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<br /> IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN.
<br /> R S0LIF ES
<br /> RELATING TO THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS OF THE CONSTITUTION.
<br /> Resolved, That the following Articles of Amendment of the Constitution, having been agreed to by the last and
<br /> present General Courts, and published in the manner required by the Constitution, be submitted to the people for
<br /> their ratification and adoption.
<br /> FIRST ARTICLE_ OF AMENDMENT.
<br /> No person shall have the right to vote, or be eligible to ofpice under the Constitution of this Commonwealth.,
<br /> who shall not be able to read the Constitution in the English language, and write his name
<br /> •,Provided;.however,.that the-provisions of this amendment shall not apply to,any person prevented by a physical
<br /> disability from complying with its requisitions, nor to.any person who now has the right to,vote, nor to any persons:
<br /> who shall.be sixty years of age or upwards at the time.this amendment shall take effect.
<br /> SECOND ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT.
<br /> A. census of the legal voters of each city and town, on the first day of May, .hall be taken and returned into
<br /> the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, on or before the last day of June, in the year one thousand eight
<br /> hundred and fifty-seven; and a census of the inhabitants of each city and town, in the year one thousand•_eight
<br /> hundred and sixty-five, and of every.tenth year thereafter. In the census aforesaid a special enumeration shall be..
<br /> made'of the legal voters, and in each city said enumeration shall specify the number of such legal voters aforesaid,
<br /> residing in each ward of such city. The enumeration aforesaid shall determine the apportionment of representatives
<br /> for the periods between the taking of the census.
<br /> The house of representatives shall consist of two hundred and forty members, which shall be apportioned by the
<br /> legislature at its first session' after the return of each enumeration as aforesaid, to the several counties of the
<br /> Commonwealth equally, as nearly as may be, according to their relative numbers of legal voters, as ascertained by
<br /> the next-preceding special enumeration; and the town of Cohasset, in the county of Norfolk, shall, for this purpose,.,
<br /> as well as in the formation of districts as hereinafter provided, be considered a part of the county of Plymouth; and
<br /> A shall be the duty of the secretary of the Commonwealth to certify; as soon as may be after it is determined by the
<br /> legislature, the number of representatives to which each county shall be entitled, to the board authorized to divide
<br /> each county into representative,districts. The mayor and aldermen of the city of Boston, the county commissioners
<br /> of other counties than'Suffolk, or in lieu of the mayor and aldermen of the city of Boston, or of the county com-
<br /> missioners in each county other than Suffolk, such board of special commissioners in each county to be elected by
<br /> the people of the county, or of the towns therein, as-may for that purpose be provided by law, shall, on the first
<br /> Tuesday of August next after each assignment of representatives to each county, assemble at a shire town of their
<br /> respective counties,and proceed, as soon as may be, to divide the same into representative districts of contiguous
<br /> territory, so as-.to,apportion the representation assigned to each county equally, as nearly as may be, according to
<br /> the relative number of legal voters in the several districts of each county ; and such districts shall be so formed that
<br /> no town or ward of a city shall be divided therefor, nor shall any district be made which shall be entitled to elect
<br /> more than three representatives. Every representative, for one year at least next preceding his election, shall have
<br /> been an inhabitant of the district from which he is chosen, and shall cease to represent such district when he shall
<br /> cease to be an inhabitant of the Commonwealth. The districts in each county shall be numbered by the board
<br /> creating the same, and a description of each, with the numbers thereof, and the number of legal voters therein, shall
<br /> be returned by the board to the-secretary-of the Commonwealth, the county treasurer of each county, and to the-
<br /> clerk of every.town in each district, to be filed and kept in their respective offices. The manner of calling and con--
<br /> ducting the-meetings for the choice of representatives, and of ascertaining their election, shall be prescribed by law-
<br /> Not less than one hundred members of the house of representatives shall constitute a quorum for doing business;':
<br /> ,but a•less number may organize temporarily, adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members.
<br /> THIRD ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT.
<br /> A census of the legal voters of each city-and town, on the first day of May, shall be taken and returned into the
<br /> office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, on or before the last day of June, in the year one thousand eight
<br /> hundred and fifty-seven', and a census of the inhabitants of each city and town, in the year one thousand eight
<br /> hundred and sixty-five, and of every tenth year thereafter. In the census aforesaid, a special enumeration shall be
<br /> made of the legal voters, and in each city,said enumeration shall specify the number of such legal voters aforesaid,
<br /> residing in each ward of such city. The enumeration aforesaid shall 'determine the apportionment of senators for
<br /> the periods between the taking of the census. The senate shall consist of forty members. The general court shall,
<br /> at its first session after each next preceding, special enumeration, divide the. Commonwealth into forty districts of
<br /> adjacent territory, each district to contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of legal voters, according to the
<br /> enumeration aforesaid: provided, however, that no town, or ward of a city, shall be divided therefor; and such
<br /> districts shall be formed, as nearly as may be, without uniting two counties, or parts of two or more counties, into
<br /> one district. Each district shall elect one senator, who shall have been an inhabitant of this Commonwealth five
<br /> years at least, immediately preceding his election, and at the time of his election, shall be an inhabitant of the
<br /> district for which he is chosen; and he shall cease to represent such senatorial district when he shall cease to be an
<br /> inhabitant of the Commonwealth.
<br /> Not less than sixteen senators shall constitute a quorum for doing business; but a less number may organize
<br /> temporarily, adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members.
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