Congress.

be formed.

Application to said Convention, to apply to the Congress of the United States, for its assent to be given, before the last day of January next, that the said District shall be admitted into the Union, as a separate and independent State. And it shall also be the duty of the said Convention, to form a Constitution, or frame of government, for said new State, and to deConstitution to termine the style and title of the same; and such Constitution, when adopted, and ratified by the people of said District, in the manner hereinafter mentioned, shall, from and after the fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, (the consent of the Congress of the United States, then being first had as aforesaid,) be the Constitution of said new State. And the said Convention shall, as soon as may be, after having formed such Constitution, or frame of government, for such new State, cause the same to be published, and sent to the several towns, disConstitution to tricts, and plantations, within the said District of Maine; and be approved by there shall be a meeting of the inhabitants, in each of said the people.

Return of

vores to the Convention.

towns, districts, and plantations, to be called and warned by the Selectmen, and Assessors respectively, in due course of law; and on the day named by said Convention, at which meeting, every male inhabitant, having the personal qualifications, herein declared requisite in the election of delegates to said Convention, shall have a right to vote; and the people so assembled, shall give in their votes in writing, expressing their approbation or disapprobation of the Constitution so prepared, and proposed by said Convention. And the Selectmen of the several towns, and the Assessors of the several districts, and plantations respectively, shall preside at such meetings, and shall receive the votes of all the inhabitants duly qualified as aforesaid, and shall sort and count them in open meeting of town, district or plantation; and the same, shall be then and there recorded in the books of the town, district or plantation; and a fair copy of such record shall be attested by the Selectmen or Assessors, and the Clerk of the town, district, or plantation respectively, and shall be, by the said Selectmen or Assessors, transmitted and delivered to the said Convention, or to the President thereof, for the time being, or to any committee appointed to receive the same, on or before the first day of January next; on which day, or within ten days thereafter, the said Convention shall be in session, and shall receive and count all the votes returned, and declare and publish the result; and if a majority of the votes so returned shall be in favor of the Constitution proposed, as aforesaid, the said Constitution shall go into operation, according to its own provisions; otherwise the Constitution of Massachusetts, with the addition of the terms and conditions herein provided, shall be, and be considered as the Constitution of the said proposed State, in manner as hereafter provided. And to the end, that no period of an

archy may happen to the people of said proposed State, in case General reser a new Constitution shall not be so adopted and ratified by the vations. people of said District of Maine, the present Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, shall, with the terms and conditions aforesaid, and with the exception hereinafter made, be provisionally, the Constitution or frame of government, for said District; except only such parts of said Constitution of Massachusetts, as relate to the style or title of said State, or may be otherwise inconsistent with, or repugnant to the situation and condition of said new State; and except, that the people of said District shall choose in their Senatorial districts, as now established, three times the number of Senators now allowed them, and that the Legislature shall choose such a number of Counsellors, not exceeding nine, as they shall determine to be proper. And the said Convention shall designate the place for the first meeting of the Legislature of said new State, and for the organization of its government, and shall appoint a Secretary, pro tempore, for said new State; and the said Convention shall regulate the pay of its members; and the person, authorized by said Convention, may draw upon the Treasury of the Commonwealth for the amount of the pay roll, not, however, to exceed the amount of the money paid into the Treasury by the several Banks within said District, for the tax upon the same, due and payable on the first Monday of October next; and the sum or sums so drawn for, and paid out of the Treasury, shall be a charge upon the new State in the division of the property, provided for in the fourth article of the terms and conditions stated in the first section of this Act.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That until a Governor of the proposed State shall be chosen and qualified according to the Constitution which may be in operation in said State, the person last chosen President of the said Convention, shall, from and after the fifteenth day of March next, have all the power of the Governor and Council under the Constitution Preliminary of Massachusetts, until a new Governor shall be chosen and qualified in the said proposed State; excepting only, that the said President shall not have the power to remove from office any officer who may be duly qualified, and executing the duties of his office according to the intent and meaning of this Act.

And in order that there may be no failure of justice, and that no danger may arise to the people of the said District of Maine, after the fifteenth day of March next, and before the government of the said State shall be fully organized; therefore,

powers.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That all the laws which shall be in force within said District of Maine, upon the said fifteenth day of March next, shall still remain, and be in force, perpetuity of within the said proposed State, until altered or repealed by laws.

Duration of

judicial.

the government thereof, such parts only excepted as may be inconsistent with the situation and condition of said new State, or repugnant to the Constitution thereof. And all officers, who shall, on the said fifteenth day of March next, hold commissions, or exercise any authority within the said District of Maine, under the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or by virtue of the laws thereof, excepting only, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Council, the members of the Legislature, and the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of the said Commonwealth of Massachusetts, shall continue to have, hold, use, excrcise and enjoy, all the powers and tive evil and authority to them respectively granted or committed, until other persons shall be appointed in their stead, or until their respective offices shall be annulled by the government of said proposed State. And all Courts of law, whatsoever, within the said proposed State, excepting only the Supreme Judicial Court, shall proceed to hear and determine all causes, matters and things, which are or may be commenced or depending before them, respectively, upon the said fif teenth day of March next, or at any time afterwards, and before the government of the said proposed State shall establish new Courts within the same; and shall continue from and after the said fifteenth day of March next, to exercise the like power and authority, and in like manner as they now by law may do, until such new Courts shall be so established, in their stead.

Continuance of actions.

Probate or other appeals.

SEC. 7. Be it further enacted, That all actions, suits, and causes, civil and criminal, and all matters and things whatsoever, that shall, on the said fifteenth day of March next, be in any manner depending in the Supreme Judicial Court of the said Commonwealth of Massachusetts, then last holden within any county in the District of Maine, and all writs, recognizances, and other processes whatsoever, that may be then returnable to the said Supreme Judicial Court, shall be respectively transferred, and returned to, have day in, and be heard, tried, and determined in the highest Court of law that shall be established in the said new Staté, by the government thereof; and at the first term of such Court, that shall be held within the county in which such action, writ, process, or other matter or thing, may be so pending or returnable. And in all cases of appeals from any Circuit Court of Common Pleas, or Probate, or other Court, which shall be made after the said fifteenth day of March next, in any action, cause, or suit whatsoever, and which would by law be made to the said Supreme Judical Court thereof, it shall be sufficient for the appellant to claim an appeal, without naming or designating the Court appealed to; and such appeal shall be entered at the Supreme or Superior Judicial Court, or highest Court of law, to be established by the government of the said new State, which shall first thereaf

AN ACT FOR THE ADMISSION OF MAINE INTO THE UNION.

ter be held within or for the county in which such action, cause, or suit may be pending, and shall there be heard, tried, and determined, according to law.

visions.

25

Provided, however, That nothing contained in this section General proshall be understood or construed to control, in any degree, the right of the people of the said new State, or the government thereof, to establish Judicial Courts, in such manner, and with such authority as they shall see fit; nor to prevent the said people or their government from making any other provisions, pursuant to their Constitution, and not repugnant to the terms and conditions above set forth, respecting all the said actions, suits, processes, matters and things, herein above mentioned, as they shall think most proper, to prevent the discontinuance thereof, and to avoid any delay or failure of justice.

[Approved by the Governor, June 19, 1819.]

AN ACT

FOR THE ADMISSION OF THE STATE OF MAINE

INTO THE UNION.

WHEREAS, by an Act of the State of Massachusetts, passed on the nineteenth day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, entitled "An Act relating to the "separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts "Proper, and forming the same into a separate and inde"pendent State," the people of that part of Massachusetts heretofore known as the District of Maine, did, with the consent of the Legislature of said State of Massachusetts, form themselves into an independent State, and did establish a Constitution for the government of the same, agreeably to the provisions of the said Act; therefore,

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That, from and after the fifteenth day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty, the State of Maine is hereby declared to be one of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever.

WASHINGTON, MARCH 3, 1820.-Approved,

JAMES MONROE.

Preamble.

Style & Title.

AN ORDINANCE

DETERMINING THE STYLE AND TITLE OF THE STATE
OF MAINE.

BE IT ORDAINED and determined, by the Delegates of the people inhabiting the territory now called and known by the name of the District of Maine, in Convention assembled, that provided the District of Maine aforesaid shall, before the fourth day of March next, be admitted into the Union as a separate and independent State, on an equal footing with the original States, the said State shall be known and called by the style and title of the STATE OF MAINE.

ATTEST,

Done in Convention, at Portland, this fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen.

WILLIAM KING, PRESIDENT.

ROBERT C. VOSE, SECRETARY.

CONSTITUTION OF MAINE.

Preamble.

WE, the people of Maine, in order to establish justice, ensure tranquillity, provide for our mutual defence, promote our common welfare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty, acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity, so favorable to the design; and, imploring his aid and direction in its accomplishment, do agree to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the style and title of the State of Maine, and do ordain and establish the following Constitution for the government of the same.

ARTICLE I.

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

SEC. 1. All men are born equally free and independent, Natural rights and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights,

All power in. herent in the people.

among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.

SEC. 2. All power is inherent in the people; all free governments are founded in their authority and instituted for their