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terations and amendments; which proposed amendments shall be continued to the next general assembly, and be published with the laws which may have been passed at the same session; and if two-thirds of each house, at the next session of said assembly, shall approve the amendments proposed, by yeas and nays, said amendments shall, by the secretary, be transmitted to the town clerk in each town in this state; whose duty it shall be to present the same to the inhabitants thereof, for their consideration, at a town meeting, legally warned and held for that purpose; and if it shall appear, in a manner to be provided by law, that a majority of the electors present at such meetings shall have approved such amendments, the same shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of this constitution.

Done in convention, on the fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States the forty-third.

By order of the convention.

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WE, the people of the state of New York, acknowledging with gratitude the grace and beneficence of God in permitting us to make choice of our form of government, do establish this constitution.

ARTICLE 1.

§ 1. The legislative power of this state shall be vested in a senate and an assembly.

2. The senate shall consist of thirty-two members. The senators shall be chosen for four years, and shall be freeholders. The assembly shall consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members, who shall be annually elected.

3. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business. Each house shall determine the rules of its own proceedings, and be the judges of the qualifications of its own members. Each house shall choose its own officers, and the senate shall choose a temporary president, when the lieutenant-governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor.

4. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same, except such parts as may require secrecy. The doors of each house shall be kept open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days.

5. The state shall be divided into eight districts, to be called senate districts, each of which shall choose four senators.

The first district shall consist of the counties of Suffolk, Queens, Kings, Richmond, and New York.

The second district shall consist of the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan.

The third district shall consist of the counties of Green, Columbia, Albany, Rensselaer, Schoharie, and Schenectady.

The fourth district shall consist of the counties of Saratoga, Montgomery, Hamilton, Washington, Warren, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, and St. Lawrence.

The fifth district shall consist of the counties of Herkimer, Oneida, Madison, Oswego, Lewis, and Jefferson.

The sixth district shall consist of the counties of Delaware, Otsego, Chenango, Broome, Cortland, Tompkins, and Tioga.

The seventh district shall consist of the counties of Onondago, Cayuga, Seneca, and Ontario.

The eighth district shall consist of the counties of Steuben, Livingston, Monroe, Genesee, Niagara, Erie, Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauque.

And as soon as the senate shall meet, after the first election to be held in pursuance of this constitution, they shall cause the senators to be divided by lot into four classes, of eight in each, so that every district shall have one senator of each class: the classes to be numbered, one, two, three, and four. And the seats of the first class shall be vacated at the end of the first year; of the second class, at the end of the second year; of the third class, at the end of the third year; of the fourth class, at the end of the fourth year; in order that one senator be annually elected in each senate district.

6. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the state shall be taken, under the direction of the legislature, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and at the end of every ten years thereafter; and the said districts shall be so altered by the legislature, at the first session after the return of every enumeration, that each senate district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, paupers, and persons of colour not taxed; and shall remain unaltered, until the return of another enumeration, and shall at all times con sist of contiguous territory; and no county shall be divided in the formation of a senate district.

7. The members of the assembly shall be chosen by counties, and shall be apportioned among the several counties of the state, as nearly as may be, according to the numbers of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens, paupers, and persons of colour, not taxed. An apportionment of members of assembly shall be made by the legislature, at its first session after the return of every enumeration; and, when made, shall remain unaltered until another enumeration shall have been taken. But an apportionment of members of the assembly shall be made by the present legislature according to the last enumeration, taken under the authority of the United States, as nearly as may be. Every county heretofore established, and separately organized, shall always be entitled to one member of the assembly, and no new county shall hereafter be erected, unless its population shall entitle it to a member.

8. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature; and all bills passed by one house, may be amended by the other.

9. 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 year in which it shall have been made. And no law shall be passed increasing the compensation of the members of the legislature beyond the sum of three dollars a day.

10. No member of the legislature shall receive any civil appointment from the governor and senate, or from the legislature during the term for which he shall have been elected.

11. No person being a member of congress, holding any judicial or military office under the United States, shall hold a seat in the legislature. And if any person shall, while a member of the legislature, be elected to congress, or appointed to any office, civil or military, under the United States, his acceptance thereof, shall vacate his seat.

12. Every bill which shall have passed the senate and assembly shall, before it become 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 shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it : if, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds of the members present, it shall become a law; but in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journals of each house respectively; if any bill shall not be returned by the governor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislature shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law.

13. All officers holding their office during good behaviour may be removed by joint resolution of the two houses of the legislature, if twothirds of all the members elected to the assembly, and a majority of all the members elected to the senate, concur therein.

14. The political year shall begin on the first day of January; and the legislature shall every year assemble on the first Tuesday in January, unless a different day shall be appointed by law.

15. The next election for governor, lieutenant-governor, senators, and members of assembly, shall commence on the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two; and all subsequent elections shall be held at such time, in the month of October or November, as the legislature shall by law provide.

16. The governor, lieutenant-governor, senators, and members of assembly, first elected, under this constitution, shall enter on the duties of their respective offices on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three; and the governor, lieutenant-governor, senators, and members of assembly, now in office, shall continue to hold the same, until the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, and no longer.

ARTICLE 2.

1. Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been an inhabitant of this state one year preceding any election, and for the last six months a resident of the town or county where he may offer his vote; and shall have, within the year next preceding the election, paid a tax to the state or county, assessed upon his real or personal property; or shall by law be exempted from taxation; or being armed and equipped according to law, shall have performed within that year military duty in the militia of this state; or who shall be exempted from performing militia duty in consequence of being a fireman in any city, town, or village in this state: And also, every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been, for three years next preceding such elections, an inhabitant of this state and for the last year, a resident in the town or county, where he may offer his vote; and shall have been, within the last year assessed to labour upon the public highways, and shall have performed the labour, or paid an equivalent therefor, according to law; shall be entitled to vote in the town or ward where he actually resides, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be, elective by the people; but no man of colour, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this state, and for one year next preceding any election shall be seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, over and above all debts and incumbrances charged thereon; and shall have been actually rated, and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled.to vote at such election. And no person of colour shall be subject to direct taxation, unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid.

2. Laws may be passed, excluding from the right of suffrage persons who have been, or may be, convicted of infamous crimes.

3. Laws shall be made for ascertaining, by proper proofs, the citizens who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage, hereby established.

4. All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot, except for such town officers, as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen.

ARTICLE 3.

§ 1. The executive power shall be vested in a governor. He shall hold his office for two years; and a lieutenant-governor shall be chosen at the same time, and for the same term.

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2. No person, except a native citizen of the United States, shall be eligible to the office of governor, nor shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not be a freeholder, and shall not have attained the of thirty years, and have been five years a resident within the state; unless he shall have been absent during that time on public business of the United States, or of this state.

3. The governor and lieutenant-governor shall be elected at the times and places of choosing members of the legislature. The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for governor, and lieutenantgovernor, shall be elected; but in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for governor, or for lieutenant-governor, the two houses of the legislature shall, by joint ballot, choose one of the

said persons, so having an equal and the highest number of votes, for governor or lieutenant-governor.

4. The governor shall be general and commander-in-chief of all the militia, and admiral of the navy of the state. He shall have power to convene the legislature (or the senate only) on extraordinary occasions. He shall communicate by message to the legislature, at every session, the condition of the state; and recommend such matters to them as he shall judge expedient. He shall transact all necessary business with the officers of government, civil and military. He shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature, and shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed. He shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected.

5. The governor shall have power to grant reprieves and pardon after conviction, for all offences, except treason and cases of impeachment. Upon convictions for treasons, he shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence, until the case shall be reported to the legislature at its next meeting; when the legislature shall either pardon, or direct the execution of the criminal, or grant a further reprieve.

6. In case of the impeachment of the governor or his removal from office, death, resignation, or absence from the state, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant-governor for the residue of the term, or until the governor absent or impeached shall return or be acquitted. But when the governor shall, with the consent of the legislature, be out of the state in time of war, at the head of a military force thereof, he shall still continue commander-in-chief of all the military force of the state.

7. The lieutenant-governor shall be president of the senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein. If, during a vacancy of the office of governor, the lieutenant-governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, or be absent from the state, the president of the senate shall act as governor, until the vacancy shall be filled, or the disability shall

cease.

ARTICLE 4.

§ 1. Militia officers shall be chosen, or appointed, as follows: Captains, subalterns, and non-commissioned officers shall be chosen by the written votes of the members of their respective companies. Field-officers of regiments, and separate battalions, by the written votes of the commissioned officers of the respective regiments, and separate battalions. Brigadier-generals, by the field officers of their respective brigades. Major-generals, brigadier-generals, and commanding officers of regiments or separate battalions, shall appoint the staff-officers to their respective divisions, brigades, regiments, or separate battalions.

2. The governor shall nominate, and, with the consent of the senate, appoint, all major-generals, brigade-inspectors, and chiefs in the staff departments, except the adjutants-general and commissary-general. The adjutant-general shall be appointed by the governor.

3. The legislature shall, by law, direct the time and manner of

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