ARTICLE 5.-PART FIRST.

Executive Power.

§ 1. The supreme executive power of this state shall be vested in a governor.

2. The governor shall be elected by the qualified electors, and shall hold his office one year, from the first Wednesday of January in each year.

3. The meetings for election of governor shall be notified, held, and regulated, and votes shall be received, sorted, counted, declared, and recorded, in the same manner as those for senators and representatives. They shall be sealed and returned into the secretary's office in the same manner, and at the same time, as those for senators. And the secretary

of state for the time being shall, on the first Wednesday of January then next, lay the lists before the senate and house of representatives, to be by them examined; and, in case of a choice by a majority of all the votes returned, they shall declare and publish the same. But if no person shall have a majority of votes, the house of representatives shall, by ballot, from the persons having the four highest numbers of votes on the list, if so many there be, elect two persons, and make return of their names to the senate, of whom the senate shall, by ballot, elect one, who shall be declared the governor.

4. The governor shall, at the commencement of his term, be not less than thirty years of age; a natural born citizen of the United States; have been five years, or from the adoption of this constitution, a resident of the state; and, at the time of his election, and during the term for which he is elected, be a resident of said state.

5. No person holding any office or place under the United States, this state, or any other power, shall exercise the office of governor.

6. The governor shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall not be increased or diminished during his continuance in office.

7. He shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the state, and of the militia, except when called into the actual service of the United States; but he shall not march nor convey any of the citizens out of the state without their consent, or that of the legislature, unless it shall become necessary, in order to march or transport them from one part of the state to another, for the defence thereof.

8. He shall nominate, and, with the advice and consent of the council, appoint, all judicial officers, the attorney general, the sheriff, coroners, registers of probate, and notaries public; and he shall also nominate, and with the advice and consent of the council, appoint, all other civil and military officers whose appointment is not, by this constitution, or shall not by law, be otherwise provided for; and every such nomination shall be made seven days at least prior to such appointment. 9. He shall, from time to time, give the legislature information of the condition of the state, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he may judge expedient.

10. He may require information from any military officer, or any officer in the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.

11. He shall have power, with the advice and consent of the council,

to remit, after conviction, all forfeitures and penalties, and grant reprieves and pardons, except in cases of impeachment.

12. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

13. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the legislature; and, in case of disagreement between the two houses with respect to the time of adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not beyond the day of the next annual meeting; and if, since their last adjournment, the place where the legislature were next to convene shall have became dangerous from an enemy, or contagious sickness, may direct the session to be held at some other convenient place within the state.

14. Whenever the office of governor shall become vacant by death, resignation, removal from office, or otherwise, the president of the senate shall exercise the office of governor until another governor shall be duly qualified; and, in case of the death, resignation, removal from office, or other disqualification of the president of the senate, so exercising the office of governor, the speaker of the house of representatives shall exercise the office, until a president of the senate shall have been chosen; and when the office of governor, president of the senate, and speaker of the house shall become vacant, in the recess of the senate, the person acting as secretary of state for the time being shall, by proclamation, convene the senate, that a president may be chosen to exercise the office of governor. And whenever either the president of the senate or speaker of the house shall so exercise said office, he shall receive only the compensation of governor, but his duties as president or speaker shall be suspended; and the senate or house shall fill the vacancy, until his duties as governor shall cease.

ARTICLE 5.-PART SECOND.

Council.

§ 1. There shall be a council, to consist of seven persons, citizens of the United States, and residents of this state, to advise the governor in the executive part of the government, whom the governor shall have full power, at his discretion, to assemble; and he, with the counsellors or a majority of them, may, from time to time, hold and keep a council, for ordering and directing the affairs of state according to law.

2. The counsellors shall be chosen annually, on the first Wednesday of January, by joint ballot of the senators and representatives in convention; and vacancies which shall afterwards happen shall be filled in the same manner; but not more than one counsellor shall be elected from any district prescribed for the election of senators; and they shall be privileged from arrest in the same manner as senators and representatives.

3. The resolutions and advice of council shall be recorded in a register, and signed by the members agreeing thereto, which may be called for by either house of the legislature; and any counsellor may enter his dissent to the resolution of the majority.

4. No member of congress, or of the legislature of this state, nor any person holding any office under the United States, (post officers excepted,) nor any civil officers under this state, (justices of the peace and notaries public excepted,) shall be counsellors. And no counsellor

shall be appointed to any office during the time for which he shall have been elected.

ARTICLE 5.-PART THIRD.
Secretary.

§ 1. The secretary of state shall be chosen annually, at the first session of the legislature, by joint ballot of the senators and representatives in convention.

2. The records of the state shall be kept in the office of the secretary, who may appoint his deputies, for whose conduct he shall be accountable.

3. He shall attend the governor and council, senate and house of representatives, in person, or by his deputies, as they shall respectively require.

4. He shall carefully keep and preserve the records of all the official acts and proceedings of the governor and council, senate, and house of representatives, and, when required, lay the same before either branch of the legislature, and perform such other duties as are enjoined by this constitution, or shall be required by law.

ARTICLE 5.-PART FOURTH.

Treasurer.

§ 1. The treasurer shall be chosen annually, at the first session of the legislature, by joint ballot of the senators and representatives in convention, but shall not be eligible more than five years successively.

2. The treasurer shall, before entering on the duties of his office, give bond to the state, with sureties, to the satisfaction of the legislature, for the faithful discharge of his trust.

3. The treasurer shall not, during his continuance in office, engage in any business of trade or commerce, or as a broker, nor as an agent or factor for any merchant or trader.

4. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but by warrant from the governor and council, and in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published at the commencement of the annual session of the legislature.

ARTICLE 6.

Judicial Power.

§ 1. The judicial power of this state shall be vested in a supreme judicial court, and such other courts as the legislature shall, from time to time, establish.

2. The justices of the supreme judicial court shall, at stated times, receive a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office, but they shall receive no other fee or reward.

3. They shall be obliged to give their opinion upon important questions of law, and upon solemn occasions, when required by the governor, council, senate, or house of representatives.

4. All judicial officers, except justices of the peace, shall hold their

offices during good behaviour, but not beyond the age of seventy years.

5. Justices of the peace and notaries public shall hold their offices during seven years, if they so long behave themselves well, at the expiration of which term, they may be re-appointed, or others appointed, as the public interest may require.

6. The justices of the supreme judicial court shall hold no office under the United States, nor any state, nor any other office under this state, except that of justice of the peace.

ARTICLE 7.
Military.

§ 1. The captains and subalterns of the militia shall be elected by the written votes of the members of their respective companies. The field officers of regiments by the written votes of the captains and subalterns of their respective regiments. The brigadier-generals, in like manner,

by the field officers of their respective brigades.

2. The legislature shall, by law, direct the manner of notifying the electors, conducting the elections, and making the returns to the governor of the officers elected; and if the electors shall neglect or refuse to make such elections, after being duly notified according to law, the governor shall appoint suitable persons to fill such offices.

3. The major-general shall be elected by the senate and house of representatives, each having a negative on the other. The adjutant-general and quartermaster-general shall be appointed by the governor and council; but the adjutant-general shall perform the duties of quartermaster-general, until otherwise directed by law. The major-generals and brigadier-generals, and the commanding officers of regiments and battalions, shall appoint their respective staff officers; and all military officers shall be commissioned by the governor.

4. The militia, as divided into divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, and companies, pursuant to the laws now in force, shall remain so organized, until the same shall be altered by the legislature.

5. Persons of the denomination of quakers and shakers, justices of the supreme judicial court, and ministers of the gospel, may be exempted from military duty; but no other person, of the age of eighteen and under the age of forty-five years, excepting officers of the militia who have been honourably discharged, shall be so exempted, unless he shall pay an equivalent, to be fixed by law.

ARTICLE 8.

Literature.

A general diffusion of the advantages of education being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people; to promote this important object, the legislature are authorized, and it shall be their duty, to require the several towns to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the support and maintenance of public schools; and it shall further be their duty to encourage and suitably endow, from time to time, as the circumstances of the people may authorize, all academies, colleges, and seminaries of learning, within the state: pro

vided, that no donation, grant, or endowment, shall at any time be made by the legislature, to any literary institution now established, or which may hereafter be established, unless at the time of making such endowment, the legislature of the state shall have the right to grant any further powers to alter, limit, or restrain any of the powers vested in any such literary institution, as shall be judged necessary to promote the best interests thereof.

ARTICLE 9.

General Provisions.

§ 1. Every person elected or appointed to either of the places or offices provided in this constitution, and every person elected, appointed, or commissioned, to any judicial, executive, military, or other office under this state, shall, before he enter on the discharge of the duties of his place or office, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I, do swear, that I will support the constitution of the United States and of this state, so long as I shall continue a citizen thereof. So help me God."

"I,

do swear, that I will faithfully discharge, to the best of my abilities, the duties incumbent on me as according to the constitution and the laws of the state: so help me God :" provided, that an affirmation in the above forms may be substituted, when the persons shall be conscientiously scrupulous of taking and subscribing an oath.

The oaths or affirmations shall be taken and subscribed by the governor and counsellors before the presiding officer of the senate, in the presence of both houses of the legislature, and by the senators and representatives before the governor and council, and by the residue of said officers before such person as shall be prescribed by the legislature; and, whenever the governor or any counsellor shall not be able to attend, during the session of the legislature, to take and subscribe said oaths or affirmations, such oaths or affirmations may be taken and subscribed, in the recess of the legislature, before any justice of the supreme judicial court: provided, that the senators and representatives first elected under this constitution shall take and subscribe such oaths or affirmations, before the president of the convention.

2. No person holding the office of justice of the supreme judicia. court, or of any inferior court, attorney-general, county attorney, trea surer of the state, adjutant-general, judge of probate, register of probate. register of deeds, sheriffs or their deputies, clerks of the judicial courts, shall be a member of the legislature; and any person holding either of the foregoing offices, elected to and accepting a seat in the congress of the United States, shall thereby vacate said office; and no person shall be capable of holding or exercising, at the same time, within this state, more than one of the offices before mentioned.

3. All commissions shall be in the name of the state, signed by the governor, attested by the secretary or his deputy, and have the seal of the state thereto affixed.

4. And in case the elections required by this constitution on the first Wednesday of January, annually, by the two houses of the legislature, shall not be completed on that day, the same may be adjourned from day to day until completed, in the following order: the vacancies in the