208
America’s First Constitutions and Declarations of Rights
chapter i
section ii
Senate
Art. i—there shall be annually elected by the freeholders and other
inhabitants of this Commonwealth, qualified as in this Constitution is
provided, forty persons to be Counsellors and Senators for the year ensuing their election; to be chosen by the inhabitants of the districts, into
which the Commonwealth may from time to time be divided by the General Court for that purpose: And the General Court, in assigning the
numbers to be elected by the respective districts, shall govern themselves
by the proportion of the public taxes paid by the said districts; and
timely make known to the inhabitants of the Commonwealth, the limits
of each district, and the number of Counsellors and Senators to be chosen therein; provided, that the number of such districts shall never be
less than thirteen; and that no district be so large as to entitle the same to
choose more than six Senators.
And the several counties in this Commonwealth shall, until the General Court shall determine it necessary to alter the said districts, be districts for the choice of Counsellors and Senators, (except that the counties
of Dukes County and Nantucket shall form one district for that purpose)
and shall elect the following number for Counsellors and Senators, viz:
Suffolk
Essex
Middlesex
Hampshire
Plymouth
Barnstable
Bristol
York
Dukes County and Nantucket
Worcester
Cumberland
Lincoln
Berkshire
Six
Six
Five
Four
Three
One
Three
Two
One
Five
One
One
Two