or rejection of this Constitution, and for or against the Articles and Sections respectively submitted, shall be made by the several county clerks, as is now provided by law, to the Secretary of State, within twenty days after the election; and the returns of the said votes shall, within five days thereafter, be examined and canvassed by the Auditor, Treasurer and Secretary of State, or any two of them, in the presence of the Governor, and proclamation shall be made by the Governor, forthwith, of the result of the canvass. § 12. If it shall appear that a majority of the votes polled are "for the new Constitution," then so much of this Constitution as was not separately submitted to be voted on by Articles and Sections, shall be the supreme law of the State of Illinois, on and after Monday, the 8th day of August, A. D. 1870; but if it shall appear that a majority of the votes polled were against the new Constitution," then so much thereof as was not separately submitted to be voted on by Articles and Sections shall be null and void. If it shall appear that a majority of the votes polled are "for the sections relating to railroads in the Article entitled Corporations,'" sections 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, relating to railroads in the said Article, shall be a part of the Constitution of this State; but if a majority of said votes are against such sections, they shall be null and void. If a majority of the votes polled are "for the Article entitled 'Counties,'” such Article shall be a part of the Constitution of this State, and shall be substituted for Article VII, in the present Constitution, entitled "Counties;" but if a majority of said votes are against such Article, the same shall be null and void. If a majority of the votes polled are for the Article entitled "Warehouses," such Article shall be a part of the Constitution of this State; but if a majority of the votes are against said Article, the same shall be null and void. If a majority of the votes polled are for either of the sections separately submitted, relating respectively to the "Illinois Central Railroad," "Minority Representation," "Municipal Subscriptions to Railroads or Private Corporations," and the "Canal," then such of said sections as shall receive such majority, shall be a part of the Constitution of this State; but each of said sections so separately submitted, against which, respectively, there shall be a majority of the votes polled, shall be null and void: Provided, That the section relating to "Minority Representation," shall not be declared adopted unless the portion of the Constitution not separately submitted to be voted on by articles and sections, shall be adopted; and in case said section relating to " Minority Representation," shall become a portion of the Constitution, it shall be substituted for sections 7 and 8 of the Legislative Article. If a majority of the votes cast at such election shall be for a three-fifths vote to remove a county seat, then the words "a majority" shall be stricken out of section four of the Article on counties, and the words "three-fifths" shall be inserted in lieu thereof; and the following words shall be added to said section, to wit: "But when an attempt is made to remove a county seat to a point nearer to the center of a county, then a majority vote only shall be necessary." If the foregoing proposition shall not receive a majority of the votes, as aforesaid, then the same shall have no effect whatever. § 13. Immediately after the adoption of this Constitution the Governor and Secretary of State shall proceed to ascertain and fix the appportionment of the State for members of the first House of Representatives under this Constitution. The apportionment shall be based upon the Federal census, of the year of our Lord 1870, of the State of Illinois, and shall be made strictly in accordance with the rules and principles announced in the article on the Legislative Department of this Constitution: Provided, That in case the Federal census aforesaid cannot be ascertained prior to Friday, the 23rd day of September, A. D. 1870, then the said apportionment shall be based on the State census of the year of our Lord 1865, in accordance with the rules and principles aforesaid. The Governor shall, on or before Wednesday, the 28th day of September, A. D. 1870, make official announcement of the said apportionment, under the great seal of the State; and one hundred copies thereof, duly certified, shall be forthwith transmitted by the Secretary of State to each county clerk for distribution. § 14. The districts shall be regularly numbered, by the Secretary of State, commencing with Alexander county as No. 1, and proceeding thence northwardly through the State, and terminating with the county of Cook; but no county shall be numbered as more than one district, except the county of Cook, which shall constitute three districts, each embracing the territory contained in the now existing Representative Districts of said county. And on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, A. D. 1870, the members of the first House of Representatives under this Constitution shall be elected according to the apportionment fixed and announced as aforesaid, and shall hold their offices for two years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. § 15. The Senate, at its first session under this Constitution, shall consist of fifty members, to be chosen as follows: At the general election held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, A. D. 1870, two Senators shall be elected in districts where the terms of Senators expire on the first Monday of January, A. D. 1871, or where there shall be a vacancy, and in the remaining districts one Senator shall be elected. Senators so elected shall hold their office two years. § 16. The General Assembly, at its first session held after the adoption of this Constitution, shall proceed to apportion the State for members of the Senate and House of Representatives, in accordance with the provisions of the Article on the Legislative Department. § 17. When this Constitution shall be ratified by the people, the Governor shall forthwith, after having ascertained the fact, issue writs of election to the sheriffs of the several counties of this State, or, in case of vacancies, to the coroners, for the election of all the officers, the time of whose election is fixed by this Constitution or schedule, and it shall be the duty of said sheriffs or coroners to give such notice of the time and place of said election as is now prescribed by law. § 18. All laws of the State of Illinois, and all official writings, and the Scissors, all kinds. Executive, Legislative and Judicial proceedings, shall be conducted, preserved and published in no other than the English language. § 19. The General Assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this Constitution. § 20. The Circuit Clerks of the different counties having a population over sixty thousand, shall continue to be Recorders (ex-officio) for their respective counties, under this Constitution, until the expiration of their respective terms. § 21. The Judges of all Courts of Record in Cook county shall, in lieu of any salary provided for in this Constitution, receive the compensation now provided by law until the adjournment of the first session of the General Assembly, after the adoption of this Constitution. § 22. The present Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook county shall continue to hold the Circuit Court of Lake county until otherwise provided by law. § 23. When this Constitution shall be adopted, and take effect as the supreme law of the State of Illinois, the two-mill tax provided to be annually assessed and collected upon each dollar's worth of taxable property, in addition to all other taxes, as set forth in Article 15 of the now existing Constitution, shall cease to be assessed after the year of our Lord 1870. § 24. Nothing contained in this Constitution shall be so construed as to deprive the General Assembly of power to authorize the city of Quincy to create any indebtedness for railroad or municipal purposes for which the people of said city shall have voted, and to which they shall have given, by such vote, their assent prior to the 13th day of December, A. D. 1869: Provided, That no such indebtedness, so created, shall in any part thereof be paid by the State, or from any State revenue, tax or fund, but the same shall be paid, if at all, by the said city of Quincy alone, and by taxes to be levied upon the taxable property thereof: And provided, further, That the General Assembly shall have no power in the premises that it could not exercise under the present Constitution of this State. § 25. In case this Constitution and the Articles and Sections separately submitted, be adopted, the existing Constitution shall cease in all its provisions; and in case this Constitution be adopted, and any one or more of the Articles or Sections submitted separately, be defeated, the provisions of the existing Constitution, if any, on the same subject, shall remain in force. § 26. The provisions of this Constitution required to be executed prior to the adoption or rejection thereof, shall take effect and be in force immediately. Done in Convention, at the Capitol, in the city of Springfield, on the 13th day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-fourth. |