The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire is the fundamental law of the State of New Hampshire , with which all statute laws must comply. The constitution became effective June 2, 1784, when it replaced the state's constitution of 1776 .
117-521: The constitution is divided into two parts: a Bill of Rights and a Form of Government . Subsections of each part are known as articles. For example, the subsection dealing with free speech and liberty of the press is cited as "Part I, Article 22" or "Pt. I, Art. 22." Part First of the constitution is made up of 43 articles, codifying many of the same natural rights as does the United States Constitution , including free speech , freedom of
234-499: A civil action . The first half of Article 83 tasks future legislators to "cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools...." The text was amended in 1877 to clarify that state money could not go to religious schools. In 1993, the New Hampshire supreme court agreed with school districts near Claremont in the first of several Claremont cases that Article 83 made equal public education
351-526: A "state of liberty" and perfect freedom, but "not a state of license". It also informed his conception of social contract . Although he does not blatantly state it, his position implies that even in light of our unique characteristics we should not be treated differently by our neighbors or our rulers. "Locke is arguing that there is no natural characteristic sufficient to distinguish one person from another... of, course there are plenty of natural differences between us" (Haworth 103). What Haworth takes from Locke
468-502: A brief period as a separate province, the territory was absorbed into the Dominion of New England in 1686. Following the collapse of the unpopular Dominion , on October 7, 1691 New Hampshire was again separated from Massachusetts and organized as an English crown colony . Its charter was enacted on May 14, 1692, during the coregency of William and Mary , the joint monarchs of England , Scotland , and Ireland . Between 1699 and 1741,
585-652: A businessman who had acquired the Mason claims, was appointed the first governor under the 1691 charter. He was equally unsuccessful in pursuing the Mason land claims, and was replaced in 1699 by the Earl of Bellomont . Bellomont was the first in a series of governors who ruled both New Hampshire and the Province of Massachusetts Bay . Until 1741 the governorships were shared, with the governor spending most of his time in Massachusetts. As
702-569: A chief executive of any kind. On June 5, 1781, a Convention was convened to write a new constitution. In the Spring of 1782, a draft of the constitution was sent to town meetings for ratification. Town meetings proposed amendments so substantial that the Convention redrafted the constitution and submitted it to town meetings in Fall 1782. The second draft was met with even more proposed amendments. A third draft
819-585: A condition, every man has the right to every thing; even to one another's body. And therefore, as long as this natural Right of every man to every thing endureth, there can be no security to any man... of living out the time, which Nature ordinarily allow men to live." ( Leviathan . 1, XIV) This would lead inevitably to a situation known as the " war of all against all ", in which human beings kill, steal and enslave others to stay alive, and due to their natural lust for "Gain", "Safety" and "Reputation". Hobbes reasoned that this world of chaos created by unlimited rights
936-463: A furor of opposition so in 1777 he wrote another tract that clarified his position and again restated the de facto basis for the argument that the "liberty of men as agents is that power of self-determination which all agents, as such, possess." In Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism , Staughton Lynd pulled together these themes and related them to the slavery debate: Then it turned out to make considerable difference whether one said slavery
1053-520: A government derives its authority. Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) included a discussion of natural rights in his moral and political philosophy . Hobbes' conception of natural rights extended from his conception of man in a "state of nature". Thus he argued that the essential natural (human) right was "to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own Nature; that is to say, of his own Life; and consequently, of doing any thing, which in his own judgement, and Reason, he shall conceive to be
1170-454: A human universal knowledge. Thus, it views enacted laws that contradict such universal knowledge as unjust and illegitimate, but some jusnaturalists might attribute the source of natural law to a natural order instead of a divine mandate. The idea that certain rights are natural or inalienable also has a history dating back at least to the Stoics of late Antiquity , through Catholic law of
1287-611: A kind of divine blessing that they must earn by moral behavior. The 40 Principal Doctrines of the Epicureans taught that "in order to obtain protection from other men, any means for attaining this end is a natural good" (PD 6). They believed in a contractarian ethics where mortals agree to not harm or be harmed, and the rules that govern their agreements are not absolute (PD 33), but must change with circumstances (PD 37–38). The Epicurean doctrines imply that humans in their natural state enjoy personal sovereignty and that they must consent to
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#17328513019781404-686: A natural rights case at the Council of Constance (1414–1418), led by Paulus Vladimiri , rector of the Jagiellonian University . He challenged legality of the Teutonic Order 's crusade against Lithuania , arguing that the Order could only wage a defensive war if pagans violated the natural rights of the Christians. Vladimiri further stipulated that infidels had rights which had to be respected, and neither
1521-466: A people would supposedly alienate their right of self-government to a sovereign as, for example, in Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes . According to Ernst Cassirer , There is, at least, one right that cannot be ceded or abandoned: the right to personality...They charged the great logician [Hobbes] with a contradiction in terms. If a man could give up his personality he would cease being a moral being. ... There
1638-530: A piece of property, can in fact be transferred from one person to another. According to Hegel, the same would not apply to those aspects that make one a person: The right to what is in essence inalienable is imprescriptible, since the act whereby I take possession of my personality, of my substantive essence, and make myself a responsible being, capable of possessing rights and with a moral and religious life, takes away from these characteristics of mine just that externality which alone made them capable of passing into
1755-460: A result, the lieutenant governors held significant power. The dual governorship became problematic in part because of territorial claims between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Since the southern border of the original Mason grant was the Merrimack River , and the Massachusetts charter specified a boundary three miles north of the same river, the claims conflicted, and were eventually brought to
1872-463: A state responsibility. The Claremont cases began an era in which the supreme court repeatedly found school–funding legislation unconstitutional. In 2009, the court found the original suit was moot and the Claremont era ended. The General Court has debated, but has never approved, a constitutional amendment that would align the right of education with the legislature's authority to appropriate funds and
1989-492: Is a countywide position. Articles 72-a.–81 dictate the rights and responsibilities of the Supreme and Superior Courts as well as other state sanctioned court officers. Article 82 gives judges of the courts (except probate) the sole authority to appoint clerks to serve office during the pleasure of the judge. Clerks are prohibited from acting as attorneys in the court of which they are a clerk and from drawing any writ originating
2106-549: Is also debate as to whether all rights are either natural or legal. Fourth president of the United States James Madison , while representing Virginia in the House of Representatives, believed that there are rights, such as trial by jury , that are social rights , arising neither from natural law nor from positive law (which are the basis of natural and legal rights respectively) but from the social contract from which
2223-400: Is based upon the " self-evident " truth that "all men are ... endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". Likewise, different philosophers and statesmen have designed different lists of what they believe to be natural rights; almost all include the right to life and liberty as the two highest priorities. H. L. A. Hart argued that if there are any rights at all, there must be
2340-564: Is in the changed conception of law that in part resulted from it." Cicero argues in De Legibus that "we are born for Justice, and that right is based, not upon opinions, but upon Nature." One of the first Western thinkers to develop the contemporary idea of natural rights was French theologian Jean Gerson , whose 1402 treatise De Vita Spirituali Animae is considered one of the first attempts to develop what would come to be called modern natural rights theory. The Polish-Lithuanian union made
2457-491: Is no pactum subjectionis , no act of submission by which man can give up the state of free agent and enslave himself. For by such an act of renunciation he would give up that very character which constitutes his nature and essence: he would lose his humanity. These themes converged in the debate about American independence. While Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence, Welsh nonconformist Richard Price sided with
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#17328513019782574-410: Is not unreasonable to credit Locke with the social activism throughout the history of America. By founding this sense of freedom for all, Locke was laying the groundwork for the equality that occurs today. Despite the apparent misuse of his philosophy in early American democracy. The Civil Rights movement and the suffrage movement both called out the state of American democracy during their challenges to
2691-535: Is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled. New Hampshire is one of several states that codify a " Right of Revolution " in their state constitutions. The Right of Revolution dates back to the Revolutionary War . Article 10 reads: Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for
2808-509: Is often litigated. In 2002, the state supreme court dictated the districts. Article 11 was last amended in 2006 to provide that towns whose size entitles them to one representative will have their own representative, but to allow the use of floterial districts spanning several towns or wards to achieve greater precision. Article 15, Compensation of the Legislature, fixes the pay for General Court members at $ 200 per term (two years) and $ 250 for
2925-575: Is property. The concept of inalienable rights was criticized by Jeremy Bentham and Edmund Burke as groundless. Bentham and Burke claimed that rights arise from the actions of government, or evolve from tradition, and that neither of these can provide anything inalienable . (See Bentham's "Critique of the Doctrine of Inalienable, Natural Rights", and Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France ). Presaging
3042-444: Is required to establish absentee ballot and voter qualification process for state and municipal ballot elections, which includes primaries. Polling and voter registration places are required to be "easily accessible to all persons" which specifically includes the disabled and elderly persons who are otherwise qualified to vote in the applicable election. Non-payment of any tax is not a permitted exclusion from voting. Every inhabitant of
3159-403: Is responsible for his own faith, and he must see it for himself that he believes rightly. As little as another can go to hell or heaven for me, so little can he believe or disbelieve for me; and as little as he can open or shut heaven or hell for me, so little can he drive me to faith or unbelief. Since, then, belief or unbelief is a matter of everyone's conscience, and since this is no lessening of
3276-506: Is similar to the section regarding the House of Representatives, with the largest difference that the Senate is the ultimate arbiter of all elections. Articles 38–40 describe how state officers may be impeached and be punished for bribery , corruption , malpractice or maladministration, in office. The House of Representatives is given the authority to impeach state officers, while the Senate hears, tries, and determines all impeachments made by
3393-430: Is that John Locke was obsessed with supporting equality in society, treating everyone as an equal. He does though highlight our differences with his philosophy showing that we are all unique and important to society. In his philosophy, it is highlighted that the ideal government should also protect everyone, and provide rights and freedom to everyone, because we are all important to society. His ideas then were developed into
3510-593: Is titled " His Excellency ". The Governor is given the sole authority to command the New Hampshire National Guard and sole right to sign or veto bills and resolutions passed by the General Court and is charged with the "faithful execution of the laws". The Governor is elected to a two-year term at the November biennial elections, and must be 30 years old and have been a resident of the state for seven years at
3627-545: Is variously expressed as the is-ought problem , the naturalistic fallacy , or the appeal to nature . G.E. Moore , for example, said that ethical naturalism falls prey to the naturalistic fallacy. Some defenders of natural rights theory, however, counter that the term "natural" in "natural rights" is contrasted with "artificial" rather than referring to nature . John Finnis , for example, contends that natural law and natural rights are derived from self-evident principles, not from speculative principles or from facts. There
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3744-573: The Middle Ages by Catholic philosophers such as Albert the Great , his pupil Thomas Aquinas , and Jean Gerson in his 1402 work " De Vita Spirituali Animae." During the Age of Enlightenment , the concept of natural laws was used to challenge the divine right of kings , and became an alternative justification for the establishment of a social contract , positive law , and government – and thus legal rights – in
3861-589: The U.S. constitution recognized and protected the institution of slavery . As a lawyer, future Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase argued before the Supreme Court in the case of John Van Zandt , who had been charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act , that: The law of the Creator, which invests every human being with an inalienable title to freedom, cannot be repealed by any interior law which asserts that man
3978-555: The United States . Europeans first settled New Hampshire in the 1620s, and the province consisted for many years of a small number of communities along the seacoast, Piscataqua River , and Great Bay . In 1641 the communities were organized under the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony , until Charles II issued a colonial charter for the province and appointed John Cutt as President of New Hampshire in 1679. After
4095-594: The United States Declaration of Independence . Stephen Kinzer , a veteran journalist for The New York Times and the author of the book All The Shah's Men , writes in the latter that: The Zoroastrian religion taught Iranians that citizens have an inalienable right to enlightened leadership and that the duty of subjects is not simply to obey wise kings but also to rise up against those who are wicked. Leaders are seen as representative of God on earth, but they deserve allegiance only as long as they have farr ,
4212-536: The natural state only the strongest could benefit from their rights. Thus, people form an implicit social contract, ceding their natural rights to the authority to protect the people from abuse, and living henceforth under the legal rights of that authority . Many historical apologies for slavery and illiberal government were based on explicit or implicit voluntary contracts to alienate any "natural rights" to freedom and self-determination . The de facto inalienability arguments of Hutcheson and his predecessors provided
4329-616: The social contract . Preservation of the natural rights to life, liberty, and property was claimed as justification for the rebellion of the American colonies. As George Mason stated in his draft for the Virginia Declaration of Rights , "all men are born equally free", and hold "certain inherent natural rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity." Another 17th-century Englishman, John Lilburne (known as Freeborn John ), who came into conflict with both
4446-496: The Declaration of Independence of the phrase "pursuit of happiness" instead of "property". More recently, the eminent legal historian John Phillip Reid has deplored contemporary scholars' "misplaced emphasis on John Locke", arguing that American revolutionary leaders saw Locke as a commentator on established constitutional principles. Thomas Pangle has defended Locke's influence on the Founding, claiming that historians who argue to
4563-618: The English county of Hampshire . Conflicts between holders of grants issued by Mason and Gorges concerning their boundaries eventually led to a need for more active management. In 1630, Captain Walter Neale was sent as chief agent and governor of the lower settlements on the Piscataqua (including Strawbery Banke , present-day Portsmouth ), and in 1631 Captain Thomas Wiggin was sent to govern
4680-712: The House. The articles also state the rules for the Senate's impeachment hearings and provide for the Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court to preside over the impeachment hearings involving the Governor, but not have a vote. Articles 41–59 define the roles and selection of the Executive Branch. The Governor of the State of New Hampshire (originally styled "President") is the supreme executive magistrate and
4797-504: The Mason heirs and their claims. Consequently, Charles issued a second charter in 1682 with Edward Cranfield as governor. Cranfield strongly supported the Mason heirs, making so many local enemies in the process that he was recalled in 1685. In 1686, the territory was brought into the Dominion of New England , an attempt to unify all of the New England colonies into a single government. The New Hampshire towns did not suffer as much under
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4914-496: The Masons, Wheelwright's party purchased the land from local Indians. His party included William Wentworth , whose descendants came to play a major role in colonial history. Around the same time, others unhappy with the strict Puritan rule in Massachusetts settled in Dover, while Puritans from Massachusetts settled what eventually became Hampton . Because of a general lack of government,
5031-637: The Massachusetts legislature in Boston . Mason's heirs were in the meantime active in England, seeking to regain control of their territory, and Massachusetts was coming under increasing scrutiny by King Charles II . In 1679, Charles issued a charter establishing the Province of New Hampshire, with John Cutt as its first president. In January 1680, Cutt took office, ending Massachusetts governance. However, Cutt and his successor, Richard Waldron , were strongly opposed to
5148-591: The New Hampshire coast as early as 1623, and eventually expanded along the shores of the Piscataqua River and the Great Bay . These settlers were mostly intending to profit from the local fisheries. Mason and Gorges, neither of whom ever came to New England, divided their claims along the Piscataqua River in 1629. Mason took the territory between the Piscataqua and Merrimack, and called it "New Hampshire", after
5265-526: The New Hampshire population was religiously diverse, originating in part in its early years with refugees from opposition to religious differences in Massachusetts. From the 1680s until 1760, New Hampshire was often on the front lines of military conflicts with New France and the Abenaki people , seeing major attacks on its communities in King William's War , Dummer's War , and King George's War . The province
5382-478: The New Hampshire settlements sought the protection of their larger neighbor to the south, the Massachusetts Bay Colony . In 1641, they collectively agreed to be governed from Massachusetts, provided the towns retained self-rule, and that Congregational Church membership was not required for their voters (as it was in Massachusetts). The settlements formed part of that colony until 1679, sending representatives to
5499-543: The Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725), Hutcheson foreshadowed the Declaration of Independence, stating: "For wherever any Invasion is made upon unalienable Rights, there must arise either a perfect, or external Right to Resistance. ... Unalienable Rights are essential Limitations in all Governments." Hutcheson, however, placed clear limits on his notion of unalienable rights, declaring that "there can be no Right, or Limitation of Right, inconsistent with, or opposite to
5616-611: The Pope nor the Holy Roman Emperor had the authority to violate them. Lithuanians also brought a group of Samogitian representatives to testify to atrocities committed by the Order. The Stoic doctrine that the "inner part cannot be delivered into bondage" re-emerged centuries later in the Reformation doctrine of liberty of conscience. In 1523, Martin Luther wrote: Furthermore, every man
5733-419: The above methods is sent to the people at the next biennial November election. A two-thirds vote of the qualified voters participating in an election is required to ratify the amendment. If the amendment does not receive this vote, it does not take effect. New Hampshire voters do not have the power to make or repeal laws through referendum , but a handful of proposed constitutional amendments routinely appear on
5850-427: The absence of obligations. Since by our (human) nature, we seek to maximize our well being, rights are prior to law, natural or institutional, and people will not follow the laws of nature without first being subjected to a sovereign power, without which all ideas of right and wrong are meaningless – "Therefore before the names of Just and Unjust can have place, there must be some coercive Power, to compel men equally to
5967-557: The aptest means thereunto." ( Leviathan . 1, XIV) Hobbes sharply distinguished this natural "liberty", from natural "laws", described generally as "a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving his life; and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may best be preserved." ( Leviathan . 1, XIV) In his natural state, according to Hobbes, man's life consisted entirely of liberties and not at all of laws – "It followeth, that in such
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#17328513019786084-449: The area that is now northeastern New England was populated by bands of the Abenaki , who lived in sometimes-large villages of longhouses . Depending on the season, they would either remain near their villages to fish, gather plants, engage in sugaring , and trade or fight with their neighbors, or head to nearby fowling and hunting grounds; later they also farmed tobacco and the " three sisters ": corn, beans, and squash. The seacoast
6201-691: The authority and makeup of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the General Court. This section of the Constitution establishes how representatives are elected, their responsibilities, and their privileges. These articles make clear that all state-level budgetary legislation must originate from the House, much like the British House of Commons and the United States House of Representatives . Articles 11 (formerly 10) and 11-a provide that representative districts are set by statute. Redistricting
6318-423: The authority of any government or international body to dismiss. The 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an important legal instrument enshrining one conception of natural rights into international soft law . Natural rights were traditionally viewed as exclusively negative rights , whereas human rights also comprise positive rights. Even on a natural rights conception of human rights,
6435-573: The ballot in most general elections. On January 5, 1776, the Congress of New Hampshire voted in Exeter to establish a civil government, and specified the manner and form that government would have. The Congress ratified the Constitution at the urging of the Continental Congress . The 1776 Constitution did not contain a Bill of Rights, nor was it submitted to the people of New Hampshire. The constitution
6552-408: The basis for the anti-slavery movement to argue not simply against involuntary slavery but against any explicit or implied contractual forms of slavery. Any contract that tried to legally alienate such a right would be inherently invalid. Similarly, the argument was used by the democratic movement to argue against any explicit or implied social contracts of subjection ( pactum subjectionis ) by which
6669-452: The body indeed is subjected and in the power of a master, but the mind is independent, and indeed is so free and wild, that it cannot be restrained even by this prison of the body, wherein it is confined. Of fundamental importance to the development of the idea of natural rights was the emergence of the idea of natural human equality. As the historian A.J. Carlyle notes: "There is no change in political theory so startling in its completeness as
6786-451: The change from the theory of Aristotle to the later philosophical view represented by Cicero and Seneca. ... We think that this cannot be better exemplified than with regard to the theory of the equality of human nature." Charles H. McIlwain likewise observes that "the idea of the equality of men is the profoundest contribution of the Stoics to political thought" and that "its greatest influence
6903-430: The colonists' claim that King George III was "attempting to rob them of that liberty to which every member of society and all civil communities have a natural and unalienable title." Price again based the argument on the de facto inalienability of "that principle of spontaneity or self-determination which constitutes us agents or which gives us a command over our actions, rendering them properly ours, and not effects of
7020-495: The contrary either misrepresent the classical republican alternative to which they say the revolutionary leaders adhered, do not understand Locke, or point to someone else who was decisively influenced by Locke. This position has also been sustained by Michael Zuckert . According to Locke, there are three natural rights: In developing his concept of natural rights, Locke was influenced by reports of society among Native Americans , whom he regarded as natural peoples who lived in
7137-445: The desire for local control. The second half of Article 83, added in 1903, empowers the state to regulate economic activity. It declares a right to "free and fair competition in the trades and industries" and specifies that a goal of regulation is to "prevent...combination, conspiracy, monopoly, or any other unfair means." Articles 84–101 (excluding Articles 97 and 99) regard the installment of appointed and elected state officials; and
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#17328513019787254-407: The distinction popular and important", and in the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence , famously condensed this to: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights... In the 19th century, the movement to abolish slavery seized this passage as a statement of constitutional principle, although
7371-495: The early Middle Ages , and descending through the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment to today. The existence of natural rights has been asserted by different individuals on different premises, such as a priori philosophical reasoning or religious principles. For example, Immanuel Kant claimed to derive natural rights through reason alone. The United States Declaration of Independence, meanwhile,
7488-451: The eighteenth time declined to call a constitutional convention, this time by a ratio of 66% to 34%. Natural right Some philosophers distinguish two types of rights , natural rights and legal rights . Natural law first appeared in ancient Greek philosophy , and was referred to by Roman philosopher Cicero . It was subsequently alluded to in the Bible, and then developed in
7605-434: The existence of inalienable rights is unnecessary for the existence of a constitution or a set of laws and rights. This idea of a social contract – that rights and responsibilities are derived from a consensual contract between the government and the people – is the most widely recognized alternative. One criticism of natural rights theory is that one cannot draw norms from facts. This objection
7722-408: The five Executive Councilors. Articles 67–70 discuss the duties and selection of the state's treasurer, secretaries and other such officials. Article 71 details the responsibilities and powers of county level officials such as the county sheriffs, county attorneys, county treasurers, registrars of probate, and registrars of deeds. Article 72 details the selection of registrars of deeds, which usually
7839-435: The following two methods of proposing amendments to the constitution: A three-fifths vote of each house of the General Court is required to send a proposed constitutional amendment to ratification (see below). A majority vote of both houses of the General Court is required to place the following question on the ballot: "Shall there be a convention to amend or revise the constitution?" If such question has not been submitted to
7956-481: The form of classical republicanism . Conversely, the concept of natural rights is used by others to challenge the legitimacy of all such establishments. The idea of human rights derives from theories of natural rights. Those rejecting a distinction between human rights and natural rights view human rights as the successor that is not dependent on natural law , natural theology , or Christian theological doctrine . Natural rights, in particular, are considered beyond
8073-468: The good and happiness of mankind. In New Hampshire all elections are free and all inhabitants 18 or older are permitted to vote in their domicile . Persons convicted of "treason, bribery or any willful violation of the election laws of this state or of the United States" are excluded from voting in elections; which may be restored by the Supreme Court on notice to the Attorney General. The General Court
8190-841: The government should provide rights, but rights to everyone through his social contract. The social contract is an agreement between members of a country to live within a shared system of laws. Specific forms of government are the result of the decisions made by these persons acting in their collective capacity. Government is instituted to make laws that protect the three natural rights. If a government does not properly protect these rights, it can be overthrown. Thomas Paine (1731–1809) further elaborated on natural rights in his influential work Rights of Man (1791), emphasizing that rights cannot be granted by any charter because this would legally imply they can also be revoked and under such circumstances, they would be reduced to privileges: Province of New Hampshire The Province of New Hampshire
8307-516: The government's view on equality. To them it was clear that when the designers of democracy said all, they meant all people shall receive those natural rights that John Locke cherished so deeply. "a state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another" (Locke II,4). Locke in his papers on natural philosophy clearly states that he wants a government where all are treated equal in freedoms especially. "Locke's views on toleration were very progressive for
8424-525: The grants to be allocated to himself. These grants brought New Hampshire into conflict with the Province of New York , the other claimant to the territory. King George III in 1764 ruled in New York's favor, setting off a struggle between the holders of the New Hampshire Grants and New York authorities that eventually resulted in the formation of the state of Vermont . The controversy also resulted in
8541-509: The greatest public Good." Hutcheson elaborated on this idea of unalienable rights in his A System of Moral Philosophy (1755), based on the Reformation principle of the liberty of conscience. One could not in fact give up the capacity for private judgment (e.g., about religious questions) regardless of any external contracts or oaths to religious or secular authorities so that right is "unalienable". Hutcheson wrote: "Thus no man can really change his sentiments, judgments, and inward affections, at
8658-583: The king's attention. In 1741, King George II decreed what is now the border between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and separated the governorships, issuing a commission to Benning Wentworth as New Hampshire governor. Wentworth broadly interpreted New Hampshire's territorial claims, believing that territories west of the Connecticut River belonged to New Hampshire. In a scheme that was effective at lining his own pockets, he sold land grants in this territory for relatively low prices, but required parts of
8775-466: The laws that govern them, and that this consent (and the laws) can be revisited periodically when circumstances change. The Stoics held that no one was a slave by nature; slavery was an external condition juxtaposed to the internal freedom of the soul ( sui juris ). Seneca the Younger wrote: It is a mistake to imagine that slavery pervades a man's whole being; the better part of him is exempt from it:
8892-451: The local legislative body...." Article 36 barred the state from providing pensions except for "actual services...and never for more than one year at a time." Article 36–a was added in 1984 to clarify that the state retirement system is constitutional, and to earmark its funds to pay the benefits due retirees. Part Second contains 101 articles that specify how state government functions. Article 1 established The State of New Hampshire as
9009-443: The method for the Constitution taking effect, it being enrolled, and methods for proposing amendments. Unlike the U.S. Constitution, in which amendments are set out beneath the main body (and brackets or strike-through are sometimes used to show text in the main body that an amendment has made inoperative), amendments to the New Hampshire constitution change the text in place. Although a law book with annotations describes amendments to
9126-405: The monarchy of King Charles I and the military dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell , argued for level human basic rights he called " freeborn rights " which he defined as being rights that every human being is born with, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or by human law . The distinction between alienable and unalienable rights was introduced by Francis Hutcheson . In his Inquiry into
9243-461: The movements for freedom from the British creating our government. However, his implied thought of freedom for all is applied most heavily in our culture today. Starting with the civil rights movement, and continuing through women's rights, Locke's call for a fair government can be seen as the influence in these movements. His ideas are typically just seen as the foundation for modern democracy; however, it
9360-432: The navy, and general and field officers of the state National Guard . Article 58 states, "the governor and council shall be compensated for their services, from time to time, by such grants as the general court shall think reasonable;" and Article 59 requires that "permanent and honorable salaries" be established by law, for the justices of the superior court . Articles 60–66 discuss the selection, ejection and conduct of
9477-559: The official name of the sovereign and independent state, formerly known as the province of New Hampshire . The remainder of Part II is subdivided in the following sections: Articles 2–8 establish the framework for the General Court and its authority to establish courts, enact state laws affecting the Government of New Hampshire , provide for the State's emergency powers , gather funding, and use collected monies. Articles 9–24 establish
9594-412: The only method for amending the constitution was by convention every seven years. The adoption of an amendment to Pt. II, Art. 100 allowed for either the General Court or Constitutional Convention to submit amendments to the people for adoption. New Hampshire has had seventeen constitutional conventions. They have proposed 64 amendments, of which the voters have ratified 26. On November 8, 2022, voters for
9711-842: The operation of any foreign cause." Any social contract or compact allegedly alienating these rights would be non-binding and void, wrote Price: Neither can any state acquire such an authority over other states in virtue of any compacts or cessions. This is a case in which compacts are not binding. Civil liberty is, in this respect, on the same footing with religious liberty. As no people can lawfully surrender their religious liberty by giving up their right of judging for themselves in religion, or by allowing any human beings to prescribe to them what faith they shall embrace, or what mode of worship they shall practise, so neither can any civil societies lawfully surrender their civil liberty by giving up to any extraneous jurisdiction their power of legislating for themselves and disposing their property. Price raised
9828-541: The people in ten years, the Secretary of State is required by Pt. II, Art. 100 to place the question on the ballot. A majority of qualified voters participating in an election is required to convene a convention. At the next election the delegates are elected by the people, or earlier as provided by the General Court. A three-fifths vote of the number of delegates is required to send a proposed constitutional amendment to ratification (see below). An amendment approved by either of
9945-454: The performance of their Covenants..., to make good that Propriety, which by mutual contract men acquire, in recompense of the universal Right they abandon: and such power there is none before the erection of the Commonwealth." ( Leviathan . 1, XV) This marked an important departure from medieval natural law theories which gave precedence to obligations over rights. John Locke (1632–1704)
10062-508: The pleasure of another; nor can it tend to any good to make him profess what is contrary to his heart. The right of private judgment is therefore unalienable." In the German Enlightenment , Hegel gave a highly developed treatment of this inalienability argument. Like Hutcheson, Hegel based the theory of inalienable rights on the de facto inalienability of those aspects of personhood that distinguish persons from things. A thing, like
10179-494: The possession of someone else. When I have thus annulled their externality, I cannot lose them through lapse of time or from any other reason drawn from my prior consent or willingness to alienate them. In discussion of social contract theory, "inalienable rights" were said to be those rights that could not be surrendered by citizens to the sovereign. Such rights were thought to be natural rights , independent of positive law. Some social contract theorists reasoned, however, that in
10296-421: The presiding officers. Legislators also receive mileage for "actual daily attendance on legislative days, but not after the legislature shall have been in session for 45 legislative days or after the first day of July following the annual assembly of the legislature." Articles 25–40, excluding 28 which was repealed in 1976, define the role and makeup of The Senate, the upper house of the General Court. This section
10413-450: The press , jury trials , freedom of religion , and the right to bear arms . It protects citizens against double jeopardy, unreasonable searches and seizures, and being required to quarter soldiers. In most cases, the state constitution affords more specific protections than the U.S. Constitution. Unlike the U.S. Constitution, New Hampshire's Bill of Rights has been amended regularly since its adoption. New Hampshire's constitution certifies
10530-417: The private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of
10647-493: The pro gun environment in the state. Article 2-a reads: All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state. New Hampshire has the ability to govern itself independently. The people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent state; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which
10764-494: The province's governor was often concurrently the governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay . This practice ended completely in 1741, when Benning Wentworth was appointed governor. Wentworth laid claim on behalf of the province to lands west of the Connecticut River , east of the Hudson River , and north of Massachusetts, issuing controversial land grants that were disputed by the Province of New York , which also claimed
10881-692: The province's interior. The province was partitioned into counties in 1769, later than the other twelve colonies that revolted against the British Empire . Twelve other colonies joined with New Hampshire in resisting attempts by the British Parliament to impose taxes. After the American Revolutionary War began in April 1775, the province recruited regiments that served in the Siege of Boston , and
10998-504: The replacement of Wentworth by his nephew John , who would be the last royal governor of the province. Since the province was on the northern frontier bordering New France , its communities were frequently attacked during King William's War and Queen Anne's War , and then again in the 1720s during Dummer's War . Because of these wars the Indian population in the northern parts of the province declined, but settlements only slowly expanded into
11115-449: The right to liberty, for all the others would depend upon this. T. H. Green argued that "if there are such things as rights at all, then, there must be a right to life and liberty, or, to put it more properly to free life." John Locke emphasized "life, liberty and property" as primary. However, despite Locke's influential defense of the right of revolution , Thomas Jefferson substituted " pursuit of happiness " in place of "property" in
11232-641: The rule of Sir Edmund Andros as did Massachusetts. After word of the Glorious Revolution reached Boston, Massachusetts authorities conspired to have Andros arrested and sent back to England. This left the New Hampshire towns without any colonial administration, just as King William's War erupted around them. Subjected to significant French and Indian raids, they appealed to Massachusetts Governor Simon Bradstreet , who oversaw them until William III and Mary II issued new, separate charters in 1691 for both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Samuel Allen ,
11349-557: The second kind of right, what Price called "that power of self-determination which all agents, as such, possess," was inalienable as long man remained man. Like the mind's quest for religious truth from which it was derived, self-determination was not a claim to ownership which might be both acquired and surrendered, but an inextricable aspect of the activity of being human. Meanwhile, in America, Thomas Jefferson "took his division of rights into alienable and unalienable from Hutcheson, who made
11466-408: The secular power, the latter should be content and attend to its own affairs and permit men to believe one thing or another, as they are able and willing, and constrain no one by force. 17th-century English philosopher John Locke discussed natural rights in his work, identifying them as being "life, liberty, and estate (property)", and argued that such fundamental rights could not be surrendered in
11583-482: The shift in thinking in the 19th century, Bentham famously dismissed the idea of natural rights as "nonsense on stilts". By way of contrast to the views of Burke and Bentham, Patriot scholar and justice James Wilson criticized Burke's view as "tyranny". The signers of the Declaration of Independence deemed it a "self-evident truth" that all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". In The Social Contract , Jean-Jacques Rousseau claims that
11700-401: The state, having the proper qualifications, has equal right to be elected into office. Article 12-a., which states that "No part of a person's property shall be taken by eminent domain ...if the taking is for the purpose of private development...." was ratified in 2006. It was one of many actions that various states took, in the wake of Kelo v. City of New London the previous year, to limit
11817-520: The territory. These disputes resulted in the eventual formation of the Vermont Republic and the U.S. state of Vermont . The province's economy was dominated by timber and fishing. The timber trade, although lucrative, was a subject of conflict with the crown, which sought to reserve the best trees for use as ship masts . Although the Puritan leaders of Massachusetts ruled the province for many years,
11934-415: The text, the actual amendment is not included in a presentation of the constitution; only the text as the amendment revised it. An amendment will sometimes add an article; for instance, an article following Article 12 will be called Article 12-a. Amendments are proposed both to make policy changes and to make clerical changes such as gender neutrality . Part II, Article 100 of the constitution provides for
12051-554: The time of election. With the advice of the Executive Council , the Governor has the authority to call the General Court into session when in recess, to adjourn it early, and dissolve the General Court as required for the welfare of the state. The Governor, with the advice of the Council, has the authority to pardon offense not for impeachment; and to nominate and appoint all judicial officers, Attorney General , and all officers of
12168-419: The time" (Connolly). Authors such as Jacob Connolly confirm that to them Locke was highly ahead of his time with all this progressive thinking. That is that his thought fits our current state of democracy where we strive to make sure that everyone has a say in the government, and everyone has a chance at a good life. Regardless of race, gender, or social standing starting with Locke it was made clear not only that
12285-399: The two terms may not be synonymous. The concept of natural rights is not universally accepted, partly due to its religious associations and perceived incoherence. Some philosophers argue that natural rights do not exist and that legal rights are the only rights; for instance, Jeremy Bentham called natural rights "simple nonsense". Iusnaturalism , particularly, holds that legal norms follow
12402-586: The upper house, or Council. Should the conflict with Great Britain last beyond 1776, and barring instructions to the contrary from the Continental Congress, the Constitution provided for the popular election of the Councilors. Together the Assembly and Council were responsible for running the government of the colony, including the appointment of all civil and military officers. The Constitution did not provide for
12519-457: The upper settlements, comprising modern-day Dover , Durham and Stratham . After Mason died in 1635, the colonists and employees of Mason appropriated many of his holdings to themselves. Exeter was founded in 1638 by John Wheelwright , after he had been banished from the neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony for defending the teachings of Anne Hutchinson , his sister-in-law. In the absence of granting authority from anyone associated with
12636-399: The uses of eminent domain permitted by that decision. Although counties, cities, and towns in New Hampshire are legal constructs of the state, Article 28-a. was added in 1984 to stop the practice by which the state expanded their duties. It provides that any "new, expanded or modified programs or responsibilities" must either be "fully funded by the state" or "approved for funding by a vote of
12753-677: Was an English colony and later a British province in New England . It corresponds to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America . It was named after the English county of Hampshire in southern England by Captain John Mason in 1629, its first named proprietor. In 1776, the province established an independent state and government, the State of New Hampshire , and joined with twelve other colonies to form
12870-616: Was another prominent Western philosopher who conceptualized rights as natural and inalienable. Like Hobbes, Locke believed in a natural right to life, liberty , and property . It was once conventional wisdom that Locke greatly influenced the American Revolution with his writings of natural rights, but this claim has been the subject of protracted dispute in recent decades. For example, the historian Ray Forrest Harvey declared that Jefferson and Locke were at "two opposite poles" in their political philosophy, as evidenced by Jefferson's use in
12987-470: Was at first not strongly in favor of independence, but with the outbreak of armed conflict at Lexington and Concord many of its inhabitants joined the revolutionary cause. After Governor John Wentworth fled New Hampshire in August 1775, the inhabitants adopted a constitution in early 1776. Independence as part of the United States was confirmed with the 1783 Treaty of Paris . Prior to English colonization,
13104-521: Was explored in the early years of the 17th century by English and French explorers, including Samuel de Champlain and John Smith . Permanent English settlement began after land grants were issued in 1622 to John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges for the territory between the Merrimack and Sagadahoc ( Kennebec ) rivers, roughly encompassing present-day New Hampshire and western Maine . Settlers, whose early leaders included David Thomson , Edward Hilton and his brother William Hilton, began settling
13221-584: Was highly undesirable, since it would cause human life to be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". As such, if humans wish to live peacefully they must give up most of their natural rights and create moral obligations to establish political and civil society . This is one of the earliest formulations of the theory of government known as the social contract . Hobbes objected to the attempt to derive rights from " natural law ", arguing that law ("lex") and right ("jus") though often confused, signify opposites, with law referring to obligations, while rights refer to
13338-466: Was submitted and, in Spring 1783, a requisite number of town meetings accepted the third draft as is. On October 31, 1783, the Convention declared the constitution ratified and adjourned sine die . This constitution became effective June 2, 1784. On September 7, 1791, a convention drafted 72 amendments to the 1784 Constitution, submitted to the people as a new whole document on February 8, 1792. These revisions became effective June 5, 1793. Before 1964,
13455-428: Was the first constitution ever ratified by an American commonwealth . The Constitution established a legislature with two branches: a House of Representatives (or Assembly) and Council. The popularly elected convention which framed this Constitution was called a Congress, and it was to reconstitute itself as the House of Representatives. The House was to select 12 freeholders – a certain number from each county – to form
13572-457: Was the first former European colony to formally establish an independent government, as the State of New Hampshire, in January 1776. From 1630 to 1780, the population of New Hampshire grew from 500 to 87,802. In 1623, the first permanent English settlements, Dover and Rye , were established, while Portsmouth was the largest city by 1773 with a population of 4,372. The black population in
13689-418: Was wrong because every man has a natural right to the possession of his own body, or because every man has a natural right freely to determine his own destiny. The first kind of right was alienable: thus Locke neatly derived slavery from capture in war, whereby a man forfeited his labor to the conqueror who might lawfully have killed him; and thus Dred Scott was judged permanently to have given up his freedom. But
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