This Charter of Privileges being distinctly read in Assembly, and the whole and every part thereof being approved and agreed to, by us, we do thankfully receive the same from our Proprietary and Governor, at Philadelphia, this Twenty-Eighth Day of October, One Thousand Seven Hundred and One. Signed on Behalf, and by Order of the Assembly,
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The Constitution, or System of Government, agreed to and resolved upon by the Representatives in full Convention of the Delaware State, formerly styled “The Government of the Counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, upon Delaware,” the said Representatives being chosen by the Freemen of the said State for that express Purpose.
Article 1. The government of the counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, upon Delaware, shall hereafter in all public and other writings be called The Delaware State.
Art. 2. The Legislature shall be formed of two distinct branches; they shall meet once or oftener in every year, and shall be called, “The General Assembly of Delaware.”
Art. 3. One of the branches of the Legislature shall be called, “The House of Assembly,” and shall consist of seven Representatives to be chosen for each county annually of such persons as are freeholders of the same.
Art. 4. The other branch shall be called “The council,” and consist of nine members; three to be chosen for each county at the time of the first election of the assembly, who shall be freeholders of the county for which they are chosen, and be upwards of twenty-five years of age. At the end of one year after the general election, the councillor who had the smallest number of votes in each county shall be displaced, and the vacancies thereby occasioned supplied by the freemen of each county choosing the same or another person at a new election in manner aforesaid. At the end of two years after the first general election, the councillor who stood second in number of votes in each county shall be displaced, and the vacancies thereby occasioned supplied by a new election in manner aforesaid. And at the end of three years from the first general election, the councillor who had the greatest number of votes in each county shall be displaced, and the vacancies thereby occasioned supplied by a new elec-
- ↑ Verified from “The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America, Published by order of Congress, Boston: Printed by Norman and Bowen, 1785.”
- ↑ This constitution was framed by a Convention which assembled at New Castle, August 27, 1776, in accordance with the recommendation of the Continental Congress that the people of the Colonies should form independent State Governments. It was not submitted to the people but was proclaimed September 21, 1776.
