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OF THE

State of New-Yot .,

PASSED AT THE

FORTY-SIXTH SESSION

OF THE

LEGISLATURE,

Begun at the City of Albany the first day of January, und continued till April 24, 1823,

TOGETHER WITH

The CONSTITUTION of the said St

AS ADOPTED IN 1821.

AND

The FORMS under the Election Law of 1822.

EXCELSIOR

ALBANY:

PRINTED BY LEAKE AND GROSWELL

PRINTS TO THE STAT,

THE

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

STATE. OF NEW-YORK.

WE, the people of the state of New-York, acknowledging with gratitude the grace and beneficence of God, in permitting us to make choice of our form of government, do establish this constitution.

ARTICLE FIRST.

SEC. I. The legislative power of this state, shall be vested in a senate and an assembly.

SEC. II. The senate shall consist of thirty-two members. The senators shall be chosen for four years, and shall be freeholders. The assembly shall consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members, who shall be annually elected. SEC. III. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business. Each house shall determine the rules of its own proceedings, and he judge of the qualifications of its own members. Each house shall choos own officers; and the senate shall choose a temporary president, when the l `nant governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor.

SEC. IV. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same, except such parts as may require secrecy. The doors of each house shall be kept open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days.

SEC. V. The state shall be divided into eight districts, to be called senate districts, each of which shall choose four senators.

The first district, shall consist of the counties of Suffolk, Queens, Kings, Richmond, and New-York.

The second district, shall consist of the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan.

The third district, shall consist of the counties of Greene, Columbia, Albany, Rensselaer, Schoharie, and Schenectady.

The fourth district, shall consist of the counties of Saratoga, Montgomery, Hamilton, Washington, Warren, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, and St. Lawrence. The fifth district, shall consist of the counties of Herkimer, Oneida, Madison, Oswego, Lewis, and Jefferson.

The sixth district, shall consist of the counties of Delaware, Otsego, Chenango, Broome, Cortland, Tompkins, and Tioga.

The seventh district, shall consist of the counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Ontario.

The eighth district, shall consist of the counties of Steuben, Livingston, Monroe, Genesee, Niagara, Erie, Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauque.

And as soon as the senate shall meet, after the first election to be held in pursuance of this constitution, they shall cause the senators to be divided by lot, into four classes, of eight in each, so that every district shall have one senator of each class; the classes to be numbered, one, two, three, and four. And the seats of the first class, shall be vacated at the end of the first year; of the second class, at the end of the second year of the third class, at the end of

the third year; of the fourth class, at the end of the fourth year; in order that One senator be annually elected in each senate district.

SEC. VI. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the state, shall be taken, under the direction of the legislature, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and at the end of every ten years thereafter; and the said districts shall be so altered by the legislature, at the first session after the return of every enumeration, that each senate district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, paupers, and persons of colour not taxed; and shall remain unaltered, until the return of another enumeration, and shall at all times consist of contiguous territory; and no county shall be divided in the formation of a senate district.

SEC. VII. The members of the assembly, shall be chosen by counties, and shall be apportioned among the several counties of the state, as nearly as may be, according to the numbers of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens, paupers, and persons of colour not taxed. An apportionment of members of assembly, shall be made by the legislature, at its first session after the return of every enumeration; and when made, shall remain unaltered until another enumeration shall have been taken. But an appotionment of members of the assembly, shall be made by the present legislature, according to the last enumeration, taken under the authority of the United States, as nearly as may be. Every county heretofore established, and separately organized, shall always be entitled to one member of the assembly; and no new county shall hereafter bected, unless its population shall entitle it to a member.

SEC. VIII. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature; and all bills passed by one house, may be amended by the other.

SEC. IX. The members of the legislature, shall receive for their services, a compensation to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the public treasury; but no increase of the compensation shall take effect, during the year in which it shall have been made. And no law shall be passed, increasing the compensation of the members of the legislature, beyond the sum of three dollars a day.

SEC. X. No member of the legislature, shall receive any civil appointment from the governor and senate, or from the legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected.

SEC. XI. No person, being a member of congress, or holding any judicial or military office under the United States, shall hold a seat in the legislature. And if any person, shall, while a member of the legislature, be elected to congress, or appointed to any office, civil or military, under the government of the United States; his acceptance thereof, shall vacate his seat.

SEC. XII. Every bill which shall have passed the senate and assembly, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the governor: if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated; who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration, two thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by two thirds of the members present, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for, and against, the bill, shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislature shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law.

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SEC. XIII. All officers holding their offices during good behavior may be removed by joint resolution of the two houses of the legislature, if two-thirds of all the members elected to the assembly, and a majority of all the members elected to the senate, concur therein.

SEC. XIV. The political year shall begin on the first day of January; and the legislature shall every year, assemble on the first Tuesday of January, unless a different day shall be appointed by law.

SEC. XV. The next election for governor, lieutenant-governor, senators, and members of assembly, shall commence on the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two; and all subsequent elections, shall be held at such time, in the month of October or November, as the legis lature, shall by law, provide..

SEC. XVI. The governor, lieutenant-governor, senators, and members of assembly, first elected under this constitution, shall enter on the duties of their respective offices, on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three; and the governor, lieutenant-governor, senators and members of assembly, now in office, shall continue to hold the same, until the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, and no longer.

ARTICLE SECOND.

SEC. I. Every male citizen, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been an inhabitant of this state one year preceding any election, and for the last six months a resident of the town or county where he may offer his vote; and shall have, within the year next preceding the election, paid a tax to the state or county, assessed upon his real or personal property; or shall by law be exempted from taxation; or being armed and equipped according to law, shall have performed within that year, military duty in the militia of this state; or, who shall be exempted from performing militia duty in consequence of being a fireman in any city, town or village in this state: "And also, every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been, for three years next preceding such election, an inhabitant of this state; and for the last year, a resident in the town or county, where he may offer his vote; and shall have been, within the last year, assessed to labor upon the public highways, and shall have performed the labor, or paid an equivalent therefor, according to law, shall be entitled to vote in the town or ward where he actually resides, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be, elective by the people: But no man of colour, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this state, and for one year next preceding any election, shall be seised and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, over and above all debts and incumbrances charged thereon; and shall have been actually rated, and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at any such election. And no person of colour shall be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seised, and possessed, of such real estate as aforesaid.

SEC. II. Laws may be passed, excluding from the right of suffrage, persons who have been, or may be, convicted of infamous crimes.

SEC. III. Laws shall be made for ascertaining by proper proofs, the citizens who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage, hereby established.

SEC. IV. All elections by the citizens, shall be by ballot, except for such town officers as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen.

ARTICLE THIRD.

SEC. I. The executive power shall be vested in a governor. He shall hold his office for two years; and a lieutenant-governor, shall be chosen at the same time, and for the same term.

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