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4. The General Assembly shall have power to exclude from every office of honor, trust, or profit, within the State, and from the right of suffrage, all persons convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infa

mous crime.

5. No person shall be capable of holding, or of being elected to any post of honor, profit, trust, or emolument, civil or military, legislative, executive or judicial, under the government of this State, who shall hereafter fight a duel, or send or accept a challenge to fight a duel, the probable issue of which may be the death of the challenger or challenged, or who shall be a second to either party, or who shall in any manner aid or assist in such duel, or shall be knowingly the bearer of such challenge or acceptance, whether the same occur or be committed in or out of the State.

6. No person who may hereafter be a collector or holder of public moneys, shall have a seat in either house of the General Assembly, or be eligible to any office of trust or profit under this State, until he shall have accounted for, and paid into the treasury, all sums for which he may be accountable.

7. No Governor, member of Congress, or of the General Assembly of this State, shall receive a fee, be engaged, as counsel, agent, or attorney, in any civil case or claim against this State, or to which this State shall be a party, during the time he shall remain in office.

8. No Governor, justice of the Supreme Court, chancellor, or judge in this State, shall be eligible to election or appointment to any other and different station, or office, or post of honor or emolument, under this State, or to the station of senator or representative in the Congress of the United States from this State, until one year after he shall have ceased to be such governor, justice, chancellor, or judge.

9. No senator or representative shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office of profit under this State, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during such term, except such offices as may be filled by elections by the people.

10. No minister of the gospel shall be eligible to the office of governor, senator, or member of the House of Representatives of this State.

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11. Members of the General Assembly, and all officers, civil and military, before they enter upon the execution of their respective offices, shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I, swear (or affirm) that I am duly qualified, according to the Constitution of this State, to exercise the office to which I have been elected (or appointed), and will, to the best of my abilities, discharge the duties thereof, and preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of this State and of the United States."

12. Every person shall be disqualified from serving as governor senator, representative, or from holding any other office of honor or profit in this State, for the term for which he shall have been elected,

who shall have been convicted of having given or offered any bribe to procure his election.

13. Laws shall be made by the General Assembly, to exclude from office and from suffrage those who shall have been, or may thereafter be, convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crime or misdemeanor; and the privilege of suffrage shall be supported by laws regulating elections, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence thereon from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper practices.

14. All civil officers of the State at large shall reside within the State, and all district or county officers within their respective districts or counties, and shall keep their respective offices at such places therein as may be required by law.

15. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to regulate by law in what cases and what deduction from the salaries of public officers shall be made for neglect of duty in their official capacity.

16. Returns of elections for members of Congress and the General Assembly shall be made to the Secretary of State, in manner to be prescribed by law.

17. In all elections by the General Assembly, the vote shall be viva voce; and in all elections by the people, the vote shall be by ballot.

18. No member of Congress, or person holding or exercising any office of profit under the United States, or under any foreign power, shall be eligible as a member of the General Assembly of this State, or hold or exercise any office of profit under the State; and no person in this State shall ever hold two offices of profit at the same time, except the office of justice of the peace, notary public, constable, and militia offices.

19. The General Assembly shall by law provide for the appointment or election and the removal from office, of all officers, civil and military, in this State, not provided for in this Constitution.

20. The power of impeachment shall be vested in the House of Representatives.

21. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate; and when sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be upon oath or affirmation; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

22. The Governor, and all civil officers, shall be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office: but judgment in such cases shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit, under this State : but the parties shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial, and punishment, according to law.

ARTICLE VII-Militia.

All militia officers shall be elected by those

persons who are sub

ject to military duty, within their respective companies, regiments, or battalions.

ARTICLE VIII.-Taxation and Revenue.

No greater amount of tax or revenue shall be levied, than may be required for the necessary expenses of government. A regular statement of the receipts and expenditures of all the public moneys shall be published annually, with the laws of the General Assembly.

ARTICLE IX.

This article provides for the taking of the census every ten years, of the inhabitants of the State; and that to the whole number of free white inhabitants shall be added three-fifths of the number of slaves; and that the representatives shall be equally apportioned in the dif ferent counties, according to such enumeration: each county shall have at least one representative, and increase in a uniform ratio of population. The State is divided into sixteen senatorial districts: each district shall be entitled to at least one senator; the number of senators shall not be less than one-fourth, nor more than one-half, of the whole number of representatives, and chosen in the same manner.

ARTICLE X.-Education.

The proceeds of all lands granted by the United States, for the use of schools, shall remain a perpetual fund-the interest of which shall be used for the benefit of said schools, and for no other purpose.

ARTICLE XI.

This article makes it the duty of the General Assembly to provide for the safety, security, and appropriation of the proceeds of the public lands. And it also provides for the encouragement of such internal improvements as are essential to the development of the resources of the country.

ARTICLE XII.

This article refers only to the extent of the jurisdiction of Florida, embracing the territory ceded to the United States in 1819.

ARTICLE XIII-Banks and other Corporations.

No act of incorporation shall be passed, or altered, except by the assent of two-thirds of each branch of the Legislature. No bank charter shall be granted for more than twenty years, nor shall it be extended, or renewed. The capital of a bank shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars; nor shall a dividend be made exceeding ten per cent. a year. Stockholders shall be individually liable for the debts of the bank; and no note shall be issued for less than five dollars. The credit of the State shall not be pledged in aid of any corporation whatsoever.

ARTICLE XIV.

No convention of the people shall be called, nnless by the concurrence of two-thirds of each house of the General Assembly. No part of the Constitution shall be altered, unless the bill to alter first be read three times in each house, for three several days, and agreed to by two-thirds of each house; the same to be published six months previous to a new election for members of the House of Representa

tives.

ARTICLE XV.

The seat of government shall remain at Tallahasse for the term of five years; the General Assembly then shall have the power to remove it to some other point for five years.

ARTICLE XVI.—General Provisions.

SEC. 1. The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves.

2. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to this State from bringing with them such persons as may be deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States: provided they shall have power to enact laws to prevent the introduction of any slaves who may have committed crimes in other States.

3. The General Assembly shall have power to pass laws to prevent free negroes, mulattoes, and other persons of color, from immigrating to this State, or from being discharged from on board any vessel in any of the ports of Florida.

4. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or his confession in open court. 5. Divorces from the bonds of matrimony shall not be allowed but by the judgment of a court, as shall be prescribed by law.

6. The General Assembly shall declare by law, what parts of the common law, and what parts of the civil law, not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall be in force in this State.

7. The oaths of officers, directed to be taken under this Constitution, may be administered by any judge or justice of the peace of the territory or State of Florida, until otherwise prescribed by law.

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THIS State was first included in the territorial limits of Georgia, except a small part which belonged to Florida. In 1802 Georgia ceded to the United States all her territory lying west of the Chatahooche river and extending to the Mississippi river. In 1817 it was constituted the Mississippi territory. In 1820 it became an independent State, and was admitted into the Union. Alabama adopted its Constitution in 1819.

Area, 46,000 sq. m. Pop. in 1850, 771,671-of whom 342,894 are slaves. Free colored, 2,250.

CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I-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 freemen, when they form a social compact, are equal in rights; and that no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive, separate public emoluments or privileges, but in consideration of public services.

2. All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their

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