NOTE.

Amendments adopted by the Convention, which stand as separate articles or paragraphs, are printed in solid form, and enclosed in brackets, to distinguish them from existing provisions of the Constitution. Where an

amendment has been made, by adding words to an article or paragraph in the existing Constitution, the amendment is printed in italics.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-Three.

RESOLVES.

In the Convention of the delegates of the people assembled in Boston, on the first Wednesday of May, in the year one. thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, for the purpose of revising and amending the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

Resolved, That the revised Constitution, proposed by said Convention, be submitted to the people of the Commonwealth for their ratification and adoption in the manner following, viz. :

I. The Preamble. A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Frame of Government, with its Preamble and Chapters numbered One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, and Fourteen, entitled, respectively, General Court: Senate: House of Representatives: Governor : Lieutenant-Governor: Council: Secretary, Treasurer, AttorneyGeneral, Auditor, District Attorney, and County Officers: Judiciary Power: Qualifications of Voters and Elections: Oaths

and Subscriptions: Militia: The University at Cambridge, The School Fund and the Encouragement of Literature: Miscellaneous Provisions: Revisions and Amendments of the Constitution, as a distinct proposition, numbered "One."

If this proposition, so submitted, shall be ratified and adopted by a majority of the legal voters of the Commonwealth, present and voting thereon, at meetings duly called, then the same shall be the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

II. The provision respecting the granting of the writ of Habeas Corpus, as a proposition, numbered "Two.”

If this proposition be ratified and adopted, it shall be an addition to the provision respecting the Habeas Corpus.

III. The provision respecting the rights of juries in criminal trials, as a prosition, numbered "Three."

If this proposition be ratified and adopted, it shall be an addition to the article in the Declaration of Rights, respecting the rights of persons charged with crimes.

IV. The provision respecting claims against the Commonwealth, as a proposition, numbered "Four."

If this proposition be ratified and adopted, it shall be an addition to Article XI., of the Declaration of Rights.

V. The provision respecting imprisonment for debt, as a proposition, numbered "Five."

If this proposition be adopted, it shall be an addition to the Article in the Declaration of Rights respecting excessive bail and fines.

VI. The provision respecting sectarian schools, as a prop sition, numbered "Six."

If this proposition be ratified and adopted, it shall be an addition to Article IV. of Chapter XII., entitled, "The University at Cambridge, The School Fund, and The Encouragement of Literature." If proposition numbered "One" shall

not be adopted, the proposition numbered "Six" shall be added as an amendment to the Constitution.

VII. The provision respecting Corporations, as a proposition, numbered "Seven."

VIII. The provision respecting Banks and Banking, as a proposition, numbered "Eight."

If the propositions numbered "Seven" and "Eight Eight" be ratified and confirmed, they shall be added as separate articles, or if either of them be ratified and confirmed, as an article in Chapter XIII., entitled, "Miscellaneous Provisions."

If proposition numbered "One" be not ratified and confirmed, they shall be added as amendments to the Constitution.

Resolved, That at the meetings for the election of Governor, Senators and Representatives to the General Court, to be holden on the second Monday of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, the qualified voters of the several towns and cities shall vote by ballot upon each of the propositions aforesaid, for or against the same, which ballots shall be inclosed within sealed envelopes, according to the provisions of an Act of this Commonwealth, passed on the twenty-second day of May, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-one, and an Act passed the twentieth day of May, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and no ballots not so inclosed shall be received. And said votes shall be received, sorted, counted, declared, and recorded, in open meeting, in the same manner as is by law provided in reference to votes for governor, and a true copy of the record of said votes, attested by the selectmen and town clerk of each of the several towns, and the mayor and aldermen and city clerk of each of the several cities, shall be sealed up by said selectmen and mayor and aldermen, and directed to the secretary of the Commonwealth, with a superscription expressing the purport of the contents thereof, and delivered to the sheriff of the county within fifteen days after said meetings, to be by him transmitted to the secretary's office, on or before the third Monday of December next; or, the said selectmen and mayor

and aldermen shall themselves transmit the same to the secretary's office, on or before the day last aforesaid.

Resolved, That the Secretary shall deliver said copies, so transmitted to him, to a Committee of this Convention, consisting of the President of the Convention, and twenty other members, to be by him designated, who shall assemble at the State House, on the third Monday of December next, and open the saine, and examine and count the votes so returned; and if it shall appear that either of said propositions has been adopted by a majority of votes, then the proposition so adopted shall become and be either the whole or a portion of the Constitution of this Commonwealth, as hereinbefore provided, and the said Committee shall promulgate the results of said votes upon each of said propositions, by causing the same to be published in those newspapers in which the laws are now published; and shall also notify the Governor and Legislature, as soon as may be, of the said results; and the Governor shall forthwith make. public proclamation of the fact of the adoption of either or all of said propositions, as the whole or as parts of the Constitútion of this Commonwealth.

:

Resolved, That each of said propositions shall be considered as a whole by itself, to be adopted in the whole, or rejected in the whole. And every voter shall vote on each proposition by its appropriate number, indicating upon his ballot the subject. of the proposition, and expressing in writing or printing opposite to each proposition the word YES or NO; but the propositions shall all be written or printed on one ballot in substance as follows:

CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSITIONS.

Shall Proposition NUMBER ONE, containing the Preamble, Declaration of Rights and Frame of Government, stand as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ?

Yes or No.

Shall Proposition NUMBER Two, respecting the Habeas Corpus, stand as part of the Constitution?

Yes or No.