tor, and hold his office for the term of four years, and shall perform such duties and receive such compensation as may be prescribed by law. The Secretary of State and Attorney General shall be ex officio members, and with the Superintendent compose said Board of Education.

4. The General Assembly shall also establish and maintain a State University, with departments for instruction in teaching, in agriculture, and in natural science, as soon as the public school fund will permit.

5. The proceeds of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to this State, and not otherwise appropriated by this State or the United States; also all moneys, stocks, bonds, lands, and other property now be longing to any fund for purposes of education; also the net proceeds of all sales of lands and other property and effects that may accrue to the State by escheat, or from sales of estrays, or from unclaimed dividends, or distributive shares of the estates of deceased persons, or from fines, penalties, and forfeitures; also any proceeds of the sales of public lands which may have been or hereafter may be paid over to this State (if Congress will consent to said appropriation;) also all other grants, gifts, or devises that have been or hereafter may be made to this State, and not otherwise appropriated by the terms of the grant, gift, or devise, shall be securely invested and sacredly preserved as a public school fund, the annual income of which fund, together with so much of the ordinary revenue of the State as may be necessary, shall be faithfully appropriated for establishing and maintaining the free schools and the university in the article provided for, and for no other uses or purposes whatever.

6. No part of the public school fund shall ever be invested in the stock or bonds. or other obligations of any State, or of any county, city, town, or corporation. The stock of the Bank of the State of Missouri, now held for school purposes, and all other stocks belonging to any school or university fund, shall be sold in such manner and at such time as the General Assembly shall prescribe; and the proceeds thereof, and the proceeds of the sales of any lands or other property which now belong or may hereafter belong to said school fund, may be invested in the bonds of the United States. All county school funds shall be loaned upon good and unincumbered real estate security, with personal security in addition thereto.

7. No township or school district shall receive any portion of the public school fund, unless a free school shall have been kept therein for not less than three months during the year for which distribution thereof is made. The General Assembly shall have power to require by law that every child of sufficient mental and physical ability shall attend the public schools during the period between the ages of five and eighteen years for a term equivalent to sixteen months, unless educated by other means.

8. In case the public school fund shall be insufficient to sustain a free school at least four months in every year, in each school district in this State, the General Assembly may provide by law for the raising of such deficiency by levying a tax on all the taxable property in each county, township, or school district as they may deem proper.

9. The General Assembly shall, so far as it can be done without infringing upon vested rights, reduce all lands, moneys, and other property used or held for school purposes, in the various counties of this State, into the public school fund herein provided for; and, in making distribution of the annual income of such fund, shall take into consideration the amount of any county or city funds appropriated for common school purposes, and make such distribution as will equalize the amount appropriated for common schools throughout the State.

ARTICLE II.

SECTION 19. After the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, every person who was not a qualified voter prior to that time, shall, in addition to the other qualifications required, be able to read and write in order to become a qualified voter, unless his inability to read or write shall be the result of a physical disability.

The constitution of 1836 makes provision for education in article nine.

ARTICLE IX.-EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. Knowledge and learning generally diffused through a community being essential to the preservation of a free government, and diffusing the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the State being highly conducive to this end, it shall be the duty of the general assembly to provide by law for the improvement of such lands as are or hereafter may be granted by the United States to this State for the use of schools, and to apply any funds which may be raised from such land, or from any other source, to the accomplishment of the object for which they are or may be intended. The general assembly shall, from time to time, pass such laws as shall be calculated to encourage intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvements, by allowing rewards and immunities for the promotion and improvement of arts, science, commerce, manufactures, and natural history, and countenance and encourage the principles of humanity, industry, and morality.

In the amended constitution of 1865 this article remains, and is numbered eight.

MICHIGAN.

First settled in 1650. Area 56,243 square miles. Admitted into the Union in 1837.

The governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the legislature in joint vote, shall appoint a superintendent of public instruction, who shall hold his office for two years, and whose duties shall be prescribed by

law.

The legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement. The proceeds of all lands that have been, or hereafter may be, granted by the United States to this State for the support of schools, which shall hereafter be sold or disposed of, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with the rents of all such unsold lands, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of schools throughout the State.

The legislature shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a school shall be kept up and supported in each school district at least three months in every year; and every school district neglecting to keep up and support such a school may be deprived of its equal proportion of the interest of the public fund.

As soon as the circumstances of the State will permit, the legislature shall provide for the establishment of libraries, one at least in each township; and the money which shall be paid by persons as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, and the clear proceeds of all fines assessed in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied for the support of said libraries.

The legislature shall take measures for the protection, improvement, or other disposition of such lands as have been, or may hereafter be, reserved or granted by the United States to this State for the support of a university; and the funds accruing from the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source, for the purpose aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund for the support of said university, with such branches as the public convenience may hereafter demand, for the promotion of literature, the arts and sciences, and as may be authorized by the terms of such grant; and it shall be the duty of the legislature, as soon as may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the funds of said university.

The second constitution, adopted in 1850, devotes to education

ARTICLE XIII.

SECTION 1. The superintendent of public instruction shall have the general supervision of public instruction, and his duties shall be prescribed by law.

2. The proceeds from the sales of all lands that have been, or hereafter may be, granted by the United States to the State for educational purposes, or appropriated by the State for like purposes, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, shall be inviolably appropriated and annually applied to the specific objects of the original gift, grant, or appropriation.

3. All lands, the titles to which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall escheat to the State; and the interest on the clear proceeds from the sales thereof shall be appropriated exclusively to the support of primary schools.

4. The legislature shall, within five years from the adoption of this constitution, provide for and establish a system of primary schools, whereby a school shall be kept, without charge for tuition, at least three months in each year, in every school district in the State, and all instruction in said schools shall be conducted in the English language.

5. A school shall be maintained in each school district at least three months in each year. Any school district neglecting to maintain such school, shall be deprived for the ensuing year of its proportion of the income of the primary school fund, and of all funds arising from taxes for the support of schools.

6. There shall be elected in each judicial circuit, at the time of the election of the judge of such circuit, a regent of the university, whose term of office shall be the same as that of such judge. The regents thus elected shall constitute the board of regents of the University of Michigan.

7. The regents of the university, and their successors in office, shall continue to constitute the body corporate, known by the name and title of "the Regents of the University of Michigan."

8. The regents of the university shall, at their first annual meeting, or as soon thereafter as may be, elect a president of the university, who shall be ex officio a

member of their board, with the privilege of speaking, but not of voting. He shall preside at the meetings of the regents, and be the principal executive officer of the university. The board of regents shall have the general supervision of the university, and the direction and control of all expenditures from the university interest fund.

9. There shall be elected at the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, three members of a State board of education, one for two years, one for four years, and one for six years; and at each succeeding biennial election there shall be elected one member of such board, who shall hold his office for six years. The superintendent of public instruction shall be ex officio a member and secretary of such board. The board shall have the general supervision of the State Normal School, and their duties shall be prescribed by law.

10. Institutions for the benefit of those inhabitants who are deaf, dumb, blind or insane, shall always be fostered and supported.

11. The legislature shall encourage the promotion of intellectual, scientific and agricultural improvement; and shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural school. The legislature may appropriate the twenty-two sections of salt spring lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, where such lands have been already sold, and any land which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such school, and may make the same a branch of the university for instruction in agriculture and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the university.

12. The legislature shall also provide for the establishment of at least one librarian in each township; and all fines assessed and collected in the several counties and townships for any breach of the penal laws shall be exclusively applied to the support of such libraries.

FLORIDA.

Explored in 1512. Area, 59,268 square miles. Admitted as a State in March, 1845.

In the constitution presented to Congress in 1839, which was in force in 1860, article tenth pertains to education.

ARTICLE X.-EDUCATION

The proceeds of all lands granted by the United States for the use of schools shall remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which shall be used for the benefit of said schools, and for no other purpose.

In the constitution of 1865 is the following:

ARTICLE X.-EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. The proceeds of all lands for the use of schools and a seminary or seminaries of learning shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which,

together with all moneys accrued from any other source, applicable to the same object, shall be irrevocably appropriated to the use of schools and seminaries of learning, respectively, and to no other purpose.

2. The General Assembly shall take such measures as may be necessary to preserve from waste or damage all lands so granted or appropriated for the purpose of education.

TEXAS.

Settled in 1792. Area, 237,321 square miles. Admitted as a State in December, 1845.

Article tenth of the constitution of 1845 has the following in relation to education:

ARTICLE X.-EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of the State to make suitable provisions for the support and maintenance of public schools.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall, as early as practicable, establish a system of free schools throughout the State; and as a basis for the endowment and support of said system, all the funds, lands, and other property heretofore set apart and appropriated, or that may hereafter be set apart and appropriated for the support and maintenance of public schools, shall constitute the public school fund; and said fund, and the income derived therefrom, shall be a perpetual fund exclusively for the education of all the white scholastic inhabitants of this State, and no law shall ever be made appropriating said fund to any other use or purpose whatever. And until such time as the legislature shall provide for the establishment of such system of public schools in the State, the fund thus created and the income derived therefrom, shall remain as a charge against the State, and be passed to the credit of the free common school fund.

SEC. 3. And all the alternate sections of land reserved by the State out of grants heretofore made, or that may hereafter be made, to railroad companies or other corporations of any nature whatever, for internal improvements, or for the development of the wealth and resources of the State, shall be set apart as a part of the perpetual school fund of the State; provided, that if at any time hereafter any portion of the public domain of this State shall be sold, and by virtue of said sale the jurisdiction over said land shall be vested in the United States government, in such event one-half of the proceeds derived from said sale shall become a part of the perpetual school fund of the State; and the legislature shall hereafter appropriate one-half of the proceeds resulting from all sales of the public lands to the perpetual public school fund.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall provide, from time to time, for the sale of lands belonging to the perpetual public school fund, upon such time and terms as it may deem expedient; provided, that in cases of sale the preference shall be given to actual settlers; and, provided further, that the legislature shall have no power to grant relief to purchasers by granting further time for payment, but shall, in all cases, provide for the forfeiture of the land to the State for the benefit of a