By-Laws
ARTICLE I
Name of the Society
The Society shall be known by the name and title “Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Florida.”
ARTICLE II
Purposes of the Society
The Society shall be operated exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law).
ARTICLE III
Restrictions on Activities
No part of the net earnings of the Society shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to its members, Gentlemen of the Council, officers, or other private persons, except that the Society shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article II hereof. No substantial part of the activities of the Society shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the Society shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.
Notwithstanding any other provision of the Articles of Incorporation, or these By-laws, the Society shall not carry on any other activities not permitted to be carried on (a) by a Society exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law).
ARTICLE IV
Membership
Any male person above the age of eighteen years, of good moral character and reputation, shall be eligible to membership in the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Florida, provided he is lineally descended in the male or female line from an ancestor:
Who served as a military or naval officer, or as a soldier, sailor, or marine, or as a privateersman, under authority of the Colonies which afterward formed the United States, or in the forces of Great Britain which participated with those of said Colonies in any wars in which the said Colonies were engaged, or in which Number they enrolled men, during the period from the settlement of Jamestown, May 13, 1607, to the Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775; or
Who held office in any of the Colonies between the dates above mentioned, either as
(a) Director General, Vice Director General, or member of the Council, or legislative body, in the Colony of the New Netherland;
(b) Governor, Lieutenant or Deputy Governor, Lord Proprietor, member of the King’s or Governor’s Council, or of the legislative body, in the Colony of New York, the Jerseys, Virginia, Pennsylvania, or Delaware;
(c) Lord Proprietor, Governor, Deputy Governor, or member of the Council, or of the legislative body, in Maryland, the Carolinas, or Georgia;
(d) Governor, Deputy Governor, Governor’s Assistant, or Commissioner to the United Colonies of New England, or member of the Council, body of Assistants, or legislative body, in any of the New England colonies; or
(e) Justice, Judge, Justice of the Peace, or other judicial officer.
Membership in the Society shall not be held completed until the Application Papers relating thereto shall have been approved by the Registrar General.
Membership of the Society shall be by invitation only and limited at the discretion of the Council.
A special category, “Honorary Life Member,” has been established to recognize those members who have served the Society with honor. Election as an Honorary Life Member is at the discretion of the Council. Those elected will not be subject to annual dues.
A further category of membership is Life Membership, whereby an existing member of the society can become a member for life upon approval by the Council on recommendation of the Treasurer after payment of a Life Membership fee to be prescribed by the Council. The availability of Life Memberships may be limited by the Council.
Those elected to Life Membership will not be subject thereafter to dues or assessments.
Any male person under the age of eighteen years who is a natural brother, natural nephew or natural lineal or collateral descendant of a living or deceased member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Colonial Dames of America, or the National Society of Colonial Dames of America, and who upon the age of eighteen would qualify for membership by virtue of descent, may be enrolled by such member or by such person's parent or grandparent or guardian as a Junior Member of the Society upon payment of an enrollment fee of fifty dollars. Junior Members shall not be liable for annual dues, shall have no vote at meetings of, and shall not hold office in the Society. A person's Junior Membership shall cease upon his attaining the age of eighteen years. Any person who has held Junior Membership and is elected a member shall be exempt from the payment of an initiation fee.
ARTICLE V
Initiation Fees and Dues
(a) The initiation fee shall be set by the Council except that sons of deceased and present members shall be exempt from payment of the same.
(b) The annual dues shall be set by the Council and shall be payable the first day of January of each year.
(c) The transfer fee shall be set by the Council for any member of another State Society transferring to this Society or on becoming a dual member.
(d) The Council may, at its discretion, change the amounts charged for initiation fees, annual dues and transfer fees after a careful review of economic conditions and the financial status of the Society.
(e) The fees for Life Membership shall be set by the Council.
ARTICLES VI
Admission of Members
Every application for membership shall be made in writing subscribed and verified by the applicant and approved by two members of the Society over their signatures. Applications shall be accompanied by written proof of eligibility and such applications shall be referred to the Committee on Membership, who shall investigate the same and report to the Council their recommendation thereon. Members shall be elected by a vote at a Council of the Society duly called, but a negative vote of two members of the Council shall cause rejection of such candidate. Payment of the initiation fee and dues and subscription to the declaration herein contained shall be necessary to complete membership.
ARTICLE VII
Officers
The officers of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Florida shall be a Governor, a Treasurer and a Secretary. The officers may also include a Deputy Governor, a First Lieutenant Governor, a Second Lieutenant Governor, one or more Deputy Secretaries, one or more Deputy Treasurers, a Registrar, a Deputy Registrar, a Historian, a Chaplain, a Deputy Chaplain, a Chancellor, a Surgeon, and a Genealogist, all of whom shall be members of Council. The Council shall be composed of the foregoing officers, the immediate past Governor, and such individual members of the Society as may be elected annually.
ARTICLE VIII
Seal
The seal of the Society shall be “Gules a castle of two towers between in chief two leopards and in a base a fleur-de-lis all gold, the castle charged with a lion of the field.” That is to say “On a red shield a castle of two towers between, above, two leopards and, below a fleur-de-lys, all gold: on middle wall of the castle, a red lion.” Surrounding the shield the words Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Florida. The design refers to the successive nations having an interest in Florida: the castle and the lion for Spain (Castile and Leon), the leopards for England, and the fleur-de-lis for France. At the top of the shield there are three coconuts, with the dates 1565, the founding of St. Augustine, 1607, the founding of Jamestown, and 1775, the end of the Colonial period.
ARTICLE IX
An Executive Committee composed of the Governor (ex-officio) and a minimum of four other members appointed by the Governor for a period of one year shall exercise the powers of the Council in the interim between meetings.
ARTICLE X
Disposition of Assets Upon Dissolution
Upon the dissolution of the Society, the Council shall, after paying or making provision for the payment of all of the liabilities of the Society, dispose of all of the assets of the Society exclusively for the purposes of the Society in such a manner, or to such organization or organizations organized and operated exclusively for charitable, educational, or scientific purposes as shall at the time qualify as an exempt organization or organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law), as the Council shall determine. Any such assets not so disposed of shall be disposed of by the Florida Court having supervisory jurisdiction over the Society’s affairs, exclusively for such purposes or to such organization or organizations, as said Court shall determine, which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes.
ARTICLE XI
The interpretation of these Bylaws shall rest with the Council, as approved by action of the Council, 14 March 1977.