Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Domestic News
August 17, 1852
New York Daily Tribune
New York, New York County, New York
What is this article about?
The New Orleans True Delta reports the new Louisiana Constitution from the recent Baton Rouge convention, abstracting provisions on voter qualifications, legislature, judiciary, banking restrictions, dueling bans, public education, and submission to voters on the first Tuesday of November.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
New Constitution of Louisiana.
The New Orleans True Delta of the 5th inst. brings us this new instrument as perfected by the recent Constitutional Convention at Baton Rouge. We give an abstract of some of its provisions.
Art. 10, on the qualifications of voters, is as follows:
Art. 10. Every free white male who has attained the age of twenty-one years, and who has been a resident of the State twelve months next preceding the election, and the last six months thereof in the Parish in which he offers to vote, and who shall be a citizen of the United States, shall have the right of voting. But no voter on removing from one Parish to another within the State, shall lose the right of voting in the former until he shall have acquired it in the latter. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest, during their attendance at, going to, or returning from elections.
Every elector so qualified is eligible to a seat in the General Assembly, but he must be a voter in the Representative or Senatorial District, from which he is chosen. Representation is to be based upon the total population of the Districts, thus admitting the principle of slave representation in its worst form. Representatives are to be chosen for two years; Senators for four. Every parish is to have at least one Representative, but no new parish is to be created with a territory less than 625 square miles, nor with a population less than the number entitling it to one Representative, which number is to be hereafter determined and fixed so that the number of members of the House shall not be more than a hundred nor less than seventy. The Senators are to be 32 in number. Subtracting the population of the Orleans District from the entire population of the State, the rest of the State is to be divided into districts, among which 27 Senators are to be divided, with a proviso that no district shall have more than five. The Senators are to be divided into two classes, so that half shall be renewed every two years.
Both Houses are to publish their proceedings weekly. Compensation to the members $4 per day. No session to be more than sixty days, and all action after that time to be null and void, with the exception of the first session under this Constitution. Appointments by the Governor to be confirmed by the Senate voting by yeas and nays. Regular ballottings for United States Senators to take place on the Monday following the meeting of the Legislature. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are to be chosen for four years. Candidates must be twenty-eight years of age, and have been residents in the State four years. The Governor to be ineligible for two successive terms. No member of Congress or person holding office under the United States shall be eligible. The Lieutenant-Governor to be President of the Senate, and having a casting vote. The Secretary of State, to hold office also four years, and the Treasurer of the State, holding office two years, are to be elected by the people.
Art. 63. The Supreme Court shall be composed of one Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum. The Chief Justice shall receive a salary of $6,000, and each of the Associates a salary of $5,500 annually, until otherwise provided by law. The Court shall appoint its own Clerks-the Judges shall be elected for the term of ten years.
Art. 64. The Chief Justice shall be elected by the qualified Electors of the State. The Legislature shall divide the State into four Districts, and the qualified Electors of each District shall elect one of the Associate Justices.
The Seat of Government shall be at Baton Rouge.
Art 108. The State shall not subscribe for the stock of, nor make a loan to, nor pledge its faith for the benefit of any corporation or joint stock company, created or established for banking purposes, nor for any other purpose than those described in the following article.
Art. 109. The Legislature shall have power to grant and to companies or associations of individuals formed for the exclusive purpose of making works of internal improvement, wholly or partially within the State, to the extent only of one-fifth of the capital of such companies, by subscriptions of stock, a loan of money, or public bonds; but any aid thus granted shall be paid to the company only in the same proportion as the remainder of the capital shall be actually paid in by the stockholders of the company : and in case of loan such adequate security shall be required as to the Legislature may seem proper.
No corporation nor individual association receiving the aid of the State as herein provided shall possess banking or discounting privileges.
Art. 110. No liability shall be contracted by the State as above mentioned, unless the same be authorized by some law for some single object or work to be distinctly specified therein, which shall be passed by a majority of the members elected to both Houses of the General Assembly; and the aggregate amount of debts and liabilities incurred under this and the preceding article shall never at any time exceed the sum of $8,000,000.
Art. 111. Whenever the Legislature shall contract a debt exceeding in amount the sum of $100,000, unless in case of war, to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, the law creating the debt shall provide adequate ways and means for the payment of the current interest, and of the principal, when the same shall become due.
And the said law shall be irrepealable until principal and interest are fully paid and discharged, or unless the repealing law contain some other adequate provision for the payment of the principal and interest of the debt.
Art. 118. Corporations with banking or discounting privileges may be either created by special acts, or formed under general laws; but the Legislature shall in both cases provide for the registry of all bills or notes issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require ample security for the redemption of the same in specie.
Art. 119. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any law sanctioning in any manner, directly or indirectly, the suspension of specie payments, by any person, association or corporation issuing bank notes of any description.
Art. 120. In case of insolvency of any bank or banking association, the bill holders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment, over all other creditors of such bank or association.
Art. 126. Any citizen of this State, who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, fight a duel with deadly weapons with a citizen of this State, or send or accept a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, either within the State or out of it, with a citizen of this State, or who shall act as second, or knowingly aid and assist in any manner, those thus offending, shall be deprived of holding any office of trust or profit, and of enjoying the right of suffrage under this Constitution; and the office of any State officer, member of the General Assembly, or of any other person holding office of profit or trust under this Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof, shall be ipso facto vacated by the fact of any such person committing the offense mentioned in this article; and the Legislature shall provide by law for the ascertaining and declaration of such forfeiture.
The State is to be divided into four districts, each of which is to choose one member of a Board of Public Works, to hold office for four years, excepting two of the first Board, to be designated by lot, whose term is to close at the end of two years.
A Superintendent of Public Instruction to be elected for a term of two years, and the General Assembly shall establish Public Schools throughout the State, and shall provide for their support by general taxation on property or otherwise; and all money so raised or provided, shall be distributed to each Parish in proportion to the number of free white children between such ages as shall be fixed by the General Assembly.
The Constitution is to be submitted to the people for adoption on the first Tuesday of November next.
The New Orleans True Delta of the 5th inst. brings us this new instrument as perfected by the recent Constitutional Convention at Baton Rouge. We give an abstract of some of its provisions.
Art. 10, on the qualifications of voters, is as follows:
Art. 10. Every free white male who has attained the age of twenty-one years, and who has been a resident of the State twelve months next preceding the election, and the last six months thereof in the Parish in which he offers to vote, and who shall be a citizen of the United States, shall have the right of voting. But no voter on removing from one Parish to another within the State, shall lose the right of voting in the former until he shall have acquired it in the latter. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest, during their attendance at, going to, or returning from elections.
Every elector so qualified is eligible to a seat in the General Assembly, but he must be a voter in the Representative or Senatorial District, from which he is chosen. Representation is to be based upon the total population of the Districts, thus admitting the principle of slave representation in its worst form. Representatives are to be chosen for two years; Senators for four. Every parish is to have at least one Representative, but no new parish is to be created with a territory less than 625 square miles, nor with a population less than the number entitling it to one Representative, which number is to be hereafter determined and fixed so that the number of members of the House shall not be more than a hundred nor less than seventy. The Senators are to be 32 in number. Subtracting the population of the Orleans District from the entire population of the State, the rest of the State is to be divided into districts, among which 27 Senators are to be divided, with a proviso that no district shall have more than five. The Senators are to be divided into two classes, so that half shall be renewed every two years.
Both Houses are to publish their proceedings weekly. Compensation to the members $4 per day. No session to be more than sixty days, and all action after that time to be null and void, with the exception of the first session under this Constitution. Appointments by the Governor to be confirmed by the Senate voting by yeas and nays. Regular ballottings for United States Senators to take place on the Monday following the meeting of the Legislature. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are to be chosen for four years. Candidates must be twenty-eight years of age, and have been residents in the State four years. The Governor to be ineligible for two successive terms. No member of Congress or person holding office under the United States shall be eligible. The Lieutenant-Governor to be President of the Senate, and having a casting vote. The Secretary of State, to hold office also four years, and the Treasurer of the State, holding office two years, are to be elected by the people.
Art. 63. The Supreme Court shall be composed of one Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum. The Chief Justice shall receive a salary of $6,000, and each of the Associates a salary of $5,500 annually, until otherwise provided by law. The Court shall appoint its own Clerks-the Judges shall be elected for the term of ten years.
Art. 64. The Chief Justice shall be elected by the qualified Electors of the State. The Legislature shall divide the State into four Districts, and the qualified Electors of each District shall elect one of the Associate Justices.
The Seat of Government shall be at Baton Rouge.
Art 108. The State shall not subscribe for the stock of, nor make a loan to, nor pledge its faith for the benefit of any corporation or joint stock company, created or established for banking purposes, nor for any other purpose than those described in the following article.
Art. 109. The Legislature shall have power to grant and to companies or associations of individuals formed for the exclusive purpose of making works of internal improvement, wholly or partially within the State, to the extent only of one-fifth of the capital of such companies, by subscriptions of stock, a loan of money, or public bonds; but any aid thus granted shall be paid to the company only in the same proportion as the remainder of the capital shall be actually paid in by the stockholders of the company : and in case of loan such adequate security shall be required as to the Legislature may seem proper.
No corporation nor individual association receiving the aid of the State as herein provided shall possess banking or discounting privileges.
Art. 110. No liability shall be contracted by the State as above mentioned, unless the same be authorized by some law for some single object or work to be distinctly specified therein, which shall be passed by a majority of the members elected to both Houses of the General Assembly; and the aggregate amount of debts and liabilities incurred under this and the preceding article shall never at any time exceed the sum of $8,000,000.
Art. 111. Whenever the Legislature shall contract a debt exceeding in amount the sum of $100,000, unless in case of war, to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, the law creating the debt shall provide adequate ways and means for the payment of the current interest, and of the principal, when the same shall become due.
And the said law shall be irrepealable until principal and interest are fully paid and discharged, or unless the repealing law contain some other adequate provision for the payment of the principal and interest of the debt.
Art. 118. Corporations with banking or discounting privileges may be either created by special acts, or formed under general laws; but the Legislature shall in both cases provide for the registry of all bills or notes issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require ample security for the redemption of the same in specie.
Art. 119. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any law sanctioning in any manner, directly or indirectly, the suspension of specie payments, by any person, association or corporation issuing bank notes of any description.
Art. 120. In case of insolvency of any bank or banking association, the bill holders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment, over all other creditors of such bank or association.
Art. 126. Any citizen of this State, who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, fight a duel with deadly weapons with a citizen of this State, or send or accept a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, either within the State or out of it, with a citizen of this State, or who shall act as second, or knowingly aid and assist in any manner, those thus offending, shall be deprived of holding any office of trust or profit, and of enjoying the right of suffrage under this Constitution; and the office of any State officer, member of the General Assembly, or of any other person holding office of profit or trust under this Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof, shall be ipso facto vacated by the fact of any such person committing the offense mentioned in this article; and the Legislature shall provide by law for the ascertaining and declaration of such forfeiture.
The State is to be divided into four districts, each of which is to choose one member of a Board of Public Works, to hold office for four years, excepting two of the first Board, to be designated by lot, whose term is to close at the end of two years.
A Superintendent of Public Instruction to be elected for a term of two years, and the General Assembly shall establish Public Schools throughout the State, and shall provide for their support by general taxation on property or otherwise; and all money so raised or provided, shall be distributed to each Parish in proportion to the number of free white children between such ages as shall be fixed by the General Assembly.
The Constitution is to be submitted to the people for adoption on the first Tuesday of November next.
What sub-type of article is it?
Politics
What keywords are associated?
Louisiana Constitution
Constitutional Convention
Baton Rouge
Voter Qualifications
Slave Representation
Supreme Court
Banking Restrictions
Public Education
Where did it happen?
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Event Date
5th Inst.; First Tuesday Of November Next
Outcome
new constitution provisions detailed; to be submitted to voters for adoption
Event Details
Abstract of provisions from the recent Constitutional Convention at Baton Rouge, covering voter qualifications, legislature structure, executive offices, judiciary, state debt limits, banking regulations, dueling prohibitions, public works board, public education, and seat of government at Baton Rouge.