amendment or amendments shall be entered on the journals of the two Houses, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the General Court then next to be chosen, and shall be published; and if in the General Court next chosen, as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of the Senators and two thirds of the members of the House of Representatives present and voting thereon; then it shall be the duty of the General Court to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people; and if they shall be approved and ratified by a majority of the qualified voters, voting thereon, at meetings legally warned and holden for that purpose, they shall become part of the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

ART. 10. The political year shall begin on the first Wednesday of January instead of the last Wednesday of May, and the General Court shall assem-` ble every year on the said first Wednesday of January, and shall proceed, at that session, to make all the elections, and do all the other acts, which are by the Constitution required to be made and done at the session which has heretofore commenced on the last Wednesday of May. And the General Court shall be dissolved on the day next preceding the first Wednesday of January, without any proclamation or other act of the Governor. But nothing herein contained shall prevent the General Court from assembling at such other times as they shall judge necessary, or when called together by the Governor. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Counsellors, shall also hold their respective offices for one year next following the first Wednesday of January, and until others are chosen and qualified in their stead.

The meeting for the choice of Governor, Lieu.

tenant Governor, Senators and Representatives, shall be held on the second Monday of November in every year, but meetings may be adjourned, if necessary, for the choice of Representatives, to the next day, and again to the next succeeding day, but no further. But in case a second meeting shall be necessary for the choice of Representatives, such meeting shall be held on the fourth Monday of the same month of November.

All the other provisions of the Constitution, respecting the elections and proceedings of the members of the General Court, or any other officers or persons whatever, that have reference to the last Wednesday of May as the commencement of the political year, shall be so far altered, as to have like reference to the first Wednesday of January.

This article shall go into operation on the first day of October, next following the day when the same shall be duly ratified and adopted as an amendment of the Constitution; and the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Counsellors, Senators, Representatives, and all other state officers, who are annually chosen, and who shall be chosen for the current year, when the same shall go into operation, shall hold their respective offices until the first Wednesday of January, then next following, and until others are chosen and qualified in their stead, and no longer; and the first election of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Senators and Representatives, to be had in virtue of this article, shall be had conformably thereunto, in the month of November following the day on which the same shall be in force and go into operation, pursuant to the foregoing provision.

All the provisions of the existing Constitution, inconsistent with the provisions herein contained, are hereby wholly annulled.

ART. 11.-As the Public Worship of God, and

instructions in piety, religion, and morality, promote the happiness and prosperity of a people, and the security of a Republican Government; therefore, the several religious Societies of this Commonwealth, whether corporate or unincorporate, at any meeting legally warned and holden for that purpose, shall ever have the right to elect their pastors or religious teachers, to contract with them for their support, to raise money for erecting and repairing houses for Public Worship, for the maintenance of religious instruction, and for the payment of necessary expenses: And all persons belonging to any Religious Society shall be taken and held to be members, until they shall file with the Clerk of such Society a written notice declaring the dissolution of their membership, and thenceforth shall not be liable for any grant of contract which may be thereafter made or entered into by such Society: And all religious sects and denominations demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good citizens of the Commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law; and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another, shall ever be established by law.

ART. 12.-In order to provide for a representation of the citizens of this Commonwealth, founded upon the principles of equality, a census of the ratable polls in each city, town, and district of the Commonwealth, on the first day of May, shall be taken and returned into the Secretary's office, in such manner as the Legislature shall provide within the month of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, and in every tenth year thereafter in the month of May, in manner aforesaid; and each town or city having three hundred ratable polls at the last preceding decennial census of polls, may elect one representative, and

for every four hundred and fifty ratable polls in addition to the first three hundred, one representative

more.

Any town having less than three hundred ratable polls shall be represented thus; the whole number of ratable polls, at the last preceding decennial census of polls, shall be multiplied by ten, and the product divided by three hundred, and such town may elect one representative as many years within ten years as three hundred is contained in the product aforesaid.

Any city or town having ratable polls enough to elect one or more representatives, with any number of polls beyond the necessary number, may be represented as to that surplus number, by multiplying such surplus number by ten, and dividing the product by four hundred and fifty; and such city or town may elect one additional representative as many years within the ten years, as four hundred and fifty is contained in the product aforesaid.

Any two or more of the several towns and districts may, by consent of a majority of the legal voters present at a legal meeting in each of said towns and districts respectively, called for that purpose and held previous to the first day of July, in the year in which the decennial census of polls shall be taken, form themselves into a representative district, to continue until the next decennial census of polls, for the elec. tion of a representative or representatives; and such district shall have all the rights, in regard to representation, which would belong to a town containing the same number of ratable polls.

The Governor and Council shall ascertain and determine, within the months of July and August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, according to the foregoing principles, the number of representatives which each city, town and representative district is entitled to elect,

and the number of years within the period of ten years, then next ensuing, that each city, town and representative district may elect an additional representative; and where any town has not a sufficient number of polls to elect a representative each year, then how many years within the ten years such town may elect a representative; and the same shall be done once in ten years thereafter, by the Governor and Council, and the number of rateable polls in each decennial census of polls shall determine the number of representatives which each city, town, and representative district may elect as aforesaid; and when the number of representatives to be elected by each city, town or representative district, is ascertained and determined as aforesaid, the Governor shall cause the same to be published forthwith for the information of the people, and that number shall remain fixed and unalterable for the period of ten years.

All the provisions of the existing Constitution inconsistent with the provisions herein contained, are hereby wholly annulled.

ART. 13.-A census of the inhabitants of each city and town, on the first day of May, shall be taken, and returned into the Secretary's office, on or before the last day of June, of the year one thou. sand eight hundred and forty, and of every tenth year thereafter, which census shall determine the apportionment of Senators and Representatives for the term of ten years.

The several Senatorial Districts now existing, shall be permanent. The Senate shall consist of forty members; and in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, and every tenth year thereafter, the Governor and Council shall assign the number of Senators to be chosen in each district, according