all such Actions Suits and Informations the Offences may bee laid or alleadged to bee in any Colony Province County Precinct. or Division of any of the said Plantations where such Offences are alleadged to bee committed att the pleasure of the Officer or Informer.

XV. [(AND*) bee itt further enacted . . . That all Persons and theire Assignees claymeing any Right or (Property †) in any Islands or Tracts of Land upon the Continent of America by Charter or Letters Patents shall not att any tyme hereafter alien sell or dispose of any of the said Islands Tracts of Land or Proprieties other than to the Naturall Borne Subjects of England Ireland Dominion of Wales or Towne of Berwick upon Tweed without the License and Consent of His Majesty His Heires and Successors signifyed by His or Their Order in Councill first had and obteyned And all Governours nominated and appointed by any such Persons or Proprietors who shall bee intituled to make such Nomination shall bee allowed and approved of by His Majesty His Heires and Successors as aforesaid and shall take the Oaths injoyned by this or any other Act to be taken by the Governours or Commanders in Chiefe in other His Majesties Colonies and Plantations before their entring upon their respective Governments under the like Penalty His Majesties Governours and Commanders in Chiefe are by the said Acts lyable to.‡]

XVI. [And for a more effectuall prevention of Frauds which may bee used to elude the Intention of this Act by colouring Foreigne Shipps under English Names Bee itt further enacted... That from and after the Five and twentieth day of March which shall bee in the Yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred ninety eight noe Shipp or Vessell whatsoever shall bee deemed or passe as a Shipp of the Built of England Ireland Wales Berwick Guernsey Jersey or of any of His Majesties Plantations in America soe as to bee qualifyed to trade to from or in any of the said Plantations untill the Person or Persons claymeing Property in such Shipp or Vessell shall register the same as followeth (that is to say) If the Shipp att the tyme of such Register doth belong to any Port in England Ireland Wales or to the Towne of Berwick upon Tweed then Proofe shall bee made upon Oath of One Omitted in the Ms. The MS. has Propriety. Section XV. is annexed to the original act in a separate schedule.

or more of the Owners of such Shipp or Vessell before the Collector and Comptroller of His Majesties Customes in such Port or if att the tyme of such Register the Shipp belong to any of His Majesties Plantations in America or to the Islands of Guernsey or Jersey then the like Proofe to bee made before the Governour together with the Principal Officer of His Majesties Revenue resideing on such Plantation or Island which Oath the said Governours and Officers of the Customes respectively are hereby authorized to administer.*].

No. 44. Pennsylvania Frame of Government

November, 1696

THE dissensions in Pennsylvania subsequent to 1683, due to disputes between the council and the assembly, the agitation in the Delaware counties over political privileges, and the excitement attending the preaching of George Keith, culminating in the Quaker schism, finally gave an opportunity for interference from England; and in 1692 the province was taken from the control of Penn, and placed under the government of Fletcher, the governor of New York. To this interference with the colony Penn, who had returned to England in 1684 on account of the boundary dispute with Maryland, and who, on account of his intimate relations with James II., was out of favor at court, could offer no effectual resistance. The charges against him, however, were disproven, and in 1694 the province was restored. The new governor, Markham, formerly lieutenant-governor under Fletcher, soon became involved in a dispute with the assembly, in which the question of the validity of the frame of 1683, in view of the transfer of Pennsylvania to Fletcher's control, was raised. A settlement was not reached until 1696, when the unwillingness of the assembly to comply with a call from Fletcher, under royal order, for aid in defending the frontiers of New York, unless the maintenance of popular rights could be assured, led to the submission by Markham of "some heads of a frame of government," supplementary to the frame of 1683. The money having been voted, and the new frame agreed to, the assembly was dissolved; but some popular disapproval of this action was met by an enactment of the following year, "that both Markham's frame of government and the laws passed in accordance therewith, should be legally binding in every respect." REFERENCES. Text in Charter and Laws of Pennsylvania (ed. 1879),

245-253.

[The document recites the grant of the charter of the province, the deeds from the Duke of York, the transfer of the government

* The passage in brackets is annexed to the original act in a separate schedule.

to Fletcher, the restoration of the province to Penn, and the appointment of Markham as governor, and continues:]

2. Now for as much as the former frame of government, modelled by act of Settlement and Charter of Liberties, is not deemed in all respects sutably accommodated to our present Circumstances Therefore It is unanimously Desired, that it may be Enacted. And Be it Enacted by the Governour aforesaid, with the advice and Consent of the Representatives of the freemen of the said Province and Territories in Assembly met, and by the Authority of the same, that this government shall, from time to time, Consist of the Governour or his Deputy or Deputies, and the freemen of the sd. Province and Territories thereof in form of a Council and Assembly. Which Council and Assembly shall be men of most note for virtue, wisdom & ability; and shall, from and after the tenth Day of the first month next, Consist of two persons out of each of the Counties of this government, to serve as the peoples Representatives in Council, and of four persons out of each of the said Counties to serve as Representatives in Assembly. For the election of which Representatives, It shall & may be lawful to & for all the freemen of this Province & Territories aforesaid to meet together on the tenth day of the first month yearly hereafter in the most Convenient and usual place for election within the respective Counties, then and there to choose their sd. representatives as aforesaid, Who shall meet on the tenth Day of the third moneth yearly in the Capital town of the sd. province, unless the Governour and Council shall think fit to appoint another place.

3. And to the end, It may be known who those that in this Province & territories have right of, or be deemed, freemen to Choose or to be Chosen to serve in Council and Assembly as aforesaid:

Be it Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no Inhabitant of this Province or Territories, shall have right of electing, or being elected as aforesaid, Unless they be free Denizens of this government, and are of the age of Twenty one years or upwards, and have fifty acres of land, ten acres whereof being seated and cleared, or be otherwise worth fifty pounds lawful money of this government Clear estate, and have been Resident within this government for the space of two years next before such election.

4. And whereas, divers persons within this government, Can

not (for Conscience sake) take an oath upon any account what

soever:

Be it therefore Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all any [and] every such person and persons (being at any time hereafter required upon any lawful occasion to give evidence, or take an oath, in any Case whatsoever,) shall (instead of swearing) be permitted to make his or their solemn affirmation, attest or Declar'n, Which shall be adjudged, and is hereby Enacted & Declared to be of the same force and effect, to all Intents and purposes whatsoever, as if they had taken an oath. And in case any such person or persons shall be Lawfully Convicted of having wilfully & Corruptly affirmed or Declared any matter or thing upon such Solemn affirmation or attest, shall Incur the same penalties and forfeitures as by the Laws & Statutes of England, are provided against persons Convicted of wilful & Corrupt perjury:

And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all persons who shall be hereafter, either elected to serve in Council and Assembly, or Commissionated or appointed to be Judges, Justices, Masters of the Rolls, Sheriffs, Coroners, and all other offices of State and trust within This government, who shall Conscientiously scruple to take an oath; But (when Lawfully required) will make and subscribe by the Declaration & profession of their Christian belief, according to the late act of Parliament, made in the first year of king William & the Late Queen Mary, entituled an act for exempting their Majesties Protestant subjects Dissenting from the Church of England, from the penalties of certain Laws, shall be adjudged & are hereby Declared to be qualified to act in their said respective offices and places, and thereupon the several officers herein mentioned, shall instead of oathes, make their Solemn affirmation or declaration in manner and form as is herein after limited and expressed. . . .

Provided always and it is hereby intended, that no person shall be by this Act excused from Swearing, who by the Acts of Parliament for trade and navigation, are or shall be required to take an oath.

5. And that Elections may not be corruptly managed, on which the good of the government so much Depends; Be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all Elections of the said Representatives shall be free and Voluntary, And that

the elector who shall Receive any reward or gift for giving his vote, shall forfeit his right to elect for that year, And such person or persons as shall give or promise ainy such Reward to be elected, or that shall offer to serve for nothing, or less wages than the Law prescribes shall be thereby Rendered Incapable to serve in Council or Assembly for that year, And the Representatives so chosen either for Council or Assembly shall yield their attendance accordingly, and be the Sole Judges of the Regularity or Irregularity of the elections of their respective members, and if any person or persons, Chosen to Serve in Council or Assembly, shall be wilfully absent from the service hee or they are so chosen to attend, or be Deceased or Rendered Incapable, then and in all such Cases it Shall be lawfull for the Governour within ten Days after knowledge of the same, To Issue forth a writt to the Sheriff of the County, for which the said person or persons were chosen, Immediately to summons the freemen of the same to elect another member, in the room of such Absent, Deceast or Incapable person or persons.

6. Be It further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that every Member now chosen or hereafter to be chosen by the freemen as aforesaid to Serve in Council, and the Speaker of the Assembly shall be allowed five shillings by the day, during his and their attendance, And every Member of Assembly shall be allowed four shillings by the day, during his attendance on the service of the Assembly, and that every Member of Council and Assembly shall be allowed towards their travelling Charges after the rate of two pence each mile both going to and coming from the place where the Council and Assembly is or Shall be held, all which sums shall be paid yearly, out of the County Levies, by the County receivers respectively.

And Be It further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Governour or his Deputy shall always preside in the Council, and that hee shall at no time perform any public act of state whatsoever that shall or may Relate unto the Justice, treasury or trade of the Province and territories, but by and with the advice and Consent of the Council thereof, or Major part of them that shall be present.

[8.1 And Be It further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that the Council in all cases and matters of moment as about