704 



TENNESSEE. 



vember, 1869, the General Assembly provided 

 for the calling of a convention, at Nashville, 

 on the second Monday in January, 1870, and 

 for the election of delegates, to revise the 

 present constitution, or form a new one. Of 

 the delegates chosen, sixty-five were Demo- 

 crats or Conservatives, and ten Republicans. 



They met on January 10, 1870, and con- 

 tinued in session till February 23d. In the pre- 

 amble of the new constitution thus formed 

 they recommended to the people, and in the 

 ordinance appended they fixed the fourth Sat- 

 day in March, 1870, for a general election, for 

 or against the constitution. 



Before the convention adjourned the con 

 stitution was signed by sixty-six of its mem- 

 bers. The Republican delegates, who, during 

 the deliberations, had unsuccessfully opposed 

 the adoption of certain provisions, refused to 

 subscribe their names to it. 



The provision imposing a poll-tax, as a 

 qualification for voters, formed the subject of a 

 warm and protracted debate. As to the amount 

 of this tax, and the persons on whom it may 

 be levied, section 28 of Article II. prescribes 

 as follows : 



All male citizens of this State over the age of twenty- 

 one years, except such persons as may be exempted 

 by law on account of age or other infirmity, shall bo 

 liable to a poll-tax of not less than fifty cents nor 

 more than one dollar per annum. Nor shall any 

 county or corporation levy a poll-tax exceeding the 

 amount levied by the State. 



The question of the right of suffrage, in 

 connection with which the poll-tax was im- 

 posed, engaged the almost undivided attention 

 of the convention for five days, a number of 

 its members opposing the extension of the 

 franchise to the negro, though a majority of 

 them were for extending it to all without dis- 

 tinction of color. This subject was regarded 

 as the most important among the matters 

 brought before that body. There was a major- 

 ity and a minority report presented to the con- 

 vention from the Committee on Suffrage. The 

 point on which they chiefly disagreed was that 

 the latter proposed that the right of colored 

 men to vote should not be incorporated in the 

 organic law, but submitted to the people's suf- 

 frage as an independent proposition, and in a 

 separate ticket from that relating to the ratifi- 

 cation or rejection of the constitution ; while 

 the former proposed that it should be em- 

 bodied in the constitution and be voted for or 

 against by the people in one and the same 

 ticket with it. Both reports had their friends 

 among the delegates. The question being final- 

 ly put, on January 28th, the majority report 

 was adopted by a vote of 60 to 16. The relative 

 provision was' inserted in Article IV. of the 

 constitution, concerning elections, and is as 

 follows : 



SECTION 1. Every male person of the age of twenty- 

 one years, being a citizen of the United States, and a 

 resident of this State for twelve months, and of the 

 county wherein he may offer his vote for six months, 

 next preceding the day of election, shall be entitled 



to vote for members of the General Assembly, and 

 other civil officers for the county or district in which 

 he resides; and there shall be no qualification at- 

 tached to the right of suffrage, except that each voter 

 shall give to the judges of election where he offers to 

 vote satisfactory evidence that he has paid the poll- 

 taxes assessed against him for such preceding period 

 as the Legislature may prescribe, and at such time as 

 may be prescribed by law ; without which his vote 

 cannot be received. And all male citizens of the 

 State shall be subject to the payment of poll-taxes 

 and the performance of military duty within such 

 ages as may be prescribed by law. The General As- 

 sembly shall have power to enact laws requiring 

 voters to vote in the election precincts in which they 

 may reside, and laws to secure the freedom of elec- 

 tions and the purity of the ballot-box. 



In regard to the departments of the State 

 government, the new constitution coincides 

 with the old one on several points, and departs 

 from them on others. Its chief provisions may 

 be stated as follows : The legislative body, to 

 be styled " The General Assembly of the State 

 of Tennessee," consists of a Senate and a House 

 of Representatives, the number of their mem- 

 bers being made .to depend on that of the 

 qualified voters residing in the counties or dis- 

 tricts represented by them respectively. Tor 

 this purpose " an enumeration of the' qualified 

 voters, and an apportionment of the repre- 

 sentatives in the General Assembly, shall be 

 made in the year 1871, and within every sub- 

 sequent term of ten years. At the several 

 periods of making the enumeration, the num- 

 ber of representatives shall be apportioned 

 among the several counties or districts, accord- 

 ing to the number of qualified voters in each ; 

 and shall not exceed seventy-five, until the 

 population of the State shall ho one million 

 and a half; and shall never exceed ninety- 

 nine : Provided, That any county having two- 

 thirds of the ratio shall be entitled to one 

 member." The number of senators is to be 

 apportioned at the same time and in the same 

 manner, and shall not exceed one-third the 

 number of representatives. "Not less than 

 two-thirds of all the members to which each 

 House shall be entitled shall constitute a quo- 

 rum to do business: but a smaller number 

 may adjourn from day to day, and may be 

 anthorized by law to compel the attendance 

 of absent members." As a compensation for 

 their services the members of each General As- 

 sembly shall be allowed the sum of four dollars 

 per day, and four dollars for every twenty-five 

 miles travelling to or from the seat of gov- 

 ernment; but "no member shall be paid for 

 any day when he is absent from his seat in the 

 Legislature, unless physically unable to attend." 

 Both Houses are allowed free action in regulat- 

 ing their own affairs with regard to organiza- 

 tion and mode of proceeding, and have " all 

 other powers necessary for a branch of the 

 Legislature of a free State; " but the power of 

 legislating on several matters, usually exer- 

 cised by legislative bodies elsewhere, is either 

 abridged, or wholly denied them. 



As to the executive department, the Gov- 

 ernor is vested with the usual powers in ref- 



