vision for the support of its own officers, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law. Each county shall make provision for building a court-house and jail, and for keeping the same in good repair.

SEC. 19. If at the meeting of the Senate at any session the Lieutenant-Governor has not qualified or is not present, the Senate shail elect one of its members as temporary President before proceeding to other business.

SEC. 20. The Legislature shall at the first session adopt a seal for the State, and such seal shall be the size of the American silver dollar. But said seal shall not again be changed after its adoption by the Legislature; and the Governor shall, by his proclamation, announce that the said seal has become the great seal of the State.

SEC. 21. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and all the State officers elected by the people shall be installed on the first day of the meeting of the Legislature, and immediately assume the duties of their respective offices.

SEC. 22. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall have been, before their election to office, nine years a citizen of the United States, and three years a citizen of the State. All other officers shall have been one year a citizen of the State, and six months a citizen of the county from which they are elected or appointed. No person shall be eligible to any office unless he be a registered voter.

SEC. 23. The Governor or any State officer is hereby prohibited from giving certificates of election or other credentials to any person as having been elected to the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, or the United States Senate, who has not been two years a citizen of the State, and nine years a citizen of the United States, and a registered

voter.

SEC. 24. The property of all corporations, whether heretofore or hereafter incorporated, shall be subject to taxation, unless such corporatian be for religious, educational, or charitable pur

poses.

SEC. 25. All bills, bonds, notes, and evidences of debt outstanding and unpaid, given for or in consideration of bonds or treasury notes of the so-called Confederate States, or notes and bonds of this State paid and redeemable in the bonds and notes of the Confederate States, are hereby declared null and void, and no action shall be maintained thereon in the courts of this State.

SEC. 26. It shall be the duty of the courts to consider that there is a failure of consideration, and it shall be so held by the

courts of this State, upon all deeds or bills of sale given for slaves with covenant or warranty of title or soundness, or both; upon all bills, bonds, notes, or other evidences of debt, given for or in consideration of slaves, which are now outstanding and unpaid, and no action shall be maintained thereon; and all judgments and decrees rendered in any of the courts of this State since the oth of January, A. D. 1861, upon all deeds or bills of sale, or upon any bond, bill, note, or other evidence of debt based upon the sale or purchase of slaves, are hereby declared set aside, and the plea of failure of consideration shall be held a good defence in all actions to said suit: and that when money was due previ. ous to the 10th day of January, 1861, and slaves were given in consideration for such money, thase shall be deemed a failure of consideration for the debt: Provided, That settlements and compromises of such transactions made by the parties thereto shall be respected.

SEC. 27. All persons who, as alien enemies under the sequestration act of the so-called Confederate Congress, and now resident of the State, had property sequestered and sold by any person acting under a law of the so-called Confederate States, or the State of Florida, subsequent to the roth of January, A. D. 1861, and prior to the 1st of January, 1865, shall be empowered to file a bill in equity in the Circuit Court of the State, and shall be entitled to obtain judgment against the State for all damages sustained by said sale and detention of property. The court shall estimate the damages upon the assessed valuation of the property in question in the year A. D. 1870, with interest, at six per cent. from the time the owner was deprived of the same. But all judgments against the State shall be paid only in certificates of indebtedness, redeemable in State lands. Said certificates shall be issued by the Governor, countersigned by the Secretary of State and by the Comptroller, upon the decree of the court. Oral testimony shall be sufficient to establish the fact of a sale having been made.

SEC. 28. There shall be no civil or political distinction in this State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and the Legislature shall have no power to prohibit by law any class of persons on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, to vote or hold any office, beyond the conditions prescribed by this constituion.

SEC. 29. The apportionment for the Assembly shall be as follows: Escambia, two; Santa Rosa, one; Walton, one; Holmes, one; Washington, one; Jackson, three; Calhoun, one; Gadsden, two; Franklin, one; Liberty, one; Wakulla, one; Leon, four; Jefferson, three; Madison, two; Taylor, one; Hamilton, one; Suwanee, one: Lafayette, one; Alachua, two; Columbia, two;

Baker, one; Bradford, one; Nassau, one; Duval, two; Clay, one; St. John's, one; Putnam, one; Marion, two; Levy, one; Volusia, one; Orange, one; Brevard, one; Dade, one; Hillsborough, one; Hernando, one; Sumter, one; Polk, one; Manatee, one; and Monroe, one. There shall be twenty-four senatorial districts, which shall be as follows, and shall be known by their respective numbers from one to twenty-four inclusive. The first senatorial district shall be composed of Escambia county; the second, of Santa Rosa and Walton; the third, of Jackson; the fourth, of Volusia and Washington; the fifth, of Calhoun and Franklin; the sixth, of Gadsden; the seventh, of Liberty and Wakulla; the eighth, of Leon; the ninth of Jefferson; the tenth, of Madison; the eleventh. of Hamilton and Suwanee; the twelfth, of Lafayette and Taylor: the thirteenth, of Alabhua and Levy; the foureenth, of Columbia; the fifteenth, of Bradford and Clay; the sixteenth, of Baker and Nassau; the seventeenth, of St. John's and Putnam; the eighteenth. of Duval; the nineteenth, of Marion; the twentieth, of Volusia and Orange; the twenty-first, of Dade and Brevard: the twenty-second, of Hillsborough and Hernando; the twenty-third, of Sumter and Polk; the twentyfourth, of Manatee and Monroe; and each senatorial district shall be entitled to one Senator.

SEC. 30. No person shall ever be appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court or Circuit Court who is not 25 years of age and practicing attorney.

SEC. 31. The Legislature shall, as soon as convenient, adopt a State emblem having the design of the great seal of the State impressed upon a white ground of six feet six inches fly and six feet deep.

ARTICLE XVIII.

AMENDMENTS.

Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either branch of the Legislature; and if the same shall be agreed upon by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their respective journals, with the yeas and nays thereon, and referred to the Legislature then next to be chosen, and shall be published for three months next preceding 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 a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to each house, then it should 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 may 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 a part of the Constitution.

SEC. 2. If at any time the Legislature, by a vote of a majority of all the members elected to each of the two houses, shall determine that it is necessary to cause a revision of this entire Constitution, such determination shall be entered on their respective journals, with the yeas and nays thereon, and referred to the Legislature then next to be chosen, and shall be published for three months next preceding the time of making such choice.

And if in the Legislature next chosen aforesaid such proposed revision shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the Legislature to recommend to the electors of 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 shall have voted in favor of calling a convention, the Legislature shall, at its next session, provide by law for 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 both branches of the Legislature.

In determining what is a majority of the electors voting at such election, reference shall be had to the highest number of votes cast at such election for the candidates for any office or on any question.

APPENDIX C.

FLORIDA.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED

STATES,

Transmitting papers relating to proceedings in the State of Florida.May 29, 1868-Referred to the Committee on Reconstruction and ordered to be printed.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit to Congress the accompanying documents, which are the only papers that have been submitted to me relating to. the proceedings to which they refer in the State of Florida. ANDREW JOHNSON.

Washington, D. C., May 27, 1868.

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 27, 1868.

SIR In compliance with a provision of an Act of the United States Congress, entitled "An Act supplementary to an Act to provide a more efficient government in the rebel States," I have the honor, as President of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Florida, herewith to transmit to you a copy of the Constitution framed and adopted by the convention, and ratified by the people of Florida at a duly authorized election held on the 4th, 5th and 6th instant.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

HORATIO JENKINS, JR., President of the Constitutional Convention, State of Florida.

His Excellency, ANDREW JOHNSON,

President of the United States.