705 Proclamation by Governor John Brooks for convening a constitutional convention, September 12, 1820

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Commonwealth - of Massachusetts. BY HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN I[IROOKS-9 GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, A PROCLAMATION., WHEREAS by an Act of the Legislature of this Commonwealth, passed on the sixteenth day of June last,entitled 40n Act relating to the calling of a Convention o,f Delegates of the People, for the purpose of .Devising the Constitution," it is provided, that the Inhabitants of the several Towns, Districts, and places within the Commonwealth, qualified to vote for Senators or Representatives in the General Court, should assemble in regular Town Meetings, to be notified in the usual manner, on the third Monday of August then next, and should, in open Town Meeting, give in their votes, by ballot, on this question: «Is it expedient, that Delegates should be chosen to meet in Convention,for the purpose of Revising or filtering the Constitution of Gov- ernment of this Commonwealth 2" And whereas provision is made in said Act, for the due return of votes so given, both for and against the measure, into the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, on or before the second Monday of September current, and for examining and counting the votes given as aforesaid, on the said question, by the Governor and Comic;l :—And whereas it is further provided by said Act, that the Governor, by public Proclamation, to be made on or before the third Monday of said month of September, make known the result, by declaring the number of votes appearing in favor of choosing Delegates for the purpose aforesaid, and the number of votes appearing against the same; and if a majority of votes, given in, and returned as aforesaid, were in favor of choosing Delegates as aforesaid, that he should also call upon the people of the Commonwealth, whose will it thus appears to be that a Convention should meet according to said Act, to elect Delegates to meet in Convention, in the manner therein provided: NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOHN BROOKS, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby declare and make known, that upon examination, in manner aforesaid, of all the votes, for and against the said measure, duly and legally returned into the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, as is by said Act re- quired, it appears that the number of votes in favor of choosing Delegates for the purpose aforesaid, is Eleven Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty Six; and that Six Thousand Five Hundred and Xinety 'Three is the number appearing against the same.—And as there is a majority of the votes, so given in and returned, in favor of choosing Delegates as aforesaid, I DO HEREBY, in virtue of the authority given by, and pursuant to the requisitions contained in. said Act, call upon the Inhabitants of the several Towns and Districts within the Commonwealth, qualified to vote for Representatives in the General Court, to assemble on the THIRD MONDAY of October next, in Town Meeting, to be duly warned by warrant from the Selectmen, and elect one or more Delegates (not exceeding the number of Representatives to the General Court to which each Town is entitled,) to meet Delegates from other Towns, in Convention at the State House, in Boston, on the THIRD WEDNESDAY of November next, to take into consideration the propriety and expediency of making any (and if any what) alterations or amendments in the present Constitution of Government of the Commonwealth; and then and there to devise and do all such matters and things, as in and by said Act, relating to the calling of a Convention for the purpose of revising or altering the Con- stitution, are required or authorized to be done. Given at the Council Chamber, in Boston, this Twelfth Day of September, A. D. 1820, and in the Forty Fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America. J. �y Rl s BROOKS. By His Excellency the Governor. ALDEN BRADFORD, Secretary o f the Commonwealth,,