AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I.

[Religion-Free speech-Press-Right of petition.]-Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

ARTICLE II.

[People may keep arms.]-A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

ARTICLE III.

[Quartering of soldiers.]-No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE IV.

[Unreasonable searches and seizures.]-The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

ARTICLE V.

[Presentment or indictment in criminal cases-Rights of private property.]—No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject, for the same offense, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

ARTICLE VI.

[Rights of accused.]—In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process, for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

ARTICLE VII.

[Right of trial by jury.]—In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact, tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

ARTICLE VIII.

[Bail-Fines-Punishments.]-Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

ARTICLE IX.

[Reserved rights.]-The enumeration, in the constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. ARTICLE X.

[Reserved powers.]-The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people.

ARTICLE XI.

[Restriction of judicial powers.]-The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States, by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

ARTICLE XII.

1. [Election of president.]-The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot, for president and vice-president, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves: they shall name in their ballot the person voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as vice-president; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as vice-president, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the senate; the president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for president, shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest number, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as president, the house of representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But, in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the house of representatives shall not choose a president, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the vice-president shall act as president, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the president.

2. [Election of vice-president.]-The person having the greatest number of votes as vice-president shall be the vice-president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the senate shall choose the vice-president; a quorum, for the purpose, shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.

3. [Eligibility of vice-president.]-But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president, shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States.

ARTICLE XIII.

1. [Slavery abolished.]-Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

2. [Same.]-Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

ARTICLE XIV.

SECTION 1. [Citizenship defined-Rights guaranteed.]—All persons

born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

SEC. 2. [Apportionment of representatives.]-Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the United States, representatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislatures thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty one-years of age in such state.

SEC. 3. [Political disabilities of rebels.]-No person shall be a senator or representative in congress, or elector of president and vice-president, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of congress or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability.

SEC. 4. [Inviolability of public debt.]-The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

SEC. 5. The congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

ARTICLE XV.

SECTION 1. [Elective franchise.]-The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

SEC. 2. The congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

ENABLING ACT.

ENABLING ACT.

An act to enable the people of Nebraska to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states.

[Passed April 19, 1864, 13th U. S. Statutes at Large, Page 47.]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the inhabitants of that portion of the territory of Nebraska included in the boundaries hereinafter designated be, and they are hereby, authorized to form for themselves a constitution and state government, with the name aforesaid, which state, when so formed, shall be admitted into the Union as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 2. [Boundaries.]-And be it further enacted, That the said state of Nebraska shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to-wit: Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of the western boundary of the state of Missouri with the fortieth degree of north latitude; extending thence due west along said fortieth degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the twenty-fifth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence north along said twenty-fifth degree of longitude to a point formed by its intersection with the forty-first degree of north latitude; thence west along said forty-first degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington; thencenorth along said twenty-seventh degree of west longitude to a point formed by its intersection with the forty-third degree of north latitude; thence east along said forty-third degree of north latitude to the Reya Paha river; thence down the middle of the channel of said river, with its meanderings, to its junction with the Niobrara river; thence down the middle of the channel of said Niobrara river, and following the meanderings thereof, to its junction with the Missouri river; thence down the middle of the channel of said Missouri river, and following the meanderings thereof, to the place of beginning.

SEC. 3. [Constitutional convention.]-And be it further enacted, That all persons qualified by law to vote for representatives to the general assembly of said territory shall be qualified to be elected; and they are hereby authorized to vote for and choose representatives to form a convention, under such rules and regulations as the governor of said territory may prescribe, and also to vote upon the acceptance or rejection of such constitution as may be formed by said convention, under such rules and regulations as said convention may prescribe; and if any of said citizens are enlisted in the army of the United States, and are still

NOTE. The act cited 4 Neb., 127, 438. The history of the formation and adoption of the constitntion stated, 2 Neb., 206.

SEC. 2. By a subsequent act of congress (16 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 93) the boundary line between Ne, braska and Dakota was re-defined. That act was approved by the state legislature, (1871, 131. G. S. 1021,) and stated the boundary line to be: "the center of the main channel of the Missouri river shall be the boundary line between the state of Nebraska and the territory of Dakota, between the following points, to wit: Commencing at a point in the center of said main channel, north of the west line of section twenty-four, in township twenty-nine, north of range eight, east of the sixth principal meridian, and running along the same to a point west of the most northerly portion of fractional section seventeen, of township twenty-nine, north of range nine, east of said meridian in the state of Nebraska, as meandered and shown by the plats and surveys of said sections originally made and now on file in the general land office."

By further act of Congress (22 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 35) the northern boundary was extended (Laws 1882, p. 56) "so as to include all that portion of the territory of Dakota lying south of the forty-third parallel of north latitude, and east of the Keyapaha river and west of the main channel of the Missouri river; and when the Indian title to the lands thus described shall be extinguished, the jurisdiction over said lands shall be, and hereby is, ceded to the state of Nebraska, and subject to all the conditions and limitations provided in the act of Congress admitting Nebraska into the Union; and the northern boundary of the state shall be extended to said forty third parallel as fully and effectually as if said lands had been included in the boundaries of said state at the time of its admission to the Union, reserving to the United States the original right of soil in said lands and of disposing of the same Provided, That this act, so far as jurisdiction is concerned, shall not take effect until the president shall, by proclamation, declare that the Indian title to said lands has been extinguished, nor shall it take effect until the state of Nebraska shall have assented to the provisions of this act: and if the state of Nebraska shall not, by an act of its legislature, consent to the provisions of this act within two years next after the passage hereof, this act shall cease and be of no effect."

within said territory, they shall be permitted to vote at their place of rendezvous; and if any are absent from said territory, by reason of their enlistment in the army of the United States, they shall be permitted to vote at their place of service under the rules and regulations in each case to be prescribed as aforesaid; and the aforesaid representatives to form the aforesaid convention shall be apportioned among the several counties in said territory in proportion to the population as near as may be, and said apportionment shall be made for said territory by the governor, United States district attorney, and chief justice thereof, or any two of them. And the governor of said territory shall, by proclamation, on or before the first Monday of May next, order an election of the representatives aforesaid to be held on the first Monday in June thereafter throughout the territory; and such election shall be conducted in the same manner as is prescribed by the laws of said territory regulating elections therein for members of the house of representatives; and the number of members to said convention shall be the same as now constitute both branches of the legislature of the aforesaid territory.

SEC. 4. [Meeting and duties of convention.]-And be it further enacted, That the members of the convention thus elected shall meet at the capital of said territory on the first Monday in July next, and after organization shall declare, on behalf of the people of said territory, that they adopt the constitution of the United States; whereupon the said convention shall be, and it is hereby, authorized to form a constitution and state government; Provided, That the constitution when formed shall be republican, and not repugnant to the constitution of the United States and the principles of the Declaration of Independence; And provided further, That said constitution shall provide, by an article forever irrevocable, without the consent of the congress of the United States: First. That slavery or involuntary servitude shall be forever prohibited in said state. Second. That perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and no inhabitant of said state shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship. Third. That the people inhabiting said territory do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within said territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States, and that the lands. belonging to citizens of the United States residing without the said state shall never be taxed higher than the land belonging to residents thereof; and that no taxes shall be imposed by said state on lands or property therein belonging to or which may hereafter be purchased by the United States.

SEC. 5. [Submission to vote of the people.]-And be it further enacted, That in case a constitution and state government shall be formed for the people of said territory of Nebraska, in compliance with the provisions of this act, that said convention forming the same shall provide by ordinance for submitting said constitution to the people of said state for their ratification or rejection at an election to be held on the second Tuesday of October, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, at such places and under such regulations as may be prescribed therein, at which election the qualified voters, as herein before provided, shall vote directly for or against the proposed constitution, and the returns of said elections shall be made to the acting governor of the territory, who, together with the United States district attorney and chief justice of the said territory, or any two of them, shall canvass the same, and if a majority of legal votes shall be cast for said constitution in said proposed state, the said acting governor shall certify the same to the president of the United States, together with a copy of said constitution and ordinances; whereupon it shall be the duty of the president of the United States to issue his proclamation declaring the state admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, without any further action whatever on the part of congress.

SEC. 6. [Congressman and officers.]-And be it further enacted, That until the next general census shall be taken, said state of Nebraska shall be entitled to one representative in the house of representatives of the United States,