This page contains Articles VI-VIII of the 1820 Missouri Constitution.
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Article VI. Of Education
Section 1. Schools, and the means of education, shall forever be encouraged in this state; and the general assembly shall take measures to preserve, from waste or damage, such lands as have been, or may hereafter be, granted by the United States for the use of schools within each township in this state, and shall apply the funds, which may arise from such lands, in strict conformity to the object of the grant, and one school, or more, shall be established in each township as soon as practicable and necessary, where the poor shall be taught gratis.
Section 2. The general assembly shall take measures for the improvement of such lands as have been, or hereafter may be, granted by the United States to this state for the support of a seminary of learning; and the funds accruing from such lands, by rent or lease, or in any other manner, or which may be obtained from any other source, for the purposes aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund to support a university for the promotion of literature, and of the arts and sciences; and it shall be the duty of the general assembly, as soon as may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement of such lands, and for the improvement and permanent security of the funds and endowments of such institution.
Article VII. Of Internal Improvement
Internal improvement shall forever be encouraged by the government of this state; and it shall be the duty of the general assembly, as soon as may be, to make provision by law for ascertaining the most proper objects of improvement, in relation both to roads and navigable waters; and it shall also be their duty to provide by law for a systematic and economical application of the funds appropriated to those objects.
Article VIII. Of Banks
The general assembly may incorporate one banking company, and no more, to be in operation at the same time. The bank to be incorporated may have any number of branches, not to exceed five, to be established by law; and not more than one branch shall be established at any one session of the general assembly. The capital stock of the bank to be incorporated shall never exceed five millions of dollars at least one-half of which shall be reserved for the use of the state.