[1] CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. AUG 2 5 1942 · NOVEMBER 16, 1818. Printed by order of the House of Representatives. WASHINGTON CITY: PRINTED BY E. DE KRAFFT. 1818. Kaskaskia, September 11, 1818. SIR, Pursuant to a resolution of the Convention, I herewith transmit to you a copy of the Constitution of the State of Illinois. I have the honor to be, Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, WM. C. GREENUP, Secretary to the Convention. Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States. The Constitution of the State of Illinois, adopted in Convention at Kaskaskia, on the twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States, the forty-third. The people of the Illinois territory, having the right of admission into the general government as a member of the Union, consistent with the constitution of the United States, the ordinance of Con. gress of 1787, and the law of Congress "approved April 18th, 1818," entitled "An act to enable the people of the Illinois territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and for other purposes;" in order to establish justice, promote the welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity, do by their representatives in convention ordain and establish the following constitution or form of government; and do mutually agree with each other to form themselves into a free and independent state by the name of the state of ILLINOIS. And they do hereby ratify the boundaries assigned to such state by the act of Congress aforesaid, which are as follows, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of the Wabash river, thence up the same, and with the line of Indiana to the northwest corner of said state; thence east with the line of the same state, to the middle of lake Michigan; thence north along the middle of said lake, to north latitude forty-two degrees and thirty minutes; thence west to the middle of the Mississippi river; and thence down along the middle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio river; and thence up the latter river along its northwestern shore to the beginning. ARTICLE I. Concerning the distribution of the powers of Government. Sect. 1. The powers of the government of the state of Illinois, shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them be confided to a separate body of magistracy, to wit: Those which are legislative to one; those which are executive to another; and those which are judiciary, to another. Sect. 2. No person or collection of persons, being one of those departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to eitner of the others, except as hereinafter expressly directed or permitted. |