Sec. 6. It shall be required by competent legislation that the structures and superintendence of penal institutions of the State, the county jails, and city police prisons, secure the health and comfort of the prisoners, and that male and female prisoners be never confined in the same room or cell. Sec. 7. Beneficent provision for the poor, the unfortunate and orphan, being one of the first duties of a civilized and Christian State, the General Assembly shall, at its first session, appoint and define the duties of a board of public charities, to whom shall be intrusted the supervision of all charitable and penal State institutions, and who shall annually report to the Governor upon their condition, with suggestions for their improvement. Sec. 8. There shall also, as soon as practicable, be measures devised by the State for the establishment of one or more orphan houses, where destitute orphans may be cared for, educated and taught some business or trade. Sec. 9. It shall be the duty of the Legislature, as soon as practicable, to devise means for the education of idiots and inebriates. Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall provide that all the deafmutes, the blind and the insane of the State shall be cared for at the charge of the State. Sec. 11. It shall be steadily kept in view by the Legislature and the board of public charities, that all penal and charitable institutions should be made as nearly self-supporting as is consistent with the purposes of their creation. ARTICLE XII. Section 1. All able-bodied male citizens of the State of North Carolina, between the ages of twenty-one and forty years, who are citizens of the United States, shall be liable to duty in the militia: Provided, That all persons who may be averse to bearing arms, from religious scruples, shall be exempt therefrom. Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall provide for the organizing, arming, equipping and discipline of the militia, and for paying the same, when called into active service. Sec. 3. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief, and shall have power to call out the militia to execute the law, suppress riots or insurrection, and to repel invasion. Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall have power to make such exemptions as may be deemed necessary, and to enact laws that may be expedient for the government of the militia. ARTICLE XIII. Section 1. No convention of the people of this State shall ever be called by the General Assembly, unless by the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of each house of the General Assembly, and except the proposition, Convention or No Convention, be first submitted to the qualified voters of the whole State, at the next general election in a manner to be prescribed by law. And should a majority of the votes cast be in favor of said convention, it shall assemble on such day as may be prescribed by the General Assembly. Sec. 2. No part of the Constitution of this State shall be altered unless a bill to alter the same shall have been agreed to by three-fifths of each house of the General Assembly. And the amendment or amendments so agreed to shall be submitted at the next general election to the qualified voters of the whole State, in such a manner as may be prescribed by law. And in the event of their adoption by a majority of the votes cast, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of the Constitution of this State. 6 |