Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the persons hereinafter to be elected, pursuant to the provisions of this act, and their successors, be, and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate, to be styled the “President and Trustees of the Mount Carmel Academy,” and in that name to remain in perpetual succession, with power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, to acquire, hold and convey property, real and personal; to have and use a common seal, and the same to break, alter, and renew at pleasure; to make and alter from time to time, such bye-laws as they may deem necessary for the government and regulation of

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the said institution, its officers, servants and property; Provided, Such bye-laws be not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this state, or of the United States.

Sec. 2. The president and trustees of the said institution, shall be citizens of this state, and stockholders in the said corporation; and the trustees shall consist of six persons, who, together with the President, shall be elected by the stockholders, annually, on the first Monday of January in each and every year, and shall hold their offices until their successors are duly elected and qualified. The elections shall be held at the court house in Mount Carmel, until the academy shall be fitted for holding the elections therein; after which, all elections shall be held at the said academy. All elections for officers shall be by ballot, and may be made personally or by proxy, and conducted in such manner as shall be directed by the bye-laws.

Sec. 3. The stockholders shall have power at special elections, to be called by the president and trustees, or a majority of them, for that purpose, to fill all vacancies that may happen in the said board of president and trustees, by occasion of death, removal, resignation or otherwise.

Sec. 4. The president and trustees, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, shall severally take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, before some competent officer, to support the constitution of this state, and of the United States, and well and faithfully to perform the duties of their respective offices, to the best of their skill and ability.

Sec. 5. The said president and trustees, shall hold the property of the said institution, solely for the purposes and advantages of education, and the promotion of literature and science in the said academy; and not as a stock for the individual profit and benefit of themselves, or of any contributor to the endowment of the same; and no particular religious faith shall ever be required of those who become president and trustees, students, pupils, teachers, officers, or servants of the said institution.

Sec. 6. Said institution shall be permanently located in, or within one quarter of a mile of the corporate bounds of the borough of Mount Carmel, in Wabash county in this state; and the said president and trustees, shall be competent in law and in equity, to take to themselves and their successors in office, in their said corporate name and capacity, any estate, real, personal and mixed, by the gift, grant, bargain and sale, conveyance, will, devise or bequest, of person or persons, or body corporate and politic whatsoever; and the same estate, whether real or personal, to grant, bagain and sell, convey, demise, let, place out on

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interest, or otherwise dispose of, for the sole and separate use and benefit of the said institution, in such manner as shall seem to them most beneficial to the interests of said institution. The said president and trustees, shall faithfully apply all funds by them collected and received, according to the best of their judgment, in erecting and completing a suitable building or buildings, supporting the necessary officers, instructors and servants, and in procuring books, maps, charts, globes, philosophical and other apparatus, necessary to the success of said academy; Provided, nevertheless, That in case any donation, devise or bequest, shall be made to the said corporation, for a particular and specific purpose or purposes, not incompatible with the designs of this institution, and the corporation shall accept the same, every such donation, devise or bequest, shall be applied in conformity with the express conditions prescribed by the donor or devisor.

Sec. 7. The president and trustees, shall annually, and as soon as convenient after their own election and qualification into office, elect a treasurer and secretary, of the board of president and trustees of the said corporation, who shall each be stockholders therein; and who, when elected and qualified, shall continue in office until their successors are elected and qualified. The treasurer, before he enters on the duties of his office, shall execute a bond with approved security, to the president and trustees of the Mount Carmel Academy, in such penal sum as they may require, conditioned for the due and faithful performance of this duty as treasurer; and in case of the death, removal, or refusal, or neglect to act of the treasurer for the time being, it shall be lawful for the president and trustees, at any of their meetings, to appoint another treasurer, instead of the one dying, removing, refusing, or neglecting to act as aforesaid, to remain in office till the expiration of the time during which his predecessor was entitled to serve; and all processes against the said corporation, shall be by summons, and the service of the same shall be by leaving an attested copy thereof with the treasurer, or at his usual place of abode, at least twenty days before the return thereof. Both the treasurer and secretary, shall, before entering upon the duties of their offices, take an oath or affirmation, faithfully to fulfil the duties thereof respectively.

Sec. 8. The president and trustees, shall have power to employ and appoint a principal for said institution; and all such instructors and instructresses, and also such servants as may be necessary; and shall have power to displace any or either of them, as they may deem the interest

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of the institution, and the cause of education therein to require; and to fill vacancies that may happen by death, resignation, or otherwise, among said officers and servants.

Sec. 9. The lands within the jurisdiction of this state, held in perpetuity by the said institution, shall not exceed eighty acres, at any one time; and if donations in lands shall be made at any time to said corporation, the same may be received and held in trust, by the said president and trustees, and shall be sold within five years from the date of such donation, for the benefit of said institution; and in failure whereof, the lands so given, shall revert to the donor or grantor of the same, or to their heirs; and the said president and trustees, shall in no case lease or rent out any land so held in trust, for a longer time than four years from the time of such donation or grant.

Sec. 10. The president and trustees shall meet semi-annually, or oftener, if they shall deem proper, at the academy, after the same shall be erected; and it shall be the duty of the secretary, to attend all the meetings of the board, and keep and preserve a fair and correct record of their proceedings. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business appertaining to the institution; Provided, That the votes of a majority of the whole board, shall be necessary to elect any officer, instructor, or servant thereof.

Sec. 11. That on the payment of ten dollars to the treasurer of the said institution, every free white person residing within the state, shall be considered a stockholder, and shall be entitled to one vote; and it shall be lawful for each and every stockholder for the time being of the said institution, his or her executors, administrators, or assigns, to give, sell, devise, and dispose of their respective rights or shares in the said academy, and that their respective assignees shall be stockholders of said institution, and shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges in said institution, as the original stockholders are entitled to by this act; Provided, That a part of a right or share, shall not entitle the proprietor or owner thereof, to any privilege whatsoever in said institution.

Sec. 12. That Stephen Bliss, Thomas S. Hinde, Moses Beddle, Seth Guard, Joshua Beall, Cyrus Danforth, Ephraim Pharr, Hiram Bell, Scoby Stewart, Doct.[Doctor] Jacob Lesher, John Tilton, Abner Armstrong, James H. Beall, Doct. Ezra Baker, and William Eldridge of the county of Wabash, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to solicit and receive subscriptions of stock to said institution, and give receipts for the first instalment, to be paid on subscription; and when the sum of one thousand dollars

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shall be subscribed for, the said commissioners, or any three of them, are hereby authorized to give public notice, by posting up advertisements at six of the most public places in the said county, of the time and place of holding an election for president and trustees of said institution; which said election, shall be held at the court house in Mount Carmel, between the hours of 12 o’clock, M., and 6 o’clock P. M. on said day; and that the said commissioners, or any three of them, are hereby appointed judges of said election, and authorized and empowered to hold the same. The second election, and every subsequent one, shall be held on the first Monday in January, annually, at the academy, when erected, between the hours of 12 o’clock M., and 6 o’clock P. M. of said day. That each stockholder shall be required at the time of subscribing, or at, or before the first election for president and trustees, to pay to the commissioners, the sum of two dollars on each share by him or her subscribed, and the residue at such time or times as the president and trustees shall direct and require; Provided, That any stockholders neglecting or refusing to pay the balance due on any share or shares, shall forfeit to said institution, the money previously paid on such share or shares so neglected.

Sec. 13. All elections for president and trustees, shall be by ballot, with the name of the voter or stockholder, written or printed on the ballot, and the number of the shares of stock he or she may hold in said institution, and shall be given to the treasurer or secretary of the board, or to the president and trustees; any three of whom shall, and may act as the board of election.

Sec. 14. The said academy, when erected and in operation, shall at all times be open for the use and privilege of every free white person, within the United States, who may wish to be instructed by the instructors and instructresses, employed by the president and trustees thereof; Provided, Said free white person will comply with the laws and bye-laws of the said institution, and pay the sums fixed by the president and trustees, for the instruction of the students or pupils attending at the same; Provided nevertheless, That each and every stockholder in said institution, shall be entitled to the admission of one pupil or student in the same, for each and every share he or she may legally hold therein.

Sec. 15. That in case it should so happen that an election for president and trustees, should not take place on any day, when, pursuant to this act the same should be held, the said corporation shall not for that cause be deemed to be dissolved, but that it shall be lawful on any other day

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to hold an election, in the place of the one omitted to be held, in such manner as shall be prescribed by the bye-laws and ordinances of said corporation.

Sec. 16. This act shall be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, Jan. 16, 1836.