SECOND AMENDMENT, 1826.*

That so much of the first section of the second article of the Constitution as prescribes the qualifications of voters, other than persons of color, be and the same is hereby abolished, and that the following be substituted in the place thereof:

Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been an inhabitant of this State one year next preceding any election, and for the last six months a resident of the county where he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote in the town or ward where he actually resides, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be elective by the people.

THIRD AMENDMENT, 1833.†

That the duties on the manufacture of salt, as established by the act of the fifteenth of April, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, and by the tenth section of the seventh article of the Constitution of this State, may, at any time hereafter, be reduced by an act of the Legislature of this State; but shall not, while the same is appropriated and pledged by the said section, be reduced below the sum of six cents upon each and every bushel; and the said duties shall remain inviolably appropriated and applied as is provided by the said tenth section. And that so much of the said tenth section of the seventh article of the Constitution of this State as is inconsistent with this amendment, be abrogated.

FOURTH AMENDMENT, 1833.‡

At the end of the tenth section of the fourth article of the said Constitution, add the following words: "Except in the city of New York, in which city the mayor shall be chosen annually by the electors thereof qualified to vote for the other charter officers of the said city, and at the time of the election of such officers."

FIFTH AMENDMENT, 1835.||

Whenever a sufficient amount of money shall be collected and safely invested for the reimbursement of such part as may then be unpaid of the money borrowed for the construction of the Erie and Champlain canals, the tenth section of the seventh article of the Constitution of this State, as far as it relates to the amount of duties on the manufacture of salt, and the amount of duties on goods sold at auction, shall cease and determine; and thereafter the duties on goods sold at auction, excepting therefrom the sum of thirty-three thousand five hundred dollars otherwise appropriated by the act of the fifteenth of April, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, and the duties on the manufacture of salt, shall be restored to the general fund.

SIXTH AMENDMENT, 1839.%

Mayors of the several cities in this State may be elected annually by the male inhabitants entitled to vote for members of the common councils of such cities respectively, in such manner as the Legislature shall by law provide; and the Legislature may, from time to time, make such provision by law for the election of any one or more or such mayors; but until such provision be made by law, such mayors (except the Mayor of the city of New York) shall be appointed in the manner now prescribed by the Constitution of this State; and so much of the tenth section of article fourth of the Constitution of this State, as is inconsistent with this amendment, is hereby abrogated."

* Approved by a popular vote of 127,077 to 3,215, at the general election in 1826.

† Proposed in 1832, agreed to by the Legislature in 1833, and approved by a vote of 93,260 to 7,865, in the annual election of the latter year.

‡ Amended at the same time with the preceding, and approved by a vote of 48,977 to 1,937. Proposed in 1834, and approved in 1835, by a vote of 68,126 to 8,675, at the annual election of that

year.

? Proposed in 1837, agreed to by the Legislature in 1838, and approved by a vote of 90,473 to 382, in 1839.

(PROPOSED AND APPROVED.)

SEVENTH AMENDMENT, 1845.*

No property qualification shall be required to render a person eligible to, or capable of holding any public office or public trust in this State.

EIGHTH AMENDMENT, 1845. †

No judicial officer shall be removed by the joint resolution of the two Houses of the Legislature, or by the Senate on the recommendation of the Governor, unless the cause of such removal shall be entered on the journal of both Houses, or of the Senate, as the case may be; and such officer, against whom the Legislature or the Senate may be about to proceed, shall be served with notice thereof, accompanied with a copy of the causes alleged for his removal, at least twenty days before the day on which either House shall act thereupon, and shall have an opportunity to be heard in his defense before any question shall be taken upon such removal; and the yeas and nays shall be entered upon the journals of the Senate or Houses, as the case may be.

* Proposed by the Legislature in 1844, and approved by that of 1845. 114,900 to 3,901.

tProposed by the Legislature in 1844, and approved by that of 1845. 114,769 to 3,689.

Vote on its adoption Vote on its adoption,

THIRD CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 1846.*

WE the people of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this Constitution.

ARTICLE I.

SECTION 1. No member of this State shall be disfranchised, or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizens thereof, unless by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers.

2. The trial by jury in all cases in which it has been heretofore used, shall remain inviolate forever; but a jury trial may be waived by the parties in all civil cases in the manner to be prescribed by law.

3. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this State to all mankind; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness on account of his opinions on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this State.

? 4. 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 its suspension.

? 5. Excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed, nor shall cruel and unusual punishments be inflicted, nor shall witnesses be unreasonably detained.

? 6. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime (except in cases of impeachment, and in cases of militia when in actual service; and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which this State may keep, with the consent of Congress, in time of peace, and in cases of petit larceny, under the regulation of the Legislature), unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury; and in any trial in any court whatever, the party accused shall be allowed to appear and defend in person and with counsel as in civil actions. No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense; nor shall he be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

? 7. When private property shall be taken for any public use, the compensation to be made therefor, when such compensation is not made

*This Constitution was prepared by a Convention, elected in conformity to an act passed April 22, 1846. The question of revision was decided, affirmatively, by a vote of 213,257 to 33,860, at the preceding November election. The Convention met at Albany, June 1, and adjourned October 9, 1846. The Constitution which they recommended was adopted at the general election, in November, 1846, by a vote of 221,528 to 92,436.

by the State, shail be ascertained by a jury, or by not less than three commissioners appointed by a court of record, as shall be prescribed by law. Private roads may be opened in the manner to be prescribed by law; but in every case the necessity of the road, and the amount of all damage to be sustained by the opening thereof, shall be first determined by a jury of freeholders, and such amount, together with the expenses of the proceeding, shall be paid by the person to be benefitted.

28. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or the press. In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.

29. The assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature, shall be requisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys or property for local or private purposes.

? 10. No law shall be passed abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government, or any department thereof, nor shall any divorce be granted, otherwise than by due judicial proceedings; nor shall any lottery hereafter be authorized or any sale of lottery tickets allowed within this State.

? 11. The people of this State, in their right of sovereignty, are deemed to possess the original and ultimate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the State; and all lands the title to which shall fail, from a defect of heirs, shall revert, or escheat to the people.

? 12. All feudal tenures of every description, with all their incidents, are declared to be abolished, saving, however, all rents and services certain which at at any time heretofore have been lawfully created or reserved.

? 13. All lands within this State are declared to be allodial, so that, subject only to the liability to escheat, the entire and absolute property is vested in the owners, according to the nature of their respective estates.

? 14. No lease or grant of agricultural land, for a longer period than twelve years, hereafter made, in which shall be reserved any rent or service of any kind, shall be valid.

? 15. All fines, quarter sales, or other like restraints upon alienation reserved in any grant of land, hereafter to be made, shall be void.

? 16. No purchase or contract for the sale of lands in this State, made since the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, or which may hereafter be made, of, or with the Indians, shall be valid, unless made under the authority and with the consent of the Legislature.

? 17. Such parts of the common law, and of the acts of the Legislature of the colony of New York, as together did form the law of the said colony on the nineteenth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and

seventy-five, and the resolutions of the Congress of the said colony, and of the convention of the State of New York in force on the twentieth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, which have not since expired, or been repealed or altered, and such acts of the Legislature of this State as are now in force, shall be and continue the law of this State, subject to such alterations as the Legislature shall make concerning the same. But all such parts of the common law, and such of the said acts or parts thereof as are repugnant to this Constitution are hereby abrogated, and the Legislature, at its first session after the adoption of this Constitution, shall appoint three Commissioners whose duty it shall be to reduce into a written and systematic code the whole body of the law of this State, or so much and such parts thereof as to the said Commissioners shall seem practicable and expedient. And the said Commissioners shall specify such alterations and amendments therein as they shall deem proper, and they shall at all times make reports of their proceedings to the Legislature when called upon to do so; and the Legislature shall pass laws regulating the tenure of office, the filling of vacancies therein, and the compensation of the said Commissioners, and shall also provide for the publication of the said cođe, prior to its being presented to the Legislature for adoption.

? 18. All grants of land within this State, made by the king of Great Britain, or persons acting under his authority, after the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, shall be null, and void; but nothing contained in this Constitution shall affect any grants of land within this State, made by the authority of the said king or his predecessors, or shall annul any charters to bodies politic and corporate, by him or them made, before that day; or shall affect any such grants or charters, since made by this State, or by persons acting under its authority; or shall impair the obligation of any debts contracted by this State, or individuals, or bodies corporate, or any other rights of property, or any suits, actions, rights of action, or other proceedings in courts of justice.

ARTICLE II.

SECTION 1. Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years who shall have been a citizen for ten days, and an inhabitant of this State one year next preceding an election, and for the last four months a resident of the county where he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote at such election in the election district of which he shall at the time be a resident, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people; but such citizen shall have been for thirty days next preceding the election, a resident of the district from which the officer is to be chosen for whom he offers his vote. But no man of color, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this State, and for one year next preceding any election, shall have been seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars over and above all debts and incumbrances charged thereon, and shall have been actually rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled