Page:The Federal and state constitutions v5.djvu/274

2800 wise than for crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited within the State.

Ratified in convention this ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. , President. , Secretary. , Assistant Secretary. 



We, the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the sovereign ruler of nations, for the preservation of the American Union and the existence of our civil, political, and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those blessings to us and our posterity, do, for the more certain security thereof and for the better government of this State, ordain and establish this constitution.

That the great, general, and essential principles of liberty and free government, may be recognized and established, and that the relations of this State to the Union and Government of the United States, and those of the people of this State to the rest of the American people may be defined and affirmed, we do declare:

That we hold it to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor, and the pursuit of happiness.

That all political power is vested in and derived from the people; all government of right originates from the people, is