constitution, and who shall have resided within this state for six months.

"3rd. Persons, not citizens of the United States, who at the time of the adoption of this constitution by the people were actual residents of Wisconsin, and had declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, in conformity with the laws of Congress for the naturalization of aliens, and who shall have actually resided within this state for six months.

non

Section 3. No person under guardianship. or compos mentis, insane, or convicted of treason or felony, shall be permitted to vote at any election, unless restored to civil rights by law, or by removal of natural or other inability."

Six days later, the convention, in committee of the whole, took the proposed article under consideration. It elicited much debate, chiefly on two provisions: the granting of the elective franchise to unnaturalized foreigners, and to the negroes. Judge Dunn, of Lafayette, offered as an amendment to the committee's report, this substitute for section one: "In all elections, every white male citizen above the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state one year next preceding any election, shall be entitled to vote at such election; and every white male inhabitant of the age aforesaid, who may be a resident of the state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall have the right of voting aforesaid. "2

The next day a long debate on the subject engaged the attention of the convention. Dunn's sympathies were with the foreigners, for his father was a native of Ireland."

The majority, however, opposed it, and perhaps the report of Mr. Rountree's remarks will sum up the views of the majority who voted against the amendment: "Native citizens

3

* Ibid., p. 147. See also, Fathers of Wisconsin, p. 204. Jour. Const. Conv., 1847-48, p. 179.

were required to reside in the country twenty-one years before being allowed to vote. He had not heard any one, not even the most progressive, propose to shorten the term of residence required of the native citizen. No one had moved to reduce the term required of a citizen from twentyone to eighteen or sixteen years; and yet he believed that a native citizen was as well qualified to vote understandingly after a residence of sixteen or eighteen years as the foreigners could be after a residence of five years."

The discussions on negro suffrage are more interesting, and particularly when considered in connection with the popular vote on the subject the spring before. Mr. Estabrook, of Walworth, first broached the subject by moving to insert a section granting universal suffrage to all in the Territory, and leaving the further regulation of the matter to law. He said, in introducing it: "Among the resolutions passed by the whig convention of that [Walworth] county one year ago last fall, was one instructing their delegates to go for universal suffrage, etc., and he had good reason to believe that one half of the democratic party of that county were in favor of the same principle." Mr. Estabrook came of Puritan ancestry, and it is said that he "took a position far in advance of his party at that time," particularly, it seems to me, in his later speeches.

2

A motion to strike out the word "white" was lost (22 to 45), but Mr. Estabrook, who had voted against striking out "white," offered an amendment adding this proviso: "Provided, however, That the legislature shall at any time have the power to admit colored persons to the right of suffrage on such terms and under such restrictions as may be determined by law." He said, in explanation of his motion, that "when he first came to this Territory, seven years ago, a corpora 's guard could not be found to

1Ibid., p. 130.

Ibid., p. 130.

Fathers of Wisconsin, p. 212.

Jour. Const. Conv., 1847-48, p. 145.

B Ibid., p. 180.

favor colored suffrage. Since then the public mind had been progressing. Last spring the county of Walworth gave about four hundred majority in favor of it; Racine gave a majority for it; Rock and Milwaukee gave a large vote for it; and Waukesha gave a majority in favor of it; and what he asked was, that when the public mind had advanced to a point where a majority should be in favor of abolishing this odious distinction, that then that majority should not be bound, hand and foot, by constitutional prohibitions." The amendment was adopted by a vote of 35 to 34, but the following day it was reconsidered (34 to 35)." Three projects were submitted for the future admission of colored men to participation in the rights of citizenship; a fourth, which was finally adopted, omitted the word "colored" and substituted therefor "persons not herein mentioned," as likely to be more acceptable to the people." The people of the state voted in 1819 to extend the right of suffrage to colored people. The validity of the amendment was contested, and it was not till 1866 - seventeen years later that the courts sustained its binding force." Almost any old citizen of Wisconsin can cite instances where colored men, although not legally entitled to vote, voted regularly; and a Milwaukee newspaper, a few months ago, recorded the death of a negro who had been on a jury before the War of Secession. The cclored population of Wisconsin has always been so small that the question has simply been one of principle.

The entire article on suffrage, as it stood in the constitution until 1882, passed in the convention by a vote of 52 to 13. By it all white citizens of the United States, white

'Ibid., p. 183.

2 Ibid., p. 180.

3 Ibid., p. 185.

4 Ibid., p. 201.

3 Ibid., p. 201. It may be interesting to note here that in 1886 suffrage was, under this provision, granted to women in school elections. (Laws of Wis., 1885, ch. 211.)

'See Turner, The Gerrymander in Wisconsin (2nd ed., p. 8). 'Jour. Const. Conv., 1847-48, p. 210.

persons of foreign birth who had declared their intentions, persons of Indian blood who had once been declared citizens of the United States, any subsequent law of Congress to the contrary notwithstanding, and civilized persons of Indian descent, not members of any tribe, were entitled to vote; and all must have had a residence of one year in the Territory. The following classes were excluded: persons under guardianship, non compos mentis, or insane, persons convicted of bribery, larceny, or any infamous crime, and those interested in bets or wagers on the election,2 the section was amended, and a residence in the election district was thereafter required. The actual time is ten days, but the legislature can not require more than thirty days. A proviso was also added, giving the legislature power to "provide for the registration of electors and prescribe proper rules and regulations therefor," in incorporated cities and villages.

In 1882

On March 13, 1848, the Territorial legislature adjourned sine die, and on the same day the constitution of the new state was ratified by popular vote.3

The state officers made elective by the constitution, and by subsequent acts of the legislature, at the present time governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney-general, state superintendent of schools, railroad commissioner, insurance commissioner, state senators, and members of the assembly. In the county, the people elect their clerk," treasurer," sheriff, coroner," clerk of the circuit court," register of

10

'Constitution of Wisconsin, art. iii., sec. 1.

2 Ibid., sec. 6.

3 Strong, p. 582.

+ Constitution of Wisconsin, art. v., sec. 1.

6

Laws of Wisconsin, 1874, ch. 273, sec. 8; Id., 1881, ch. 300.

* Id., 1878, ch. 214; Id., 1881, ch. 300.

* Constitution of Wisconsin, art. iv., sec. 4.

* Ibid., sec. 5.

* Sanborn & Berryman, Annotated Statutes, sec. 698, p. 430.

10 Ibid., same reference.

11 Constitution of Wisconsin, art. vi., sec. 4.

12 Ibid., same reference.

3

In

deeds, district attorney, surveyor, superintendent of schools, and members of the board of supervisors. the towns, are elected members of the town board of supervisors, the clerk, treasurer, assessor, four constables, four justices of the peace (two annually), and the overseers of highways, which last need not be elected by ballot. In the cities, are elected the mayor, aldermen, and city treasurer, while each ward elects its justices of the peace, and sends its supervisor to the county board. All the judges in the state are elected. The five justices of the supreme court are elected for ten years, the seventeen circuit judges for six years, and the several county judges hold office for four years. The constitution provides that "There shall be no election for a judge or judges. at any general election for state or county officers, nor within thirty days either before or after such elections."

Amendments to the constitution may be made in two ways: by the legislature and by county conventions,' but only the first method has ever been used.

"The process of amending the constitution by the legislature is as follows:

"1. An amendment may be proposed in either house. "2. The vote must be taken by yeas and nays. "3. The proposed amendment must be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house.

"4. It must be published for three months before the next general election.

"5. It must be agreed to by a majority of all the members of each house in the next legislature.

4

"6. It must be submitted to the people.

Constitution of Wisconsin, art. x., sec. 1.

Sanborn & Berryman, sec. 662, p. 412.

* Ibid., sec. 808, pp. 480, 481.

'Ibid., sec. 797, p. 478.

8 Constitution of Wisconsin, art. vii., sec. 9.

9 Ibid., art. xii., secs. 1, 2.