i

THE
Legislative Manual,
—OF THE—
STATE OF COLORADO,
—COMPRISING—
THE HISTORY OF COLORADO, ANNALS OF THE LEGISLATURE,
MANUAL OF CUSTOMS, PRECEDENTS AND FORMS, RULES
OF PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE, AND THE CONSTITUTIONS
OF THE UNITED STATES AND
THE STATE OF COLORADO.
—ALSO—
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF AMERICAN HISTORY, LISTS AND
TABLES FOR REFERENCE, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC.
THOMAS B. CORBETT.
FIRST EDITION.
DENVER, COLORADO.
DENVER TIMES PUBLISHING HOUSE AND BINDERY.
1877.

ii

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1877,
By Thomas B. Corbett,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
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PREFACE.

The first edition of the Colorado Legislative Manual is herewith presented. While designed for the use of the General Assembly, it cannot fail to interest all classes—the lawyer, the merchant, the aspirant after political honors, and even the young who are ripening into manhood and soon to share its grave responsibilities. It contains information which cannot be elsewhere acquired without a great expenditure of time and patience, in the examination of records, the reconciliation of numerous discrepancies, the supplement of omissions and the correction of errors. The pre-State history is necessarily brief. Sketches of prominent characters, and comments on events and the acts of individuals are not introduced, for the reason that the period of the narrative should be removed some distance from the present age to secure the historian from undue prejudice and partiality. The settlement of Colorado, now a flourishing State, began scarcely twenty years ago. A sense of propriety, therefore, demands that only a plain, accurate and truthful statement be made of what occurred in connection with that settlement. In the preparation of the Legislative Annals, much labor and care have been expended. The Annals are as complete and correct as it was possible to make them, considering the removals of members from the Territory, the inaccuracy of the records and the imperfection of the journals. To the novice in legislation, the Manual of Customs, Precedents and Forms will prove of great value. I have sought, and indeed have spared no pains nor expense, to make this an improvement upon all other Legislative Manuals yet published.

This Manual will be published biennially with such changes as circumstances may require, and such improvements as experience may suggest. That I am anxious to receive the commendation of an appreciative public, I do not deny, and hope that their fullest sympathy with my effort in this direction will be freely accorded. It is a satisfaction to know, and should beget a praiseworthy pride, that Colorado is not iv behind any of the oldest, most populous and wealthy States in the character, style and completeness of this publication.

It gives me great pleasure to confess, that from the inception to the completion of this work, I have received much kind and cordial assistance. My warmest thanks and acknowledgments are extended to Robert Berry and William W. Webster, experienced legislators, for their good offices and valuable help. The courtesies of Judge Amos Steck, whose memory of facts, dates and persons deserves special mention, and the kindness of O. J. Goldrick, editor and proprietor of the Rocky Mountain Herald, are here gratefully acknowledged.

Trusting that this work will meet the expectations of the General Assembly, and State at large, I respectfully submit it to their judgment.

T. B. C.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

CHAPTER I.

Cession of Louisiana Province and Territorial purchase from Mexico—expedition of Coronado—United States expedition to examine Louisiana Province—brief history of Kansas to 1861—first discovery of Gold—trains of prospectors—first settlements in Colorado—early attempts to organize a Territory and State—first representative to Kansas Legislature—visit of Horace Greeley—Provisional Territorial government organized—people’s courts and miners’ courts—condition of affairs in 1860—pony express and other events of 1860—Territory of Colorado organized.—Pages 33-43.

CHAPTER II.—ORGANIC ACT.

Boundaries—Governor, Secretary, their duties and term of office—Legislature—suffrage—judicial power—election of delegate—Surveyor-General to be appointed.

AMENDMENTS TO ORGANIC ACT.

To provide a temporary government—to regulate the elective franchise—in regard to appropriations—compensation of members and officers of legislature.—Pages 44-56.

CHAPTER III.

Provisional government ends—federal officers arrive—Territorial government established—events of 1862—events of 1863—events of vii 1864—Indians punished by Col. Chivington—renewal of Indian hostilities in 1865—attempt to organize a State—events of 1866—events of 1867—railroads and colonies—temporary division of Republican party in Colorado—enabling act passed.—Pages 57-62.

CHAPTER IV.—ENABLING ACT.

Power to organize a State government—boundaries—suffrage—Constitutional Convention—Constitution to be submitted to the people and President to admit the State by proclamation—lands and Salt Springs appropriated—that five per centum of the proceeds of the sales of lands by the United States be paid to the State. Amendment to the Enabling Act—Constitutional Convention.—Pages 63-67.

CHAPTER V.—CONSTITUTION.

Preamble—bill of rights—distribution of powers—Executive Department—Lieutenant-Governor—legislative department—judicial department—suffrage and elections—State institutions—education—revenue—officers—impeachments—counties—corporations—mining and irrigation—militia—miscellaneous—future amendments—schedule—ordinances. Constitution submitted to the people—vote—the new State admitted. Proclamation of the President—party conventions—election for State officers—General Assembly meet—Governor’s message—general remarks.—Pages 67-123. viii 1

ANALYTICAL INDEX
OF THE
CONSTITUTION OF COLORADO.

13

ANALYTICAL INDEX
OF THE
CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES.

23

INDEX TO
MANUAL OF PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE.

33

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

CHAPTER I.

On April 3d of the year 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, for the sum of $16,000,000, ceded to the United States, then under the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, all that vast territory entitled the Province of Louisiana. The province extended from the possessions of New Spain on the south, to the boundary line of the British possessions on the north, and had the magnificent Mississippi river on the one side, and the great Pacific Ocean on the other. At the close of the Mexican war, in 1848, by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, for the sum of $15,000,000, all New Mexico and Upper California—a region extending from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and containing about 500,000 square miles—was ceded to the United States. This immense domain, thus acquired by purchase from France and Mexico, has been occupied by an intelligent and enterprising population, and divided into states and territories, each an empire in its dimensions, and has been cultivated, developed, and embellished by all the arts and inventions of the most progressed civilization. One portion of this domain is Colorado, destined by her position, resources and climate to enjoy an immortal precedence among the States of our great Republic.

Before the year 1858 very little was known of Colorado. It is recorded, with some apparent truth, that a large force of Spaniards and Indian allies, led by Coronado, a Spanish military captain, having for their object the discovery of gold, had, about the middle of the sixteenth century, penetrated to this section of the Rocky Mountains. The expedition, after incredible hardships, returned without the golden treasures, for which they had ventured so far and suffered so much.

Soon after the transfer of the Louisiana province, and the establishment of the United States authority therein, it was determined at Washington to ascertain the nature of the country, the sources of its large rivers and the general character of the climate. Accordingly, in the summer of 1806, a small expedition was equipped, and dispatched 34 under the command of Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike, who, for his skillful services, was, on his return, promoted to the rank of major. On the 15th of November, Major Pike and his small company beheld the prominent and stately mountain which, in honor of the commander, was named Pike’s Peak. Major Pike, in his diary, thus refers to this peak: “This mountain was so remarkable as to be known to all the savage nations for hundreds of miles around, and to be spoken of with admiration by the Spaniards of New Mexico, and was the bounds of their travels north-west.” Directing his march with the course of the mountains, Major Pike continued his explorations. Failing to discover the object of his search—the source of the Red River—he retraced his steps, and proceeded in a south-westerly direction. Determined to find the head-waters of that important stream, and unconquered by the fearful severities of winter in the midst of the mountains, the little party of explorers pursued their way. Their discoveries were, however, brought to a close by an untoward event—the capture of the whole party by the Spaniards, who held a military post in the San Juan country. This arrest would hardly have occurred had the boundaries between New Spain and Louisiana been definitely known.

In the year 1819 another and larger expedition was prepared, and ordered to explore this section of the Rocky Mountains. The party engaged in this enterprise had advanced a considerable distance into the Indian country without molestation, when its further progress was checked by the loss of their horses, which had been stolen by the Pawnee Indians. This mischance detained the expedition for a whole year. In June, 1820, Col. S. H. Long, the commander, all losses having been repaired, resumed his march. Early in the summer they reached the South Platte, and followed its course until the mountains came in sight. The massive giant peak, which stood out boldly and grandly before them, was, in honor of Col. Long, called Long’s Peak. Col. Long made a careful examination of the mountains from Long’s Peak to Pike’s Peak, and of the plains lying along their base.

A very full exploration of the Rocky Mountains was made, in 1832, by Captain Bonneville, who commanded a party fitted out by the American Fur Company.

The most effective expedition hitherto equipped by the Government, for purposes of exploration, was commanded by Col. Fremont, and set out in 1842. Upon his arrival at the South Platte, he sent the larger portion of his force to Fort Laramie, a post of the American Fur Company. With the rest of his command he advanced to Fort St. Vrain, an Indian trading post, situated seventeen miles east from Long’s Peak, and one hundred miles north from Pike’s Peak. From 35 this point he journeyed northward, exploring the country beyond the limits of Colorado.

Another band of explorers, conducted by Col. Fremont, camped at Fort St. Vrain in July, 1843. This party made accurate surveys of the regions known as north and south of the Divide—an elevated ridge, separating the Arkansas and Platte valleys; crossed and re-crossed the range, ascertained many valuable facts, and mapped out the main geographical features of Colorado. But, so far, none of these explorers, nor any of the white inhabitants, mostly occupied in trading, trapping and hunting, had made any discovery of the vast mineral wealth now known to exist in this portion of the Sierra Madre mountains.

As the limits of Kansas formerly embraced a large part of what now constitutes Colorado, a brief summary of the early history of Kansas is essential. The territory of Kansas was organized on the thirtieth day of May, 1854. Then began her pupilage under the guardianship of Congress. In theory, the relation of a territory to the national government is that of a child to its parent. It is supposed to be under discipline and training, by which it will, in due time, be fitted to discharge the high and important duties incident to statehood. Kansas, it seems, was an unruly ward, and caused much trouble and anxiety to her guardian. In the Organic Act of the territory it was prescribed that the Constitution and all the laws of the United States should be in full force and effect, except the Missouri Compromise Act of 1820, which was declared to be inoperative and void in that territory. The Missouri Compromise, thus partially rescinded, opened the way for a pro-slavery and an anti-slavery agitation. Anti-slavery colonies from New England, and pro-slavery colonies from the Southern States, came to settle in the new territory of Kansas. Confusion, riot, and bloodshed soon followed. This unhappy state of affairs continued until the adoption of a State constitution prohibiting slavery. This important event occurred December 6th, 1859. From that time peace and order reigned. On January 29th, 1861, an Act for the admission of Kansas into the Union as a state, passed both Houses of Congress. On February 26th, 1861, Congress divided the new state, and organized the western portion into a territory bearing the name of Colorado.

We have seen that Kansas became a territory in 1854. From that year until 1858 no one authorized to represent the territory of Kansas appeared within the present limits of Colorado. The inhabitants before this time, beside the employees of the American Fur Company and a few independent trappers, hunters, and Indian traders, 36 consisted of a scattered population of Pueblos and Mexicans, mostly engaged in stock raising in the vicinity of the Raton Mountains, and the roving tribes of savages. The Indian traders, among whom were Lieutenant Lupton and Vigil St. Vrain in the north, and Colonels Boone and Bent in the south, had erected small forts to shield them from the savages. The junction of the Fontaine qui Bouille with the Arkansas was a favorite winter rendezvous for the trappers and hunters, among whom was the famous Kit Carson. In 1854, the Ute Indians massacred, in one night, all who had assembled at this resort. Hitherto the protection of Kansas power and law had never been invoked, nor had the needs of the scanty and motley population occupied the attention of the Kansas government. In 1852 a party of Cherokee Indians, on their way from Georgia to California, discovered gold on the banks of a small stream tributary to the South Platte. On their return journey they showed the gold and reported the place of discovery. Exciting rumors of gold found in large quantities in the Rocky Mountains, inflamed thousands with the desire to reach and possess the open treasures. The first train of prospectors, led by W. Green Russell, Esq., started from Georgia. As they passed through Missouri and Kansas, the gold fever influenced many to leave home and competency for the distant plains and mountains teeming with riches. The Georgians took up their position where Denver now stands, and thoroughly prospected Cherry Creek from its mouth to its source, but as their labors were poorly rewarded, they gave the Platte, of which Cherry Creek is a tributary, a fair trial for six or seven miles south. Much disappointed, they set out for the North Platte and Green River regions, but faring worse, returned to their first location, and were made happy by larger returns for their labor. The first Kansas party built their camp fires near the present site of Pueblo. As the news of gold discoveries sped across the continent, a strong tide of emigration set in to the Pike’s Peak country. Strings of wagons and troops of men, in constant succession, kept crossing the great plains, anxious as they toiled on, to catch a glimpse of the blue outlines of the mountains, where fortune stood waiting to enrich the hardy adventurers. From all parts, and embracing all characters, poured in the earnest crowd, all animated by a common hope of attaining sudden wealth.

J. W. Denver, after whom Denver, the present capital of Colorado, was called, was then governor of Kansas territory. But neither he, nor his successor Medary, nor even Robinson, elected State governor December 6th, 1859, could give scarcely any attention to occurrences 37 in the distant Pike’s Peak gold regions. Their thoughts and time were almost entirely engrossed by political events at home.

On the banks of the Platte, near the present Younker ranch, some of the Kansas company, who had camped on the Arkansas, with others, began to erect a number of log cabins. These were soon completed, and the name of Montana City was applied to the settlement. In these cabins a large party of prospectors spent the winter. On the 24th of September, a party of nine selected the east side of Cherry Creek, near its mouth, for a town site, and agreed to lay out 640 acres for that purpose. The peculiar and pious name of St. Charles was given to it, but no steps were taken to survey and plot the town or put up buildings, unless a few logs crossed together, with an old wagon cover for a roof, might be designated a house. Another company chose the west side of Cherry Creek for a town site, and in the latter part of October proceeded to construct some log cabins. These, and a number of others used as stores, were built, and the town called Auraria, from a small mining town in Georgia. The prospects of this new enterprise soon became encouraging, while Montana City in time lost its inhabitants, and its tenements went to ruin. A town company, composed mainly of Kansas citizens, on November 17th, 1858, took possession of the deserted St. Charles town site. Steps for the erection of cabins were immediately taken in order to secure the right of pre-emption. By New Year’s Day Denver had twenty and Auraria forty cabins. Up to this time the settlements contained only three white women. In the fall of 1859, a warm rivalry existed between Auraria and Denver. This was manifested in every issue, and continued until the consolidation of Denver and Auraria in 1860. The first inhabitants of Boulder came to that section October 17, 1858. In the summer of 1859 settlements were made in South Park. In the autumn months of 1859 Mountain City, Boulder, Russellville, Colorado City, Golden and Arapahoe became large settlements.

As the population increased, protection of life and property was felt as the special need. Animated, therefore, by a common desire to establish security, prevent and punish crime, the new settlers called a public meeting. The meeting was held November 6, 1858, in the settlement of Auraria, containing at that time about 200 inhabitants. The assembly, though composed of immigrants from different states, acted as citizens of Kansas territory. Out of the Pike’s Peak country, as that part of the Rocky Mountains, and the plains around their base, were called, they formed a county, defined its limits, and named it Arapahoe, from a neighboring tribe of Indians. They also declared 38 Auraria to be the county seat. They then proceeded to elect a delegate to Congress and a representative to the Kansas Legislature. H. J. Graham was chosen delegate, and A. J. Smith representative. This action of the assembly manifested a rare spirit of enterprise in politics. They declare a district of Kansas to be a county, and depute one of their number to the legislature with credentials of his election, and petitions that the county be established, and their representative be received. At the same time a delegate is dispatched to Congress with instructions to have the county converted into a territory. The delegate of Kansas Territory would be duly recognized and admitted to a seat in Congress. But to the delegate of Arapahoe county no such recognition or position would be tendered. His labors would be confined to the advocacy of the petitions and claims of the people he represented before committees, or with individual members of the House or Senate. Nevertheless, Mr. Graham hurried to Washington, impelled by the delusive hope that his mission would be successful, and that he would enjoy the honors and emoluments of territorial delegate. The people of Arapahoe county were 700 miles distant from Leavenworth, the capital of Kansas, without railroads or telegraphs, and with immense uninhabited plains lying between them and the territorial authorities. They, therefore, naturally desired to have the territory of Kansas divided, and the western part organized into a new territory. This arrangement, if consummated, would place the country on a stable footing. Peace and order would be maintained, the general prosperity promoted, while Congress and the nation would be directly acquainted with the growth, prospects and necessities of the country. Mr. Graham exerted himself to prevail on Congress to respect the petition of his constituents, but his efforts proved unsuccessful. Their representative, A. J. Smith, succeeded in his mission, had Arapahoe county confirmed, but was not admitted as a member of the Kansas legislature.

During the winter of 1858 the population was only slightly increased. The settlements were governed by local laws, devised and adopted by the people, and these laws were executed by a Probate judge and other officers, of the people’s appointment. The first election of Arapahoe county officers, under Kansas laws, was held March 28, 1859. Over 700 votes were polled, of which 231 were credited to Auraria and 144 to Denver. The spring months brought a great increase to the mining population. From authentic sources it has been computed that, during the summer, the Pike’s Peak gold regions contained 20,000 souls. An established and accessible government became indispensable. The subject pressed itself more and more 39 urgently on the public mind. Their first attempt, in 1858, to impress Congress favorably with the necessities of their situation, had proved abortive. But a profound sense of their needs moved them to renew their efforts to prevail on Congress to consummate a partition of the territory of Kansas, and to establish a separate government in this distant but populous region. A mass meeting was called, to convene in Auraria, April 11th, 1859. In the resolutions adopted, it was expressed as the unanimous sentiment of the meeting, that a separate and distinct government was not only important but necessary. By these resolutions, also, the several precincts of Arapahoe county were requested to choose delegates, to meet in joint convention on the fourth day after the meeting, April 15th, to consider the question of organizing a new state or territory. On the day appointed the delegates met. In order to save time and determine quickly, they pursued an eminently judicious course. They resolved on one subject of debate, and only one: “The formation of a new and independent state of the Union.” It must be remembered that Kansas, at this time, was only a territory, though pressing her claims for recognition and admission as a State. Thus early, and prematurely, as facts subsequently proved, did the people, who crowded into this new country, seek for the honors and privileges of statehood. While these delegates were in session, or shortly after, the Rocky Mountain News, the pioneer journal of Colorado, issued its first edition, April 23d, 1859. This Auraria convention, as a summing up of their labors, ordered a general election of delegates on the second Monday in May, to meet on the first Monday in June. At the time designated fifty delegates assembled. As in the April convention, only one subject, it seems, engaged their deliberations—the attainment of statehood. The work of drafting a constitution was entrusted to eight committees, in order to economize time and secure a complete instrument. The committees were requested to report, and submit their labors to a fuller convention, which was enjoined to meet on the first Monday in August. In the interval the several committees prepared their work. When the convention, which consisted of one hundred and sixty-seven delegates, met, the committees presented their reports. A constitution was completed, and arrangements made for its acceptance or rejection by the votes of the people. Though some members of the convention were sanguine of success, the majority thought that the result would be adverse, and sought to provide against such a contingency. The day set for voting on the constitution and movement for a state, was the first Monday in September. The convention therefore resolved that should the constitution be rejected, a delegate to Congress should be elected on the 40 first Monday in October. The delegate would represent Jefferson Territory—the name given by the convention to Arapahoe county, or Pike’s Peak gold regions. On September 4th the votes far or against the constitution were cast, and resulted in 2,007 against, and 649 for, that instrument. A short time (about ten days) before the October election, it was proposed, at a mass meeting held in Auraria, that on the day a delegate to Congress was elected, delegates should be chosen to form a Provisional Territorial Government. The proposition was adopted. Accordingly, on the first Monday in October this double election took place.

The governor of Kansas, in 1859, had issued a proclamation that Arapahoe county be established, and that a representative be elected. The Arapahoe county election for Kansas officials was therefore also held. Captain Richard Sopris was elected representative, and was the first member from Arapahoe county admitted to a seat in the Kansas legislature. An event, worthy of relation, is the arrival of the Leavenworth and Pike’s Peak express, May 17th, 1859. This assured direct communication with the capital of Kansas, and thence with all the States. It was a day of congratulations, and one to be remembered. Another noticeable matter of record is the visit of Horace Greeley, editor of the N. Y. Tribune, who witnessed, with extraordinary interest the operations of gold mining. A letter, to which he attached his own signature, was published June 6th, 1859. This letter set forth in strong language the large returns of the mines and placer diggings. As a consequence, another immigration that fall largely increased the population.

At the October election above mentioned, B. D. Williams was chosen delegate to Congress. He was the exponent of the August convention, and entrusted with the mission to memorialize Congress to separate the Pike’s Peak region from Kansas, and organize it into a territory under the name of Jefferson. The other delegates chosen were instructed to form a Provisional Government. Eighty-six delegates met in convention. They entered upon their duties with great earnestness. A new constitution, called the “Organic Act of the Territory of Jefferson,” was framed and adopted. Other important measures received their approval. The territory was divided into legislative districts. A full state ticket was nominated, and an election ordered for the fourth Monday of October, the same month in which they had been elected, had convened, had acted. The election took place; 2,000 votes were cast in twenty-seven precincts. The Provisional Government was adopted, a full corps of legislators chosen, and, indeed, all but one of the entire ticket elected. The purpose of 41 the parties who had determined on a Provisional Government ran swift to its fulfillment. The legislature thus suddenly and questionably brought into existence, met and began their session. The message of the governor, R. W. Steele, was received with the usual formalities, and the session was passed in diligent legislative labors. Many general and special laws were enacted; nine counties were organized; a poll-tax of one dollar was imposed, and a committee appointed to report full civil and criminal codes to an adjourned session, January 23d, 1860. In each of the nine newly organized counties the governor appointed a Probate Judge, to hold office until the regular county election on the first Monday in January, 1860. The legislature met pursuant to adjournment, and for the remainder of the session devoted their attention to the report of the committee. Full civil and criminal codes were finally adopted. An imperium in imperio was now fairly established. Right in the midst of the Kansas Government stood the Provisional Government. The first resistance to the authority of the latter, and protest against its legality, arose from the Arapahoe county officials, who were elected according to Kansas territorial law, and were, therefore, beyond a doubt, legal. Besides this, a remonstrance against the per capita tax, signed by seven hundred miners, was sent down from the mountains. In the valley, therefore, the Kansas and the Provisional governments held divided sway; and in the mountains the Miners’ Courts and the Provisional Government contended for the mastery. Golden was the only settlement that wholly submitted to the Provisional Government. In truth, the authority of the Kansas officials was never fairly recognized, and they soon ceased to have even a nominal existence.

From 1858 to some time in 1861, two kinds of courts existed in the Pike’s Peak region, whose decisions were final. These were called the People’s Courts and the Miners’ Courts. The People’s Courts were improvised assemblies of the people, who convened to adjudicate criminal cases, such as murders, homicides, and other felonies. They were usually presided over by a probate judge or justice of the peace. The extreme penalties were hanging, lashes on the bare back, and banishment. The Miners’ Courts were differently organized. Pursuant to a general call, all occupying a mining district met together. They fixed the limits of their district, adopted a miners’ code, defined the duties of officers, and elected them for the ensuing year. A president, judge, sheriff, collector, surveyor, and recorder, who was ex officio treasurer and secretary of the district, composed the officers of the court, who were all responsible to the superior tribunal, the Miners’ Meeting. These courts settled all claims and offences in mining 42 districts. When a case was not settled in the courts, it was carried to the Miners’ Meeting. There was no appeal from their decision. The courts organized under the Provisional Government were respected by the people, and their decisions accepted with general satisfaction. In Denver and some other places the People’s Courts alone were recognized.

The year 1860 witnessed great activity in mining throughout the mountains. April 3d, 1860, Denver and Auraria, by mutual agreement of the citizens, were consolidated. During this year the celebrated Consolidated Ditch, constructed for mining uses, was completed. In the fall of 1860 Edward M. McCook was elected representative to the Kansas legislature. It is certain that no bills were passed for the benefit of his constituents, who formed a very small minority of the people, and it is a matter of doubt whether he received more than his mileage. On New Year’s Day, 1860, Denver had two hundred and Auraria four hundred houses, with a combined settled population of one thousand. At the close of 1860 it was estimated that sixty thousand people, chiefly transient, were in the Pike’s Peak country, and the population in and around Denver, four thousand.

The Pony Express, which started simultaneously from St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, April 9th, 1860, and which was conceived and made a success by the bold enterprise of W. H. Russell, Esq., was an event of unusual consequence to the whole nation. Telegrams from New York, by this conveyance, were delivered in San Francisco in eight days and four hours, and letters from San Francisco reached St. Joseph, Missouri, in eight days and nine hours. The great Pacific Mail Steamship Company had, for about ten years, held the contract for the transportation of the U. S. mails. This service realized a million dollars annually. By this line the transit of the mails took twenty-three days. But this achievement of the pony express, reducing the time to eight days and nine hours, induced the government to change the route for the Pacific mails. The contract was given to Butterfield, who sub-contracted to W. H. Russell, through whom the Pike’s Peak gold regions soon had ample mail facilities. On May 1st, 1860, began the publication of the Rocky Mountain Herald, daily edition, whose racy columns drew an encouraging patronage. In August, 1860, the first mail service was extended to the mountains. During this year, considering the number of lawless and reckless men congregated in this new country, comparatively few crimes were committed. The criminals guilty of murder were tried by a People’s Court, sentenced, and hanged. During the summer months Denver was overrun by a crew of desperadoes 43 and robbers, who, if resisted, did not hesitate to use any violence. They assailed the office of the Denver News, and forcibly, with intent to kill, abducted the editor for his unsparing condemnation of their outrages. But the career of one of them was ingloriously terminated, being shot down by the citizens, and the fate of others speedily determined by the People’s Courts. The rest hurried away to other parts, where justice did not follow the offender so surely and so swiftly. In the mountains crimes, at first frequent, soon almost disappeared, owing to the vigilance and prompt action of the Miners’ Courts. At Washington the Congressional delegate indefatigably pressed the petitions of the people, and urged the necessity of immediately organising a territory. Thus 1860 passed.

The next year, so full of great events, brought the desired relief. On the 26th of February, 1861, a bill passed Congress designating the boundaries of the new territory of Colorado, which embraced portions of Kansas, Nebraska, and Utah, and providing for its political organization and administration. The news of this important event was received with great demonstrations of joy. 44

CHAPTER II.

ORGANIC ACT.

AN ACT TO PROVIDE A TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT FOR THE TERRITORY OF COLORADO.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, viz: commencing on the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude, where the twenty-fifth meridian of longitude west from Washington crosses the same; thence north on said meridian to the forty-first parallel of north latitude; thence along said parallel west to the thirty-second meridian of longitude west from Washington; thence south on said meridian to the northern line of New Mexico; thence along the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude to the place of beginning; be and the same is hereby erected into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Colorado: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said Territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to include any territory which, by treaty with any Indian tribe, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any State or Territory; but all such territory shall be excepted out of the boundaries, and constitute no part of the territory of Colorado, until said tribe shall signify their assent to the President of the United States to be included within the said Territory, or to affect the authority of the government of the United States to make any regulations respecting such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights, by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have been competent for the government to make, if this act had never passed: Provided further, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the United States from dividing said Territory into two or more territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress 45 shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion thereof to any other Territory or State.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the executive power and authority in and over said Territory of Colorado shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States. The Governor shall reside within said Territory, shall be Commander-in-Chief of the militia thereof, shall perform the duties and receive the emoluments of Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and shall approve all laws passed by the Legislative Assembly before they shall take effect; he may grant pardons for offenses against the laws of said Territory, and reprieves for offenses against the laws of the United States, until the decision of the President can be made known thereon; he shall commission all officers who shall be appointed to office under the laws of said Territory, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall be a Secretary of said Territory, who shall reside therein, and hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States; he shall record and preserve all the laws and proceedings of the Legislative Assembly hereinafter constituted, and all the acts and proceedings of the Governor, in his executive department; he shall transmit one copy of the laws and one copy of the executive proceedings on or before the first day of December in each year, to the President of the United States, and, at the same time, two copies of the laws to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate for the use of Congress. And in case of the death, removal, or resignation, or other necessary absence of the Governor from the Territory, the Secretary shall have, and is hereby authorized and required to execute and perform, all the powers and duties of the Governor during such vacancy or necessary absence, or until another Governor shall be duly appointed to fill such vacancy.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the legislative power and authority of said Territory shall be vested in the Governor and a Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly shall consist of a Council and House of Representatives. The Council shall consist of nine members, which may be increased to thirteen, having the qualifications of voters as hereinafter prescribed, whose term of service shall continue two years. The House of Representatives shall consist of thirteen members, which may be increased to twenty-six, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for members of the Council, and whose term of service shall continue one year. An apportionment shall be 46 made, as nearly equally as practicable, among the several counties or districts for the election of the Council and House of Representatives, giving to each section of the Territory representation in the ratio of its population (Indians excepted) as nearly as may be; and the members of the Council and House of Representatives shall reside in, and be inhabitants of, the district for which they may be elected respectively. Previous to the first election, the Governor shall cause a census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the several counties and districts of the Territory to be taken; and the first election shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted in such a manner as the Governor may direct; and he shall, at the same time, declare the number of the members of the Council and House of Representatives to which each of the counties or districts shall be entitled under this act. The number of persons authorized to be elected, having the highest number of votes in each of said Council districts for members of the Council shall be declared by the Governor to be duly elected to the Council; and the person or persons authorized to be elected having the greatest number of votes for the House of Representatives, equal to the number to which each county or district shall be entitled, shall be declared by the Governor to be elected members of the House of Representatives: Provided, That in case of a tie between two or more persons voted for, the Governor shall order a new election, to supply the vacancy made by such tie. And the persons thus elected to the Legislative Assembly shall meet at such place and on such day as the Governor shall appoint; but thereafter the time, place, and manner of holding and conducting all elections by the people, and the apportioning and representation in the several counties or districts to the Council and House of Representatives, according to the population, shall be prescribed by law, as well as the day of the commencement of the regular session of the Legislative Assembly; Provided, That no session shall exceed the term of forty days, except the first, which may be extended to sixty days, but no longer.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That every free white male citizen of the United States, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of said Territory at the time of the passage of this act, including those recognized as citizens by the treaty with the Republic of Mexico, concluded February two, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, and the treaty negotiated with the same country on the thirtieth of December, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said Territory; but the qualifications of voters and 47 of holding office at all subsequent elections shall be such as shall be prescribed by the Legislative Assembly.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the legislative power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act; but no laws shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States; nor shall the lands or other property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents; nor shall any law be passed impairing the rights of private property; nor shall any discrimination be made in taxing different kinds of property; but all property subject to taxation shall be in proportion to the value of the property taxed.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That all township, district, and county officers, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be appointed or elected, as the case may be, in such manner as shall be provided by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory. The Governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly, appoint all officers not herein otherwise provided for; and in the first instance the Governor alone may appoint said officers, who shall hold their offices until the end of the first session of the Legislative Assembly, and shall lay off the necessary districts for members of the Council and House of Representatives, and all other officers.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That no member of the Legislative Assembly shall hold or be appointed to any office which shall have been created, or the salary or emoluments of which shall have been increased while he was a member, during the term for which he was elected, and for one year after the expiration of such term; and no person holding a commission or appointment under the United States, except postmasters, shall be a member of the Legislative Assembly, or shall hold any office under the government of said Territory.

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the judicial power of said Territory shall be vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and Justices of the Peace. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum, and who shall hold a term at the seat of government of said Territory annually; and they shall hold their offices during the period of four years; the said Territory shall be divided into three judicial districts, and a District Court shall be held in each of said districts by one of the Justices of the Supreme 48 Court at such time and place as may be prescribed by law; and the Judges shall, after their appointments, respectively, reside in the districts which shall be assigned them. The jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate and original, and that of the Probate Courts and of the Justices of the Peace, shall be as limited by law: Provided, That Justices of the Peace and Probate Courts shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy where the title or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or where the debt or sum claimed shall exceed one hundred dollars; and the said Supreme and District Courts, respectively, shall possess chancery as well as common law jurisdiction; and authority for redress of all wrongs committed against the constitution or laws of the United States or of the Territory, affecting persons or property. Each District Court or the Judge thereof shall appoint its Clerk, who shall also be the register in chancery, and shall keep his office at the place where the court may be held. Writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals, shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said District Courts to the Supreme Court, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law; but in no case removed to the Supreme Court shall trial by jury be allowed in said Court. The Supreme Court, or the Justices thereof, shall appoint its own Clerk, and every clerk shall hold his office at the pleasure of the court for which he shall have been appointed. Writs of error and appeals from the final decisions of said Supreme Court shall be allowed, and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the Circuit Courts of the United States, where the value of the property or the amount in controversy, to be ascertained by the oath or affirmation of either party, or other competent witness, shall exceed one thousand dollars; and each of the said District Courts shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction, in all cases arising under the constitution and laws of the United States, as is vested in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States; and the said Supreme and District Courts of the said Territory, and the respective Judges thereof, shall and may grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are grantable by the Judges of the United States in the District of Columbia; and the first six days of every term of said courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the said constitution and laws, and writs of error and appeals in all such cases shall be made to the Supreme Court of said Territory the same as in other cases. The said Clerk shall 49 receive in all such cases the same fees which the Clerks of the District Courts of Oregon received for similar services.

Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed an Attorney for said Territory, who shall continue in office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President, and who shall receive the same fees and salary as the Attorney of the United States for the Territory of Oregon. There shall also be a Marshal for the Territory appointed, who shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President, and who shall execute all processes issuing from said courts when exercising their jurisdiction as Circuit and District Courts of the United States; he shall perform the duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees as the Marshal of the District Court of the United States for the Territory of Oregon, and shall, in addition, be paid two hundred dollars annually as a compensation for extra services.

Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That the Governor, Secretary, Chief Justice, and Associate Justices, Attorney, and Marshal shall be nominated, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed by the President of the United States. The Governor and Secretary to be appointed as aforesaid shall, before they act as such, respectively take an oath or affirmation before the District Judge, or some Justice of the Peace in the limits of said Territory duly authorized to administer oaths and affirmations by the laws now in force therein, or before the Chief Justice, or some Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to support the constitution of the United States, and faithfully to discharge the duties of their respective offices, which said oaths, when so taken, shall be certified by the person by whom the same shall have been taken; and such certificate shall be received and recorded by the Secretary among the executive proceedings; and the Chief Justice and Associate Justices, and all other civil officers in said Territory, before they act as such, shall take a like oath or affirmation, before the said Governor or Secretary, or some Judge or Justice of the Peace of the Territory who may be duly commissioned and qualified, which said oath or affirmation shall be certified and transmitted by the person taking the same to the Secretary, to be by him recorded as aforesaid; and afterwards the like oath or affirmation shall be taken, certified and recorded in such manner and form as may be prescribed by law. The Governor shall receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars as Governor, and one thousand dollars as Superintendent of Indian Affairs; the Chief Justice and Associate Justices shall receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars. The said salaries shall be paid quarter yearly 50 at the Treasury of the United States. The members of the Legislative Assembly shall be entitled to receive three dollars each per day during their attendance at the session thereof, and three dollars for every twenty miles travel in going to and returning from the said sessions, estimated according to the nearest usually traveled route. There shall be appropriated annually the sum of one thousand dollars, to be expended by the Governor, to defray the contingent expenses of the Territory. There shall also be appropriated, annually, a sufficient sum to be expended by the Secretary of the Territory, and upon an estimate to be made by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the Legislative Assembly, the printing of the laws, and other incidental expenses; and the Secretary of the Territory shall annually account to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for the manner in which the aforesaid sum shall have been expended.

Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Colorado shall hold its first session at such time and place in said Territory as the Governor thereof shall appoint and direct; and at said first session, or as soon thereafter as they shall deem expedient, the Governor and Legislative Assembly shall proceed to locate and establish the seat of government for said Territory at such place as they may deem eligible, which place, however, shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said Governor and Legislative Assembly.

Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That a delegate to the House of Representatives of the United States, to serve during each Congress of the United States, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the Legislative Assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed by the Delegates from the several other Territories of the United States to the said House of Representatives. The first election shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted in such manner as the Governor shall appoint and direct; and at all subsequent elections the times, places, and manner of holding elections shall be prescribed by law. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the Governor to be duly elected, and a certificate thereof shall be given accordingly.

Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That when the land in the said Territory shall be surveyed, under the direction of the Government of the United States, preparatory to bringing the same into market, sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each town in said Territory and be and the same are hereby reserved for the purpose of 51 being applied to schools in the States hereafter to be erected out of the same.

Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That temporarily, and until otherwise provided by law, the Governor of said Territory may define the judicial districts of said Territory, and assign the Judges who may be appointed for said Territory, to the several districts, and also appoint the times and places for holding courts in the several counties or subdivisions in each of said judicial districts by proclamation to be issued by him; but the Legislative Assembly, at their first or any subsequent session, may organize, alter or modify such judicial districts, and assign the Judges, and alter the times and places of holding the courts, as to them shall seem proper and convenient.

Sec. 16. And be it further enacted, That the Constitution and all laws of the United States, which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of Colorado as elsewhere within the United States.

Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall be and is hereby authorized to appoint a Surveyor General for Colorado, who shall locate his office at such place as the Secretary of the Interior shall from time to time direct, and whose duties, powers, obligations, responsibilities, compensation, and allowances for clerk hire, office rent, fuel, and incidental expenses, shall be the same as those of the Surveyor General of New Mexico, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and such instructions as he may from time to time deem it advisable to give him.

Approved February 28th, 1861.

AMENDMENTS TO THE ORGANIC ACT.

AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED “AN ACT TO PROVIDE A TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT FOR THE TERRITORY OF COLORADO.”

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the second section of the act to which this act is an amendment, be altered so as to read as follows: The executive power and authority in and over said Territory of Colorado, shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States. The Governor shall reside within said Territory, shall be 52 commander-in-chief of the militia thereof, shall perform the duties, and shall receive the emoluments of Superintendent of Indian Affairs; he may grant pardons for offences against the laws of said Territory, and reprieves for offenses against the laws of the United States, until the decision of the President shall be made known thereon; he shall commission all officers who shall be appointed to office under the laws of said Territory, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That every bill which shall have passed the Legislative Assembly shall, before it become a law, be presented to the Governor of the Territory; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not he shall return it, with his objections, to the house in which it originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, to be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within three days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Assembly, by adjournment, prevents its return, in which case it shall not be law.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That section nine of the act to which this act is amendatory be altered so as to read as follows: Section 9. And be it further enacted, That the judicial power of said Territory shall be vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and Justices of the Peace. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum, and who shall hold a term at the seat of government of said Territory, annually, and they shall hold their offices during the period of four years. The said Territory shall be divided into three judicial districts, and a District Court shall be held in each of said districts by one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, at such time and place as may be prescribed by law; and the said judges shall, after their appointments, respectively reside in the districts which shall be assigned them. The jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate and original, and of Justices of the Peace, shall be as limited by law; Provided, That Justices of the Peace shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy, when the title or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or when the 53 debt or sum claimed shall exceed three hundred dollars; and the said Probate Court shall not have jurisdiction in any matter in controversy, when the debt or sum claimed shall exceed the sum of two thousand dollars; and said Supreme and District Courts shall have authority for redress of all wrongs committed against the constitution and laws of the United States; and the said Supreme, District, and Probate Courts respectively, shall possess chancery, as well as common law jurisdiction, and authority for the redress of all wrongs committed against the laws of said Territory, affecting persons or property. Each District Court, or the judge thereof, shall appoint its clerk, who shall also be the Register in Chancery, and shall keep his office at the place where the court may be held. Writs of error, bills of exception and appeals shall be allowed from the final decisions of said District and Probate Courts to the Supreme Court, under such regulations as shall be prescribed by law; but in no case remove to the Supreme Court, shall trial by jury be allowed in said court. The Supreme Court, or the justices, thereof, shall appoint its own clerk, and every clerk shall hold his office at the pleasure of the court for which he shall have been appointed. Writs of error and appeals from the final decisions of said Supreme Court shall be allowed, and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the Circuit Courts of the United States, when the value of the property, or the amount in controversy, to be ascertained by the oath or affirmation of either party, or other competent witness, shall exceed one thousand dollars; and each of said Supreme and District Courts shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction in all cases arising under the constitution and laws of the United States, as is vested in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States; and the said Supreme and District Courts of said Territory, and the respective judges thereof, shall and may grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are granted by the judges of the United States in the District of Columbia; and the first six days of every term of said courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the said constitution and laws; and writs of error and appeals in all such cases shall be made to the Supreme Court of said Territory, the same as in other cases. The said clerk shall receive in all such cases the same fees which the clerks of the Districts Courts of Oregon Territory received for similar services.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of sections 54 one and two of this act shall be applicable to the Territory of Dakota, and shall have like effect as in the Territory of Colorado.

Approved March 2, 1863.

AN ACT AMENDATORY OF THE ORGANIC ACT OF COLORADO TERRITORY.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the sessions of the Legislative Assembly of Colorado Territory shall be biennial. Members of the Council shall be elected for the term of four years, and members of the House for the term of two years, and shall receive the sum of six dollars per day instead of three dollars heretofore allowed, and shall also receive the same mileage now allowed by law.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That each house shall have authority to elect, in addition to the officers now allowed by law, an enrolling clerk, who shall receive five dollars per day. The chief clerk shall receive six dollars per day, and the other officers elected by said Legislature shall receive five dollars per day each.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the members of the Legislative Assembly elected at the general election of said Territory in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, shall compose the first Legislature under this act, and said Legislature shall meet at the time now fixed by law for the meeting of the Legislative Assembly of Colorado Territory.

Approved March 30th, 1867.

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE IN THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, there shall be no denial of the elective franchise in any of the territories of the United States, now, or hereafter to be organized, to any citizen thereof, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; and all acts or parts of acts, either of Congress or the Legislative Assemblies of said Territories, inconsistent 55 with the provisions of this act are hereby declared null and void.

SCHUYLER COLFAX,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER,
President of the Senate, pro tempore.

Endorsed by the President: Received on the 14th January, 1867.

[Note by the State Department.—The foregoing act having been presented to the President of the United States for his approval, and not having been returned by him to the House of Congress, in which it originated, within the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, has become a law without his approval.]

AN ACT AMENDATORY OF “AN ACT TO PROVIDE A TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT FOR THE TERRITORY OF MONTANA.” APPROVED MAY 26th, 1864.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Legislative Assemblies of the several Territories of the United States shall not, after the passage of this act, grant private charters or especial privileges, but they may, by general incorporation acts, permit persons to associate themselves together as bodies corporate for mining, manufacturing, and other industrial pursuits.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of April next the salary of each of the judges of the several Supreme Courts, in each of the organized Territories (except Montana and Idaho), shall be two thousand five hundred dollars.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

Approved March 2d, 1867.

AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, AND JUDICIAL EXPENSES OF THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE THIRTIETH OF JUNE, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * * * * * * That hereafter the members of both branches of the Legislative Assemblies of the several Territories shall be chosen for the term of 56 two years, and the sessions of the Legislative Assemblies shall be biennial; and each Territorial Legislature shall, at its first session after the passage of this act, make provision by law for carrying this act into effect.

Approved March 3d, 1869.

AN ACT REGULATING THE COMPENSATION OF THE MEMBERS AND OFFICERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES OF THE SEVERAL TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES, AND LIMITING THE DURATION OF THE SESSIONS OF SAID ASSEMBLIES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sessions of the Legislative Assemblies of the several Territories of the United States shall be limited to forty days duration.

Sec. 2. That the members of each branch of said Legislatures shall receive a compensation of six dollars per day during the sessions herein provided for, and they shall receive such mileage as now provided by law; Provided, That the President of the Council, and Speaker of the House of Representatives shall each receive a compensation of ten dollars per day, and that the additional officers of each branch of said Legislative Assemblies shall consist of one Chief Clerk, who shall receive a compensation of eight dollars per day, and of one Assistant Clerk, one Enrolling Clerk, one Engrossing Clerk, one Sergeant-at-arms, one Doorkeeper, one Messenger, and one Watchman, who shall each receive a compensation of five dollars per day during the sessions.

Sec. 3. That from and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, the annual salaries of the Governors of the several Territories of the United States shall be three thousand five hundred dollars, and the salaries of the Secretaries of said Territories shall be two thousand five hundred dollars each.

Sec. 4. That the provisions of this act shall not apply to the District of Columbia; Provided, That no law of any Territorial Legislature shall be made or enforced by which any officer of a Territory herein provided for, or the officers or members of any Territorial Legislature shall be paid any compensation other than that provided by the laws of the United States.

Approved January 23, 1873. 57

CHAPTER III.

In 1861 the Kansas officials had disappeared. The Provisional government continued to exercise its partially acknowledged authority until the arrival of the United States appointees for the new Territory. These arrived on the 29th of May. The Federal officers, who then came, with their sealed commissions, were: William Gilpin, Governor; Lewis Ledyard Weld, Secretary; B. F. Hall, Chief Justice; S. N. Pettis, and Charles Lee Armor, Associate Justices; Copeland Townsend, Marshal; James E. Dalliba, Attorney General; F. M. Case, Surveyor General. The Provisional government now ceased. Its laws had been published, but not enforced, and its officers had the honor, but not the pay, of the positions they held.

Governor Gilpin was welcomed with undisguised pleasure. His greeting was a perfect ovation. The people now felt a new sense of security, for the strong arm of the General Government was in their midst. The Governor at once proceeded with commendable energy to discharge the functions of his high office. His first duty was to see the settlements of the Territory, and ascertain the character, condition and wants of the people. This visitation was accomplished with great celerity. Wherever the Governor went, the joy and hospitality of the people knew no bounds. Everywhere he was welcomed with bouquets, balls, congratulations. On his return to Denver, in accordance with his prescribed duty, a census was ordered. The returns exhibited a population of 25,329. The proportion of men to women was nearly five to one. The Governor, qualified July 8th, and was now in the full exercise of his authority. The other co-ordinate branch of Federal Government had now to be established. This was the United States Supreme Court. On July 10th, the Governor assigned the judges to their districts, and the Supreme Court immediately organized. On July 11th, he issued a proclamation, in which the Territory was declared to be one Congressional District, and the Congressional District to be divided into nine Council, and thirteen Representative Districts, and in which the election of a delegate to Congress, and of Legislative Assembly were ordered. The election was duly held on the 19th of August—Hiram P. Bennet was elected delegate to Congress. 58 The Legislature of the Territory of Colorado convened on the 9th of September. They adopted full civil, and criminal codes. They recognized the miners as authority in mining legislation, acknowledged the legality of their courts, adopted their laws, confirmed their decisions, and arranged for the transfer of cases to the regular courts, so that no jarring, nor inconvenience was experienced. Great praise is due to this legislative body for the laws they enacted, and though some have been found faulty, and others repealed, yet they have effectually served the needs of the Territory. When the rebellion had been in progress for several months, Gov. Gilpin issued a call for volunteers. Recruits quickly responded to the call, and the first regiment of Colorado infantry, under Col. John P. Slough, soon took the field. This infantry was transformed into a cavalry regiment, and did good service in repelling the Texan invasion early in 1862. During this year immigration received a strong impetus. It was computed that the daily arrivals, averaging one hundred, added in a short time ten thousand to the population as returned by the census. The city of Denver, including Auraria and Highland, was again incorporated in November, 1861. Among the industries, placer mining was most successfully prosecuted, California gulch alone yielding one million dollars.

In April, 1862, Dr. John Evans superseded Governor William Gilpin. The levy of the second regiment of Colorado cavalry was made this year, and the troops ordered to Missouri. In 1863 they were consolidated with the third regiment raised in Colorado. This body of cavalry did effective service in Missouri, and in 1864 won considerable renown in the movements executed against Price in his last invasion. They took a prominent part in four battles, to wit: Mine Creek, Oct. 22; Westport, Oct. 23; Charlot, Oct. 25; Newtonia, Nov. 4. The quantity of gold obtained by gulch mining this year exceeded any previous yield. H. P. Bennet was re-elected delegate to Congress in September.

In the year 1863 began in the East the stupendous speculation in gold mines. The spirit of speculation had infected all classes of people, and financial schemes were quickly devised to draw millions from the public. Among these Colorado mines prominently figured. On the 19th of April Denver lost, by a severe conflagration, a sum estimated at a quarter of a million dollars. A branch telegraph line was completed from Julesburg to Denver in October, whereby telegraphic communication with the world was established. On the 7th of October a treaty was concluded with the Tabeguache band of Utah Indians, by which the Indian title to all of the settled portions of the mountains of Colorado, and most of the San Luis valley, was extinguished.

The year 1864 was the gloomy period of the rebellion. Speculation 59 became a mania. Stock companies of the most gigantic character were organized on the basis of Colorado gold mines. It need hardly be said that thousands lost large sums by reckless investments in gold mining stocks. In the spring the Indians of the plains, composed of Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes, combined to carry on a bloody and exterminating war against the whites. They attacked the coaches; murdered, scalped, and mutilated the passengers. Exposed dwellings were surrounded and the inmates massacred. Emboldened by little or no resistance, they admitted no pause to their savage butcheries. This thoroughly roused the people to punish the hostile fiends. Twelve hundred men, under the command of Col. J. M. Chivington, hurried forward to meet the merciless savages, and arrest their work of horrors. They found and suddenly assailed a large troop of Cheyennes, about seven hundred in number, and with hearts steeled against mercy, dealt swift retribution, sparing neither age nor sex, until nearly all were destroyed. This stunning blow checked the Indian outrages. A temporary quiet ensued, and the roads were again animated with coaches and wagon trains. Much credit is due to Captain Tyler, who, with his brave company, opened and protected the line of communication with the States. On May 19th, a more disastrous calamity befell Denver than the fire of the preceding year. An appalling flood swept down Cherry Creek, overwhelming large buildings, and sweeping them and their contents down its destructive current. Twenty persons perished in the ruthless waters. The damages were computed to be a million dollars. Near the close of the Thirty-eighth Congress, a bill was passed, in response to a petition of the Colorado Legislature, enabling the territory to organize a State government and enter the Union. Under its provisions a convention met in Denver July 4th, 1864, and framed a constitution. This was rejected by the people on the second Tuesday of October. In the fall of 1864, A. A. Bradford was elected delegate to Congress.

In 1865 the Indians renewed hostilities, apparently determined to force back immigration. All intercourse with the East was interrupted for a time. Business was paralyzed. Lonely ranches were invaded, and their occupants fiendishly massacred. This second outbreak of the Indians was effectually checked by United States troops. In the spring of this year all parties concurred in another attempt to organize a state. A convention met in Denver in August, and framed a constitution, which was adopted by a majority of 155. A State legislature, and the complement of State officers, were elected November 14th. Ex-Governor William Gilpin was chosen State Governor. Ex-Governor John Evans and Jerome B. Chaffee were chosen senators by 60 the legislature. Application for the admission of Colorado as a state was made during each session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. A strong disinclination to grant the application was manifested. An exigency, however, arose, which changed their disposition. The President, Andrew Johnson, had been impeached. The success of the impeachment was involved in doubt. To secure two senators and a representative, an enabling act was passed to admit the new state. The President, as might be expected, vetoed the bill. Governor John Evans was superseded by Alexander Cummings, who qualified October 19th.

In 1866 a reaction followed the prostration of trade and industry consequent upon the Indian outrages of the preceding year. An unwonted stimulus pervaded the territory. Mining pursuits were followed with fresh vigor. In Denver and other places building was carried on with unparalleled activity. Money became plentiful, and many laid the foundations of large fortunes. George M. Chilcott was elected delegate. Up to this time the bullion deposited in the mint amounted to 12,401,372 dollars, said to be less than half of the real yield.

On May 27th, 1867, A. C. Hunt superseded Governor Cummings. The struggle for statehood ended with the winter of 1867-8, when it was found impossible to pass the bill over the veto. In the fall the Denver Board of Trade was organized, which principally labored to initiate the enterprise of building a railroad to join the Union Pacific road at Cheyenne. Near the close of the year the Union Pacific road reached Cheyenne. The Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company was incorporated November 18th, 1867. During this year the various interests of Colorado were ably represented at the Universal Exposition in Paris. The first gold medal was awarded to the minerals of Colorado. The French Government, moved by Colorado’s display at the Exposition, appointed an Imperial Commissioner, who visited the territory and reported his observations therein for the benefit of capital and science in France. The Kiowas and Comanches, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes were removed to reservations bordering on Colorado and Kansas, where their southern boundary lines meet. By their treaties they stipulate to withdraw opposition to immigrants, settlers, and lines of railroad.

In 1868 A. A. Bradford was again elected delegate to Congress.

On June 15th, 1869, Edward M. McCook superseded Governor A. C. Hunt.

The Denver Pacific Railway Company had been formed in 1867. Its principal object, as stated in the articles of incorporation, was to build a railroad and telegraph line to Cheyenne, and there connect 61 with the Union Pacific road. After some delay the funds were secured, the construction of the road hastened, and on the 23d day of June, 1870, the first train arrived in Denver. On the 15th day of August, the Kansas Pacific Railway, 640 miles in length, was completed. In September, seventeen miles of the Colorado Central were finished. The connection of Golden with Denver was thereby effected. During this year successful efforts were made to plant colonies in choice sections of the Territory. The Meeker-Greeley colony was organized in New York in the winter of 1869-70, and located in the spring. It now has a population of 2,000, happy and prosperous, and distinguished by prohibition laws and devotion to temperance. The town site of the colony is a delta formed by the Cache-a-la-Poudre and South Platte rivers. The Chicago-Colorado colony is largely composed of Western men, and is animated by a liberal progressive spirit. The location of the colony is in every way most desirable. The energy and enterprise of the colonists excite great admiration. They have already a beautiful town, and a large extent of country under cultivation. The German colony may also be mentioned. It occupied Wet Mountain Valley, which lies in Pueblo and Fremont counties. Thus, by rapid transit, the Territory was brought into close communication with the States, and began to fill up with thousands, who, independently, or in co-operative association, settled for the purposes of agriculture. No sign so cheering as a settlement of a country by intelligent, enterprising farmers. Hardy, industrious miners had already crowded into the mountains, and skillful, energetic farmers now collected on the plains, intent to reap from them rich and abundant harvests. In the fall, Jerome B. Chaffee was elected delegate to Congress.

This year, 1871, dates the settlement of the Colorado Springs colony, distinguished for its rapid and prosperous growth. Situated seventy-five miles south from Denver, it became the temporary terminus of the Denver and Rio Grande railway, which was completed to that point during this year. The railroad has since passed on to Pueblo, and thence to La Veta, with branches to El Moro, and Canon City.

In 1872, Jerome B. Chaffee was re-elected delegate to Congress.

In 1873, a large immigration into the San Juan region commenced, owing to reports of rich mineral discoveries. S. H. Elbert superseded Gov. E. M. McCook. Following the custom of those removed from office, the ex-Governor proceeded to Washington to confer with the federal authorities, and in January, 1874, was re-appointed in place of Gov. Elbert. Severe and bitter editorials filled the columns of the press devoted to the fallen regime. A temporary division of the Republican 62 party ensued. A lively contest for political supremacy followed and continued until the usual period for an election to Congress, when the two sides of the party marshaled themselves, the one to rebuke and the other to sustain the administration. The malcontents not only turned the election against the Republican nominee, H. P. H. Bromwell, but gave a large and unprecedented majority to the Democratic nominee, Thomas M. Patterson. This change in the popular vote deeply touched the administration, and it was determined, in order to reconcile the disaffected, to remove the obnoxious appointments, and fill the federal offices with men not implicated in the controversy.

During the year 1874, the South Park railroad was finished to Morrison.

John L. Routt, the successor to Gov. McCook, qualified on March 29th, 1875. He set to work without delay to unite the discordant factions and succeeded. The people in general were now fully persuaded that the time had come for demanding the privileges of Statehood. The Republican delegate, Jerome B. Chaffee, had during the winter of 1874-5, drawn up an Enabling Act with much skill, and by persistent effort and untiring zeal, had, in the face of strong opposition, effected the passage of the bill. Before its passage the Act was amended so as to postpone the date of admission to July 4th, 1876. 63

CHAPTER IV.

An Act to amend the Act entitled “An Act to enable the people of Colorado to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of said State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States,” approved March 3, 1875.

ENABLING ACT.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the inhabitants of the Territory of Colorado included in the boundaries hereinafter designated be, and they are hereby, authorized to form for themselves, out of said Territory, a State government, with the name of the State of Colorado; which State, when formed, shall be admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatsoever, as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 2. That the said State of Colorado shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing on the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude where the twenty-fifth meridian of longitude west from Washington crosses the same; thence north on said meridian, to the forty-first parallel of north latitude; thence along said parallel west to the thirty-second meridian of longitude west from Washington; thence south on said meridian, to the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude; thence along said thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude, to the place of beginning.

Sec. 3. That all persons qualified by law to vote for representatives to the general assembly of said Territory, at the date of the passage of this act, shall be qualified to be elected, and they are hereby authorized to vote for and choose representatives to form a convention under such rules and regulations as the governor of said Territory, the chief justice, and the United States attorney thereof may prescribe; and also to vote upon the acceptance or rejection of such constitution as may be formed by said convention, under such rules and regulations as said convention may prescribe; and the aforesaid representatives to form the aforesaid convention shall be apportioned among the several counties in said Territory in proportion to the vote polled in each of said counties at the last general election as near as may be; and said apportionment shall 64 be made for said Territory by the governor, United States district attorney, and chief justice thereof, or any two of them; and the governor of said Territory shall, by proclamation, order an election of the representatives aforesaid to be held throughout the Territory at such time as shall be fixed by the governor, chief justice, and United States attorney, or any two of them, which proclamation shall be issued within ninety days next after the first day of September, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, and at least thirty days prior to the time of said election; and such election shall be conducted in the same manner as is prescribed by the laws of said Territory regulating elections therein for members of the house of representatives; and the number of members to said convention shall be the same as now constitutes both branches of the legislature of the aforesaid Territory.

Sec. 4. That the members of the convention thus elected shall meet at the capital of said Territory, on a day to be fixed by said governor, chief justice, and United States attorney, not more than sixty days subsequent to the day of election, which time of meeting shall be contained in the aforesaid proclamation mentioned in the third section of this act, and, after organization, shall declare, on behalf of the people of said Territory, that they adopt the Constitution of the United States; whereupon the said convention shall be, and is hereby, authorized to form a constitution and State government for said Territory: Provided, That the constitution shall be republican in form, and make no distinction in civil or political rights on account of race or color, except Indians not taxed, and not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the principles of the Declaration of Independence: And provided further, That said convention shall provide, by an ordinance irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of said State, first, that perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and no inhabitant of said State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship; secondly, that the people inhabiting said Territory do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within said Territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States, and that the lands belonging to citizens of the United States residing without the said State shall never be taxed higher than the lands belonging to residents thereof, and that no taxes shall be imposed by the State on lands or property therein belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by the United States.

Sec. 5. That in case the constitution and State government shall be formed for the people of said Territory of Colorado, in compliance 65 with the provisions of this act, said convention forming the same shall provide, by ordinance, for submitting said constitution to the people of said State for their ratification or rejection, at an election, to be held at such time, in the month of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, and at such places and under such regulations as may be prescribed by said convention, at which election the lawful voters of said new State shall vote directly for or against the proposed constitution; and the returns of said election shall be made to the acting governor of the Territory, who, with the chief justice and United States attorney of said Territory, or any two of them, shall canvass the same; and if a majority of legal votes shall be cast for said constitution in said proposed State, the said acting governor shall certify the same to the President of the United States, together with a copy of said constitution and ordinances; whereupon it shall be the duty of the President of the United States to issue his proclamation declaring the State admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, without any further action whatever on the part of Congress.

Sec. 6. That until the next general census said State shall be entitled to one Representative in the House of Representatives of the United States, which Representative, together with the governor and State and other officers provided for in said constitution, shall be elected on a day subsequent to the adoption of the constitution, and to be fixed by said constitutional convention; and until said State officers are elected and qualified under the provisions of the constitution, the territorial officers shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices.

Sec. 7. That sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in every township, and where such sections have been sold or otherwise disposed of by any act of Congress, other lands, equivalent thereto, in legal subdivisions of not more than one quarter-section, and as contiguous as may be, are hereby granted to said State for the support of common schools.

Sec. 8. That, provided the State of Colorado shall be admitted into the Union in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this act, fifty entire sections of the unappropriated public lands within said State, to be selected and located by direction of the legislature thereof, and with the approval of the President, on or before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, shall be, and are hereby, granted, in legal subdivisions of not less than one quarter-section, to said State for the purpose of erecting public buildings at the capital of said State for legislative and judicial purposes, in such manner as the legislature shall prescribe.

Sec. 9. That fifty other entire sections of land as aforesaid, to be 66 selected and located and with the approval as aforesaid, in legal subdivisions as aforesaid, shall be, and they are hereby, granted to said State for the purpose of erecting a suitable building for a penitentiary or State prison in the manner aforesaid.

Sec. 10. That seventy-two other sections of land shall be set apart and reserved for the use and support of a State university, to be selected and approved in manner as aforesaid, and to be appropriated and applied as the legislature of said State may prescribe for the purpose named, and for no other purpose.

Sec. 11. That all salt-springs within said State, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections of land adjoining, and as contiguous as may be to each, shall be granted to said State for its use, the said land to be selected by the governor of said State within two years after the admission of the State, and when so selected to be used and disposed of on such terms, conditions, and regulations as the legislature shall direct: Provided, That no salt-springs or lands the right whereof is now vested in any individual or individuals, or which hereafter shall be confirmed or adjudged to any individual or individuals, shall by this act be granted to said State.

Sec. 12. That five per centum of the proceeds of the sales of agricultural public lands lying within said State which shall be sold by the United States subsequent to the admission of said State into the Union, after deducting all the expenses incident to the same, shall be paid to the said State for the purpose of making such internal improvements within said State as the legislature thereof may direct: Provided, That this section shall not apply to any lands disposed of under the homestead laws of the United States, or to any lands now or hereafter reserved for public or other uses.

Sec. 13. That any balance of the appropriations for the legislative expenses of said Territory of Colorado remaining unexpended shall be applied to and used for defraying the expenses of said convention, and for the payment of the members thereof, under the same rules and regulations and rates as are now provided by law for the payment of the territorial legislature.

Sec. 14. That the two sections of land in each township herein granted for the support of common schools shall be disposed of only at public sale and at a price not less than two dollars and fifty cents per acre, the proceeds to constitute a permanent school fund, the interest of which to be expended in the support of common schools.

Sec. 15. That all mineral lands shall be excepted from the operation and grants of this act.

Approved March 3, 1875. 67

An Act to amend the Act entitled “An Act to enable the people of Colorado to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of said State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States,” approved March 3, 1875.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That so much of section three of the act entitled “An act to enable the people of Colorado to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of the said State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States” approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, as reads “and also to vote upon the acceptance or rejection of such constitution as may be formed by said convention” be amended so as to read as follows: “And all who are qualified voters of said Territory under the laws thereof at such time as the constitution to be framed shall be submitted to the people for ratification or rejection shall be entitled to vote upon the question of such ratification or rejection.”

Sec. 2. That section thirteen of said act be amended by adding at the end of said section thirteen the following: “And if the balance of said legislative appropriations does not amount to the sum of twenty thousand dollars, then there shall be, and there hereby is, appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, a sum sufficient, with the said unexpended appropriations, to make the sum of twenty thousand dollars, which shall be used for the purposes aforesaid: Provided, That any money hereby appropriated not necessary for such purposes shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States.”

Approved March 3, 1876.

Under this Act delegates to frame a constitution were duly elected. They met in convention in December, 1875, and continued their session to March 13th, 1876, when the convention adjourned sine die. 68

CHAPTER V.

CONSTITUTION.

PREAMBLE.

We, the people of Colorado, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, in order to form a more independent and perfect government; establish justice; insure tranquility; provide for the common defense; promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the “State of Colorado.”

ARTICLE I.

BOUNDARIES.

The boundaries of the State of Colorado shall be as follows: Commencing on the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude, where the twenty-fifth meridian of longitude west from Washington crosses the same; thence north on said meridian to the forty-first parallel of north latitude; thence along said parallel west to the thirty-second meridian of longitude west from Washington; thence south on said meridian to the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude; thence along said thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude to the place of beginning.

ARTICLE II.

BILL OF RIGHTS.

In order to assert our rights, acknowledge our duties, and proclaim the principles upon which our government is founded, we declare:

Section 1. That all political power is vested in and derived from the people; that all government, of right, originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.

Sec. 2. That the people of this State have the sole and exclusive 69 right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign and independent State; and to alter and abolish their constitution and form of government whenever they may deem it necessary to their safety and happiness, provided such change be not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States.

Sec. 3. That all persons have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; and of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.

Sec. 4. That the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination, shall forever hereafter be guaranteed; and no person shall be denied any civil or political right, privilege, or capacity, on account of his opinions concerning religion; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be construed to dispense with oaths or affirmations, excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the good order, peace, or safety of the State. No person shall be required to attend or support any ministry or place of worship, religious sect, or denomination against his consent. Nor shall any preference be given by law to any religious denomination or mode of worship.

Sec. 5. That all elections shall be free and open; and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.

Sec. 6. That courts of justice shall be open to every person, and a speedy remedy afforded for every injury to person, property, or character; and that right and justice should be administered without sale, denial, or delay.

Sec. 7. That the people shall be secure in their persons, papers, homes and effects from unreasonable searches and seizures; and no warrant to search any place or seize any person or thing shall issue without describing the place to be searched, or the person or thing to be seized, as near as may be, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, reduced to writing.

Sec. 8. That, until otherwise provided by law, no person shall, for a felony, be proceeded against criminally, otherwise than by indictment, except in cases arising in the land and naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger. In all other cases offenses shall be prosecuted criminally by indictment or information.

Sec. 9. That treason against the State can consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort; 70 that no person can be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on his confession in open court; that no person can be attainted of treason or felony by the General Assembly; that no conviction can work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate; that the estates of such persons as may destroy their own lives shall descend or vest as in cases of natural death.

Sec. 10. That no law shall be passed impairing the freedom of speech; that every person shall be free to speak, write or publish whatever he will on any subject, being responsible for all abuse of that liberty; and that all suits and prosecutions for libel, the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and the jury, under the direction of the court, shall determine the law and the fact.

Sec. 11. That no ex post facto law, nor law impairing the obligation of contracts, or retrospective in its operation, or making any irrevocable grant of special privileges, franchises, or immunities, shall be passed by the General Assembly.

Sec. 12. That no person shall be imprisoned for debt, unless upon refusal to deliver up his estate for the benefit of his creditors, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, or in cases of tort or where there is a strong presumption of fraud.

Sec. 13. That the right of no person to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall be called in question; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons.

Sec. 14. That private property shall not be taken for private use unless by consent of the owner, except for private ways of necessity, and except for reservoirs, drains, flumes or ditches on or across the lands of others, for agricultural, mining, milling, domestic or sanitary purposes.

Sec. 15. That private property shall not be taken or damaged, for public or private use, without just compensation. Such compensation shall be ascertained by a board of commissioners, of not less than three freeholders, or by a jury when required by the owner of the property, in such manner as may be prescribed by law, and until the same shall be paid to the owner, or into court for the owner, the property shall not be needlessly disturbed, or the proprietary rights of the owner therein divested; and whenever an attempt is made to take private property for a use alleged to be public, the question whether the contemplated use be really public, shall be a judicial question, and 71 determined as such without regard to any legislative assertion that the use is public.

Sec. 16. That in criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to appear and defend in person and by counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation; to meet the witnesses against him face to face; to have process to compel the attendance of witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed.

Sec. 17. That no person shall be imprisoned for the purpose of securing his testimony in any case longer than may be necessary in order to take his deposition. If he can give security he shall be discharged; if he cannot give security, his deposition shall be taken by some Judge of the Supreme, District, or County Court, at the earliest time he can attend, at some convenient place by him appointed for that purpose, of which time and place the accused and the attorney prosecuting for the people, shall have reasonable notice. The accused shall have the right to appear in person and by counsel. If he have no counsel, the Judge shall assign him one in that behalf only. On the completion of such examination the witness shall be discharged on his own recognizance, entered in before said Judge, but such deposition shall not be used if, in the opinion of the Court the personal attendance of the witness might be procured by the prosecution, or is procured by the accused. No exception shall be taken to such deposition as to matters of form.

Sec. 18. That no person shall be compelled to testify against himself in a criminal case, nor shall any person be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense. If the jury disagree, or if the judgment be arrested after verdict, or if the judgment be reversed for error in law, the accused shall not be deemed to have been in jeopardy.

Sec. 19. That all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great.

Sec. 20. That excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Sec. 21. That the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall never be suspended, unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.

Sec. 22. That the military shall always be in strict subordination to the civil power; that no soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war except in the manner prescribed by law.

Sec. 23. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate in criminal 72 cases; but a jury in civil cases in all courts, or in criminal cases in courts not of record, may consist of less than twelve men, as may be prescribed by law. Hereafter a Grand Jury shall consist of twelve men, any nine of whom concurring may find an indictment: Provided, the General Assembly may change, regulate or abolish the grand jury system.

Sec. 24. That the people have the right peaceably to assemble for the common good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances, by petition or remonstrance.

Sec. 25. That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

Sec. 26. That there shall never be in this State either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

Sec. 27. Aliens, who are, or who may hereafter become, bona fide residents of this State, may acquire, inherit, possess, enjoy and dispose of property real and personal, as native born citizens.

Sec. 28. The enumeration in this Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny, impair, or disparage others retained by the people.

ARTICLE III.

DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.

The powers of the government of this State are divided into three distinct departments—the Legislative, Executive and Judicial—and no person, or collection of persons, charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others, except as in this Constitution expressly directed or permitted.

ARTICLE IV.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

Section 1. The Executive Department shall consist of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of State, State Treasurer, Attorney General, and Superintendent of Public Instruction, each of whom shall hold his office for the term of two years, beginning on the second Tuesday of January next after his election: Provided, That the terms of office of those chosen at the first election held under this Constitution, shall begin on the day appointed for the first meeting of the General Assembly. The officers of the Executive Department, excepting the Lieutenant Governor, shall, during their term of offices, reside at the seat of government, where they shall keep 73 the public records books and papers. They shall perform such duties as are prescribed by this Constitution or by law.

Sec. 2. The supreme executive power of the State shall be vested in the Governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

Sec. 3. The officers named in section one of this article, shall be chosen on the day of the general election, by the qualified electors of the State. The returns of every election for said officers shall be sealed up and transmitted to the Secretary of State, directed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives who shall immediately, upon the organization of the House, and before proceeding to other business open and publish the same in the presence of a majority of the members of both Houses of the General Assembly, who shall for that purpose assemble in the House of Representatives. The person having the highest number of votes for either of said offices shall be declared duly elected, but if two or more have an equal and the highest number of votes for the same office, one of them shall be chosen thereto by the two Houses on joint ballot. Contested elections for the said offices shall be determined by the two Houses on joint ballot, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 4. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Superintendent of Public Instruction, unless he shall have attained the age of thirty years, nor to the office of Auditor of State, Secretary of State, or State Treasurer, unless he shall have attained the age of twenty-five years, nor to the office of Attorney General unless he shall have attained the age of twenty-five years, and be a licensed attorney of the Supreme Court of the State, or of the Territory of Colorado, in good standing. At the first election, under this Constitution, any person being a qualified elector at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, and having the qualifications above herein prescribed for any one of said officers shall be eligible thereto; but thereafter no person shall be eligible to any one of said offices, unless, in addition to the qualifications above prescribed therefor, he shall be a citizen of the United States and have resided within the limits of the State two years next preceding his election.

Sec. 5. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the military forces of the State, except when they shall be called into actual service of the United States. He shall have power to call out the militia to execute the laws, suppress insurrection, or repel invasion.

Sec. 6. The Governor shall nominate, and by and with the consent of the Senate, appoint all officers whose offices are established by 74 this Constitution, or which may be created by law, and whose appointment or election is not otherwise provided for, and may remove any such officer for incompetency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. If during the recess of the Senate a vacancy occur in any such office, the Governor shall appoint some fit person to discharge the duties thereof until the next meeting of the Senate, when he shall nominate some person to fill such office. If the office of Auditor of State, State Treasurer, Secretary of State, Attorney General, or Superintendent of Public Instruction, shall be vacated by death, resignation, or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the Governor to fill the same by appointment, and the appointee shall hold his office until his successor shall be elected and qualified in such manner as may be provided by law. The Senate in deliberating upon executive nominations may sit with closed doors, but in acting upon nominations they shall sit with open doors, and the vote shall be taken by ayes and noes, which shall be entered upon the journal.

Sec. 7. The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons after conviction, for all offenses except treason, and except in case of impeachment, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons, but he shall in every case, where he may exercise this power, send to the General Assembly, at its first session thereafter, a transcript of the petition, all proceedings, and the reasons for his action.

Sec. 8. The Governor may require information in writing from the officers of the Executive Department upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, which information shall be given upon oath whenever so required; he may also require information in writing at any time, under oath, from all officers and managers of State institutions, upon any subject relating to the condition, management and expenses of their respective offices and institutions. The Governor shall, at the commencement of each session, and from time to time, by message, give to the General Assembly information of the condition of the State, and shall recommend such measures as he shall deem expedient. He shall also send to the General Assembly a statement, with vouchers, of the expenditures of all moneys belonging to the State, and paid out by him. He shall, also, at the commencement of each session, present estimates of the amount of money required to be raised by taxation for all purposes of the State.

Sec. 9. The Governor may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the General Assembly, by proclamation, stating therein the purpose for which it is assembled; but at such special session no business shall be transacted other than that specially named in the proclamation. 75 He may, by proclamation, convene the Senate in extraordinary session for the transaction of executive business.

Sec. 10. The Governor, in case of a disagreement between the two Houses as to the time of adjournment, may, upon the same being certified to him by the House last moving adjournment, adjourn the General Assembly to a day not later than the first day of the next regular session.

Sec. 11. Every bill passed by the General Assembly shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor. If he approve, he shall sign it, and thereupon it shall become a law; but if he do not approve, he shall return it, with his objections, to the House in which it originated, which House shall enter the objections at large upon its journal, and proceed to reconsider the bill. If then two-thirds of the members elected agree to pass the same, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of the members elected to that House, it shall become a law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. In all such cases the vote of each House shall be determined by ayes and noes, to be entered upon the journal. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within ten days after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the General Assembly shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall be filed, with his objections, in the office of the Secretary of State, within thirty days after such adjournment, or else become a law.

Sec. 12. The Governor shall have power to disapprove of any item or items of any bill making appropriations of money, embracing distinct items, and part or parts of the bill approved shall be law, and the item or items disapproved shall be void, unless enacted in manner following: If the General Assembly be in session, he shall transmit to the House, in which the bill originated, a copy of the item or items thereof disapproved, together with his objections thereto, and the items objected to shall be separately reconsidered, and each item shall then take the same course as is prescribed for the passage of bills over the Executive veto.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.

Sec. 13. In case of the death, impeachment, or conviction of felony or infamous misdemeanor, failure to qualify, resignation, absence from the State, or other disability of the Governor, the powers, duties and emoluments of the office, for the residue of the term, or 76 until the disability be removed, shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor.

Sec. 14. The Lieutenant Governor shall be President of the Senate, and shall vote only when the Senate is equally divided. In case of the absence, impeachment or disqualification from any cause of the Lieutenant Governor, or when he shall hold the office of Governor, then the President pro tem. of the Senate shall perform the duties of the Lieutenant Governor, until the vacancy is filled or the disability removed.

Sec. 15. In case of the failure to qualify in his office, death, resignation, absence from the State, impeachment, conviction of felony, or infamous misdemeanor, or disqualification from any cause, of both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the duties of the Governor shall devolve on the President of the Senate pro tem., until such disqualification of either the Governor or Lieutenant Governor be removed, or the vacancy be filled; and if the President of the Senate, for any of the above named causes, shall become incapable of performing the duties of Governor, the same shall devolve upon the Speaker of the House.

Sec. 16. An account shall be kept by the officers of the Executive Department, and of all public institutions of the State, of all moneys received by them severally from all sources, and for every service performed, and of all moneys disbursed by them severally, and a semi-annual report thereof shall be made to the Governor, under oath.

Sec. 17. The officers of the Executive Department, and of all public institutions of the State, shall, at least twenty days preceding each regular session of the General Assembly, make full and complete report of their actions to the Governor, who shall transmit the same to the General Assembly.

Sec. 18. There shall be a seal of the State, which shall be kept by the Secretary of State, and shall be called the “Great Seal of the State of Colorado.” The seal of the Territory of Colorado, as now used, shall be the seal of the State until otherwise provided by law.

Sec. 19. The officers named in section one of this article, shall receive for their services a salary to be established by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their official terms. It shall be the duty of all such officers to collect in advance all fees prescribed by law for services rendered by them severally, and pay the same into the State treasury.

Sec. 20. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be ex officio State Librarian. 77

Sec. 21. Neither the State Treasurer nor State Auditor shall be eligible for re-election as his own immediate successor.

ARTICLE V.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

Section 1. The legislative power shall be vested in the General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives, both to be elected by the people.

Sec. 2. An election for members of the General Assembly shall be held on the first Tuesday in October, in the years of our Lord 1876 and 1878, and in each alternate year thereafter, on such day, at such places in each county as now are, or hereafter may be, provided by law. The first election for members of the General Assembly under the State organization shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the laws of Colorado Territory regulating elections for members of the Legislative Assembly thereof. When vacancies occur in either House, the Governor, or person exercising the powers of Governor, shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

Sec. 3. Senators shall be elected for the term of four years, except as hereinafter provided, and Representatives for the term of two years.

Sec. 4. No person shall be a Representative or Senator who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, who shall not be a citizen of the United States, who shall not for at least twelve months next preceding his election have resided within the Territory included in the limits of the county or district in which he shall be chosen: Provided, That any person who at the time of the adoption of this Constitution was a qualified elector under the Territorial laws, shall be eligible to the first General Assembly.

Sec. 5. The Senators, at their first session, shall be divided into two classes. Those elected in districts designated by even numbers shall constitute one class; those elected in districts designated by odd numbers shall constitute the other class, except that Senators elected in each of the districts having more than one Senator shall be equally divided between the two classes. The Senators of one class shall hold for two years; those of the other class shall hold for four years—to be decided by lot between the two classes, so that one-half of the Senators, as near as practicable, may be biennially chosen forever thereafter.

Sec. 6. Each member for the first General Assembly, as a compensation for his services, shall receive four dollars for each day’s attendance, and fifteen cents for each mile necessarily traveled in going 78 to and returning from the seat of government; and shall receive no other compensation, perquisite or allowance whatsoever. No session of the General Assembly, after the first, shall exceed forty days. After the first session, the compensation of the members of the General Assembly shall be as provided by law: Provided, That no General Assembly shall fix its own compensation.

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall meet at 12 o’clock, noon, on the first Wednesday in November, A. D. 1876; and at 12 o’clock, noon, on the first Wednesday in January, A. D. 1879; and at 12 o’clock, noon, on the first Wednesday in January of each alternate year forever thereafter, and at other times when convened by the Governor. The term of service of the members thereof shall begin on the first Wednesday of November next after their election, until otherwise provided by law.

Sec. 8. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office under this State; and no member of Congress, or other person holding any office (except of attorney-at-law, notary public, or in the militia) under the United States, or this State, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.

Sec. 9. No member of either House shall, during the term for which he may have been elected, receive any increase of salary or mileage, under any law passed during such term.

Sec. 10. The Senate shall, at the beginning and close of each regular session, and at such other times as may be necessary, elect one of its members President pro tempore. The House of Representatives shall elect one of its members as Speaker. Each House shall choose its other officers, and shall judge of the election and qualification of its members.

Sec. 11. A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members.

Sec. 12. Each House shall have power to determine the rules of its proceedings and punish its members or other persons for contempt or disorderly behavior in its presence; to enforce obedience to its process; to protect its members against violence, or offers of bribes, or private solicitation, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, to expel a member, but not a second time for the same cause, and shall have all other powers necessary for the Legislature of a free State. A member, expelled for corruption, shall not thereafter be eligible to either House of the same General Assembly, and punishment for contempt 79 or disorderly behavior shall not bar an indictment for the same offense.

Sec. 13. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and may, in its discretion, from time to time, publish the same, except such parts as require secrecy, and the ayes and noes on any question shall, at the desire of any two members, be entered on the journal.

Sec. 14. The sessions of each House, and of the committees of the whole, shall be open, unless when the business is such as ought to be kept secret.

Sec. 15. Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Sec. 16. The members of the General Assembly shall, in all cases except treason, felony, violation of their oath of office, and breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the sessions of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House they shall not be questioned in any other place.

Sec. 17. No law shall be passed except by bill, and no bill shall be so altered or amended on its passage through either House as to change its original purpose.

Sec. 18. The style of the laws of this State shall be: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado.”

Sec. 19. No act of the General Assembly shall take effect until ninety days after its passage, unless in case of emergency (which shall be expressed in the preamble or body of the act) the General Assembly shall, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House, otherwise direct. No bill, except the general appropriation for the expenses of the government only, introduced in either House of the General Assembly after the first twenty-five days of the session, shall become a law.

Sec. 20. No bill shall be considered or become a law unless referred to a committee, returned therefrom, and printed for the use of the members.

Sec. 21. No bill, except general appropriation bills, shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title; but if any subject shall be embraced in any act which shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be so expressed.

Sec. 22. Every bill shall be read at length on three different days in each House; all substantial amendments made thereto shall be printed for the use of the members, before the final vote is taken on 80 the bill; and no bill shall become a law except by vote of a majority of all the members elected to each House, nor unless on its final passage the vote be taken by ayes and noes, and the names of those voting be entered on the journal.

Sec. 23. No amendment to any bill by one House shall be concurred in by the other, nor shall the report of any committee of conference be adopted in either House, except by a vote of a majority of the members elected thereto, taken by ayes and noes, and the names of those voting recorded upon the journal thereof.

Sec. 24. No law shall be revived, or amended, or the provisions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only, but so much thereof as is revived, amended, extended or conferred, shall be re-enacted and published at length.

Sec. 25. The General Assembly shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say: for granting divorces; laying out, opening, altering or working roads or highways; vacating roads, town plats, streets, alleys and public grounds; locating or changing county seats; regulating county or township affairs; regulating the practice in courts of justice; regulating the jurisdiction and duties of justices of the peace, police magistrates and constables; changing the rules of evidence in any trial or inquiry; providing for changes of venue in civil or criminal cases; declaring any person of age; for limitation of civil actions or giving effect to informal or invalid deeds; summoning or impaneling grand or petit juries; providing for the management of common schools; regulating the rate of interest on money; the opening or conducting of any election, or designating the place of voting; the sale or mortgage of real estate belonging to minors or others under disability; the protection of game or fish; chartering or licensing ferries or toll bridges; remitting fines, penalties, or forfeitures; creating, increasing, or decreasing fees, per centage, or allowances of public officers; changing the law of descent; granting to any corporation, association, or individual the right to lay down railroad tracks; granting to any corporation, association, or individual any special or exclusive privilege, immunity, or franchise whatever. In all other cases, where a general law can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted.

Sec. 26. The presiding officer of each House shall, in the presence of the House over which he presides, sign all bills and joint resolutions passed by the General Assembly, after their titles shall have been publicly read, immediately before signing; and the fact of signing shall be entered on the journal.

Sec. 27. The General Assembly shall prescribe by law the number, 81 duties and compensation of the officers and employes of each House; and no payment shall be made from the State Treasury, or be in any way authorized to any person, except to an acting officer or employe elected or appointed in pursuance of law.

Sec. 28. No bill shall be passed giving any extra compensation to any public officer, servant or employe, agent or contractor, after services shall have been rendered or contract made, nor providing for the payment of any claim made against the State without previous authority of law.

Sec. 29. All stationery, printing, paper and fuel used in the legislative and other departments of government, shall be furnished; and the printing, and binding, and distributing of the laws, journals, department reports, and other printing and binding; and the repairing and furnishing the halls and rooms used for the meeting of the General Assembly and its committees, shall be performed under contract, to be given to the lowest responsible bidder, below such maximum price and under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. No member or officer of any department of the government shall be in any way interested in any such contract; and all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the Governor and State Treasurer.

Sec. 30. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, no law shall extend the term of any public officer, or increase or diminish his salary or emoluments after his election or appointment: Provided, This shall not be construed to forbid the General Assembly to fix the salary or emoluments of those first elected or appointed under this Constitution.

Sec. 31. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose amendments, as in case of other bills.

Sec. 32. The general appropriation bill shall embrace nothing but appropriations for the ordinary expenses of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Departments of the State, interest on the public debt, and for public schools. All other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, each embracing but one subject.

Sec. 33. No money shall be paid out of the treasury except upon appropriations made by law, and on warrant drawn by the proper officer in pursuance thereof.

Sec. 34. No appropriation shall be made for charitable, industrial, educational or benevolent purposes, to any person, corporation, or community not under the absolute control of the State, nor to any denominational or sectarian institution or association.

Sec. 35. The General Assembly shall not delegate to any special 82 commission, private corporation or association, any power to make, supervise or interfere with any municipal improvement, money, property or effects, whether held in trust or otherwise, or to levy taxes, or to perform any municipal function whatever.

Sec. 36. No act of the General Assembly shall authorize the investment of trust funds by executors, administrators, guardians, or other trustees, in the bonds or stock of any private corporation.

Sec. 37. The power to change the venue in civil and criminal cases shall be vested in the courts, to be exercised in such a manner as shall be provided by law.

Sec. 38. No obligation or liability of any person, association or corporation, held or owned by the State, or any municipal corporation therein, shall ever be exchanged, transferred, remitted, released or postponed, or in any way diminished by the General Assembly, nor shall such liability or obligation be extinguished except by payment thereof into the proper treasury.

Sec. 39. Every order, resolution or vote to which the concurrence of both Houses may be necessary, except on the question of adjournment, or relating solely to the transaction of business of the two Houses, shall be presented to the Governor, and before it shall take effect, be approved by him, or being disapproved, shall be re-passed by two-thirds of both Houses, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in case of a bill.

Sec. 40. If any person elected to either House of the General Assembly shall offer or promise to give his vote or influence in favor of or against any measure or proposition, pending or proposed to be introduced into the General Assembly, in consideration or upon condition that any other person elected to the same General Assembly will give or will promise or assent to give his vote or influence in favor of or against any other measure or proposition, pending or proposed to be introduced in such General Assembly, the person making such offer or promise, shall be deemed guilty of solicitation of bribery. If any member of the General Assembly shall give his vote or influence for or against any measure or proposition pending in such General Assembly, or offer, promise or assent so to do, upon condition that any other member will give or will promise or assent to give his vote or influence in favor of or against any other measure or proposition pending or proposed to be introduced in such General Assembly, or in consideration that any other member hath given his vote or influence for or against any other measure or proposition in such General Assembly, he shall be deemed guilty of bribery, and any member of the General Assembly, or person elected thereto, who shall be guilty of either of 83 such offenses shall be expelled, and shall not be thereafter eligible to the same General Assembly; and, on the conviction thereof in the civil courts, shall be liable to such further penalty as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 41. Any person who shall directly or indirectly offer, give or promise any money or thing of value, testimonial, privilege or personal advantage to any executive or judicial officer or member of the General Assembly to influence him in the performance of any of his public or official duties, shall be deemed guilty of bribery, and be punished in such manner as shall be provided by law.

Sec. 42. The offense of corrupt solicitation of members of the General Assembly, or of public officers of the State, or of any municipal division thereof, and any occupation or practice of solicitation of such members or officers to influence their official action, shall be defined by law, and shall be punished by fine and imprisonment.

Sec. 43. A member who has a personal or private interest in any measure or bill proposed or pending before the General Assembly, shall disclose the fact to the House of which he is a member, and shall not vote thereon.

CONGRESSIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE APPORTIONMENT.

Sec. 44. One Representative in the Congress of the United States shall be elected from the State at large at the first election under this Constitution, and thereafter at such times and places and in such manner as may be prescribed by law. When a new apportionment shall be made by Congress, the General Assembly shall divide the State into Congressional Districts accordingly.

Sec. 45. The General Assembly shall provide by law for an enumeration of the inhabitants of the State in the year of our Lord 1885, and every tenth year thereafter; and at the session next following such enumeration, and also at the session next following an enumeration made by the authority of the United States, shall revise and adjust the apportionment for Senators and Representatives on the basis of such enumeration, according to ratios to be fixed by law.

Sec. 46. The Senate shall consist of twenty-six, and the House of Representatives forty-nine members, which number shall not be increased until the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety, after which time the General Assembly may increase the number of Senators and Representatives, preserving, as near as may be, the present proportion as to the number in each House: Provided, That the aggregate number of Senators and Representatives shall never exceed one hundred.

Sec. 47. Senatorial and Representative Districts may be altered 84 from time to time, as public convenience may require. When a Senatorial or Representative District shall be composed of two or more counties, they shall be contiguous, and the district as compact as may be. No county shall be divided in the formation of a Senatorial or Representative District.

Sec. 48. Until the State shall be divided into Senatorial Districts, in accordance with the provisions of this article, said districts shall be constituted and numbered as follows:

The county of Weld shall constitute the first district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Larimer shall constitute the second district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Boulder shall constitute the third district, and be entitled to two Senators.

The county of Gilpin shall constitute the fourth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The counties of Gilpin, Summit and Grand shall constitute the fifth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Clear Creek shall constitute the sixth district, and be entitled to two Senators.

The county of Jefferson shall constitute the seventh district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Arapahoe shall constitute the eighth district, and be entitled to four Senators.

The counties of Elbert and Bent shall constitute the ninth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of El Paso shall constitute the tenth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Douglas shall constitute the eleventh district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Park shall constitute the twelfth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The counties of Lake and Saguache shall constitute the thirteenth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Fremont shall constitute the fourteenth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Pueblo shall constitute the fifteenth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Huerfano shall constitute the sixteenth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Las Animas shall constitute the seventeenth district, and be entitled to two Senators. 85

The county of Costilla shall constitute the eighteenth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The county of Conejos shall constitute the nineteenth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

The counties of Rio Grande, Hinsdale, La Plata and San Juan shall constitute the twentieth district, and be entitled to one Senator.

Sec. 49. Until an apportionment of Representatives be made in accordance with the provisions of this article, they shall be divided among the several counties of the State in the following manner: The county of Arapahoe shall have seven; the counties of Boulder and Clear Creek, each, four; the counties of Gilpin and Las Animas, each, three; the counties of El Paso, Fremont, Huerfano, Jefferson, Pueblo and Weld, each, two; the counties of Bent, Costilla, Conejos, Douglas, Elbert, Grand, Hinsdale, Larimer, La Plata, Lake, Park, Rio Grande, Summit, Saguache and San Juan, each, one; and the counties of Costilla and Conejos, jointly, one.

ARTICLE VI.

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.

Section 1. The judicial powers of the State, as to matters of law and equity, except as in this Constitution otherwise provided, shall be vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, County Courts, Justices of the Peace, and such other courts as may be created by law for cities and incorporated towns.

SUPREME COURT.

Sec. 2. The Supreme Court, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, shall have appellate jurisdiction only, which shall be co-extensive with the State, and shall have a general superintending control over all inferior courts, under such regulations and limitations as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 3. It shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, certiorari, injunction, and other original and remedial writs, with authority to hear and determine the same.

Sec. 4. At least two terms of the Supreme Court shall be held each year at the seat of government.

Sec. 5. The Supreme Court shall consist of three judges, a majority of whom shall be necessary to form a quorum or pronounce a decision.

Sec. 6. The Judges of the Supreme Court shall be elected by electors of the State at large, as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 7. The term of office of the Judges of the Supreme Court, except as in this article otherwise provided, shall be nine years.

Sec. 8. The Judges of the Supreme Court shall, immediately 86 after the first election under this Constitution, be classified by lot, so that one shall hold his office for the term of three years, one for the term of six years, and one for the term of nine years. The lot shall be drawn by the Judges, who shall for that purpose assemble at the seat of government, and they shall cause the result thereof to be certified to the Secretary of the Territory, and filed in his office. The Judge having the shortest term to serve, not holding his office by appointment or election to fill a vacancy, shall be the Chief Justice, and shall preside at all terms of the Supreme Court, and, in case of his absence, the Judge having in like manner the next shortest term to serve shall preside in his stead.

Sec. 9. There shall be a Clerk of the Supreme Court, who shall be appointed by the Judges thereof, and shall hold his office during the pleasure of said Judges, and whose duties and emoluments shall be as prescribed by law and by the rules of the Supreme Court.

Sec. 10. No person shall be eligible to the office of Judge of the Supreme Court unless he be learned in the law; be at least thirty years of age, and a citizen of the United States, nor unless he shall have resided in this State or Territory at least two years next preceding his election.

DISTRICT COURTS.

Sec. 11. The District Courts shall have original jurisdiction of all causes, both at law and in equity, and such appellate jurisdiction as may be conferred by law. They shall have original jurisdiction to determine all controversies upon relation of any person on behalf of the people, concerning the rights, duties and liabilities of railroad, telegraph or toll-road companies or corporations.

Sec. 12. The State shall be divided into judicial districts, in each of which there shall be elected by the electors thereof, one Judge of the District Court therein, whose term of office shall be six years. The Judges of the District Courts may hold courts for each other, and shall do so when required by law.

Sec. 13. Until otherwise provided by law, said districts shall be four in number, and constituted as follows, viz.:

First District—The counties of Boulder, Jefferson, Gilpin, Clear Creek, Summit and Grand.

Second District—The counties of Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, Weld and Larimer.

Third District—The counties of Park, El Paso, Fremont, Pueblo, Bent, Las Animas and Huerfano.

Fourth District—The counties of Costilla, Conejos, Rio Grande, San Juan, La Plata, Hinsdale, Saguache and Lake. 87

Sec. 14. The General Assembly may, after the year 1880 (whenever two-thirds of the members of each House shall concur therein), but not oftener than once in six years, increase the number of the judicial districts and the judges thereof; such districts shall be formed of compact territory, and bounded by county lines, but such increase or change in the boundaries of a district shall not work the removal of any Judge from his office during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed.

Sec. 15. The Judges of the District Court first elected shall be chosen at the first general election. The General Assembly may provide that, after the year 1878, the election of the Judges of the Supreme, District and County Courts, and the District Attorneys, or any of them, shall be on a different day from that on which an election is held for any other purpose, and for that purpose may extend or abridge the term of office of any such officers then holding, but not in any case more than six months. Until otherwise provided by law, such officers shall be elected at the time of holding the general elections. The terms of office of all Judges of the District Court elected in the several districts throughout the State, shall expire on the same day; and the terms of office of the District Attorneys elected in the several districts throughout the State shall, in like manner, expire on the same day.

Sec. 16. No person shall be eligible to the office of District Judge unless he be learned in the law, be at least thirty years old, and a citizen of the United States, nor unless he shall have resided in the State or Territory at least two years next preceding his election, nor unless he shall, at the time of his election, be an elector within the judicial district for which he is elected: Provided, That at the first election, any person of the requisite age and learning, and who is an elector of the Territory of Colorado, under the laws thereof, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of Judge of the District Court of the judicial district within which he is an elector.

Sec. 17. The time of holding courts within the said districts shall be as provided by law, but at least one term of the District Court shall be held annually in each county, except in such counties as may be attached, for judicial purposes, to another county wherein such courts are so held. This shall not be construed to prevent the holding of special terms, under such regulations as may be provided by law.

Sec. 18. The Judges of the Supreme and District Courts shall each receive such salary as may be provided by law, and no such Judge 88 shall receive any other compensation, perquisite or emolument for or on account of his office, in any form whatever, nor act as attorney or counselor at law.

Sec. 19. There shall be a Clerk of the District Court in each county wherein a term is held, who shall be appointed by the Judge of the district, to hold his office during the pleasure of the Judge. His duties and compensation shall be as provided by law, and regulated by the rules of the court.

Sec. 20. Until the General Assembly shall provide by law for fixing the terms of the courts aforesaid, the Judges of the Supreme and District Courts, respectively, shall fix the terms thereof.

DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.

Sec. 21. There shall be elected, by the qualified electors of each judicial district, at each regular election for Judges of the Supreme Court, a District Attorney for such district, whose term of office shall be three years, and whose duties and compensations shall be as provided by law. No person shall be eligible to the office of District Attorney who shall not, at the time of his election, be at least twenty-five years of age, and possess all the other qualifications for Judges of District Courts, as prescribed in this article.

COUNTY COURTS.

Sec. 22. There shall be elected, at the general election in each organized county in the year 1877, and every three years thereafter, except as otherwise provided in this article, a County Judge, who shall be Judge of the County Court of said County, whose term of office shall be three years, and whose compensation shall be as may be provided by law.

Sec. 23. County Courts shall be courts of record, and shall have original jurisdiction in all matters of probate, settlement of estates of deceased persons, appointment of guardians, conservators and administrators, and settlement of their accounts, and such other civil and criminal jurisdiction as may be conferred by law: Provided, Such courts shall not have jurisdiction in any case where the debt, damage, or claim or value of property involved shall exceed two thousand dollars, except in cases relating to the estates of deceased persons. Appeals may be taken from County to District Courts, or to the Supreme Court, in such cases and in such manner as may be prescribed by law. Writs of error shall lie from the Supreme Court to every final judgment of the County Court. No appeal shall lie to the District 89 Court from any judgment given upon an appeal from a Justice of the Peace.

CRIMINAL COURT.

Sec. 24. The General Assembly shall have power to create and establish a Criminal Court in each county having a population exceeding fifteen thousand, which court may have concurrent jurisdiction with the District Courts in all criminal cases not capital; the terms of such courts to be as provided by law.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

Sec. 25. Justices of the Peace shall have such jurisdiction as may be conferred by law; but they shall not have jurisdiction of any case wherein the value of the property, or the amount in controversy, exceeds the sum of three hundred dollars, nor where the boundaries or title to real property shall be called in question.

POLICE MAGISTRATES.

Sec. 26. The General Assembly shall have power to provide for creating such police magistrates for cities and towns as may be deemed from time to time necessary or expedient, who shall have jurisdiction of all cases arising under the ordinances of such cities and towns respectively.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Sec. 27. The judges of courts of record inferior to the Supreme Court, shall, on or before the first day in July in each year, report in writing, to the judges of the Supreme Court, such defects and omissions in the laws as their knowledge and experience may suggest, and the Judges of the Supreme Court shall, on or before the first day of December of each year, report in writing to the Governor, to be by him transmitted to the General Assembly, together with his message, such defects and omissions in the Constitution and laws as they may find to exist, together with appropriate bills for curing the same.

Sec. 28. All laws relating to courts shall be general and of uniform operation throughout the State; and the organization, jurisdiction, powers, proceedings and practice of all the courts of the same class or grade, so far as regulated by law, and the force and effect of the proceedings, judgments and decrees of such courts severally, shall be uniform.

Sec. 29. All Officers provided for in this article, excepting Judges of the Supreme Court, shall respectively reside in the district, county, precinct, city or town for which they may be elected or appointed. Vacancies in elective offices shall be filled by election, but when the 90 unexpired term does not exceed one year, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment, as follows: Of Judges of the Supreme and District Courts, by the Governor; of District Attorneys, by the Judge of the Court of which the office appertains; and of all other judicial officers by the Board of County Commissioners of the county where the vacancy occurs.

Sec. 30. All process shall run in the name of “The People of the State of Colorado;” all prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of “The People of the State of Colorado,” and conclude, “against the peace and dignity of the same.”

ARTICLE VII.

SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS.

Section 1. Every male person over the age of twenty-one years, possessing the following qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections:

First—He shall be a citizen of the United States, or not being a citizen of the United States, he shall have declared his intention, according to law, to become such citizen, not less than four months before he offers to vote.

Second—He shall have resided in the State six months immediately preceding the election at which he offers to vote, and in the county, city, town, ward or precinct, such time as may be prescribed by law: Provided, That no person shall be denied the right to vote at any school district election, nor to hold any school district office, on account of sex.

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall, at the first session thereof, and may at any subsequent session, enact laws to extend the right of suffrage to women of lawful age, and otherwise qualified according to the provisions of this article. No such enactment shall be of effect until submitted to the vote of the qualified electors at a general election, nor unless the same be approved by a majority of those voting thereon.

Sec. 3. The General Assembly may prescribe, by law, an educational qualification for electors, but no such law shall take effect prior to the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety, and no qualified elector shall be thereby disqualified.

Sec. 4. For the purpose of voting and eligibility to office, no person shall be deemed to have gained a residence by reason of his presence, or lost it by reason of his absence, while in the civil or military service of the State, or of the United States, nor while a 91 student at any institution of learning, nor while kept at public expense in any poor-house or other asylum, nor while confined in public prison.

Sec. 5. Voters shall in all cases, except treason, felony or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning therefrom.

Sec. 6. No person except a qualified elector shall be elected or appointed to any civil or military office in the State.

Sec. 7. The general election shall be held on the first Tuesday of October, in the years of our Lord eighteen hundred and seventy-six, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, and eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, and annually thereafter on such day as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 8. All elections by the people shall be by ballot; every ballot voted shall be numbered in the order in which it shall be received, and the number be recorded by the election officers on the list of voters opposite the name of the voter who presents the ballot. The election officers shall be sworn or affirmed not to enquire or disclose how any elector shall have voted. In all cases of contested elections, the ballots cast may be counted, compared with the list of voters, and examined under such safeguards and regulations as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 9. In trials of contested elections, and for offenses arising under the election law, no person shall be permitted to withhold his testimony on the ground that it may criminate himself, or subject him to public infamy; but such testimony shall not be used against him in any judicial proceedings, except for perjury in giving such testimony.

Sec. 10. No person while confined in any public prison shall be entitled to vote; but every such person who was a qualified elector prior to such imprisonment, and who is released therefrom by virtue of a pardon, or by virtue of having served out his full term of imprisonment, shall, without further action, be invested with all the rights of citizenship, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution.

Sec. 11. The General Assembly shall pass laws to secure the purity of elections, and guard against abuses of the elective franchise.

Sec. 12. The General Assembly shall, by general law, designate the courts and judges by whom the several classes of election contests, not herein provided for, shall be tried, and regulate the manner of 92 trial, and all matters incident thereto; but no such law shall apply to any contest arising out of an election held before its passage.

ARTICLE VIII.

STATE INSTITUTIONS.

Section 1. Educational, reformatory, and penal institutions, and those for the benefit of the insane, blind, deaf and mute, and such other institutions as the public good may require, shall be established and supported by the State, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall have no power to change or to locate the seat of government of the State, but shall at its first session subsequent to the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty, provide by law for submitting the question of the permanent location of the seat of government to the qualified electors of the State, at the general election then next ensuing, and a majority of all the votes upon said question cast at said election, shall be necessary to determine the location thereof. Said General Assembly shall also provide that in case there shall be no choice of location at said election, the question of choice between the two places for which the highest number of votes shall have been cast, shall be submitted in like manner to the qualified electors of the State, at the next general election: Provided, That until the seat of government shall have been permanently located as herein provided, the temporary location thereof shall remain at the city of Denver.

Sec. 3. When the seat of government shall have been located as herein provided, the location thereof shall not thereafter be changed, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the qualified electors of the State voting on that question, at a general election, at which the question of location of the seat of government shall have been submitted by the General Assembly.

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall make no appropriation or expenditures for capitol buildings or grounds, until the seat of government shall have been permanently located, as herein provided.

Sec. 5. The following Territorial institutions, to wit: The University at Boulder, the Agricultural College at Fort Collins, the School of Mines at Golden, the Institute for the education of Mutes at Colorado Springs, shall, upon the adoption of this Constitution, become institutions of the State of Colorado, and the management thereof subject to the control of the State, under such laws and regulations as the General Assembly shall provide; and the location of said institutions, as well as all gifts, grants, and appropriations of money and 93 property, real and personal, heretofore made to said several institutions, are hereby confirmed to the use and benefit of the same respectively: Provided, This section shall not apply to any institution, the property, real or personal, of which is now vested in the trustees thereof, until such property be transferred by proper conveyance, together with the control thereof, to the officers provided for the management of said institution by this Constitution or by law.

ARTICLE IX.

EDUCATION.

Section 1. The general supervision of the public schools of the State shall be vested in a Board of Education, whose powers and duties shall be prescribed by law; the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Secretary of State, and Attorney General, shall constitute the Board, of which the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be President.

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment and maintenance of a thorough and uniform system of free public schools throughout the State, wherein all residents of the State between the ages of six and twenty-one years may be educated gratuitously. One or more public schools shall be maintained in each school district within the State, at least three months in each year; any school district failing to have such school shall not be entitled to receive any portion of the school fund for that year.

Sec. 3. The public school fund of the State shall forever remain inviolate and intact; the interest thereon, only, shall be expended in the maintenance of the schools of the State, and shall be distributed amongst the several counties and school districts of the State, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. No part of this fund, principal or interest, shall ever be transferred to any other fund, or used or appropriated except as herein provided. The State Treasurer shall be the custodian of this fund, and the same shall be securely and profitably invested as may be by law directed. The State shall supply all losses thereof that may in any manner occur.

Sec. 4. Each County Treasurer shall collect all school funds belonging to his county, and the several school districts therein, and disburse the same to the proper districts upon warrants drawn by the County Superintendent, or by the proper district authorities, as may be provided by law.

Sec. 5. The public school fund of the State shall consist of the proceeds of such lands as have heretofore been, or may hereafter be, granted to the State by the General Government for educational purposes; 94 all estates that may escheat to the State; also all other grants, gifts, or devises that may be made to this State for educational purpose.

Sec. 6. There shall be a County Superintendent of Schools in each county, whose term of office shall be two years, and whose duties, qualifications and compensation shall be prescribed by law. He shall be ex officio Commissioner of Lands within his county, and shall discharge the duties of said office under the direction of the State Board of Land Commissioners, as directed by law.

Sec. 7. Neither the General Assembly, nor any county, city, town, township, school district or other public corporation, shall ever make any appropriation, or pay from any public fund or moneys whatever, anything in aid of any church or sectarian society, or for any sectarian purpose, or to help support or sustain any school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific institution, controlled by any church or sectarian denomination whatsoever; nor shall any grant or donation of land, money, or other personal property, ever be made by the State, or any such public corporation, to any church or for any sectarian purpose.

Sec. 8. No religious test or qualification shall ever be required of any person as a condition of admission into any public educational institution of the State, either as teacher or student; and no teacher or student of any such institution shall ever be required to attend, or participate in, any religious service whatever. No sectarian tenets or doctrines shall ever be taught in the public schools, nor shall any distinction or classification of pupils be made on account of race or color.

Sec. 9. The Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Secretary of State and Attorney General shall constitute the State Board of Land Commissioners, who shall have the direction, control, and disposition of the public lands of the State, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 10. It shall be the duty of the State Board of Land Commissioners to provide for the location, protection, sale or other disposition of all the lands heretofore, or which may hereafter be, granted to the State by the general government, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law; and in such manner as will secure the maximum possible amount therefor. No law shall ever be passed by the General Assembly granting any privileges to persons who may have settled upon any such public lands subsequent to the survey thereof by the general government, by which the amount to be derived by the sale, or other disposition of such lands, shall be diminished, directly or indirectly. 95 The General Assembly shall, at the earliest practicable period, provide by law that the several grants of land made by Congress to the State shall be judiciously located and carefully preserved and held in trust, subject to disposal, for the use and benefit of the respective objects for which said grants of land were made, and the General Assembly shall provide for the sale of said lands from time to time; and for the faithful application of the proceeds thereof in accordance with the terms of said grants.

Sec. 11. The General Assembly may require, by law, that every child of sufficient mental and physical ability, shall attend the public school during the period between the ages of six and eighteen years, for a time equivalent to three years, unless educated by other means.

Sec. 12. There shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State, at the first general election under this Constitution, six Regents of the University, who shall immediately after their election be so classified, by lot, that two shall hold their office for the term of two years, two for four years, and two for six years; and every two years after the first election there shall be elected two Regents of the University, whose term of office shall be six years. The Regents thus elected, and their successors, shall constitute a body corporate, to be known by the name and style of “The Regents of the University of Colorado.”

Sec. 13. The Regents of the University shall, at their first meeting, or as soon thereafter as practicable, elect a President of the University, who shall hold his office until removed by the Board of Regents for cause; he shall be ex officio a member of the Board, with the privilege of speaking, but not voting, except in cases of a tie; he shall preside at the meetings of the Board, and be the principal executive officer of the University, and a member of the faculty thereof.

Sec. 14. The Board of Regents shall have the general supervision of the University, and the exclusive control and direction of all funds of, and appropriations to, the University.

Sec. 15. The General Assembly shall, by law, provide for organization of school districts of convenient size, in each of which shall be established a Board of Education, to consist of three or more directors, to be elected by the qualified electors of the district. Said directors shall have control of instruction in the public schools of their respective districts.

Sec. 16. Neither the General Assembly nor the State Board of 96 Education shall have power to prescribe text books to be used in the public schools.

ARTICLE X.

REVENUE.

Section 1. The fiscal year shall commence on the first day of October in each year, unless otherwise provided by law.

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall provide by law for an annual tax sufficient, with other resources, to defray the estimated expenses of the State government for each fiscal year.

Sec. 3. All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws, which shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, real and personal: Provided, That mines and mining claims bearing gold, silver, and other precious metals (except the net proceeds and surface improvements thereof), shall be exempt from taxation for the period of ten years from the date of the adoption of this Constitution, and thereafter may be taxed as provided by law. Ditches, canals, and flumes owned and used by individuals or corporations for irrigating lands owned by such individuals or corporations, or the individual members thereof, shall not be separately taxed, so long as they shall be owned and used exclusively for such purpose.

Sec. 4. The property, real and personal, of the State, counties, cities, towns and other municipal corporations, and public libraries shall be exempt from taxation.

Sec. 5. Lots, with the buildings thereon, if said buildings are used solely and exclusively for religious worship, for schools, or for strictly charitable purposes, also cemeteries not used or held for private or corporate profit, shall be exempt from taxation, unless otherwise provided by general law.

Sec. 6. All laws exempting from taxation property other than that hereinbefore mentioned, shall be void.

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall not impose taxes for the purposes of any county, city, town, or other municipal corporation, but may, by law, vest in the corporate authorities thereof respectively the power to assess and collect taxes for all purposes of such corporation.

Sec. 8. No county, city, town, or other municipal corporation, the inhabitants thereof, nor the property therein, shall be released or 97 discharged from their or its proportionate share of taxes to be levied for State purposes.

Sec. 9. The power to tax corporations and corporate property, real and personal, shall never be relinquished or suspended.

Sec. 10. All corporations in this State, or doing business therein, shall be subject to taxation for State, county, school, municipal, and other purposes, on the real and personal property owned or used by them within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax.

Sec. 11. The rate of taxation on property, for State purposes, shall never exceed six mills on each dollar of valuation; and whenever the taxable property within the State shall amount to one hundred million dollars, the rate shall not exceed four mills on each dollar of valuation; and whenever the taxable property within the State shall amount to three hundred million dollars, the rate shall never thereafter exceed two mills on each dollar of valuation, unless a proposition to increase such rate, specifying the rate proposed, and the time during which the same shall be levied, be first submitted to a vote of such of the qualified electors of the State as, in the year next preceding such election, shall have paid a property tax assessed to them within the State, and a majority of those voting thereon shall vote in favor thereof, in such manner as may be provided by law.

Sec. 12. The Treasurer shall keep a separate account of each fund in his hands; and shall, at the end of each quarter of the fiscal year, report to the Governor in writing, under oath, the amount of all moneys in his hands to the credit of every such fund, and the place where the same are kept or deposited, and the number and amount of every warrant received, and the number and amount of every warrant paid therefrom during the quarter. Swearing falsely to any such report shall be deemed perjury. The Governor shall cause every such report to be immediately published in at least one newspaper printed at the seat of government, and otherwise as the General Assembly may require. The General Assembly may provide by law further regulations for the safe-keeping and management of the public funds in the hands of the Treasurer; but, notwithstanding any such regulation, the Treasurer and his sureties shall in all cases be held responsible therefor.

Sec. 13. The making of profit, directly or indirectly, out of State, county, city, town or school district money, or using the same for any purpose not authorized by law, by any public officer, shall be deemed a felony, and shall be punished as provided by law.

Sec. 14. Private property shall not be taken or sold for the payment of the corporate debt of municipal corporations.

Sec. 15. There shall be a State Board of Equalization, consisting 98 of the Governor, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Secretary of State, and Attorney General; also, in each county of this State, a County Board of Equalization, consisting of the Board of County Commissioners of said county. The duty of the State Board of Equalization shall be to adjust and equalize the valuation of real and personal property among the several counties of the State. The duty of the County Board of Equalization shall be to adjust and equalize the valuation of real and personal property within their respective counties. Each board shall also perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 16. No appropriation shall be made, nor any expenditure authorized by the General Assembly, whereby the expenditure of the State, during any fiscal year, shall exceed the total tax then provided for by law and applicable for such appropriation or expenditure, unless the General Assembly making such appropriation shall provide for levying a sufficient tax, not exceeding the rates allowed in section eleven of this article, to pay such appropriation or expenditure within such fiscal year. This provision shall not apply to appropriations or expenditures to suppress insurrection, defend the State, or assist in defending the United States in time of war.

ARTICLE XI.

PUBLIC INDEBTEDNESS.

Section 1. Neither the State, nor any county, city, town, township, or school district, shall lend or pledge the credit or faith thereof, directly or indirectly, in any manner to, or in aid of, any person, company, or corporation, public or private, for any amount or for any purpose whatever, or become responsible for any debt, contract or liability of any person, company or corporation, public or private, in or out of the State.

Sec. 2. Neither the State nor any county, city, town, township, or school district shall make any donation or grant to, or in aid of, or become a subscriber to, or shareholder in, any corporation or company, or a joint owner with any person, company, or corporation, public or private, in or out of the State, except as to such ownership as may accrue to the State by escheat, or by forfeiture, by operation or provision of law; and except as to such ownership as may accrue to the State, or to any county, city, town, township, or school district, or to either or any of them, jointly with any person, company, or corporation, by forfeiture or sale of real estate for non-payment of taxes, or by donation or devise for public use, or by purchase by or on behalf of any or either of them, jointly with any or either of them, under 99 execution in cases of fines, penalties, or forfeiture of recognizance, breach of condition of official bond, or of bond to secure public moneys, or the performance of any contract in which they, or any of them, may be jointly or severally interested.

Sec. 3. The State shall not contract any debt by loan in any form, except to provide for casual deficiencies of revenue, erect public buildings for use of the State, suppress insurrection, defend the State, or, in time of war, assist in defending the United States; and the amount of debt contracted in any one year to provide for deficiencies of the revenue shall not exceed one-fourth of a mill on each dollar of valuation of taxable property within the State, and the aggregate amount of such debt shall not at any time exceed three-fourths of a mill on each dollar of said valuation until the valuation shall equal one hundred millions of dollars, and thereafter such debt shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars, and the debt incurred in any one year for erection of public buildings shall not exceed one-half mill on each dollar of said valuation, and the aggregate amount of such debt shall never at any time exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars (except as provided in section five of this article), and in all cases the valuation in this section mentioned shall be that of the assessment last preceding the creation of said debt.

Sec. 4. In no case shall any debt above mentioned in this article be created except by a law which shall be irrepealable until the indebtedness therein provided for shall have been fully paid or discharged; such law shall specify the purposes to which the funds so raised shall be applied, and provide for the levy of a tax sufficient to pay the interest on, and extinguish the principal of, such debt, within the time limited by such law for the payment thereof, which in the case of debts contracted for the erection of public buildings and supplying deficiencies of revenue, shall not be less than ten nor more than fifteen years, and the funds arising from the collection of any such tax shall not be applied to any other purpose than that provided in the law levying the same; and when the debt thereby created shall be paid or discharged, such tax shall cease, and the balance, if any, to the credit of the fund, shall immediately be placed to the credit of the general fund of the State.

Sec. 5. A debt for the purpose of erecting public buildings may be created by law, as provided for in section four of this article, not exceeding in the aggregate three mills on each dollar of said valuation: Provided, That before going into effect, such law shall be ratified by the vote of a majority of such qualified electors of the State as shall 100 vote thereon at a general election, under such regulations as the General Assembly may prescribe.

Sec. 6. No county shall contract any debt by loan in any form, except for the purpose of erecting necessary public buildings, making or repairing public roads and bridges; and such indebtedness contracted in any one year shall not exceed the rates upon the taxable property in such county, following, to wit: Counties in which the assessed valuation of taxable properly shall exceed five millions of dollars, one dollar and fifty cents on each thousand dollars thereof. Counties in which such valuation shall be less than five millions of dollars, three dollars on each thousand dollars thereof. And the aggregate amount of indebtedness of any county for all purposes, exclusive of debts contracted before the adoption of this Constitution, shall not at any time exceed twice the amount above herein limited, unless when in manner provided by law, the question of incurring such debt shall, at a general election, be submitted to such of the qualified electors of such county as in the year last preceding such election shall have paid a tax upon property assessed to them in such county, and a majority of those voting thereon shall vote in favor of incurring the debt, but the bonds, if any be issued therefor, shall not run less than ten years, and the aggregate amount of debt so contracted shall not at any time exceed twice the rate upon the valuation last herein mentioned: Provided, That this section shall not apply to counties having a valuation of less than one million of dollars.

Sec. 7. No debt by loan in any form shall be contracted by any school district for the purpose of erecting and furnishing school buildings, or purchasing grounds, unless the proposition to create such debt shall first be submitted to such qualified electors of the districts as shall have paid a school tax therein, in the year next preceding such election, and a majority of those voting thereon shall vote in favor of incurring such debt.

Sec. 8. No city or town shall contract any debt by loan in any form, except by means of an ordinance, which shall be irrepealable until the indebtedness therein provided for shall have been fully paid or discharged; specifying the purposes to which the funds to be raised shall be applied, and providing for the levy of a tax, not exceeding twelve mills on each dollar of valuation of taxable property within such city or town, sufficient to pay the annual interest, and extinguish the principal of such debt within fifteen, but not less than ten years from the creation thereof; and such tax when collected shall be applied only to the purposes in such ordinance specified, until the indebtedness shall be paid or discharged. But no such debt shall be created unless 101 the question of incurring the same shall, at a regular election for councilmen, aldermen, or officers of such city or town, be submitted to a vote of such qualified electors thereof as shall, in the year next preceding, have paid a property tax therein, and a majority of those voting on the question, by ballot deposited in a separate ballot-box, shall vote in favor of creating such debt; but the aggregate amount of debt so created, together with the debt existing at the time of such election, shall not at any time exceed three per cent. of the valuation last aforesaid. Debts contracted for supplying water to such city or town are excepted from the operation of this section. The valuation in this section mentioned shall be in all cases that of the assessment next preceding the last assessment before the adoption of such ordinance.

Sec. 9. Nothing contained in this article shall be so construed as to either impair or add to the obligation of any debt heretofore contracted by any county, city, town, or school district, in accordance with the laws of Colorado Territory, or prevent the contracting of any debt, or the issuing of bonds therefor, in accordance with said laws, upon any proposition for that purpose which may have been, according to said laws, submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of any county, city, town, or school district before the day on which this Constitution takes effect.

ARTICLE XII.

OFFICERS.

Section 1. Every person holding any civil office under the State or any municipality therein, shall, unless removed according to law, exercise the duties of such office until his successor is duly qualified; but this shall not apply to members of the General Assembly, nor to members of any board or assembly, two or more of whom are elected at the same time; the General Assembly may by law provide for suspending any officer in his functions, pending impeachment or prosecution for misconduct in office.

Sec. 2. No person shall hold any office or employment of trust or profit, under the laws of the State or any ordinance of any municipality therein, without devoting his personal attention to the duties of the same.

Sec. 3. No person who is now or hereafter may become a collector or receiver of public money, or the deputy or assistant of such collector or receiver, and who shall have become a defaulter in his office, shall be eligible to or assume the duties of any office of trust or profit in this State, under the laws thereof, or of any municipality 102 therein, until he shall have accounted for and paid over all public money for which he may be accountable.

Sec. 4. No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public moneys, bribery, perjury, solicitation of bribery, or subornation of perjury, shall be eligible to the General Assembly, or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in this State.

Sec. 5. The District Court of each county shall, at each term thereof, specially give in charge to the grand jury, if there be one, the laws regulating the accountability of the County Treasurer, and shall appoint a committee of such grand jury, or of other reputable persons, not exceeding five, to investigate the official accounts and affairs of the Treasurer of such county, and report to the Court the condition thereof. The Judge of the District Court may appoint a like committee in vacation at any time, but not oftener than once in every three months. The District Court of the county wherein the seat of government may be, shall have the like power to appoint committees to investigate the official accounts and affairs of the State Treasurer and the Auditor of State.

Sec. 6. Any civil officer or member of the General Assembly who shall solicit, demand or receive, or consent to receive, directly or indirectly, for himself or for another, from any company, corporation or person, any money, office, appointment, employment, testimonial, reward, thing of value or enjoyment, or of personal advantage or promise thereof, for his vote, official influence or action, or for withholding the same, or with an understanding that his official influence or action shall be in any way influenced thereby, or who shall solicit or demand any such money or advantage, matter or thing aforesaid for another, as the consideration of his vote, official influence or action, or for withholding the same, or shall give or withhold his vote, official influence or action, in consideration of the payment or promise of such money, advantage, matter or thing to another, shall be held guilty of bribery, or solicitation of bribery, as the case may be, within the meaning of the Constitution, and shall incur the disabilities provided thereby for such offense, and such additional punishment as is or shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 7. Every member of the General Assembly shall, before he enters upon his official duties, take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Colorado, and to faithfully perform the duties of his office according to the best of his ability. This oath or affirmation shall be administered in the hall of the House to which the member shall have been elected.

Sec. 8. Every civil officer, except members of the General Assembly 103 and such inferior officers as may be by law exempted, shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Colorado, and to faithfully perform the duties of the office upon which he shall be about to enter.

Sec. 9. Officers of the Executive Department and Judges of the Supreme and District Courts, and District Attorneys, shall file their oaths of office with the Secretary of State; every other officer shall file his oath of office with the County Clerk of the county wherein he shall have been elected.

Sec. 10. If any person elected or appointed to any office shall refuse or neglect to qualify therein within the time prescribed by law, such office shall be deemed vacant.

Sec. 11. The term of office of any officer elected to fill a vacancy shall terminate at the expiration of the term during which the vacancy occurred.

Sec. 12. No person who shall hereafter fight a duel, or assist in the same as a second, or send, accept or knowingly carry a challenge therefor, or agree to go out of the State to fight a duel, shall hold any office in the State.

ARTICLE XIII.

IMPEACHMENTS.

Section 1. The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. The concurrence of a majority of all the members shall be necessary to an impeachment. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate, and when sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be upon oath or affirmation to do justice according to law and evidence. When the Governor or Lieutenant Governor is on trial, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside. No person shall be convicted without a concurrence of two-thirds of the Senators elected.

Sec. 2. The Governor and other State and Judicial Officers, except County Judges and Justices of the Peace, shall be liable to impeachment for high crimes or misdemeanors, or malfeasance in office, but judgment in such cases shall only extend to removal from office and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust or profit in the State. The party, whether convicted or acquitted, shall, nevertheless, be liable to prosecution, trial, judgment and punishment according to law.

Sec. 3. All officers not liable to impeachment shall be subject to 104 removal for misconduct or malfeasance in office, in such manner as may be provided by law.

ARTICLE XIV.

COUNTIES.

Section 1. The several counties of the Territory of Colorado, as they now exist, are hereby declared to be counties of the State.

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall have no power to remove the county seat of any county, but the removal of county seats shall be provided for by general law, and no county seat shall be removed unless a majority of the qualified electors of the county, voting on the proposition at a general election, vote therefor; and no such proposition shall be submitted oftener than once in four years, and no person shall vote on such proposition who shall not have resided in the county six months, and in the election precinct ninety days next preceding such election.

Sec. 3. No part of the territory of any county shall be stricken off and added to an adjoining county, without first submitting the question to the qualified voters of the county from which the territory is proposed to be stricken off; nor unless a majority of all the qualified voters of said county voting on the question shall vote therefor.

Sec. 4. In all cases of the establishment of any new county, the new county shall be held to pay its ratable proportion of all then existing liabilities of the county or counties from which such new county shall be formed.

Sec. 5. When any part of the county is stricken off and attached to another county, the part stricken off shall be held to pay its ratable proportion of all then existing liabilities of the county from which it is taken.

COUNTY OFFICERS.

Sec. 6. In each county there shall be elected for the term of three years, three County Commissioners, who shall hold sessions for the transaction of county business as provided by law; any two of whom shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. One of said commissioners shall be elected on the first Tuesday of October, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, and every year thereafter one such officer shall be elected in each county, at the general election, for the term of three years: Provided, That when the population of any county shall exceed ten thousand, the Board of County Commissioners may consist of five members, who shall be elected as provided by 105 law, any three of whom shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

Sec. 7. The compensation of all county and precinct officers shall be as provided by law.

Sec. 8. There shall be elected in each county, on the first Tuesday of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, and every alternate year forever thereafter, one County Clerk, who shall be ex-officio Recorder of Deeds and Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners; one Sheriff, one Coroner, one Treasurer, who shall be collector of taxes; one County Superintendent of Schools, one County Surveyor, and one County Assessor.

Sec. 9. In case of a vacancy occurring in the office of County Commissioner, the Governor shall fill the same by appointment; and in the case of a vacancy in any other county office, or in any precinct office, the Board of County Commissioners shall fill the same by appointment; and the person appointed shall hold the office until the next general election, or until the vacancy be filled by election according to law.

Sec. 10. No person shall be eligible to any county office unless he be a qualified elector; nor unless he shall have resided in the county one year preceding his election.

Sec. 11. There shall, at the first election at which county officers are chosen, and annually thereafter, be elected in each precinct one Justice of the Peace and one Constable, who shall each hold his office for the term of two years: Provided, That in precincts containing five thousand or more inhabitants, the number of justices and constables may be increased as provided by law.

Sec. 12. The General Assembly shall provide for the election or appointment of such other county, township, precinct and municipal officers as public convenience may require; and their terms of office shall be as prescribed by law, not in any case to exceed two years.

Sec. 13. The General Assembly shall provide, by general laws, for the organization and classification of cities and towns. The number of such classes shall not exceed four, and the powers of each class shall be defined by general laws, so that all municipal corporations of the same class shall possess the same powers, and be subject to the same restrictions.

Sec. 14. The General Assembly shall also make provision, by general law, whereby any city, town or village, incorporated by any special or local law, may elect to become subject to and be governed by the general law relating to such corporations.

Sec. 15. For the purpose of providing for and regulating the 106 compensation of county and precinct officers, the General Assembly shall, by law, classify the several counties of the State according to population, and shall grade and fix the compensation of the officers within the respective classes according to the population thereof. Such law shall establish scales of fees to be charged and collected by such of the county and precinct officers as may be designated therein, for services to be performed by them respectively; and where salaries are provided, the same shall be payable only out of the fees actually collected in all cases where fees are prescribed. All fees, perquisites and emoluments, above the amount of such salaries, shall be paid into the county treasury.

ARTICLE XV.

CORPORATIONS.

Section 1. All existing charters or grants of special or exclusive privileges, under which the corporators or grantees shall not have organized and commenced business in good faith at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall thereafter have no validity.

Sec. 2. No charter of incorporations shall be granted, extended, changed or amended by special law, except for such municipal, charitable, educational, penal or reformatory corporations as are or may be under the control of the State; but the General Assembly shall provide by general laws for the organization of corporations hereafter to be created.

Sec. 3. The General Assembly shall have the power to alter, revoke or annul any charter of incorporation now existing and revocable at the adoption of this Constitution, or any that may hereafter be created, whenever in their opinion it may be injurious to the citizens of the State, in such manner, however, that no injustice shall be done to the corporators.

Sec. 4. All railroads shall be public highways, and all railroad companies shall be common carriers. Any association or corporation organized for the purpose, shall have the right to construct and operate a railroad between any designated points within this State, and to connect at the State line with railroads of other States and Territories. Every railroad company shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with or cross any other railroad.

Sec. 5. No railroad corporation or the lessees or managers thereof, shall consolidate its stock, property or franchises with any other railroad corporation owning or having under its control a parallel or competing line.

Sec. 6. All individuals, associations and corporations shall have equal rights to have persons and property transported over any railroad 107 in this State, and no undue or unreasonable discrimination shall be made in charges or in facilities for transportation of freight or passengers within the State, and no railroad company, nor any lessee, manager or employe thereof, shall give any preference to individuals, associations, or corporations in furnishing cars or motive power.

Sec. 7. No railroad or other transportation company in existence, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall have the benefit of any future legislation without first filing in the office of the Secretary of State an acceptance of the provisions of this Constitution in binding form.

Sec. 8. The right of eminent domain shall never be abridged, nor so construed as to prevent the General Assembly from taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies and subjecting them to public use, the same as the property of individuals; and the police powers of the State shall never be abridged, or so construed as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner as to infringe the equal rights of individuals, or the general well-being of the State.

Sec. 9. No corporation shall issue stocks or bonds, except for labor done, services performed, or money or property actually received, and all fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. The stock of corporations shall not be increased except in pursuance of general law, nor without the consent of the persons holding a majority of the stock, first obtained at a meeting held after at least thirty days’ notice given in pursuance of law.

Sec. 10. No foreign corporation shall do any business in this State without having one or more known places of business, and an authorized agent or agents in the same, upon whom process may be served.

Sec. 11. No street railroad shall be constructed within any city, town, or incorporated village, without the consent of the local authorities having the control of the street or highway proposed to be occupied by such street railroad.

Sec. 12. The General Assembly shall pass no law for the benefit of a railroad or other corporation, or any individual, or association of individuals, retrospective in its operation, or which imposes on the people of any county or municipal subdivision of the State, a new liability in respect to transactions or considerations already past.

Sec. 13. Any association or corporation, or the lessees or managers thereof, organized for the purpose, or any individual, shall have the right to construct and maintain lines of telegraph within this State, and to connect the same with other lines, and the General Assembly 108 shall, by general law of uniform operation, provide reasonable regulations to give full effect to this section. No telegraph company shall consolidate with, or hold a controlling interest in, the stock or bonds of any other telegraph company owning or having the control of a competing line, or acquire, by purchase or otherwise, any other competing line of telegraph.

Sec. 14. If any railroad, telegraph, express, or other corporation organized under any of the laws of this State, shall consolidate, by sale or otherwise, with any railroad, telegraph, express, or other corporation organized under any laws of any other State or Territory, or of the United States, the same shall not thereby become a foreign corporation, but the courts of this State shall retain jurisdiction over that part of the corporate property within the limits of the State in all matters which may arise, as if said consolidation had not taken place.

Sec. 15. It shall be unlawful for any person, company or corporation to require of its servants or employes, as a condition of their employment or otherwise, any contract or agreement whereby such person, company or corporation shall be released or discharged from liability or responsibility on account of personal injuries received by such servants or employes while in the service of such person, company or corporation, by reason of the negligence of such person, company or corporation, or the agents or employes thereof, and such contracts shall be absolutely null and void.

ARTICLE XVI.

MINING AND IRRIGATION.

MINING.

Section 1. There shall be established and maintained the office of Commissioner of Mines, the duties and salary of which shall be prescribed by law. When said office shall be established, the Governor shall, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint thereto a person known to be competent, whose term of office shall be four years.

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the proper ventilation of mines, the construction of escapement shafts, and such other appliances as may be necessary to protect the health and secure the safety of the workmen therein, and shall prohibit the employment in the mines of children under twelve years of age.

Sec. 3. The General Assembly may make such regulations, from time to time, as may be necessary for the proper and equitable drainage of mines.

Sec. 4. The General Assembly may provide that the science of 109 mining and metallurgy be taught in one or more of the institutions of learning under the patronage of the State.

IRRIGATION.

Sec. 5. The water of every natural stream, not heretofore appropriated, within the State of Colorado, is hereby declared to be the property of the public, and the same is dedicated to the use of the people of the State, subject to appropriation as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 6. The right to divert the unappropriated waters of any natural stream to beneficial uses shall never be denied. Priority of appropriation shall give the better right as between those using the water for the same purpose; but when the waters of any natural stream are not sufficient for the service of all those desiring the use of the same, those using the water for domestic purposes shall have the preference over those claiming for any other purpose, and those using the water for agricultural purposes shall have preference over those using the same for manufacturing purposes.

Sec. 7. All persons and corporations shall have the right of way across public, private, and corporate lands for the construction of ditches, canals and flumes, for the purpose of conveying water for domestic purposes, for the irrigation of agricultural lands, and for mining and manufacturing purposes, and for drainage, upon payment of just compensation.

Sec. 8. The General Assembly shall provide by law that the Board of County Commissioners, in their respective counties, shall have power, when application is made to them by either party interested, to establish reasonable maximum rates to be charged for the use of water, whether furnished by individuals or corporations.

ARTICLE XVII.

MILITIA.

Section 1. The militia of the State shall consist of all able-bodied male residents of the State, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years; except such persons as may be exempted by the laws of the United States, or of the State.

Sec. 2. The organization, equipment and discipline of the militia shall conform, as nearly as practicable, to the regulations for the government of the armies of the United States.

Sec. 3. The Governor shall appoint all general, field and staff officers, and commission them. Each company shall elect its own officers, who shall be commissioned by the Governor; but if any company 110 shall fail to elect such officers within the time prescribed by law, they may be appointed by the Governor.

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall provide for the safe-keeping of the public arms, military records, relics and banners of the State.

Sec. 5. No person having conscientious scruples against bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty in time of peace: Provided, such person shall pay an equivalent for such exemption.

ARTICLE XVIII.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Section 1. The General Assembly shall pass liberal homestead and exemption laws.

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall have no power to authorize lotteries or gift enterprises for any purpose, and shall pass laws to prohibit the sale of lottery or gift enterprise tickets in this State.

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass such laws as may be necessary and proper to decide differences by arbitrators, to be appointed by mutual agreement of the parties to any controversy, who may choose that mode of adjustment. The powers and duties of such arbitrators shall be as prescribed by law.

Sec. 4. The term felony, wherever it may occur in this Constitution, or the laws of the State, shall be construed to mean any criminal offense punishable by death or imprisonment in the penitentiary, and none other.

Sec. 5. The General Assembly shall prohibit by law the importation into this State, for the purpose of sale, of any spurious, poisonous, or drugged spirituous liquors, or spirituous liquors adulterated with any poisonous or deleterious substance, mixture or compound; and shall prohibit the compounding or manufacture within this State, except for chemical or mechanical purposes, of any of said liquors, whether they be denominated spirituous, vinous, malt or otherwise; and shall also prohibit the sale of any such liquors to be used as a beverage, and any violation of either of said prohibitions shall be punished by fine and imprisonment. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the condemnation and destruction of all spurious, poisonous, or drugged liquors herein prohibited.

Sec. 6. The General Assembly shall enact laws in order to prevent the destruction of, and to keep in good preservation, the forests upon the lands of the State, or upon lands of the public domain, the control of which shall be conferred by Congress upon the State.

Sec. 7. The General Assembly may provide that the increase in the value of private lands, caused by the planting of hedges, orchards, 111 and forests thereon, shall not, for a limited time, to be fixed by law, be taken into account in assessing such lands for taxation.

Sec. 8. The General Assembly shall provide for the publication of the laws passed at each session thereof; and, until the year 1900, they shall cause to be published in Spanish and German, a sufficient number of copies of said laws to supply that portion of the inhabitants of the State who speak those languages, and who may be unable to read and understand the English language.

ARTICLE XIX.

FUTURE AMENDMENTS.

Section 1. The General Assembly may, at any time, by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house, recommend to the electors of the State, to vote at the next general election, for or against a Convention to revise, alter and amend this Constitution; and if a majority of those voting on the question shall declare in favor of such Convention, the General Assembly shall, at its next session, provide for the calling thereof. The number of members of the Convention shall be twice that of the Senate, and they shall 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 necessary expenses of the Convention. Before proceeding the members shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Colorado, and to faithfully discharge their duties as members of the Convention. The qualifications of members shall be the same as 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 revisions, alterations or amendments to the Constitution as may 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, alteration or amendment shall take effect.

Sec. 2. Any amendment or 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 House, such proposed amendments, together with the ayes and 112 noes of each House thereon, shall be entered in full on their respective journals; and the Secretary of State shall cause the said amendment or amendments to be published in full in at least one newspaper in each county (if such there be), for three months previous to the next general election for members to the General Assembly; and at said election the said amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the State for their approval or rejection, and such as are approved by a majority of those voting thereon, shall become 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.

SCHEDULE.

That no inconvenience may arise by reason of the change in the form of government, it is hereby ordained and declared:

Section 1. That all laws in force at the adoption of this Constitution shall, so far as not inconsistent therewith, remain of the same force as if this Constitution had not been adopted until they expire by their own limitation, or are altered or repealed by the General Assembly; and all rights, actions, prosecutions, claims and contracts of the Territory of Colorado, counties, individuals or bodies corporate (not inconsistent therewith), shall continue as if the form of government had not been changed and this Constitution adopted.

Sec. 2. That all recognizances, obligations and all other instruments entered into or executed before the admission of the State, to the Territory of Colorado, or to any county, school district, or other municipality therein, or any officer thereof, and all fines, taxes, penalties, and forfeitures due or owing to the Territory of Colorado, or any such county, school district or municipality, or officer, and all writs, prosecutions, actions and causes of action, except as herein otherwise provided, shall continue and remain unaffected by the change of the form of government. All indictments which shall have been found, or may hereafter be found, and all informations which shall have been filed, or may hereafter be filed, for any crime or offense committed before this Constitution takes effect, may be proceeded upon as if no change had taken place, except as otherwise provided in the Constitution.

Sec. 3. That all property, real and personal, and all moneys, credits, claims, and choses in action, belonging to the Territory of 113 Colorado, at the adoption of this Constitution, shall be vested in and become the property of the State of Colorado.

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall pass all necessary laws to carry into effect the provisions of the Constitution.

Sec. 5. Whenever any two of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State, elected or appointed under the provisions of this Constitution, shall have qualified in their office the causes theretofore pending in the Supreme Court of the Territory, and the papers, records and proceedings of said court, and the seal and other property pertaining thereto, shall pass into the jurisdiction and possession of the Supreme Court of the State; and, until so superceded, the Supreme Court of the Territory, and the Judges thereof, shall continue with like powers and jurisdiction as if this Constitution had not been adopted. Whenever the Judge of the District Court of any district, elected or appointed under the provisions of this Constitution, shall have qualified in his office, the several causes theretofore pending in the District Court of the Territory, within any county in such district, and the records, papers, and proceedings of said District Court, and the seal and other property pertaining thereto, shall pass into the jurisdiction and possession of the District Court of the State for such county, and until the district courts of the Territory shall be superceded in manner aforesaid, the said district courts and the Judges thereof shall continue with the same jurisdiction and powers to be exercised in the same judicial districts respectively as heretofore constituted under the laws of the Territory.

Sec. 6. The terms of office of the several Judges of the Supreme and District Courts and the District Attorneys of the several judicial districts first elected under this Constitution, shall commence from the day of filing their respective oaths of office in the office of the Secretary of State.

Sec. 7. Until otherwise provided by law, the seals now in use in the Supreme and District Courts of this Territory are hereby declared to be the seals of the Supreme and District Courts respectively of the State.

Sec. 8. Whenever this Constitution shall go into effect, the books, records, papers and proceedings of the Probate Court in each county, and all causes and matters of administration pending therein, shall pass into the jurisdiction and possession of the County Court of the same county, and the said County Court shall proceed to final decree or judgment, order or other determination, in the said several matters and causes as the said Probate Court might have done if this Constitution had not been adopted. And until the election of the County 114 Judges provided for in this Constitution, the Probate Judges shall act as Judges of the County Courts within their respective counties, and the seal of the Probate Court in each county shall be the seal of the County Court therein until the said court shall have procured a proper seal.

Sec. 9. The terms “Probate Court” or “Probate Judge,” whenever occurring in the statutes of Colorado Territory, shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, be held to apply to the County Court or County Judge; and all laws specially applicable to the Probate Court in any county, shall be construed to apply to and be in force as to the County Court in the same county, until repealed.

Sec. 10. All county and precinct officers who may be in office at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall hold their respective offices for the full time for which they may have been elected, and until such time as their successors may be elected and qualified, in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, and the official bonds of all such officers shall continue in full force and effect as though this Constitution had not been adopted.

Sec. 11. All county offices that may become vacant during the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, by the expiration of the term of the persons elected to said offices, shall be filled at the general election on the first Tuesday in October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, and, except County Commissioners, the persons so elected shall hold their respective offices for the term of one year.

Sec. 12. The provisions of this Constitution shall be in force from the day on which the President of the United States shall issue his proclamation declaring the State of Colorado admitted into the Union; and the Governor, Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, and Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Territory of Colorado shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices after the admission of the State into the Union, until the qualification of the officers elected or appointed under the State government; and said officers, for the time they may serve, shall receive the same compensation as the State officers shall by law be paid for like services.

Sec. 13. In case of a contest of election between candidates, at the first general election under this Constitution, for Judges of the Supreme, District, or County Courts, or District Attorneys, the evidence shall be taken in the manner prescribed by Territorial law; and the testimony so taken shall be certified to the Secretary of State, and said officer, together with the Governor and Attorney General, shall 115 review the testimony and determine who is entitled to the certificate of election.

Sec. 14. The votes at the first general election under this Constitution for the several offices provided for in this Constitution who are to be elected at the first election, shall be canvassed in the manner prescribed by the Territorial law for canvassing votes for like officers. The votes cast for the Judges of the Supreme and District Courts and District Attorneys shall be canvassed by the county canvassing board in the manner prescribed by the Territorial law for canvassing the votes for members of the General Assembly; and the County Clerk shall transmit the abstract of votes to the Secretary of the Territory, acting as Secretary of State, under the same regulations as are prescribed by law for sending the abstracts of votes for Territorial officers; and the aforesaid acting Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, or any two of them, in the presence of the Governor, shall proceed to canvass the votes, under the regulations of sections thirty-five and thirty-six of chapter twenty-eight of the Revised Statutes of Colorado Territory.

Sec. 15. Senators and members of the House of Representatives shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the several senatorial and representative districts as established in this Constitution, until such districts shall be changed by law, and thereafter by the qualified electors of the several districts as the same shall be established by law.

Sec. 16. The votes cast for Representatives in Congress at the first election held under this Constitution, shall be canvassed, and the result determined in the manner provided by the laws of the Territory for the canvass of votes for Delegate in Congress.

Sec. 17. The provision of the Constitution that no bill, except the general appropriation bill, introduced in either House after the first twenty-five days of the session shall become a law, shall not apply to the first session of the General Assembly; but no bill, introduced in either House at the first session of the General Assembly after the first fifty days thereof, shall become a law.

Sec. 18. A copy of the abstracts of the votes cast at the first general election held under this Constitution, shall, by the County Clerks of the several counties, be returned to the Secretary of the Territory immediately after the canvass of said votes in their several counties; and the Secretary, Auditor, and Treasurer of the Territory, or any two of them, shall, on the twenty-fifth day after the election, meet at the seat of government and proceed to canvass the votes cast 116 for members of the General Assembly, and determine the result thereof.

Sec. 19. The General Assembly shall, at their first session, immediately after the organization of the two Houses, and after the canvass of the votes for the officers of the Executive Department, and before proceeding to other business, provide, by act or joint resolution, for the appointment, by said General Assembly, of electors in the electoral college; and such joint resolution, or the bill for such enactment, may be passed without being printed or referred to any committee, or read on more than one day in either House, and shall take effect immediately after the concurrence of the two Houses therein, and the approval of the Governor thereto shall not be necessary.

Sec. 20. The General Assembly shall provide that after the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, the electors of the electoral college shall be chosen by direct vote of the people.

Sec. 21. The General Assembly shall have power, at their first session, to provide for the payment of the expenses of this Convention, if any there be then remaining unpaid.

Sec. 22. All recognizances, bail bonds, official bonds, and other obligations or undertakings which have been, or at any time before the admission of the State, shall be made or entered into and expressed to be payable to the people of the Territory of Colorado, shall continue in full force, notwithstanding the change in the form of government; and any breach thereof, whenever occurring, may, after the admission of the State, be prosecuted in the name of the people of the State.

Done in Convention, at the City of Denver, Colorado, this fourteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundredth.

In Witness Whereof, We have hereunto subscribed our names.

J. C. WILSON, President.

Attest:

W. W. Coulson, Secretary.
Herbert Stanley, 1st Assistant Secretary.
H. A. Terpenning, 2d Assistant Secretary.

ORDINANCES.

In conformity with the requirements of an Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled “An Act to enable the people of Colorado to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission of said State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States,” approved March 3, A. D. 1875, on behalf and by the authority of the people of the Territory of Colorado, this Convention assembled in pursuance of said Enabling Act, at the city of Denver, the capital of said Territory, on the twentieth day of December, A. D. 1875, does ordain and declare:

First—That an election shall be held throughout the Territory of Colorado, on the first day of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, for ratification or rejection of the Constitution framed and adopted by the Convention.

Second—At said election the Constitution framed and adopted by this Convention, shall be submitted to the people of the Territory for their ratification or rejection, and all persons who are then qualified electors under the laws of the Territory, shall be qualified to vote upon the ratification or rejection thereof.

Third—Said election shall be held at the several places in the several wards and precincts throughout the Territory, appointed for the holding of elections under the laws of the Territory, and shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the laws of said Territory regulating elections. The judges of elections, appointed under the laws of the Territory, in each of said wards and precincts, shall act as the 118 judges of said election, and vacancies in the board of judges of any ward or precinct shall be filled, and clerks of election shall be appointed, in the manner prescribed by said laws: Provided, That no law requiring a registration of voters shall apply to said election, and any qualified elector may at said election vote at any ward or precinct in the Territory. Whenever any person shall present himself to vote at said election, and either of the judges shall suspect that such person is not a qualified elector of the Territory, or if his vote shall be challenged by any elector who has previously voted at the said election, then before the ballot of such person shall be received, he shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: “You do solemnly swear (or affirm) that you are a resident of —— county, in the Territory of Colorado; that you have resided in this Territory six months immediately preceding this election; that you have, to the best of your knowledge and belief, attained the age of twenty-one years, and have not voted at this election.”

Fourth—Each elector voting at said election shall deposit in the ballot-box a ticket, whereon shall be printed or written the words “For the Constitution,” or the words, “Against the Constitution,” or other equivalent words.

Fifth—The acting Governor of the Territory shall, within thirty days after the adjournment of this Convention, issue his proclamation for said election, to be held in conformity with the provisions of this ordinance; and the Secretary of the Territory shall, on or before the fifteenth day of May, A. D. 1876, make out and transmit to the sheriff of each county a notice in writing of said election, together with a copy of this ordinance.

Sixth—The votes cast at said election for the adoption or rejection of the Constitution, shall be canvassed in the manner prescribed by the laws of the Territory of Colorado for canvassing the votes at general elections; and the returns of said election shall be made to the acting Governor of the Territory, who, with the Chief Justice and the United States Attorney of said Territory, or any two of them, shall canvass the same, and if a majority of the legal votes cast shall be for the Constitution, the acting Governor shall certify the same to the President of the United States, together with a copy of said Constitution and the Ordinances adopted by this Convention.

In conformity with the requirements of an Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled “An Act to enable the People of Colorado to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission 119 of said State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States,” approved March 3d, A. D. 1875, on behalf and by the authority of the People of the Territory of Colorado, this Convention, assembled in pursuance of said Enabling Act, at the city of Denver, the capital of said Territory, on the 20th day of December, A. D. 1875, does ordain and declare:

First—That perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and no inhabitant of said State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship.

Second—That the people inhabiting the Territory of Colorado, by their representatives in said Convention assembled, do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within said Territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposal of the United States; that the lands belonging to citizens of the United States residing without said State, shall never be taxed higher than the lands belonging to residents thereof; and that no taxes shall be imposed by the State on lands or property therein belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by, the United States.

Third—That this Ordinance shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of the State of Colorado.

Be it Remembered, That in the Convention of the Representatives of the People of the Territory of Colorado, chosen in pursuance of the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled “An Act to enable the People of Colorado to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission of the said State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States,” approved March 3d, A. D. 1875, and assembled at the seat of government of said Territory, in pursuance of said Act, on the twentieth day of December, A. D. 1875, after the organization of said Convention, and before proceeding to other business, it was, on the 22d day of December, A. D. 1875.

Resolved—That in pursuance of the Enabling Act, and in behalf of the People of Colorado, we in convention assembled, do adopt the Constitution of the United States.

The constitution was submitted to the people and adopted July 1st, 1876, by a large majority. The votes returned stood 15,443 for, and 4,039 against the constitution. This constitution is an admirable production, and reflects great credit on those who framed it. Though not perfect, it contains the excellencies of all the State constitutions so far promulgated, and largely conforms in spirit to the liberality 120 and intelligence of the people for whom it was prepared. President Grant, empowered by Congress, on July 4th, 1876, just one century since the declaration of independence, admitted the new State into the Union by proclamation. Hence Colorado’s title—“The Centennial State.” (The honor of first applying this title to Colorado is due to Capt. R. W. Woodbury, editor and proprietor of the Denver Times.)

THE PROCLAMATION OF THE PRESIDENT ADMITTING THE STATE OF COLORADO INTO THE UNION.

Whereas, The Congress of the United States did, by an act approved on the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, authorize the inhabitants of the Territory of Colorado to form for themselves, out of said Territory, a State Government, with the name of the State of Colorado, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original states upon certain conditions in said act specified; and,

Whereas, It was provided by said Act of Congress that the Convention elected by the people of said Territory to frame a State Constitution, should, when assembled for that purpose, and after organization, declare on behalf of the people that they adopt the Constitution of the United States, and should also provide by an ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of said State, that perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and that no inhabitant of said State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship, and that the people inhabiting said Territory do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within said Territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States, and that lands belonging to citizens of the United States residing without the said State, shall never be taxed higher than lands belonging to residents thereof, and that no taxes shall be imposed by the State on lands or property therein belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by, the United States; and,

Whereas, It was further provided by said Act that the Constitution thus formed for the people of the Territory of Colorado should, by an ordinance of the Convention forming the same, be submitted to the people of said Territory for ratification or rejection at an election to be held in the month of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, at which election the lawful voters of said new State should vote directly for or against the proposed Constitution, and the returns of said election should be made to the acting Governor of the Territory, who, 121 with the Chief Justice and United States attorney of said Territory, or any two of them, should canvass the same, and if a majority of legal votes should be cast for said Constitution in said proposed State, the said acting Governor should certify the same to the President of the United States, together with a copy of said Constitution and Ordinances; whereupon it should be the duty of the President of the United States to issue his proclamation declaring the State admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states without any further action whatever on the part of Congress; and

Whereas, It has been certified to me by the acting Governor of said Territory of Colorado, that within the time prescribed by said Act of Congress a Constitution for said proposed State has been adopted, and the same ratified by a majority of the legal voters of said proposed new State, in accordance with the conditions prescribed by said Act of Congress; and

Whereas, A duly authenticated copy of said Constitution, and of the declaration and ordinances required by said Act of Congress has been received by me:

Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States of America, do, in accordance with the provisions of the Act of Congress aforesaid, declare and proclaim the fact that the fundamental conditions imposed by Congress on the State of Colorado, to entitle that State to admission to the Union have been ratified and accepted, and that the admission of said State into the Union is now complete.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and have caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this first day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and first.

U. S. GRANT.

By the President:
Hamilton Fish,
Secretary of State.

In the spring of this year the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad was completed to Pueblo.

The Republican State Convention met at Pueblo August 23d, and the Democratic State Convention at Manitou, August 29th. Full state tickets were nominated by each convention. Both parties entered upon the campaign not only sanguine, but confident of success. Up to the day of election the most strenuous efforts were put forth to 122 insure victory. On the third day of October, as directed by the Constitution, the election was held. The vote polled was nearly 30,000. The entire Republican state ticket for the executive and judicial departments was elected. John L. Routt was chosen Governor; Lafayette Head, Lieutenant-Governor; William M. Clark, Secretary of State; D. C. Crawford, Auditor; George C. Corning, Treasurer; A. J. Sampson, Attorney General; Joseph C. Shattuck, Superintendent Public Instruction. The Legislature, in both House and Senate, had a Republican majority. In the Senate, nineteen Republicans and seven Democrats; in the House, thirty-one Republicans and eighteen Democrats. James B. Belford was elected Representative for the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses. The Territorial Secretary had ordered an election for representative for the Forty-fourth Congress to be held October 3d, and afterwards an election for the Forty-fifth Congress to be held November 7th. On the third of October the people voted for a representative for both Congresses. The State Canvassing Board received and counted the returns. The Secretary recalled his order for an election November 7th, but an election was held, and Thomas M. Patterson received almost the entire vote. This vote the Canvassing Board refused to count. The next Congress will decide the contest.

At noon on November 1st the General Assembly convened. On November 3d the executive officers were duly inaugurated. Judge Brazee administered the oaths of office. The Governor then delivered his inaugural message to the General Assembly. This message of the first governor of the State of Colorado is a sensible and well-written document. Its statements are accurate and clear, and its suggestions thoroughly practical. He thus addresses the General Assembly: “The people, by their choice, have signified their faith in your wisdom, integrity, and patriotism, and I feel assured that their confidence will not have been misplaced. Upon you, Senators and Representatives, rests the responsibility of making our laws, and I trust that in your legislation you will have a single eye to the promotion of the general welfare. In this object it will be my greatest pleasure and chief aim to co-operate.” In this message it is stated that the present export of gold and silver bullion and ores amounts to nearly $8,000,000 annually, with a prospect of an increase to $10,000,000 in the near future. The total value of real and personal property in Colorado, in 1876, is estimated to be about $100,000,000. Up to 1877 the bullion deposited in the Denver mint amounted to almost $70,000,000 in value. The population of Colorado in 1870 was about 40,000, in 1876, 135,000. In the early part of the session the General Assembly chose two Senators—Jerome 123 B. Chaffee and Henry M. Teller; and three Presidential Electors—Herman Beckurts, W. L. Hadley, and Otto Mears. After a protracted session, the General Assembly adjourned sine die, March 20, 1877.

Colorado, on account of its altitude, is quite near that great ocean of positive electricity which envelops the earth about a mile from its surface. It is one of the great electrodes of the globe. All that ascend her high peaks are charged with this subtle element. To this, in a measure, is to be attributed that peculiar bracing and life-inspiring atmosphere for which Colorado is renowned. This atmosphere is dry, pure and clear, and nearly always pervaded with sunshine. The climate therefore possesses great restorative properties, and cannot fail to be a prominent resort for invalids. But besides this, in magnificent and varied scenery Colorado is not excelled by any other land, and in rich resources is unequalled. In Colorado large sums have been expended in imposing school structures, and teachers are liberally remunerated. A spirit of religious toleration that is truly gratifying prevails throughout the State. All creeds are represented, and, in general, well supported. Towns spring into existence and grow with magic speed; mines are developed with much energy; farms show thrift and prosperity; new railroads are projected; the lines of those already built are extending; manufactures increase, though slow in their establishment; and, notwithstanding an occasional exodus, the population steadily advances. 124

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.

ARTICLE I.

SECTION I.

1. All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

SECTION II.

1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year, by the people of the several States; and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature.

2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three; Massachusetts, 125 eight; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, one; Connecticut, five; New York, six; New Jersey, four; Pennsylvania, eight; Delaware, one; Maryland, six; Virginia, ten; North Carolina, five; South Carolina, five; and Georgia, three.

4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

5. The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

SECTION III.

1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years, and each Senator shall have one vote.

2. Immediately after they shall be assembled, in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year; of the second class, at the expiration of the fourth year; and of the third class, at the expiration of the sixth year; so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen, by resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any State, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.

3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate; but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.

5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States.

6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

7. Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States; but the party 126 convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.

SECTION IV.

1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State, by the legislature thereof, but the Congress may at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

SECTION V.

1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.

2. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and with a concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their judgment, require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.

4. Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.

SECTION VI.

1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person 127 holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.

SECTION VII.

1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.

2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections, at large, on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays; and the names of persons voting for and against the bill, shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law.

3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

SECTION VIII.

The Congress shall have power,

1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises; to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States:

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States:

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes:

4. To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States: 128

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures:

6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States:

7. To establish post offices and post roads:

8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries:

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations:

10. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water:

11. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years:

12. To provide and maintain a navy:

13. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces:

14. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions:

15. To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the appointment of the officers and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress:

16. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased, by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards and other needful buildings: and

17. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

SECTION IX.

1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 129 eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for such person.

2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.

3. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.

4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken.

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.

6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.

7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of Congress, accept any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

SECTION X.

1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation; grant letters of marque or reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.

2. No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

ARTICLE II.

SECTION I.

1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four 130 years, and together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows:

2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

3. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose, by ballot, one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall, in like manner, choose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors, shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them, by ballot, the Vice-President.

4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States.

5. No person, except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of 131 the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the Congress, may, by law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

7. The president shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased or diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive, within that period, any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.

8. Before he enters on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:

9. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States.”

SECTION II.

1. The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the actual service of the United States. He may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. But the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, which shall expire at the end of their next session.

SECTION III.

1. He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such 132 measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper. He shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

SECTION IV.

1. The President and Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

ARTICLE III.

SECTION I.

1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish.

2. The Judges, both of the Supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior; and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

SECTION II.

1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity, arising under this constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more States; between a State and citizens of another State; between citizens of different States; between citizens of the same State, claiming lands under grants of different States, and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects.

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations, as the Congress shall make.

3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by a jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crime shall have been committed; but when not committed within any 133 State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

SECTION III.

1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies; giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.

ARTICLE IV.

SECTION I.

1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

SECTION II.

1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.

2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.

3. No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.

SECTION III.

1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress.

2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this constitution shall 134 be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

SECTION IV.

1. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.

ARTICLE V.

1. The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution; or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress: Provided, That no amendment, which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

ARTICLE VI.

1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States, under this constitution, as under the confederation.

2. This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby; anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States shall be bound, by oath or affirmation, to support this constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

ARTICLE VII.

1. The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be 135 sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the States so ratifying the same.

Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth.

In Witness Whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

Geo. Washington, President, and Deputy from Virginia.

New Hampshire:
John Langdon,
Nicholas Gilman.
Connecticut:
Wm. Samuel Johnson,
Roger Sherman.
New York:
Alexander Hamilton.
New Jersey:
William Livingston,
David Brearley,
William Patterson,
Jonathan Dayton.
Pennsylvania:
Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Mifflin,
Robert Morris,
George Clymer,
Thomas Fitzsimons,
Jared Ingersoll,
James Wilson,
Gouverneur Morris.
Delaware:
Geo. Reed,
Gunning Bedford, Jr.
Massachusetts:
Nathaniel Gorham,
Rufus King,
John Dickinson,
Richard Basset,
Jacob Broom.
Maryland:
James McHenry,
Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer,
Daniel Carroll.
Virginia:
John Blair,
James Madison, Jr.
North Carolina:
William Blount,
Richard Dobbs Spaight,
Hugh Williamson.
South Carolina:
John Rutledge,
C. Cotesworth Pinckney,
Charles Pinckney,
Pierce Butler.
Georgia:
William Few,
Abraham Baldwin.

Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.

136

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I.

1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

ARTICLE II.

1. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

ARTICLE III.

1. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE IV.

1. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

ARTICLE V.

1. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property 137 without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

ARTICLE VI.

1. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

ARTICLE VII.

1. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

ARTICLE VIII.

1. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

ARTICLE IX.

1. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

ARTICLE X.

1. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

ARTICLE XI.

1. The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State.

ARTICLE XII.

1. The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State as themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President; and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists 138 they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other Constitutional disability of the President.

2. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President, shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

ARTICLE XIII.

1. Neither slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

ARTICLE XIV.

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or 139 property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of Representatives therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave, but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

5. That Congress have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

ARTICLE XV.

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 140-

MANUAL OF PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE.

Note.—The rules and practices peculiar to the Senate are printed between brackets [ ]. Those of Parliament are not so distinguished.

IMPORTANCE OF RULES.

SECTION I.

IMPORTANCE OF ADHERING TO RULES.

Mr. Onslow, the ablest among the Speakers of the House of Commons, used to say, “It was a maxim he had often heard when he was a young man, from old and experienced Members, that nothing tended more to throw power into the hands of the administration, and those who acted with the majority of the House of Commons, than a neglect of, or departure from, the rules of proceeding: that these forms, as instituted by our ancestors, operated as a check and control on the actions of the majority, and that they were, in many instances, a shelter and protection to the minority, against the attempts of power.” So far the maxim is certainly true, and it is founded in good sense, that as it is always in the power of the majority, by their numbers, to stop any improper measures proposed on the part of their opponents, the only weapons by which the minority can defend themselves against similar attempts from those in power, are the forms and rules of proceeding which have been adopted as they were found necessary, from time to time, and are become the law of the House; by a strict adherence to which, the weaker party can only be protected from those irregularities and abuses which these forms were intended to check, and which the wantonness of power is but too often apt to suggest to large and successful majorities. 2 Hats., 171, 172.

And whether these forms be in all cases the most rational or not, is really not of so great importance. It is much more material that there should be a rule to go by, than what that rule is; that there may be a uniformity of proceeding in business, not subject to the caprice 141 of the Speaker, or captiousness of the members. It is very material that order, decency, and regularity, be preserved in a dignified public body. 2 Hats., 149.

SECTION II.

LEGISLATIVE.

[All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Constitution of the United States, Art. 1, Sec. 1.]

[The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. Constitution of the United States, Art. 1, Sec. 6.]

[For the powers of Congress, see the following Articles and Sections of the Constitution of the United States: I., 4, 7, 8, 9; II., 1, 2; III., 3; IV., 1, 3, 5, and all the amendments.]

SECTION III.

PRIVILEGE.

The privileges of Members of Parliament, from small and obscure beginnings, have been advancing for centuries with a firm and never yielding pace. Claims seem to have been brought forward from time to time, and repeated, till some example of their admission enabled them to build law on that example. We can only, therefore, state the points of progression at which they now are. It is now acknowledged: 1st. That they are at all times exempted from question elsewhere for anything said in their own House; that during the time of privilege, 2d. Neither a Member himself, his1 wife, nor his servants, (familaries sui,) for any matter of their own, may be2 arrested on mesne process, in any civil suit: 3d. Nor be detained under execution, though levied before time of privilege: 4th. Nor impleaded, cited, or subpœnaed in any court: 5th. Nor summoned as a witness or juror: 6th. Nor may their lands or goods be distrained: 7th. Nor their persons assaulted, or characters traduced. And the period of time covered by privilege, before and after the session, with the practice of short prorogations under the connivance of the Crown, amounts in fact to a perpetual protection against the course of justice. In one instance, indeed, it has been relaxed by the 10 G. 3, c. 50, which permits judiciary proceedings to go on against them. That these privileges must be continually progressive, seems to result from their rejecting all definition of them; the doctrine being that “their dignity and independence are preserved by keeping their privileges indefinite; and that ‘the 142 maxims upon which they proceed, together with the method of proceeding, rest entirely in their own breast, and are not defined and ascertained by any particular stated laws.’” 1 Blackst., 163, 164.

[It was probably from this view of the encroaching character of privilege that the framers of our Constitution, in their care to provide that the law shall bind equally on all, and especially that those who make them shall not exempt themselves from their operation, have only privileged “Senators and Representatives” themselves from the single act of “arrest in all cases except treason, felony and breach of the peace, during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same, and from being questioned in any other place for any speech or debate in either House.” Const. U. S., Art. 1, Sec. 6. Under the general authority “to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers given them,” Const. U. S., Art. 2, Sec. 8, they may provide by law the details which may be necessary for giving full effect to the enjoyment of this privilege. No such law being as yet made, it seems to stand at present on the following ground: 1. The act of arrest is void, ab initio.3 2. The member arrested may be discharged on motion, 1 Bl. 166; 3 Stra., 990; or by habeas corpus under the Federal or State authority, as the case may be; or by a writ of privilege out of the Chancery, 2 Stra., 989, in those States which have adopted that part of the laws of England. Orders of the House of Commons, 1550, February 20. 3. The arrest being unlawful, is a trespass for which the officers and others concerned are liable to action and indictment in the ordinary courts of justice, as in other cases of unauthorized arrest. 4. The court before which the process is returnable is bound to act as in other cases of unauthorized proceeding, and liable also, as in other similar cases, to have their proceedings stayed or corrected by the superior courts.]

[The time necessary for going to, and returning from, Congress, not being defined, it will, of course, be judged of in every particular case by those who will have to decide the case.] While privilege was understood in England to extend, as it does here, only to exemption from arrest, eundo, moranda, et redeundo, the House of Commons themselves decided that “a convenient time was to be understood.” (1580) 1 Hats., 99, 100. Nor is the law so strict in point of time as to require the party to set out immediately on his return, but allows him time to settle his private affairs, and to prepare for his journey; and does not even scan his road very nicely, nor forfeit his protection 143 for a little deviation from that which is most direct; some necessity perhaps constraining him to it. 2 Stra., 986, 987.

This privilege from arrest, privileges of course against all process, the disobedience to which is punishable by an attachment of the person; as a subpœna ad respondendum, or, testificandum, or a summons on a jury; and with reason, because a member has superior duty to perform in another place. [When a representative is withdrawn from his seat by summons, the 40,000 people whom he represents lose their voice in debate and vote, as they do on his voluntary absence; when a senator is withdrawn by summons, his State loses half its voice in debate and vote, as it does on his voluntary absence. The enormous disparity of evil admits no comparison.]

[So far there will probably be no difference of opinion as to the privileges of the two Houses of Congress; but in the following cases it is otherwise. In December, 1795, the House of Representatives committed two persons of the name of Randall and Whitney, for attempting to corrupt the integrity of certain members, which they considered as a contempt and breach of the privileges of the House; and the facts being proved, Whitney was detained in confinement a fortnight, and Randall three weeks, and was reprimanded by the Speaker. In March, 1796, the House of Representatives voted a challenge given to a member of their House to be a breach of the privileges of the House; but satisfactory apologies and acknowledgments being made, no further proceeding was had. The editor of the Aurora having, in his paper of February 19, 1800, inserted some paragraphs defamatory of the Senate, and failed in his appearance, he was ordered to be committed. In debating the legality of this order, it was insisted, in support of it, that every man, by the law of nature, and every body of men, possesses the right of self-defence; that all public functionaries are essentially invested with the powers of self-preservation; that they have an inherent right to do all acts necessary to keep themselves in a condition to discharge the trusts confided to them; that whenever authorities are given, the means of carrying them into execution are given by necessary implication; that thus we see the British Parliament exercise the right of punishing contempts; all the State Legislatures exercise the same power, and every court does the same; that, if we have it not, we sit at the mercy of every intruder who may enter our doors or gallery, and, by noise and tumult, render proceeding in business impracticable; that if our tranquility is to be perpetually disturbed by newspaper defamation, it will not be possible to exercise our functions with the requisite coolness and deliberation; and that we must, therefore, have a power to punish these disturbers of our 144 peace and proceedings. To this it was answered, that the Parliament and courts of England have cognizance of contempts by the express provisions of their law; that the State Legislatures have equal authority, because their powers are plenary; they represent their constituents completely, and possess all their powers, except such as their Constitutions have expressly denied them; that the courts of the several States have the same powers by the laws of their States, and those of the Federal Government by the same State laws adopted in each State, by a law of Congress; that none of these bodies, therefore, derive those powers from natural or necessary right, but from express law; that Congress have no such natural or necessary power, nor any powers but such as are given them by the Constitution; that that has given them, directly, exemption from personal arrest, exemption from question elsewhere for what is said in their House, and power over their own members and proceedings; for these no further law is necessary, the Constitution being the law; that, moreover, by that article of the Constitution which authorizes them “to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in them,” they may provide by law for an undisturbed exercise of their functions, e. g., for the punishment of contempts, of affrays or tumult in their presence, &c.; but, till the law be made, it does not exist; and does not exist, from their own neglect; that in the mean time, however, they are not unprotected, the ordinary magistrates and courts of law being open and competent to punish all unjustifiable disturbances or defamations, and even their own sergeant, who may appoint deputies ad libitum to aid him, 3 Grey, 59, 147, 255, is equal to small disturbances; that in requiring a previous law, the Constitution had regard to the inviolability of the citizen, as well as of the member; as, should one House, in the regular form of a bill, aim at too broad privileges, it may be checked by the other, and both by the President; and also as, the law being promulgated, the citizen will know how to avoid offense. But if one branch may assume its own privileges without control; if it may do it on the spur of the occasion, conceal the law in its own breast, and after the fact committed, make its sentence both the law and the judgment on that fact; if the offense is to be kept undefined, and to be declared only ex re nata, and according to the passion of the moment, and there be no limitation either in the manner or measure of the punishment, the condition of the citizen will be perilous indeed. Which of these doctrines is to prevail time will decide. Where there is no fixed law, the judgment on any particular case, is the law of that single case only, and dies with it. When a new and even similar case arises, the judgment which 145 is to make, and at the same time apply, the law, is open to question and consideration, as are all new laws. Perhaps Congress, in the meantime, in their care for the safety of the citizen as well as that for their own protection, may declare by law what is necessary and proper to enable them to carry into execution the powers vested in them, and thereby hang up a rule for the inspection of all, which may direct the conduct of the citizen, and at the same time test the judgments they shall themselves pronounce in their own case.]

Privilege from arrest takes place by force of the election; and before a return be made a member elected may be named of a committee, and is to every extent a member, except that he cannot vote until he is sworn. Memor., 107, 108. D’Ewes, 642, col. 2; 643, col. 1. Pet. Miscel. Parl., 119. Lex. Parl. c. 23. 2 Hats., 22, 62.

Every man must, at his peril, take notice who are members of either House returned of record. Lex. Parl., 23; 4 Inst., 24.

On complaint of a breach of privilege, the party may either be summoned or sent for in custody of the sergeant. Grey, 88, 95.

The privilege of a member is the privilege of the House. If the member waive it without leave, it is a ground for punishing him, but cannot in effect waive the privilege of the House. 3 Grey, 140, 222.

For any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place. Const. U. S., I, 6,; S. P. protest of the Commons to James I., 1621; 2 Rapin, No. 54, pp. 211, 212. But this is restrained to things done in the House in a parliamentary course. 1 Rush., 663. For he is not to have privilege contra morem parliamentarum, to exceed the bounds and limits of his place and duty. Com. p.

If an offense be committed by a member of the House, of which the House has cognizance, it is an infringement of their right for any person or court to take notice of it, till the House has punished the offender, or referred him to a due course. Lex. Parl., 63.

Privilege is in the power of the House, and is a restraint to proceedings of inferior courts, but not of the House itself. 2 Nalson, 450; 2 Grey, 399. For whatever is spoken in the House is subject to the censure of the House; and offenses of this kind have been severely punished by calling the person to the bar to make submission, committing him to the tower, expelling the House, etc. Scob., 72; L. Parl., c. 22.

It is a breach of order for the Speaker to refuse to put a question which is in order. 2 Hats., 175-6; 5 Grey, 133.

And even in cases of treason, felony, and breach of the peace, to which privilege does not extend as to substance, yet in Parliament a 146 member is privileged as to the mode of proceeding. The case is first to be laid before the House, that it may judge of the fact and of the grounds of the accusation, and how far forth the manner of the trial may concern their privilege; otherwise it would be in the power of other branches of the government, and even of every private man, under pretenses of treason, etc., to take any man from his service in the House, and so as many, one after another, as would make the House what he pleaseth. Dec. of the Com. on the King’s declaring Sir John Hotham a traitor. 4 Rushw., 586. So, when a member stood indicted for felony, it was adjudged that he ought to remain of the House till conviction; for it may be any man’s case, who is guiltless, to be accused and indicted of felony, or the like crime. 23 El., 1580; D’Ewes, 283, col. 1; Lex. Parl., 133.

When it is found necessary for the public service to put a member under arrest, or when, on any public inquiry, matter comes out which may lead to affect the person of a member, it is the practice immediately to acquaint the House, that they may know the reasons for such a proceeding, and take such steps as they think proper. 2 Hats., 259. Of which see many examples. Ib., 256, 257, 258. But the communication is subsequent to the arrest. 1 Blackst., 167.

It is highly expedient, says Hatsel, for the due preservation of the privileges of the separate branches of the Legislature, that neither should encroach on the other, or interfere in any matter depending before them, so as to preclude, or even influence that freedom of debate, which is essential to a free council. They are therefore not to take notice of any bills or other matters depending, or of votes that have been given, or of speeches which have been held, by the members of either of the other branches of the Legislature, until the same have been communicated to them in the usual parliamentary manner. 2 Hats., 252. 4 Inst., 15. Seld. Jud., 53. Thus the king’s taking notice of the bill for suppressing soldiers, depending before the House; his proposing a provisional clause for a bill before it was presented to him by the two Houses; his expressing displeasure against some persons for matters moved in parliament during the debate and preparation of a bill, were breaches of privilege; 2 Nalson, 347; and in 1783, December 17, it was declared a breach of fundamental privileges, etc., to report any opinion or pretended opinion of the king on any bill or proceeding depending in either House of Parliament, with a view to influence the votes of the members. 2 Hats., 251, 6.

SECTION IV.

ELECTIONS.

[The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators 147 and representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. Const. I., 4.]

[Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members. Const. I., 5.]

SECTION V.

QUALIFICATIONS.

[The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.]

[Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the end of the second year; of the second class, at the expiration of the fourth year; and of the third class, at the expiration of the sixth year; so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen, by resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of the State, any Executive thereof may make temporary appointments, until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.]

[No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. Const. I., 3.]

[The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States; and the electors of each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.]

[No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.]

[Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers; which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for 148 every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one representative. Constitution of the United States, I., 2.]

The provisional apportionments of Representatives made in the Constitution in 1787, and afterwards by Congress, were as follows: