SEC. 7. The money subject to the support and maintenance of common schools shall be distributed to the districts in proportion to the number of youths between the ages of five and twenty-one years, in such manner as may be provided by the general assembly.

ARTICLE X.--AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the general assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature to be chosen at the next general election, and shall be published, as provided by law, for three months previous to the time of making such choice; and if, in the general assembly so next chosen as aforesaid, 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 general assembly to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people in such manner, and at such time as the general assembly shall provide; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of the constitution of this state.

SEC. 2. If two or more amendments shall be submitted at the same time, they shall be submitted in such manner that the electors shall vote for or against each of such amendments separately.

SEC. 3. At the general election to be held in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and in each tenth year thereafter, and also at such times as the general assembly may by law provide, the question, "Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution, and amend the same?" shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting at such election for and against such proposition, shall decide in favor of a convention for such purpose, the general assembly, at its next session, shall provide by law for the election of delegates to such convention.

ARTICLE XI.—MISCELLANEOUS.

SECTION 1. The jurisdiction of justices of the peace shall extend to all civil cases, (except cases in chancery, and cases where the question of title to real estate may arise), where the amount in controversy does not exceed one hundred dollars, and by the consent of parties may be extended to any amount not exceeding three hundred dollars.

SEC. 2. No new county shall be hereafter created containing less than four hundred and thirty-two square miles, nor shall the territory of any organized county be reduced below that area, except the county of Worth, and the counties west of it, along the northern boundary of this state, may be organized without additional territory.

SEC. 3. No county, or other political or municipal corporation, shall be allowed to become indebted, in any manner or for any purpose, to an amount, in the aggregate, exceeding five per centum of the value of the taxable property within such county or corporation-to be ascertained by the last state and county tax lists, previous to the incurring of such indebtedness.

SEC. 4. The boundaries of the state may be enlarged, with the consent of congress and the general assembly.

SEC. 5. Every person elected or appointed to any office, shall, before entering upon 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. 6. In all cases of elections to fill vacancies in office occuring before the expiration of a full term, the person so elected shall hold for the residue of the unexpired term; and all persons appointed to fill vacancies in office, shall hold until the next general election, and until their successors. are elected and qualified.

SEC. 7. The general assembly shall not locate any of the public lands which have been, or may be granted by congress to this state, and the location of which may be given to the general assembly, upon lands actually settled, without the consent of the occupant. The extent of the claim of such occupant so exempted shall not exceed three hundred and twenty

acres.

SEC. 8. The seat of government is hereby permanently established, as now fixed by law, at the city of Des Moines, in the county of Polk; and the State University at Iowa City, in the county of Johnson.

ARTICLE XII.-SCHEDULE.

SECTION 1. The constitution shall be the supreme law of the state, and any law inconsistent therewith shall be void. The general assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry this constitution into effect.

SEC. 2. All laws now in force and not inconsistent with this constitution shall remain in force until they shall expire or be repealed.

SEC. 3. All indictments, prosecutions, suits, pleas, plaints, process, and other proceedings pending in any of the courts, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution; and all appeals, writs of error, certiorari, and injunctions, shall be carried on in the several courts, in the same manner as now provided by law, and all offenses, misdemeanors and crimes that may have been committed before the taking effect of this constitution, shall be subject to indictment, trial and punishment, in the same manner as they would have been had this constitution not been made.

SEC. 4. All fines, penalties or forfeitures due, or to become due, or accruing to the state, or to any county therein, or to the school fund, shall inure to the state, county, or school fund, in the manner prescribed by law.

SEC. 5. All bonds executed to the state, or to any officer in his official capacity, shall remain in force and inure to the use of those concerned.

SEC. 7. The first election under this constitution shall be held on the second Tuesday in October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fiftyseven, at which time the electors of the state shall elect the governor and lieutenant governor. There shall also be elected at auch election the successors of such state senators as were elected at the August election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, and members of the house of representatives, who shall be elected in accordance with the act of apportionment, enacted at the session of the general assembly which commenced on the first Monday of December, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.

SEC. 7. The first election for secretary, auditor and treasurer of state, attorney-general, district judges, members of the board of education, district attorneys, members of congress, and such state officers as shall be elected at the April election in the year one thousand eight hundred and

fifty-seven, (except the superintendent of public instruction,) and such county officers as were elected at the August election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, except prosecuting attorneys, shall be held on the second Tuesday of October, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight: Provided, that the time for which any district judge or other state or county officer elected at the April election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, shall not extend beyond the time fixed for filling like offices at the October election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.

SEC. 8. The first election for judges of the supreme court, and such county officers as shall be elected at the August election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, shall be held on the second Tuesday of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.

SEC. 9. The first regular session of the general assembly shall be held in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, commencing on the second Monday of January of said year.

SEC. 10. Senators elected at the August election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six shall continue in office until the second Tuesday of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fiftynine, at which time their successors shall be elected as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 11. Every person elected by popular vote, by a vote of the general assembly, or who may hold office by executive appointment, which office is continued by this constitution, and every person who shall be so elected or appointed to any such office, before the taking effect of this constitution, (except as in this constitution otherwise provided) shall continue in office until the term for which such person has been or may be elected or appointed shall expire; but no such person shall continue in office after the taking effect of this constitution, for a longer period than the term of such office, in this constitution prescribed.

SEC. 12. The general assembly, at the first session under this constitution, shall district the state into eleven judicial districts, for district court purposes; and shall also provide for the appointment of the members of the general assembly in accordance with provisions of this constitution.

SEC. 13. This constitution shall be submitted to the electors of the state at the August election, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fiftyseven, in the several election districts in this state. The ballots at such election shall be written or printed as follows: Those in favor of the constitution, "New Constitution-Yes." Those against the constitution, "New Constitution-No." The election shall be conducted in the same manner as the general elections of the state, and the poll-books shall be returned and canvassed as provided in the twenty-fifth chapter of the code, and abstracts shall be forwarded to the secretary of state, which abstracts shall be canvassed in the manner provided for the canvass of state officers. And if it shall appear that a majority of all the votes cast at such election for and against this constitution are in favor of the same, the governor shall immediately issue his proclamation stating that fact, and such constitution shall be the constitution of the state of Iowa, and shall take effect from and after the publication of said proclamation.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.

When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi River; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the "New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old "Northwestern Territory."

In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles; being greater in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate population, at the present time, of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of the entire population of the United States.

Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and farstretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent on the globe.

For the last twenty years the increase of population in the Northwest has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.

C

Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand "reminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of France." By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of inhabitants yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under the fastidious cultivation of lordly proprietors.

On June 25, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in the boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within a half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person. After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to about latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course