North Carolina manual [serial] (Volume 1951) online

years; two members appointed from educational districts for terms
of six years; and two members appointed from educational dis-
tricts for terms of eight years. One member at large shall be
appointed for a period of four years and one member at large
shall be appointed for a period of eight years. All subsequent
appointments shall be for terms of eight years. Any appointments
to fill vacancies shall be made by the Governor for the unexpired
term, which appointments shall not be subject to confirmation.
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be the admin-
istrative head of the public school system and shall be secretary
of the board. The board shall elect a chairman and vice chair-
man. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business. The per diem and expenses of the appoin-
tive members shall be provided by the General Assembly.

Sec. 9. Powers and Duties of the Board. The State Board of
Education shall succeed to all the powers and trusts of the Presi-
dent and Directors of the Literary Fund of North Carolina and
the State Board of Education as heretofore constituted. The State
Board of Education shall have power to divide the State into a
convenient number of school districts ; to regulate the grade, salary
and qualifications of teachers; to provide for the selection and
adoption of the textbooks to be used in the public schools; to
apportion and equalize the public school funds over the State; and
generally to supervise and administer the free public school system
of the State and make all needful rules and regulations in rela-
tion thereto. All the powers enumerated in this section shall be
exercised in conformity with this constitution and subject to such
laws as may be enacted from time to time by the General
Assembly.

Sec. 10. Agricultural department. As soon as practicable after
the adoption of this Constitution the General Assembly shall estab-
lish and maintain, in connection with the University, a depart-
ment of agriculture, of mechanics, of mining, and of normal in-
struction.

Sec. 11. Children must attend school. The General Assembly is
hereby empowered to enact that every child of sufficient mental



70 North Carolina Manual

and physical ability shall attend the public schools during the
period between the ages of six and eighteen years, for a term of
not less than sixteen months, unless educated by other means.

ARTICLE X

HOMESTEADS AND EXEMPTIONS

Section 1. Exemptions of personal property. The personal pi'op-
erty of any resident of this State, to the value of five hundred
dollars, to be selected by such resident, shall be and is hereby
exempted from sale under execution or other final process of any
court issued for the collection of any debt.

Sec. 2. Hoynestead. Every homestead, and the dwellings and
buildings used therewith, not exceeding in value one thousand
dollars, to be selected by the owner thereof, or in lieu thereof, at
the option of the owner, any lot in a city, town, or village with
the dwellings and buildings used thereon, owned and occupied by
any resident of this State, and not exceeding the value of one
thousand dollars, shall be exempt from sale under execution or
other final process obtained on any debt. But no property shall
be exempt from sale for taxes or for payment of obligations con-
tracted for the purchase of said premises.

Sec. 3. Homestead exemption from debt. The homestead, after
the death of the owner thereof, shall be exempt from the payment
of any debt during the minority of his children, or any of them.

Sec. 4. Laborer's lien. The provisions of sections one and two
of this article shall not be so construed as to prevent a laborer's
lien for work done and performed for the person claiming such
exemption, or a mechanic's lien for work done on the premises.

Sec. 5. Benefit of widoiv. If the owner of a homestead die, leav-
ing a widow but no children, the same shall be exempt from the
debts of her husband, and the rents and profits thereof shall inure
to her benefit during her widowhood, unless she be the owner of
a homestead in her own right.

Sec. 6. Property of married women secured to them. The real
and personal property of any female in this State acquired be-
fore marriage, and all property, real and personal, to which she
may, after marriage, become in any manner entitled, shall be and
remain the sole and seperate estate and property of such female,



Constitution 71

and shall not be liable for any debts, obligations, or engagements
of her husband, and may be devised, and bequeathed, and, with
the written assent of her husband, conveyed by her as if she were
unmarried.

Sec. 7. Husband may insure his life for the benefit of wife and
children. The husband may insui-e his own life for the sole use
and benefit of his wife and children, and in case of the death of
the husband the amount thus insured shall be paid over to the
wife and children, or to the guardian, if under age, for her or
their own use, free from all the claims of the representatives of
her husband, or any of his creditors. And the policy shall not be
subject to claims of creditors of the insured during the life of the
insured, if the insurance issued is for the sole use and benefit of
the wife and /or children.

Sec. 8. Hoiv deed for homestead may be made. Nothing con-
tained in the foregoing sections of this Article shall operate to
prevent the owner of a homestead from disposing of the same by
deed ; but no deed made by the owner of a homestead shall be
valid without the signature and acknowledgment of his wife.

ARTICLE XI

PUNISHMENT, PENAL INSTITUTIONS, AND PUBLIC CHARITIES

Section 1. Punishments; convict labor; proviso. The following
punishments only shall be known to the laws of this State, viz. :
death, imprisonment with or without hard labor, fines, removal
from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of
honor, trust, or profit under this State. The foregoing provisions
for imprisonment with hard labor shall be construed to authorize
the employment of such convict labor on public works or highways,
or other labor for public benefit, and the farming out thereof,
where and in such manner as may be provided by law; but no
convict shall be farmed out who has been sentenced on a charge
of murder, manslaughter, rape, attempt to commit rape, or arson ;
Provided, that no convict whose labor may be farmed out shall
be punished for any failure of duty as a laborer, except by a
responsible officer of the State; but the convicts so farmed out
shall be at all times under the supervision and control, as to their
government and discipline, of the penitentiary board or some of-
ficer of this State.



72 North Carolina Manual

Sec. 2. Death pntiishv}(')}t. The object of punishments beinj; not
only to satisfy justice, but also to reform the offender, and thus
prevent crime, mui'der, arson, burg-lary, and rape, and these only,
may be i)unishable with death, if the General Assembly shall so
enact.

Sec. 3. Pcnitvni'utiij. The General Assembly shall, at its first
meeting, make provision for the erection and conduct of a State's
Prison or penitentiary at some central and accessible point with-
in the State.

Sec. 4. Houses of correction. The General Assembly may pro-
vide for the erection of houses of correction, where vagrants and
persons guilty of misdemeanors shall be restrained and usefully
employed.

Sec. 5. Houses of refuge. A house or houses of refuge may be
established whenever the public interest may require it, for the
correction and instruction of other classes of offenders.

Sec. 6. The sexes to be separated. It shall be required, by com-
petent legislation, that the structure and superintendence of penal
institutions of the State, the county jails, and city police prisons
secure the health and comfort of the prisoners, and that male and
female prisoners be never confined in the same room or cell.

Sec. 7. Provision for the poor and oj-phans. Beneficient provi-
sions for the poor, the unfortunate, and orphan being one of the
first duties of a civilized and Christian State, the General Assem-
bly shall, at its first session, appoint and define the duties of a
Board of Public Charities, to whom shall be entrusted the super-
vision of all charitable and penal State institutions, and who shall
annually report to the Governor upon their condition, with sug-
gestions for their improvement.

Sec. 8. Orphan houses. There shall also, as soon as practicable,
be measures devised by the State for the establishment of one or
more orphan houses, where destitute orphans may be cared for,
educated, and taught some business or trade.

Sec. 9. Inebriates and idiots. It shall be the duty of the Legisla-
ture, as soon as practicable, to devise means for the education of
idiots and inebriates.

Sec. 10. Deaf mutes, blind, and insane. The General Assembly
may provide that the indigent deaf-mute, blind, and insane of the
State shall be cared for at the charge of the State.



Constitution 73

Sec. 11. Self-supporting. It shall be steadily kept in view by
the Legislature and the Board of Public Charities that all penal
and charitable institutions should be made as nearly self-support-
ing as is consistent with the purposes of their creation.

ARTICLE XII

MILITIA

Section 1. Who are liable to militia duty. All able-bodied male
citizens of the State of North Carolina, between the ages of
twenty-one and forty years, who are citizens of the United States,
shall be liable to duty in the militia: Provided, that all persons
who may be averse to bearing arms, from religious scruples, shall
be exempt therefrom.

Sec. 2. Organizing etc. The General Assembly shall provide for
the organizing, arming, equipping, and discipline of the militia,
and for paying the same, when called into active service.

Sec. 3. Governor, commander-in-chief. The Governor shall be
commander-in-chief, and shall have power to call out the militia
to execute the law, suppress riots or insurrections, and to repel
invasion.

Sec. 4. Exemptions. The General Assembly shall have power to
make such exemptions as may be deemed necessary, and to enact
laws that may be expedient for the government of the militia.

ARTICLE XIII

AMENDMENTS

Section 1. Convention, how called. No convention of the people
of this State shall ever be called by the General Assembly, unless
by the concurrence of two-thirds of all of the members of each
House of the General Assembly, and except the proposition. Con-
vention or NO Convention, be first submitted to the qualified voters
of the whole State, at the next general election, in a manner to
be prescribed by law. And should a majority of the votes cast
be in favor of said convention, it shall assemble on such day as
may be prescribed by the General Assembly.

Sec. 2. Hotv the Constitution may be altered. No part of the
Constitution of this State shall be altered unless a bill to alter



74 North Carolina Manual

the same shall have been agreed to by three-fifths of each House
of the General Assembly. And the amendment or amendments so
ag-reed to shall be submitted at the next general election to the
qualified voters of the whole State, in such manner as may be
prescribed by law. And in the event of their adoption by a ma-
jority of the votes cast, such amendment or amendments shall be-
come a part of the Constitution of this State.

ARTICLE XIV

miscellaneous

Section 1. Indictments. All indictments which shall have been
found, or may hereafter be found, for any crime or offense com-
mitted before this Constitution takes effect, may be proceeded
upon in the proper courts, but no punishment shall be inflicted
which is forbidden by this Constitution.

Sec. 2. Penalty for fighting duel. No person who shall hereafter
fight a duel, or assist in the same as a second, or send, accept, or
knowingly carry a challenge therefor, or agree to go out of the
State to fight a duel, shall hold any ofRce in this State.

Sec. 3. Drawing money. No money shall be drawn from the
Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and
an accurate account of the receipts and expenditures of the public
money shall be annually published.

Sec. 4. Mechanic's lien. The General Assembly shall provide, by
proper legislation, for giving to mechanics and laborers an ade-
quate lien on the subject-matter of their labor.

Sec. 5. Governor to make appointments. In the absence of any
contrary provision, all officers of this State, whether heretofore
ejected or appointed by the Governor, shall hold their positions
only until other appointments are made by the Governor, or, if
the officers are elective, until their successors shall have been
chosen and duly qualified according to the provisions of this Con-
stitution.

Sec. 6. Seat of the government. The seat of government in this
State shall remain at the city of Raleigh.

Sec. 7. Holding office. No person who shall hold any office or
place of trust or profit under the United States, or any depart-
ment thereof, or under this State, or under any other state or



Constitution 75

government, shall hold or exercise any other office or place of
trust or profit under the authority of this State, or be eligible to
a seat in either House of the General Assembly: Provided, that
nothing herein contained shall extend to officers in the militia,
notaries public, justices of the peace, commissioners of public
charities, or commissioners for special purposes.

Sec. 8. Intermarriage of whites and Negroes prohibited. All
marriages between a white person and a Negro, or between a
white person and a person of Negro descent to the third genera-
tion, inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.



THE AMERICAN'S CREED

I believe in the United States of America, as a government of
the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are
derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a re-
public; a sovereign nation of many sovereign states; a perfect
union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of
freedom, equality, justice and humanity for which American
patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it
is my duty to my country to love it, to support its constitution,
to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all
enemies.

(The American's Creed by William Tyler Page was adopted
by an act of Congress, April 6, 1918.)



THE AMERICAN FLAG, ITS ORIGIN

In 1775, the Philadelphia Troop of Light Horse carried a stand-
ard with thirteen alternate blue and silver stripes in the upper
left-hand corner. At Cambridge on January 2, 1776, Washington
without authorization of the Continental Congress, raised a flag
consisting of thirteen alternate white and red stripes with the
crosses of St. George and St. Andrew in a blue field in the upper
left-hand corner. It was called the "Union Flag," "Grand Union
Flag," and the "Continental Flag," and was employed until dis-
placed by the Stars and Stripes adopted by the Continental Con-
gi-ess.

The beautiful tradition that Betsy Ross, as early as June 1776,
made a Stars and Stripes flag from a pencil sketch supplied by
Washington but changed the points of the stars from six to five,
has become a classic. Historians doubt its accuracy. Half a dozen
localities claim to have been the place where the Stars and Stripes
was first used. Within New York State such contention has been
for Fort Ann on July 8, Fort Stanwix on August 3, Bennington
on August 13, and Saratoga on September 19, 1777. The flag with
thirteen stripes and thirteen stars, authorized on June 14, 1777,
continued to be used as the national emblem until Congress
passed the following act, which President Washington signed:

77



78 North Carolina Manual

"That from and after May 1, 1795, the flag of the United
States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white; and that
the union be fu'teen stars, white in a blue field."

This action was necessitated by the admission of the States of
Vermont and Kentucky to the Union.

The flag of 1795 had the stars arranged in three rows of five
each instead of in a circle, and served for 23 years.

With the admission of more new states, however, it became
apparent that the 1795 flag would have to be further modified;
hence in 1818 a law was passed by Congress providing:

"That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag
of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate
red and white; that the union have twenty stars, white in a
blue field.

"That on the admission of every new state into the Union,
one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such
addition shall take effect on the Fourth of July next succeed-
ing such admission."

Since 1818 additional stars have been added until today there
are 48 on the flag. No law has been passed to designate how the
stars shall be arranged. At one time they formed a design of a
larger star. Now by common practice they form six rows of eight
stars each.

Betsy Ross, it is now said, lived at 233 Arch Street, Philadel-
phia, and not at 239. She made flags, but says Theodore D. Gott-
lieb, she never made the first Stars and Stripes. He adds: "The
Department of State, the War and Navy departments, the His-
torical Sites Commission of Philadelphia and other official bodies
repudiate the legend. The book and pamphlet material available
is ovei'whelmingly against the legend.

"The story arose for the first time on Max'ch 14, 1870, when
William J. Canby read a paper before the Pennsylvania Historical
Society in which he states that in 1836, when his grandmother,
Betsy Ross, was 84 years old and he was 11, she told him the
story. He apparently thought little of it because nothing was done
until 1857, when at the suggestion of his Aunt Clarissa, oldest
daughter of Betsy, he wrote out the notes as he remembered the
conversation. *



The American Flag 79

"Nothing further was done until 1870 when he wrote his paper.
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania thought so little of the
paper it neither catalogued nor kept a copy of it. Even George
Canby, younger brother of William, disputed several points in the
paper.

"The legend grew to strength from 1888 to 1893 when pro-
moters secured an option on the so-called Flag House.

"Modern historical researchers are giving much thought to
Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey as the possible designer and
the Fillmore or Bennington flag as the first flag."

The Proper Display of the American Flag

Sec. 2. (a) It is the universal custom to display the flag only
from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs
in the open. However, the flag may be displayed at night upon
special occasions when it is desired to produce a patriotic effect.

(b) The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoni-
ously.

(c) The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather
is inclement.

(d) The flag should be displayed on all days when the weather
permits, especially on New Year's Day, January 1; Inauguration
Day, January 20; Lincoln's Birthday, February 12; Washington's
Birthday, February 22; Army Day, April 6; Easter Sunday (va-
riable) ; Mother's Day, second Sunday in May; Memorial Day
(half staff until noon). May 30; Flag Day, June 14; Independence
Day, July 4; Labor Day, first Monday in September; Constitution
Day, September 17; Columbus Day, October 12; Navy Day, Octo-
ber 27; Armistice Day, November 11; Thanksgiving Day, fourth
Thursday in November ; Christmas Day, December 25 ; such other
days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States;
the birthdays of States (dates of admission) ; and on State holi-
days.

(e) The flag should be displayed daily, weather permitting, on
or near the main administration building of every public institu-
tion.

(f) The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place
on election days.



80 North Carolina Manual

(jr) The flag- should be displayed during school days in or near
every schoolhouse.

Sec. 3. That the flag, when carried in a procession with another
flag or flags, should be either on the marching right; that is, the
flag's own right, or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of
the center of that line.

(a) The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade
except from a staff, or as provided in subsection (i).

(b) The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or
back of a vehicle or of a railroad train or a boat. When the flag
is displayed on a motorcar, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the
chassis or clamped to the radiator cap.

(c) No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on
the same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of
America, except during church services conducted by naval chap-
lains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above the
flag during church services for the personnel of the Navy.

(d) The flag of the United States of America, when it is dis-
played with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should
be on the right, the flag's own right, and its staff should be in
front of the staff of the other flag.

(e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the
center and at the highest point of the group when a number of
flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped
and displayed from staffs.

(f) When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of
societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United
States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags
are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should
be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may
be placed above the flag of the United States or to the right of
the flag of the United States.

(g) When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are
to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags
should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids
the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation
in time of peace.

(h) When the flag of the United States is displayed from a
staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill,



The American Flag 81

balcony, or front of a building', the union of the flag should be
placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff.
When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extend-
ing from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag-
should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.

(i) When the flag is displayed otherwise than by being flown
from a staff, it should be displayed flat, whether indoors or out.
When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall,
the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right; that
is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag
should be displayed in the same way; that is, with the union or
blue field to the left of the observer in the street.

(j) When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it
should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an
east and west street or to the east in the north and south street.

(k) When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed
flat, should be displayed above and behind the speaker. When dis-
played from a staff in a church or public auditorium, if it is dis-
played in the chancel of a church, or on the speaker's platform
in a public auditorium, the flag should occupy the position of
honor and be placed at the clergyman's or speakers right as he
faces the congregation or audience. Any other flag so displayed
in the chancel or on the platform should be placed at the clergy-
man's or speaker's left as he faces the congregation or audience.
But when the flag is displayed from a staff in a church or public
auditorium elsewhere than in the chancel or on the platform it
shall be placed in the position of honor at the right of the con-
gregation or audience as they face the chancel or platform. Any
other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the congre-
gation or audience as they face the chancel or platform.

(1) The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony
of unveiling a statue or monument, but it should never be used
as the covering for the statue or monument.

(m) The flag, when flown at half staff, should be first hoisted
to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff posi-
tion. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is
lowered for the day. By "half-staff" is meant hauling the flag to
one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff.