ARTICLES OF AMENDMENT.*

ART. I. If any bill or resolve shall be objected to, and not approved by the Governor; and if the General Court shall adjourn within five days after the same shall have been laid before the Governor for his approbation, and thereby prevent his returning it, with his objections, as provided by the Constitution; such bill or resolve shall not become a law, nor have force as such,

ART. 2.-The General Court shall have full power and authority to erect and constitute municipal or city governments in any corporate town or towns in this Commonwealth, and to grant to the inhabitants thereof such powers, privileges and immunities, not repugnant to the Constitution, as the General Court shall deem necessary or expedient for the regulation and government thereof, and to prescribe the manner of calling and holding public meetings of the inhabitants in wards, or otherwise, for the election of officers under the Constitution, and the manner of returning the votes given at such meetings: Pro

(*) The first nine Articles of Amendment were recommended by the Convention of 1820, -ratified by the people, April 9, 1821, and became part of the Constitution, May 30, 1821; the tenth was proposed by the Legislatures of 1829 and 1830,-ratified by the people, May 11, 1831, promulgated June 15, 1831, and went into operation October 1, 1831; the eleventh was proposed by the Legislatures of 1832 and 1833,-ratified by the people, November 11, 1833, and promulgated February 12, 1834; and the twelfth was proposed by the Legislatures of 1835 and 1836, ratified by the people November 11, 1836, and promulgated March 24, 1837.

vided, that no such government shall be erected or constituted in any town not containing twelve thousand inhabitants; nor unless it be with the consent and on the application of a majority of the inhabitants of such town, present and voting thereon, pursuant to a vote at a meeting duly warned and holden for that purpose: And provided also, that all bylaws, made by such municipal or city government, shall be subject, at all times, to be annulled by the

General Court.

ART. 3. Every male citizen of twenty-one years of age and upwards, (excepting paupers, and persons under guardianship,) who shall have resided within the Commonwealth one year, and within the town or district, in which he may claim a right to vote, six calendar months next preceding any election of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Senators, or Representatives, and who shall have paid, by himself or his parent, master or guardian, any state or county tax, which shall, within two years next preceding such election, have been assessed upon him, in any town or district of this Commonwealth; and also every citizen who shall be by law exempted from taxation, and who shall be in all other respects qualified as above mentioned, shall have a right to vote in such election of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Senators and Representatives: and no other person shall be entitled to vote in such election.

ART. 4.-Notaries Public shall be appointed by the Governor, in the same manner as judicial officers are appointed, and shall hold their offices during seven years, unless sooner removed by the Governor, with the consent of the Council, upon the address of both houses of the Legislature.

In case the office of Secretary or Treasurer of the Commonwealth shall become vacant from any cause,

during the recess of the General Court, the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council, shall nominate and appoint, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, a competent and suitable person to such vacant office, who shall hold the same until a successor shall be appointed by the General Court.

Whenever the exigencies of the Commonwealth shall require the appointment of a Commissary General, he shall be nominated, appointed and commissioned, in such manner as the Legislature may, by law, prescribe.

All officers commissioned to command in the Militia, may be removed from office in such manner as the Legislature may, by law, prescribe.

ART. 5. In the elections of Captains and Subalterns of the Militia, all the members of their respective companies, as well those under, as those above the age of twenty-one years, shall have a right to

vote.

ART. 6.-Instead of the oath of allegiance prescribed by the Constitution, the following oath shall be taken and subscribed by every person chosen or appointed to any office, civil or military, under the Government of this Commonwealth, before he shall enter on the duties of his office, to wit:

"I, A. B. do solemnly swear, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and will support the Constitution thereof. So help me God."

Provided, That when any person shall be of the denomination called Quakers, and shall decline taking said oath, he shall make his affirmation in the foregoing form, omitting the word "swear," and inserting, instead thereof, the word "affirm," and omitting the words "So help me God," and subjoin

ing, instead thereof, the words " this I do under the pains and penalties of perjury."

Art. 7. No oath, declaration or subscription, excepting the oath prescribed in the preceding article, and the oath of office, shall be required of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Counsellors, Senators or Representatives, to qualify them to perform the duties of their respective offices.

ART. 8. No judge of any Court of this Commonwealth, (except the Court of Sessions,) and no person holding any office under the authority of the United States, (Postmasters excepted,) shall, at the same time, hold the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor or Counsellor, or have a seat in the Senate or House of Representatives of this Commonwealth; and no Judge of any Court in this Commonwealth, (except the Court of Sessions,) nor the Attorney General, Solicitor General, County Attorney, Clerk of any Court, Sheriff, Treasurer and Receiver General, Register of Probate, nor Register of Deeds, shall continue to hold his said office after being elected a member of the Congress of the United States, and accepting that trust; but the acceptance of such trust, by any of the officers aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be a resignation of his said office; and Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas shall hold no other office under the government of this Commonwealth, the office of Justice of the Peace and Militia offices excepted.

ART. 9. If, at any time hereafter, any specific and particular amendment or amendments to the Constitution, be proposed in the General Court, and agreed to by a majority of the Senators and twothirds of the Members of the House of Representatives present and voting thereon, such proposed

amendment or amendments shall be entered on the journals of the two Houses, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the General Court then next to be chosen, and shall be published; and if in the General Court next chosen, as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of the Senators and two thirds of the members of the House of Representatives present and voting thereon; then it shall be the duty of the General Court to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people; and if they shall be approved and ratified by a majority of the qualified voters, voting thereon, at meetings legally warned and holden for that purpose, they shall become part of the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

ART. 10. The political year shall begin on the first Wednesday of January instead of the last Wednesday of May, and the General Court shall assemble every year on the said first Wednesday of January, and shall proceed, at that session, to make all the elections, and do all the other acts, which are by the Constitution required to be made and done at the session which has heretofore commenced on the last Wednesday of May. And the General Court shall be dissolved on the day next preceding the first Wednesday of January, without any proclamation or other act of the Governor. But nothing herein contained shall prevent the General Court from assembling at such other times as they shall judge necessary, or when called together by the Governor. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Counsellors, shall also hold their respective offices for one year next following the first Wednesday of January, and until others are chosen and qualified in their stead.

The meeting for the choice of Governor, Lieu