The American's Guide
ward for his vote, in meat, drink, moneys, or otherwise, shall forfeit his right to elect at that time, and suffer such other penalty as the law shall direct ; and any person who shall, directly or indirectly, give, promise, or bestow, any such rewards, to be elected, shall thereby be rendered incapable to serve for the ensuing year, and be subject to such further punishment as a future legislature shall direct.
$ 35. All deeds and conveyances of land shall be recorded in the town clerk's office, in their respective towns; and for want thereof, in the county clerk's office of the same county.
§ 36. The legislature shall regulate entails in such manner as to prevent perpetuities.
$ 37. To deter more effectually from the commission of crimes, by continued visible punishments of long duration, and to make sanguinary punishments less necessary, means ought to be provided for punishing by hard labour those who shall be convicted of crimes not capital, whereby the criminal shall be employed for the benefit of the public, or for the reparation of injuries done to private persons: and all persons, at proper times, ought to be permitted to see them at their labour.
$ 38. The estates of such persons as may destroy their own lives shall not for that offence be forfeited, but descend or ascend in the same manner as if such persons had died in a natural way. Nor shall any article, which shall accidentally occasion the death of any person, be henceforth deemed a deodand, or in any wise forfeited, on account of such misfortune.
§ 39. Every person of good character, who comes to settle in this state, having first taken an oath or affirmation of allegiance to the same, may purchase, or by other just means acquire, hold, and transfer land or other real estate ; and, after one year's residence, shall be deemed a free denizen thereof, and entitled to all rights of a natural born subject of this state, except that he shall not be capable of being elected governor, lieutenant-governor, treasurer, counsellor, or representative in as. sembly until after two years' residence.
$ 40. The inhabitants of this state shall have liberty, in seasonable times, to hunt and fowl on the lands they hold, and on other lands not enclosed; and in like manner to fish in all boatable and other waters, not private property, under proper regulations, to be hereafter made and provided by the general assembly.
$ 41. Laws for the encouragement of virtue and prevention of vice and immorality, ought to be constantly kept in force, and duly executed : and a competent number of schools ought to be maintained in each town, for the convenient instruction of youth; and one or more grammar schools be incorporated, and properly supported, in each county in this state. And all religious societies or bodies of men, that may be hereafter united or incorporated for the advancement of religion and learning, or for 'other pious and charitable purposes, shall be encouraged and protected in the enjoyment of the privileges, immunities, and estates, which they in justice ought to enjoy, under such regulations as the general assembly of this state shall direct.
$ 42. The declaration of the political rights and privileges of the inhabitants of this state, is hereby declared to be a part of the constitution of this commonwealth, and ought not to be violated on any pretence whatsoever.
& 43. In order that the freedom of this commonwealth' may be preserved inviolate for ever, there shall be chosen by ballot, by the freemen of this state, on the last Wednesday in March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, and on the last Wednesday in March, in every seven years thereafter, thirteen persons, who shall be chosen in the same manner the council is chosen, except they shall not be out of the council or general assembly, to be called the council of censors: who shall meet together on the first Wednesday in June next ensuing their election, the majority of whom shall be a quorum in every case, except as to calling a convention, in which two-thirds of the whole number elected shall agree, and whose duty it shall be to inquire, whether the constitution has been preserved inviolate in every part during the last septenary, including the year of their service, and whether the legislative and executive branches of government have performed their duty as guardians of the people, or assumed to themselves, or exercised other or greater powers than they are entitled to by the constitution: They are also to inquire, whether the public taxes have been justly laid and collected in all parts of this commonwealth; in what manner the public moneys have been disposed of; and whether the laws have been duly executed. For these purposes they shall have power to send for persons, papers, and records: they shall have authority to pass public censures, to order impeachments, and to recommend to the legislature the repealing such laws as shall appear to them to have been passed contrary to the principles of the constitution: These powers they shall continue to have for and during the space of one year from the day of their election, and no longer. The said council of censors shall also have power to call a convention, to meet within two years after their sitting, if there appears to them an absolute necessity of amending any article of this constitution which may be defective: explaining such as may be thought not clearly expressed: and of adding such as are necessary for the preservation of the rights and happiness of the people: but the articles to be amended, and the amendments proposed, and such articles as are proposed to be added or abolished, shall be promulgated at least six months before the day appointed for the election of such convention, for the previous consideration of the people, that they may have an opportunity of instructing their delegates on the subject. By order of Convention, July 9th, 1793.
THOMAS CHITTENDEN, President. Attest, LEWIS R. MORRIS, Secretary.
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.
ADOPTED JUNE 26, 1828. ARTICLE 1. No person, who is not already a freeman of this state, shall be entitled to exercise the privilege of a freeman, unless he be a natural-born citizen of this, or some one of the United States, or until he shall have been naturalized agreeably to the acts of congress
ADOPTED JANUARY 6, 1836. Art. 2. The most numerous branch of the legislature of this state shall hereafter be styled the house of representatives.
Art. 3. The supreme legislative power of this state shall hereafter be exercised by a senate and the house of representatives, which shall be styled The General Assembly of the State of Vermont. Each shall have and exercise the like powers in all acts of legislation, and no bill, resolution, or other thing, which shall have been passed by the one, shall have the effect of, or be declared to be à law, without the concurrence of the other. Provided, that all revenue bills shall originate in the house of representatives; but the senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills. Neither house, during the session of the general assembly, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting, and in case of disagreement between the two houses, with respect to adjournment, the governor may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper.
Art. 4. The senate shall be composed of thirty senators, to be of the freemen of the county for which they are elected respectively, who are thirty years of age or upwards, and to be annually elected by the freemen of each county respectively. Each county shall be entitled to one senator at least, and the remainder of the senators shall be apportioned to the several counties, according to their population, as the same was ascertained by the last census, taken under the authority of the United States, regard being always had in such apportionment, to the counties having the greatest fraction. But the several counties shall, until after the next census of the United States, be entitled to elect, and have their senators in the following proportion: to wit, Bennington county, two; Windham county, three; Rutland county, three; Windsor county, four; Addison county, three; Orange county, three; Washington_county, two; Chittenden county, two; Caledonia county, two; Franklin county, three; Orleans county, one; Essex county, one; Grand Isle county, one. The legislature shall make a new apportionment of the senators to the several counties, after the taking of each census of the United States, or census taken for the purpose of such apportionment by order of the government of this state, regarding the above provisions in this article.
Art. 5. The freemen of the several towns in each county shall annually give their votes for the senators apportioned to such county, at the same time, and under the same regulations, as are now provided for the election of counsellors. And the person or persons, equal in number to the number of senators, apportioned to such county, having the greatest number of legal votes in such county respectively, shall be the senator or senators of such county.
At every election of senators, after the votes shall have been taken, the constable, or presiding officer, assisted by the selectmen and civil authority present, shall sort and count the said votes, and make two lists of the names of each person, with the number of votes given for each, annexed to his name, a record of which shall be made
in the town clerk's office, and shall seal up said lists separately, and write on each, the name of the town, and these words : Votes for Senator, or Votes for Senators, as the case may be; one of which lists shall be delivered by the presiding officer to the representative of said town (if any), and if none be chosen, to the representative of an adjoining town, to be transmitted to the
of the senate; the other list, the said presiding officer shall, within ten days, deliver to the 'clerk of the county for the same county; and the clerk of each county court respectively, or in case of his absence or disability, the sheriff of such county, or in case of the absence or disability of both, the high bailiff of such county, on the tenth day after such election, shall publicly open, sort, and count said votes, and make a record of the same, in the office of the clerk of such county court, copy of which he shall transmit to the senate; and shall also, within ten days thereafter, transmit to the person or persons elected, a certificate of his or their election: Provided, however, that the general assembly shall have power to regulate by law, the mode of balloting for senators within the several counties, and to prescribe the means and the manner by which the result of the balloting shall be ascertained, and through which the senators chosen shall be certified of their election, and for filling all vacancies in the senate which shall happen by death, resignation, or otherwise. But they shall not have power to apportion the senators to the several counties, otherwise than according to the population thereof, agreeably to the provisions herein before ordained.
Art. 6. The senate shall have the like powers to decide on the election and qualifications of, and to expel any of its members, make its own rules, and appoint its own officers, as are incident to, or are possessed by the house of representatives. A majority shall constitute a quorum. The lieutenant-governor shall be president of the senate, except when he shall exercise the office of governor, or when his office shall be vacant, or in his absence, in which cases the senate shall appoint one of its own members to be president of the senate, pro tempore, and the president of the senate shall have a casting vote, but no other.
Art. 7. The senate shall have the sole power of trying and deciding upon all impeachments: when sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. Judgment in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold or enjoy any office of honour, or profit, or trust, under this state. But the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.
Art. 8. The supreme executive power of the state shall be exercised by the governor, or in case of his absence or disability, by the lieutenant-governor, who shall have all the powers and perform all the duties vested in and enjoined upon the governor and council by the eleventh and twenty-seventh sections of the second chapter (part the second] of the constitution as at present established, excepting that he shall not sit as a judge in case of impeachment, nor grant reprieve or pardon in any such case ; nor shall he command the forces of the state in person, in time of war or insurrection, unless' by the advice and consent of the senate, and no longer than they shall approve thereof. The governor may have a secretary of civil and military affairs, to be by him appointed during pleasure, whose services he may at all times command; and for whose compensation provision shall be made by law.
Art. 9. The votes for governor, lieutenant-governor, and treasurer of the state shall be sorted and counted, and the result declared by a committee, appointed by the senate and house of representatives. If at any time there shall be no election by the freemen of governor or lieutenant-governor, or treasurer of the state, the senate and house of representatives shall, by a joint ballot, elect to fill the office, not filled by the freemen as aforesaid, one of the three candidates for such office (if there be so many) for whom the greatest number of votes shall have been returned.
Art. 10. The secretary of state, and all officers whose elections are not otherwise provided for, and who, under the existing provisions of the constitution, are elected by the council and house of representatives, shall hereafter be elected by the senate and house of representatives, in joint assembly, at which the presiding officer of the senate shall preside, and such presiding officer in such joint assembly, shall have a casting vote, and no other.
Art. 11. Every bill which shall have passed the senate and house of representatives, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the governor; if he approve, he shall sign it; if not, he shall return it, with his objections in writing, to the house in which it shall have originated, which shall proceed to reconsider it. If, upon such reconsideration, a majority of the house shall pass the bill, it shall, together with the objections, be sent to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by a majority of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be taken by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for or against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor, as aforesaid, within five days (Sundays excepted), after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall become a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the two houses, by their adjournment within three days after the presentment of such bill, shall prevent its return; in which case it shall not become a law.
Art. 12. The writ of habeas corpus shall in no case be suspended. It shall be a writ issuable of right; and the general assembly shall make provision to render it a speedy and effectual remedy in all cases proper therefor.
Art. 13. Such parts and provisions only of the constitution of this state, established by convention on the 9th of July, 1793, as are altered or suspended by any of the foregoing amendments, or are repugnant thereto, shall hereafter cease to have effect.
Art. 14. The assistant judges of the county court shall be elected by the freemen of their respective counties.
Art. 15. Sheriffs and high bailiffs shall be elected by the freemen of their respective counties.