390 



ILLINOIS. 



of the power of government into legislative, 

 executive, and judicial, and article four is 

 devoted to the legislative department. It 

 provides that an election of members shall 

 take place on the Tuesday next after the first 

 Monday of November, 1870, and every two 

 years thereafter, the Governor having power 

 at any time to issue writs of election to fill 

 vacancies. Persons who have been convicted 

 of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crimes, 

 and " any person who has been or may be a 

 collector or holder of public moneys, who 

 shall not have accounted for and paid over, 

 according to law, all such moneys due from 

 him," are rendered ineligible. All members 

 of the General Assembly before entering upon 

 their official duties are required to take the 

 following oath : 



" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support 

 the Constitution of the United States and the con- 

 stitution of the State of Illinois, and will faithfully 

 discharge the duties of Senator (or Kepresentative) 

 according to the best of my ability ; and that I have 

 not, knowingly or intentionally, paid or contributed 

 any thing, or made any promise in the nature of a 

 bribe, to ^ directly or indirectly influence any vote at 

 the election at which I was chosen to fill the said 

 office, and have not accepted, nor will I accept or 

 receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other 

 valuable thing, from any corporation, company, or 



Eerson, for any vote or influence I may give or with- 

 old on any bill, resolution ; or appropriation, or for 

 any other official act." This oath shall be adminis- 

 tered by a Judge of the Supreme or Circuit Court in 

 the hall of the House to which the member is elect- 

 ed, and the Secretary of State shall record and file 

 the oath subscribed by each member. Any member 

 who shall refuse to take the oath herein prescribed 

 shall forfeit his office, and every member who shall 

 be convicted of having sworn falsely, or of violating 

 his said oath, shall forfeit his office and be dis- 

 qualified thereafter from holding any office of .profit 

 or trust in this State. 



There are to be 51 Senators elected for four 

 years, and 153 Eepresentatives chosen for two 

 years, and an apportionment is to be made 

 every ten years, by dividing the population of 

 the State, as ascertained by the Federal census, 

 by these two factors, in order to determine the 

 senatorial and representative districts, each 

 district containing as nearly as practicable an 

 equal number of inhabitants, and being of 

 contiguous and compact territory. At the 

 time of each decennial apportionment after 

 1870, the number of Representatives is to bo 

 increased six for every 500,000 increase of 

 population. The sessions of the Legislature 

 are to begin on the first Monday in the January 

 after the biennial election of members. The 

 usual powers and duties are granted to the Le- 

 gislature, but those having reference to the 

 appropriation or .use of public funds are very 

 carefully guarded. The old constitution had 

 been very lax in this regard, and great atten- 

 tion was paid to remedying its defects. Ap- 

 propriation of money in any private bill is 

 prohibited, and no money can be used for any 

 other purpose than that for which it is appro- 

 priated by law. The following important pro- 



visions are made restricting the power of the 

 Legislature to incur indebtedness, and pro- 

 hibiting fees and extra compensation to public 

 officers : 



SECTION 18. Each General Assembly shall provide 

 for all the appropriations necessary for the ordinary 

 and contingent expenses of the government until 

 the expiration of the first fiscal quarter after the 

 adjournment of the next regular session, the aggre- 

 gate amount of which shall not be increased without 

 a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each 

 House, nor exceed the amount of revenue authorized 

 by_ law to be raised in such time j and all appro- 

 priations, general or special, requiring money to be 

 paid out of the State Treasury, from funds belong- 

 ing to the State, shall end with such fiscal quarter : 

 Provided,, the State may, to meet casual deficits or 

 failures in revenues, contract debts, never to exceed 

 in the aggregate two hundred and fifty thousand 

 dollars; and moneys thus borrowed shall be ap- 

 plied to the purpose for which they were obtained, 

 or to pay the debt thus created, and to no other 

 purpose ; and no other debt, except for the purpose 

 of repelling invasion ; suppressing insurrection, or 

 defending the State in war (for payment of which- 

 the faith of the State shall be pledged), shall be 

 contracted, unless the law authorizing the same shall, 

 at a general election, have been submitted to the 

 people, and have received a majority of the votes 

 cast for members of the General Assembly at such 

 election. The General Assembly shall provide for 

 the publication of said law, for three months, at 

 least, before the vote of the people shall be taken 

 upon the same ; and provision shall be made at the 

 time for the payment of the interest annually, as it 

 shall accrue, by a tax levied for the purpose, or from 

 other sources of revenue ; which law, providing for 

 the payment of such interest by such tax, shall be 

 irrepealable until such debt be paid : And provided, 

 further, that the law levying the tax shall be sub- 

 mitted to the people with the law authorizing the 

 debt to be contracted. 



SEC. 19. The General Assembly shall never grant 

 or authorize extra compensation, fee, or allowance, 

 to any public officer, agent, servant, or contrac- 

 tor, after service has been rendered or a contract 

 made, nor authorize the payment of any claim, or part 

 thereof, hereafter created against the State under any 

 agreement or contract made without express authori- 

 ty of law ; and all such unauthorized agreements or 

 contracts shall be null and void : Provided, the Gen- 

 eral Assembly may make appropriations for expendi- 

 tures incurred in suppressing insurrection or repel- 

 ling invasion. 



SEC. 20. The State shall never pay, assume, or be- 

 come responsible for the debts or liabilities of, or 

 in any manner give, loan, or extend its credit to, or 

 in aid of, any public or private corporation, associa- 

 tion, or individual. 



Each member is allowed five dollars per day 

 for his services, and ten cents for every mile 

 of necessary travel, together with fifty dollars 

 per session for postage, stationery, and other 

 incidental expenses. 



One of the greatest abuses under the old 

 constitution was that of special legislation, and 

 it was determined to cut this down to the low- 

 est possible point. The new instrument spe- 

 cifically prohibits such legislation with respect 

 to a large number of matters in which it had 

 been common, and the additional provision is 

 made that, " in all other cases where a general 

 law can be made applicable, no special law 

 shall be enacted." Another attempt to reform 

 an old abuse and promote economy was em- 



