SECT. 11. Sheriffs shall be appointed in such manner as the General Assembly may, by law, direct, and shall hold their appointments for the term of two years, unless sooner removed by sentence on impeachment, or by the Governor, on the address of two-thirds of the Justices of the Inferior Court and of the Peace in the county; but no person shall be twice elected Sheriff within any term of four years; and no county officer after the next election, shall be chossn at the time of electing a Senator or Representative.

ARTICLE IV.

SECT. 1. The electors of Members of the General Assembly, shall be citizens and inhabitants of this State, and shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, and have paid all public taxes which may have been required of them, and which they have had an opportunity of paying agreeably to law, for the year preceding the election, and shall have resided six months within the county: Provided, that in case of invasion, and the inhabitants shall be driven from any county, so as to prevent an election therein, such refugee inhabitants being a majority of the voters of such county, may meet under the direction of any three Justices of the Peace thereof, in the nearest county, not in a state of alarm, and proceed to an election, without having paid such tax so required of electors, and the persons elected thereat, shall be entitled to their seats.

SEET. 2. All elections, by the General Assembly, shall be by joint ballot of both branches of the Legislalature; and when the Senate and House of Representatives unite for the purpose of electing, they shall meet in the Representative chamber, and the President of the Senate shall in such cases preside, receive the ballots, and declare the person or persons elected. In all elections by the People, the electors shall vote viva voce, until the Legislature shall otherwise direct.

SECT. 3. The General officers of the militia shall be elected by the General Assembly, and shall be commissioned by the Governor. All other officers of the miJitia shall be elected in such manner as the Legislature may direct, and shall be commissioned by the Governor,

and

and all militia officers now in commission, and those which may be hereafter commissioned, shall hold their commissions during their usual residence within the division, brigade, regiment, battalion, or company, to which they belong, unless removed by sentence of a Court Martial, or by the Governor, on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the General Assembly.

SECT. 4. All persons appointed by the Legislature, to fill vacancies, shall continue in office, only so long as to complete the time for which their predecessors were appointed.

SECT. 5. Freedom of the Press, and trial by jury, as heretofore used in this State, shall remain inviolate; and no ex post facto law shall be passed.

SECT. 6. No person, who heretofore hath been or hereafter may be, a collector, or holder of public monies, shall be eligible to any office in this State, until such person shall hav accounted for, and paid into the Treasury, all sums for which he may be accountable or liable.

SECT. 7. The person of a debtor, where there is not a strong presumption of fraud, shall not be detained in prison, after delivering up bona fide, all his estate real and personal, for the use of his creditors, in such manner as shall be hereafter regulated by law.

SECT. 8. Convictions on impeachments, which have heretofore taken place, are hereby released and persous laying under such convictions, restored to citizen. ship.

SECT. 9. The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when in case of rebellion, or invasion, the public safety may require it.

.

SECT. 10. No person within this State shall, upon any pretence, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping God, in a manner agreeable to his own conscience, nor be compelled to attend any place of worship, contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall he ever be obliged to pay tythes, taxes, or any other rate, for the building or repairing any place of worship, or for the maintenance of any ministeror ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or hath volun

tarily

tarily engaged to do. No one religious society shall ever be established in this State, in preference to another; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of any civil rights merely on account of his religious principles.

SECT. 11. There shall be no future importation of slaves into this State from Africa, or any foreign place, after the first day of October next. 'The Legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves, without the consent of each of their respective owners, previous to such emancipation. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants from either of the United States to this State, from bringing with them such persons, as may be deemed slaves, by the laws of any one of the United States.

SECT. 12. Any person, who shall maliciously dismember or deprive a slave of his life, shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted, in case the like offence had been committed on a free white person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection by such slave, and unless such death should happen by accident, in giving such slave moderate correction.

SECT. 13. The Arts and Sciences shall be promoted in one or more seminaries of learning, and the Legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, give such further donations and privileges to those already established, as may be necessary to secure the objects of their institution: and it shall be the duty of the General Assembly, at their next session, to provide effectual measures for the improvement and permanent security of the funds and endowments of such institu tions.

.SECT. 14. All civil officers shall continue in the exercise of the duties of their several offices, during the periods for which they were appointed, or until they shall be superseded by appointments made in conformity to this Constitution: And all laws, now in force, shall continue to operate, so far as they are compatible with this Constitution, until repealed; and it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass all necessary laws and regulations, for carrying this Constitution into full effect.

No

SECT. 15. No part of this Constitution shall be altered, unless a bill for that purpose, specifying the alterations intended to be made, shall have been read three times in the House of Representatives, and three times in the Senate, on three several days in each House, and agreed to by two-thirds of each House respectively; and when any such bill shall be passed in manner aforesaid, the same shall be published at least six months previous to the next ensuing annual election for members of the General Assembly; and if such alterations, or any of them so proposed, shall be agreed to in their first session thereafter, by two-thirds of each branch of the General Assembly, after the same shall have been read three times, on three separate days, in each respective House, then, and not otherwise, the same shall become a part of this Constitution.

WE, the underwritten Delegates of the People of the State of Georgia, chosen and authorized by them to revise, alter, or amend the powers and principles of their Government, do declare, ordain, and ratify, the several Articles and Sections contained in the six pages hereunto prefixed, as the Constitution of this State; and the same shall be in operation from the date hereof.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, WE, and each of us respectively, have hereunto set our hands, at Louisville, the seat of Government, this 30th day of May, in the year of our Lord, 1798, and in the 22d year of the Independence of the United States of America; and have caused the Great Seal of the State to be affixed thereto

Article 4th, Section 11th, and first line, the following words being interlined, to wit:-" After the first day of October next."

JARED IRWIN, President, and Delegate from Washington.

JAMES M. SIMMONS, Sec.