shall not be out of the council or general 

 assembly, to be called tlie council of cen- 

 sors^ who shall meet together on the first 

 Wednesday of June next ensuing their 

 election, tlie majority of whom shall be a 

 quorum in every case, except as to call- 

 ing a convention, in which two thirds of 

 the wliole number elected shall agree ; 

 and whose duty it shall be to inquire 

 whether the constitution has been pre- 

 served inviolate in every part during the 

 last septenary, (including the year of tlieir 

 service,) and whether the legislative and 

 executive branches of government have 

 performed their duty as guardians of the 

 people, or assumed to themselves, or ex- 

 ercised other or greater powers than they 

 are entitled to by the constitution. They 

 are also to inquire whether the public 

 ta.xes have been justly laid and collected 

 in all parts of this commonwealth ; in 

 what manner the public moneys have 

 been disposed of, and whether the laws 

 have been duly executed. For these pur- 

 poses they shall have power to send for 

 persons, papers, and records ; — they shall 

 have authority to pass public censures, to 

 order impeachments, and to recommend 

 to the legislature tlie repealing such laws 

 as shall appear to them to have been pass- 

 ed contrary to the principles of the con- 

 Btitution : these powers they shall con- 

 tinue to have for and during the space of 

 one year from the day of their election, 

 and no longer. The said council of cen- 

 sors shall also have power to call a con- 

 vention, to meet within two years after 

 their sitting, if there appears to them an 

 absolute necessity of amending any arti- 

 cle of this constitution which may be de- 

 fective, explaining such as may be thought 

 not clearly expressed, and of adding such 

 as are necessary, for the preservation of 

 the rights and happiness of the people. 

 But tlie articles to be amended, and the 

 amendments proposed, and such articles 

 as are proposed to be added or abolished, 

 shall be promulgated at least six months 

 before the day appointed for the election 

 of such convention, for the previous con- 

 sideration of the people, that they may 

 have an opportunity of instructing their 

 delegates on tlie subject. 



Articles of Amendment. 



Article 1. No person, who is not al- 

 ready a freeman of this state, shall be en- 

 titled to exercise the privileges of a free- 

 man, unless he be a natural born citizen 

 of this, or some one of the United States, 

 or until he shall have been naturalized, 

 agreeably to the acts of congress. 



Art. )i. The most numerous branch 

 bf the legislature of this state shall here- 



after be styled the House of Representa- 

 tives. 



Art. 3. The supreme legislative power 

 of this state shall hereafter be exercised by 

 a senate and the house of representatives ; 

 which shall be styled, " The General As- 

 sembly of the state of Vermont." — Each 

 shall have and exercise the like powera 

 in all acts of legislation ; and no bill, res- 

 olution, or other thing, which shall have 

 been passed by the one, sJiall have the 

 effect of, or be declared to be, a law, with- 

 out the concurrence of the other. Pro- 

 vided, that all revenue bills shall originate 

 in the house of representatives, — but the 

 senate may propose or concur with amend- 

 ments, as on other bills. Neither house, 

 during the session of tlie general assem- 

 bly, shall, without the consent of the oth- 

 er, adjourn for more than three days, nor 

 to any other place than that in which the 

 two houses shall be sitting, — and in case 

 of disagreement between the two houses, 

 with respect to adjournment, the governor 

 may adjourn them to such time as he shall 

 think proper. 



Art. 4. The senate shall be composed 

 of thirty senators, to be of the freemen of 

 the county for which they are elected, re- 

 spectively, who are thirty years of age or 

 upwards, and to be annually elected by 

 the freemen of each county respectively. 

 Each county shall be entitled to one sena- 

 tor, at least, and tlie remainder of the 

 senators shall be apportioned to the sev- 

 eral counties according to their popula- 

 tion, as the same was ascertained by the 

 last census, taken under the authority of 

 the United States — regard being always 

 had, in such apportionment, to the coun- 

 ties having the greater fraction. — But the 

 several counties shall, until after the next 

 census of United States, be entitled to 

 elect, and have their senators, in the fol- 

 lowing proportion, to wit : — 



Bennington county, two; VVindhain 

 county, three; Rutland county, three; 

 Windsor county, four ; Addison county, 

 three; Orange county, three ; Washington 

 county, two; Chittenden county, two; 

 Caledonia county, two; Franklin county, 

 three ; Orleans county, one ; Essex coun- 

 ty, one ; Grand Isle county, one. 



The legislature shall make a new ap- 

 portionment of the senators, to the sev- 

 eral counties, after the taking of each 

 census of the United States, or census 

 taken for the purpose of such apportion- 

 ment, by order of the government of this 

 state, always regarding the above pro- 

 visions in this article. 



Art. 5, The freemen of the several 

 towns in each county, shall annually give 

 their votes for the senators, apportioned 



