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ARTICLE IX.
Census
and Apportionment of Representation.
Section 1. The General
Assembly shall, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, and every
tenth year thereafter, cause an enumeration to be made of all the inhabitants of
the state, and to the whole number of free white inhabitants shall be added
three-fifths of the number of slaves, and they shall then proceed to apportion
the representation, equally among the different counties, according to such
enumeration, giving however one representative to every county, and increasing
the number of Representatives on a uniform ratio of population, according to the
foregoing basis, and which ratio shall not be changed until a new census shall
have been taken.
Section 2. The General Assembly shall also, after every such
enumeration, proceed to fix by law the number of Senators which shall constitute
the Senate of the State of Florida, and which shall never be less than
one-fourth nor more than one-half of the whole number of the House of
Representatives; and they shall lay off the State into the same number of
Senatorial Districts, as nearly equal in the number of inhabitants as may be,
according to the ratio of representation established in the preceding section,
each of which Districts shall be entitled to one Senator.
Section 3. When any
Senatorial District shall be composed of two or more counties, the counties, of
which such district consists, shall not be entirely separated by any county
belonging to another district, and no county shall be divided
Section 4. No new
county shall be entitled to separate representation, until its population equal
the ratio of representation, then existing; nor shall any county be reduced in
population by division, below the existing ratio.
Section 5. Until the
apportionment of representation by the General Assembly, as directed in the
foregoing section, the several counties shall be entitled to the following
Representatives, vis:--Escambia three, Walton one, Washington one, Jackson
three, Franklin two, Calhoun two, Gadsden four, Leon six, Jefferson three,
Madison one, Hamilton one, Columbia two, Alachua two, Duval two, Nassau one, St.
Johns three, Mosquito one, Dade one, Monroe one, Hillsborough one: And until the
apportionment of Senators under the census as aforesaid, there shall be sixteen
Senatorial Districts in this State, which shall be as follows: The county of Escambia, shall
compose the first District. The counties of Walton and Washington, shall compose the second District.
The county of Jackson,
shall compose the third District. The county of Calhoun, shall compose
the fourth District. The county of Franklin, shall compose the fifth District. The county of Gadsden, shall compose
the sixth District. The
county of Leon, shall compose the seventh District. The county of Jefferson, shall
compose the eighth District The county of Madison, shall compose the ninth District. The county of Hamilton, shall
compose the tenth District. The county of Columbia, shall compose the eleventh District. The county of Alachua, shall compose
the twelfth District. The county of Duval, shall compose the thirteenth District. The county of Nassau, shall compose
the fourteenth District. The counties of St. Johns and Mosquito, shall compose the fifteenth
District. The counties
of Dade, Monroe, and Hillsborough, shall compose the sixteenth District.
And each Senatorial
District shall elect one Senator, and the seventh District shall be entitled to
two.
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