Слике страница
PDF
ePub

4. The General Assembly shall have power to exclude from every office of honor, trust, or profit, within the State, and from the right of suffrage, all persons convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime.

5. No person shall be capable of holding or of being elected to any post of honor, profit, trust, or emolument, civil or military, legislative, executive, or judicial, under the government of this State, who shall hereafter fight a duel, or send or accept a challenge to fight a duel, the probable issue of which may be the death of the challenger or challenged, or who shall be a second to either party, or who shall in any manner aid or assist in such duel, or shall be knowingly the bearer of such challenge or acceptance, whether the same occur or be committed in or out of the State.

6. No person who may hereafter be a collector or holder of public moneys, shall have a seat in either House of the General Assembly, or be eligible to any office of trust or profit under this State, until he shall have accounted for, and paid into the Treasury, all sums for which he may be accountable.

7. No Governor, member of Congress, or of the General Assembly of this State, shall receive a fee, be engaged as counsel, agent, or attorney, in any civil case or claim against this State, or to which this State shall be a party, during the time he shall remain in office.

8. No Governor, justice of the supreme court, chancellor, or judge in this State, shall be eligible to election or appointment to any other and different station, or office, or post of honor or emolument, under this State, or to the station of Senator or Representative in the Congress of the United States from this State, until one year after he shall have ceased to be such Governor, justice, chancellor, or judge.

9. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office of profit under this State, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during such term, except such offices as may be filled by elections by the people.

10. No minister of the gospel shall be eligible to the office of Governor, Senator, or member of the House of Representatives of this State.

11. Members of the General Assembly, and all officers, civil and military, before they enter upon the execution of their respective offices, shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I, do swear (or affirm) that I am duly qualified, according to the constitution of this State, to exercise the office to which I have been elected, (or appointed,) and will, to the best of my abilities, discharge the duties thereof, and preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of this State, and of the United States."

12. Every person shall be disqualified from serving as Governor, Senator, Representative, or from holding any other office of honor or profit in this State, for the term for which he shall have been elected, who shall have been convicted of having given or offered any bribe to procure his election.

13. Laws shall be made by the General Assembly to exclude from office, and from suffrage, those who shall have been, or may thereafter be, convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crime or misdemeanor; and the privilege of suffrage shall be supported by laws regulating elections, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence thereon, from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper practices.

14. All civil officers of the State at large shall reside within the State,

and all district or county officers within their respective districts or counties, and shall keep their respective offices at such places therein as may be required by law.

15. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to regulate by law in what cases, and what deduction from the salaries of public officers shall be made, for neglect of duty in their official capacity.

16. Returns of elections for members of Congress and the General Assembly shall be made to the Secretary of State, in manner to be prescribed by law.

17. In all elections by the General Assembly, the vote shall be viva voce; and in all elections by the people, the vote shall be by ballot.

18. No member of Congress, or person holding or exercising any office of profit under the United States, or under any foreign Power, shall be eligible as a member of the General Assembly of this State, or hold or exercise any office of profit under the State; and no person in this State shall ever hold two offices of profit at the same time, except the office of justice of the peace, notary public, constable, and militia offices.

19. The General Assembly shall by law provide for the appointment or election, and the removal from office, of all officers, civil and military, in this State, not provided for in this constitution.

20. The power of impeachment shall be vested in the House of Representatives.

21. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate; and, when sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be upon oath or affirmation; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

22. The Governor, and all civil officers, shall be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office; but judgment, in such cases, shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit, under this State; but the parties shall, nevertheless, be liable to indictment, trial, and punishment, according to law.

ARTICLE VII.

Militia.

1. All militia officers shall be elected by the persons subject to military duty within the bounds of their several companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, and divisions, under such rules and regulations as the General Assembly may, from time to time, direct and establish.

2. The Governor shall appoint all the officers of the executive staff, except the adjutant general and paymaster general, who shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The majors general and brigadiers general, and commanding officers of regiments, shall appoint such staff officers as may be prescribed by law: provided, no person shall be eligible to any staff appointment unless he hold a commission in the line.

ARTICLE VIII

Taxation and revenue.

1. The General Assembly shall devise and adopt a system of revenue, having regard to an equal and uniform mode of taxation, to be general throughout the State.

2. No other or greater amount of tax or revenue shall at any tim3 be levied than may be required for the necessary expenses of Government. 3. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of an appropriation by law; and a regular statement of the receipts and the expenditures of all public moneys shall be published and promulgated annually with the laws of the General Assembly.

4. The General Assembly shall have power to authorize the several counties and incorporated towns in this State to impose taxes for county and corporation purposes, respectively; and all property shall be taxed upon the principles established in regard to State taxation.

ARTICLE IX.

Census and apportionment of representation.

1. The General Assembly shall, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, and every tenth year thereafter, cause an enumeration to be made of all the inhabitants of the State, and to the whole number of free white inhabitants shall be added three-fifths of the number of slaves; and they shall then proceed to apportion the representation equally among the different counties, according to such enumeration, giving, however, one Representative to every county, and increasing the number of Representatives, on a uniform ratio of population, according to the foregoing basis; and which ratio shall not be changed until a new census shall have been taken.

2. The General Assembly shall, also, after every such enumeration, proceed to fix by law the number of Senators which shall constitute the Senate of the State of Florida, and which shall never be less than onefourth nor more than one-half of the whole number of the House of Representatives; and they shall lay off the State into the same number of senatorial districts, as nearly equal in the number of inhabitants as may be, according to the ratio of representation established in the preceding section; each of which districts shall be entitled to one Senator.

3. When any senatorial district shall be composed of two or more counties, the counties of which such district consists shall not be entirely separated by any county belonging to another district, and no county shall be divided in forming a district.

4. No new county shall be entitled to separate representation, until its population equal the ratio of representation then existing; nor shall any county be reduced in population, by division, below the existing ratio.

5. Until the apportionment of representation by the General Assembly, as directed in the foregoing section, the several counties shall be entitled to the following Representatives, viz: Escambia three; Walton one; Washington one; Jackson three; Franklin two; Calhoun two; Gadsden four; Leon six; Jefferson three; Madison one; Hamilton one; Columbia

two; Alachua two; Duval two; Nassua one; St. John's three; Mosquito one; Dade one; Monroe one; Hillsborough one; and, until the apportionment of Senators under the census as aforesaid, there shall be sixteen senatorial districts in this State, which shall be as follows:

The county of Escambia shall compose the first district.

The counties of Walton and Washington shall compose the second district.

The county of Jackson shall compose the third district.
The county of Calhoun shall compose the fourth district.
The county of Franklin shall compose the fifth district.
The county of Gadsden shall compose the sixth district.
The county of Leon shall compose the seventh district.
The county of Jefferson shail compose the eighth district.
The county of Madison shall compose the ninth district.
The county of Hamilton shall compose the tenth district.
The county of Columbia shall compose the eleventh district.
The county of Alachua shall compose the twelfth district.
The county of Duval shall compose the thirteenth district.
The county of Nassau shall compose the fourteenth district.

The counties of St. John's and Mosquito shall compose the the fifteenth district.

The counties of Dade, Monroe, and Hillsborough, shall compose the sixteenth district.

And each senatorial district.shall elect one Senator, and the seventh district shall be entitled to two.

ARTICLE X.

Education.

1. The proceeds of all lands that have been, or may hereafter be, granted by the United States for the use of schools and a seminary or seminaries of learning, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all moneys derived from any other source applicaable to the same object, shall be inviolably appropriated to the use of schools and seminaries of learning, respectively, and to no other purpose. 2. The General Assembly shall take such measures as may be necessary to preserve from waste or damage all land so granted and appropriated to the purposes of education.

ARTICLE XI.

Public domain and internal improvements.

1. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide for the prevention of waste and damage of the public lands now possessed, or that may hereafter be ceded to the Territory or State of Florida; and it may pass laws for the sale of any part or portion thereof, and, in such case, provide for the safety, security, and appropriation of the proceeds.

2. A liberal system of internal improvements, being essential to the development of the resources of the country, shall be encouraged by the Government of this State; and it shall be the duty of the General Assein

bly, as soon as practicable, to ascertain, by law, proper objects of improve ment, in relation to roads, canals, and navigable streams, and to provide for a suitable application such funds as may be appropriated for such improvements.

ARTICLE XII.

Boundaries.

1. The jurisdiction of the State of Florida shall extend over the Territories of East and West Florida, which by the treaty of amity, settlement, and limits, between the United States and His Catholic Majesty, on the 22d day of February, A. D. 1819, were ceded to the United States.

ARTICLE XIII.

Banks and other corporations.

1. The General Assembly shall pass a general law for the incorporation of all such churches, and religious or other societies, as may accept thereof; but no special act of incorporation thereof shall be passed.

2. The General Assembly shall pass no act of incorporation, or make any alteration therein, unless with the assent of at least two-thirds of each House, and unless public notice in one or more newspapers in the State shall have been given for at least three months immediately preceding the session at which the same may be applied for.

3. No banking corporation shall be created, or continue, which is composed of a less number than twenty individuals, a majority of whom, at least, shall be residents of the State; and no other corporation shall be created, or continue, composed of a less number than ten, of whom at least five shall be residents of this State.

4. No bank charter, or any act of incorporation granting exclusive privileges, shall be granted for a longer period than twenty years; and no bank charter shall ever be extended or renewed.

5. The charters of banks granted by the General Assembly shall restrict such banks to the business of exchange, discount, and deposite; and they shall not speculate or deal in real estate, or the stock of other corporations or associations, or in merchandise or chattels, or be concerned in insurance, manufacturing, exportation, or importation, except of bullion or specie; shall not act as trustee in anywise, nor shall they own real estate or chattels, except such as shall be necessary for their actual use in the transaction of business, or which may be pledged as further security, or received towards or in satisfaction of previously contracted debts, or purchased at legal sales to satisfy such debts; of which they shall be required to make sale within two years after the acquisition thereof.

6. The capital stock of any bank shall not be less than one hundred thousand dollars, and shall be created only by the actual payment of specie therein; and no bank shall borrow money to create or add to its capital or to conduct its business, and no loans shall be made on stock,

7. All liabilities of such banks shall be payable in specie, and the aggregate of the liabilities and issues of a bank shall at no time exceed double the amount of its capital stock paid in.

« ПретходнаНастави »