These Districts Consist Of One,
Two, Three, Or In One Case Four Counties, According To The
Population.
The article does not give the number of members of the Lower House,
nor does it even state what amount of population shall be held as
entitled to a member.
It merely provides for the division of the
State into districts which shall contain an equal number, not of
population, but of voters. The House of Assembly does consist of
128 members.
It is then stipulated that every member of both houses shall
receive three dollars a day, or twelve shillings, for their
services during the sitting of the legislature; but this sum is
never to exceed 300 dollars, or sixty pounds, in one year, unless
an extra session be called. There is also an allowance for the
traveling expenses of members. It is, I presume, generally known
that the members of the Congress at Washington are all paid, and
that the same is the case with reference to the legislatures of all
the States.
No member of the New York legislature can also be a member of the
Washington Congress, or hold any civil or military office under the
General States government.
A majority of each House must be present, or, as the article says,
"shall constitute a quorum to do business." Each House is to keep
a journal of its proceedings. The doors are to be open - except
when the public welfare shall require secrecy. A singular proviso
this in a country boasting so much of freedom! For no speech or
debate in either House, shall the legislator be called in question
in any other place. The legislature assembles on the first Tuesday
in January, and sits for about three months. Its seat is at
Albany.
The executive power, Article IV., is to be vested in a Governor and
a Lieutenant-Governor, both of whom shall be chosen for two years.
The Governor must be a citizen of the United States, must be thirty
years of age, and have lived for the last four years in the State.
He is to be commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of
the State, as is the President of those of the Union. I see that
this is also the case in inland States, which one would say can
have no navies. And with reference to some States it is enacted
that the Governor is commander-in-chief of the army, navy, and
militia, showing that some army over and beyond the militia may be
kept by the State. In Tennessee, which is an inland State, it is
enacted that the Governor shall be "commander-in-chief of the army
and navy of this State, and of the militia, except when they shall
be called into the service of the United States." In Ohio the same
is the case, except that there is no mention of militia. In New
York there is no proviso with reference to the service of the
United States.
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