may be called for at any time by either house of the legislature; and any member of the council may infert his opinion contrary to the refolution of the majority.

VI. Whenever the office of the governor and lieutenant-governor shall be vacant, by reason of death, absence, or otherwise, then the council, or the major part of them, shall during such vacancy have full power and authority to do, and execute, all and every such acts, matters and things, as the governor or the lieutenant-governor might or could, by virtue of this conftitution, do or execute, if they or either of them were personally present.

VII. And whereas the elections appointed to be made by this conititution, on the last Wednesday in May annually, by the two houses of the legislature, may not be compleated on that day, the faid elections may be adjourned from day to day until the same shall be compleated. And the order of elections shall be as follows: The vacancies in the senate, if any, shall first be filled up; the governor and lieutenant-governor shall then be elected, provided there should be no choice of them by the people; and afterwards the two Houses shall proceed to the election of the council.

CHAP. II. SECT. IV.

Secretary, Treasurer, Commissary, .

Art. I. THE fecretary, treasurer and receiver-general, and the commissary-general, notaries-public, and naval officers, shall be chosen annually, by joint ballot of the fenators and reprefentatives, in one room. And that the citizens of this commonwealth may be affured, from time to time, that the monies remaining in the public treasury, upon the fettlement and liquidation of the public accounts, are their property, no man shall be eligible as treasurer and receiver-general more than five years successively.

II. The records of the commonwealth shall be kept in the office of the secretary, who may appoint his deputies, for whose conduct he shall be accountable, and he shall attend the governor and council, the senate and house of representatives, in person, or by his deputies, as they shall respectively require.

CHAP.

۱

CHAPTER III.

JUDICIARY POWER.

Art. I. THE tenure that all commiffion officers shall by law have in their offices shall be expressed in their respective commiffions. All judicial officers, duly appointed, commiffioned and fworn, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, excepting such concerning whom there is different provision made in this constitution: provided, nevertheless, the governor, with confent of the council, may remove them upon the address of both houses of the legislature.

Il. Each branch of the legislature, as well as the governor and council, shall have authority to require the opinions of the justices of the fupreme judicial court, upon important questions of law, and upon folemn occafions.

III. In order that the people may not fuffer from the long continuance in place of any justice of the peace who shall fail of discharging the important duties of his office with ability or fidelity, all commiffions of justices of the peace shall expire and become void in the term of seven years from their respective dates; and upon the expiration of any commiffion, the same may, if necessary, be renewed, or another perfon appointed, as shall most conduce to the well-being of the commonwealth.

IV. The judges of probate of wills, and for granting letters of administration, shall hold their courts at fuch place or places, on fixed days, as the convenience of the people shall require. And the legislature shall, from time to time, hereafter appoint such times and places; until which appointments, the faid courts shall be holden at the times and places which the respective judges shall direct.

V. All causes of marriage, divorce and alimony, and all appeals from the judges of probate shall be heard and determined by the governor and council, until the legislature shall by law make other provifion.

CHAPTER IV.

DELEGATES to CONGRESS.

THE delegates of this commonwealth to the Congress of the United States shall, some time in the month of June annually,

be

be elected by the joint ballot of the senate and house of reprefentatives, assembled together in one room, to serve in Congress for one year, to commence on the first Monday in November then next ensuing. They shall have commiffions under the hand of the governor, and the great feal of the commonwealth; but may be recalled at any time within the year, and others chosen and commiffioned, in the same manner, in their stead.

CHAPTER V.

The University at Cambridge, and Encouragement of Literature,

Art. I. WHEREAS our wife and pious ancestors, fo early as the year one thousand fix hundred and thirty-fix, laid the foundation of Harvard College, in which university many persons of great eminence have, by the bleffing of God, been initiated in those arts and sciences which qualified them for public employments, both in church and state: And whereas the encouragement of arts and sciences, and all good literature, tends to the honour of God, the advantage of the Christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United States of America: -It is declared, that the President and Fellows of Harvard College, in their corporate capacity, and their fuccessors in that capacity, their officers and servants, shall have, hold, use, exercise and enjoy all the powers, authorities, rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and franchises, which they now have, or are entitled to have, hold, use, exercise and enjoy: And the fame are hereby ratified and confirmed unto them, the said prefident and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors, and to their officers and fervants, respectively, forever.

II. And whereas there have been at sundry times, by divers persons, gifts, grants, devises of houses, lands, tenements, goods, chattels, legacies and conveyances, heretofore made, either to Harvard College, in Cambridge, in New England, or to the president and fellows of Harvard College, or to the faid college, by some other description, under several charters successively: It is declared, that all the said gifts, grants, devises, legacies, and conveyances, are hereby forever confirmed unto the prefident

and

and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors in the capacity aforesaid, according to the true intent and meaning of the donor or donors, grantor or grantors, devisor or devisors.

III. And whereas, by an act of the general court of the colony of Maffachusetts-Bay, passed in the year one thousand fix hundred and forty-two, the governor and deputy-governor for the time being, and all the anagistrates of that jurisdiction, were, with the prefident, and a number of the clergy in the faid act described, constituted the overseers of Harvard College: And it being necessary, in this new conftitution of government, to afcertain who shall be deemed successors to the faid governor, deputy-governor, and magistrates: It is declared, that the governor, lieutenant-governor, council, and fenate of this commonwealth, are, and shall be deemed their successors; who, with the president of Harvard College for the time being, together with the minifters of the congregational churches in the towns of Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester, mentioned in the said act, shall be, and hereby are, vested with all the powers and authority belonging, or in any way appertaining, to the overseers of Harvard College; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the legiflature of this commonwealth from making such alterations in the government of the said university, as shall be conducive to its advantage, and the interest of the republic of letters, in as full a manner as might have been done by the legislature of the late province of the Maffachusetts-Bay.

1

CHAP. V. SECт. ІІ.

The Encouragement of Literature.

WISDOM and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education, in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them; efpecially the university at Cambridge, public schools, and grammar schools in the towns; to encourage private focieties and public'institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private, charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; fincerity, good humour, and all focial affections, and generous sentiments among the people.

CHAP

Oaths and Subscriptions; Incompatibility of and Exclusion from Of fices; Pecuniary Qualifications; Commissions; Writs; Confirmation of Laws; Habeas Corpus; The Enacting Style; Continuance of Officers; Provision for a future Revisal of the Constitu tion, &c.

Art. I. Any person chosen governor, or lieutenant-governor, councillor, fenator, or representative, and accepting the trust, shall, before he proceed to execute the duties of his place or office, make and subscribe the following declaration, viz.

"I, A. B. do declare, that I believe the Christian religion, and have a firm perfuafion of its truth ; and that I am seized and possessed, in my own right, of the property required by the constitution as one qualification for the office or place to which I am

elected."

And the governor, lieutenant-governor, and councillors, shall make and subscribe the faid declaration in the presence of the two houses of assembly; and the senators and reprefentatives fiuft elected under this constitution, before the prefident and five of the council of the former constitution, and forever afterwards before the governor and council for the time being.

And every perfon chosen to either of the places or offices aforesaid, as also any person appointed or commissioned to any judicial, executive, military, or other office under the government, shall, before he enters on the difcharge of the business of his place or office, take and subscribe the following declaration, and oaths or affirmations, viz.

" I, A. B. do truly and fincerely acknowledge, profefs, teftify and declare, that the commonwealth of Massachusetts is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign, and independent state; and I do swear, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the faid commonwealth, and that I will defend the fame against traitorous confpiracies and all hoftile attempts whatsoever: And that I do renounce and abjure all allegiance, fubjection, and obedience, to the king, queen, or government of Great Britain (as the cafe may be), and every other foreign power whatsoever : And that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurifdiction, fuperiority, pre-emi

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