Waukesha-Peter D. Gifford, George Scagel, Squire S. Case, A. L. Castleman, Emulous P. Cotton, and Eleazer Root.

Your committee further report that, as appears from the certificate of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Walworth, Timothy Mower, Jr. is returned as a delegate elect to this convention. That from said certificate, it also appears that there were returned to the office of said clerk, nine hundred and thirty-three votes for Timothy Mower, nine hundred and two votes for Ezra A. Mulford, and fifty votes for Cyrus A. Mulford; but that an error was made by one of the clerks of election of said county in his return to the clerk of the board of supervisors of said county, by which the name of Cyrus A. Mulford was erroneously written for Ezra A. Mulford. Your committee therefore, report that in their opinion, Ezra A. Mulford is entitled to a seat as a member of this convention from the county of Walworth.

On motion of Mr. JUDD,

THEODORE PRENTISS, Ch'n.
BYRON KILBOURN,
STODDARD JUDD.

CHARLES H. LARRABEE, a member elect from the county of Dodge, was admitted to a seat as a member of the convention: On motion of Mr. ROUNTREE,

ORSAMUS W. COLE, a member elect from the county of Grant, was admitted to his seat.

Mr. KILBOURN presented the certificate of election of WIL LIAM MCDOWELL, as a member of the convention from the coun ty of Green, who was admitted to his seat.

Mr. LOVELL moved that the convention proceed to ballet for president;

Which was agreed to.

The CHAIR appointed Messrs. FENTON and LARRABEE tellers to receive and canvass the votes; and pending the ballot,

Mr. RICHARDSON introduced the following resolution, to wit: "Resolved, That a majority of the whole number of members present shall be necessary to the choice of officers of this conven. tion."

And the rules having been first suspended for that purpose,
The said resolution was adopted.

Mr. SANDERS introduced the following resolution, to wit: "Resolved, That the convention elect as officers to govern their proceedings, one president, one secretary, one assistant secretary, one sergeant-at-arms, one doorkeeper, two messengers and one fire. man."

Mr. CHASE moved to amend the same by striking out the word "two," before "messenger," and inserting "one;"

Which was disagreed to.

Mr. WHITON moved to amend the same by striking out the words "two messengers ;"

Which was disagreed to.

The said resolution was then adopted, the rules having been first suspended for that purpose.

Mr. CHASE introduced the following resolution, which was read, to wit:

"Resolved, That a committee of

be appointed by the chairman which shall be chosen by ballot to prepare and present articles to be adopted for the constitution."

The convention then proceeded to ballot for president; and

A ballot having been taken and counted, the tellers reported the whole number of votes given were sixty-six.

Of which Morgan L. Martin received

41

20

1

4

MORGAN L. MARTIN, having received a majority of all the votes given for that office, was declared duly elected president of the convention.

Mr. BEALL moved that a committee of two be appointed to conduct the president elect to the chair;

Which was agreed to.

The CHAIR appointed Messrs. BEALL and KING as such committee.

The PRESIDENT, after having been conducted to his seat, rose and addressed the convention as follows:

"Gentlemen-Before assuming the chair, allow me to express my sincere and grateful acknowledgements for the distinguished and honorable position you have assigned me in this body. The occasion which calls us together is one of no ordinary importance. The trust committed to us of fixing the organic laws under which the people of the territory are to assume the sovereignty and functions of an independent government, is of a delicate and responsible charac ter, and can only be properly discharged in a spirit of harmony, concession, compromise. Let these be the watchwords during our ses sion, and I may safely assure you that the duties of the chair will be easy of performance; the intercourse and labors of the members will be pleasant and agreeable; and the work we may accomplish will confer honor upon the convention, be acceptable to our constituents, and secure the permanent welfare and prosperity of our people."

Mr. JACKSON moved that the convention proceed to elect the remaining officers of the convention viva voce;

Which was agreed to; and

For the office of secretary,

Thomas McHugh received....

44 votes.

22

THOMAS MCHUGH, having received a majority of all the votes cast for that office, was declared duly elected secretary of the convention.

For the office of assistant secretary,

Robert L. Ream received.

J. R. Brigham

44 votes.

22

ROBERT L. REAM, having received a majority of all the votes given for that office, was declared duly elected assistant secretary.

For the office of sergeant-at-arms,

Edgar R. Hugunin received

Wm. T. Getty

66

42 votes.

21 66

EDGAR R. HUGUNIN, having received a majority of all the votes given for that office, was declared duly elected sergeant-at

DOUGLASS RANDALL, having received a majority of all the votes given for that office, was declared duly elected door keeper.

For the office of messenger,

Huntington Tipple, received

44 votes. .49

Matthew Bishop,

66

Wm. T. Getty,

Frederick Hollman,

66

Blank,...

HUNTINGTON TIPPLE and MATTHEW BISHOP, having received a majority of all the votes given for that office, were declared duly elected messengers.

For the office of fireman,

Wm. M. Mott, received.

Blank,

WM. M. MOTT, having received a majority of all the votes given for that office, was declared duly elected fireman.

Mr. CHASE, moved that the convention proceed to ballot for printer.

Mr. JACKSON, moved that said motion be laid upon the table; Which was agreed to.

Mr. WHEELER, introduced the following resolution, which was read, to wit:

"Resolved, That Messrs. Tenney, Smith & Holt, proprietors of the Wisconsin Argus, be employed to do the printing of this convention."

Mr. BEALL, introduced the following resolutions, which were read, to wit:

1st. "Resolved, That all printing for, or by order of this convention shall be done under the direction of a committee of three members to be called the committee on printing.

2d. That before any such printing be executed, the said committee shall issue written proposals for the same, and submit them to the several papers in this village, requesting the conductors thereof, to submit to them on a certain day, the terms upon which they will execute the printing, accompanying such offer with good and satisfactory surety, that the same shall be performed according to the proposals submitted.

3d. That upon the receipt of such terms, the printing shall be let to the lowest bidder.

Mr. KILBOURN said, he doubted not that it was the desire of every member of the convention that the session should continue as short a time, and be attended with as little expense, as was consistent with the good of the public. The people both desired and expected a short session, and as their organization had now been completed, he begged leave to submit several propositions for their consideration which he had embodied in the shape of resolutions. He did so for the purpose of presenting in a concise form some of the leading questions which would occupy their time, and more strongly impressing them upon their immediate attention.

The whole community had very recently been excessively agita-. ted with the question of adopting or rejecting the old constitution.A large majority of the people had by their votes declared against that instrument in consequence of a few provisions which they had regarded as most pernicious. It was the province of this body to study out and avoid those measures known to be repugnant to the popular will, and although there might be some little difference of opinion as to what those articles were, and precisely to what extent they had been condemned, yet he apprehended that all would agree that the judiciary article, the bank article, and the articles on exemption and the rights of married women, were most prominent, and had met with most disapprobation. Had it not been for these, in his opinion, the old constitution would have been very generally acceptable. Coupled as they had been together, however, both good and bad, and incapable of separation, the whole had been lost.

A great error in the organization of the last convention, to his view, was that by far too many committees had been formed, and the several parts of the constitution thus distributed into too many hands. The consequence was, that the instrument when finally completed, was lacking in that consistency and harmony in all its parts which so important a document ought to possess.

To obviate this difficulty, the plan he proposed was, that a large. committee-say of fifteen-should be appointed, to whom all articles save those he had enumerated as obviously condemned, should be referred, and such alterations made, and new articles incorporated, as they might deem proper, or as might be directed by the con-. vention; reserving the consideration of those articles for the committee of the whole. By the adoption of this course, he felt satisfied that three weeks would amply suffice to complete their labors. He therefore submitted the following resolutions, and moved that they be printed for the use of the members:

Resolved, That the convention deem it inexpedient to draft an entirely new constitution, inasmuch as the greater part of the late constitution was, beyond a doubt, approved by the general voice of the country; but there being some provisions contained in that instrument, sufficiently objectionable to defeat the whole, and as there are. some minor points requiring modification in order to harmonize the different parts; therefore, in order to correct discrepancies, remove tautologous provisions, and produce harmony in the different sec-. tions of the constitution; be it further

Resolved, That a select committee on revision be appointed, con, sisting of fifteen members, to whom shall be referred the late constitution, (except so much as is embraced in the articles on the Judiciary, Legislature, Banking and Exemption, and Rights of Mar

1847:]

ried Women,) whose duty it shall be to revise the same, adopting such parts of it as they may deem expedient; amending it where it may seem necessary, and incorporating such new articles as shall be directed by the convention, and when so amended, report to this convention an entire bill embracing the whole constitution as adopted by said committee.

Resolved, That a select committee of five members be appointed, to whom shall be referred the subject of the judiciary, whose duty it shall be to report, as early as practicable, an article on that subject, embracing the following general features, viz: A supreme court, or court of appeals, district court and county courts: the latter to have jurisdiction in all civil actions and minor criminal actions, and to discharge all the duties of probate courts; and all said courts to be elective.

Resolved, That a committee of five members be appointed, to whom shall be referred the subject of organization, powers, duties, and restrictions of the legislature, whose duty it shall be to report an article on that subject as early as practicable, embracing the following general features, viz: The election of senators and representatives by single districts. A house of representatives, consisting of not more than forty-five members, until the apportionment, which will be made after the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty, on the census of that year, and thereafter never to be less than forty-five, nor more than eighty; and the senate never to consist of less than one-third, nor more than one-half the members constituting the house. In other respects, said article to consist mainly of the provisions contained in the late constitution relative to the legislature, with such amendments as may seem meet and proper.

Resolved, That the committee on revision be instructed to report the following article on

BANKS AND BANKING.

Section 1. The legislature shall not have power to authorize or incorporate by special act any bank or other institution having any banking power or privilege, nor confer on any corporation, institution, association, person or persons, any banking power or privilege; but corporations or associations may be formed for such purposes under general laws, which laws shall be submitted to a vote of the electors of the state, qualified to vote for members of the legislature, and if approved by a majority of the votes given on that subject, such law shall thereafter be in force until repealed or amended by a like vote; but if not so approved the same shall be rejected and void.

Sec. 2. No corporation, institution, association, person or persons, shall issue any bill, note or other paper in the form of bank bills, nor in any other form intended to circulate as money, except in pursuance of law authorizing such issue, passed and approved agreeably to the first section of this article.

law

Sec. 3. The legislature shall have no power to pass any sanctioning in any manner directly or indirectly the suspension of specie payments by any person, association, or corporation, issue bank notes, or notes of circulation of any description.

Sec. 4. The legislature shall provide by law for the registry of

2