en this constitution is adopted, except as herein otherwise expressly directed, all continue in office until their successors are qualified; and vacancies in office. ppening before such qualification, shall be filled in the manner now prescribed law. SEC. 21. All the courts of justice now existing shall continue with their esent jurisdiction, and be held as, now prescribed by law, until the judicial stem established by this constitution shall go into effect, and all rights, prosetions, actions, claims, any contracts shall remain and continue as if this contution had not been adopted, except so far as the same may be affected by e terms and provisions of this constitution, when it shall go into effect. SEC. 22. The legislature shall pass all laws necessary to carry this constition into full operation and effect. SEC. 23. At the time of the submission of this constitution to a vote of the ople, there shall be submitted, as a separate proposition, the following: "Any white citizen entitled to vote, and no other, may be elected or apinted to any office; but the governor and judges must have attained the age thirty, and the attorney-general and senators the age or twenty-five years, at e beginning of their respective terms of service; and must have been citizens of e State for five years next preceding their election, or appointment, or citizens the time this constitution goes into operation.“ And the mode of voting on the said proposition shall be by ballot, on which all be written or printed the word "White"; and if a majority of all the tes cast for ratification or rejection of the constitution be in favor of the id proposition, it shall take the place of section fourth of article fourth of is constitution. The result of the said election shall be certified and ascertained the same manner, and by the same officers, as hereinbefore provided in regard the election for the ratification or rejection of this constitution. And if the sult be in favor of the said proposition, the governor shall make proclamation the effect thereof, as hereinbefore provided. SAM'L PRICE, President. CONSTITUTION OF WISCONSIN-1848.* PREAMBLE. We, the people of Wisconsin, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom; i order to secure its blessings, form a more perfect government, insure domestic tranquility and promote the general welfare; do establish this Constitution. ARTICLE I. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. SECTION 1. All men are born equally free and independent, and have cer tain inherent rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap ness: to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, derivin their just powers from the consent of the governed. SEC. 2. There should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof the party sh have been duly convicted. SEC. 4. SEC. 3. Every person may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right, and no laus shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press In all criminal prosecutions, or indictments for libel, the truth may be give in evidence, and if it shall appear to the jury, that the matter chargedl libelous be true, and was published with good motives and for justifiat ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to deir mine the law and the fact. The right of the people peaceably to assemble, to consult for th common good, and to petition the government, or any department there! shall never be abridged. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, and shall exte to all cases at law, without regard to the amount in controversy; but a jur trial may be waived by the parties in all cases, in the manner prescribed SEC. 6. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor shall excessive `filies in imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments be inflicted. law. SEC. 5. SEC. 7. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right * be heard by himself and counsel; to demand the nature and cause of th accusation against him; to meet the witnesses face to face; to have com sory process to compel the attendance of witnesses in his behalf; and prosecutions by indictment, or information, to a speedy public trial by impartial jury of the county or district wherein the offense shall have bee committed: which county or district shall have been previously ascertaine by law. SEC. S. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense wither due process of law, and no person, for the same offense, shall be put twice jeopardy of punishment, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be witness against himself. All persons shall before conviction be bailable b sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great: and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall be suspended unless when in case of rebellion or invasion the public safe may require it.1 SEC. 9. Every person is entitled to a certain remedy in the laws, for : The convention which framed the constitution of Wisconsin assembled at Mis! on Dec. 15, 1847, and adjourned on Feb. 1, 1848. The constitution was submitted b the electors on March 13, 1848, and was ratified by a vote of 16,799 to 6.384 constitution was submitted as a whole and no proposition was submitted separate The state was admitted to the Union by an act approved on May 29, 1848. 1 Amendment proposed and adopted by the legislature of 1869, readopted bett legislature of 1870, and ratified on Nov. 8, 1870. uries, or wrongs which he may receive in his person, property, or charer; he ought to obtain justice freely, and without being obliged to purse it, completely and without denial, promptly and without delay, conmably to the laws. SEC. 10. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war inst the same, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court, SEC. 11. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, ers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be lated; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by h, or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and persons or things to be seized. SEC. 12. No bill of attainder, ex-post facto law, nor any law impairing obligation of contracts shall ever be passed, and no conviction shall work ruption of blood or forfeiture of estate. SEC, 13. The property of no person shall be taken for public use, withjust compensation therefor. SEC. 14. All lands within the State are declared to be allodial, and feudal ures are prohibited. Leases and grants of agricultural land, for a longer m than fifteen years, in which rent, or service of any kind shall be reserved, 1 all fines and like restraints upon alienation, reserved in any grant of land, eafter made, are declared to be void. SEC. 15. No distinction shall ever be made by law between resident aliens 1 citizens, in reference to the possession, enjoyment, or descent of property. SEC. 16. No person shall be imprisoned for debt, arising out of, or founded a contract, expressed or implied. SEC. 17. The privilege of the debtor to enjoy the necessary comforts of e, shall be recognized by wholesome laws, exempting a reasonable amount property from seizure, or sale for the payment of any debt, or liability reafter contracted. SEC. 18. The right of every man to worship Almighty God, according to è dictates of his own conscience, shall never be infringed; nor shall any n be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to intain any ministry against his consent; nor shall any control of, or interence with, the rights of conscience be permitted, or any preference be given law to any religious establishments, or modes of worship; nor shall any oney be drawn from the treasury for the benefit of religious societies, or igious, or theological seminaries. SEC. 19. No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification for any ice of public trust under the State, and no person shall be rendered incomtent to give evidence in any court of law, or equity, in consequence of his inions on the subject of religion. SEC. 20. The military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power. SEC. 21. Writs of error shall never be prohibited by law. SEC. 22. The blessings of a free government can only be maintained by firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue, and frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. ARTICLE II. BOUNDARIES, SECTION 1. It is hereby ordained and declared, that the State of Wisnsin doth consent and accept of the boundaries prescribed in the act of Coness entitled "An act to enable the people of Wisconsin Territory to form a nstitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into e Union," approved August sixth, one thousand eight hundred and fortyBeginning at the north-east corner of the State of Illinoisat is to say; at a point in the centre of Lake Michigan, where the line of rty-two degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude crosses the same; ence running with the boundary line of the State of Michigan, through Lake Ex, to-wit: THE STATE CONSTITUTIO Michigan, Green Bay, to the mouth of the Menominee Im channel of the said river to the Brule river: thence my SESTA river to Lake Brule; thence along the southern shore of Lake direct line to the centre of the channel between Middie and Seri the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the heat wan Montreal river, as marked upon the survey made by Canton Cra down the main channel of the Montreal river to the midde of Zes thence through the center of Lake Superior to the monit river; thence up the main channel of said river to the tK TO same, above the Indian village, according to XichoGET'S THAE: to the main branch of the river St. Croix: thence down the t said river to the Mississippi; thence down the centre of the met that river to the north-west corner of the State of Illinois: 25 with the northern boundary of the State of Illinois to the rare of te as established by "an act to enable the people of the Dios m form a constitution and State government, and for the admisie de State into the Union on an equal footing with the original Stan" [• April 18th, 1818. [Provided, however, that the following stente deg aforesaid boundary be, and hereby is proposed to the Congress of the States as the preference of the State of Wisconsin, and if the scne tr assented and agreed to by the Congress of the United States, the the unt shall be and forever remain obligatory on the State of Wiscous, tit ing the aforesaid boundary line at the foot of the rapids of the S river; thence in a direct line, bearing South-westerly, to the s Iskodewabo, or Rum river, where the same empties into the Mississing thence down the main channel of the said Mississippi river as prestie the aforesaid boundary.]2 SEC. 2. The propositions contained in the act of Congress an in accepted, ratified and confirmed, and shall remain irrevocable with consent of the United States; and it is hereby ordained that this State & never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil within the same? United States, nor with any regulations Congress may find neeest? securing the title in such soil to bona-fide purchasers thereof; and 1⁄2 shall be imposed on land, the property of the United States, and in 5* shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. Provided nothing in this Constitution, or in the Act of Congress aforesaid, shall manner prejudice, or affect the right of the State of Wisconsin to fve dred thousand acres of land, granted to said state, and to be hereafe? lected and located by and under the Act of Congress entitled "An act to 4: priate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and grant pre rights," approved September four, one thousand eight hundred and fortyr ARTICLE III. SUFFRAGE, SECTION 1. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years or u]*; belonging to either of the following classes who shall have resided withi State for one year next preceding, any election, and in the election dis where he offers to vote, such time as may be prescribed by the Legisist not exceeding thirty days, shall be deemed a qualified elector at such elec Citizens of the United States. 1. 2. Persons of foreign birth who, prior to the first day of Deci' A. D. 1908, shall have declared their intentions to become citizens confora able to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization. vided that the rights hereby granted to such persons shall cease on the is day of December. A. D. 1912. 3. Persons of Indian blood who have once been declared by law of ef This proposal was not accepted by congress. Wisconsin to the Union. See Act of May 29, 1848, admitting De citizens of the United States, any subsequent law of congress to ry notwithstanding. vilized persons of Indian descent not members of any tribe; proit the legislature may at any time extend by law the right of sufpersons not herein enumerated; but no such law shall be in force same shall have been submitted to a vote of the people at a general ind approved by a majority of all the votes cast at such election; ided further, that in incorporated cities and villages, the legislature vide for the registration of electors and prescribe proper rules and ns therefor.3 2. No person under guardianship, non-compos mentis, or insane, qualified to vote at any election; nor shall any person convicted of or felony, be qualified to vote at any election, unless restored to civil 3. All votes shall be given by ballot, except for such township offimay by law be directed, or allowed to be otherwise chosen. 4. No person shall be deemed to have lost his residence in this y reason of his absence on business of the United States, or of this 5. No soldier, seaman, or marine in the army or navy of the United shall be deemed a resident of this State, in consequence of being stawithin the same. . 6. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage all perho have been or may be convicted of bribery, or larceny, or of any infarime, and depriving every person who shall make, or become directly. irectly interested, in any bet or wager depending upon the result of ection, from the right to vote at such election. ARTICLE IV. LEGISLATIVE. CCTION 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a Senate and Assem 2. The number of the. members of the Assembly shall never be less fifty-four, nor more than one hundred. The Senate shall consist of a er not more than one-third, nor less than one-fourth of the number of embers of the Assembly. EC. 3. At their first session after each enumeration made by the authorthe United States, the legislature shall apportion and district anew the ers of the Senate and Assembly, according to the number of inhabitants, ding Indians not taxed, and soldiers and officers of the United States and navy.4 SEC. 4. The members of the assembly shall be chosen biennially, by e districts on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November after adoption of this amendment by the qualified electors of the several diss; such districts to be bounded by county, precinct, town or ward lines, onsist of contiguous territory, and be in as compact form as practicable. SEC. 5. The senators shall be elected by single districts of convenient iguous territory, at the same time and in the same manner as members he assembly are required to be chosen, and no assembly district shall be ded in the formation of a senate district. The senate district shall be bered in the regular series, and the senators shall be chosen alternately n the odd and even-numbered districts. The Senators elected, or holding Section 1 has been amended twice; the first amendment was proposed and adopted the legislature of 1881, readopted by the legislature of 1882, and ratified on Nov. 7. 2; the second amendment was proposed and adopted by the legislature of 1905, repted by the legislature of 1907, and ratified on Nov. 3, 1908. Amendment proposed and adopted by the legislature of 1907, readopted by the slature of 1909 and ratified on Nov. 8, 1910. Amendment proposed and adopted by the legislature of 1880, readopted by the islature of 1881 and ratified on Nov. 8, 1881. |