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ARTICLE XIII.

MODE OF AMENDING AND REVISING THE CONSTITUTION.

SECTION 1. 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 of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature then next to be chosen, and shall be published for three months previous to the time of making such choice. And if in the legislature next chosen as aforesaid such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner and at such time as the legislature shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become part of the constitution.

SEC. 2. And if at any time two-thirds of the senate and house of representatives shall think it necessary to revise or change this entire constitution, they shall recommend to the electors at the next election for members of the legislature to vote for or against a convention; and if it shall appear that a majority of the electors voting at such election have voted in favor of calling a convention, the legislature shall at its next session provide by law for calling a convention to be holden within six months after the passage of such law; and such convention shall consist of a number of members not less than that of both branches of the legislature.

SCHEDULE.

SECTION. 1. That no inconvenience may arise from a change of the territorial government to a permanent State government, it is declared that all writs, actions, prosecutions, contracts, claims, and rights of individuals and of bodies-corporate shall continue as if no change had taken place in this government; and all process which may, before the organization of the judicial department under this constitution, be issued under the authority of the Territory of Michigan, shall be as valid as if issued in the name of the State.

SEC. 2. All laws now in force in the Territory of Michigan, which are not repugnant to this constitution, shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitations, or be altered or repealed by the legislature.

SEC. 3. All fines, penalties, forfeitures, and escheats accruing to the Territory of Michigan shall accrue to the use of the State.

SEC. 4. All recognizances heretofore taken, or which may be taken before the organization of the judicial department under this constitution, shall remain valid, and shall pass over to and may be prosecuted in the name of the State. And all bonds executed to the governor of this Territory, or to any other officer in his official capacity, shall pass over to the governor or other proper State authority, and to their successors in office, for the uses therein respectively expressed, and may be sued for and recovered accordingly. All criminal prosecutions and penal actions which have arisen or which may arise before the organization of the judicial department under this constitution, and which shall then be depending, may be prosecuted to judgment and execution in the name of the State.

SEC. 5. All officers, civil and military, now holding their offices and appointments in this Territory under the authority of the United States, or under the authority of this Territory, shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices and appointments until superseded under this constitution.

SEC. 6. The first election for governor, lieutenant-governor, members of the State legislature, and a Representative in the Congress of the United States, shall be held on the first Monday in October next, and on the succeeding day. And the president of the convention shall issue writs to the sheriffs of the several counties or districts, or, in case of vacancy, to the coroners, requiring them to cause such election

to be held on the days aforesaid, in their respective counties or districts. The election shall be conducted in the manner prescribed, and by the township officers designated as inspectors of elections, and the returns made as required by the existing laws of the Territory, or by this constitution: Provided, however, That the returns of the several townships in the district composed of the unorganized counties of Ottawa, Ionia, Kent, and Clinton shall be made to the clerk of the township of Kent in said district, and the said township clerk shall perform the same duties as by the existing laws of the Territory devolve upon the clerks of the several counties in similar cases.

SEC. 7. The first meeting of the legislature shall be at the city of Detroit, on the first Monday in November next, with power to adjourn to any other place.

SEC. 8. All county and township officers shall continue to hold their respective offices, unless removed by the competent authority, until the legislature shall, in conformity to the provisions of this constitution, provide for the holding of elections to fill such offices respectively.

SEC. 9. This constitution shall be submitted, at the election to be held on the first Monday in October next, and on the succeeding day, for ratification or rejection, to the electors qualified by this constitution to vote at all elections; and if the same be ratified by the said electors, the same shall become the constitution of the State of Michigan. At the election aforesaid, on such of the ballots as are for the said constitution, shall be written or printed the word "Yes," and on those which are against the ratification of said constitution, the word "No." And the returns of the votes on the question of ratification or rejection of said constitution shall be made to the president of this convention at any time before the first Monday in November next, and a digest of the same communicated by him to the senate and house of representatives on that day.

SEC. 10. And if this constitution shall be ratified by the people of Michigan, the president of this convention shall, immediately after the same shall be ascertained, cause a fair copy thereof, together with an authenticated copy of the act of the legislative council, entitled "An act to enable the people of Michigan to form a constitution and State government, approved January 26, 1835, providing for the calling of this convention, and also a copy of so much of the last census of this Territory as exhibits the number of the free inhabitants of that part thereof which is comprised within the limits in said constitution defined as the boundaries of the proposed State of Michigan, to be forwarded to the President of the United States, together with an expression of the decided opinion of this convention that the number of the free inhabitants of said proposed State now exceeds the number requisite to constitute two congressional districts, and the respectful request of this convention, in behalf of the people of Michigan, that all said matters may be by him laid before the Congress of the United States at their next session.

SEC. 11. In case of the failure of the president of this convention to perform the duties prescribed by this constitution, by reason of his absence, death, or from any other cause, said duties shall be performed by the secretaries of this convention.

SEC. 12. Until the first enumeration shall be made, as directed by this constitution, the county of Wayne shall be entitled to eight representatives; the county of Monroe to four representatives; the county of Washtenaw to seven representatives; the county of Saint Clair to one representative; the county of Saint Joseph to two representatives; the county of Berrien to one representative; the county of Calhoun to one representative; the county of Jackson to one representative; the county of Cass to two representatives; the county of Oakland to six representatives; the county of Macomb to three representatives; the county of Lenawee to four representatives; the county of Kalamazoo, and the unorganized counties of Allegan and Barry, to two representatives; the county of Branch to one representative; the county of Hillsdale to one representative; the county of Lapeer to one representative; the county of Saginaw, and the unorganized counties of Genesee and Shiawasse, to one representative; the county of Michilimackinac to one representative; the county of Chippewa to one representative; and the unorganized counties of Ottawa, Kent, Ionia, and Clinton to one representative.

And for the election of senators the State shall be divided into five districts, and the apportionment shall be as follows: The county of Wayne shall compose the first district, and elect three senators; the counties of Monroe and Lenawee shall compose the second district, and elect three senators; the counties of Hillsdale, Branch, Saint Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Kalamazoo, and Calhoun shall compose the third district, and elect three senators; the counties of Washtenaw and Jackson shall compose the fourth district, and elect three senators; and the counties of Oakland, Lapeer, Saginaw, Macomb, Saint Clair, Michilimackinac, and Chippewa shall compose the fifth district, and elect four senators.

Any country attached to any county for judicial purposes, if not otherwise represented, shall be considered as forming part of such county, so far as regards elections for the purpose of representation in the legislature.

JOHN BIDDLE, President.

ORDINANCE.

Be it ordained by the convention assembled to form a constitution for the State of Michigan, in behalf and by authority of the people of said State, That the following propositions be submitted to the Congress of the United States, which, if assented to by that body, shall be obligatory on this State:

1. Section numbered sixteen in every surveyed township of the public lands, and, where such section has been sold or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted to the State for the use of schools.

2. The seventy-two sections of land set apart and reserved for the use and support of a university, by an act of Congress approved on the twentieth day of May, eighteen hundred and twenty-six, entitled "An act concerning a seminary of learning in the Territory of Michigan," shall, together with such further quantities as may be agreed upon by Congress, be conveyed to the State, and shall be appropriated solely to the use and support of such university, in such manner as the legislature may prescribe. 3. Four entire sections of land, to be selected under the direction of the legislature, from any of the unappropriated lands belonging to the United States, shall be granted to the State for its use in establishing a seat of government.

AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF 1835.

RATIFIED 1839.

ART. II. SEC. 1. Strike out the words "district, county, or township," and substitute in the place thereof "township or ward."

RATIFIED 1843.

That the constitution of this State be so amended that every law authorizing the borrowing of money or the issuing of State stocks, whereby a debt shall be created on the credit of the State, shall specify the object for which the money shall be appropriated; and that every such law shall embrace no more than one such object, which shall be simply and specifically stated, and that no such law shall take effect until it shall be submitted to the people at the next general election, and be approved by a majority of the votes cast for and against it at such election; that all money to be raised by the authority of such law be applied to the specific object stated in such law, and to no other purpose, except the payment of such debt thereby created. This provision shall not extend or apply to any law to raise money for defraying the actual expenses of the legislature, the judicial and State officers, for suppressing insurrection, repelling invasion, or defending the State in time of war.

RATIFIED 1844.

ART. IV. SEC. 4. Strike out the words "On the first Monday in November and on the following days," and insert the words "On the first Tuesday," so that said section will read: "The representatives shall be chosen annually on the first Tuesday of November, by the electors of the several counties or districts into which the State shall be divided for that purpose."

6301

ENABLING ACT FOR MICHIGAN-1836.

[TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.]

An Act to establish the northern boundary-line of the State of Ohio, and to provide the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union upon the conditions the expressed.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United St America in Congress assembled, That the northern boundary-lipe of the State of C shall be established at, and shall be a direct line drawn from the southern extrct of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of the Maumee (Miami) Bay, after: 1 line, so drawn, shall intersect the eastern boundary-line of the State of Indiana; 2 from the said north cape of the said bay, northeast to the boundary-line between | United States and the province of Upper Canada, in Lake Erie; and thence the said last-mentioned line, to its intersection with the western line of the State Pennsylvania.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the constitution and State govern which the people of Michigan have formed for themselves be, and the same is here. accepted, ratified, and confirmed; and that the said State of Michigan shall be is hereby, declared to be one of the United States of America, and is hereby admit. into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whats ever: Provided always, and this admission is upon the express condition, That the s State shall consist of and have jurisdiction over all the territory included within following boundaries, and over none other, to wit: Beginning at the point where i above-described northern boundary of the State of Ohio intersects the eastern bour ary of the State of Indiana, and running thence with the said boundary-line of Ohic.. described in the first section of this act, until it intersects the boundary-line between t United States and Canada, in Lake Erie; thence with the said boundary-line betwe the United States and Canada, through the Detroit River, Lake Huron, and L. Superior, to a point where the said line last touches Lake Superior; thence, in a dire line through Lake Superior, to the mouth of the Montreal River; thence, throught middle of the main channel of the said river Montreal, to the middle of the Lake of th Desert; thence, in a direct line, to the nearest headwater of the Menomonee Re thence, through the middle of that fork of the said river first touched by the said L to the main channel of the said Menomonee River; thence, down the centre of the main channel of the same, to the centre of the most usual ship-channel of the Gree Bay of Lake Michigan; thence, through the centre of the most usual ship-channe of the said bay, to the middle of Lake Michigan; thence, through the middle. Lake Michigan, to the northern boundary of the State of Indiana, as that line wa established by the act of Congress of the nineteenth of April, eighteen hundred r sixteen; thence due east with the north boundary-line of the said State of India to the northeast corner thereof; and thence south, with the east boundary line of ladiana, to the place of beginning..

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That as a compliance with the fundamental ca dition of admission contained in the last preceding section of this act, the boundres of the said State of Michigan, as in that section described, declared, and established shall receive the assent of a convention of delegates elected by the people of S State for the sole purpose of giving the assent herein required; and, as soon as the assent herein required shall be given, the President of the United States shall ar nounce the same by proclamation; and, thereupon, and without any further proceed. ing on the part of Congress, the admission of the said State into the Union, as ot of the United States of America, on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, shall be considered as complete, and the Senators and Representatives who have been elected by the said State as its representatives in the Congress of the United States shall be entitled to take their seats in the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, without further delay.

SEC. 4. And be it further eracted, That nothing in this act contained, or in the

admission of the said State into the Union as one of the United States of America, upon an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, shall be so construed or understood as to confer upon the people, legislature, or other authorities of the said State of Michigan any authority or right to interfere with the sale by the United States, and under their authority, of the vacant and unsold lands within the limits of the said State; but that the subject of the public lands, and the interests which may be given to the said State therein, shall be regulated by future action between Congress, on the part of the United States, and the said State, or the authorities thereof. And the said State of Michigan shall in no case, and under no pretence whatsoever, impose any tax, assessment, or imposition of any description upon any of the lands of the United States within its limits.

APPROVED, June 15, 1836.

ACT FOR THE ADMISSION OF MICHIGAN—1837.*

[TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION.]

An Act to admit the State of Michigan into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States.

Whereas, in pursuance of the act of Congress of June the fifteenth, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled "An act to establish the northern boundary of the State of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union, upon the conditions therein expressed," a convention of delegates, elected by the people of the said State of Michigan, for the sole purpose of giving their assent to the boundaries of the said State of Michigan, as described, declared, and established in and by the said act, did, on the fifteenth of December, eighteen hundred and thirtysix, assent to the provisions of the said act: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Michigan shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury, in carrying into effect the thirteenth and fourteenth sections of the act of the twenty-third of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled "An act to regulate the deposits of the public money," shall consider the State of Michigan as being one of the United

States.

APPROVED, January 26, 1837

CONSTITUTION OF MICHIGAN-1850.t

The People of the State of Michigan do ordain this Constitution.

ARTICLE I.

BOUNDARIES.

The State of Michigan consists of and has jurisdiction over the territory embraced within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at a point on the eastern boundary-line of the State of Indiana, where a direct line drawn from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of the Maumee Bay shall intersect the same, said point being the northwest corner of the State of Ohio, as established by act of Congress, entitled "An act to establish the northern boundary

The conditions imposed by the act of Congress approved June 15, 1836, were rejected by a convention which met at Ann Arbor September 28, 1836, but were accepted by a second convention which assembled at Ann Arbor December 15, 1836.

This constitution was framed by a convention which met at Lansing June 3, 1850, and completed its labors August 15, 1850. It was ratified by a vote of 36,169 against 9,433.

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