eighty-second year, having the right of admission into the Union as one of the United States of America, consistent with the Federal Constitution and by virtue of the treaty of cession by France to the United States of the province of Louisiana, made and entered into on the thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and three, and by virtue of, and in accordance with, the act of Congress passed March the thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, entitled “An act to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,” in order to secure to ourselves and to our posterity the enjoyment of all the rights of life, liberty, and property, and the free pursuit of happiness, do mutually agree with each other to form ourselves into a free, independent, and sovereign State, by the name and style of the State of Kansas, and do ordain and establish the following constitution for the government thereof:
Article I
boundaries
We do declare and establish, ratify and confirm, the following as the permanent boundaries of the said State of Kansas, that is to say: Beginning at a point on the western boundary of the State of Missouri where the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said boundary to latitude thirty-eight; thence following said boundary westward to the east boundary of the Territory of Utah, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence northward on said summit to the fortieth parallel of latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the State of Missouri; thence south with the western boundary of said State to the place of beginning.
Article II
county boundaries
No county now established which borders upon the Missouri River, or upon either bank of the Kansas River, shall ever be reduced by the formation of new counties to less than twenty miles square; nor shall any other county now organized, or hereafter to be organized, be reduced to less than five hundred square miles.
Article III
distribution of powers
The power of the government of the State of Kansas shall be divided into three separate departments—the executive, the legislative, and the judicial; and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any functions appertaining to either of the others, except in the cases hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.
