Done in open convention at the city of Helena in the Territory of Montana, this seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and eighty nine. WILLIAM A. CLARK, President. WALTER M. BICKFORD, J. F. BRAZELTON, PETER BREEN, SIMEON R. BUFORD, WILLIAM MASON BULLARD, WALTER A. BURLEIGH, ALEX F. BURNS, ANDREW J. BURNS, EDWARD BURNS, WILLIAM A. CHESSMAN, TIMOTHY E. COLLINS, CHARLES E. CONRAD, WALTER COOPER, THOMAS F. COURTNEY, ARTHUR J. CRAVEN, D. M. DURFEE, WILLIAM DYER, GEORGE O. EATON, WILLIAM T. FIELD, WARREN C. GILLETTE, O. F. GODDARD, FIELDING L. GRAVES, R. E. HAMMOND, CHARLES S. HARTMAN, HENRI J. HASKELL, LUKE D. HATCH, LEWIS H. HERSHFIELD, RICHARD O. HICKMAN, S. S. HOBSON, THOMAS JOYES, LLEWELLYN A. LUCE, J. E. MARION, CHARLES S. MARSHALL, WM. MAYGER, P. W. MCADOW, C. R. MIDDLETON, SAMUEL MITCHELL, WILLIAM MUTH, ALFRED MYERS, WILLIAM PARBERRY, W. R. RAMSDELL, G. J. REEK, JOHN C. ROBINSON, L. ROTWITT, J. E. RICKARDS, FRANCIS E. SARGEANT, LEOPOLD F. SCHMIDT, GEORGE W. STAPLETON, JOSEPH K. TOOLE, J. R. TOOLE, CHARLES S. WARREN, WILLIAM H. WATSON, CHAS. M. WEBSTER, GEORGE B. WINSTON, AARON C. WITTER, DAVID G. BROWN. ATTEST: WM. H. TODD, Chief Clerk. ORDINANCE NO. I. FEDERAL RELATIONS. BE IT ORDAINED: First. That perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured and that no inhabitant of the State of Montana shall ever be molested in person or property, on account of his or her mode of religious worship. Second. That the people inhabiting said proposed State of Montana, do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes, and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the Congress of the United States; that the lands belonging to citizens of the United States, residing without the said State of Montana, shall never be taxed at a higher rate than the lands belonging to residents thereof; that no taxes shall be imposed by the said State of Montana on lands or property therein belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by the United States or reserved for its use. But nothing herein contained shall preclude the said State of Montana from taxing as other lands are taxed any lands owned or held by any Indian who has severed his tribal relations and has obtained from the United States or from any person a title thereto by patent or other grant, save and except such lands as have been or may be granted to any Indian or Indians under any act of Congress containing a provision exempting the lands thus granted from taxation, but said last named lands shall be exempt from taxation by said State of Montana so long and to such extent as such act of Congress may prescribe. Third. That the debts and liabilities of said Territory of Montana shall be assumed and paid by said State of Montana. Fourth. That provision shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of a uniform system of public schools, which shall be open to all the children of said State of Montana and free from sectarian control. Fifth. That on behalf of the people of Montana, we in convention assembled, do adopt the Constitution of the United States. Sixth. That the Ordinances in this Article shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of said State of Montana. Seventh. The State hereby accepts the several grants of lands from the United States to the State of Montana, mentioned in an act of Congress, entitled: "An act to provide for the division of Dakota into two States, and to enable the people of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington, to form Constitutions and State governments, and to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and to make donations of public lands to such States." Approved February 22d, 1889, upon the terms and conditions therein provided. ORDINANCE II. ELECTIONS. Be it Ordained by the Convention Assembled to Form a Constitution for the State of Montana: First. That an election shall be held throughout the Territory of Montana on the first Tuesday of October, 1889, for the ratification or rejection of the Constitution framed and adopted by this Convention. Second. At said election the Constitution framed and adopted by this convention shall be submitted to the people of the Territory for their ratification or rejection, and all persons who are then qualified electors under the laws of this Territory, shall be qualified to vote for the ratification or rejection thereof. Third. Said elections shall be held at the several polling places and precincts throughout the Territory appointed for the holding of elections under the laws of the Territory, and shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the laws of the Territory regulating elections. The Boards of County Commissioners of the several counties of the Territory shall appoint judges and clerks of such election in each of said polling places and precincts in the same manner as is now required by law for the appointment of judges and clerks of general elections in the Territory. Fourth. Each elector voting at said election shall have written or printed upon the ticket he may deposit in the ballot box the words "For the Constitution" or "Against the Constitution." Fifth. The votes cast at said election for the adoption or rejection of said Constitution shall be canvassed by the canvassing boards of the respective counties not later than fifteen days after said election, or sooner, if the returns from all of the precincts 1 |