And be adjourned from day to day until the same shall be completed. the order of the elections shall be as follows; the vacancies in the Senate, if any, shall be first filled up; the Governor shall then be elected, provided there should be no choice of him by the people; And afterwards the two houses shall proceed to the election of the Council. SECRETARY, TREASURER, COMMISSARY-GENERAL, &c. THE Secretary, Treasurer, and Commissary-General, shall be chosen by joint ballot of the Senators and Representatives assembled in one room. THE records of the State shall be kept in the office of the Secretary, who may appoint his deputies, for whose conduct he shall be answerable, and he shall attend the Governor and Council, the Senate and Representatives, in person or by deputy, as they may require. COUNTY-TREASURER, &c. THE County-Treasurers, and Registers of deeds, shall be elected by the inhabitants of the several towns, in the several Counties in the State, according to the method now practised, and the present laws of the State: And before they enter upon the business of their offices, shall be respectively sworn faithfully to discharge the duties thereof, and shall severally give bond with sufficient sureties, in a reasonable sum for the use of the County, for the punctual performance of their respective trusts. JUDICIARY POWER. THE tenure, that all commission officers shall have by law in their offices, shall be expressed in their respective commissions. All judicial officers, duly appointed, commissioned and sworn, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, excepting those concerning whom there is a different provision made in this Constitution: Provided nevertheless, the Governor, with consent of Council, may remove them upon the address of both houses of the Legislature. EACH branch of the Legislature, as well as the Governor and Council, shall have authority to require the opinions of the justices of the Superior Court upon important questions of law, and upon solemn occasions. In order that the people may not suffer from the long continuance in place of any justice of the peace, who shall fail in discharging the important duties of his office with ability and fidelity, all commissions of justices of the peace shall expire and become void, in the term of five years from their respective dates; and upon the expiration of any commission, the same may if necessary, be renewed, or another person appointed, as shall most conduce to the well-being of the State. THE judges of probate of wills, and for granting letters of administration, shall hold their courts at such place or places, on such fixed days, as the convenience of the people may require. And the Legislature shall from time to time, hereafter appoint such times and places, until which appointments the said Courts shall be holden at the times and places which the respective judges shall direct. ALL causes of marriage, divorce and alimony, and all appeals from the respective judges of probate, shall be heard and tried by the Superior Court, until the Legislature shall, by law make other provision. CLERKS OF COURTS. THE Clerks of the Superior Court of Judicature, Inferior Courts of Common Pleas, and General Sessions of the Peace, shall be appointed by the respective courts during pleasure. And to prevent any fraud or unfairness in the entries and records of said Courts, no such Clerk shall be of counsel in any cause in the Court of which he is Clerk, nor shall he fill any writ in any civil action whatsoever. DELEGATES TO CONGRESS. THE Delegates of this State to the Congress of the United States, shall some time between the first Wednesday of June, and the first Wednesday of September annually, be elected by the Senate and House of Representatives in their separate branches; to serve in Congress for one year, to commence on the first Monday of November then next ensuing. They shall have commissions under the hand of the Governor, and the great seal of the State; but may be recalled at any time within the year, and others chosen and commissioned, in the same manner, in their stead: And they shall have the same qualifications, in all respects, as by this Constitution are required for the Governor. No person shall be capable of being a delegate to Congress, for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall any person being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States, for which he, or any other for his benefit, receives any salary, or emolument of any kind. ENCOURAGEMENT of LITERATURE, &c. KNOWLEDGE, and Learning, generally diffused through a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government, and spreading the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the country, being highly conducive to promote this end; it shall be the duty of the Legislators and magistrates, in all future periods of this government, to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools, to encourage private and public institutions, rewards and immunities for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures and natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and œconomy, honesty and punctuality, sincerity, sobriety and all social affections, and generous sentiments, among the people. OATH and SUBSCRIPTIONS; EXCLUSION from OFFICES; COMMISSIONS; ANY person chosen Governor, Counsellor, Senator or Representatives, military and civil officers (Town officers excepted,) accepting the trust, shall before he or they proceed to execute the duties of his or their office, make and subscribe the following declaration, viz. I, A. B. do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify and declare, that the State of New Hampshire is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign, and independent State; and do swear that I will bear faith and true allegiance to the same, and that I will endeavour to defend it against all treacherous conspiracies and hostile attempts whatever: And I do further testify and declare, that no man or body of men, hath or can have, a right to absolve me from the obligation of this oath, declaration or affirmation; and that I do make this acknowledgement, profession, testimony, and declaration, honestly and truly, according to the common acceptation of the foregoing words, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation whatever. So help me GOD. I, A. B. do solemnly and sincerely swear and affirm, that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me as according to the best of my abilities, agreeably to the rules and regulations of this Constitution, and the laws of the State of New Hampshire. So help me GOD. Provided always, When any person chosen or appointed as aforesaid, shall be of the denomination called Quakers, or shall be scrupulous of swearing, and shall decline taking the said oaths, such shall take and subscribe them, omitting the word " swear" and likewise the words "So help me God," subjoining instead thereof, This I do under the pains and penalties of perjury. AND the oaths or affirmations shall be taken and subscribed by the Governor, before the President of the Senate in the presence of the two Houses of Assembly; and by the Senate and Representatives first elected under this Constitution, before the President and three of the Council of the former Constitution, and forever afterwards, before the Governor and Council for the time being; and by the residue of the officers aforesaid, before such persons, and in such manner as from time to time shall be prescribed by the Legislature. ALL commissions shall be in the name of the State of New-Hampshire, signed by the Governor, and attested by the Secretary, or his deputy, and shall have the great seal of the State affixed thereto. ALL writs issuing out of the Clerk's office in any of the Courts of law, shall be in the name of the State of New Hampshire; shall be under the seal of the Court whence they issue, and bear test of the chief, first, or senior Justice of the Court; but when such Justice shall be interested, then the writ shall bear test of some other Justice of the Court, to which the same shall be returnable, and be signed by the Clerk of such Court. ALL indictments, presentments and informations shall conclude against the peace and dignity of the State. THE estate of such persons as may destroy their own lives, shall not, for that offence be forfeited, but descend or ascend in the same manner, as if such persons had died in a natural way. Nor shall any article, which shall accidentally occasion the death of any person, be henceforth deemed a deodand, or in any wise forfeited on account of such misfortune. ALL the laws which have heretofore been adopted, used and approved, in the Province, Colony, or State of New-Hampshire, and usually practised on in the Courts of law, shall still remain and be in full force, until altered and repealed by the Legislature; such parts thereof only excepted, as are repugnant to the rights and liberties contained in this Constitution.-Provided that nothing herein contained, when compared with the twenty third article in the bill of rights, shall be construed to effect the laws already made respecting the persons, or estates of absentees. THE privilege and benefit of the Habeas Corpus, shall be enjoyed in this State, in the most free, easy, cheap, expeditious, and ample manner, and shall not be suspended by the Legislature, except upon the most urgent and pressing occasions, and for a time not exceeding three months. THE enacting stile in making and passing acts, statutes and laws, shall be-Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened. No Governor, or Judge of the Superior Court, shall hold any office or place, under the authority of this State, except such as by this Constitution they are admitted to hold, saving that the Judges of the said Court may hold the offices of Justice throughout the State; nor shall they hold any place or office, or receive any pension or salary, from any other State, Government or Power whatever. No person shall be capable of exercising at the same time, more than one of the following offices within this State, viz. Judge of Probate, Sheriff, Register of deeds; and never more than two offices of profit which may be held by appointment of the Governor, or Governor and Council, or Senate and House of Representatives, or Superior or Inferior Courts; military offices and offices of Justices of the Peace excepted. No person holding the office of Judge of the Superior Court, Secretary, Treasurer of the State, Judge of Probate, Attorney-General, Commissary-General, Judge of the Maritime Court, or Judge of the Court of Admiralty, military Officers receiving pay from the Continent or this State, excepting officers of the militia occasionally called forth on an emergency, Judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, Register of deeds, President, Professor or Instructor of any College, Sheriff, or officer of the customs, including Naval Officers, shall at the same time have a seat in the Senate or House of Representatives, or Council; but their being chosen or appointed to, and accepting the same, shall operate as a resignation of their seat in the Senate, or House of Representatives or Council, and the place so vacated shall be filled up. No person shall ever be admitted to hold a Seat in the Legislature, or any office of trust or importanee under this Government, who in the due course of law, has been convicted of bribery or corruption in obtaining an election or appointment. In all cases where sums of money are mentioned in this Constitution, the value thereof shall be computed in silver at ŝix shillings and eight pence per ounce. To the end that there may be no failure of justice or danger arise to this State from a change of the form of Government, all civil and military officers, holding commissions under the Government and People of New Hampshire, and other officers of the said Government and People, at the time this Constitution shall take effect, shall hold, exercise and enjoy all the powers and authorities to them granted and committed, until other persons shall be appointed in their stead. All Courts of law in the business of their respective departments, and the Executive and Legislative Bodies and Persons, shall continue in full force, enjoyment and exercise of all their trusts and employments, until the General Court and the Supreme and other Executive officers under this Constitution, are designated and invested with their respective trusts, powers and authority. THIS form of Government shall be enrolled on parchment, and deposited in the Secretary's office, and be a part of the laws of the land, and printed copies thereof shall be prefixed to the books containing the laws of this State, in all future editions thereof. To preserve an effectual adherence to the principles of the Constitution, and to correct any violations thereof, as well as to make such alterations therein, as from experience may be found necessary, the General Court shall at the expiration of seven years from the time this Constitution shall take effect, issue precepts, or direct them to be issued from the Secretary's office, to the several Towns and incorporated Places, to elect delegates to meet in Convention for the purpose aforesaid: The said delegates to be chosen in the same manner and proportion'd as the Representatives to the General Assembly. Provided that no alteration shall be made in this Constitution before the same shall be laid before the Towns and unincorporated Places, and approved by two thirds of the qualified voters present, and voting upon the ques tion. GEORGE ATKINSON, President. Attest, JOHN SULLIVAN, Secretary P. T. IN CONVENTION, August 21, 1782. RESOLVED, that this Convention be adjourned to the last Tuesday of December next, to meet at Concord; and that eight hundred copies of the Plan of Government, which is agreed upon, to be printed, including such as shall be ordered to each member of the General-Court, and of the Convention, be sent to the selectmen of each town, and assessors of each plantation, under the direction of the Committee appointed for that purpose: And that the selectmen and assessors be requested as soon as may be, to lay the same before the inhabitants of their respective towns & plantations. And if any part of the inhabitants of said towns and plantations disapprove of any particular part of the same, that they be desired to state their objections distinctly and the reasons therefor. And the selectmen and assessors are desired to transmit the same to the Convention on the last Tuesday of December aforesaid, or to the Secretary of the Convention before then, in order for the revision and consideration of the Convention at the adjournment; with the number of voters in said towns and plantations meetings, on each side of the question: That the Convention may be able to collect the general sense of the people of this State on the several parts of the proposed Constitution: And if there should not appear to be two thirds of the people in favor thereof, that the Convention may alter it in such manner as may be most agreeable to the sentiments of two thirds of the voters throughout the State. GEORGE ATKINSON, President. Attest, JOHN SULLIVAN, Secretary, P. T. NOTE BY THE EDITOR. Agreeably to adjournment, the Convention met in Concord, the last Tuesday in Dec', 1782; and found that the second Constitution was rejected. They then adjourned to meet in Concord the first Tuesday in June, 1783; when they met and agreed upon a third form for a Constitution, which, as before, was sent out to the people for their ratification or rejection. The Convention then adjourned to October 31st, 1783, (1) (1) See N. H. Reg. 1852, p. 26. The whole time from the beginning of the first Convention, June 5, 1781, to the declaration of the Constitution, Oct. 31, 1783, was two years, four months, and twenty-six days,-with seven sessions. ED. |