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records, authenticated by them, shall be deposited, from time to time, in the archives of the respective States; transcripts of which, properly certified, may be admitted in evidence, in all questions touching the subject to which they relate. The executive authority of each State may revoke the power of either or both its commissioners; having, however, first appointed a substitute or substitutes, and may fill any vacancy happening with respect to its own commissioners; four of said commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; their decision shall be final upon all subjects within their cognizance. In case said commission shall expire, the same not having been completed, and either State shall request the renewal or filling up of the same, it shall be renewed or filled up in the same manner as is herein provided for filling the same in the first instance, and with the like powers: and if either shall, after six months' notice, neglect or refuse to appoint its commissioners, the other may fill up the whole commission.

"Seventh. All grants of lands, franchises, immunities, corporate or other rights, and all contracts for, or grants of lands not yet located, which have been, or may be, made by the said commonwealth, before the separation of said district shall take place, and having or to have effect within the said district, shall continue in full force, after the said district shall become a separate State. But the grant which has been made to the President and trustees of Bowdoin College, out of the tax laid upon the banks within this commonwealth, shall be charged upon the tax upon the banks within the said district of Maine, and paid according to the terms of said grant; and the President and trustees, and the overseers of said College, shall have, hold, and enjoy their powers and privileges in all respects: so that the same shall not be subject to be altered, limited, annulled, or restrained, except by judicial process, according to the principles of law; and, in all grants hereafter to be made, by either state, of unlocated land within the said district, the same reservations shall be made for the benefit of schools, and of the ministry, as have heretofore been usual in grants made by this commonwealth. And all lands heretofore granted by this commonwealth to any religious, literary, or elemosynary corporation, or society, shall be free from taxation, while the same continues to be owned by such corporation or society.

"Eighth. No laws shall be passed in the proposed State, with regard to taxes, actions, or remedies at law, or bars, or limitations thereof, or otherwise making any distinction between the lands and rights of property of proprietors not resident in, or not citizens of, said proposed State, and the lands and rights of property of the cit izens of the proposed State, resident therein and the rights and liabilities of all persons shall, after the said separation, continue the same as if the said district was still a part of this commonwealth, in all suits pending, or judgments remaining unsatisfied, on the fifteenth day of March next, where the suits have been commenced in

Massachusetts proper, and process has been served within the district of Maine; or commenced in the district of Maine, and process has been served in Massachusetts proper, either by taking bail, making attachments, arresting and detaining persons, or otherwise, where execution remains to be done; and in such suits, the courts within Massachusetts proper, and within the proposed State, shall continue to have the same jurisdiction as if the said district had still remained a part of the commonwealth. And this commonwealth shall have the same remedies within the proposed State as it now has, for the collection of all taxes, bonds, or debts, which may be assessed, due, made, or contracted, by, to, or with the commonwealth, on or before the said fifteenth day of March, within the said district of Maine; and all officers within Massachusetts proper and the district of Maine shall conduct themselves accordingly.

"Ninth. These terms and conditions, as here set forth, when the said district shall become a separate and independent State, shall, ipso facto, be incorporated into, and become, and be a part of, any constitution, provisional or other, under which the government of the said proposed State shall, at any time hereafter, be administered; subject, however, to be modified or annulled by the agreement of the Legislature of both the said States; but by no other power or body whatsoever."

SEC. 6. This Constitution shall be enrolled on parchment, deposited in the Secretary's office, and be the supreme law of the State; and printed copies thereof shall be prefixed to the books containing the laws of this State.

Done in Convention, October 29, 1819.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION,

Adopted in pursuance of the Fourth Section of the Tenth Article of the original Constitution.

ARTICLE I.

The electors resident in any city, may, at any meeting duly notified for the choice of representatives, vote for such representatives in their respective ward meetings; and the wardens in said wards shall preside impartially at such meetings, receive votes of all qualified electors present, sort, count, and declare them in open ward meetings, and, in the presence of the ward clerk, who shall form a list of the persons voted for, with the number of votes for each person against his name; shall make a fair record thereof in the presence of the wardens, and in open ward meeting; and a fair copy of this list shall be attested by the warden and ward clerk, sealed up

in open ward meeting, and delivered to the city clerk within twentyfour hours after the close of the polls. And the aldermen of any city shall be in session, at their usual place of meeting, within twenty-four hours after any election, and in the presence of the city clerk, shall examine and compare the copies of said lists; and in case any person shall have received a majority of all the votes, he shall be declared elected by the aldermen; and the city clerk of any city shall make a record thereof, and the aldermen and city clerk shall deliver certified copies of such lists to the person or persons so elected, within ten days after the election. And the electors resident in any city may, at any meeting duly notified and holden for the choice of any other civil officers for whom they have been required heretofore to vote in town meeting, vote for such officers in their respective wards, and the same proceedings shall be had by the warden and ward clerk in each ward, as in the case of votes for representatives. And the aldermen of any city shall be in session within twenty-four hours after the close of the polls in such meetings, and in the presence of the city clerk, shall open, examine, and compare the copies from the lists of votes given in the several wards, of which the city clerk shall make a record, and a return thereof shall be made into the Secretary of State's office, in the same manner as selectmen of towns are required to do.

ARTICLE II.

No person, before conviction, shall be bailable for any of the crimes which now are or have been denominated capital offences since the adoption of the Constitution, when the proof is evident or the presumption great, whatever the punishment of the crime may be.

ARTICLE III.

All judicial officers now in office, or who may be hereafter appointed, shall, from and after the first day of March in the year 1840, hold their offices for the term of seven years from the time of their respective appointments, (unless sooner removed by impeachment or by address of both branches of the Legislature to the Executive,) and no longer, unless re-appointed thereto.

ARTICLE IV.

The second section, article fourth, part first, of the constitution, is amended by substituting the words one hundred and fifty-one for "not less than one hundred nor more than two hundred," before the word "members" in said section, so as to establish the number of representatives for the state at the number of one hundred and fiftyone; and the latter part of said section, being the words and sentences following: "and, whenever the number of representatives shall be two hundred, at the next annual meetings of election which shall thereafter be had, and at every subsequent period of ten years,

the people shall give in their votes, whether the number of representatives shall be increased or diminished, and if a majority of votes are in favor thereof, it shall be the duty of the next legislature thereafter to increase or diminish the number by the rule hereinafter prescribed," shall not be a part of the constitution; but one hundred and fifty-one representatives shall be apportioned according to the rule in this constitution.

ARTICLE V.

[*The annual meeting of the legislature shall be on the second Wednesday of May, in each year; and the governor and other state officers elected for the political year commencing on the first Wednesday of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, shall hold their offices till the second Wednesday of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six.]

ARTICLE VI.

The credit of the state shall not be directly or indirectly loaned in

any case.

The legislature shall not create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, on behalf of the state, which shall singly, or in the aggregate, with previous debts and liabilities hereafter incurred at any one time, exceed three hundred thousand dollars, except to suppress insurrection, to repel invasion, or for purposes of war; but this amendment shall not be construed to refer to any money that has been, or may be deposited with this state by the government of the United States, or to any fund which the state shall hold in trust for any Indian tribe.

ARTICLE VII.

The constitution of this state is amended in the fifth section of the first part of the fourth article, by striking out the words, "a majority of all the," and inserting instead thereof, the words, "the highest number of," and by striking out the words "a majority" where they again occur in the same section, and inserting instead thereof, the words "the highest number;" also in the first amendment to the constitution of this state, by striking out the words " a majority of all the," and inserting instead thereof, the words "the highest number of."

ARTICLE VIII.

The annual meeting of the legislature shall be on the first Wednesday of January, in each year; and the governor and other state officers elected for the political year commencing on the second Wednesday of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, shall hold their offices till the first Wednesday of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.

Annulled. See 8th Amendment.

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