in all other respects, stand as fixed by the Charter of King James I. in the year one thousand six hundred and nine, and by the public treaty of peace between the Courts of Britain and France, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three; unless by act of this Legislature, one or more governments be established westward of the Alleghany mountains. And no purchases of lands shall be made of the Indian natives, but on behalf of the public, by authority of the General Assembly.

In order to introduce this government, the Representatives of the people met in the convention shall choose a Governor and Privy Council, also such other officers directed to be chosen by both Houses as may be judged necessary to be immediately appointed. The Senate to be first chosen by the people, to continue until the last day of March next, and the other officers until the end of the succeeding session of Assembly. In case of vacancies, the Speaker of either House shall shall issue writs for new elections.

CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA—1830 * ab

Whereas the delegates and representatives of the good people of Virginia, in convention assembled, on the twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord.one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, reciting and declaring that whereas George the Third, King of Great Britain and Ireland, and elector of Hanover, before that time intrusted with the exercise of the kingly office in the government of Virginia, had endeavored to pervert the same into a detestable and insupportable tyranny, by putting his negative on laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good; by denying his governors permission to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation for his assent, and when so suspended neglecting to attend to them for many years; by refusing to pass certain other laws unless the persons to be benefited by them would relinquish the inestimable right of representation in the legis lature; by dissolving legislative assemblies repeatedly and continually for opposing with manly firmness his invasions of the rights of the people; when dissolved, by refusing to call others for a long space of time, thereby leaving the political system without any legislative head; by endeavoring to prevent the population of our country, and for that purpose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners; by keeping among us, in time of peace, standing armies and ships of war; by affecting to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power; by combining with others to subject us to a foreign jurisdiction, giving his assent to their pretended acts of

Vertified by "Proceedings and Debates of the Virginia State Convention of 1829-30. To which are subjoined the new Constitution of Virginia and the votes of the People. Richmond: Printed by Samuel Shepherd & Co., for Ritchle & Cook, 1830." pp. 919.

This constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at Richmond October 5, 1829, and completed its labors January 14, 1830. It was submitted to the people and ratified by 26,055 votes against 15,563 votes.

"Journal, acts and proceedings of a General Convention of the Commonwealth of Virginia, assembled in Richmond, on Monday, the Fifth Day of October, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty-nine. Richmond: Printed by Thomas Ritchie. 1829." 302 pp. Reports" 185 pp. Constitution" 8 pp.

legislation, for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us, for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, for imposing taxes on us without our consent, for depriving us of the benefits of the trial by jury, for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences, for suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever; by plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, burning our towns, and destroying the lives of our people; by inciting insurrections of our fellow-subjects with the allurements of forfeiture and confiscation; by prompting our negroes to rise in arms among us, those very negroes whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, he had refused us permission to exclude by law; by endeavoring to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions of existence; by transporting hither a large army of foreign mercenaries, to complete the work of death, desolation, and tyranny, then already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy unworthy the head of a civilized nation; by answering our repeated petitions for redress with a repetition of injuries; and finally, by abandoning the helm of government, and declaring us out of his allegiance and protection; by which several acts of misrule, the government of this country, as before exercised under the crown of Great Britain, was totally dissolved, did, therefore, having maturely considered the premises, and viewing with great concern the deplorable condition to which this once happy country would be reduced unless some regular, adequate mode of civil polity should be speedily adopted, and in compliance with the recommendation of the general Congress, ordain and declare a form of government of Virginia;

And whereas the general assembly of Virginia, by an act passed on the tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, entitled "An act to organize a convention," did authorize and provide for the election, by the people, of delegates and representatives, to meet and assemble, in general convention, at the capital in the city of Richmond, on the first Monday of October, in the year last aforesaid, to consider, discuss, and propose a new constitution, or alterations and amendments to the existing constitution of this commonwealth, to be submitted to the people, and to be by them ratified or rejected:

We, therefore, the delegates and representatives of the good people of Virginia, elected and in convention assembled, in pursuance of the said act of assembly, do submit and propose to the people the following amended constitution and form of government for this commonwealth, that is to say:

ARTICLE I

The declaration of rights made on the 12th June, 1776, by the representatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free convention, which pertained to them and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of government, requiring in the opinion of this convention no amendment, shall be prefixed to this constitution, and have the same relation thereto as it had to the former constitution of this commonwealth."

This declaration of rights can be found on page 3812.

ARTICLE II

The legislative, executive, and judiciary departments shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging to either of the others; nor shall any person exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time, except that the justices of the county courts shall be eligible to either house of assembly.

ARTICLE III

SECTION 1. The legislature shall be formed of two distinct branches, which together shall be a complete legislature, and shall be called "the general assembly of Virginia.'

SEC. 2. One of these shall be called the house of delegates, and shall consist of one hundred and thirty-four members, to be chosen, annually, for and by the several counties, cities, towns, and boroughs of the commonwealth; whereof thirty-one delegates shall be chosen for and by the twenty-six counties lying west of the Alleghany Mountains; twenty-five for and by the fourteen counties lying between the Alleghany and Blue Ridge of mountains; forty-two for and by the twenty-nine counties lying east of the Blue Ridge of mountains and above tide-water, and thirty-six for and by the counties, cities, towns, and boroughs lying upon fide-water, that is to say: Of the twentysix counties lying west of the Alleghany, the counties of Harrison, Montgomery, Monongalia, Ohio, and Washington shall each elect two delegates; and the counties of Brooke, Cabell, Grayson, Greenbrier, Giles, Kanawha, Lee, Lewis, Logan, Mason, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Preston, Randolph, Russell, Scott, Tazewell, Tyler, Wood, and Wythe shall each elect one delegate. Of the fourteen counties lying between the Alleghany and Blue Ridge, the counties of Frederick and Shenandoah shall each elect three delegates; the counties of Augusta, Berkeley, Botetourt, Hampshire, Jefferson, Rockingham, and Rockbridge shall each elect two delegates; and the counties of Alleghany, Bath, Hardy, Morgan, and Pendleton shall each elect one delegate. Of the twenty-nine counties lying east of the Blue Ridge and above tide-water, the county of Loudoun shall elect three delegates; the counties of Albemarle, Bedford, Brunswick, Buckingham, Campbell, Culpeper, Fauquier, Franklin, Halifax, Mecklenburg, and Pittsylvania shall each elect two delegates; and the counties of Amelia, Amherst, Charlotte, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Fluvanna, Goochland, Henry, Louisa, Lunenburg, Madison, Nelson, Nottoway, Orange, Patrick, Powhatan, and Prince Edward shall each elect ene delegate. And of the counties, cities, towns, and boroughs lying on tide-water, the counties of Accomack and Norfolk shall each elect two delegates; the counties of Caroline, Chesterfield, Essex, Fairfax, Greenesville, Gloucester, Hanover, Henrico, Isle of Wight, King and Queen, King William, King George, Nansemond, Northumberland, Northampton, Princess Anne, Prince George, Prince William, Southampton, Spottsylvania, Stafford, Sussex, Surry, and Westmoreland, and the city of Richmond, the borough of Norfolk, and the town of Petersburg, shall each elect one delegate; the counties of Lancaster and Richmond shall together elect one delegate; the counties of Matthews and Middlesex shall together elect one delegate; the counties of Elizabeth City and Warwick shall

together elect one delegate; the countles of James City and York, and the city of Williamsburg, shall together elect one delegate; and the counties of New Kent and Charles City shall together elect one delegate.

SEC. 3. The other house of the general assembly shall be called the senate, and shall consist of thirty-two members, of whom thirteen shall be chosen for and by the counties lying west of the Blue Ridge of mountains, and nineteen for and by the counties, cities, towns, and boroughs lying east thereof; and for the election of whom the counties, cities, towns, and boroughs shall be divided into thirty-two districts, as hereinafter provided. Each county of the respective districts, at the time of the first election of its delegate or delegates under this constitution, shall vote for one senator; and the sheriffs or other officers holding the election for each county, city, town, or borough within five days at farthest after the last county, city, town, or borough election in the district, shall meet at some convenient place, and from the polls so taken in their respective counties, cities, towns, or boroughs, return as a senator the person who shall have the greatest number of votes in the whole district. To keep up this assembly by rotation, the districts shall be equally divided into four classes, and numbered by lot. At the end of one year after the first general election, the eight members elected by the first division shall be displaced, and the vacancies thereby occasioned supplied from such class or division by new election in the manner aforesaid. This rotation shall be applied to each division according to its number, and continued in due order annually. And for the election of senators, the counties of Brooke, Ohio, and Tyler shall form one district; the counties of Monongalia, Preston, and Randolph shall form another district; the counties of Harrison, Lewis, and Wood shall form another district; the counties of Kanawha, Mason, Cabell, Logan, and Nicholas shall form another district; the counties of Greenbrier, Monroe, Giles, and Montgomery shall form another district; the counties of Tazewell, Wythe, and Grayson shall form another district; the counties of Washington, Russell, Scott, and Lee shall form another district; the counties of Berkeley, Morgan, and Hampshire, shall form another district; the counties of Frederick and Jefferson shall form another district; the counties of Shenandoah and Hardy shall form another district; the counties of Rockingham and Pendleton shall form another district; the counties of Augusta and Rockbridge shall form another district; the counties of Alleghany, Bath, Pocahontas, and Botetourt shall form another district; the counties of Loudoun and Fairfax shall form another district; the counties of Fauquier and Prince William shall form another district; the counties of Stafford, King George, Westmoreland, Richmond, Lancaster, and Northumberland shall form another district; the counties of Culpeper, Madison, and Orange shall form another district; the counties of Albemarle, Nelson, and Amherst shall form another district; the counties of Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa, and Hanover shall form another district; the counties of Spottsylvania, Caroline, and Essex shall form another district; the counties of King and Queen, King William, Gloucester, Matthews, and Middlesex shall form another district; the counties of Accomack, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, and Warwick, and the city of Williamsburg, shall form another district; the counties of

Charles City, James City, New Kent, and Henrico, and the city of Richmond, shall form another district; the counties of Bedford and Franklin shall form another district; the counties of Buckingham, Campbell, and Cumberland shall form another district; the counties of Patrick, Henry, and Pittsylvania shall form another district; the counties of Halifax and Mecklenburg shall form another district; the counties of Charlotte, Lunenburg, Nottoway, and Prince Edward shall form another district; the counties of Amelia, Powhatan, and Chesterfield, and the town of Petersburg, shall form another district; the counties of Brunswick, Dinwiddie, and Greenesville shall form another district; the counties of Isle of Wight, Prince George, Southampton, Surry, and Sussex shall form another district; and the counties of Norfolk, Nansemond, and Princess Anne, and the borough of Norfolk, shall form another district.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the legislature to reapportion, once in ten years, to wit, in the year 1841, and every ten years thereafter, the representation of the counties, cities, towns, and boroughs of this commonwealth, in both of the legislative bodies: Provided, however, That the number of delegates from the aforesaid great districts, and the number of senators from the aforesaid two great divisions, respectively, shall neither be increased nor diminished by such reapportionment. And when a new county shall hereafter be created, or any city, town, or borough, not now entitled to separate representation in the house of delegates, shall have so increased in population as to be entitled, in the opinion of the general assembly, to such representation, it shall be the duty of the general assembly to make provision by law for securing to the people of such new county, or such city, town, or borough, an adequate representation. And if the object cannot otherwise be effected, it shall be competent to the general assembly to reapportion the whole representation of the great-district containing such new county, or such city, town, or borough, within its limits; which reapportionment shall continue in force till the next regular decennial reapportionment.

SEC. 5. The general assembly, after the year 1841, and at intervals thereafter of not less than ten years, shall have authority, twothirds of each house concurring, to make reapportionments of delegates and senators throughout the commonwealth, so that the number of delegates shall not at any time exceed one hundred and fifty, nor of senators thirty-six.

SEC. 6. The whole number of members to which the State may at any time be entitled in the House of Representatives of the United States shall be apportioned as nearly as may be amongst the several counties, cities, boroughs, and towns of the State, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons.

SEC. 7. Any person may be elected a senator who shall have attained to the age of thirty years, and shall be actually a resident and freeholder within the district, qualified by virtue of his freehold to vote for members of the general assembly according to this constitution. And any person may be elected a member of the house of delegates who shall have attained the age of twenty-five years, and all be actually a resident and freeholder within the county, city,