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county revenue for other civil purposes, under such regulations as may be provided by law.

SEC. 7. The money subject to the support and maintenance of common schools shall be distributed to the districts in pro. portion to the number of youths between the ages of five and twenty-one years, in such manner as may be provided by the General Assembly.

Article X. Amendments to the Constitution

SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either House of the General Assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two Houses, such proposed amendment shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the Legislature to be chosen at the next general election, and shall be published, as provided by law, for three months previous to the time of making such choice; and if, in the General Assembly so next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each House, then it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner and at such time as the General Assembly shall provide; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of the Constitution of this State.

SEC. 2. If two or more amendments shall be submitted at the same time, they shall be submitted in such manner that the electors shall vote for or against each of such amendments separately.

148 SEC. 3. At the general election to be held in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and in each tenth year

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thereafter, and also at such times as the General Assembly may, by law, provide, the question, "Shall there be a Convention to revise the Constitution, and amend the same?" shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting at such election for and against such proposition, shall decide in favor of a convention for such purpose, the General Assembly, at its next session, shall provide by law for the election of delegates to such Convention.

Article XI. Miscellaneous

SECTION 1. The jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace shall extend to all civil cases (except cases in chancery and cases where the question of title to real estate may arise) where the amount in controversy does not exceed one hundred dollars, and by the consent of parties may be extended to any amount not exceeding three hundred dollars.

SEC. 2. No new county shall be hereafter created containing less than four hundred and thirty-two square miles; nor shall the territory of any organized county be reduced below that area; except the County of Worth, and the counties west of it, along the Northern boundary of this State, may be organized without additional territory.

SEC. 3. No county, or other political or municipal corporation, shall be allowed to become indebted in any manner or for any purpose to an amount, in the aggregate, exceeding five per centum on the value of the taxable property within such county or corporation-to be ascertained by the last State and county tax lists, previous to the incurring of such indebtedness.

SEC. 4. The boundaries of the State may be enlarged, with the consent of Congress and the General Assembly.

SEC. 5. Every person elected or appointed to any office shall, before entering upon the duties thereof, take an oath or affir

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mation to support the Constitution of the United States, and of this State, and also an oath of office.

SEC. 6. In all cases of elections to fill vacancies in office, occurring before the expiration of a full term, the person so elected shall hold for the residue of the unexpired term; and all persons appointed to fill vacancies in office shall hold until the next general election and until their successors are elected and qualified.

155 SEC. 7. The General Assembly shall not locate any of the public lands which have been or may be granted by Congress to this State, and the location of which may be given to the General Assembly, upon lands actually settled, without the consent of the occupant. The extent of the claim of such occupant, so exempted, shall not exceed three hundred and twenty acres.

156 SEC. 8. The seat of government is hereby permanently established, as now fixed by law, at the city of Des Moines, in the County of Polk; and the State University at Iowa City, in the County of Johnson.

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Article XII. Schedule

SECTION 1. This Constitution shall be the supreme law of the State, and any law inconsistent there with shall be void. The General Assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry this Constitution into effect.

SEC. 2. All laws now in force and not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain in force until they shall expire or be repealed.

[The remaining sections prescribing when and how the Constitution shall go into effect, the time of holding the first election thereunder, and other similar provisions, having served their temporary purpose, are here omitted.]

CHAPTER II

IOWA IN HISTORY

1. Discovery. (1673)-Prior to the year 1673, that portion of the United States embracing the present State of Iowa was wholly unknown to the civilized world. At that date the hardy French explorers, Joliet and Marquette, with five followers, made their way in birch canoes from Green Bay up the Fox River, and thence down the Wisconsin River to its junction with the Mississippi. Turning their frail craft southward, these brave men followed the course of the great unknown stream as far as the mouth of the Arkansas, and thus revealed to man the beauty and promise of the northwest.

2. Claimed by France-By virtue of these discoveries, all the western half of the great Mississippi Valley was claimed by France as a part of her domain; but, so far as history discloses, Iowa thereafter remained unvisited by white men for more than a century.

3. Ceded to Spain. (1763)-In the year 1763, France, being engaged in war with England, and finding it difficult to defend her foreign provinces, ceded all her possessions in the Mississippi Valley to Spain.

4. Retransferred to France. (1800) - This arrangement proved to be temporary only, and in the year 1800 Spain restored the province to its original owner, France.

5. Ceded to the United States. (1803)-France, being involved in the desperate struggles which accompanied the rise of Napoleon, found it expedient to part with the possession of the territory thus regained, and in 1803 sold it to the United States for a comparatively insignificant sum of money.

6. Attached to Indiana. (1804)-In the following year the so-called Louisiana Purchase was divided in two parts, the northern portion (including what is now Iowa) being called the district of Louisiana, and, for the temporary purposes of government, placed under the jurisdiction of the Territory of Indiana.

7. Made Part of Missouri Territory. (1805)One year later the District of Louisiana was given a territorial government of its own, and in the year 1812 its name was changed to Territory of Missouri.

8. Attached to Michigan. (1834)-In the year 1834, all that part of the United States north of the State of Missouri and west of the Mississippi was attached to the territory of Michigan, under which jurisdiction it remained but two years.

9. Made Part of Wisconsin. (1836) - In 1836, after the admission of Michigan into the Union as a State, all that region now included in the States of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and part