militia to execute the laws, to suppress riots, or insurrections, and to repel invasion.

SEC. 5. The Governor shall nominate, and, by and with the consent of the Senate, appoint one Major-General and three Brigadier-Generals. The Adjutant-General, and other staff officers to the commander-in-chief, shall be appointed by the Governor, and their commissions shall expire with the Governor's term of office. No commissioned officer shall be removed from office except by the Senate, on the recommendation of the Governor, stating the grounds on which such removal is recommended, or by the decision of a court-martial pursuant to law.

SEC. 6. The militia may be divided into two classes, to be designated as "volunteer militia" and " reserve militia," in such manner as shall be provided by law.

SEC. 7. The militia shall, in all cases, except felony, treason, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at musters and elections of officers, and in going to and returning from the same.

SEC. 8. The officers and men commissioned and organized shall not be entitled to receive any pay, rations, or emoluments when not in active service.

ARTICLE XI

EDUCATION

SECTION 1. The common schools, and other educational institutions of the State, shall be under the management of a Board of Education, consisting of a Superintendent of Public Instruction and two members from each Congressional District.

The Governor of the State shall be ex officio, a member of the Board, but shall have no vote in its proceedings.

SEC. 2. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be President of the Board of Education, and have the casting vote in case of a tie; he shall have the supervision of the public schools of the State, and perform such other duties as may be imposed upon him by the board and the laws of the State. He shall be elected in the same manner and for the same term as the Governor of the State, and receive such salary as may be fixed by law. An office shall be assigned him in the capitol of the State.

SEC. 3. The members of the Board shall hold office for a term of four years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. After the first election under the Constitution, the Board shall be divided into two equal classes, so that each class shall consist of one member from each District. The seats of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of two years from the day of election, so that one-half may be chosen biennially.

SEC. 4. The members of the Board of Education, except the Superintendent, shall be elected by the qualified electors of the Congressional Districts in which they are chosen, at the same time and in the same manner as the members of Congress.

SEC. 5. The Board of Education shall exercise full legislative powers in reference to the public educational institutions of the State, and

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its acts, when approved by the governor, or when re-enacted by twothirds of the Board, in case of his disapproval, shall have the force and effect of law, unless repealed by the General Assembly

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the Board to establish, throughout the State, in each township or other school-district which it may have created, one or more schools, at which all the children of the State between the ages of five and twenty-one years may attend free of charge.

SEC. 7. No rule or law affecting the general interest of education shall be made by the board without the concurrence of a majority of its members. The style of all acts of the Board shall be, "Be it enacted by the Board of Education of the State of Alabama."

SEC. 8. The Board of education shall be a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of "The Board of Education of the State of Alabama." Said Board shall also be a Board of Regents of the State University, and when sitting as a Board of Regents of the University shall have power to appoint the president and the faculties thereof. The President of the University shall be, ex officio, a member of the board of regents, but shall have no vote in its proceedings. SEC. 9. The Board of Education shall meet annually at the seat of government at the same time as the General Assembly, but no session shall continue longer than twenty days, nor shall more than one session be held in the same year, unless authorized by the Governor. The members shall receive the same mileage and daily pay as the members of the General Assembly.

SEC. 10. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may be granted by the United States to the State for educational purposes; of the swamp-lands; and of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the State for like purposes; and of all estates of deceased persons who have died without leaving a will or heir; and all moneys which may be paid as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, which may be increased but not diminished, and the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, and such other means as the General Assembly may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to educational purposes, and to no other purpose whatever.

SEC. 11. In addition to the amount accruing from the above sources, one-fifth of the aggregate annual revenue of the State shall be devoted exclusively to the maintenance of public schools.

SEC. 12. The general assembly may give power to the authorities of the school-districts to levy a poll-tax on the inhabitants of the district in aid of the general school-fund, and for no other purpose. SEC. 13. The General Assembly shall levy a specific annual tax upon all railroad, navigation, banking, and insurance corporations, and upon all insurance and foreign bank and exchange agencies, and upon the profits of foreign bank bills issued in this State by any corporation, partnership or persons, which shall be exclusively devoted to the maintenance of public schools.

SEC. 14. The General Assembly shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural college, and shall appropriate the two hundred and forty thousand acres of land donated to

this State for the support of such a college, by the act of Congress, passed July 2, 1862, or the money or scrip, as the case may be, arising from the sale of said land, or any lands which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such college, or schools, and may make the same a branch of the University of Alabama for instruction in agriculture, in the mechanic arts, and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the university.

ARTICLE XII

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES

SECTION 1. A Bureau of Industrial Resources shall be established, to be under the management of a Commissioner, who shall be elected at the first general election, and shall hold his office for the term of four years.

SEC. 2. The Commissioner of Industrial Resources shall collect and condense statistical information concerning the productive industries of the State; and shall make, or cause to be made, a careful, accurate, and thorough report upon the agriculture and geology of the State, and annually report such additions as the progress of scientific development and extended explorations may require. He shall, from time to time, disseminate among the people of the State such knowledge as he may deem important, concerning improved machinery and production, and for the promotion of their agricultural, manufacturing, and mining interests; and shall send out to the people of the United States and foreign countries such reports concerning the industrial resources of Alabama as may best make known the advantages offered by the State to emigrants; and shall perform such other duties as the General Assembly may require.

SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, at the first session after the adoption of this Constitution, to pass such laws and regulations as may be necessary for the government and protection of this bureau, and also to fix and provide for the compensation of the commissioner.

SEC. 4. This bureau shall be located, and the commissioner shall reside at the capital of the State, and he shall annually make a written or printed report to the Governor of the State, to be laid before the General Assembly at each session.

SEC. 5. In case of the death, removal, or resignation of the commissioner, the Governor, with the approval of the Senate, shall have power to appoint a commissioner for the unexpired term.

ARTICLE XIII

CORPORATIONS

SECTION 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes. All general laws, and special acts passed pursuant to this section, may be altered, amended, or repealed.

SEC. 2. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such individual liabilities of the corporators or other means as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 3. Each stockholder in any corporation shall be liable to the amount of stock held or owned by him.

SEC 4. The property of corporations now existing, or hereafter created, shall forever be subject to taxation the same as property of individuals, except corporations for educational and charitable pur

poses.

SEC. 5. No right of way shall be appropriated to the use of any corporation, until full compensation therefor be first made in money, or secured by a deposit of money to the owner, irrespective of any benefit from any improvement proposed by such corporation; which compensation shall be ascertained by a jury of twelve men in a court of record, as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 6. The General Assembly shall not have power to establish or incorporate any bank or banking company, or moneyed institution, for the purpose of issuing bills of credit or bills payable to order or bearer, except under the conditions prescribed in this Constitution. SEC. 7. No bank shall be established, otherwise than under a general banking law, as provided in the first section of this article.

SEC. 8. The General Assembly may enact a general banking law, which law shall provide for the registry and countersigning by the Governor of the State of all paper credit designed to be created as money; and ample collateral security, convertible into specie, or the redemption of the same in gold or silver, shall be required, and such collateral security shall be under the control of such officer or officers as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 9. All bills or notes issued as money, shall be at all times redeemable in gold or silver, and no law shall be passed sanctioning, directly or indirectly, the suspension by any bank or banking company, of specie payment.

SEC. 10. Holders of bank-notes shall be entitled, in case of insolvency, to preference of payment over all other creditors.

SEC. 11. Every bank or banking company shall be required to cease all banking operations within twenty years from the time of its organization, and promptly thereafter close its business.

SEC. 12. No bank shall receive, directly or indirectly, a greater rate of interest than shall be allowed by law to individuals for lending money.

SEC. 13. The State shall not be a stockholder in any bank, nor shall the credit of the State ever be given or lent to any banking company, association, or corporation, except for the purpose of expediting the construction of railroads, or works of internal improvement, within the State, and the credit of the State shall, in no case, be given or lent without the approval of two-thirds of both houses of the general assembly.

SEC. 15. All corporations shall have the right to sue and shall be subject to be sued, in all courts, in like cases as natural persons. SEC. 16. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide for the organization of cities and incorporated towns, and to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, and contracting of debt.

ARTICLE XIV

EXEMPTED PROPERTY

SECTION 1. The personal property of any resident of this State to the value of one thousand dollars, to be selected by such resident, shall be exempted from sale on execution, or other final process of any court, issued for the collection of any debt contracted after the adoption of this Constitution.

SEC. 2. Every homestead, not exceeding eighty acres of land, and the dwelling and appurtenances thereon, to be selected by the owner thereof, and not in any town, city, or village, or in lieu thereof, at the option of the owner, any lot in the city, town, or village, with the dwelling and appurtenances thereon, owned and occupied by any resident of this State, and not exceeding the value of two thousand dollars, shall be exempted from sale, on execution, or any other final process from a court, from any debt contracted after the adoption of this Constitution. Such exemption, however, shall not extend to any mortgage lawfully obtained, but such mortgage or other alienation of such homestead, by the owner thereof, if a married man, shall not be valid without the voluntary signature and assent of the wife of the same.

SEC. 3. The homestead of a family, after the death of the owner thereof, shall be exempt from the payment of any debts contracted after the adoption of this Constitution, in all cases, during the minority of the children.

SEC. 4. The provisions of sections 1 and 2 of this article shall not be so construed as to prevent a laborers' lien for work done and performed for the person claiming such exemption, or a mechanics' lien for work done on the premises.

SEC. 5. If the owner of a homestead die, leaving a widow, but no children, the same shall be exempt, and the rents and profits thereof shall inure to her benefit.

SEC. 6. The real and personal property of any female in this State, acquired before marriage, and all property, real and personal, to which she may afterward be entitled by gift, grant, inheritance, or devise, shall be and remain the separate estate and property of such female, and shall not be liable for any debts, obligations, and engagements of her husband, and may be devised or bequeathed by her the same as if she were a femme sole.

ARTICLE XV

OATH OF OFFICE

SECTION 1. All civil officers of this State, legislative, executive, and judicial, before they enter upon the execution of the duties of their respective offices, shall take the following oath:

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I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am not disfranchised by the constitution of Alabama, or by the Constitution or laws of the United States; that I will honestly and faithfully support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States, the Union of the States, and the Constitution and laws of the State of Alabama, so long as I remain a citizen thereof; and that I will honestly and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter to the best of my ability. So help me God.