with unnecessary rigor, or be put to answer any criminal charge, but by presentment, indictment, or impeachment. 11. 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. 12. That all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties unless for capital offences, where the proof is evident, or the presumption great, and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. 13. Excessive bail shall not be required, excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 14. All penalties shall be proportioned to the nature of the of fence. No wise legislature will affix the same punishments to the crimes 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 lightest 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. 15. 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. 16. No ex post 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. 17. That no person shall be liable to be transported out of this state, for any offence committed within the state. 18. That a frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of civil government is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty. 19. 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 redress of grievances. 20. 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 power. 21. That no person in this state, except such as are employed in the army or navy of the United States, or militia in actuai service, shall be subject to corporeal punishment under the military law. 22. 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. 23. 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. 24. That no hereditary emoluments, privileges, or honors shall ever be granted or conferred by this state. 25. 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 the 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 preference whatever, contrary to the intent for which the said donations were made. 26. 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 the state, an equal participation, according to their number of adherents, of the profits arising from the land granted by congress for the support of religion, agreeably to the ordinance or act of congress making the appropriation. 27. 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 other purposes. 28. 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. SCHEDULE. 1. That no evils or inconveniences may arise from the change of a territorial government to a permanent state govern ment; it is declared by this convention that all rights, suits, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts, both as it respects individuals and bodies corporate, shall continue as if no change had taken place in this government. 2. All fines, penalties, and forfeitures, due and owing to the territory of the United States, northwest of the Ohio River, shall inure to the use of the state. All bonds executed to the governor, or any other officer in his official capacity in the territory, shall pass over to the governor, or the other officers of the state, and their successors in office, for the use of the state, or by him or them to be respectively assigned over to the use of those concerned, as the case may be. 3. The governor, secretary, and judges, and all other officers under the territorial government, shall continue in the exercise of the duties of their respective departments until the said officers are superseded under the authority of this constitution. 4. All laws and parts of laws now in force in this territory, not inconsistent with this constitution, shall continue and remain in full effect until repealed by the legislature, except so much of the act entitled "An act regulating the admission and practice of attorneys and counsellors at law;" and of the act made amendatory thereto, as relates to the term of time which the applicant shall have studied law, his residence within the territory, and the term of time which he shall have practised as an attorney at law, before he can be admitted to the degree of a counsellor at law. 5. The governor of the state shall make use of his private seal, until a state seal be procured. 6. The president of the convention shall issue writs of election to the sheriffs of the several counties, requiring them to proceed to the election of governor, members of the general assembly, sheriffs, and coroners, at the respective election districts in each county, on the second Tuesday of January next, which elections shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the existing election laws of this territory; and the members of the general assembly, sheriffs, and coroners then elected, shall continue to exercise the duties of their respective offices until the next annual or biennial election thereafter, as prescribed in this coustitution, and no longer. 7. Until the first enumeration shall be made, as directed in the second section of the first article of this constitution, the county of Hamilton shall be entitled to four senators and eight representatives; the county of Clermont one senator and two representatives; the county of Adams one senator and three representatives; the county of Ross two senators and four representatives; the county of Fairfield one senator and two rep resentatives; the county of Washington two senators and three representatives; the county of Belmont one senator and two representatives: the county of Jefferson two senators and four representatives; and the county of Trumbull one senator and two representatives. Done in convention, at Chillicothe, on the 29th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1802, and of the Independence of the United States of America the 27th. In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. EDWARD TIFFIN, President. Jos. Darlington, John Reilly, Israel Donaldson, James Caldwell, Elijah Woods, Charles W. Byrd, Jer. Morrow, John Paul, John M'Intire, John Smith, John Wilson, Mich. Baldwin, James Grubb, Nath. Massie, Ben. Ives Gilman, Rufus Putnam. Attest, THO. SCOTT, Secretary. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. In Congress, July 4, 1776. THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are oreated equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. |