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STATE OF MICHIGAN.

441

CONSTITUTION

OF

THE STATE OF
OF MICHIGAN.

WE, THE PEOPLE of the Territory of Michigan, as established by the act of Congress of the eleventh of January, eighteen hundred and five, in conformity to the fifth article of the ordinance providing for the government of the territory of the United States north-west of the river Ohio, believing that the time has arrived when our present political condition ought to cease, and the right of self-government be asserted; and availing ourselves of that provision of the aforesaid ordinance of the Congress of the United States, of the thirteenth day of July, seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, and the acts of Congress passed in accordance therewith, which entitled us to admission into the Union, upon a condition which has been fulfilled, do, by our delegates in Convention assembled, mutually agree to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the style and title of " The State of Michigan," and do ordain and establish the following Constitution for the government of the same:

ARTICLE I.

SECTION I. All political power is inherent in the people.

SEC. II. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people; and they have the right at all times to alter or reform the same, and to abolish one form of government and establish another, whenever the public good requires it.

SEC. III. No man or set of men are entitled to exclusive or separate privileges. SEC. IV. Every person has a right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of his own conscience; and no person can of right be compelled to attend, erect, or support, against his will, any place of religious worship, or pay any tithes, taxes, or other rates for the support of any minister of the gospel, or teacher of religion.

SEC. V. No money shall be drawn from the treasury for the benefit of religious societies, or theological or religious seminaries.

SEC. VI. The civil and political rights, privileges and capacities of no individual shall be diminished or enlarged on account of his opinions or belief concerning matters of religion.

SEC. VII. Every person may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no laws shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury, that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.

SEC. VIII. The person, houses, papers, and possessions of every individual shall be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures; and no warrant to search any place, or to seize any person or things, shall issue without describing them, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation.

SEC. IX. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.

SEC. X In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the vicinage; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; to have the assistance of counsel for his defence; and in all civil cases, in which personal liberty may be involved, the trial by jury shall not be refused.

SEC. XI. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offience, unless on the presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases of impeachment, or in cases cognizable by Justices of the Peace, or arising in the army or militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger.

SEC. XII. No person for the same offence shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment; all persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offences, when the proof is evident, or the presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.

SEC. XIII. Every person has a right to bear arms for the defence of himself and the State.

SEC. XIV. The military shall, in all cases and at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power.

SEC. XV. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner prescribed by law. SEC. XVI. 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 on confession in open court.

SEC. XVII. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law imparing the obligation of contracts, shall be passed.

SEC. XVIII. Excessive bail shall not be required; excessive fines shall not be imposed; and cruel and unjust punishments shall not be inflicted.

SEC. XIX. The property of no person shall be taken for public use, without just compensation therefor.

SEC. XX. The people shall have the right freely to assemble together, to consult for the common good, to instruct their Representatives, and to petition the Legisla ture for redress of grievances.

SEC. XXI All acts of the Legislature, contrary to this or any other article of this Constitution, shall be void.

ARTICLE II.

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SECTION I. In all elections, every white male citizen above the age years, having resided in the State six months next preceding any election, shall be entitled to vote at such election; and every white male inhabitant of the age aforesaid, who may be a resident of the State at the time of the signing of this Consti tution, shall have the right of voting as aforesaid; but no such citizen or inhabitant shall be entitled to vote, except in the district, county, or township, in which he shall actually reside at the time of such election.

SEC. II. All votes shall be given by ballot, except for such township officers as may, by law, be directed to be otherwise chosen.

SEC. III. Electors shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning from the same.

SEC. IV. No elector shall be obliged to do militia duty on the days of election, except in time of war or public danger.

SEC. V. No person shall be deemed to have lost his residence in this State, by reason of his absence on business of the United States, or of this State.

SEC. VI. No soldier, seaman, or marine, in the army or navy of the United States, shall be deemed a resident of this State, in consequence of being stationed in any military or naval place within the same.

ARTICLE III.

SECTION I. The powers of the government shall be divided into three distinct departments; the legislative, the executive, and the judicial; and one department shall never exercise the powers of another, except in such cases us are expressly provided for in this Constitution.

ARTICLE IV.

SECTION I. The legislative power shall be vested in a Senate and House of Rep resentatives.

SEC. II. The number of the members of the House of Representatives shall never be less than forty-eight, nor more than one hundred and the Serate shall, at all times, equal in number one-third of the House of Representatives, as nearly as may be.

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SEC. III. The Legislature shall provide by law for an enumeration of the inhabitants of this State in the years eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, and eighteen hundred and forty-five, and every ten years after the last mentioned time: and at their first session after each enumeration so made as aforesaid, and also after each enumeration made by the authority of the United States, the Legislature shall apportion anew the Representatives and Senators among the several counties and districts, according to the number of white inhabitants.

SEC. IV. The Representatives shall be chosen annually on the 1st Tuesday of November, by the electors of the several counties or districts into which the State shall be divided for that purpose. Each organized county shall be entitled to at least one Representative; but no county hereafter organized shall be entitled to a separate Representative, until it shall have attained a population equal to the ratio of representation hereafter established.

SEC. V. The Senators shall be chosen for two years, at the same time and in the same manner as the Representatives are required to be chosen. At the first session of the Legislature under this Constitution, they shall be divided by lot from their respective districts, as nearly as may be, into two equal classes; the seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the first year, and of the second class at the expiration of the second year: so that one-half thereof, as nearly as may be, shall be chosen annually thereafter.

SEC. VI. The State shall be divided, at each new apportionment, into a number of not less than four, nor more than eight, senatorial districts, to be always composed of contiguous territory, so that each district shall elect an equal number of senators annually, as nearly as may be; and no county shall be divided in the formation of such districts.

SEC. VII. Senators and Representatives shall be citizens of the United States, and be qualified electors in the respective counties and districts which they represent and a removal from their respective counties or districts shall be deemed a vacation of their seats.

SEC. VIII. No person holding any office under the United States, or of this State, officer of the militia, Justices of the Peace, Associate Judges of the Circuit and County Courts, and Postmasters excepted, shall be eligible to either house of the Legislature.

SEC. IX. Senators and Representatives shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest, nor shall they be subject to any civil process, during the session of the Legislature, nor for fifteen days next before the commencement and after the termination of each session.

SEC. X. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide. Each house shall choose its own officers.

SEC. XI. Each House shall determine the rules of its proceedings, and judge of the qualifications, elections, and returns of its own members; and may, with the

concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member; but no member shall be expelled a second time for the same cause, nor for any cause known to his constituents antecedent to his election.

SEC. XII. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same, except such parts as may require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house, on any question, shall, at the request of one-fifth of the members present, be entered on the journal. Any member of either house shall have liberty to dissent from, and protest against, any act or resolution which he may think injurious to the public or an individual, and have the reasons of his dissent entered on the journal.

SEC. XIII. In all elections by either or both houses, the votes shall be given viva voce; and all votes on nominations made to the Senate shall be taken by yeas and nays, and published with the journals of its proceedings.

SEC. XIV. The doors of each house shall be open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy; neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that where the Legislature may then be in session.

SEC. XV. Any bill may originate in either house of the Legislature.

SEC. XVI. Every bill passed by the Legislature shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections to that house in which it originated, who shall enter the objections at large upon their journals, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the members present agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other house, by whom it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved also by two-thirds of all the members present in that house, it shall become a law; but in such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for or against the bill shall be entered on the journals of each house respectively. And if any bill be not returned by the Governor within ten days, Sundays excepted, after it has been presented to him, the same shall become a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Legislature, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not become a law.

SEC. XVII. Every resolution to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary, except in cases of adjournment, shall be presented to the Governor, and, before the same shall take effect, shall be proceeded upon in the same manner as in the case of a bill.

SEC. XVIII. The members of the Legislature shall receive, for their services, a compensation to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the public treasury; but no increase of the compensation shall take effect during the term for which the members of either house shall have been clected; and such compensation shall never exceed three dollars a day.

SEC. XIX. No member of the Legislature shall receive any civil appointment

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