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shall, at the next session provide for a convention, to consist of double the number of members of the senate, to be elected in the same manner, at the same places, and in the same districts. The general assembly shall, in the act calling the convention, designate the day, hour and place of its meeting, fix the pay of its members and officers, and provide for the payment of the same, together with the expenses necessarily incurred by the convention in the performance of its duties. Before proceeding, the members shall take an oath to support the constitution of the United States, and of the state of Illinois, and to faithfully discharge their duties as members of the convention. The qualification of members shall be the same as that of members of the senate, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in the manner provided for filling vacancies in the general assembly. Said convention shall meet within three months after such election, and prepare such revision, alteration or amendments of the constitution as shall be deemed necessary, which shall be submitted to the electors for their ratification or rejection, at an election appointed by the convention for that purpose, not less than two nor more than six months after the adjournment thereof; and unless so submitted and approved, by a majority of the electors voting at the election, no such revision, alterations or amendments shall take effect.

§ 2. Amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the general assembly, and if the same shall be voted for by two-thirds of all the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendments, together with the yeas and nays of each house thereon, shall be entered in full on their respective journals, and said amendments shall be submitted to the electors of this state for adoption or rejection, at the next election of members of the general assembly,in such manner as may be prescribed by law. The proposed amendments shall be published in full at least three months preceding the election, and if a majority of the electors voting at said election shall vote for the proposed amendments, they shall become a part of this constitution. But the general assembly shall have no power to propose amendments to more than one article

of this constitution at the same session, nor to the same article oftener than once in four years.

SECTIONS SEPARATELY SUBMITTED.

ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD.

Illinois Central Railroad.
Municipal Subscriptions to Corporations.

Illinois and Michigan Canal.

No contract, obligation or liability whatever, of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, to pay any money into the state treasury, nor any lien of the state upon, or right to tax property of said company, in accordance with the provisions of the charter of said company, approved February tenth, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, shall ever be released, suspended, modified, altered, remitted, or in any manner diminished or impaired by legislative or other authority; and all moneys derived from said company, after the payment of the state debt, shall be appropriated and set apart for the payment of the ordinary expenses of the state government, and for no other purposes whatever.

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MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTIONS TO RAILROADS OR PRIVATE
CORPORATIONS.

No county, city, town, township, or other municipality, shall ever become subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad or private corporation, or make donation to or loan its credit in aid of, such corporation: Provided, however, that the adoption of this article shall not be construed as affecting the right of any such municipality to make such subscriptions where the same have been authorized, under existing laws, by a vote of the people of such municipalities prior to such adoption.

CANAL.

The Illinois and Michigan Canal shall never be sold or leased until the specific proposition for the sale or lease thereof shall first have been submitted to a vote of the people of the state, at a general election, and have been approved by a majority of all the votes polled at such election. The general as

sembly shall never loan the credit of the state, or make appropriations from the treasury thereof, in aid of railroads or canals: Provided, that any surplus earnings of any canal may be appropriated for its enlargement or extension.

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That no inconvenience may arise from the alterations and amendments made in the constitution of this state, and to carry the same into complete effect, it is hereby ordained and declared:

§ 1. That all laws in force at the adoption of this constitution, not inconsistent therewith, and all rights, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts of this state, individuals, or bodies corporate, shall continue to be as valid as if this constitution had not been adopted.

§ 2. That all fines, taxes, penalties and forfeitures, due and owing to the state of Illinois under the present constitution and laws, shall inure to the use of the people of the state of Illinois, under this constitution.

§ 3. Recognizances, bonds, obligations, and all other instruments entered into or executed before the adoption of this constitution, to the people of the state of Illinois, to any state or county officer or public body, shall remain binding and va id; and rights and liabilities upon the same shall continue, and all crimes and misdemeanors shall be tried and punished as though no change had been made in the constitution of this state.

§ 4. County courts for the transaction of county business in counties not having adopted township organization, shall continue in existence, and exercise their present jurisdiction until the board of county commissioners provided in this constitution, is organized in pursuance of an act of the general assembly; and the county courts in all other counties shall have the same power and jurisdiction they now possess until otherwise provided by general law.

§ 5. All existing courts which are not in this constitution

specifically enumerated, shall continue in existence and exercise their present jurisdiction until otherwise provided by law. 6. All persons now filling any office or appointment shall continue in the exercise of the duties thereof according to their respective commissions or appointments, unless by this constitution it is otherwise directed.

[Sections 7 to 17 both inclusive, providing for the submission of this constitution and voting thereon by the people, having become inoperative by the adoption of this constitution, are omitted herein.]

§ 18. All laws of the state of Illinois,and all official writings, and the executive, legislative and judicial proceedings, shall be conducted, preserved and published in no other than the English language.

19. The general assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this constitution.

20. The circuit clerks of the different counties, having a population over sixty thousand, shall continue to be Recorders (ex-officio) for their respective counties, under this constitution, until the expiration of their respective terms.

21. The judges of all courts of record in Cook county shall, in lieu of any salary provided for in this constitution, receive the compensation now provided by law until the adjournment of the first session of the general assembly after the adoption of this constitution.

§ 22. The present judge of the circuit court of Cook county shall continue to hold the circuit court of Lake county until otherwise provided by law.

§ 23. When this constitution shall be adopted, and take effect as the supreme law of the state of Illinois, the two-mill tax provided to be annually assessed and collected upon each dollar's worth of taxable property, in addition to all other taxes, as set forth in article fifteen of the now existing constitution, shall cease to be assessed after the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

8 24. Nothing contained in this constitution shall be so construed as to deprive the general assembly of power to authorize the city of Quincy to create any indebtedness for railroad or municipal purposes for which the people of said city shall have voted and to which they shall have given, by such vote,

their assent, prior to the thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine: Provided, that no such indebtedness, so created, shall, in any part thereof be paid by the state, or from any state revenue tax or fund, but the same shall be paid, if at all, by the said city of Quincy alone, and by taxes to be levied upon the taxable property thereof: And provided, further, that the general assembly shall have no power in the premises, that it could not exercise under the present constitution of this state.

§ 25. In case this constitution, and the articles and sections submitted separately, be adopted, the existing constitution shall cease in all its provisions, and in case this constitution be adopted, and any one or more of the articles or sections submitted separately be defeated, the provisions of the existing constitution, if any, on the same subject shall remain in forced.

§ 26. The provisions of this constitution required to be executed, prior to the adoption or rejection thereof, shall take effect and be in force immediately.

Done in convention at the capitol, in the city of Springfield, on the thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and of the independence of the United States of America the ninety-fourth.

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names:
CHARLES HITCHCOCK, President.

William J. Allen,

John Abbott,

James C. Allen,

Elliott Anthony,
Wm. R. Archer,
Henry I. Atkins,
James G. Bayne,
R. M. Benjamin,
H. P. H. Bromwell,
O. H. Browning,
Wm. G. Bowman,
Silas L. Bryan,
H. P. Buxton,

Jas. McCoy,

Charles E. McDowell,
William C. Goodhue,
Joseph Medill,
Clifton H. Moore,
Jonathan Merriam,
Joseph Parker,
Samuel C. Parks,
Peleg S. Perley,
J. S. Poage,
Fdward Y. Rice,
James P. Robinson,

Lewis W. Ross,

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