elections, and who shall have been duly registered according to the provisions of the registry law of this Territory, and none others, shall be entitled to vote at each of said elections.

13. The persons who may be judges of the several voting precincts of this Territory at the date of the respective elections in this schedule provided for, shall be the judges of the respective elections herein provided for.

14. The said judges of election, before entering upon the duties of their office, shall take and subscribe an oath faithfully to discharge their duties as such. They shall appoint two clerks of election, who shall be sworn by one of said judges faithfully to discharge their duties as such. In the event of a vacancy in the board of judges, the same shall be filled by the electors present.

15. At each of the elections provided for in this schedule the polls shall be opened between the hours of nine and ten o'clock A.M., and closed at sunset.

16. The tribunals transacting county business of the several counties shall cause to be furnished to the boards of judges in their respective counties two poll-books for each election herein before provided for, upon which the clerks shall inscribe the name of every person who may vote at the said elections.

17. After closing the polls at each of the elections provided for in this schedule, the judges shall proceed to count the votes cast, and designate the persons or objects for which they were cast, and shall make two correct tally-lists of the same.

18. Each of the boards of judges shall safely keep one poll-book and tally-list, and the ballots cast at each election; and shall, within ten days after such election, cause the other poll-book and tally-list to be transmitted, by the hands of a sworn officer, to the clerk of the board transacting county business in their respective counties, or to which the county may be attached for municipal purposes.

19. The tribunals transacting county business shall assemble at the county seats of their respective counties on the second Tuesday after each of the elections provided for in this schedule, and shall canvass the votes cast at the elections held in the several precincts in their respective counties, and of the counties attached for municipal purposes. They shall hold in safe-keeping the poll-books and tally-lists of said elections, and shall, within ten days thereafter, transmit, by the hands of a sworn officer, to the president of this convention, at the city of Topeka, a certified transcript of the same, showing the number of votes cast for each person or object voted for at each of the several precincts in their respective counties, and in the counties attached for municipal purposes, separately.

20. The governor of the Territory, and the president and secretary of this convention, shall constitute a board of State canvassers, any two of whom shall be a quorum; and who shall, on the fourth Monday after each of the elections provided for in this schedule, assemble at said city of Topeka, and proceed to open and canvass the votes cast at the several precincts in the different counties of the Territory, and declare the result; and shall immediately issue certificates of election to all persons (if any) thus elected.

21. Said board of State canvassers shall issue their proclamation not less than twenty days next preceding each of the elections

-provided for in this schedule. Said proclamation shall contain an announcement of the several elections, the qualifications of electors, the manner of conducting said elections and of making the returns thereof, as in this constitution provided, and shall publish said proclamation in one newspaper in each of the counties of the Territory in which a newspaper may be then published.

22. The board of State canvassers shall provide for the transmission of authenticated copies of the constitution to the President of the United States, the President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

23. Upon official information having been by him received of the admission of Kansas into the Union as a State, it shall be the duty of the governor elect under the constitution to proclaim the same, and to convene the legislature, and do all things else necessary to the complete and active organization of the State government.

24. The first legislature shall have no power to make any changes in county lines.

25. At the election to be held for the ratification or rejection of this constitution, each elector shall be permitted to vote on the homestead provision contained in the article on "miscellaneous," by depositing a ballot inscribed "For the Homestead," or "Against the Homestead;" and if a majority of all the votes cast at said election shall be against said provision, then it shall be stricken from the constitution.

RESOLUTIONS.

Resolved, That the Congress of the United States is hereby requested, upon the application of Kansas for admission into the Union, to pass an act granting to the State forty-five hundred thousand acres of land to aid in the construction of railroads and other internal improvements.

Resolved, That Congress be further requested to pass an act appropriating fifty thousand acres of land for the improvement of the Kansas river from its mouth to Fort Riley.

Resolved, That Congress be further requested to pass an act granting all swamp-lands within the State for the benefit of common schools.

Resolved, That Congress be further requested to pass an act appropriating five hundred thousand dollars, or, in lieu thereof, five hundred thousand acres of land, for the payment of the claims awarded to citizens of Kansas by the claim-commissioners appointed by the governor and legislature of Kansas under an act of the territorial legislature passed February 7, 1859.

Resolved, That the legislature shall make provision for the sale or disposal of the lands granted to the State in aid of internal improvements and for other purposes, subject to the same rights of pre-emption to the settlers thereon as are now allowed by law to settlers on the public lands.

Resolved, That it is the desire of the people of Kansas to be admitted into the Union with this constitution.

Resolved, That Congress be further requested to assume the debt of this Territory.

Done in convention, at Wyandot, this 29th day of July, A.D. 1859. JAMES M. WINCHELL,

President of the Kansas constitutional convention,

We certify the within to be a true copy.

President Kansas constitutional convention.

JOHN A. MARTIN,

Secretary Kansas constitutional convention.

CONSTITUTION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

637

CONSTITUTION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

ARTICLE 1.

The State.

1. THE state of West Virginia shall be and remain one of the United States of America. The Constitution of the United States, and the laws and treaties made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land.

2. The following counties, formerly parts of the state of Virginia, shall be included in and form part of the state of West Virginia, namely: the counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Pleasants, Tyler, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Randolph, Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Webster, Pocahontas, Fayette, Raleigh, Greenbrier, and Monroe.

And if a majority of the votes cast at the election or elections held as provided in the schedule hereof, in the district composed of the counties of Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan, shall be in favor of the adoption of this constitution, the said four counties shall also be included in, and form part of, the state of West Virginia; and if the same shall be so included, and a majority of the votes cast at the said election or elections in the district composed of the counties of Berkeley, Jefferson, and Frederick shall be in favor of the adoption of this constitution, then the three lastmentioned counties shall also be included in, and form part of, the state of West Virginia.

The state of West Virginia shall also include so much of the bed, banks, and shores of the Ohio river as heretofore appertained to the state of Virginia; and the territorial rights and property in, and the jurisdiction of whatever nature over, the said bed, banks, and shores heretofore reserved by, or vested in, the state of Virginia, shall vest in, and be hereafter exercised by, the state of West Virginia.

3. The powers of government reside in all the citizens of the state, and can be rightfully exercised only in accordance with their will and appointment.

4. The legislative, executive, and judicial departments of the government shall be separate and distinct. Neither shall exercise the powers properly belonging to either of the others. No person shall be invested with or exercise the powers of more than one of

them at the same time.

5. Writs, grants, and commissions, issued under state authority, shall run in the name of, and official bonds shall be made payable to, the state of West Virginia. Indictments shall conclude "against the peace and dignity of the state of West Virginia."

6. The citizens of the state are the citizens of the United States residing therein; but no person in the military, naval, or marine service of the United States shall be deemed a resident of this state by reason of being stationed therein.

7. Every citizen shall be entitled to equal representation in the government, and in all'apportionments of representation equality of numbers of those entitled thereto shall, as far as practicable, be preserved.

ARTICLE 2.

Bill of Rights.

1. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, except when in time of invasion, insurrection, or other public danger, the public safety may require it. No person shall be held to answer for treason, felony, or other crime not cognizable by a justice, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of a contract, shall be passed.

2. Excessive bail shall not be required, or excessive fines imposed, or cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Penalties shall be proportioned to the character and degree of the offence. No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself, or be twice put in jeopardy for the same offence.

3. The right of the citizens to be secure in their houses, persons, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. No warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons and things to be seized.

4. No law abridging freedom of speech or of the press shall be passed; but the legislature may provide for the restraint and punishment of the publishing and vending of obscene books, papers, and pictures, and of libel and defamation of character, and for the recovery, in civil actions, by the aggrieved party of suitable damages for such libel or defamation. Attempts to justify and uphold an armed invasion of the state, or an organized insurrection therein, during the continuance of such invasion or insurrection, by publicly speaking, writing, or printing, or by publishing or circulating such writing or printing, may be by law declared a misdemeanor, and punished accordingly.

5. In prosecutions and civil suits for libel the truth may be given in evidence; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libellous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable end, the verdict shall be for the defendant.

6. Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. No person in time of peace shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The military shall be subordinate to the civil power.

7. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy exceeds twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury, if required by either party, shall be preserved. No fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any case than according to the rules of the common law.

8. The trial of crimes and misdemeanors, unless herein otherwise