732 



TEXAS. 



months in completing its -work. The question 

 of declaring null ab initio all the legisla- 

 tion of the State between March, 1861, and 

 May, 1865, was again brought up, and the 

 proposition to provide for the division of the 

 State now took a prominent place in the dis- 

 cussions. Both these measures failed to re- 

 ceive the sanction of a majority of the dele- 

 gates. The constitution itself was completed, 

 and it was determined to submit it to a vote 

 of the people in July, 1869. The following 

 are the most peculiar features of the Bill of 

 Eights : 



That the heresies of nullification and secession,which 

 brought the country to grief, may be eliminated from 

 future political discussion, that public order may be 

 restored, private property and human life protected, 

 and the great principles of liberty and equality se- 

 cured to us and our posterity, we declare that 



SECTION 1. The Constitution of the United States, 

 and the laws and treaties made, and to be made, in 

 pursuance thereof, are acknowledged to be the su- 

 preme law ; that this constitution is framed in har- 

 mony with, and in subordination thereto ; and that 

 the fundamental principles embodied herein can only 

 be changed subject to the national authority. 



SEC. 2. All freemen, when they form a social com- 

 pact, have equal rights ; and no man, or set of men, 

 is entitled to exclusive separate public emoluments or 

 privileges. 



SEC. 21. The equality of all persons before the law 

 is herein recognized, and shall ever remain inviolate ; 

 nor shall any citizen ever be deprived of any right, 

 privilege, or immunity, nor be exempted from any 

 burdens, or duty, on account of race, color, or pre- 

 vious condition. 



SEC. 22. Importations of persons under the name 

 of "coolies" or any other name or designation, or 

 the adoption of any system of peonage, whereby the 

 helpless and unfortunate may be reduced to practical 

 bondage, shall never be authorized or tolerated by 

 the laws of the State ; and neither slavery nor invol- 

 untary servitude, except as punishment for crime, 

 whereof the party shall have been convicted, shall 

 ever exist in the State. 



SEC. 23. To guard against transgressions of the 

 high powers herein delegated, we declare that every 

 thing in this Bill of Eights is excepted out of the 

 general powers of government, and shall forever re- 

 main inviolate ; and all laws contrary thereto, or to 

 the following provisions, shall be void. 



The House of Representatives is to consist of 

 ninety members, who shall hold office for a term 

 of two years. The Senators are to be thirty- 

 three in number, chosen for six years. The Le- 

 gislature will meet annually, and on the second 

 Tuesday after its first assembling it is required 

 to ratify the 13th and 14th articles of the 

 amendments to the Federal Constitution. The 

 Executive Department of the government is 

 to consist of a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, 

 Secretary of State, Comptroller of Public Ac- 

 counts, Treasurer, Commissioner of General 

 Land-Office, Attorney-General, and Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction ; and the period 

 of their administration is to be four years. The 

 Secretary of State and Attorney-General are 

 to be appointed by the Governor ; the other 

 executive officers are to be elected by the peo- 

 ple. The judicial power of the State is vested 

 in one Supreme Court, District Courts, and in 

 " such inferior courts and magistrates as may 



be created by this constitution or by the Legis- 

 lature under its authority." The judges of 

 the Supreme Court are to be three in number, 

 appointed by the Governor with the advice of 

 the Senate, for a term of nine years. The 

 district judges are to be appointed in the same 

 manner, to hold office eight years. The quali- 

 fications of voters are laid down in the follow- 

 ing section : 



SECTION 1. Every male person who shall have at- 

 tained the age of twenty-one years and who shall be 

 (or who shall declare his intentions to become) a citi- 

 zen of the United States, or who is, at the time of the 

 acceptance of this constitution by the Congress of the 

 United States, a citizen of Texas, and shall have resided 

 in the State one year next preceding an election, and 

 the last six months within the district or county in 

 w^hich he offers to vote, and is duly registered (In- 

 dians not taxed excepted), shall be deemed a qualified 

 elector ; and should such qualified elector happen to 

 be in any other county situated in the district in 

 which he resides, at the time of an election, he shall 

 be permitted to vote anywhere in the State for 

 State officers ; and provided further, that no soldier, 

 seaman, or marine in the Army or Navy of the United 

 States shall be entitled to vote at any election created 

 by this constitution. 



The following forms an article by itself on 

 the right of suffrage : 



SECTION 1. Every male citizen of the United States, 

 of the age of twenty-one years and upward, not la- 

 boring under the disabilities named in this constitu- 

 tion, without distinction of race, color, or former 

 condition, who shall be a resident of this State at the 

 time of the adoption of this constitution, or who 

 shall thereafter reside in this State one year, and in 

 the county in which he offers to vote sixty days pre- 

 ceding any election, shall be entitled to vote for all 

 officers that are now, or hereafter may be ? elected by 

 the people, and upon all questions submitted to the 

 electors at any election; provided that no person 

 shall be allowed to vote, or hold office, who is now, or 

 hereafter may be, disqualified therefor, by the Consti- 

 tution of the United States, until such disqualifica- 

 tions shall be removed by the Congress of the United 

 States : Provided, further, that no person, while kept 

 in any asylum, or confined in prison, or who has been 

 convicted of a felony, or who is of unsound mind, 

 shall be allowed to vote or hold office. 



It is made the duty of the Legislature to 

 provide a system of " public free schools for 

 the gratuitous instruction of all the inhabitants 

 of the State between the ages of six and eight- 

 teen years," and to require the attendance at 

 these schools of " all the scholastic population 

 for the period of at least four months in each 

 and every year," unless they are shown to 

 have received regular instructions for a corre- 

 sponding period from a private teacher having 

 a "proper certificate of competency." 



The following are among the " general pro- 

 visions " of the constitution : 



SECTION 1. Members of the Legislature, and all of- 

 ficers, before they enter upon the duties of their of- 

 fices, shall take the following oath or affirmation : " I 

 (A. B.) do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faith- 

 fully and impartially discharge and perform all duties 



incumbent on me as , according to the best 



of my skill and ability, and that I will support the 

 Constitution and laws of the United Stetes, and of 

 this State. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, 

 since the acceptance of this constitution by the Con- 

 gress of the United States, I, being a citizen of this 



