HOTMAT:

original idea was that all social problems would be solved by the association of congenial people in communities called phalanges. Each community was to be self-supporting, and the work so arranged that each person should engage in that occupation for which he was best fitted. A "Wisconsin Phalanx" was established at Ceresco, now Ripon, in May, 1844. The community of one hundred and fifty ate in common, but each family lived by itself. Work was done in common, and the profits were divided at the end of the year. The experiment was not a success in that it did not lead to other establishments of the same kind. The people were well cared for and prosperous under this system, but it was given up after seven years' trial because of the inequalities in the abilities of the different members, many of them feeling that they could do better if they were working independently. The lands were sold and the proceeds divided between the members of the community.

The population of the Territory increased with great rapidity in the period from 1840 to 1850. By the middle of the decade the population was far in advance of that required for the creation of a State. On the 6th of January, 1846, Governor Dodge, who was the last as well as the first governor of the Territory, submitted a message to the Wisconsin Legislature relating to State government and a committee was appointed which reported a bill in relation to the formation of a State government in Wisconsin.

According to this bill, every white male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have resided in the Territory six months next previous thereto, and who shall be either a citizen of the United States or shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such according to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization "was authorized to vote for or against the question of forming a State government." This bill became a law on February 2, 1846. The question of State government was submitted to the people on the 17th of April in the

same year, and the returns showed that twelve thousand three hundred and thirty-four voted for, and two thousand four hundred and eighty-seven against it. On August 6th, an Enabling Act was passed by Congress "to enable the people of Wisconsin to form a constitution and State government and for the admission of such State into the Union."

On the 7th of September delegates were elected to the convention which met at Madison, October 5, 1846, and continued in session until December 16th. A constitution was prepared and submitted to the people, who had shown their desire for a constitution, but this one contained features which to the majority of the voters were objectionable.

In the convention the question of giving the right to vote to free negroes was vigorously discussed and it was finally decided that the question should be submitted to the people in a distinct article, so that the controverted question might not imperil the acceptance of the constitution. This separate resolution provided that if the majority of people in Wisconsin Territory were in favor of equal suffrage to free persons of color, the following article should 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." This resolution was defeated by a vote of fourteen thousand six hundred and fifteen to seven thousand six hundred and sixty-four. This defeat came because of the large number of Southern men who, as we have seen, had settled on the Mississippi. The German element was also opposed to negro suffrage, while the New England contingent was in favor of it.

There were also features in the constitution itself which aroused opposition and led to the rejection of the instrument. The following were some of the reasons which led to its defeat: The article relating to the property rights

of married women, which made property belonging to a wife personally separate from that of her husband. A second reason was 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. There were some persons who strongly objected to the article prohibiting banks of issue. Others thought that the number of representatives in the legislature was too large. Another objection was that the judiciary was made elective.

The contest was spirited and resulted in the rejection of the proposed constitution and a new convention was ordered. The chief objection to this first constitution was its prohibition of banks and banking. With the continued increase in population there was a growing need of State organization, therefore a special session of the legislature was called in October, 1847. This provided for the election of delegates to a new constitutional convention, which came together at Madison, December 15, 1847. Giving the right of voting to negroes had been so decidedly disapproved by the people that that article required special attention, and in connection with that was linked the question of allowing the franchise to unnaturalized foreigners. The Article on suffrage was as follows:

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

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

"2d. Citizens of the United States, having become residents of the State of Wisconsin after the adoption of this constitution, and who shall have resided within this State for six months.

"3d. 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