Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

capacity, for all debts and liabilities of every kind, incurred by such incorporation. Nor shall any corporation be created for a longer period than twenty years; and no corporation shall exercise any privileges prohibited in the preceding section. And the State shall not be part owner of the stock or property belonging to any corporation. Nor shall the common school or seminary funds, nor any other funds or monies, which the State may, at any time, hold in trust for the citizens of this State, be placed in, or loaned to any bank or other incorporated institution.

3. The Legislature shall prohibit, by law, individuals and corporations, except the bank of the State of Missouri, and its branches, from issuing bills, checks, tickets, promissory notes, or other paper to circulate as money. No lottery shall be authorized by this State, and the buying or selling of lottery tickets within this State is prohibited.

4. The Legislature shall have power, by law, to provide for the sale and final disposition of all or any part of the stock owned by the State in the bank of the State of Missouri, upon such terms and conditions as shall be by law established; and if a part only of said stock shall be disposed of, then the number of directors, on the part of the State, shall be diminished in proportion to the amount of stock sold; and whenever the whole stock of the State shall have been disposed of, all right on the part of the State to a directory in said bank shall cease, but the charter for the benefit of the private stockholders shall not be thereby affected or destroyed. And provision shall be made to enable the private stockholders to have a voice in the election of presidents of the bank and branches, in proportion to the amount of stock owned by them; and when all of the stock of the State shall be sold, the president of the bank and branches shall be elected by the private stockholders.

ARTICLE IX.

Of the disposal of the Soil, and the navigation of Rivers.

SEC. 1. The General Assembly of this State shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States, nor with any regulation Congress may find necessary for securing the title in the soil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on land, the property of the United States, nor shall lands belonging to persons residing out of the limits of this State, ever be taxed higher than the lands belonging to persons residing within the State.

2. The State shall have concurrent jurisdiction on the river Mississippi, and on every other river bordering on the said State, so far as the said river shall form a common boundary to the said State, and any other State or States now or hereafter to be formed and bounded by the same; and the said river Mississippi, and the navigable rivers and waters leading into the same, whether bordering on or within the State, shall be common highways, and forever free to

[graphic]

the citizens of this State and the United States, without any tax, duty, impost or toll therefor imposed by this State.

ARTICLE X.-Mode of amending the Constitution.

The General Assembly may, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty, and every four years thereafter, propose such amendments to this Constitution, as a majority of all the members elected to each house shall deem expedient, and the vote upon each proposition shall be taken by yeas and nays in each house; and the Governor shall cause such amendments to be published in at least one newspaper in each county in this State, where a newspaper is published, at least six months before the next succeeding general election. And it shall be the duty of the several officers in this State, who shall make out poll-books for the general election for that year, to put in each, two columns for each amendment, headed one for, and the other against, the amendment to the Constitution. And it shall be the duty of the officers conducting said elections, to take the vote of each voter, for or against such amendments separately, and to have the same recorded in appropriate columns. When said poll-books are returned to the officer authorized by law to receive them, said officer shall make out and forward to the Secretary of State, within ten days after he receives such poll-books, an abstract of the votes given, for and against each of said amendments, together with an abstract of the whole number of votes cast in their respective counties, cities or districts, in the same manner as the votes for Governor and Lieutenant-Governor and if a majority of all the votes given at said election are in favor of any one of said amendments, the Governor shall issue his proclamation, declaring the same to be a part of the Constitution, from and after the date of such proclamation.

ARTICLE XI-Declaration of Rights.

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

SEC. 1. That all political power is vested in and derived from the people.

2. That the people of this State have the inherent, sole, and exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police thereof, and of altering and abolishing their Constitution and form of government, whenever it may be necessary to their safety and happiness.

3. That the people have the right peaceably to assemble for their common good, and to apply to those vested with the powers of government for redress of grievances, by petition or remonstrance and that their right to bear arms in defense of themselves and of the State cannot be questioned.

4. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God, according to the dictates of their own consciences; that no man can be compelled to erect, support, or attend any place

of worship, or to maintain any minister of the gospel or teacher of religion; that no human authority can control or interfere with the rights of conscience; that no person can ever be hurt, molested or restrained in his religious professions or sentiments, if he do not disturb others in their religious worship.

5. That no person, on account of his religious opinions, can be rendered ineligible to any office of trust or profit under this State; that no preference can ever be given by law to any sect or mode of worship; and that no religious corporation can ever be established in this State. No religious sect or society should be permitted to accumulate or hold in mortmain large bodies of land or other property, and all extensive ecclesiastical perpetuities are dangerous to liberty. Provided, That any religious society may hold, in any assumed name, so much land as may be necessary for a house and buildings for public worship-for a parsonage, and for a burying-ground-and for no other purpose whatever; but no congregation, for such purposes, shall own more than one acre of land in a town, nor more than ten acres in the country. And provided, That nothing in this section shall ever be construed to divest any right or title heretofore vested.

6. That all elections shall be free and equal.

7. That courts of justice ought to be open to every person, and certain remedy afforded for every injury to person, property or character; and that right and justice ought to be administered without sale, denial or delay; and that no private property ought to be taken or applied to public use without just compensation.

8. That the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolable.

9. That in all criminal prosecutions, the accused has the right to be heard by himself and his counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation; to have compulsory process for witnesses in his favor; to meet the witnesses against him face to face; and in prosecutions or presentment or indictment, to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of the county; and that the accused cannot be compelled to give evidence against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land.

10. That no person, after having been once acquitted by a jury, of felony, or other crime or misdemeanor, can for the same offence be again put in jeopardy of life, limb or liberty; but if in any criminal prosecution, the jury be divided in opinion, the court before which the trial shall be had, may, in its discretion, discharge the jury, and commit or bail the accused for trial at the next term of such court.

11. That all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offences, when the proof is evident or the presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus cannot be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

12. That excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

13. That the people ought to be secure in their persons, papers, houses and effects, from unreasonable searches and seizures; and no warrant to search any place or seize any person or thing, can issue without describing the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized, as nearly as may be, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation.

14. That no person can, for an indictable offence, be proceeded against criminally by information, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in the time of war or public danger, or by leave of the court, for oppression or misdemeanor in office.

15. That treason against the State can consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort; that no person can be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on his own confession in open court; that no person can be attainted of treason or felony by the General Assembly; that no conviction can work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate; that the estates of such persons as may destroy their own lives, shall descend or vest as in cases of natural death; and when any person shall be killed by casualty, there ought to be no forfeiture by reason thereof.

16. That the free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and that every person may freely speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty; and in all prosecutions for libels, the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and the jury may determine the law and the facts under the direction of the Court.

17. That no ex post facto law, nor law impairing the obligation of contracts, or retrospective in its operation, can be passed; nor can the person of a debtor be imprisoned for debt after he shall have surrendered his property for the benefit of his creditors, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

18. That no person, who is religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, can be compelled to do so, but may be compelled to pay an equivalent for military services, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law; and that no priest, preacher of the gospel, or teacher of any religious persuasion or sect, regularly ordained as such, be subject to military duty, or compelled to bear arms.

19. That all property subject to taxation in this State, shall be taxed in proportion to its value.

20. That no title of nobility, hereditary emolument, privilege or distinction, shall be granted; nor any office created, the duration of which shall be longer than the good behavior of the officer appointed to fill the same.

21. That migration from this State cannot be prohibited.

22. That the military is, and in all cases and at all times shall be, in strict subordination to the civil power; that no soldier can, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in such manner as may be prescribed by law; nor can any appropriation for the support of an army be made for a longer period than two years.

23. That everything in this article is excepted out of the general powers of gov ernment, and shall forever remain inviolate, and that all acts of the Legislature contrary to this or any other article of this Constitution shall be void.

[merged small][graphic][subsumed]

ARKANSAS was a part of the Louisiana purchase. It became a separate territory in 1819, and in 1836 it adopted its Constitution and was admitted into the union as a sovereign State. It derives its name from the great river which runs through it. Area, 54,500 sq. m. Pop. in 1840, 97,575, of whom 19,931 were slaves.

CONSTITUTION.

WE, the people of the Territory of Arkansas, by our representatives, in Convention assembled at Little Rock, on Monday, the 4th day of January, A. D. 1836, and of the independence of the United States the sixtieth year, having the right of admission into the Union as one of the United States of America, consistent with the federal Constitution, and by virtue of the treaty of cession by France to the United States, of the province of Louisiana, in order to secure to ourselves and our posterity the enjoyment of all the rights of life, liberty, and property, and the free pursuit of happiness, do mutually agree with each other to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the name and style of The State of Arkansas," and do ordain and establish the following Constitution for the government thereof;

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »