Commonwealth for their ratification and adoption?" The Convention adopted each of the articles by an affirmative vote on said question; and all of them without a division except the one just mentioned.

After the House had gone through with reading and voting upon the several articles, the President observed that it would be suitable, at the close of their session, to invoke a divine blessing upon their labors and upon the members of the Convention on their return to their homes; to which the House assented, and the President requested the Rev. Mr. FOSTER of Littleton to offer up prayers.

After prayers, at about eight o'clock, on motion of Mr. VARNUM, the Convention adjourned without day.

ARTICLES OF AMENDMENT.

The following are the articles of amendment as finally agreed to, in the form in which they are to be submitted to the people for ratification and adoption; together with the resolutions prescribing the manner in which they should be acted upon :

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

In the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty.

In the Convention of the Delegates of the People, assembled at Boston on the third Wednesday of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty, for the purpose of Revising and Amending the Constitution of this Commonwealth, pursuant to an act of the General Court, passed on the sixteenth day of June, in the year aforesaid :

Resolved, That the following Articles of Amendment of the Constitution of the Commonwealth, which have been made and proposed by this Convention, and which are numbered progressively from one to fourteen inclusive, shall be submitted to the people for their ratification and adoption; and if the said articles, or any one or more of them, shall be ratified by the people in the manner hereinafter prescribed, the articles so ratified shall become a part of the constitution of this Commonwealth.

Resolved, That the people shall be assembled for the purpose aforesaid, in their respective towns and districts, in meetings to be legally warned, and held on the second Monday of April next; at which meetings, all the inhabitants qualified to vote for senators or representatives in the General Court, may give in their votes by ballot, for or against each of the said articles of amendment; provided, that in every town, containing not more than six thousand inhabitants, the votes may be given on each article by hand-vote, or otherwise, as the selectmen of the respective towns may order and direct in the warrant for calling such meeting. And the selectmen of the respective towns and districts shall preside at such meetings and shall in open meeting receive, sort, count and declare the votes of the inhabitants for and against each of the said articles; and the clerks of the said towns and districts shall record the said votes, and true returns thereof shall be made out under the hands of the selectmen, or the major part of them, and of the clerk; and the selectmen shall inclose, seal and deliver the said returns to the sheriff of the county, within fifteen days after the said meetings, to be by him transmitted to the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, on or before the fourth Wednesday of May next; or the selectmen shall themselves transmit the same to the said office on or before the day last mentioned.

Resolved, That a committee of this Convention shall meet at the

State House, in Boston, on the said fourth Wednesday of May, and shall open and examine the votes then returned as aforesaid, and shall, as soon as may be, certify to his excellency the governor, and also to the General Court, the number of votes so returned for and against each of the said articles of amendment.

Resolved, That each of the said articles shall be considered as a distinct amendment, to be adopted in the whole, or rejected in the whole, as the people shall think proper. And in case the votes are given by ballot, every person qualified to vote as aforesaid, may express his opinion on each article as designated by its appropriate number, without specifying in his ballot the contents of the article, and by annexing to each number the word YES, or No, or any other words of the same import; but the whole shall be written or printed, on one ballot, in substance as follows, to wit:

And every article that shall appear to be approved by a majority of the persons voting thereon, according to the votes returned and certified as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be ratified and adopted by the people; and all the amendments, so ratified and adopted, shall be promulgated and made known to the people, in such manner as the General Court shall order.

Resolved, That a printed copy of these resolutions, with the Articles of Amendment subjoined, shall be attested by the secretary of this Convention, and transmitted by him, as soon as may be, to the selectmen, clerk and delegate or delegates of every town and district in the Commonwealth.

ARTICLE THE FIRST.

The power and the duty of the Legislature to require provision to be made for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public teachers, shall not be confined to Protestant teachers, but shall extend and be applied equally to all public Christian teachers of piety, religion and morality; and shall also extend and be applied equally to all religious societies, whether incorporated or unincorporated.

All moneys paid by the subject for the support of public worship and of the public teachers aforesaid, shall, if he require it, be applied to the support of the public teacher or teachers, if there be any, on whose instructions he attends, whether of the same, or of a different sect or denomination from that of the parish or religious society in which the said moneys are raised.

Provided, that all taxes assessed for the support of public worship, and of the public teachers aforesaid, upon the real estate of any nonresident proprietor or proprietors, shall be applied towards the support of public worship in the town, precinct or parish, by which

such taxes are assessed; unless such proprietor or proprietors shall be resident within this Commonwealth, and shall be of a different sect or denomination of Christians from that of the town, precinct or parish by which such taxes are assessed.

The clause in the third artiole' of the declaration of rights, which invests the Legislature with authority to enjoin, on all the subjects. of the Commonwealth, an attendance upon the instructions of public teachers, shall be and hereby is annulled.

No person shall be subjected to trial for any crime or offence for which, on conviction thereof, he may be exposed to imprisonment, or to any ignominious punishment, unless upon presentment or indictment by a grand jury; except in cases which are or may be otherwise expressly provided for by the statutes of the Commonwealth. And every person charged with any crime or offence shall have a right to be fully heard in his defence by himself and his counsel.

ARTICLE THE SECOND.

The political year shall begin on the first Wednesday of January, instead of the last Wednesday of May; and the General Court shall assemble every year on the said first Wednesday of January, and shall proceed at that session to make all the elections, and do all the other acts, which are by the constitution required to be made and done at the session which has heretofore commenced on the last Wednesday of May. And the General Court shall be dissolved on the day next preceding the first Wednesday of January, without any proclamation, or other act of the governor. But nothing herein contained shall prevent the General Court from assembling at such other times as they shall judge necessary.

The governor, lieutenant governor, and counsellors,. shall also hold their respective offices for one year next following the first Wednesday of January, and until others are chosen and qualified in their stead.

The meetings for the choice of governor, lieutenant governor, and senators, shall be held on the second Monday of November in every year, instead of the first Monday of April; and the members of the house of representatives shall also be chosen at the same meetings; but the meetings may be adjourned, if necessary, for the choice of representatives to the next day, and again to the day next succeeding, but no further. Provided, however, that such towns or towns and districts, as are or may be united for the choice of a representative, may hold their meetings for that purpose at such time and in such manner as the General Court shall hereafter direct.

All the other provisions of the constitution, respecting the elections and proceedings of the members of the General Court, or of any other officers or persons whatsoever, that have reference to the last Wednesday of May as the commencement of the political year, shall be so far altered as to have the like reference to the first Wednesday of January.

This article shall go into operation on the fourth day of July, in

the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, and the governor, lieutenant governor, counsellors, senators and representatives, and all other state officers who are chosen annually, and who shall be chosen for the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, shall hold their respective offices until the first Wednesday of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, and until others are chosen. and qualified in their stead; and the first election of the governor, lieutenant governor, senators and representatives, to be had in virtue of this article, shall be had on the second Monday of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.

ARTICLE THE THIRD.

[Article First of the Adopted Amendments.]

If any bill or resolve shall be objected to and not approved by the governor; and if the General Court shall adjourn within five days after the same shall have been laid before the governor for his approbation, and thereby prevent his returning it with his objections, as provided by the constitution; such bill or resolve shall not become a law, nor have force as such.

ARTICLE THE FOURTH.

[Article Second of the Adopted Amendments.]

The General Court shall have full power and authority to erect and constitute municipal or city governments, in any corporate town or towns in this Commonwealth, and to grant to the inhabitants thereof such powers, privileges and immunities, not repugnant to the constitution, as the General Court shall deem necessary or expedient for the regulation and government thereof; and to prescribe the manner of calling and holding public meetings of the inhabitants, in wards or otherwise, for the election of officers under the constitution, and the manner of returning the votes given at such meetings. Provided, that no such government shall be erected or constituted in any town not containing twelve thousand inhabitants; nor unless it be with the consent and on the application of a majority of the inhabitants of such town, present and voting thereon, pursuant to a vote at a meeting duly warned and holden for that purpose. And provided also, that all by-laws made by such municipal or city government shall be subject, at all times, to be annulled by the General Court.

ARTICLE THE FIFTH.

There shall be annually elected in the manner prescribed by the constitution thirty-six persons to be senators instead of forty persons as heretofore required; and not less than nineteen members of the senate shall constitute a quorum for doing business.

The number of districts into which the Commonwealth shall be divided for the purpose of electing senators shall never be less than ten, and the senators shall be so apportioned among the said dis