of the whole, and no official reports of them are to be had. We may, however, rely on these statements of Moses M. Strong, one of the members of the convention, and author of the History of Wisconsin Territory.

"In view of the opposition and excited feeling which had been exhibited to the acts of the legislative assembly conferring upon unnaturalized foreigners the right of voting for or against state government, and for delegates to the convention, it would seem reasonable to have expected some exhibitions of that feeling in the convention.

"The article [on suffrage and the elective franchise], in that respect, only required the declaration of intention as a qualification for the right of suffrage. And, although there might have been, in committee of the whole, some attempt to restrict the right to citizens, yet if there was, it was so feebly sustained that it was never renewed in the convention, where the ayes and noes could be had.

"The principal controversy in the discussion of this article was upon the subject of negro suffrage.

"This arose, in the first instance, upon the proposition of Mr. [Charles M.] Baker [of Walworth county], for a separate submission of an article giving the right of suffrage to colored male citizens. The proposition was discussed at great length, and defeated by a vote of 47 to 51.

"The article was then adopted substantially as reported by the committee, except that voting by ballot was substituted for a viva voce vote, as recommended by the committee."

A resolution was afterwards introduced, providing for the separate submission of a distinct article in accordance with Mr. Baker's proposition, and this was adopted.2

The work of the convention was finished December 16, 1846, and the proposed constitution was submitted to the people on the first Tuesday of April, 1847. It was rejected by a majority of more than six thousand in a total of thirty

four thousand votes.' The principal objections to this constitution are usually given under five heads.

1. The article in relation to the right of married women, which read as follows: "All property, real or personal, of the wife, owned by her at the time of her marriage, by gift, devise, descent, or otherwise than from her husband, shall be her separate property." So familiar are we now with such provisions, that we can scarcely imagine that fifty years ago this one aroused most violent opposition.

2. The article on exemptions, which excepted forty acres of land, or the homestead not exceeding in value $1,000, when there was an execution or forced sale.

3. The prohibition of banks of issue.

4. The number of representatives in the legislature was considered as by far too large.

5. The judiciary was made elective."

To these, the editors of the Fathers of Wisconsin, who were newspaper reporters in the convention, added three:

1. The northwest boundary line was drawn in such a manner that all the lower valley of Lake Pepin and St. Croix river would have been given to Minnesota.

2. The salaries of the state officers were made unalterable by the legislature.

3. The "fatal objection" of the omission of a special article on corporations.

Strong says that the democrats opposed the article on the rights of married women, and exemption, and the whig leaders the restrictions on banking. "The contest was the most able, the most energetic, and the most exciting that ever occupied the attention of the people, and in many respects its like has not been seen in any subsequent controversy in the state, and the feelings of personal antagonism between members of the dominant democratic party,

'Madison Daily Argus, May 18, 1847.

Fathers of Wisconsin, p. 387.

3 Ibid., pp. 386-388, note.

who were arrayed against each other, were such that their effects were not easily nor for a long time eradicated."

It will be remembered that the proposition concerning negro suffrage was to be separately submitted to the people. The resolution covering this matter provided that if the majority of the people of Wisconsin Territory were in favor of equal suffrage to colored persons, the following section would be inserted in the constitution: "All male citizens of African blood possessing the qualifications required by the first section of the article on 'suffrage and the elective franchise' shall have a right to vote for all officers and be eligible to all offices that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people after the adoption of this constitution." The measure was defeated (ayes 7,664, nays 14,615),3 and the result strikingly exhibits the influence which Wisconsin's varied population has had on her legislation.

The accompanying sketch-map tells the story. The southwestern counties possessed a large southern element. In

The following returns of the vote are from the Madison Daily Argus

these counties slaves had actually been held on this boasted free soil of the Northwest Territory,' and here we find the largest majorities against the proposition for negro suffrage. On the shore of Lake Michigan we again find opposition to the admission of blacks to citizenship.

for May 16. I have not been able to find returns from Calumet, Chippewa, and La Pointe counties; they were thinly settled, and possibly no vote was taken there:

Official returns of the vote on the constitution and negro suffrage for the election of April, 1847:

'Davidson, "Negro Slavery in Wisconsin," Proc. Wis. Hist. Soc, .1892.

There were the most populous of the German settlements, and by an attempt made in the convention of 1846 to couple the vote on foreign suffrage with that on negro suffrage, the antagonism of the Germans was aroused.' The solid strip showing majorities for it can easily be accounted for when one reflects that those were then and are still the counties chiefly settled by New Englanders.2

Toward the close of the following September, the gov ernor issued a proclamation, calling a special session of the legislature for the 18th of October, the prescribed business being to take action in relation to the admission of the state into the union, and to adopt such other measures as the public good might require." The legislators met at Madison, and in a ten days' session provided for the election of sixty-nine delegates to form a new constitutional convention, and made all the necessary regulations concerning their election. The requirements for suffrage were the same as for the preceding convention."

The second convention for the purpose of forming a state constitution assembled December 15, 1847. The usual routine business was transacted during the first few days, and on the 24th of December the committee on general provisions reported the article on suffrage, with the following qualifications for voting:

"Section 1. All free white male persons, of the age of twenty-one years, or upwards, belonging to any of the following classes of persons, shall constitute the qualified electors at any election authorized by this constitution or by any law:

"1st. Citizens of the United States, who at the time of the adoption of this constitution by the people of Wisconsin were actual residents of this state.

"2nd. Citizens of the United States, having become residents of the state of Wisconsin after the adoption of this

Wisconsin Banner, Milwaukee, Oct. 17, 1816.

Thwaites, Story of Wisconsin, p. 235. Madison Weekly Argus, Sept. 28, 1847. 4 Laws of Wisconsin, October, 1817, p. 3.