ARTICLE XIV.

Seat of Government.

SECTION 1. The Legislative Assembly shall not have power to establish a permanent seat of government for this State. But at the first regular session after the adoption of this Constitution, the Legislative Assembly shall provide by law for the submission to the electors of this State at the next general election thereafter, the matter of the selection of a place for a permanent seat of government; and no place shall ever be the seat of government under such law, which shall not receive a majority of all the votes cast on the matter of such election.

SEC. 2. No tax shall be levied, or money of the State expended, or debt contracted for the erection of a State House prior to the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five.

SEC. 3. The seat of government, when established, as provided in section one, shall not be removed for the term of twenty years from the time of such establishment; nor in any other manner than as provided in the first section of this article; Provided, That all the public institutions of the State hereafter provided for by the Legislative Assembly, shall be located at the seat of government.

ARTICLE XV.

Miscellaneous.

SECTION 1. All officers except members of the Legislative Assembly shall hold their offices until their successors are elected and qualified. SEC. 2. When the duration of any office is not provided for by this Constitution, it may be declared by law; and if not so declared, such office shall be held during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment. But the Legislative Assembly shall not create any office the tenure of which shall be longer than four years.

SEC. 3. Every person elected or appointed to any office under this Constitution shall, before entering on the duties thereof, take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States and of this State, and also an oath of office.

SEC. 4. Lotteries, and the sale of lottery tickets, for any purpose whatever, are prohibited, and the Legislative Assembly shall prevent the same by penal laws.

SEC. 5. The property and pecuniary rights of every married woman at the time of marriage, or afterwards acquired by gift, devise or inheritance, shall not be subject to the debts or contracts of the husband; and laws shall be passed providing for the registration of the wife's separate property.

SEC. 6. No county shall be reduced to an area of less than four hundred square miles; nor shall any new county be established in this State containing a less area, nor unless such new county shall contain a population of at least twelve hundred inhabitants.

SEC. 7. No State officers or members of the Legislative Assembly shall directly or indirectly receive a fee, or be engaged as counsel, agent or attorney in the prosecution of any claim against this State.

SEC. 8. No Chinaman, not a resident of the State at the adoption. of this Constitution, shall ever hold any real estate or mining claim, or work any mining claim therein.

The Legislative Assembly shall provide by law in the most effectual manner for carrying out the above provisions.

ARTICLE XVI.

Boundaries.

SECTION 1. In order that the boundaries of the State may be known. and established, it is hereby ordained and declared that the State of Oregon shall be bounded as follows, to-wit:

Beginning one marine league at sea, due west from the point where the forty-second parallel of north latitude intersects the saine; thence northerly at the same distance from the line of the coast lying west and opposite the State, including all islands within the jurisdiction of the United States, to a point due west and opposite the middle of the north ship channel of the Columbia river; thence easterly to and up the middle channel of said river, and when it is divided by islands, up the middle of the widest channel thereof, and in like manner up the middle of the main channel of Snake river to the mouth of the Owyhee river; thence due south to the parrallel of latitude forty-two degrees north; thence west along said parallel to the place of beginning, including jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases upon the Columbia river and Snake river, concurrently with States and Territories of which those rivers form a boundary in common with this State. But the Congress of the United States, in providing for the admission of this State into the Union, may make the said northern boundary conform to the act creating the Territory of Washington.

ARTICLE XVII.,

Amendments.

SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either branch of the Legislative Assembly, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each of the two Houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall, with the yeas and nays thereon, be entered on their journals, and referred to the Legislative Assembly to be chosen at the next general election; and if, in the Legislative Assembly so next chosen, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each House, then it shall be the duty of the Legislative Assembly to submit such amendment or amendments to the electors of the State, and cause the same to be published without delay at least four consecutive weeks in several newspapers published in this State; and if a majority of said electors shall ratify the same, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of this Constitution.

SEC. 2. If two or more amendments shall be submitted in such manner, that the electors shall vote for or against each of such amendments separately; and while an amendment or amendments which shall have been agreed upon by one Legislative Assembly shall be awaiting the action of a Legislative Assembly, or of the electors, no additional amendment or amendments shall be proposed.

ARTICLE XVIII.

Schedule.

SECTION 1. For the purpose of taking the vote of the electors of the State for the acceptance or rejection of this Constitution, an election shall be held on the second Monday of November, in the year 1857, to be conducted according to existing laws regulating the election of Delegate in Congress, so far as applicable, except as herein otherwise provided.

SEC. 2. Each elector who offers to vote upon this Constitution shall be asked by the Judges of election this question:

Do you vote for the Constitution-yes or no?
And also this question:

Do you vote for slavery in Oregon-yes or no?

And also this question:

Do you vote for free negroes in Oregon-yes or no?

And in the poll books shall be columns headed respectively," Constitution, yes;""Constitution, no;""free negroes, yes ;""free negroes, no;" slavery, yes;" "slavery, no."

And the names of the electors shall be entered in the poll books, together with their answers to the said questions, under their appropriate heads. The abstracts of the votes transmitted to the Secretary of the Territory shall be publicly opened and canvassed by the Governor and Secretary, or by either of them in the absence of the other; and the Governor, or in his absence, the Secretary, shall forthwith issue his proclamation, and publish the same in the several newspapers printed in this State, declaring the result of the said election upon each of said questions.

SEC. 3. If a majority of all the votes given for and against the Constitution shall be given for the Constitution, then this Constitution shall be deemed to be approved and accepted by the electors of the State, and shall take effect accordingly; and if a majority of such votes shall be given against the Constitution, then this Constitution shall be deemed to be rejected by the electors of the State, and shall be void.

SEC. 4. If this Constitution shall be accepted by the electors, and a majority of all the votes given for and against slavery shall be given for slavery, then the following section shall be added to the bill of rights and shall be part of this Constitution :

"Section -.

Persons lawfully held as slaves in any State, Territory or district of the United States, under the laws thereof, may be brought into this State; and such slaves and their descendants may be held as slaves within this State. and shall not be emancipated without the consent of their owners."

And if a majority of such votes shall be given against slavery, then the foregoing section shall not, but the following section shall be added to the bill of rights, and shall be a part of this Constitution:

"Section There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the State, otherwise than as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."

And if a majority of all the votes given for and against free negroes shall be given against free negroes, then the following section shall be added to the bill of rights, and shall be a part of this Constitution: "Section -. No free negro or mulatto, not residing in this State at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall come, reside, or be within this State, or hold any real estate, or make any contracts, or maintain any suit therein; and the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal laws for the removal by public officers of all such negroes and mulattoes, and for their effectual exclusion from the State, and for the

punishment of persons who shall bring them into the State, or employ or harbor them."

SEC. 5. Until an enumeration of the white inhabitants of the State shall be made, and the Senators and Representatives apportioned as directed in the Constitution, the county of Marion shall have two Senators and four Representatives; Linn, two Senators and four Representatives; Lane, two Senators and three Representatives; Clackamas and Wasco, one Senator jointly, and Clackamas three Representatives, and Wasco, one Representative; Yamhill, one Senator and two Representatives; Polk, one Senator and two Representatives; Benton, one Senator and two Representatives; Multnomah, one Senator and two Representatives; Washington, Columbia, Clatsop and Tillamook, one Senator jointly, and Washington one Representative, and Washington and Columbia one Representative jointly; and Clatsop and Tillamook one Representative jointly, Douglas, one Senator and two Representatives; Jackson, one Senator and three Representatives; Josephine, one Senator and one Representative; Umpqua, Coos and Curry, one Senator jointly, and Umpqua one Representative, and Coos and Curry one Representative jointly.

SEC. 6. If this Constitution shall be ratified, an election shall be held on the first Monday in June, 1858, for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly, a Representative in Congress, and State and county officers; and the Legislative Assembly shall convene at the Capital on the first Monday of July, 1858, and proceed to elect two Senators in Congress, and make such further provision as may be necessary to the complete organization of a State government.

SEC. 7. All laws in force in the Territory of Oregon when this Constitution takes effect, and consistent therewith, shall continue in force until altered or repealed.

SEC. 8. All officers of the Territory of Oregon, or under its laws when this Constitution takes effect, shall continue in office until superseded by the State authorities.

SEC. 9. Crimes and misdemeanors committed against the Territory of Oregon shall be punished by the State as they might have been punished by the Territory if the change of government had not been made.

SEC. 10. All property and rights of the Territory and of the several counties, subdivisions and political bodies corporate of or in the Territory, including fines, penalties, forfeitures, debts and claims of whatsoever nature, and recognizances, obligations, and undertakings to or for the use of the Territory or any county, political corporation, office or otherwise, to or for the public, shall enure to the State, or remain to the county, local division, corporation, officer or public, as if the change of government had not been made; and private rights shall not be affected by such change.