CHEROKEE CONSTITUTION. 265 
general features. The three powers, legisla- 
tive, executive and judicial, are distinguished 
and established. The legislative consists of 
a National Committee and Council. The 
former is composed of two and the latter of 
three members from each of the eight or ten 
districts into which the nation was to be di- 
vided—elected for two years by the people. 
They convene annually on the first Monday 
in October, and each house elects a pre- 
siding officer out of its own body. _ Bills are 
introduced, discussed and passed according to 
parliamentary usage. 
The executive, called Principal Chief, and 
an assistant chief, are elected for four years 
by the people. The executive has the usual 
— and pardoning power. He is assisted by 
‘ Executive Council’ of five, and the com- 
mon cabinet of secretaries. The judiciary 
consists of a Supreme and Circuit Court, and 
the ordinary justices of the peace. Tnial by 
jury is secured ; and the common law of Eng- 
land appears to have been generally adopted. 
Religious toleration is guarantied, but no per- 
son can hold a civil office who denies the ex- 
istence of a God, and a future state of rewards 
and punishments. 
According to laws subsequently enacted by 
the same council, the punishment for murder 
is death; and for an attempt to kill,a fine 
correspondent to the damage, for the benefit 
of the injured party: for rape, a hundred 
lashes—but for infanticide, only twenty-five 
to fifty! Whipping seems the punishment 
23 
VOL. I. 
