ARTICLE XVI.

Miscellaneous.

Section 1. Any person debarred from holding office in the State of Florida by the third section [Section 3] of the fourteenth Article [Article XIV] of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which is as follows: "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President or Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds [of each House,] remove such disability," is hereby debarred from holding office in this State; Provided, That whenever such disability from holding office shall be removed from any person by the Congress of the United States, the removal of such disability shall also apply to this State, and such person shall be restored in all respects to the rights of citizenship as herein provided for electors.

Section 2. Any person elected to the Senate of the United States by the Legislature of this State, or any person elected by the people, or appointed to office by the Governor of the State, or by any officer of the State, under the provisions of the Constitution adopted by the Convention of the people convened on the 25th day of October, A. D. 1865, shall not be empowered to hold such office after the same position or office shall have been filled by election or appointment under the provisions of this Constitution; Provided, That all officers holding office under the provisions of the Constitution adopted the 25th day of October, A. D. 1865, and not provided for in this Constitution, shall continue to hold their respective offices, and discharge the duties thereof, until the Governor shall, by his proclamation, declare such offices vacant.

Section 3. The several Judicial Circuits of the Circuit Courts shall be as follows: The First Judicial Circuit shall be composed of the counties of Escambia, Santa Rosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington, and Jackson; the Second Judicial Circuit shall be composed of the counties of Gadsden, Liberty, Calhoun, Franklin, Leon, Wakulla, and Jefferson; the Third Judicial Circuit shall be composed of the counties of Madison, Taylor, Lafayette, Hamilton, Suwannee, and Columbia; the Fourth Judicial Circuit shall be composed of the counties of Nassau, Duval, Baker, Bradford, Clay, and St. Johns; the Fifth Judicial Circuit shall be composed of the counties of Putnam, Alachua, Levy, Marion, and Sumter; the Sixth Judicial Circuit shall be composed of the counties of Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Polk, and Monroe; the Seventh Judicial Circuit shall be composed of the counties of Volusia, Brevard, Orange, and Dade.

Section 4. The salary of the Governor of the State shall be five thousand dollars per annum; that of the Chief Justice shall be four thousand five hundred dollars; that of each Associate Justice shall be four thousand dollars; that of each Judge of the Circuit Court shall be three thousand five hundred dollars; that of the Lieutenant Governor shall be two thousand five hundred dollars; that of each Cabinet Officer shall be three thousand dollars. The pay of the members of the Senate and House of Representatives shall be five hundred dollars per annum, and in addition thereto ten cents per mile for each mile travelled from their respective places of residence to the Capital, and the same to return. But such distances shall be estimated by the shortest general thoroughfare. All other officers of the State shall be paid by fees or per diem fixed by law.

Section 5. The Legislature shall appropriate two thousand dollars each year for the purchase of such books for the Supreme Court Library as the said Court shall direct.

Section 6. The salary of each officer shall be payable quarterly upon his own requisition.

Section 7. The tribe of Indians located in the southern portion of the State, and known as the Seminole Indians, shall be entitled to one member in each House of the Legislature. Such member shall have all the rights, privileges, and remuneration as other members of the Legislature. Such members shall be elected by the members of their tribe, in the manner prescribed for all elections by this Constitution. The tribe shall be represented only by a member of the same, and in no case by a white man; Provided, That the Representatives of the Seminole Indians shall not be a bar to the representation of any county by the citizens thereof.

Section 8. The Legislature may, at any time, impose such tax on the Indians as it may deem proper; and such imposition of tax shall constitute the Indians citizens, and they shall thenforward be entitled to all the privileges of other citizens, and thereafter be barred of special representation.

Section 9. In addition to other crimes and misdemeanors, for which an officer may be impeached and tried, shall be included drunkenness and other dissipations. Incompetency, malfeassance in office, gambling, or any conduct detrimental to good morals, shall be considered sufficient cause for impeachment and conviction. Any officer when impeached by the Assembly shall be deemed under arrest, and shall be disqualifed from performing any of the duties of his office until acquittal by the Senate. But any officer so impeached and in arrest may demand his trial by the Senate within one year from the date of his impeachment.

Section 10. The following shall be the oath of office for each officer in the State, including members of the Legislature: "I do solemnly swear that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution and government of the United States, and of the State of Florida, against all enemies, domestic or foreign, and that I will bear true faith, loyalty, and allegiance to the same, and that I am entitled to hold office under this constitution. That I will well and faithfully perform all the duties of the office of __________, on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

Section 11. The Legislature may provide for the donation of the public lands to actual settlers. But such donation shall not exceed one hundred and sixty acres to any one person.

Section 12. All county officers shall hold their respective offices at the county seats of their counties.

Section 13. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of all statutes and laws of a general nature. All decisions of the Supreme Court, and all laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any person. But no judgment of the Supreme Court shall take effect and be operative until the opinion of the court in such case shall be filed with the clerk of said court.

Section 14. The Legislature shall not create any office, the term of which shall be longer than four years.

Section 15. The Governor, Cabinet, and Supreme Court shall keep their offices at the seat of government. But in case of invasion or violent epidemics, the Governor may direct that the offices of the government shall be removed temporarily to some other place. The session of the Legislature may be adjourned for the same cause to some other place; but in such case of removal all the departments of the government shall be removed to one place. But such removal shall not continue longer than the necessity for the same shall continue.

Section 16. A plurality of votes given at any election by the people shall constitute a choice when not otherwise provided by this Constitution.

Section 17. The term of the State officers elected at the first election under this Constitution, not otherwise provided for, shall continue until the first Tuesday of January, A. D. 1873, and until the installation of their successors, excepting the members of the Legislature.

Section 18. Each county and incorporated city shall make provision for the support of its own officers, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law. Each county shall make provision for building a court house and jail, and for keeping the same in good repair.

Section 19. If, at the meeting of the senate at any session, the Lieutenant Governor has not been qualified or is not present, the Senate shall elect one of its members as temporary President before proceeding to other business.

Section 20. The Legislature shall, at the first session, adopt a seal for the State, and such seal shall be of the size of the American silver dollar. But said seal shall not again be changed after its adoption by the Legislature; and the Governor shall, by his proclamation, announce that said seal has become the Great Seal of the State.

Section 21. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and all the State officers elected by the people, shall be installed on the first day of the meeting of the Legislature, and immediately assume the duties of their respective offices.

Section 22. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor, shall have been, before their election to office, nine years citizens of the United States, and three years citizens of the State. All other officers shall have been one year citizens of the State, and six months citizens of the county from which they are elected or appointed. No person shall be eligible to any office unless he be a registered voter.

Section 23. The Governor, or any State officer, is hereby prohibited from giving certificates of election or other credentials to any person as having been elected to the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, or the United States Senate who has not been two years a citizen of the State, and nine years a citizen of the United States, and a registered voter.

Section 24. The property of all corporations, whether heretofore or hereafter incorporated, shall be subject to taxation, unless such corporation be for religious, educational, or charitable purposes.

Section 25. All bills, bonds, notes, or evidences of debt, outstanding and unpaid, given for or in consideration of bonds or treasury notes of the so-called Confederate States, or notes and bonds of this State, paid and redeemable in the bonds or notes of the Confederate States, are hereby declared null and void, and no action shall be maintained thereon in the courts of this State.

Section 26. It shall be the duty of the courts to consider that there is a failure of consideration, and it shall be so held by the courts of this State, upon all deeds or bills of sale given for slaves, with covenant or warranty of title or soundness, or both upon all bills, bonds, notes, or other evidences of debt, given for or in consideration of slaves, which are now outstanding and unpaid, and no action shall be maintained thereon; and all judgments and decrees rendered in any of the courts of this State since the 10th day of January, A. D. 1861, upon all deeds or bills of sale, or upon any bond, bill, note, or other evidence of debt based upon the sale or purchase of slaves, are hereby declared set aside, and the plea of failure of consideration shall be held a good defense in all actions to said suit; and when money was due previous to the 10th day of January, A. D. 1861, and slaves were given in consideration for such money, these shall be deemed a failure of consideration for the debt; Provided, That settlements and compromises of such transactions made by the parties thereto shall be respected.

Section 27. All persons who, as alien enemies under the sequestration act of the so-called Confederate Congress, and now resident of the State, had property sequestered and sold by any person acting under a law of the so-called Confederate States, in the State of Florida, subsequent to the 10th day of January, A. D. 1861, and prior to the first day of May, A. D. 1865, shall be empowered to file a bill in equity in the Circuit Court of the State, and shall be entitled to obtain judgment against the State for all damages sustained by said sale and detention of property. The Court shall estimate the damages upon the assessed valuation of the property in question in the year A. D. 1860, with interest at six per cent. from the time the owner was deprived of the same. But all judgments against the State shall be paid only in certificates of indebtedness, redeemable in State lands. Said certificates shall be issued by the Governor, countersigned by the Secretary of State and by the Comptroller, upon the decree of the court. Oral testimony shall be sufficient to establish the fact of a sale having been made.

Section 28. There shall be no civil or political distinction in this State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and the Legislature shall have no power to prohibit, by law, any class of persons on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude, to vote or hold any office, beyond the conditions prescribed by this Constitution.

Section 29. The apportionment for the Assembly shall be as follows: Escambia two, Santa Rosa one, Walton one, Holmes one, Washington one, Jackson three, Calhoun one, Gadsden two, Franklin one, Liberty one, Wakulla one, Leon four, Jefferson three, Madison two, Taylor one, Hamilton one, Suwannee one, Lafayette one, Alachua two, Columbia two, Baker one, Bradford one, Nassau one, Duval two, Clay one, St. Johns one, Putnam one, Marion two, Levy one, Volusia one, Orange one, Brevard one, Dade one, Hillsborough one, Hernando one, Sumter one, Polk one, Manatee one, and Monroe one. There shall be twenty-four Senatorial districts, which shall be as follows, and shall be known by their respective numbers, from one to twenty-four inclusive:

The first Senatorial District shall be composed of Escambia county, the second of Santa Rosa and Walton, the third of Jackson, the fourth of Holmes and Washington, the fifth of Calhoun and Franklin, the sixth of Gadsden, the seventh of Liberty and Wakulla, the eighth of Leon, the ninth of Jefferson, the tenth of Madison, the eleventh of Hamilton and Suwannee, the twelfth of Lafayette and Taylor, the thirteenth of Alachua and Levy, the fourteenth of Columbia, the fifteenth of Bradford and Clay, the sixteenth of Baker and Nassau, the seventeenth of St. Johns and Putnam, the eighteenth of Duval, the nineteenth of Marion, the twentieth of Volusia and Orange, the twenty-first of Dade and Brevard, the twenty-second of Hillsborough and Hernando, the twenty-third of Sumter and Polk, the twenty-fourth of Manatee and Monroe, and each Senatorial District shall be entitled to one Senator.

Section 30. No person shall ever be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court or Circuit Court, who is not twenty-five years of age, and a practicing attorney in this State.

Section 31. The Legislature shall, as soon as convenient, adopt a State Emblem having the design of the Great Seal of the State impressed upon a white ground of six feet six inches fly and six feet deep.

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Migrant Workers During the Great Depression in Florida These images were created by the Farm Security Administration in order to document the hardships of farm workers during the Great Depression.		Baseball in Florida From Joe DiMaggio to the All American Girls Baseball League, this exhibit features historic baseball images from the 19th and 20th centuries.		Spanish-American War The port city of Tampa served as the primary staging area for U.S. troops bound for the war in Cuba.

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