of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, over and above all debts and incumbrances charged thereon, and shall have been actually rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at such election. And no person of color shall be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid.

ded from right

SECTION 2. Laws may be passed excluding from the Persons exclu right of suffrage all persons who have been or may be of suffrage. convicted of bribery, of larceny, or of any infamous crime; and for depriving every person who shall make, or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of any election, from the right to vote at such election.

Certain employ

affect resi

SECTION 3. For the of voting, no person purpose shall ments not to be deemed to have gained or lost a residence, by reason dence of voters of his presence or absence, while employed in the service of the United States; nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of this state, or of the United States, or of the high seas; nor while a student of any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any alms-house, or other asylum, at public expense; nor while confined in any public prison.

passed.

SECTION 4. Laws shall be made for ascertaining by Laws to be proper proofs the citizens who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage hereby established.

by ballot

SECTION 5. All elections by the citizens shall be by bal- Election to be lot, except for such town officers as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen.

ARTICLE III.

SECTION 1. The legislative power of this state shall be Legislative vested in a senate and assembly.

power.

ber of.

number of.

SECTION 2. The senate shall consist of thirty-two mem- Senate, num. bers, and the senators shall be chosen for two years. The Assembly. assembly shall consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members, who shall be annually elected.

into 32 senate

SECTION 3. The state shall be divided into thirty-two state divided districts, to be called senate districts, each of which shall districts. choose one senator. The districts shall be numbered from one to thirty-two inclusive.

District number one (1) shall consist of the counties of Number 1. Suffolk, Richmond and Queens.

District number two (2) shall consist of the county of Number 2. Kings.

and 6.

District number three (3) number four (4) number five Numbers 3, 4, 5 (5) and number six (6) shall consist of the city and county of New York; and the board of supervisors of said city and county shall, on or before the first day of May, one

of

York to divide

four senate dis

tricts.

Board of super- thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, divide the said city of New city and county into the number of senate districts to which the county into it is entitled, as near as may be of an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and persons of color not taxed, and consisting of convenient and contiguous territory; and no assembly district shall be divided in the formation Certificate, &c., of a senate district. The board of supervisors, when they shall have completed such division, shall cause certificates thereof, stating the number and boundaries of each district, and the population thereof, to be filed in the office of the secretary of state, and of the clerk of the said city and county. District number seven (7) shall consist of the counties of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland.

to be filed.

Number 7.

Number 8

Number 9.

Number 10.

Number 11.

Number 12,

Number 13.

Number 14

Number 15.

Number 16.

Number 17.

Number 18.

Number 19.

Number 20.

Number 21.

Number 22.

Number 23.

Number 24.

District number eight (8) shall consist of the counties of Dutchess and Columbia.

District number nine (9) shall consist of the counties of Orange and Sullivan.

District number ten (10) shall consist of the counties of Ulster and Greene.

District number eleven (11) shall consist of the counties of Albany and Schenectady.

District number twelve (12) shall consist of the county of Rensselaer.

District number thirteen (13) shall consist of the counties of Washington and Saratoga.

District number fourteen (14) shall consist of the counties of Warren, Essex and Clinton.

District number fifteen (15) shall consist of the counties of St. Lawrence and Franklin.

District number sixteen (16) shall consist of the counties of Herkimer, Hamilton, Fulton and Montgomery.

District number seventeen (17) shall consist of the counties of Schoharie and Delaware.

District number eighteen (18) shall consist of the counties of Otsego and Chenango.

District number nineteen (19) shall consist of the county of Oneida.

District number twenty (20) shall consist of the counties of Madison and Oswego.

District number twenty-one (21) shall consist of the counties of Jefferson and Lewis.

District number twenty-two (22) shall consist of the county of Onondaga.

District number twenty-three (23) shall consist of the counties of Cortland, Broome and Tioga.

District number twenty-four (24) shall consist of the counties of Cayuga and Wayne.

District number twenty-five (25) shall consist of the Number 25, counties of Tompkins, Seneca and Yates.

District number twenty-six (26) shall consist of the Number 26. counties of Steuben and Chemung.

District number twenty-seven (27) shall consist of the Number 27. county of Monroe.

District number twenty-eight (28) shall consist of the Number 28. counties of Orleans, Genesee and Niagara.

District number twenty-nine (29) shall consist of the Number 29. counties of Ontario and Livingston.

District number thirty (30) shall consist of the counties Number 30. of Allegany and Wyoming.

District number thirty-one (31) shall consist of the Number 31. county of Erie.

District number thirty-two (32) shall consist of the Number 32. counties of Chautauque and Cattaraugus.

taken in 1855,

and every ten

years.

SECTION 4. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the Census to be state shall be taken, under the direction of the legislature, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and at the end of every ten years thereafter; and the said districts shall be so altered by the legislature, at the first session after the return of every enumeration, that each senate district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, and persons of color not taxed; and shall remain unaltered until the return of another enumeration, and shall at all times con- Senate districts sist of contiguous territory; and no county shall be divided in the formation of a senate district, except such county shall be equitably entitled to two or more senators. SECTION 5. The members of assembly shall be appor- Members of tioned among the several counties of this state, by the apportioned legislature, as nearly as may be, according to the number of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens, and persons of color not taxed, and shall be chosen by single districts.

how altered.

assembly, how

and chosen.

pervisors in

ties to divide

assembly dis.

The severel boards of supervisors, in such counties of Boards of suthis state as are now entitled to more than one member of certain counassembly, shall assemble on the first Tuesday of January the same into next, and divide their respective counties into assembly dis- tricts. tricts equal to the number of members of assembly to which such counties are now severally entitled by law, and shall cause to be filed, in the offices of the secretary of state and the clerks of their respective counties, a description of such assembly districts, specifying the number of each district assembly dis and the population thereof, according to the last preceding filed. state enumeration, as near as can be ascertained. Each Content of as assembly district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an tricts." equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, and persons

Description of

tricts to be

sembly dis

Legislature to reapportion members of assembly.

Each county entitled to one member.

Hamilton county.

Pay of members.

of color not taxed, and shall consist of convenient and contiguous territory; but no town shall be divided in the formation of assembly districts.

The legislature, at its first session after the return of every enumeration, shall reapportion the members of assembly among the several counties of this state, in manner aforesaid, and the boards of supervisors in such counties as may be entitled, under such reapportionment, to more than one member, shall assemble at such time as the legislature making such reapportionment shall prescribe, and divide such counties into assembly districts, in the manner herein directed; and the apportionment and districts, so to be made, shall remain unaltered until another enumeration shall be taken under the provisions of the preceding section.

Every county heretofore established and separately organized, except the county of Hamilton, shall always be entitled to one member of the assembly; and no new county shall be hereafter erected, unless its population shall entitle it to a member.

The county of Hamilton shall elect with the county of Fulton, until the population of the county of Hamilton shall, according to the ratio, be entitled to a member.

SECTION 6. The members of the legislature shall receive for their services a sum not exceeding three dollars a day, from the commencement of the session; but such pay shall not exceed in the aggregate three hundred dollars for per diem allowance, except in proceedings for impeachment. The limitation as to the aggregate compensation shall not take effect until after the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight. When convened in extra session by the governor, they shall receive three dollars per day. They shall also receive the sum of one dollar for every ten miles they shall travel in going to and returning from their place of meeting, on the most usual route. The speaker of the assembly shall, in virtue of his office, receive an additional compensation compensation, equal to one-third of his per diem allowance as a member.

Additional

to speaker.

No member to receive an ap

SECTION 7. No member of the legislature shall receive pointment. any civil appointment within this state, or to the senate. of the United States, from the governor, the governor and senate, or from the legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected; and all such appointments, and all votes given for any such member, for any such office or appointment, shall be void.

Persons disqualified from being mem bers.

SECTION 8. No person being a member of congress, or holding any judicial or military office under the United States, shall hold a seat in the legislature. And if any

person shall, after his election as a member of the legisla ture, be elected to congress, or appointed to any office, civil or military, under the government of the United States, his acceptance thereof shall vacate his seat.

tion fixed.

house.

SECTION 9. The elections of senators and members of Time of elec assembly, pursuant to the provisions of this constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, unless otherwise directed by the legislature. SECTION 10. A majority of each house shall constitute Powers of each a quorum to do business. Each house shall determine the rules of its own proceedings, and be the judge of the elec tions, returns and qualifications of its own members, shall choose its own officers; and the senate shall choose a temporary president, when the lieutenant-governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor.

kept.

SECTION 11. Each house shall keep a journal of its pro- Journals to be ceedings, and publish the same, except such parts as may require secrecy. The doors of each house shall be kept open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days.

be questioned,

SECTION 12. For any speech or debate in either house No member to of the legislature, the members shall not be questioned in &c. any other place.

nate in either

SECTION 13. Any bill may originate in either house of Bills may origi the legislature, and all bills passed by one house may be house." amended by the other.

SECTION 14. The enacting clause of all bills shall be, Enacting bills. "The people of the State of New York, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows," and no law shall be enacted except by bill.

jority of all the

members re.

quired, &c.

SECTION 15. No bill shall be passed unless by the assent Assent of a ma of a majority of all the members elected to each branch of the legislature, and the question upon the final passage shall be taken immediately upon its last reading, and the yeas and nays entered on the journal.

to private and

SECTION 16. No private or local bill which may be Restriction as passed by the legislature shall embrace more than one sub- local bills. ject, and that shall be expressed in the title.

tion conferred

supervisors.

SECTION 17. The legislature may confer upon the boards Local legisla of supervisors, of the several counties of the state, such on boards of further powers of local legislation and administration as they shall from time to time prescribe.

ARTICLE IV.

a

SECTION 1. The executive power shall be vested in governor, who shall hold his office for two years: a lieu

Executive power, how vested.