Massachusetts Constitution of 1780
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rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities
and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and
among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislators
and magistrates, in all future periods of this Commonwealth, to cherish
the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them;
especially the university at Cambridge, public schools, and grammar
schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions,
rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences,
commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to
countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty
and punctuality in their dealings; sincerity, good humour, and all social
affections, and generous sentiments among the people.
chapter vi
Oaths and Subscriptions; Incompatibility of an Exclusion from
Offices; Pecuniary Qualifications; Commissions; Writs; Confirmation of Laws; Habeas Corpus; The Enacting Style;
Continuance of Officers; Provision for a future Revisal of the
Constitution, etc.
Art. i.—any person chosen Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Counselor, Senator, or Representative, and accepting the trust, shall, before he
proceed to execute the duties of his place or office, make and subscribe
the following declaration, viz.—
‘‘I, A. B. do declare, that I believe the christian religion, and have a firm
persuasion of its truth; and that I am seized and possessed, in my own
right, of the property required by the Constitution as one qualification
for the office or place to which I am elected.’’
And the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Counsellors, shall make
and subscribe the said declaration, in the presence of the two Houses of
Assembly; and the Senators and Representatives first elected under this
constitution, before the President and five of the Council of the former
Constitution, and, forever afterwards, before the Governor and Council
for the time being.
And every person chosen to either of the places or offices aforesaid, as