THE

CONSTITUTION OF THE

STATE OF NEW YORK.

FORMED IN 1821.

WE, the people of the state of New York, acknowledging with gratitude the grace and beneficence of God in permitting us to make choice of our form of government, do establish this constitution.

ARTICLE FIRST.

power.

SEC. I. The legislative power of this state shall be Legislative vested in a senate and an assembly.

number of

SEC. II. The senate shall consist of thirty-two Senate, members. The senators shall be chosen for four years, and shall be freeholders. The assembly shall Assembly, consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members, who shall be annually elected.

number of

each house.

SEC. III. A majority of each house shall constitute Powers of a quorum to do business. Each house shall determine the rules of its own proceedings, and be the judge of the qualifications of its own members. Each house shall choose its own officers, and the senate shall choose a temporary president, when the lieutenantgovernor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor.

SEC. IV. Each house shall keep a journal of its Journals to proceedings, and publish the same, except such parts

State divided into 8 senatorial districts.

No. 1.

No. 2.

No. 3.

No. 4.

No. 5.

No. 6.

No. 7.

No. 8.

Senate to be divided into classes by lot.

as may require secresy. The doors of each house shall be kept open, except when the public welfare shall require secresy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days.

SEC. V. The state shall be divided into eight districts, to be called senate districts, each of which shall choose four senators.

The first district shall consist of the counties of Suffolk, Queens, Kings, Richmond, and New York. The second district shall consist of the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan.

The third district shall consist of the counties of Green, Columbia, Albany, Rensselaer, Schoharie, and Schenectady.

The fourth district shall consist of the counties of Saratoga, Montgomery, Hamilton, Washington, Warren, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, and St. Lawrence.

The fifth district shall consist of the counties of Herkimer, Oneida, Madison, Oswego, Lewis, and Jefferson.

The sixth district shall consist of the counties of Delaware, Otsego, Chenango, Broome, Cortland, Tompkins, and Tioga.

The seventh district shall consist of the counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Ontario.

The eighth district shall consist of the counties of Steuben, Livingston, Monroe, Genesee, Niagara, Erie, Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauque.

And as soon as the senate shall meet, after the first election to be held in pursuance of this constitution, they shall cause the senators to be divided by lot into four classes, of eight in each, so that every district shall have one senator of each class: the classes to be numbered, one, two, three, and four. And the seats of the first class shall be vacated at the end of the first year; of the second class, at the end of the second

year; of the third class, at the end of the third year; of the fourth class, at the end of the fourth year; in order that one senator be annually elected in each senate district.

years.

altered.

SEC. VI. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the Census to be taken in 1825; state shall be taken, under the direction of the legis. and every ten lature, in the year one thousand eight hundred and Districts to be twenty-five, and at the end of every ten years there. after; and the said districts shall be so altered by the legislature, at the first session after the return of every enumeration, that each senate district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, paupers, and persons of color not taxed; and shall remain unaltered, until the return of another enumeration, and shall at all times consist of contiguous territory; and no county shall be divided in the formation of a senate district.

assembly chosen apportioned.

SEC. VII. The members of the assembly shall be Members of chosen by counties, and shall be apportioned among by counties to be the several counties of this state, as nearly as may be, according to the number of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens, paupers, and persons of color, not taxed. An apportionment of members of assembly shall be made by the legislature, at its first session after the return of every enumeration; and, when made, shall remain unaltered until another enumeration shall have been taken. But an apportionment of members of the assembly shall be made by the present legislature according to the last enumeration, taken under the authority of the United States, as nearly as may be. Every county hereto- Each county fore established, and separately organized, shall member. always be entitled to one member of the assembly, and no new county shall hereafter be erected, unless its population shall entitle it to a member.

entitled to one

SEC. VIII. Any bill may originate in either house Bills may origiof the legislature; and all bills passed by one house, house. may be amended by the other.

Pay of members.

No member to receive an appointment.

Persons disqualified from being members.

Bills to be presented to the governor for signature. If

SEC. IX. The members of the legislature shall receive for their services a compensation to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the public treasury; but no increase of the compensation shall take effect during the year in which it shall have been made. And no law shall be passed increasing the compensation of the members of the legislature beyond the sum of three dollars a day.

SEC. X. No member of the legislature shall receive any civil appointment from the governor and senate, or from the legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected.

SEC. XI. No person being a member of congress, holding any judicial or military office under the United States, shall hold a seat in the legislature. And if any person shall, while a member of the legislature, be elected to congress, or appointed to any office, civil or military, under the government of the United States, his acceptance thereof shall vacate his

seat.

SEC. XII. Every bill which shall have passed the senate and assembly shall, before it become a law, be

returned by him presented to the governor: if he approve, he shall how disposed of. sign it, but if not, he shall return it with his objec

with objections,

Bills to be returned within ten days.

tions to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it: if, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds of the members present, it shall become a law; but in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journals of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been pre