after their said terms shall have respectively expired. The returns for the said first election of governor and lieutenant-governor shall be made to the secretary, within fifteen days from the day of election, who shall, as soon as may be, examine and count the same, in the presence of at least two judges of the court of appeals, or district courts, and shall declare who are the persons thereby duly elected, and give them official notice of their election; and if any person shall be equal and highest on the poll, the said judges and secretary shall determine the election by lot. 6. This constitution, except so much thereof as is therein otherwise directed, shall not be in force until the first day of June, in the year eighteen hundred; on which day the whole thereof shall take full and complete effect.

Done in convention, at Frankfort, the seventeenth day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, and of the independence of the United States of America the twenty-fourth.

John Allen,
Charles Smith,
Robert Wilmot,
James Duncan,
William Griffith,
Nathaniel Rogers,
William Sudduth,
John Ewing,
John Breckenridge
John M'Dowell,
John Bell,
H. Harrison,
B. Thurston,
Walter Carr,
Harry Innis,

John Logan,

George Stockton,

William M. Bledsoe,

William Casey,

ALEXANDER S. BULLIT, P. C.

Philemon Thomas,

Philip Buckner,
Thomas Sandford,
Robert Clark,
R. Hickman,

Thomas Marshal, Jr.
Joshua Baker,
Peter Brunner,
John Adair,
Thomas Allen,
Samuel Taylor,
Green Clay,
Thomas Clay,
William Irvine,
Jilson Payne,
John Rowan,
Richard Prather,

Nicholas Minor,

Benjamin Logan,

Henry Coleman,

Abraham Owen,

William Elliot Boswell,

William Henry,

Richard Taylor,

Robert Johnson,

John Price,

William Logan,

N. Huston,
John Bailey,
Reuben Ewing,

Caleb Wallace,
William Steel,

Felix Grundy,

Robert Abell,

Alexander Davidson.

CONSTITUTION OF TENNESSEE.

The Constitution of the State of Tennessee, unanimously established in convention, at Knoxville, on the sixth day of February, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.

WE, the people of the territory of the United States south of the river Ohio, having the right of admission into the government, as a member state thereof, consistent with the constitution of the United States, and the act of cession of the State of North Carolina, recognising the ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, do ordain and establish the following constitution, or form of government; and do mutually agree with each other to form ourselves into a free and independent state, by the name of the state of Tennessee.

ARTICLE 1.

§ 1. The legislative authority of this state shall be vested in a general assembly, which shall consist of a senate and house of representatives, both dependent on the people.

2. Within three years after the first meeting of the general assembly, and within every subsequent term of seven years, an enumeration of the taxable inhabitants shall be made, in such a manner as shall be directed by law; the number of representatives shall, at the several periods of making such enumeration, be fixed by the legislature, apportioned among the several counties, according to the number of taxable inhabitants in each; and shall never be less than twenty-two nor greater than twenty-six, until the number of taxable inhabitants shall be forty thousand; and after that event, at such ratio that the whole number of representatives shall never exceed forty.

3. The number of senators shall, at the several periods of making the enumeration before mentioned, be fixed by the legislature, and apportioned among the districts formed as hereinafter directed, according to the number of taxable inhabitants in each, and shall never be less than one-third, nor more than one-half of the number of representatives.

4. The senators shall be chosen by districts, to be formed by the legislature, each district containing such a number of taxable inhabitants as shall be entitled to elect not more than three senators. When a district shall be composed of two or more counties, they shall be adjoining, and no county shall be divided in forming a district.

5. The first election for senators and representatives shall commence on the second Thursday of March next, and shall continue for that and the succeeding day; and the next election shall commence on the first Thursday of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, and shall continue on that and the succeeding day; and for ever thereafter, elections shall be held once in two years, commencing on the first Thursday in August, and terminating the succeeding day.

6. The first session of the general assembly shall commence on the

last Monday of March next. The second on the third Monday of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven. And for ever thereafter the general assembly shall meet on the third Monday of September next ensuing the then election, and at no other period, unless as provided for by this constitution.

7. That no person shall be eligible to a seat in the general assembly, unless he shall have resided three years in the state, and one year in the county immediately preceding the election, and shall possess, in his own right, in the county which he represents, not less than two hundred acres of land, and shall have attained to the age of twenty-one years.

8. The senate and house of representatives, when assembled, shall each choose a speaker and its other officers, be judges of the qualifications and elections of its members, and sit upon its own adjournments from day to day. Two-thirds of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized by law to compel the attendance of absent members.

9. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of twothirds, expel a member, but not a second time for the same offence, and shall have all other powers necessary for the legislature of a free state.

10. Senators and representatives shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the general assembly, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

11. Each house may punish, by imprisonment, during their session, any person, not a member, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house, by any disorderly or contemptuous behaviour in their presence.

12. When vacancies happen in either house, the governor for the time being shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

13. Neither house shall, during their session, adjourn without the consent of the other for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.

14. Bills may originate in either house, but may be amended, altered, or rejected by the other.

15. Every bill shall be read three times, on three different days, in each house, and be signed by the respective speakers, before it becomes a law.

16. After a bill has been rejected, no bill containing the same substance shall be passed into a law during the same session.

17. The style of the laws of this state shall be, Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of Tennessee.

18. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish them, except such parts as the welfare of the state may require to be kept secret; and the yeas and nays of the members on any question shall, at the request of any two of them, be entered on the journals.

19. The doors of each house, and committees of the whole, shall be kept open, unless when the business shall be such as ought to be kept

secret.

20. The legislat

tate shall not allow the following officers

of government greater annual salaries than as follows, until the year one thousand eight hundred and four, to wit:

The governor not more than seven hundred and fifty dollars.

The judges of the supreme courts not more than six hundred dollars each.

The secretary not more than four hundred dollars.

The treasurer or treasurers, not more than four per cent. for receiving and paying out all moneys.

The attorney or attorneys for the state shall receive a compensation for their services not exceeding fifty dollars for each superior court which he shall attend.

No member of the legislature shall receive more than one dollar and seventy-five cents per day, nor more for every twenty-five miles he shall travel in going to or returning from the general assembly.

21. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law.

22. No person who heretofore hath been, or hereafter may be, a collector or holder of the public moneys, shall have a seat in either house of the general assembly, until such person shall have accounted for and paid into the treasury all sums for which he may be accountable or liable.

23. No judge of any court of law or equity, secretary of state, attorney-general, register, clerk of any court of record, or person holding any office under the authority of the United States, shall have a seat in the general assembly; nor shall any person, in this state, hold more than one lucrative office at one and the same time: Provided, that no appointment in the militia, or the office of justice of the peace, shall be considered as a lucrative office.

24. No member of the general assembly shall be eligible to any office or place of trust, except to the office of a justice of the peace, or trustee of any literary institution, where the power of appointment to such office or place of trust is vested in their own body.

25. Any member of either house of the general assembly shall have liberty to dissent from, and protest against, any act or resolve which he may think injurious to the public or any individual, and have the reasons of his dissent entered on the journals.

26. All lands liable to taxation in this state, held by deed, grant, or entry, shall be taxed equal and uniform, in such manner that no one hundred acres shall be taxed higher than another, except town lots, which shall not be taxed higher than two hundred acres of land each; no freeman shall be taxed higher than one hundred acres, and no slave higher than two hundred acres, on each poll.

27. No article manufactured of the produce of this state shall be taxed otherwise than to pay inspection fees.

ARTICLE 2.

§ 1. The supreme executive power of this state shall be vested in a governor.

2. The governor shall be chosen by the electors of the members of the general assembly, at the times and places where they shall respectively vote for the members thereof. The returns of every election for governor shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of govern

ment, by the returning officers, directed to the speaker of the senate, who shall open and publish them in the presence of a majority of the members of each house of the general assembly. The person having the highest number of votes shall be governor; but if two or more shall be equal and highest in votes, one of them shall be chosen governor by joint ballot of both houses of the general assembly. Contested elections for governor shall be determined by both houses of the general assembly, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law..

3. He shall be at least thirty-five years of age, and possess a freehold estate of five hundred acres of land, and have been a citizen or inhabitant of this state four years next before his election, unless he shall have been absent on the public business of the United States or of this state.

4. The first governor shall hold his office until the fourth Tuesday of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, and until another governor shall be elected and qualified to office; and for ever after the governor shall hold his office for the term of two years, and until another governor shall be elected and qualified; but shall not be eligible more than six years in any term of eight.

5. He shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of this state, and of the militia, except when they shall be called into the service of the United States.

6. He shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons, after conviction, except in cases of impeachment.

7. He shall at stated times receive a compensation for his services, which shall not be increased or diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected.

8. He may require information, in writing, from the officers in the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their offices.

9. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the general assembly, by proclamation, and shall state to them, when assembled, the purpose for which they shall have been convened.

10. He shall take care that the laws shall be faithfully executed.

11. He shall, from time to time, give to the general assembly information of the state of the government, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge expedient.

12. In case of his death, or resignation, or removal from office, the speaker of the senate shall exercise the office of governor until another governor shall be qualified.

13. No member of Congress, or person holding any office under the United States, or this state, shall execute the office of governor.

14. When any officer, the right of whose appointment is, by this constitution, vested in the general assembly, shall, during the recess, die, or his office by other means become vacant, the governor shall have power to fill up such vacancy, by granting a temporary commission, which shall expire at the end of the next session of the legislature.

15. There shall be a seal of the state, which shall be kept by the governor, and used by him officially, and shall be called the great seal of the state of Tennessee.

16. All grants and commissions shall be in the name and by the