeal to God.

5. Every person shall be disqualified from serving as Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, senator, or representative, for the term for which he shall have been elected, who shall have been convicted of having given or offered any bribe, threat, or reward, to procure his

election.

6. All officers shall reside within the State; and all district, county, or town officers, within their respective districts, counties, or towns, (the trustees of the town of Clarksville excepted,) and shall keep their respective offices at such places therein as may be directed by law; and all militia officers shall reside within the bounds of the division, brigade, regiment, battalion, or company, to which they may severally belong.

7. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Nor shall any indenture of any negro or mulatto, hereafter made and executed out of the bounds of this State, be of any validity within the State.