United Provinces of Buenaventura

We the People of the United Provinces of Buenaventura, humbly recognizing the laws of God and of Nature, ordain a free, democratic, representative republic, under the following constitution.

All power is vested in and derived from the people. Government is instituted for the greatest happiness of the greatest number. The people have the inalienable right to reform or change the government, if it may be found adverse or inadequate for this fundamental axiom.

All persons are born free and equal; therefore, slavery is forever illegal, and slaves who set foot in this republic shall recover their freedom and be rehabilitated under the law of the land, and no treaty shall ever be undertaken for the extradition of fugitive slaves from this country.

All persons have the right to worship God in whatever way they may wish, and so no person shall be prohibited from following any religion, or else be subjected to a test of religious belief to exercise the ballot, take up a public office, or give evidence in a chamber of justice.

All persons are free to exercise any profession, pursuit, or occupation they desire, and the law may define which professions should require qualifications for their exercise, in such manner that should be accessible to all.

Every person shall be free to speak, write, and public on whatever subject they wish, except in cases of defamation, incitement to violate the law, or breaches of the peace.

Freedom of writing and knowledge is inviolable, without censorship, bonds from authors or printers, or breaches of the peace.

Sealed writings sent through the mail or the telegraph shall be inviolable.

All persons have the right to petition their government.

Every citizen has the right to own and carry arms for their legitimate defence and security. Provided always, that the law may designate what arms are prohibited.

In times of peace, no soldier shall be quartered at any house against the will of the owner. In times of war, he may do so, but only by such terms as allowed by the law.

No person shall have private property taken by the government, except for reasons of public utility and for just indemnification, under such terms as the law may specify.

Every person shall be secure in their dwellings, writings, and effects, without unreasonable searches and seizures, except with a warrant supported by oath or affirmation, which shall declare specifically what shall be searched and seized.

Every citizen has the right to enter or exit the republic, or any Province or Territory, unless they are charged or convicted for a crime.

No titles of nobility or aristocratic honor may exist within the republic; and if any citizen should receive a title of nobility or aristocratic honor, they shall lose their citizenship.

No person shall ever be imprisoned for their debts, and no debt shall ever be inherited.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The death penalty shall be illegal for all crimes except murder, rape, treason, piracy, and other high crimes.

The accused in criminal trials shall have the rights to be known the grounds of their proceedings, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to receive all records in their defence, and to receive counsel from a person learned from the law.

There shall be no private monopolies whatsoever.

No law shall have retroactive effect.

Every person born on the soil of Buenaventura and within the jurisdiction therein, or born of Buenaventuran parents, or served in the army or navy, or naturalized by law of the General Junta, are Buenaventuran citizens.

The right to vote is inalienable to the citizen, and therefore the provinces and, in territories the Junta, may only make qualifications on the basis of age, residency, insanity, idiocy, or sex.

Buenaventura is a democratic, representative republic, consisting of Provinces sovereign in their internal affairs but united under a federative form of government.

The national territory consists of the provinces of North California, South California, New Leon, North New Navarre, South New Navarre, North New Vizcaya, South New Vizcaya, Texas, New Santander, New Mexico, Pimeria, and New Extremadura, and the territories of Yuta, Comancheria, and Sequoyah.

The Provinces of North and South California shall consist of the old Province of California west of the Sierra Nevada, bisected by the thirty-sixth parallel from the equator and west of the Sierra Nevada.

The Provinces of North and South New Vizcaya shall consist of the [...]

The Territory of Yuta shall consist of

The Territory of Comancheria shall consist of the old Province of Texas west of the [Cross Timbers]and north of the thirty-third parallel from the Equator, and the parts of the old Province of New Mexico that include the Llano Estacado.

The Territory of Sequoyah shall consist of the old Province of Texas east of the Rio de la Santisima Trinidad [Trinity River]and north of the thirty-second parallel from the Equator.

The languages of Buenaventura shall be Spanish and English, and all records of the federal and state governments shall be in both languages; and every municipality shall be required to publish its records in either language, if more than one fifth of its population should speak it.

The fifth of May shall be a patriotic festival everywhere in Buenaventura, in which all patriotic citizens shall commemorate, in full joy and illumination, the independence of the nation.

The legislative power of the United Provinces of Buenaventura shall be vested in a General Junta.

The General Junta shall consist of deputies representing the whole nation, who shall be elected directly every three years by the citizens of Buenaventura from within districts divided from states and territories.

Deputies shall have the following qualifications -- To be Buenaventuran citizens above the age of twenty-five on the day of the opening of the General Junta, to be of sound mind, and to not be a member of a religious order.

Deputies shall be apportioned from among the several Provinces and Territories, counting the whole number of citizens above the age of twenty-one. The actual enumeration shall be made every ten years by and with the dual consent of the General Junta and the General Audiencia, and each Province and Territory shall have deputies in proportion to their population, provided always that each shall have at least one deputy.

Seats in the General Junta shall be held vacant by refusal, insanity, death, resignation, acceptance of any salaried office outside the Junta, expulsion, or the petition of one twentieth of voting citizens in a district for the election of the deputy therein; and if any seat in the General Junta is vacant, the Directory shall make a writ of election for the vacancy.

Each Director shall have the power to vote along with the General Junta in all resolutions except suspension of habeas corpus and expulsion of a member, with each having a vote equal to the whole number just less than one twentieth of the total number of deputies.

The General Junta shall choose a President to oversee its sessions, a Secretary to receive petitions and propose bills and revisions to bills, and other officers, and it shall have the sole power to impeach public officials; and it shall be the judge of its own qualifications.

Bills may be originated by the Directory, the Secretary of the General Junta, deputies of the General Junta, and members of the Supreme Tribunal.

If a bill should be read twice and win majorities both times, the Secretary of the General Junta and any committees assembled for this purpose shall propose amendments to the bill; and if this bill, with whatever amendments the General Junta should approve of, shall win a third majority, it shall become law.

No law for raising revenue shall have effect for longer than three years.

The General Junta shall have power --

To admit new Provinces and Territories into Buenaventura, and to grant provincial status to any Territory with more than fifty thousand inhabitants;

To receive petitions from the legislature of an existing Province for its division, and to divide the Province in whatever manners the petition may request, and to grant such divided sections status as a Territory, or if it shall exceed fifty thousand inhabitants, as a Province;

To resolve disputes between Provinces;

To make laws for the Territories;

To collect taxes and duties to meet the federal budget;

To make loans on the credit of the nation, and to order payment of the national debt;

To enact laws and regulations for commercial intercourse with foreign nations;

To manage relations with caciques;

To manage commerce between the Provinces and Territories;

To issue general criminal and commercial codes;

To exercise authority over marriage, inheritance, and real estate;

To confirm nominations by the Directory of ministers of executive departments, of ministers plenipotentiary, consuls, and diplomatic agents, and of captains general and admirals general;

To, by a two-thirds vote, approve treaties, agreements, and diplomatic conventions made by the Directory;

To make war and peace, and to regulate the manner in which letters of marque are made;

To raise and maintain the army and navy of the nation;

To make regulations for the training, assembling, and maintaining of the National Guard, and to consent to its use outside the borders of the republic;

To make laws on citizenship, naturalization, settlement, and immigration within the nation;

To make laws on communication, to organize the postal and telegraph service, to construct whatever turnpikes, railroads, and canals should ease commerce across the nation, and to make all laws regulating incorporated companies dealing with railroad, canal, and roads;

To establish mints, regulate coinage and weights and measures, and issue money;

To grant trademarks, copyrights, and patents to authors and inventors for time no greater than twenty years;

To grant charters to companies, universities, hospitals, National Parks, and other institutions;

To establish a National Schooling System for all children between the ages of eight to fourteen;

To exercise exclusive legislation over such land holding the seat of government, and over all places carrying army and navy installations;

To regulate all forms of religious worship within the republic;

And to make all laws for carrying this constitution into practice over the nation.

The National Junta shall establish, on the eve of the day of its adjournment, a Permanent Committee of nineteen deputies, which shall sit in the capital during its recess.

The Permanent Committee shall have the power --

To confirm recess nominations;

To convene extraordinary sessions of the National Junta;

To administer oaths of office;

And to make a report on pending matters to present to the Secretary of the National Junta in the following session.

The moderating power of the United Provinces of Buenaventura shall be vested in a General Audiencia.

The General Audiencia shall consist of oidores for the Provinces, who shall be elected directly for terms of nine years by the citizens of Buenaventura from Provinces.

The oidores shall be divided into three classes, so that every three years one class is put up to election; and no person shall be an oidor for longer than eighteen years.

Oidores shall have the following qualifications -- To be Buenaventuran citizens above the age of thirty-five on the day of the opening of the General Audiencia, to be of sound mind, to be learned in the law, and to not be a member of a religious order.

Oidores shall be apportioned from among the several Provinces, counting the whole number of citizens above the age of twenty-one. The actual enumeration shall be made every ten years by and with the dual consent of the General Junta and the General Audiencia, and each Province and Territory shall have deputies in proportion to the square root of their population, provided always that each shall have at least one oidor.

Seats in the Gener Audiencia shall be held vacant by refusal, insanity, death, resignation, acceptance of any salaried office outside the Audiencia, expulsion, or the petition of one tenth of voting citizens in a Province; and if any oidor seat is vacant, the Directory shall make a writ of election for the vacancy.

The Audiencia shall choose a Regent to oversee its sessions, and other officers; and it shall be the judge of its own qualifications.

The General Audiencia shall, upon the close of an annual session of the General Junta, be convened for the reviewing of all laws passed in the previous session.

If the Audiencia should find that such laws exceed the constitutional limits of the General Junta or otherwise violate the Constitution, it shall declare them null and void; and if the Council should find that laws for raising revenue should include parts that do not deal with the raising and spending of revenue, it shall declare such parts null and void.

If the Audiencia should find, in its review, a law identical to a law it had, in its previous review, declared null and void, it shall issue a Writ of Election for the whole nation in which the law shall be placed on a plebiscite. If a majority should vote for the law in the affirmative, it shall be law; and if a majority should vote in the negative, it shall not be law.

The General Audiencia shall, upon the close of the term of a director, be convened for the reviewing of his performance in office. If, in its judgement of residency, it should find that the director has engaged in misconduct, it shall subject him to fines, and the director shall only be permitted to join another public office upon the issuing of a judgement.

The General Audiencia shall sit as a High Tribunal for the Trial of Impeachment, and shall be presided over by the Regent for this purpose. No person shall be impeached without the concurrence of three fifths, under oath, of the Audiencia.

If he is acquitted, he shall continue in his office; but if he is convicted, he shall be immediately removed from office and forever made ineligible to hold any office under any government within the republic, and the General Audiencia shall immediately impose the penalty under law.

The General Audiencia shall have the power to review criminal cases of the High Tribunal of Justice, and if it should find, by the concurrence of two thirds of its membership, that the case was conducted against law, it shall cassate its verdict.

The executive power of the United Provinces of Buenaventura shall be vested in a Directory.

The Directory shall consist of five directors representing the whole nation, who shall be elected directly every six years by the people of Buenaventura; and no person shall be a director for more than twelve years.

Directors shall have the following qualifications -- To be Buenaventuran citizens above the age of thirty-five on the day of the opening of the Directory, to be of sound mind, and to not be a member of a religious order.

Directors shall be elected by the whole nation, by preferential ballot.

Seats of the Directory shall be held vacant by refusal, insanity, death, resignation, impeachment, acceptance of any salaried office outside the Directory, expulsion, or the petition of one tenth of voting citizens in the nation; and if any such seat is vacant, the Directory shall make a writ of election for the vacancy.

The Directory shall choose a President to oversee its session, and other officers.

The Directory shall have power --

To call the National Guard and, with the advice and consent of the Junta, appoint a Captain General to lead the Army, and an Admiral General to lead the Navy;

To, by and with the advice and consent of the Junta, make war and peace, and to make letters of marque subject to the regulation of the Junta;

To, by and with the advice and consent of the Junta, appoint ministers of executive departments, each of whom shall be assigned to a certain Director, and appoint ministers plenipotentiary, consuls, and diplomatic agents;

To make diplomatic negotiations with foreign powers and, by and with the advice and consent of two thirds of the Junta, make treaties, agreements, and diplomatic conventions;

To receive ministers plenipotentiary, consuls, and diplomatic agents from foreign powers;

To, by and with the advice and consent of the Permanent Committee, fill all vacancies that happen in the recess of the Junta by commissions which shall expire at the end of its next session;

To convene extraordinary sessions of the General Junta;

To sit in sessions of the General Junta as members where they shall make any motions they deem necessary for the welfare of the nation, and to each exercise a vote equal to the whole number just less than one twentieth of the regular membership of the General Junta in all measures except suspension of habeas corpus and expulsion of a member;

To make orders to bring into effect the laws ratified by the General Junta;

To, by and with the consent of the General Audiencia, appoint judges of the inferior tribunals;

To afford to the judiciary all assistance necessary for enforcing its rulings;

To pardon and reprieve persons for offences against Buenaventura, in cases except impeachment and treason;

And to lay before the National Junta, at the end of every year, a message on the condition of the nation which shall provide measures for its amelioration.

The Directors, and all civil officers of the general government, shall be removed from office through impeachment for bribery, or neglect of duty, or other misconduct in office, or conspiracy to murder or outlaw or otherwise act against the law of the land, or subversion of the constitution, or treason, or other high crimes and misdemeanors; and each Director shall be subject to a judgement of their residency.

The judicial power of the United Provinces of Buenaventura shall be vested in a Supreme Tribunal of Justice, and whatever lower courts the General Junta shall, from time to time, establish.

The Supreme Tribunal of Justice shall consist of fifteen judges, who shall be elected directly every nine years by the citizens of Buenaventura from within judicial districts.

The First Judicial District shall consist of North California; the Second Judicial District shall consist of South California, North New Navarre, and South New Navarre; the Third Judicial District shall consist of Yuta, New Mexico, Pimeria, North New Vizcaya, and South New Vizcaya; the Fourth Judicial District shall consist of Texas and Sequoyah; and the Fifth Judicial District shall consist of New Santander, New Leon, and New Extremadura.

Supreme Tribunal Judges shall be divided into three classes, so that every three years one class is put up to election; and no person shall be an oidor for longer than eighteen years.

Supreme Tribunal Judges shall have the following qualifications -- To be Buenaventuran citizens above the age of thirty-five on the day of their election, to be of sound mind, and to not be a member of a religious order.

Seats of the Supreme Tribunal shall be held vacant by refusal, insanity, death, resignation, impeachment, acceptance of any salaried office outside the Supreme Tribunal, expulsion, or the petition of one tenth of voting citizens in the nation; and if any such seat is vacant, the Supreme Tribunal shall make a writ of election for the vacancy.

Seats of the Supreme Tribunal shall be held vacant by refusal, insanity, death, resignation, impeachment, acceptance of any salaried office outside the Supreme Tribunal, expulsion, or the petition of one tenth of voting citizens in the nation; and if any such seat is vacant, the Supreme Tribunal shall make a writ of election for the vacancy.

The Supreme Tribunal shall choose a President to oversee its session, and other officers.

Inferior tribunal judges shall be appointed by the Directory, by and with the consent of the General Audiencia; and they may be dismissed by declaration of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.

Inferior tribunal judges shall have the following qualifications -- To be Buenaventuran citizens above the age of thirty-five on the day of the opening of the Directory, to be of sound mind, and to not be a member of a religious order.

The judicial power shall have the power --

To settle controversies dealing with the application and enforcement of federal laws, and to settle controversies over judicial jurisdiction;

To declare orders of the Directory that violate the Law of the General Junta, or the Constitution, null and void;

To issue the writ of habeas corpus;

To rule on criminal, commercial, and admiralty law;

To rule on cases in which Buenaventura may be a party;

To rule on cases between a Province and a citizen resident in another Province;

To rule on cases dealing with treaties with foreign powers;

And to rule on cases effecting ministers plenipotentiary, consuls, and diplomatic agents.

The Provinces shall adopt as their government a free, democratic, representative government. Their Intendants shall have a term less than ten years, and the members of the lower chamber of its legislature shall have terms of less than four years.

In the Territories, the General Government may recognize caciques and make them part of administration.

No province shall --

Make any treaty, alliance, or confederation with a foreign state, or with one another;

Coin money, or issue bills of credit, or make any declaration on a form of money;

Pass a law violating a contractual obligation;

Make any law on criminal or commercial law;

Lay any imports or duties, or make any impediment on interprovincial commerce;

Keep any sort of military, or exercise control over the National Guard;

Or conduct war and peace.

Every province shall --

Deliver authorities fleeing justice from the provinces, or from the general government;

Publish and enforce the laws of the land;

And give full faith and credit to each province for the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other province, under such regulations that the General Junta shall make.

All powers not vested in the General Government are vested in the Provinces.

No person shall hold at the same time two General offices, one General or one Province office, or two Provincial offices.

No public officer shall ever see their compensation for their services increase or diminish during their time in office.

Every public officer shall swear an oath, or a solemn declaration thereof, to the Republic, and to the Constitution of 1868; and they shall also swear, or affirm, that they meet the qualifications for their office, and that they abjure any allegiance to the King of Spain (as the case may be).

All debts and engagements that the General Government may have entered into before the ratification of this Constitution, shall continue to be valid, after this Constitution shall be ratified.

Church and state are forever separate; therefore, neither the General Government, nor the government of any Province, Territory, or Municipality, shall ever establish or prohibit any religious denomination.

The General Government shall have power to regulate religious worship in the republic.

Marriage is a civil contract, within the jurisdiction of the General Government.

No person shall serve as the minister or clergyman of any creed, without giving an oath or solemn declaration denying and abjuring the authority of any foreign prince, prelate, and potentate to exercise temporal and civil jurisdiction, power, or superiority, direct or indirect, within this republic.

Ministers and clergyman of religious creeds shall be considered only as persons exercising a certain profession, without special jurisdiction whatsoever.

No church, synagogue, or other temple of worship for public meetings shall be dedicated without the permission of the Minister of the Interior, with the consideration of the advice of the Intendant of the relevant Province or Territory.

No minister or clergyman of any religious creed may express their political beliefs, nor may they take up political office or exercise the ballot.

No religious corporation and institution of whatever denomination, nor incorporated companies under the patronage thereof, shall acquire title, or administer, real property beyond that which they already own, except with the specific approval of the General Junta, and all such property shall be taxed, as with other property; nor shall they ever make or administer loans based on their real property.

This Constitution shall come into law when ratified by the legislatures or conventions of eight Provinces.

This Constitution shall be amended upon the proposal of amendments by three-fifths of both the General Junta and the General Audiencia and shall, upon the ratification by plebiscite of three-fifths of the Provinces, be enacted into law; or they may be proposed by a general convention elected in like manner as the General Junta, convened by the petition of two-thirds of the legislatures of the provinces.

Ratified by Convention of the people of Buenaventura on the twelfth of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the third year of Buenaventuran liberty.