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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2305 Resolves of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts relating to amending the state Constitution, April 24, 1855 (90MM0MVn1t1J of IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY—FIVE, ItESOLVES RELATING TO THE .PROPOSED ARTICLES OF AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION. Resolved, That the following Articles of Amendment of the Constitution, having been agreed to by the last and present General Courts, and published in the manner required by the Constitution, be submitted to the people for their ratification and adoption. FIRST ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT. In all elections of civil officers by the people of this Commonwealth,whose election is provided for by the Constitu- tion, the person having the highest number of votes shall be deemed and declared to be elected. SECOND ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT. The meeting for the choice of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Senators and Representatives, shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, annually ; but in case of a failure to elect Representatives on that day, a second meeting shall be holden for that purpose on the fourth Monday of the same month of November. THIRD ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT. Eight Councillors shall be annually chosen by the inhabitants of this Commonwealth, qualified to vote for Governor. The election of Councillors shall be determined by the same rule that is required in the election of Governor. The Legislature, at its first session after this amendment shall have been adopted, and at its first session after the next State census shall have been taken, and at its first session after each decennial State census thereafterwards, shall divide the Commonwealth into eight districts of contiguous territory, each containing a number of inhabitants as nearly equal as practicable, without dividing any town or ward of a city, and each entitled to elect one Councillor : provided, however, that if, at any time,the Constitution shall provide for the division of the Commonwealth into forty senatorial districts,then the Legislature shall so arrange the councillor districts that each district shall consist of five contiguous ssralwl;dl districts, as they shall be, from time to time, established by the Legislature. No person shall be elegible to the office of Councillor who has not been an inhabitant of the Commonwealth for the term of five years immediately preceding his election. The day and manner of the election, the return of the votes, and the declaration of the said elections, shall be the same as are required in the election of Governor. Whenever there shall be a failure to elect the full number of Coun- cillors, the vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as is required for filling vacancies in the Senate ; and vacan- cies occasioned by death, removal from the State, or otherwise, shall be filled in like manner, as soon as may be after such vacancies shall have happened. And that there may be no delay in the organization of the Government on the first Wednesday of January, the Governor, with at least five Councillors for the time being, shall, as soon as may be, examine the returned copies of the records for the election of Governor;Lieutenant-Governor,and Councillors ; and ten days before the said first Wednesday in January he shall issue his summons to such persons as appear to be chosen, to attend on that day to be qualified accordingly ; and the Secretary shall lay the returns before the Senate and House of Representatives on the said first Wednesday in January, to be by them examined ; and in case of the election of either of said officers, the choice shall be by them declared and published ; but in case there shall be no election of either of said officers, the Legislature shall proceed to fill such vacancies in the manner provided in the Constitution for the choice of such officers. FOURTH ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT. The Secretary, Treasurer, and Receiver-General, Auditor, and Attorney.General, shall be chosen annually, on the day in November prescribed for the.choice of Governor; and each person then chosen as such, duly qualified in other respects, shall hold his office for the term of one year from the third Wednesday in January next thereafter, and until another is chosen and qualified in his stead. The qualification of the voters, the manner of the election, the return of the votes, and the declaration of the election, shall be such as are required in the'election of Governor. In case of a failure to elect either of said officers on the day in November aforesaid, or in case of the decease in the mean time of the person elected as such, such officer shall be chosen on or before the third Wednesday in January next thereafter from the two persons who had the highest number of votes for said offices on the day in 1d'ovember aforesaid, by joint ballot of the Senators and Representatives in one room ; and in case the office of Secretary, or Treasurer and Re- ceiver-General, or Auditor, or Attorney.General, shall become vacant from any cause during an annual or special ses- sion of the General Court, such vacancy shall in like manner be filled by choice from the people at large ; but if such vacancy shall occur at any other time, it shall be supplied by the Governor by appointment, with the advice and con- sent of the Council. The person so chosen or appointed, duly qualified in other respects, shall hold his office until his successor is chosen and duly qualified in his stead. In case any person chosen or appointed to either of the offices aforesaid, shall neglect, for the space of ten days after he could otherwise enter upon his duties, to qualify himself in all respects to enter upon the discharge of such duties, the office to which he has been elected or appointed shall be deemed vacant. No person shall be eligible to either of said offices unless he shall have been an inhabitant of this Commonwealth five years next preceding his election or appointment. t FIFTH ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT. All moneys raised by taxation in the towns and cities for the support of public schools, and all moneys which may be appropriated by the State for the support of common schools, shall be applied to,and expended in, no other schools than those; which are conducted according to law, under the order and superintendence of the authorities of the town or city in which the money is to be expended; and such moneys shall never be appropriated to any religious sect for the maintenance exclusively of its own schools.: SIXTH ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT. The Legislature shall prescribe, by general law, for the election of Sheriff's,Registers of Probate, Commissioners of Insolvency,and Clerks of the Courts, by the people of the several counties, and that District-Attorneys shall be chosen by the people of the several districts, for such term of office as the Legislature shall prescribe. Resolved, That the peol)le shall be assembled, for the purpose aforesaid, in their respective cities and towns, in Fineetings meetings to be thelegally warned,and held on the fourth Wednesday, being the twenty-third day,of May next,at which d ants gtatified to vote for se.r�ators and represen_tutives in the General Court rrI_a give in their votes %y ballot for or ag tinst each of the said Articles of Amendment; and the same officers shall preside in the said meetings -as in the meetings for the choice of senators and representatives, and shall, in open meeting, receive, sort,count, and declare the votes of the inhabitants for and against the same; and the said votes shall be recorded by the clerks of said cities and towns, and true returns thereof shall be made out, under the bands of the mayors and aldermen of the several cities, and of the selectmen, or the major part of them, and of the-clerks of the said cities and towns, respectively, and sealed up and delivered to the sheriff of the county within three days after the said meeting, to be by him transmitted to the office of'the Secretary of the Commonwealth within seven days after receiving the same; or the said mayors .and aldermen, and selectmen, respectively, shall themselves transmit the same to the said office within ten days after the said meetings: provided that in the several cities the meetings held under this Resolve shall be conducted accord- • ing to the provisions of the Acts establishing the same,and of the several Acts in addition thereto. Resolved, That each of the said Articles shall be considered as a distinct Amendment, to be adopted in the whole, ^wr rejected in the whole, as the people shall think proper. And every person qualified to vote as aforesaid may ex- press his opinion on each Article as designated by its appropriate number,without specifying in his ballot the contents 4of 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: Amendments—Article first, Yes or --No ; Article second', Yes or No, &c., to Article sixth, Yes or No. And every Article that shall appear to be approved ,by a majority of the persons voting thereon shall be deemed and taken to be ratified and adopted by the people. Resolved, That His Excellency the Governor and the Council shall, forthwith, open- and examine the votes re- turned as aforesaid ; and if it shall appear that said Articles of Amendment, or either of them; have been approved by a majority of the persons voting thereon, according to the votes returned and certified as aforesa;d, the same shall be enrolled on parchment and deposited in the Secretary's office as a part of the Constitution of this Commonwealth, and shall be published in immediate connection therewith, numbered, according to their numerical position,with the Articles of Amendment of the Constitution heretofore adopted, in all future editions of the laws of this Commonwealth, printed by,_Aublic_authorit Resolved, That His Excellency the Governor be,and be-lmreby is,authorized and requested to issue his proclama- tion forthwith, after examination of the votes returned as of id reciting the said Articles of Amendment, or either OF them, and announcing that said Articles of Amendment, or they"'of them, have been duly adopted and ratified by the people of this Commonwealth, and have become a part of the Constitution tbereof, and requiring all magistrates' and officers, and all citizens of the said Commonwealth, to take notice thereof and govern themselves accordingly ; or that the said Articles of Amendment, or either of them, have been rejected,as the case may be; Resolved,.That"a printed copy of these Resolves, including the said Articles of Amendment, and blank forms of the returns of votes on each of said Articles, shall be transmitted, as soon as may be, by the Secretary of the Common- wealth, to the mayors and aldermen of the several cities,and to the selectmen of the several towns, of this Common- wealth. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, April 24, 1855. Passed. DANIEL C. EDDY, Speaker. IN SENATE, April 30, 1855. Passed. HENRY W. BENCHLEY, President. ,May 1, Approved. HENRY J. GARDNER. SURETARY'S OFFICE, BOSTON, May 4, 1855. A true eopy—lktiest Secretary of the Commonwealth. y ru r I k