SEC. 17. That all courts shall be open; and every man, for an injury done him in his lands, goods, persons, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, deni. or delay. Suits may be brought against the State in such manner and in such courts as the Legislature may by law direct.

SEC. 18. The Legislature shall pass no law authorizing imprisonment for debt in civil cases.

SEC. 19. That the printing presses shall be free to every person to examine the proceedings of the Legislature, or of any branch or officer of the goverment; and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof.

The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invat able rights of man, and every citizen may freely speak, write, and print any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. But in prosecu tions for the publication of papers investigating the official conduct of officers. or men in public capacity, the truth thereof may be given in evidence; and in all indictments for libel, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other crimin

cases.

SEC. 20. That no retrospective law, or law impairing the obligations of contracts, shall be made.

SEC. 21. That no man's particular services shall be demanded, or prop 1 erty taken, or applied to public use, without the consent of his representatives or without just compensation being made therefor.

SEC. 22. That perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius a free State, and shall not be allowed.

SEC. 23. That the citizens have a right, in a peaceable manner, to asse ble together for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and apply to those invested with the powers of government, for redress of grie ances, or other purposes, by addresses or remonstrance.

SEC. 24. That the sure and certain defense of a free people is a we regulated militia; and as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous t freedom, they ought to be avoided as far as the circumstances and safety < the community will admit; and that in all cases the military shall be ket in strict subordination to the civil authority.

SEC. 25. That no citizen of this State, except such as are employed r the army of the United States, or militia in actual service, shall be subjecte to punishment under the martial or military law; that martial law, in the sence of the unrestricted power of military officers, or others, to dispose of the persons, liberties, or property of the citizen, is inconsistent with the p cipies of free government, and is not confided to any department of the 24ernment of this State.

SEC. 26. That the citizens of this State have a right to keep and “ bear arms for their common defense; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms with a view to prevent eriko SEC. 27. That no soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a ma prescribed by law.

SEC. 28. That no citizen of this State shall be compelled to hear ar provided he will pay an equivalent, to be ascertained by law.

SEC. 29. That an equal participation in the free navigation of the Miss sippi is one of the inherent rights of the citizens of this State: it can therefore, be conceded to any prince, potentate, power, person. whatever.

SEC. 30. That no hereditary emoluments, privileges, or honors shail be granted or conferred in this State.

SEC. 31. That the limits and boundaries of this State be ascertale. it is declared they are as hereafter mentioned-that is to say: BeziLL! on the extreme height of the Stone Mountain, at the place where the *** of Virginia intersects it, in latitude thirty-six degree and thirty man north; running thence along the extreme height of the said mountain, te place where Watauga River breaks through it; thence a direct course to

of the Yellow Mountain. where Bright's road crosses the same; thence ng the ridge of said mountain, between the waters of the Doe River and waters of Rock Creek, to the place where the road crosses the Iron Mouna; from thence along the extreme height of said mountain, to the place ere Nolichucky River runs through the same; thence to the top of the id Mountain; thence. along the extreme height of said mountain to the nted Rock, on French Broad River; thence along the highest ridge of said untain, to the place where it is called the Great Iron, or Smoky, Mountain; nce along the extreme height of said mountain, to the place where it is led Unicoi, or Unaka, Mountain, between the Indian towns of Cowee and Chota; thence along the main ridge of the said mountain, to the southern ndary of this State, as described in the Act of cession of North Carolina the United States of America; and that all the territory, lands, and waters g west of said line, as before mentioned, and contained within the charlimits of the State of North Carolina, are within the boundaries and its of this State, over which the people have the right of exercising sovignty, and the right of soil, so far as is consistent with the Constitution the United States, recognizing the Articles of Confederation, the Bill of hts, and Constitution of North Carolina, the cession Act of the said State. the ordinance of Congress for the government of the territory, northwest the Ohio; Provided, nothing herein contained shall extend to affect the m or claims of individuals to any part of the soil which is recognized them by the aforesaid cession Act; And provided also, that the limits jurisdiction of this State shall extend to any other land and territory 7 acquired, or that may hereafter be acquired, by compact or agreement h other States, or otherwise, although such land and territory are not uded within the boundaries hereinbefore designated.

SEC. 32. That the erection of safe and comfortable prisons, the inspecof prisons, and the humane treatment of prisoners shall be provided for. SEC. 33. That slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, are forever hibited in this State.

SEC. 34. The General Assembly shall make no law recognizing the right property in man.

ARTICLE II.

DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.

SECTION 1. The powers of the government shall be divided into three dist departments: the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.

SEC. 2. No person, or persons, belonging to one of these departments shall reise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except he cases herein directed or permitted.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

SEC. 3. The legislative authority of this State shall be vested in a GenAssembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives,

dependent on the people; who shall hold their offices for two years n the day of the general election.

SEC. 4. An enumeration of the qualified voters, and an apportionment of Representatives in the General Assembly, shall be made in the year one usand eight hundred and seventy-one, and within every subsequent term of years.

SEC. 5. The number of Representatives shall, at the several periods of xing the enumeration, be apportioned among the several counties or dists, according to the number of qualified voters in each; and shall not eed seventy-five until the population of the State shall be one million

a half, and shall never exceed ninety-nine; Provided, that any county ing two-thirds of the ratio shall be entitled to one member.

SEC. 6. The number of Senators shall, at the several periods of making enumeration, be apportioned among the several counties or districts, acing to the number of qualified voters in each, and shall not exceed one

third the number of representatives. In apportioning the Senators among the different counties the fraction that may be lost by any county or counties, in the apportionment of members to the House of Representatives, shall be made up to such county or counties in the Senate, as near as may be pra ticable. When a district is composed of two or more counties, they shall be adjoining; and no county shall be divided in forming a district.

SEC. 7. The first election for Senators and Representatives shall be held on the second Tuesday in November, one thousand eight hundred and seventy: and forever thereafter, elections for members of the General Assembly shal be held once in two years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday fa November. Said elections shall terminate the same day.

SEC. S. The first session of the General Assembly shall commence on the first Monday in October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, at which time the term of service of the members shall commence, and expire on the first Tuesday of November, one thousand eight hundred and seventytwo, at which session the Governor elected on the second Tuesday in Noveaber, one thousand eight hundred and seventy, shall be inaugurated; al forever thereafter, the General Assembly shall meet on the first Monday in January next ensuing the election, at which session thereof the Governor shall be inaugurated.

SEC. 9. No person shall be a Representative unless he shall be a citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, and shall have beet citizen of this State for three years, and a resident in the county he represents one year, immediately preceding the election.

SEC. 10. No person shall be a Senator unless he shall be a citizen of the United States, of the age of thirty years, and shall have resided three years in this State, and one year in the county or district, immediately p ceding the election. No Senator or Representative shall, during the fie for which he was elected, be eligible to any office or place of trust, the pointment to which is vested in the Executive or the General Assembly, eyear to the office of trustee of a literary institution.

SEC. 11. The Senate and House of Representatives, when asserubies! shall each choose a Speaker and its other officers, be judges of the qualificaties and election of its members, and sit upon its own adjournments from to day. Not less than two-thirds of all the members to which each bes shall be entitled shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smal number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized by law to compel the attendance of absent members.

SEC. 12. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirs expel a member, but not a second time for the same offense; and shall b*** all other powers necessary for a branch of the Legislature of a free St SEC. 13. Senators and Representatives shall, in all cases, except treas felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the sess of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from the st and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned & any other place.

SEC. 14. Each house may punish, by imprisonment, during its sessio any person not a member, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house. any disorderly or any contemptuous behavior in its presence.

SEC. 15. When vacancies happen in either house, the Governor. for the time being, shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

SEC. 16. Neither house shall, during its session, adjourn without fe consent of the other for more than three days, nor to any other place th that in which the two houses shall be sitting.

SEC. 17. Bills may originate in either house; but may be amended, alter or rejected by the other. No bill shall become a law which embraces Led than one subject, that subject to be expressed in the title. All acts w repeal, revive, or amend former laws shall recite in their caption, or that wise, the title or substance of the law repealed, revived, or amended...

SEC. 18. Every bill shall be read once, on three different days, and be ssed each time in the house where it originated, before transmission to the her. No bill shall become a law until it shall have been read and passed

three di rent days in each house, and shall have received, on its final ssage in each house, the assent of a majority of all the members to which at house shall be entitled under this Constitution; and shall have been ned by the respective Speakers in open session, the fact of such signing be noted on the journal; and shall have received the approval of the vernor, or shall have been otherwise passed under the provisions of this nstitution.

SEC. 19. After a bill has been rejected, no bill containing the same subnce shall be passed into a law during the same session.

SEC. 20. The style of the laws of this State shall be, "Be it enacted by › General Assembly of the State of Tennessee." No law of a general nature ill take effect until forty days after its passage, unless the same or the tion shall state that the public welfare requires that it should take effect

oner.

SEC. 21. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish except such parts as the welfare of the State may require to be kept ret; the ayes and noes shall be taken in each house upon the final passage every bill of a general character, and bills making appropriations of public neys; and the ayes and noes of the members on any question shall, at the quest of any five of them, be entered on the journal.

SEC. 22. The doors of each house and of committees of the whole shall kept open, unless when the business shall be such as ought to be kept -ret.

SEC. 23. The sum of four dollars per day, and four dollars for every enty-five miles traveling to and from the seat of government, shall be owed to the members of each General Assembly elected after the ratification this Constitution, as a compensation for their services. But no member ill be paid for more than seventy-five days of a regular session, or for re than twenty days of any extra or called session, or for any day, when sent from his seat in the legislature, unless physically unable to attend. e senators, when sitting as a court of impeachment, shall each receive four lars per day of actual attendance.

SEC. 24. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence appropriations made by law; and an accurate statement of the receipts 1 expenditures of the public money shall be attached to and published h the laws at the rise of each stated session of the General Assembly. SEC. 25. No person who heretofore hath been, or may hereafter be, a lector or holder of public moneys, shall have a seat in either house of the eral Assembly, or hold any other office under the State Government, until h person shall have accounted for and paid into the treasury all sums for ich he may be accountable or liable.

SEC. 26. No judge of any court of law or equity, Secretary of State, orney-general, register, clerk of any court of record, or person holding any se under the authority of the United States, shall have a seat in the eral Assembly, nor shall any person in this State hold more than one rative office at the same time; Provided, that no appointment in the militia, to the office of justice of the peace, shall be considered a lucrative office operative as a disqualification to a seat in either house of the General embly.

SEC. 27. Any member of either house of the General Assembly shall have rty to dissent from and protest against any act or resolve which he may ak injurious to the public or to any individual, and to have the reasons for dissent entered on the journals.

SEC. 28. All property, real, personal, or mixed, shall be taxed; but the gislature may except such as may be held by the State, by counties, cities, towns, and used exclusively for public or corporation purposes, and such may be held and used for purposes purely religious, charitable, scientific,

literary, or educational, and shall except one thousand dollars' worth of personal property in the hands of each taxpayer, and the direct product of the soil in the hands of the producer and his immediate vendee. All property shall be taxed according to its value, that value to be ascertained in such manner as the Legislature shall direct, so that taxes shall be equal and uniform throughout the State. No one species of property from which a tax may be collected shall be taxed higher than any other species of property of the same value; but the Legislature shall have power to tax merchants, peddlers, and privileges in such manner as they may from time to time direct. The portion of a merchant's capital used in the purchase of merchandise sold by him to nonresidents, and sent beyond the State, shall not be taxed at a rate higher than the ad valorem tax on property. The Legisature shall have the power to levy a tax upon incomes derived from stocks and bonds that are not taxed ad valorem. All male citizens of this State over the age of twenty-one years, except such persons as may be exempted by law on account of age or other infirmity, shall be liable to a poll tax of not less than fifty cents nor more than one dollar per annum; nor shad any county or corporation levy a poll tax exceeding the amount levied by the State.

SEC. 29. The General Assembly shall have power to authorize the severa counties and incorporated towns in this State to impose taxes for county and corporation purposes respectively, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law; and all property shall be taxed according to its value, upon the pri ciples established in regard to State taxation.

But the credit of no county, city, or town shall be given or loaned to or in aid of any person, company, association, or corporation, except up an election to be first held by the qualified voters of such county, city, E town, and the assent of three-fourths of the votes cast at said election. Nr shall any county, city or town become a stockholder with others in any pany, association, or corporation, except upon a like election and the asset of a like majority. But the counties of Grainger, Hawkins, Hancock, Ulje Campbell, Scott, Morgan. Grundy, Sumner, Smith, Fentress, Van Buren, af the new county herein authorized to be established out of fractions of Nu ner, Macon, and Smith Counties, White, Putnam, Overton, Jackson, Cut land, Anderson, Henderson, Wayne, Cocke, Coffee, Macon, Marshall, and Rase. shall be excepted out of the provisions of this section, so far that the asset of a majority of the qualified voters of either of said counties voting on t question shall be sufficient, when the credit of such county is given or jo m to any person, association, or corporation; Provided, that the exception the counties above named shall not be in force beyond the year one thous eight hundred and eighty, and after that period they shall be subject to the three-fourths majority applicable to the other counties of the State.

SEC. 30. No article manufactured of the produce of this State shail ** taxed otherwise than to pay inspection fees.

SEC. 31. The credit of this State shall not be hereafter loaned or give to or in aid of any person, association, company, corporation, or municipeir nor shall the State become the owner, in whole or in part, of any bank, er stockholder with others in any association, company, corporation, or mu pality.

SEC. 32. No convention or General Assembly of this State shall act any amendment of the Constitution of the United States, proposed by CouLTAS to the several States, unless such convention or General Assembly shall b been elected after such amendment is submitted.

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SEC. 33. No bonds of the State shall be issued to any railroad cuad which, at the time of its application for the same, shall be in default in: ing the interest upon the State bonds previously loaned to it, or that hereafter, and before such application, sell or absolutely dispose of any bonds loaned to it for less than par.