SEC. 35. And be it further enacted, That until otherwise provided by law, the governor of said Territory may define the judicial districts of said Territory, and assign the judges who may be appointed for said Territory to the several districts; and also appoint the times and places for holding courts in the several counties or subdivisions in each of said judicial districts by proclamation, to be issued by him; but the legislative assembly, at their first or any subsequent session, may organize, alter, or modify such judicial districts, and assign the judges, and alter the times and places of holding the courts as to them shall seem proper and convenient.

SEC. 36. And be it further enacted, That all officers to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for the Territory of Kansas, who, by virtue of the provisions of any law now existing, or which may be enacted during the present Congress, are required to give security for moneys that may be intrusted with them for disbursement, shall give such security at such time and place, and in such manner, as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.

SEC. 37. And be it further enacted, That all treaties, laws, and other engagements made by the Government of the United States with the Indian tribes inhabiting the Territories embraced within this act shall be faithfully and rigidly observed, notwithstanding anything contained in this act; and that the existing agencies and superintendencies of said Indians be continued with the same powers and duties which are now prescribed by law, except that the President of the United States may, at his discretion, change the location of the office of superintendent. APPROVED, May 30, 1854.

CONSTITUTION OF KANSAS-1855.*

PREAMBLE.

We, the people of the Territory of Kansas, by our delegates in convention assembled, at Topeka, on the 23d day of October, A. D. 1855, and of the independence of the United States the eightieth year, having the right of admission into the Union as one of the United States of America, consistent with the Federal Constitution, and by virtue of the treaty of cession by France to the United States of the province of Louisiana, in order to secure to ourselves and our posterity the enjoyment of all the rights of life, liberty, and property, and the free pursuits of happiness, do mutually agree with each other to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the name and style of the State of Kansas, bounded as follows, to wit: Beginning at a point on the western boundary of the State of Missouri where the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said boundary to latitude thirty-eight; thence following said boundary westward to the eastern boundary of the Territory of Utah, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence northward on said summit to the fortieth parallel of latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the State of Missouri; thence south with the western boundary of said State to the place of beginning; and do ordain and establish the following constitution and bill of rights for the government thereof:

ARTICLE I.

BILL OF RIGHTS.

SECTION 1. All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquir

"This constitution was adopted at a convention which met at Topeka October 23, 1855, and completed its labors November 2, 1855. It was claimed that it was submitted to the people of Kansas and ratified December 15, 1855, receiving 1,731 votes aganst 46.

ing, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety.

SEC. 2. All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit; and they have the right to alter, reform, or abolish the same whenever they may deem it necessary; and no special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted that may not be altered, revoked, or repealed by the general assembly.

SEC. 3. The people have the right to assemble together, in a peaceable manner, to consult for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the general assembly for the redress of grievances.

SEC. 4. The people have the right to bear arms for their defence and security; but standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty and shall not be kept up; and the military shall be kept in strict subordination to the civil power.

SEC. 5. The right of trial by jury shall be inviolate.

SEC. 6. There shall be no slavery in this State, nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime.

SEC. 7. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience. No person shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any form of worship against his consent; and no preference shall be given by law to any religious society, nor shall any interference with the rights of conscience be permitted. No religious test shall be required as a qualification for office, nor shall any person be incompetent to be a witness on account of his religious belief; but nothing herein shall be construed to dispense with oaths and affirmations. Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the general assembly to pass suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship, and to encourage schools and the means of instruction.

SEC. 8. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety requires it.

SEC. 9. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offences, where the proof is evident or the presumption great. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

SEC. 10. Except in cases of impeachment, and cases arising in the Army and Navy, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger, and in cases of petit larceny and other inferior offences, no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury. In any trial in any court, the party accused shall be allowed to appear and defend in person and with counsel, to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof; to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to procure the attendance of witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trial, by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offence is alleged to have been committed; nor shall any person be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, or be twice put in jeopardy for the same offence.

SEC. 11. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of the right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libellous is true and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted.

SEC. 12. No person shall be transported out of the State for any offence committed within the same; and no conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of

estate.

SEC. 13. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, except in a manner prescribed by law. SEC. 14. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and possessions against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; and no

warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons and things to be seized. SEC. 15. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil action, or mesne or final process, unless in case of fraud.

SEC. 16. All courts shall be open; and every person, for an injury done him in his land, goods, person, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and justice administered without denial or delay.

SEC. 17. No hereditary emoluments, honors, or privileges shall ever be granted or conferred by this State.

SEC. 18. No power of suspending laws shall ever be exercised except by the general assembly.

SEC. 19. The payment of a tax shall not be a qualification for exercising the right of suffrage.

SEC. 20. Private property shall ever be held inviolate, but subservient to the public welfare. When taken in time of war, or other public exigency imperatively requiring its immediate seizure, or for the purpose of making or repairing roads, which shall be open to the public use, without toll or other charge therefor, a compensation shall be made to the owner in money; and in all other cases where private property shall be taken for public use, a compensation therefor shall first be made in money, or first secured by a deposit of money, and such compensation shall be assessed by a jury, without deduction for benefits to any property of the owner.

SEC. 21. No indenture of any negro, or mulatto, made and executed out of the bounds of the State shall be valid within the State.

SEC. 22. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people; and all powers not herein delegated shall remain with the people.

ARTICLE II.

ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.

SECTION 1. In all elections by the people, the vote shall be by ballot, and in all elections in the general assembly the vote shall be viva voce.

SEC. 2. Every white male person, and every civilized male Indian who has adopted the habits of the white man, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who shall be at the time of offering to vote a citizen of the United States; who shall have resided and had his habitation, domicile, home, and place of permanent abode in the State of Kansas for six months next preceding the election at which he offers to vote; who, at such time, and for thirty days immediately preceding said time, shall have had his actual habitation, domicile, home, and place of permanent abode in the county in which he offers to vote, and who shall have resided in the precinct or election-district for at least ten days immediately preceding the election, shall be deemed a qualified elector at all elections under this constitution, except in elections by general ticket in the State or district prescribed by law, in which case the elector must have the aforesaid qualifications, but a residence in said district for ten days will entitle him to vote: Provided, That no soldier, seaman, or marine, of the regular Army or Navy of the United States, shall be considered a resident of the State in consequence of being stationed within the same.

SEC. 3. The general assembly shall, at its first session, provide for the registration of all qualified electors in each county, and thereafter, from time to time, of all who may become qualified electors.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall have power to exclude from every office of honor, trust, or profit within the State, and from the right of suffrage, all persons convicted of any infamous crime.

SEC. 5. No person shall be deemed capable of holding or being elected to any post of honor, profit, trust, or emolument, civil or military, or exercise the right of suffrage under the government of this State, who shall hereafter fight a duel, send or accept a challenge to fight a duel, or who shall be a second to either party, or who shall in any manner aid or assist in such duel, or who shall be knowingly the bearer

of such challenge or acceptance, whether the same occur or be committed in or out of the State.

SEC. 6. No person who may hereafter be collector or holder of public moneys shall be eligible to any office of trust or profit in the State until he shall have accounted for and paid into the proper public treasury all sums for which he may be accountable.

SEC. 7. No State officer or member of the general assembly of this State shall receive a fee, be engaged as counsel, agent, or attorney in any case or claim against the State.

SEC. 8. No senator or representative shall, during the term of office for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office of profit in this State which shall have been created or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during such term, except such offices as may be filled by election by the people.

SEC. 9. All officers, civil and military, in this State, before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I, do swear [or affirm] that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Kansas; that I am duly qualified according to the Constitution to exercise the office to which I have been elected, [or appointed,] and will, to the best of my abilities, discharge the duties thereof faithfully and impartially, according to law."

SEC. 10. Every person shall be disqualified from holding any office of honor or profit in this State who shall have been convicted of having given or offered any bribe to procure his election, or who shall have made use of any undue influence from power, tumult, or other improper practices.

SEC. 11. All civil officers of the State shall reside within the State, and all district and county officers within their respective districts and counties, and shall have their offices at such places therein as may be required by law.

SEC. 12. Returns of elections for members of Congress, the general assembly, and all other officers not otherwise provided for shall be made to the secretary of state, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 13. Electors shall in all cases be privileged from arrest during their attendance on elections, and in going to and returning therefrom, except in case of felony, treason, and breach of the peace.

ARTICLE III.

DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.

SECTION 1. The powers of the government shall be divided into three separate departments, the legislative, the executive, including the administrative, and the judicial; and no person charged with official duties under one of these departments shall exercise any of the functions of another, except as in this constitution expressly provided.

ARTICLE IV.

LEGISLATIVE.

SECTION 1. The legislative power of this State shall be vested in the general assembly, which shall consist of a senate and house of representatives.

SEC. 2. The senators and representatives shall be chosen annually, by the qualified electors of the respective counties or district for which they are chosen, on the first Monday of August, for one year, and their term of office shall commence on the first day of January next thereafter.

SEC. 3. There shall be elected at the first election twenty senators and sixty representatives, and the number afterwards shall be regulated by law.

SEC. 4. No person shall be eligible to the office of senator or representative who shall not possess the qualifications of an elector.

SEC. 5. No person holding office under the authority of the United States, or any lucrative office under the authority of this State, shall be eligible to, or have a seat

in, the general assembly; but this provision shall not extend to township officers, justices of the peace, notaries public, postmasters, or officers of the militia.

SEC. 6. Each house, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, shall choose its own officers, determine its own rule of proceeding, punish its members for disorderly conduct, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member, but not the second time for the same cause; and shall judge of the qualification, election, and return of its own members, and shall have all other powers necessary for its safety and the undisturbed transaction of business.

SEC. 7. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings and publish the same. The yeas and nays on any question shall, at the request of two members, be entered on the journal.

SEC. 8. Any member of either house shall have the right to protest against any act or resolution thereof; and such protest and reason therefor shall, without alteration, commitment, or delay, be entered on the journal.

SEC. 9. All vacancies which may occur in either house shall, for the unexpired term, be filled by election as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 10. Senators and representatives shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the general assembly, and in going to and returning from the same; and for words spoken in debate they shall not be questioned in any other place.

SEC. 11. A majority of all the members elected to each house shall be necessary to pass every bill or joint resolution, and all bills and joint resolutions so passed shall be signed by the presiding officers of the respective houses, and presented to the governor for his approval.

SEC. 12. The doors of each house and of committees of the whole shall be kept open. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting, except for personal safety.

SEC. 13. Every bill shall be read by sections on three several days in each house, unless in case of emergency. Two-thirds of the house where such bill is pending may, if deemed expedient, suspend the rule on a call of the yeas and nays; but the reading of a bill by sections, on its final passage, shall in no case be dispensed with; and the vote on the passage of every bill or joint resolution shall be taken by yeas and nays.

SEC. 14. Every act shall contain but one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title. Bills may originate in either house, but may be altered, amended, or rejected by the other.

SEC. 15. In all cases when a general law can be made applicable, special laws shall not be enacted.

SEC. 16. No act shall ever be revived or amended by mere reference to its title; but the act revived or the section amended shall be set forth and published at full length.

SEC. 17. No act shall take effect until the same shall have been published and circulated in the counties of the State, by authority, except in case of emergency, which emergency shall be declared in the preamble or the body of the law.

SEC. 18. The election and appointment of all officers, and the filling of all vacancies not otherwise provided for by this constitution or the Constitution of the United States, shall be made in such manner as shall be prescribed by law; but no appointing power shall be exercised by the general assembly, except as provided in this constitution, and in the election of the United States Senator, and in these cases the vote shall be taken viva voce.

SEC. 19. The general assembly shall not have power to enact laws annulling the contract of marriage in any case where, by law, the courts of this State may have power to decree a divorce.

SEC. 20. The general assembly shall not have power to pass retroactive laws, or laws impairing the obligation of contracts; but may, by general laws, authorize courts to carry into effect, upon such terms as shall be just and equitable, the manifest in