TITLE XII.

MODE OF REVISING THE CONSTITUTION.

ART. 147. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or House of Representatives, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each house, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon. Such proposed amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the people at an election to be ordered by said Legislature, and held within ninety days after the adjournment of the same, and after thirty days' publication according to law; and if a majority of the voters at said election shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, the same shall become a part of the Constitution. If more than one amendment be submitted at a time, they shall be submitted in such manner and form that the people may vote for or against each amendment separately.

TITLE XIII.

SCHEDULE.

ART. 148. The Constitution adopted in 1852 is declared to be superseded by this Constitution; and in order to carry the same into effect, it is hereby declared and ordained as follows:

ART. 149. All rights, actions, prosecutions, claims and contracts, as well of individuals as of bodies corporate, and all laws in force at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, and not inconsistent therewith, shall continue as if the same had not been adopted.

ART. 150. In order that no inconvenience may result to the public service from the taking effect of this Constitution, no officer shall be superseded thereby; but the laws of this State relative to the duties of the several officers, executive, judicial and military, except those made void by military authority, and by the ordinance of emancipation, shall remain in full force, though the same be contrary to this Constitution, and the several duties shall be performed y the respective officers of the State, according to the existing laws, until the organization of the Government under this Constitution, and the entering intc office of the new officers to be appointed under said Government, and no longer. ART. 151. The Legislature shall provide for the removal of all causes now pending in the Supreme Court or other courts of the State under the Constitution of 1852, to courts created by or under this Constitution.

TITLE XIV.

ORDINANCE.

ART. 152. Immediately after the adjournment of the Convention, the Governor shall issue his proclamation directing the several officers of this State,

authorized by law to hold elections, or in default thereof such officers as he shall designate, to open and hold polls in the several parishes of the State, at the places designated by law, on the first Monday of September, 1864, for the purpose of taking the sense of the good people of this State in regard to the adoption or rejection of this Constitution; and it shall be the duty of said officers to receive the suffrages of all qualified voters. Each voter shall express his opinion by depositing in the ballot box a ticket whereon shall be written "The Constitution accepted," or, "The Constitution rejected." At the conclusion of the said election, the officers and commissioners appointed to preside over the same shall carefully examine and count each ballot as deposited, and shall forthwith make due return thereof to the Secretary of State, in conformity to the provisions of law and usages in regard to elections.

ART. 153. Upon the receipt of said returns, or on the third Monday of September, if the returns be not sooner received, it shall be the duty of the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General and the State Treasurer, in the presence of all such persons as may choose to attend, to compare the votes at the said election for the ratification or rejection of this Constitution, and if it shall appear at the close that a majority of all the votes given is for ratifying this Constitution, then it shall be the duty of the Governor to make proclamation of the fact, and thenceforth this Constitution shall be ordained and established as the Constitution of the State of Louisiana. But whether this Constitution be accepted or rejected, it shall be the duty of the Governor to cause to be published the result of the polls, showing the number of votes cast in each parish for and against this Constitution.

ART. 154. As soon as a general election can be held under this Constitution, in every parish of the State, the Governor shall, by proclamation, or in case of his failure to act, the Legislature shall, by resolution, declare the fact, and order an election to be held on a day fixed in said proclamation or resolution, and within sixty days from the date thereof, for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Attorney General and Superintendent of Education. The officers so chosen shall, on the fourth Monday after their election, be installed into office; and shall hold their offices for the terms prescribed in this Constitution, counting from the second Monday in January next preceding their entering into office in case they do not enter into office on that date. The terms of office of the State officers elected on the twenty-second day of February, 1864, shall expire on the installation of their successors as herein provided for; but under no state of circumstances shall their term of office be construed as extending beyond the length of terms fixed for said offices in this Constitution; and, if not sooner held, the election of their successors shall take place on the first Monday of November, 1867, in all parishes where the same can be held, the officers elected on that date to enter into office on the second Monday in January, 1868.

ART. 155. This Constitution shall be published in three papers to be selected by the President of the Convention, whereof two shall publish the same in English and French, and one in German, from the period of the adjournment of the Convention until the election for ratification or rejection on the first Monday of September, 1864.

President of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Louisiana.

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA,

OF 1868,

PREAMBLE.

We, the people of Louisiana, in order to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

CONSTITUTION.

TITLE I.

BILL OF RIGHTS.

ble rights.

ARTICLE 1. All men are created free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of certain inalienahappiness. To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Objects of Government.

State.

Allegiance due,

United States;

ART. 2. All persons, without regard to race, color, or previous condition, born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to citizens of the the jurisdiction thereof, and residents of this State for one year, are citizens of this State. The citizens of this State owe allegiance to first, to the the United States; and this allegiance is paramount to that which second, to the they owe to the State. They shall enjoy the same civil, political, and public rights and privileges, and be subject to the same pains and penalties.

State.

Slavery abol

ART. 3. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof ished. the party shall have been duly convicted.

speech and of

ART. 4. The press shall be free; every citizen may freely speak, Freedom of write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible the press. for the abuse of this liberty.

sembling and

ART. 5. The right of the people peaceably to assemble and Right of aspetition the Government or any department thereof, shall never be petition. abridged.