The Constitution, or System of Government,
agreed to and resolved upon by the Representatives in full Convention of
the Delaware State, formerly styled "The Government of the Counties of
New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, upon Delaware," the said Representatives
being chosen by the Freemen of the said State for that express Purpose .
ARTICLE 1. The
government of the counties of New- Castle, Kent and Sussex, upon
Delaware, shall hereafter in all public and other writings be called The
Delaware State.
ART. 2. The
Legislature shall be formed of two distinct branches; they shall meet
once or oftener in every year, and shall be called, " The General
Assembly of Delaware."
ART. 3. One of the
branches of- the Legislature shall be called, " The House of Assembly,"
and shall consist of seven Representatives to be chosen for each county
annually of such persons as are freeholders of the same.
ART. 4.4 The other
branch shall be called " The council," and consist of nine members;
three to be chosen for each county at the time of the first election of
the assembly, who shall be freeholders of the county for which they are
chosen, and be upwards of twenty-five years of age. At the end of one
year after the general election, the councilor who had the smallest
number of votes in each county shall be displaced, and the vacancies
thereby occasioned supplied by the freemen of each county choosing the
same or another person at a new election in manner aforesaid. At the end
of two years after the first general election, the councilor who stood
second in number of votes in each county shall be displaced, and the
vacancies thereby occasioned supplied by a new election in manner
aforesaid. And at the end of three years from the first general
election, the councilor who had the greatest number of votes in each
county shall be displaced, and the vacancies thereby occasioned supplied
by a new election in manner aforesaid. And this rotation of a councilor
being displaced at the end of three years in each county, and his office
supplied by a new choice, shall be continued afterwards in due order
annually forever, whereby, after the first general election, a councilor
will remain in trust for three years from the time of his being elected,
and a councilor will be displaced, and the same or another chosen in
each county at every election.
ART. 5. The right of
suffrage in the election of members for both houses shall remain as
exercised by law at present; and each house shall choose its own
speaker, appoint its own officers, judge of the qualifications and
elections of its own members, settle its own rules of proceedings, and
direct writs of election for supplying intermediate vacancies. They may
also severally expel any of their own members for misbehavior, but not a
second time in the same sessions for the same offence, if reelected; and
they shall have all other powers necessary for the legislature of a free
and independent State.
ART. 6. All
money-bills for the support of government shall originate in the house
of assembly, and may be altered, amended, or rejected by the legislative
council. All other bills and ordinances may take rise in the house of
assembly or legislative council, and may be altered, amended, or
rejected by either.
ART. 7. A president or
chief magistrate shall be chosen by joint ballot of both houses' to be
taken in the house of assembly, and the box examined by the speakers of
each house in the presence of the other members, and in case the numbers
for the two highest in votes should be equal, then the speaker of the
council shall have an additional casting voice, and the appointment of
the person who has the majority of votes shall be entered at large on
the minutes and journals of each house, and a copy thereof on parchment,
certified and signed by the speakers respectively, and sealed with the
great seal of the State, which they are hereby authorized to affix,
shall be delivered to the person so chosen president, who shall continue
in that office three years, and until the sitting of the next general
assembly and no longer, nor be eligible until the expiration of three
years after he shall have been out of that office. An adequate but
moderate salary shall be settled on him during his continuance in
office. He may draw for such sums of money as shall be appropriated by
the general assembly, and be accountable to them for the same; he may,
by and with the advice of the privy council, lay embargoes or prohibit
the exportation of any commodity for any time not exceeding thirty days
in the recess of the general assembly; he shall have the power of
granting pardons or reprieves, except where the prosecution shall be
carried on by the house of assembly, or the law shall otherwise direct,
in which cases no pardon or reprieve shall be granted, but by a resolve
of the house of assembly, and may exercise all the other executive
powers of government' limited and restrained as by this constitution is
mentioned, and according to the laws of the State. And on his death,
inability, or absence from the State, the speaker of the legislative
council for the time being shall be vice-president, and in case of his
death, inability, or absence from the State, the speaker of the house of
assembly shall have the powers of a president, until a new nomination is
made by the general assembly.
ART. 8. A privy
council, consisting of four members, shall be chosen by ballot, two by
the legislative council and two by the house of assembly: Provided,
That no regular officer of the army or navy in the service and pay of
the continent, or of this, or of any other State, shall be eligible; and
a member of the legislative council or of the house of assembly being
chosen of the privy council, and accepting thereof, shall thereby lose
his seat. Three members shall be a quorum, and their advice and
proceedings shall be entered of record, and signed by the members
present, (to any part of which any member may enter his dissent,) to be
laid before the general assembly when called for by them. Two members
shall be removed by ballot, one by the legislative council and one by
the house of assembly, at the end of two years, and those who remain the
next year after, who shall severally be ineligible for the three next
years. The vacancies, as well as those occasioned by death or
incapacity, shall be supplied by new elections in the same manner; and
this rotation of a privy councilor shall be continued afterwards in due
order annually forever. The president may by summons convene the privy
council at any time when the public exigencies may require, and at such
place as he shall think most convenient, when and where they are to
attend accordingly.
ART. 9. The president,
with the advice and consent of the privy council, may embody the
militia, and act as captain-general and commander-in-chief of them, and
the other military force of this State, under the laws of the same.
ART. 10. Either house
of the General assembly may adjourn themselves respectively. The
president shall not prorogue, adjourn, or dissolve the general assembly,
but he may, with the advice of the privy council, or on the application
of a majority of either house, call them before the time they shall
stand adjourned; and the two houses shall always sit at the same time
and place, for which purpose immediately after every adjournment the
speaker of the house of assembly shall give notice to the speaker of the
other house of the time to which the house of assembly stands adjourned.
ART. 11. The
Delegates for Delaware to the Congress of the United States of America
shall be chosen annually, or superseded in the mean time, by joint
ballot of both houses in the general assembly.
ART. 12. The
president and general assembly shall by joint ballot appoint three
justices of the supreme court for the State, one of whom shall be chief
justice, and a judge of admiralty, and also four justices of the courts
of common pleas and orphans' courts for each county, one of whom in each
court shall be styled "chief justice," (and in case of division
on the Ballot the president shall have an additional casting voice,) to
be commissioned by the president under the great seal, who shall
continue in office during good behavior; and during the time the
justices of the said supreme court and courts of common pleas remain in
office, they shall hold none other except in the militia. Any one of the
justices of either of said courts shall have power, in case of the
non-coming of his brethren, to open and adjourn the court. An adequate
fixed but moderate salary shall be settled on them during their
continuance in office. The president and privy council shall appoint the
secretary, the attorney-general, registers for the probate of wills and
granting letters of administration, registers in chancery, clerks of the
courts of common pleas and orphans' courts, and clerks of the peace, who
shall be commissioned as aforesaid, and remain in office during five
years, if they behave themselves well; during which time the said
registers in chancery and clerks shall not be justices of either of the
said courts of which they are officers, but they shall have authority to
sign all writs by them issued, and take recognizances of bail. The
justices of the peace shall be nominated by the house of assembly; that
is to say, they shall name twenty-four persons for each county, of whom
the president, with the approbation of the privy council, shall appoint
twelve, who shall be commissioned as aforesaid, and continue in office
during seven years, if they behave themselves well; and in case of
vacancies, or if the legislature shall think proper to increase the
number, they shall be nominated and appointed in like manner. The
members of the legislative and privy councils shall be justices of the
peace for the whole State, during their continuance in trust; and the
justices of the courts of common pleas shall be conservators of the
peace in their respective counties.
ART. 13. The justices
of the courts of common pleas and orphans courts shall have the power of
holding inferior courts of chancery, as heretofore, unless the
legislature shall otherwise direct.
ART. 14. The clerks
of the supreme court shall be appointed by the chief justice thereof,
and the recorders of deeds, by the justices of the courts of common
pleas for each county severally, and commissioned by the president,
under the great seal, and continue in office five years, if they behave
themselves well.
ART. 15. The sheriffs
and coroners of the respective counties shall be chosen annually, as
heretofore; and any person, having served three years as sheriff, shall
be ineligible for three years after; and the president and privy council
shall have the appointment of such of the two candidates, returned for
said offices of sheriff and coroner, as they shall think best qualified,
in the same manner that the governor heretofore enjoyed this power.
ART. 16. The general
assembly, by joint ballots shall appoint the generals and
field-officers, and all other officers in the army or navy of this
State; and the president may appoint, during pleasure, until otherwise
directed by the legislature, all necessary civil officers not
hereinbefore mentioned.
ART. 17. There shall
be an appeal from the supreme court of Delaware, in matters of law and
equity, to a court of seven persons, to consist of the president for the
time being, who shall preside therein, and six others, to be appointed,
three by the legislative council, and three by the house of assembly,
who shall continue in office during good behavior, and be commissioned
by the president, under the great seal; which court shall be styled the
" court of appeals," and have all the authority and powers heretofore
given by law in the last resort to the King in council, under the old
government. The secretary shall be the clerk of this court; and
vacancies therein occasioned by death or incapacity, shall be supplied
by new elections, in manner . aforesaid.
ART. 18. The justices
of the supreme court and courts of common pleas, the members of the
privy council, the secretary, the trustees of the loan office, and
clerks of the court of common pleas, during their continuance in office,
and all persons concerned in any army or navy contracts, shall be
ineligible to either house of assembly; and any member of either house
accepting of any other of the offices herein before mentioned (excepting
the office of a justice of the peace) shall have his seat thereby
vacated, and a new election shall be ordered.
ART. 19. The
legislative council and assembly shall have the power of making the
great seal of this State, which shall be kept by the president, or, in
his absence, by the vice-president, to be used by them as occasion may
require. It shall be called "The Great Seal of the Delaware State,"
and shall be affixed to all laws and commissions.
ART. 20. Commissions
shall run in the name of " The Delaware State," and bear test by the
president Writs shall run in the same manner, and bear test in the name
of the chief-justice, or justice first named in the commissions for the
several courts, and be sealed with the public seals of such courts.
Indictments shall conclude, "Against the peace and dignity of the
State."
ART. 21. In case of
vacancy of the offices above directed to be filled by the president and
general assembly, the president and privy council may appoint others in
their stead until there shall be a new election.
ART. 22. Every person
who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office
or place of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the
execution of his office, shall take the following oath, or affirmation,
if conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, to wit:
" I, A B. will bear true allegiance to the
Delaware State, submit to its constitution and laws, and do no act
wittingly whereby the freedom thereof may be prejudiced."
And also make and subscribe the following
declaration, to wit:
" I, A B. do profess faith in God the Father,
and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God,
blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the
Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration."
And all officers shall also take an oath of
office.
ART. 23. The
president, when he is out of office, and within eighteen months after,
and all others offending against the State, either by maladministration,
corruption, or other means, by which the safety of the Commonwealth may
be endangered, within eighteen months after the offence committed, shall
be impeachable by the house of assembly before the legislative council;
such impeachment to be prosecuted by the attorney-general, or such other
person or persons as the house of assembly may appoint, according to the
laws of the land. If found guilty, he or they shall be either forever
disabled to hold any office under government, or removed from office
pro tempore, or subjected to such pains and penalties as the laws
shall direct. And all officers shall be removed on conviction of
misbehavior at common law, or on impeachment, or upon the address of the
general assembly.
ART. 24. All acts of
assembly in force in this State on the 15th day of May last (and not
hereby altered, or contrary to the resolutions of Congress or of the
late house of assembly of this State) shall so continue, until altered
or repealed by the legislature of this State, unless where they are
temporary, in which case they shall expire at the times respectively
limited for their duration.
ART. 25. The common
law of England, as-well as so much of the statute law as has been
heretofore adopted in practice in this State, shall remain in force,
unless they shall be altered by a future law of the legislature; such
parts only excepted as are repugnant to the rights and privileges
contained in this constitution, and the declaration of rights, &c.,
agreed to by this convention.
ART. 26. No person
hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in
slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto
slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of
the world.
ART. 27. The first
election for the general assembly of this State shall be held on the
List day of October next, at the court-houses in the several counties,
in the manner heretofore used in the election of the assembly, except as
to the choice of inspectors and assessors, where assessors have not been
chosen on the 16th day of September, instant, which shall be made on the
morning of the day of election, by the electors, inhabitants of the
respective hundreds in each county. At which time the sheriffs and
coroners, for the said counties respectively, are to be elected; and the
present sheriffs of the counties of Newcastle and Kent may be re-chosen
to that office until the 1st day of October, A. D. 1779; and the present
sheriff for the county of Sussex may be re-chosen to that office until
the 1st day of October, A. D. 1778, provided the freemen think proper to
reelect them at every general election; and the present sheriffs and
coroners, respectively, shall continue to exercise their offices as
heretofore, until the sheriffs and coroners, to be elected on the said
21st day of October, shall be commissioned and sworn into office. The
members of the legislative council and assembly shall meet, for
transacting the business of the State, on the 28th day of October next,
and continue in office until the 1st day of October, which will be in
the year 1777; on which day, and on the 1st day of October in each year
forever after, the legislative council, assembly, sheriffs, and coroners
shall be chosen by ballot, in manner directed by the several laws of
this State, for regulating elections of members of assembly and sheriffs
and coroners; and the general assembly shall meet on the 20th day of the
same month for the transacting the business of the State; and if any of
the said 1st and 20th days of October should be Sunday, then, and in
such case, the elections shall be held, and the general assembly meet,
the next day following.
ART. 28. To prevent
any violence or force being used at the said elections, no person shall
come armed to any of them, and no muster of the militia shall be made on
that day; nor shall any battalion or company give in their votes
immediately succeeding each other, if any other voter, who offers to
vote, objects thereto; nor shall any battalion or company, in the pay of
the continent, or of this or any other State, be suffered to remain at
the time and place of holding the said elections, nor within one mile of
the said places respectively, for twenty-four hours before the opening
said elections, nor within twenty-four hours after the same are closed,
so as in any manner to impede the freely and conveniently carrying on
the said election: Provided always, That every elector may, in a
peaceable and orderly manner, give in his vote on the said day of
election.
ART. 29. There shall
be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in
preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of
any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this
State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the
legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastoral
function.
ART. 30. No article
of the declaration of rights and fundamental rules of this State, agreed
to by this convention, nor the first, second, fifth, (except that part
thereof that relates to the right of suffrage,) twenty-sixth, and
twenty-ninth articles of this constitution, ought ever to be violated on
any presence whatever. No other part of this constitution shall be
altered, changed, or diminished without the consent of five parts in
seven of the assembly, and seven members of the legislative council.
GEORGE READ, President.
Attest:
JAMES BOOTH, Secretary. - Friday, September
10,1776
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