slave of life, shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like offence had been committed on a free white person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection of such slave.

ARTICLE VIII.-Elections and Rights of Suffrage.

SECTION 1. Every male citizen of the United States above the age of twenty-one years, having resided in this State one year, and in the county, city, or town in which he may offer to vote three months next preceding any election, shall have the qualifications of an elector, and be entitled to vote at all elections. And every male citizen of the United States above the age aforesaid, who may be a resident of the State at the time that this constitution shall be adopted, shall have the right of voting as aforesaid; but no such citizen or inhabitant shall be entitled to vote except in the county in which he shall actually reside at the time of the election.

SEC. 2. All voting by the people shall be by ballot.

SEC. 3. Electors during their attendance at elections, going to and returning therefrom, shall be privileged from arrest in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace.

SEC. 4. No elector shall be obliged to do militia duty on the days of election, except in time of war or public danger.

SEC. 5. No elector shall be deemed to have lost his residence in this State by reason of his absence on business of his own, or of the United States, or of this State.

SEC. 6. No person employed in the military, naval, or marine service of the United States, stationed in this State, shall, by reason of his services therein, be deemed a resident of this State.

SEC. 7. Nor person shall be elected or appointed to any office in this State, civil or military, who shall not be possessed of the qualifications herein before prescribed for an elector.

SEC. 8. The legislature shall have power to exclude from the privilege of voting, or being eligible to office, any person convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crimes.

SEC. 9. The first general election in this State shall be held on the day and year provided by this constitution, and all general elections thereafter on the day and year provided by subsequent legislative

enactment.

ARTICLE IX.-Finance.

SECTION 1. The rule of taxation shall be uniform, and taxes shall be levied upon such property as the legislature shail from time to time prescribe.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide for an annual tax sufficient to defray the estimated expenses of the government for each year; and whenever the expenses of any one year shall exceed the income, the legislature shall provide for levying a tax for the ensuing year sufficient, with other sources of income, to pay the deficiency as well as the estimated expenses of such ensuing year.

SEC. 3. For the purpose of defraying extraordinary expenditures,

the State may contract public debts; but such debts, in the aggregate, shall never exceed five hundred thousand dollars. Every such debt shall be authorized by law for some purpose or purposes, to be distinctly specified therein, and a vote of a majority of all the members elected to both houses shall be necessary to the passage of such law; and such law shall provide for an annual tax to be levied sufficient to pay the interest of such debt created, and such appropriation shall not be repealed, nor the taxes postponed, until the principal and interest of such debt shall have been wholly paid.

SEC. 4. The legislature may also borrow money for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, and defending the State in time of war; but the money thus raised shall be applied exclusively to the purposes for which it was raised.

SEC. 5. No scrip, certificate, or other evidence of State debt shall be issued, except for such debts as are authorized by the third or fourth sections of this article.

SEC. 6. The property of the State and counties, both real and personal, and such other property as the legislature may deem necessary for school, religious, or charitable purposes, may be exempted from

taxation.

SEC. 7. No money shall at any time be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation by law.

SEC. 8. An accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money shall be published with the laws of each regular session of the legislature.

ARTICLE X.-Revenue.

SECTION 1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representatives.

SEC. 2. Taxation shall be equal and uniform, and all property on which taxes shall be levied shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as directed by legislative enactment, and no one species of property shall be taxed higher than another species of property of equal value on which taxes shall be levied.

SEC. 3. The legislature shall have power to levy an income tax, and to tax all persons pursuing any occupation, trade, or profession.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall provide for the classification of the lands of this State into three distinct classes, to be styled respectively Class One, Two, Three, and each of these classes shall have a fixed value in so much money, upon which there shall be assessed an ad valorem tax.

SEC. 5. The legislature shall provide for a capitation or poll tax, to be paid by every able bodied male citizen over twenty-one years and under sixty years of age; but nothing herein contained shall prevent the exemption of taxable polls in cases of bodily infirmity.

SEC. 6. The legislature shall levy a tax on all railroad incomes proceeding from gifts of public lands at the rate of ten cents on the one hundred dollars.

SEC. 7. No lotteries shall be authorized by law as a source of

revenue.

SEC. 8. Whatever donations of lands or money that may be received from the general government by this State shall be regarded as a source of revenue subject to a compact made with the United States by special ordinance.

ARTICLE XI.-Public Domain and Internal Improvement.

SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide for the prevention of waste and damage of the public land now possessed or that may hereafter be ceded to the Territory or State of Kansas, and it may pass laws for the sale of any part or portion thereof, and in such case provide for the safety, security, and appropriation of the proceeds.

SEC. 2. A liberal system of internal improvements, being essential to the development of the resources of the country, shall be encouraged by the government of this State; and it shall be the duty of the legislature, as soon as practicable, to ascertain by law proper objects of improvement, in relation to roads, canals, and navigable streams, and to provide for a suitable application of such funds as may be appropriated for such improvements.

ARTICLE XII.-Corporations.

SECTION 1. Corporations may be formed under a general law, but the legislature may by special act create bodies politic for municipal purposes, where the objects of the corporations cannot be attained under it; all general laws or special acts enacted under the provisions of this section may be altered, amended, or repealed by the legislature at any time.

SEC. 2. No corporation shall take private property for public use without first having the consent of the owner, or where the necessity thereof being first established by a verdict of a jury, and the value thereof assessed and paid.

SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide for the organization of cities and incorporated villages, and to restrict their power of taxation, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses.

SEC. 4. The legislature may incorporate banks of deposit and exchange, but such banks shall not issue any bills, notes, checks or other paper as money.

SEC. 5. The legislature may incorporate one bank of discount and issue, with not more than two branches, provided that the act incorporating the said bank and branches thereof shall not take effect until it shall be submitted to the people at the general election next succeeding the passage of the same, and shall have been approved by a majority of the electors voting at such election.

SEC. 6. The said bank and branches shall be mutually liable for each other's debts and liabilities for all paper credits or bills issued representing money; and the stockholders in said bank or branches shall be individually responsible to an amount equal to the stock held by them for all debts or liabilities of said bank or branches, and no

law shall be passed sanctioning directly or indirectly the suspension by said bank or its branches of specie payment,

SEC. 7. The State shall not be a stockholder in any bank, nor shall the credit of the State be given or loaned in aid of any person, association, or incorporation; nor shall the State Lecome a stockholder in any corporation or association,

ARTICLE XIII.-Militia.

SECTION 1. The militia of this State shall consist of all the ablebodied male citizens of the State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such citizens as are now or hereafter may be exempted by the laws of the United States or of this State.

SEC. 2. Any citizen whose religious tenets conflict with bearing arms shall not be compelled to do militia duty in time of peace, but shall pay such an equivalent for personal services as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 3. All militia officers shall be elected by the persons subject to military duty within the bounds of their several companies, battalions, regiments, brigades and divisions, under such rules and regulations as the legislature may, from time to time, direct and establish.

ARTICLE XIV.-Education.

SECTION 1. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged in this State.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall take measures to preserve from waste and damage such lands as have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States, or lands or funds which may be received from other sources, for the use of schools within this State, and shall apply the funds which may arise from such lands, or from any other source, in strict conformity with the object of the grant.

SEC. 3. The legislature shall, as soon as practicable, establish one common school (or more) in each township in the State, where the children of the township shall be taught gratis.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall have power to make appropriations from the State treasury for the support and maintenance of common schools whenever the funds accruing from the lands donated by the United States, or the funds received from other sources, are insufficient for that purpose.

SEC. 5. The legislature shall have power to pass laws for the government of all common schools within this State.

ARTICLE XV.-Miscellaneous.

SECTION 1. Lecompton shall be the seat of government until otherwise directed by law, two thirds of each house of the legislature concurring in the passage of such law.

SEC. 2. Every person chosen or appointed to any office under this State, before entering upon the discharge of its duties, shall take an

oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, the constitution of this State, and all laws made in pursuance thereof, and faithfully to demean himself in the discharge of the duties of his office.

SEC. 3. The laws, public records, and the written, judicial, and legislative proceedings of the State, shall be conducted, promulgated, and preserved in the English language.

SEC. 4. Aliens who are or who may hereafter become bona fide residents of this State shall enjoy the same rights, in respect to the possession, inheritance, and enjoyment of property, as native born citizens.

SEC. 5. No county seat shall be removed until the point to which it is proposed to be removed shall be fixed by law, and a majority of the votes of the county voting on the question shall have voted in favor of its removal to such point.

SEC. 6. All property, both real and personal, of the wife, owned or claimed by marriage, and that acquired afterwards by gift, devise, or descent, shall be her separate property, and laws shall be passed more clearly defining the rights of the wife in relation as well to her separate property as to that held in common with her husband. shall also be passed providing for the registration of the wife's separate property.

Laws

SEC. 7. The privilege of free suffrage shall be supported by laws regulating elections, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence thereon from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper practice.

SEC. 8. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it, or 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 own confession in open court.

BILL OF RIGHTS.

That the great and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized and established, we declare

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 benefit; and therefore they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform, or abolish their form of government in such manner as they may think proper.

3. That all persons have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience, and no person can of right be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worshp, or maintain any ministry, against his consent. That no human authority can in any case whatever interfere with the rights of conscience, and that no preference shall ever be given to any religious establishment or mode of worship.