AMENDMENTS. WHEREAS, the General Assembly of North Carolina, by an act, passed the sixth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, entitled "An Act concerning a Convention, to Amend the Constitution of the State," and by an act, supplemental thereto, passed on the eighth day of January one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, did direct that polls. should be opened in every election precinct throughout the State, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it was the will of the freemen of North Carolina that there should be a Convention of Delegates, to consider of certain amendments proposed to be made in the Constitution of said State; and did further direct, that, if a majority of all the votes polled by the freemen of North Carolina be in favor of holding such Convention, the Governor should, by Proclamation, announce the fact, and thereupon the freemen aforesaid should elect delegates to meet in Convention, at the City of Raleigh, on first Thursday in June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, to consider of the said amendments: And whereas, a majority of the freemen of North Carolina did, by their votes at the polls so opened, declare their will that a Convention should be had to consider of the amendments proposed; and the Governor did, by proclamation, announce the fact that their will had been so declared, and an election for delegates to meet in Convention as aforesaid, was accordingly had: Now, therefore, we, the delegates of the good people of North Carolina, having assembled in Convention, at the City of Raleigh, on the first Thursday in June, ore thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, and having continued in session from day to day, until the eleventh of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, for the more deliberate consideration of the said amendments, do now submit to the determination of all the qualified voters of the State, the following amendments in the Constitution thereof, that is to say: ARTICLE I. SECTION 1. The Senate of this State shall consist of fifty Representatives, biennially chosen by ballot, and to be elected by districts; which districts shall be laid off by the General Assembly, at its first session after the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-one; and afterwards, at its first session after the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one; and then every twenty years thereafter, in proportion to the public taxes paid into the Treasury of the State by the citizens thereof; and the average of the public taxes paid by each county into the Treasury of the State, for the five years preceding the laying off the districts, shall be considered as its proportion of the public taxes, and constitute the basis of apportionment: Provided, That no county shall be divided in the formation of a Senatorial District. And when there are one or more counties, having an excess of taxation above the ratio to form a Senatorial District, adjoining a county or counties deficient in such ratio, the excess or excesses aforesaid shall be added to the taxation of the county or counties deficient; and if, with such addition, the county or counties receiving it shall have the requisite ratio, such county and counties each shall constitute a Senatorial District. The House of Commons shall be composed of one hundred and twenty Representatives, biennially chosen by ballot, to be elected by counties according to their federal population, that is, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all persons; and each county shall have at least one member in the House of Commons although it may contain the requisite ratio of population. The apportionment shall be made by the General Assembly, at the respective times and periods when the districts for the Senate are hereinbefore directed to be laid off; and the said apportionment shall be made according to an enumeration to be ordered by the General Assembly, or according to the Census which may be taken by order of Congress, next preceding the period of making such apportionment. In making the apportionment in the House of Commons, the ratio of representation shall be ascertained by dividing the amount of Federal population in the State, after deducting that comprehended within those counties which do not severally contain the one hundred and twentieth part of the entire Federal population aforesaid, by the number of Representatives less than the number assigned to the said counties. To each county containing the said ratio, and not twice the said ratio, there shall be assigned one Representative; to each county containing twice, but not three times the said ratio, there shall be assigned two Representatives, and so on progressively, and then the remaining Representatives shall be assigned severally to the counties having the largest fractions. SEC. 2. Until the first session of the General Assembly which shall be had after the year eighteen hundred and forty-one, the Senate shall be composed of members to be elected from the several districts hereinafter named, that is to say, the 1st district, shall consist of the counties of Perquimans and Pasquotank; the 2d district, of Camden and Currituck; the 3d district, of Gates and Chowan; the 4th district, Washington and Tyrrell; the 5th district, Northampton; the 6th district, Hertford; the 7th district, Bertie; the 8th district, Martin; the 9th district, Halifax; the 10th district, Nash; the 11th district, Wake; the 12th district, Franklin; the 13th district, Johnston; the 14th district, Warren; the 15th district, Edgecomb; the 16th district, Wayne; the 17th district, Greene and Lenoir; the 18th district, Pitt; the 19th district, Beaufort and Hyde; the 20th district, Carteret and Jones; the 21st district, Craven; the 22d district, Chatham; the 23d district, Granville; the 24th district, Person; the 25th district, Cumberland; the 26th district, Sampson; the 27th district, New Hanover; the 28th district, Duplin; the 29th district, Onslow; the 30th district, Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus; the 31st district, Robeson and Richmond; the 32d district, Anson; the 33d district Cabarrus; the 34th district, Moore and Montgomery; the 35th district, Caswell; the 36th district, Rockingham; the 37th district, Orange; the 38th district, Randolph; the 39th district, Guilford; the 40th district, Stokes; the 41st district, Rowan; the 42d district, Davidson; the 43d district, Surry; the 44th district, Wilkes and Ashe; the 45th district, Burke and Yancey; the 46th district, Lincoln; the 47th district, Iredell; the 48th district, Rutherford; the 49th district, Buncombe, Haywood and Macon; and the 50th district, Mecklenburg; each district shall be entitled to one Senator. Until the first session of the General Assembly after the year eighteen hundred and forty-one, the House of Commons shall be composed of members élected from the counties in the following manner, viz: The counties of Lincoln and Orange shall elect four members each. The counties of Burke, Chatham, Granville, Guilford, Halifax, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Rutherford, Surry, Stokes and Wake, shall elect three members each. The counties of Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Buncombe, Cumberland, Craven, Caswell, Davidson, Duplin, Edgecomb, Franklin, Johnston, Montgomery, New Hanover, Nerthampton, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Robeson, Richmond, Rockingham, Sampson, Warren, Wayne and Wilkes, shall elect two members each. The counties of Ashe, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Columbus, Chowan, Currituck, Carteret, Cabarrus, Gates, Greene, Haywood, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Macon, Moore, Martin, Nash, Onslow, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Washington and Yancy, shall elect one member each. SEC. 3. Each member of the Senate shall have usually resided in the district for which he is chosen, for one year, immediately preceding his election, and for the same time shall have possessed and continue to possess, in the district which he represents, not less than three hundred acres of land in fee. All freemen of the age of twenty-one years, (except as is hereinafter declared) who have been inhabitants of any one district within the State twelve months immediately preceding the day of any e'ection, and possessed of a freehold within the same district of fifty acres of land, for six months next before and at the day of election, shall be entitled to vote for a member of the Senate.. No free negro, free mulatto, or free person son of mixed blood, descended from negro ancestors, to the fourth generation, inclusive, (though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white person,) shall vote for members of the Senate or House of Commons. SEC. 4. In the election of all officers, whose appointment is conferred on the General Assembly by the Constitution, the vote shall be viva voce. The General Assembly shall have power to pass laws regulating the mode of appointing and removing Militia Officers. The General Assembly shall have power to pass general laws, regulating divorce and alimony, but shall not have power to grant a divorce, or secure alimony in any individual case. The 'General Assembly shall not have power to pass any private law, to alter the name of any person, or to legitimate any persons not born in lawful wedlock, or to restore to the rights of citizenship any person convicted of an infamous crime: but shall have power to pass general laws regulating the same. The General Assembly shall not pass any private law, unless it shall be made to appear, that thirty days notice of application to pass such law shall have been given under such directions and in such manner as shall be provided by law. If vacancies shall occur by death, resignation or otherwise, before the meeting of the General Assembly, writs may be issned by the Governor, under such regulations as may be preseribed by law. The General Assembly shall meet biennially, and at each biennial session shall elect, by joint vote of the two Houses, a Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Council of State, who shall continue in office for the term of two years. ARTICLE II. The Governor shall be chosen by the qualified voters for the members of the House of Commons, at such time and places as members of the General Assembly are elected. He shall hold his office for the term of two years from the time of his installation, and until another shall be elected and qualified; but he shall not be eligible more than four years in any term of six years. The returns of every election for Governor, shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of Government, by the returning officers, directed to the Speaker of the Senate, who shall open and publish them in the presence of a majority of the members of both Houses of the General Assembly. The person having the highest number of votes, shall be Governor; but if two or more shall be equal and highest in votes, one of them shall be chosen Governor by joint vote of both Houses of the General Assembly. Contested elections for Governor, shall be determined by both Houses of the General Assembly, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law. The Governor elect shall enter on the duties of the office, on the first day of January next after his election, having previ |