Page:The Federal and state constitutions v2.djvu/602

Rh manner, and shall meet within three months after their election at the capital of the State, for the purpose aforesaid.

At the general election to be held in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in each tenth year thereafter, the question, “Shall there be a convention to revise, alter; or amend the constitution?” shall be submitted to the electors of the State; and in case a majority of the electors voting at said election shall decide in favor of a convention, the general assembly, at its next regular session, shall provide by law for the election of delegates and the assembling of such convention, as provided in the preceding section; but no amendment or revision of this constitution, agreed upon by any convention in pursuance of this article, shall take effect until the same shall have been submitted to the electors of the State, and adopted by a majority of those voting thereon.

In order that no inconvenience may arise from the change from a territorial to a State government, it is declared that no existing rights, suits, prosecutions, (except for political offences,) claims, or contracts, shall be affected by a change in the form of government, except as otherwise declared in this constitution. But no debt of the Territory shall be assumed by the State, except by a law passed by a vote of two-thirds of each branch of the general assembly.

This constitution shall be submitted to a vote of the people, for approval or rejection, on the third Tuesday of May, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight. The vote shall be by ballot, and those in favor of the constitution shall write or print on their ballots the words “For the constitution,” and those opposed to the constitution shall write or print upon their ballots the words “Against the constitution.” Said election shall be conducted according to the provisions of section thirteen of an act of the legislature of the Territory of Kansas, passed February —, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, entitled “An act to provide for the election of delegates to a convention to frame a State constitution.”

At the same time and place, and under the provisions of the section aforesaid, an election shall be held for members of the general assembly, for State officers, for judges, and for members of Congress to represent the State of Kansas in the Thirty-fifth Congress of the United States.

If this constitution, upon being submitted to the people, shall be approved by a majority of the legal votes cast thereon, a copy of the same, certified by the president and secretary of the convention, together with the memorial framed by the convention, asking admission into the Union, and a certified statement of the vote on the ratification thereof, shall be transmitted as soon as practicable by the governor, president of the council, and speaker of the house of representatives of the Territory of Kansas, or any two of them, to the President and Congress of the United States.

Provided this constitution shall be ratified by the people, then, upon the admission of Kansas into the Union as a State, this constitution shall be in full force, the State officers shall immediately enter upon the performance of their duties, and the governor shall immediately, by proclamation, convene the general assembly.