SECTION 1. The militia of this commonwealth shall consist of all free, able-bodied male
persons (negroes, mulattoes, and Indians excepted) resident in the same, between the ages of
eighteen and forty-five years; except such persons as now are, or hereafter may be, exempted by
the laws of the United States or of this State; but those who belong to religious societies, whose
tenets forbid them to carry arms, shall not be compelled to do so, but shall pay an equivalent for
personal services.
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