officers in all the States on the same day: Provided, That such elections during every fourth year shall be held on the same day as the presidential election, and during every second year on the same day as congressional elections: And provided further, That this article shall not be construed as prohibiting any State from holding its elections for the choice of State officers less frequent than once in each year.

December 9—Mr. Banks proposed a new article:

The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of six years. No person elected to the office of President shall thereafter be eligible for re-election.

The Vice President shall hold his office during the term of six years. The President and Vice President shall be chosen by the electors qualified to vote in the election of Representatives to the Congress of the United States at an election which shall be held for that purpose, on the same day appointed in the several States for the election of Representatives to Congress, in such manner and under such regulations as Congress may by law direct.

December 9—Mr. Coghlan proposed a new article:

The public lands of the United States (mineral lands excepted) shall not be disposed of except to actual settlers thereon, for homestead purposes only, and in quantities limited by general laws.

December 20—Mr. Porter proposed a new article:

The President and Vice President shall be chosen by the electors qualified to vote for Representatives to the Congress. The person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President; and if there be two or more receiving the highest numbers, and who have an equal number of votes for President, then the House of Representatives shall choose, by a viva voce vote, one of them for President; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of two tnirds of the Representatives elected to the Congress; and if upon the first vote no one shall have a majority of the whole number of said Representatives, the House shall immediately proceed to a second vote, in which a plurality of votes shall prevail; but if there be two or more receiving the highest numbers, and who have equal votes, then the Speaker shall determine the question by announcing his vote. The person having the greatest number of votes for Vice President shall be the Vice President; and if there be two or more receiving the highest numbers, and who have an equal number of votes for Vice President, then the House of Representatives shall choose one of them for Vice President, in the same manner and under the same proceedings as above provided for the election of the President by the same body.

December 20—Mr. Porter proposed a new article:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen for six years by the electors thereof qualified to vote for Representatives to the Congress; and each Senator shall have one vote.

1873, January 6—Mr. Porter proposed a new article:

The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every fourth year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.

The election for members shall take place at the same time as provided by law for the appointment of electors of President and Vice President.

January 13—Mr. Benjamin F. Meyers proposed a new article:

Congress shall have power to impose duties on imports and collect the same for the payment of the principal and interest of the public debt of the United States, but for no other purpose. The present public debt of the United States shall be consolidated at a uniform rate of interest to be fixed by Congress, and shall be extinguished by the payment of fifty millions of dollars of the principal annually, and the interest thereon shall be paid semi-annually. The current annual expenses of the Government of the United States shall be assessed upon the several States and Territories in the proportion that the valuation of property in each State and Territory bears to the aggregate valuation of the property of all the States and Territories as returned in the latest census, notice to be given annually to the Executive of each State and Territory of such assessment by the President of the United States; and if any State or Territory fail to pay the sum so assessed upon it into the Treasury of the United States within one year after notice has been given to its Executive of such assessment, the United States shall collect it in such manner as Congress may prescribe.

January 13—Mr. Porter proposed a new article:

The Congress, whenever three-fifths of both Houses- shall deem it necessary, may propose amendments to this Constitution, or may call a convention for proposing amendments and revising the Constitution, and shall call such convention on the application of the legislatures of any number of States embracing three-fifths of the enumerated population of the several States, which in either case shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when approved and ratified by a majority of the electors in the several States voting thereon, and qualified to vote for Representative to the Con

February 17—Mr. Porter proposed a new article:

Section 1. The President and Vice President shall be chosen by the electors in the several States qualified to vote for Representatives to the Congress. The person having the greatest number or plurality of votes for President shall be the President; and if there be two or more receiving the highest numbers, and who have an equal number of votes for President, then the House of Representatives shall choose, by viva voce vote, one of them for President; and if upon the first vote no one shall have a majority of the whole number of votes cast, the House shall immediately proceed to a second vote, in which a

plurality of votes shall prevail; but if there be two or more receiving the highest number, and who have equal votes, then the Speaker shall determine the question by announcing his vote. The person having the greatest number or plurality of votes for vice President shall be the Vice President; and if there be two or more receiving the highest numbers, and who have an equal number of votes for Vice President, then the House of Representatives shall choose one of them for Vice President, in the same manner and under the same proceedings as above provided for the election of the President by the game body.

[1872, December 16—There was a vote in the House on the proposed amendment of Mr. MorGan, to make naturalized citizens eligible to the offices of President and Vice President. The vote was on suspending the rules so as to consider and pass it, and was yeas 82, nays 71. For previous votes the previous year, on same question, see McPherson's Hand-Book of Politics for 1,872, p. 41.]

In House—First Session, Forty-third ConGress.

1873, December 4—Mr. Arthur proposed a new article:

No law increasing the compensation of Senators or Representatives for their services shall apply to the Congress which enacts it.

December 4—Mr. De Witt proposed a new article:

No law increasing the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

December 4—Mr. Mccrary proposed a new article:

All civil officers of the United States, except judges of the supreme and inferior courts, the heads of departments, and those whose duties are temporary in their character, shall hold office for a term of four years, unless a longer term shall be fixed by law. Congress may by law provide for the election by the people of postmasters and other officers whose duties are to be performed within the limits of any State or part of a State; but the President shall have the power of removal of any such officer, whether appointed or elected, for any cause affecting the incumbent's character, habits, or other qualifications, excepting political or religious opinions.

December 8—Mr. Eugene Hale proposed a Qew article:

No law increasing the compensation of Senators or Representatives for their services shall apply to the Congress which enacts it.

1874, January 5—Mr. Coburn proposed a new article:

Congress may by law vest the election of all officers of the United States whose duties require them to reside in the several States, except judges and officers of the courts of the United States, in the people of the several States, districts, and localities therein, not in insurrection or rebellion, in which they are by law required to perform their duties, subject to the directions and regulations of the President of the United

States and the heads of Departments, and to arrest, suspension, or removal by the President of the United States.

April 14—Mr. Creamer proposed a new article:

Section 1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the people of the several States for six years, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature; and if vacancies happen by resignation or otherwise in the senatorial representation from any State, the executive thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

May 11—Mr. Morrison proposed a new article:

1. From and after the next election for a President of the United States, the President shall hold his office during the term of six years, and, together with the Vice President chosen for the same term, be elected in the manner as now provided, or may hereafter be provided; but the President shall not be eligible for more than six years in any term of twelve years.

June 1—Mr. Isaac C Parker proposed a new article:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen every sixth year by the people of the several States, for the term of six years, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature; and each Senator shall have one vote.

Article II. Congress shall have power to provide for holding and conducting the elections in the several States for Senators, and the Senate shall decide such elections as may be contested.

Report of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatves on a petition asking Congress for "an acknowledgment of Almighty God and the Christian religion" in the Constitution of the United States, February 18,1874.

Mr. Benjamin F. Butler, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following report:

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the petition of E. G. Goulet and others, asking Congress for "an acknowledgment of Almighty God and the Christian religion" in the Constitution of the United States, having considered the matter referred to them, respectfully pray leave to report: That, upon examination even of ihe meagre debates by the fathers of the Republic in the convention which framed the Constitution, they find that the subject of this memorial was most fully and carefully considered, and then, in that convention, decided, after grave deliberation, to which the subject was entitled, that, as this country, the foundation of whose government they were then laying, was to be the home of the oppressed of all nations of the earth, whether Christian or Pagan, and in full realization of the dangers which the union between church and state had imposed upon so many nations of the Old World, with great unanimity that it was inexpedient to put anything into the Constitution or frame of government which might be construed to be a reference to any religious creed or doctrine.

And they further find that this decision was accepted by our Christian fathers with such great unanimity that in the amendments which were afterward proposed, in order to make the Con

stitution more acceptable to the nation, none has ever been proposed to the States by which this wise determination of the fathers has been attempted to be changed. Wherefore, your committee report that it is inexpedient to legislate upon the subject of the above memorial, and ask that they be discharged from the further consideration thereof, and that this report, together with the petition, be laid upon the table. The petition was accordingly laid on the table.

Arkansas.

The several disfranchising clauses of the old constitution were stricken out by amendment, ratified by the people, 1874: For amendment 24,203, against it 3,604. [For these disfranchising clauses, see McPherson's Reconstruction, p. 328.]

California.

[Amendments proposed by the Legislature at its twentieth session; to be passed upon by the succeeding Legislature; and subsequently referred to the people.]

Article I.

* * * In civil cases, if three-fourths agree upon a verdict, it shall be taken as the verdict of the jury.

Section 8 provides that no person, "without his written consent," shall be held to answer for a capital or infamous crime, &c, unless on presentment or indictment; that "the Legislature may fix, at not less than twelve, the number of grand jurors to form a panel, or to find an indictment;" that private property shall not be taken •' or damaged" lor public use without just compensation "first made;" and "the presentment or indictment mentioned in this section may be amended by the court in matter of form in such manner as the Legislature may by statute provide."

Section 11 prescribes that all laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation "upon the same class of subjects."

The restriction, "and in time of war no appropriation for a standing army shall be for a longer time than two years," is omitted.

Aeticle II.

* * * Nor shall any person in the military, naval, or marine service of the United States, by reason of being stationed in any military or naval station within the State, be considered a resident of this State.

* * * All elections by persons in a repreeentative capacity shall be viva voce.

Any person who shall give, or promise or offer

to give, to any elector, any money, reward, or other valuable consideration for his vote at an election, or for withholding the same, or who shall give, or promise to give, such consideration to any other person or party for such elector's vote, or for the withholding thereof, and any elector who shall receive, or agree to receive, for himself or for another, any money, reward, or other valuable consideration for his vote at an election, or for withholding the same, shall thereby forfeit the right to vote at such election; and any elector whose right to vote shall be challenged for such cause before the election officers, shall be required to swear or affirm that the matter of the challenge is untrue, before his vote shall be received.

Any person who shall, while a candidate for office, be guilty of bribery, fraud, or willful violation of any election law, shall be forever disqualified from holding an office of trust or profit in this State; and any person convicted of willful violation of the election laws, shall, in addition to any penalty provided by law, be deprived of the right of suffrage absolutely for a term of four years.

In trials of contested elections, and proceedings for the investigation of elections, no person shall be permitted to withhold his testimony upon any ground; but such testimony shall not afterwards be used against him in any judicial proceeding, except for perjury in giving such testimony.

Article IV.

Sec. 7. The number of members of the Senate shall be forty, and of the Assembly eighty. After the population of the State exceeds one million, the Legislature may, by statute, increase the number of members of the Assembly, not to ex» ceeding one hundred and twenty. When the number shall be increased, the rule of appor* tionment herein prescribed shall not apply to the excess over eighty until each county in the State shall be allowed one member of the A» sembly.

In forming a Congressional, Senatorial, Of Assembly District, a county shall not be divided so as to attach one portion of a county to another county.

Members of the Legislature and its officers shall receive such salary, or per diem and mileage, for regular and special sessions, as shall be previously fixed by statute; and no other compensation whatever, whether for services on committee or otherwise, shall be allowed. No member of either House, or officer or employee of either House, shall, during the term for which he may have been elected or appointed, receive any increase of salary or mileage under any law or resolution passed during such term.

* * * A member expelled for corruption shall not thereafter be eligible to an election as a member of either House. * * *

Sec. 19. The Legislature shall provide, by statute, for the taking the testimony in contests for seats in either House; such statutes must prescribe that all testimony shall be taken before the time fixed for the regular meeting of the Legislature. All such contests must be finally determined within one week after the organization of the two Houses.

The Legislature shall prescribe by law the number, duties, and compensation of the officers and employees of each House; and no payment shall be made from or authorized to be made out of the Treasury for services connected with the sessions of the Legislature, unless such service be first authorized and the compensation fixed by statute.

No bill shall be passed into a statute until it has been printed in the House where it originated, for the use of both Houses, and referred to and returned from a committee in each House, and read once at length in each House.

Lotteries and the sale of lottery policies or tickets within this State are unlawful. All lottery policies or tickets, or prizes drawn in lotteries within this State, are forfeited to the State, to be recovered by action brought in the name of the people of the State by the Attorney General.

The Legislature shall not pass any local or special statute authorizing the creation, extension, or impairing of liens regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships, road, or school districts; changing the names of persons or places; changing the place of trial in civil or criminal cases; authorizing the laying out, opening, altering, or maintaining roads, highways, streets, alleys, or sewers; relating to ferries or bridges; vacating roads, town plats, streets, or alleys; relating to cemeteries or other public grounds; authorizing the adoption or legitimation of children; locating or changing county seats; incorporating towns or cities; for opening and conducting elections, or fixing or changing places of voting; granting divorces, confirming the deeds or certificates of acknowledgment of married women; confirming any void judicial proceeding, tax, or assessment, or any grant founded thereon; erecting new townships or other territorial divisions in a county; creating officers, or prescribing the powers and duties of officers in counties, cities, townships, or districts; changing the laws of succession or descent; regulating the practice or production

of, or rules of evidence in, any judicial proceeding or inquiry before the courts or other tribunals, or providing for or changing methods of the collection of debts or enforcing of judgments; regulating fees of office; affecting the estates of minors, or others under disabilities, except after notice to all parties in interest, which shall be recited in the special act; remitting fines, penalties, or forfeitures, or refunding of moneys legally paid into the Treasury; regulating labor, trade, mining, or manufacturing; creating corporations or amending, renewing, or extending their charters; granting to any corporation, association, or person, any special or exclusive privilege or immunity, or the right to make a railroad.

No act shall be passed giving extra or additional pay, or relief, or compensation to any public officer, servant, employee, or agent of, or contract under, this State, or any department thereof, or of or under any county or city in this State.

No act shall extend the term of any public officer, or increase or diminish his salary or emoluments, after his election or appointment.

No act of the Legislature shall limit the amount to be recovered for injuries resulting in death or for injuries to persons or property. In cases of death from injuries received by or through the carelessness, negligence, or willful misconduct of any person or corporation, the right of action shall survive, and the Legislature shall prescribe by and for whose benefit such shall be prosecuted. Until the Legislature shall so prescribe, such right of action shall survive to and may be prosecuted by the personal representatives of the deceased. No act shall prescribe any limitations of time within which suits may be brought against corporations for injuries to persons or property, or for other causes different from those fixed by general laws regulating actions against natural persons.

No State office shall be continued or created for the inspection or measurement of any merchandise, or manufacture, or commodity; but the Legislature may, by general law, provide for such inspection and measurement by municipal or county officers.

The Legislature shall pass no statute agreeing to pay, or providing for the payment from the State treasury, or by any municipal corporation, of any bonds or other obligation of any person or corporation, or to provide for the payment of any interest on such bonds or obligation; and shall pass no statute concurring or authorizing the loan of the credit of the State, or any municipal corporation, to any person or corporation.

The Legislature shall never grant or authorize extra compensation, fee, or allowance to any public officer, agent, or servant, or contractor, after service has been rendered or contract made, nor authorize the payment of any claim or part thereof hereafter created against the State, under any agreement or contract made without express authority of law; and all such unauthorized agreements shall be null and void, provided this section shall not extend to and prevent appropriations for expenditures incurred in suppressing insurrection or repelling invasions.

The Legislature shall have no power to release or extinguish, in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liability, or obligation of any corporation or individual to this State, or to any municipal corporation therein.

The Legislature shall by statute protect the wages of labor, provide for liens of mechanics and laborers, and for the exemption of a reasonable amount of property from execution and forced sale.

Any statute concerning corporations may at any time be altered, amended, or repealed, and all corporations shall, if required by statute, conform to any such alteration or amendment, or be dissolved by such repeal.

* * * And the Legislature shall prohibit by law the creation of paper to circulate as money.

When the Legislature is convened in special session by proclamation of the Governor, there shall be no legislation on subjects not designated in such proclamation.

The presiding officer of each House shall, in the presence of the House over which he presides, sign bills and joint resolutions passed in such House immediately after the titles of such bills have been publicly read. The fact of signing.shall be entered in the journal.

No money shall be drawn from or paid out of the treasury of State, except it be pursuant to and in accordance with a specific appropriation for a particular purpose made by statute, and then only on warrants drawn by the proper officer; and no appropriation shall be made for more than two years.

No Senator or member of the Assembly shall be elected or appointed to any civil office of profit in this State during the term for which he shall have been elected, or for one year thereafter, which office shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during his term of office.

Any member of the Legislature who shall solicit, demand, receive, or consent to receive, directly or indirectly, for himself or for another, from any company, corporation, or person, any money, office, appointment, employment, testimonial, reward, thing of value, enjoyment, or of personal advantage, or promise thereof, or the influence of another to obtain for himself any office of honor or profit for his vote or official influence, or for withholding the same, or with an understanding, express or implied, that his vote or official action shall be in any way influenced thereby, or who shall solicit or demand any such money or other advantage, matter, or thing aforesaid for another, as the consideration of his vote or official influence, or for withholding the same, or shall give or withhold his vote or influence in consideration of the payment or promise of such money, advantage, matter, or thing to another, shall be held guilty of bribery within the meaning of this constitution and the penal code, and shall incur the penalties provided in such code, and be subject to such further punishment as shall be provided by statute.

Any person who shall directly or indirectly offer, give, or promise any money, thing of value, testimonial, privilege, or personal advantage to any officer, legislative, executive, or judicial, to influence him in the performance of any of his public or official duties, shall be deemed guilty

of bribery, and punished as provided by statute.

The offense of corrupting membersof the Legislature or public officers of this State, or of anymunicipal division thereof, and any occupation or practice of solicitation of such member or officers, to influence their official action, shall be defined by law, and shall be punished by fine and imprisonment.

Any person may be compelled to testify, in any lawful investigation or judicial proceeding, against any person who may be charged with having committed the offense of bribery or corrupt solicitation, and shall not be permitted to withhold his testimony upon the ground that it may criminate himself or subject him to public infamy; but such testimony shall not be used against him in any judicial proceeding, except for perjury in giving such testimony; and any person convicted of either of the offenses aforesaid shall, as part of the punishment therefor, be disqualified from holding any office of honor or pront in this State.

The Legislature shall not act upon any amendment proposed to the Constitution of the United States until at least one general election intervene between the time such amendment is proposed and the time of action thereon.

Article V.

The Governor shall have power to remit fines and forfeitures imposed as a punishment for crimes; to grant reprieves, commutations of sentences, and pardons, except in cases of disqualification from holding office or enjoying the right of suffrage, declared by this constitution as a punishment for crime. But no pardon shall be granted, or sentence commuted, except upon the recommendation, in writing, of the Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General, or a majority of them, after full hearing, upon due public notice of time and place; and such recommendations, and the reasons therefor, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State.

The Governor shall have power to disapprove of any item or items of any bill making appropriations of money, embracing distinct items; and the part or parts of the bill approved shall be the law, and the item or items of appropriation disapproved shall be void, unless repassed according to the rules and limitations prescribed for the passage of other bills over the Executive veto.

The emoluments of all State officers shall be fixed prior to the election to such office, and such emoluments shall not be increased or diminished during such term, nor shall any additional pay be allowed for additional services required of such officer.

Article VI.

The Supreme Court shall consist of a chief justice and six associate justices.

* * * *

Sections 3, 4, and 5 provide that the justices of the Supreme Court shall be chosen at general instead of special elections; shall hold office fourteen years ; a term expiring every two years ; vacancies by death, &c, to be filled by appointment