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 BY ARTHUR J. DODGE. 
 
Class r vT^^i 
 
From The Milwaukee Sentinel of June 5 and June 12, 1898. 
 
 WISCONSIN'S ADMISSION AS A STATE 
 
 The History of the Enabling and Admission Acts in 
 the XXIXth and XXXth Congresses. 
 
 statesmen Whose Names Are Associated With the Times and the Stirring Po= 
 litical Issues Fifty Years Ago. 
 
 BY ARTHUR J. DODGE. 
 
 WnsMngton Correspondent 0(f The Milwaukee 
 Sentinel and The St. Paul Pioneer Press. 
 
 Political Conilitioiis in 184C, Wlien 
 3Iorgan Ij. Martin, Delegate Prom 
 Wisconsin Territory in tUe TTven- 
 ty-nintli Congress, Introduced a 
 Bill 3IaUing' Preliminary Provi- 
 sions for the Admission of Wiscon- 
 sin — Incidents Connected WitU the 
 Passage of the E^nnhling Act. 
 
 In the last congress (Twenty-eighth) a commu- 
 nication was received from the governor of 
 Wi.sconsin concerning certain resolutions passed 
 l)y her legislature. It was said that the United 
 States government had given up a part of Wis- 
 consin to the states of Illinois and Indiana, and 
 that in forming the new state of Michigan con- 
 gress had invaded the territory of Wisconsin. He 
 gave us notice that if we did not give it back 
 he would fight the whole of us. True, he said, 
 it was an unequal contest, but the people of 
 Wisconsin would appeal to the God of t>attles.— 
 Hon. Samuel P. Vinton of Ohio, in the House of 
 Representatives. June 9. 1846. 
 
 The first move towards the admission of 
 Wisconsin into the Union was the passage 
 by congress of an Enabling act, wihich au- 
 thorized the people of Wisconsin territory 
 to adopt a constitution, and form a state 
 government preparatory to admission. 
 This act was passed by the Twenty-ninth 
 congress and was signed by President 
 James K. Polk on August 6, 1846. Morgan 
 L. Martin of Green Bay, delegate in the 
 house from Wisconsin, introduced the En- 
 abling bill. 
 
 Looking back over the little more than 
 100 years since the government of the 
 United States was established in its pres- 
 ent constitutional form, it will be ob- 
 served that the date marked by the admis- 
 sion of Wisconsin to the union of states 
 was approximately in the center of that 
 100-year period. It seems a long time 
 since Wisconsin entered the Union, and 
 few there are in the state who have a clear 
 recollection of the scenes and incidents 
 connected with that event. An examina- 
 
 tion of the historic records from the estab- 
 lishment of the national government down 
 to the admission of Wisconsin gives one 
 the impression that the first period in our 
 national history was much shorter than 
 the half century since Wisconsin became 
 one of the union of states. 
 
 Those were eventful years from the date 
 of the inauguration of George Washington 
 as the first president, down through the 
 period of the war with Great Britain in 
 1812 to the 'Mexican war period of 1846. 
 The people of the country were then busily 
 engaged in their struggles to establish 
 homes on the already receding frontier; 
 they were contesting in the arenas of poli- 
 tics over questions relating to internal im- 
 provements in the new country; over the 
 tariff and monetary questions, and prob- 
 lems relating to slavery; the acquisition 
 of new territory, the admission of 
 states and other questions involved in the 
 politics of the new nation. So the repub- 
 lic was indeed young when Wisconsin be- 
 came an integral part of it. Events seem 
 to have moved with greater rapidity in 
 those old days when questions of great 
 moment were more frequently discussed. 
 Perhaps the seeming shortness of the time 
 is due to the fact that, in looking back over 
 those years, one notices only the great 
 events of the time, the lofty peaks in the 
 passing scenes of history, and the inter- 
 vening days are almost entirely disre- 
 garded. 
 
 Looking For^vard From 1780. 
 
 Ten years after the constitution was 
 adopted the first president of the republic 
 passed away from earth. Ten years later 
 the muttering® of the approaching con- 
 flict with Great Britain were disturbing 
 the people of the young nation. In 1812, 
 the storm broke and war was upon the 
 country. In the midst of that war the 
 British soldiery marched upon the nation's 
 capital and burned the public buildingig 
 including the then partly completed 
 c&pitol. When delegates from the terri- 
 tory of Wisconsin came to the seat of 
 
government in the years from 1836 to 
 1848, they saw workmen still engaged in 
 repairing the damage wrought by the red- 
 coated vandals of 1814. Twenty years had 
 elapsed since that disaster of war when 
 George W. Jones took his seat in the 
 house of representatives as Wisconsin's 
 first territorial delegate. Building opera- 
 tions were slow in those days and years 
 were spent in the work of rebuilding and 
 repairing the public buildings of Washing- 
 ton. When Wisconsin was admitted the 
 city and tiie capitol were still in a crude 
 and uncompleted condition. Evidences 
 must have been abundant, all along from 
 the Atlantic seaboard, through the capital 
 of the nation and out to the Mississippi 
 river, the then extreme outpost of civiliza- 
 tion, to convince the traveler of thoise dayfl 
 that this was a young republic. Glancing 
 back over the history of the country one 
 is impressed, not only with the tremen- 
 dous growth, of the country since the 
 Civil war, but also with the fact that, 
 considering the facilities for transporta- 
 tion during the period from 1800 to 1848, 
 the growth of the West during the first 
 fifty years of the nation's life wais mait 
 marvellous. 
 
 While the residents of Wisconsin terri- 
 tory in the years from 1840 to 1846 were 
 concerning themselves about gaining ad- 
 mission to the union of states, the public 
 men of the nation were engrossed with 
 questions of grave national moment. The 
 seed was planted in those days from which 
 grew the mighty issues that during the 
 next quarter of a century so agitated the 
 people of the country as to shake the very 
 foundations of the republic. Among these 
 questions were slavery, the national 
 finances, the tariff and the acquisition of 
 new territory with or without the right of 
 the slaveholder to carry into it his pecu- 
 liar kind of "property." So intense was 
 popular feeling over these questions that 
 even the question of a national war was 
 alleged by one part of the people to have 
 turned on the question of slavery and the 
 desire for more territory to add to the 
 power of the advocates of the extension 
 of slavery. 
 
 While the fiftieth anniversary of Wis- 
 consin statehood is celebrated the United 
 States is at war with Spain. During two 
 years of the time in which the congress of 
 the United States was considering the ques- 
 tion of the admission of Wisconsin, and 
 just before that result was accomplished, 
 the nation was at war with Mexico. The 
 month of February, 1848, witnessed the 
 conclusion of peace, and during that month 
 the bill was introduced in congress for the 
 admission of Wisconsin. It is an inter- 
 e-ting fact that in the midst of the Mex- 
 ican war congress turned from the absorb- 
 ing quebtions attending that conflict to 
 pass the Enabling act preliminary to the 
 admission of the state. 
 
 Tlio National Capital in 1846. 
 
 When Morgan L. Martin of Green Bay 
 took his seat in the Twenty-ninth congress 
 as delegate from Wisconsin territory, he 
 found himself among men who had occu- 
 pied high places in the councils of the na- 
 tion for many years, some of them almost 
 from the date of the birth of the republic. 
 
 Others of his colleagues became famous In 
 later years by participating in the stirring 
 events which preceded the Civil war. The 
 national capital at that time was a small, 
 dirty, wretched place. The capitol was 
 just passing out of the hands of the artistis 
 and artisans who repaired and enlarged it 
 after the destructive work of the British 
 army. The building was about half its 
 present size. The dome was a small, squat 
 ty affair, and the wings were only the nar- 
 row portions of the building which con • 
 nect the senate and house wings with the 
 main building that is now surmounted by 
 a dome rising 365 feet above the earth. 
 The city had a few small public buildings. 
 The residents were mairrly huddled about 
 the capitol square in i^mall. red brick 
 dwellings, east of the capitol or on Penn- 
 sylvania for four or five blocks' distance. 
 This formed the business as well as resi- 
 dence sections of the city. This was sev- 
 eral years before Charles Dickens made 
 sarcastic comments upon the shabby and 
 dilapidated capital of a "pretentious na- 
 tion," and before Mark Twain spoke of the 
 red clay streets of Washington as needing 
 only slight dilution to make them suitable 
 for canals. Around the capitol square, 
 now a magnificent park, there was a high 
 iron fence the gates of which were closed 
 when congress adjourned at night. 
 
 Mr. Martin took up his abode in one of 
 the many boarding houses of the town, 
 Mrs. Smallwood's on East Capitol street, 
 a short walk from the legislative buildings. 
 Among his fellow boarders were Augustus 
 C. Dodge, delegate from Iowa territory, 
 eon of Henry Dodge, Wisconsin's first ter- 
 ritorial governor and later (senator. Jacob 
 Thompson of Mississippi who. a dozen 
 years later, as a member of the cabinet of 
 James Buchanan, startled the people of 
 the North by his bold efforts in aid of se- 
 cession, was also an occupant of the same 
 residence. 
 
 The house then met in the old hall of 
 representatives in what is termed the 
 main building — the large, semi-circular 
 room now known as "Statuary hall." Mr. 
 Martin was assigned to seat No. 126, r\ear 
 the middle aisle on the Democratic side 
 of the chamber. Near him sat R. Barn- 
 well Rhett, and in front of him sat W. L. 
 Yancey, both leading Southern Democrats, 
 who were conspicuous in the siecession 
 movement a few years later. 
 
 Reflect a moment upon the names of 
 the leading men in public life in the period 
 from 1840 to the close of the Civil war. 
 In that list are the names of Daniel Weto- 
 ster, John C. Calhoun, Abraham Lincoln, 
 Henry Clay, Jefferson Davis, Stephen A. 
 Douglas, Andrew Johnson, Jacob Col- 
 lamer, Alex H. Stephens, John Quincy 
 Adams, Horace Greeley, Joshua R. Gid- 
 dings, and others. Many of these polit- 
 ical leader?, then serving in either the 
 senate or house, had a part in the legis- 
 lative action which paved the way for the 
 admission of Wisconsin. During the pas- 
 sage of the Enabling act, Stephen A. Dou- 
 glas was a member of the Committee on 
 Territories, which reported the bill. In the 
 next congress, as a member of the sen- 
 ate, he was chairman of the Committee on 
 Territories, which reported the Admission 
 bill. Abraham Lincoln was in the nouse 
 when the Admission bill passed that body 
 
and made a motion to reconsider the vote 
 by which the bill was passed — a motion 
 that would, under many circumstances, be 
 regarded as a hostile act. Mr. Lincoln 
 made the motion solely for the purpose 
 of securing opportunity for making a 
 speech on the subject of public lands and 
 their relation to the territories and new 
 states, and internal improvements in gen- 
 eral. 
 
 The Political Issues of tlie Time. 
 
 When the Twenty-ninth congre®s met in 
 December, 1845, according to the com- 
 ments of that time, "the South was in 
 the saddle." Agitation for the perpetua- 
 tion and extension of slavery was general 
 among the sympathizers with that move- 
 ment in both houses. The annexation of 
 Texas had just been effected under con- 
 ditions which impressed many people at 
 the North that it was a move intended to 
 strengthen the cause of slavery in the 
 country. Mexico had protested against 
 the annexation of Texas, had discontinued 
 diplomatic intercourse with the United 
 States, and hostilities between the na- 
 tions were imminent. A few days after 
 the holiday recess in the winter of 1845-6, 
 Delegate Martin presented the Enabling 
 bill. On Jan. .9, 1846, he gave notice in 
 the house of his intention to introduce 
 such a bill and on Jan. 14 he presented 
 the measure which became a law six 
 months later. 
 
 It must have appeared to Mr. Martin, 
 and to the people at home in the territory, 
 that the occasion was not very favorable 
 for securing action by congress on the 
 Enabling bill. Within sixty days after the 
 measure was introduced, and before ac- 
 tion was taken on it by the committee 
 having it in charge, the troiops of the 
 United States under Gen. Taylor had been 
 ordered to occupy disputed territory in the 
 region of the Rio Grande. Resistance by 
 the Mexican forces followed, and hostili- 
 ties were opened. Although it was claimed 
 by the Whig leaders that the war was be- 
 gun by President Polk in the interests of 
 the slavery element in the country, when 
 the executive sent a message to congress 
 on May 11, announcing that a state of war 
 existed between the United States and 
 Mexico, the Whig opposition voted for the 
 war fund appropriations necessary to de- 
 fend the nation. The formal declaration 
 of war and the war fund measures were 
 occupying the attention of congress with- 
 in three days of the time the house gave 
 consideration to the Wisconsin Enabling 
 bill. 
 
 The Democratic party being in control 
 in both branches of congress, it was nat- 
 ural that the Admiission bill should be es- 
 pecially championed by Democratic repre- 
 sentatives and senators, particularly from 
 the Northwest region. Then, as now, the 
 delegate from a territory had no vote in 
 the house, and in those days he was not 
 even assigned to committee places. His 
 chief business was confined to "legging 
 around" among the legislators in the in- 
 terests of the measures favored by his 
 people at home. But the house gave 
 prompt consideration to the Wisconsin 
 bill, notwithstanding the pressure of other 
 matters. The result was that this bill be- 
 
 came a law during the session, and a 
 splendid effort was made by Stephen A. 
 Douglas, without success, however, to get 
 an Admission bill through at the second 
 session of that congress the following 
 winter. The Admission bill passed both 
 houses, but too late to be sent to the 
 president. 
 
 In the course of the proceedings on the 
 Enabling bill some interesting points were 
 brought out showing the sentiments enter- 
 tained by the people of Wisconsin terri- 
 tory in reg'ard to admission and what they 
 termed their rights in the premises. In- 
 teresting reiferences were also made to the 
 controlling influences of the celebrated 
 ordinance of 1787, passed by congress for 
 the government of the Northwest terri- 
 tory, of which Wisconsin was a part. But 
 the chief difficulty which arose was the 
 subject of the boundaries of the proposed 
 new state. In fact, history records that 
 from the beginning of the work of carving 
 out new states from the Northwest terri- 
 tory Wisconsin suffered from encroach- 
 ments upon her domain at every point of 
 the compasi9. It would appear from the 
 records of congress in those days that 
 representatives from states adjacent to 
 Wisconsin had a fear of the new common- 
 wealth being too large. Some of the Illi- 
 nois representatives were particularly sen- 
 sitive on that point as the action of one of 
 her members during the debate indicated. 
 Illinois had captured a liberal slice off the 
 southern section of Wisconsin territory 
 when the former state was admitted. The 
 boundary line should have been at the 
 parallel of lattitude' with the southern 
 point of Lake Michigan, and Illinois would 
 then have been without a lake port and 
 Chicago would be in Wisconsin. 
 
 Passagre of the E]na1tling° Bill. 
 
 It was nearly seven months from the 
 time the Enabling bill was introduced in 
 the house before it was passed by both 
 branches of congress and -signed by the 
 president. A large part of his time was 
 taken up by consideration of the measure 
 in the Committees on Territories of the 
 two houses. On May 14, three days after 
 war with Mexico was declared, Mr. Doug- 
 las from the Committee on Territories re- 
 ported the bill from his committee. The 
 measure was permitted to rest quietly up- 
 on the hou'se calendar during the early and 
 exciting days of the war, but on June 8 
 it was called up by Mr. Douglas and brief 
 remarks were submitted upon it by him. 
 The debate on this day was very limited 
 and was confined to a few remarks by 
 Delegate Martin, by Augustus C. Dodge, 
 the delegate from Iowa, and by Represen- 
 tative McClelland of Michigan. Little at- 
 tention was paid to the measure. Mr. 
 Martin asked and obtained unanimous con- 
 sent of the house for the adoption of an 
 amendment to the bill. The amendment 
 struck out a proviso in the measure as 
 follows: 
 
 '■Tliat tho state cloth consent to and accept the 
 boundaries in the act prescribed." 
 
 It was manifestly the purpose of Mr. 
 Martin to have the question of the boun- 
 dary of the new state left entirely to the 
 decision of the people of Wisconsin, and to 
 be passed upon at the constitutional con- 
 
vention to be called under the provisions 
 of the bill. This fact was brought out in 
 the debates on the Admission bill in the 
 next congress. The members of the house 
 did not see the point at the time, the 
 amendment slipped through, and by gen- 
 eral consent the measure was ordered re- 
 ported from ithe Committee of the Whole 
 for passage. Then the house adjourned, 
 leaving final action on the matter to be 
 taken on a later day. 
 
 The measure went oveT until June 10. 
 On that day Representative John A. Rock- 
 well of Connecticut, who had taken con- 
 siderable interest in territorial questions, 
 and i>articularly those related to matters 
 of education, appeared in the house with 
 a determination that the measure should 
 be defeated unless the amendment which 
 Mr. Martin had secured, relating to the 
 boundary, was stricken out. In a short 
 speech Mr. Rockwell intimated in pretty 
 plain terms that Mr. Martin had smug- 
 gled in the amendment. The Connecticut 
 representative gave notice that this oould 
 not be done. Allen G. Thurman, who sub- 
 sequently became a noted leader of the 
 Democratic party in the senate, and the 
 candidate of that party for the vice-pres- 
 idency so recently as 1884, was them a 
 member of the house. He made a sbort 
 speech endorsing the views expressed by 
 Mr. Rockwell. Mr. Thurman said that 
 under the bill as amended it would be 
 possible for Wisconsin to secure admission 
 with boundaries that would give her an 
 area of 68,000 square miles. 
 
 Martin Shows Fight. 
 
 The disputed points as to the boundary 
 involved the question whether the North- 
 west boundary of the new state should be 
 on the line of the St. Croix and St. Louis 
 rivers, the territory at that time embrac- 
 ing the larger part of what is now Min- 
 nesota. Another boundary line took in a 
 strip of territory off what is now Minne- 
 sota, extending to what is known as Rum 
 river, which flows from Mille Lacs in the 
 northern part of Minnesota southward to 
 the Mississippi river. This line would 
 have added about 12,000 to 15,000 square 
 miles to the area of Wisconsin. This 
 point was fully discussed in the debate on 
 the Admission bill in the next congress. 
 
 Delegate Martin defended his action in 
 offering the amendment, basing it upon 
 the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, 
 which he showed, provided for five states. 
 Four had already been created and only 
 one more could be made out of the re- 
 maining territory. Mr. Martin said that 
 if the bill passed in the manner he had 
 suggested, it meant that the consent of 
 Wisconsin must be obtained before the 
 boundarieis could be changed. The house 
 did not believe in the doctrine es- 
 poused by Mr. Martin, but agreed with 
 the, views expreeeed by Mr. Rockwell and 
 Mr. Thurman. A motion to reconsider the 
 vote of June 3 was adopted by the large 
 majority of 125 to 45. Delegate Martin was 
 full of fight, however. On the final 
 passage of the bill, with an exhibition 
 of feeling, he offered a motion to lay the 
 bill on the table. That was a strange 
 motion for the Wisconsin delegate to make 
 
 under the circumstances. If carried it 
 would have delayed the admission of Wis- 
 consin for an indefinite period. It would 
 seem, viewed at this distance, that the 
 better course for Mr. Martin to have 
 pursued would have been to permit the 
 bill to pass in that form, and then put in 
 his efforts to have the change he desired 
 effected in the senate. It is evident that 
 the members of the house took this view 
 of the matter. They defeated Mr. Martin's 
 motion without division, and the bill was 
 passed. Thus it was that the first step 
 of real progress toward admission was 
 made against the protest of the delegated 
 representative of Wisconsin on the floor 
 of congress. 
 
 The senate lost no time in acting on the 
 bill. It went to that body on June 11, amd 
 vv'as sent to the Committee on Territories. 
 A favorable report was made from th.e com- 
 mittee on July 9, by Senator James D. 
 Wescott of Florida. On Aug. 5, Mr. Wes- 
 cott called up the measure and it passed 
 the senate without debate or division. It 
 was thus demonstrated that Mr. Martin 
 had not been able to prevail upon the sen- 
 ate to modify the bill in accordance with 
 the amendment which he had proposed in 
 the house. On Aug. 6, the measure was 
 presented to President Polk who siigned it 
 at once, and it became a law. 
 
 Under the provisions of this Enabling act 
 the people of Wisconsin proceeded to hold 
 a constitutional convention as authorized, 
 and choose state oflicials, preparatory to 
 admission when congress should pass a 
 formal Admission bill. 
 
 A Busy Se.sslon of Congress. 
 
 The Enabling act was passed and signed 
 within a week of the adjourumenjt of the 
 first session of the Twenty-ninth con- 
 gress. After nine months of continuous 
 session, and one of the busiest in the his- 
 tory of congress, an adjournment was 
 reached on Aug. 13. There was no time 
 to be lost in getting through the Wiscon- 
 sin bill. The record of that session was a 
 remarkable one. The low tariff Democrats 
 being in control, repealed the protective 
 tariff act of 1842, and passed what has 
 been designated at "the Walker tariff of 
 1846," named for Robert J. Walker, who 
 was secretary of the treasury in Mr. 
 Polk's administration. It was a remark- 
 able piece of legislative work to get 
 through such a bill in nine months' ses- 
 sion, considering the time that was spent 
 in debating the war measures. In addi- 
 tion to this, much time was devoted to 
 discussing the Oregon boundary question, 
 which came near involving this country 
 in another war with Great Britain. The 
 issue was the line of north latitude at 
 which the Oregon boundary should befixed, 
 and the watchword of the time among 
 the American people, "Fifty-four-forty or 
 fight," stirred the patriotic hearts of the 
 people. During the session was also de- 
 veloped the famous "Wilmot proviso," 
 which was attached to an appropriation 
 bill. It provided that in the new terri- 
 tory, to be purchased of Mexico, slavery 
 should be prohibited. As might be ex- 
 pected, these questions, many of which 
 lie at the foundation of political princi- 
 
pies and partisan issues even in the pres- 
 ent day, produced long and bitter debates. 
 The passage of the Tariff bill through the 
 senate was effected by a desertion of the 
 protection policy on the part of Vice-Pres- 
 ident George M. Dallas, who, although a 
 Pennsylvanian and elected as a protec- 
 tionist, gave the deciding vote on a tie in 
 the senate, favoring the passage of the 
 bill. Mr. Dallas explained his vote in an 
 extended speech from the place of the pre- 
 siding officer of the senate. He demon- 
 strated that his idea of protection extend- 
 ed no farther than that of protecting "in- 
 fant industries," as he termed them, and 
 did not touch the fundamental principle 
 of protection based upon difference in con- 
 ditions of production. In these debates, 
 Benton, Calhoun, Lewis Cass, Webster and 
 John A. Dix were heard in the senate; 
 John Quincy Adams, Douglas, Toombs, 
 Jefferson Davis and Hannibal Hamlin in 
 the house. 
 
 Influences of tlie Ordinance of 1787. 
 
 The fact that the Wisconsin enabling 
 act passed during a single session of con- 
 gress, and in a time of great controyersy, 
 is evidence that the fathers of the re- 
 public builded wisely and for the exceed- 
 ing great benefit of Wisconsin, when they 
 adopted the Ordinance of 1787. If the 
 ordinance for the government of the 
 Northwest territory had not settled some 
 important questions, at least so far as 
 that Territory was concerned, it might 
 have been more difficult for Wisconsin to 
 secure admission. It is possible, also, that 
 an effort might have been made by the 
 leaders of the dominant party in the pol- 
 itics of the country fifty years ago, to 
 carry slavery into that Territory against 
 the protest of its people. Such efforts 
 were made with respect to territory ac- 
 quired as the result of the war with Mex- 
 ico. 
 
 In the next to the last session of the 
 Congress of the Federation, and within 
 two years of the adoption of the present 
 constitution and government of the United 
 States, a vast tract of land was ceded to 
 the government by Virginia and Connecti- 
 cut. This land comprised what was known 
 as the Northwest territory and embraced 
 the domain north of the Ohio river, east 
 of the Mis.sissippi and the region of the 
 Great Lakes. Congress adopted an ordi- 
 nance for the government of the territory 
 so acquired. That inistrument was, doubt- 
 less, the greatest single force in con- 
 trolling the destinies of the great states 
 of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and 
 Wisconsin, which were formed out of that 
 territory. The framers of the ordinance 
 were fresh from the work of promulgat- 
 ing the Declaration of Independence. They 
 were meditating deeply upon principles of 
 safe republican form of government. This 
 furnishes an explanation of the fact that 
 the ordinance, adopted before the consti- 
 tution, contained so much that is whole- 
 some and promotive of good government 
 and the freedom of the citizen. 
 
 The framers of the Ordinance of 1787 
 were feeling the first effects of liberty and 
 the inspiring and ennobling influences of 
 self-government in its fullest and best 
 sense. It is true that in framing the Ar- 
 
 ticles of Federation they were not success- 
 ful in securing a compact and stable gov- 
 ernment. But their failure in that respect 
 was mainly due to the spirit of state pride 
 v/hich controlled the delegates from the 
 original states. This prevented harmoni- 
 ous action to build up and make strong a 
 central government. It was not until the 
 patriotic leaders in the several states 
 learned by observation, in the first experi- 
 ments with self-government, that by unity 
 of action in the interests of all the states 
 there could be formed a strong central 
 government with power to make secure 
 republican institutions on this continent. 
 Then the present constitution and national 
 form of government was established. 
 
 Provision.s of tlie Ordinance. 
 
 Two years before this was done, how- 
 ever, the Congress of the Federation tried 
 its hand at making a law for the govern- 
 ment of a people in the remote Northwest 
 territory. That effort was a splendid suc- 
 cess. In addition to providing for the se- 
 curity and descent of property, and for 
 local government through officers chosen 
 by congress or by the people, the Ordi- 
 nance provided certain articles of com- 
 pact between the original states and the 
 people of the Territory. The object of 
 these articles was stated to be, "For ex- 
 tending the fundamental principles of civil 
 and religious liberty, which form the basis 
 whereon these republics, their laws and 
 constitutions are erected; to fix and estab- 
 lish these principles as the basis of all 
 laws, constitutions and governments which 
 forever hereafter shall be formed in the 
 said Territory; to provide also for the es- 
 tablishments of states, and permanent 
 governments therein, and for their admis- 
 sion to a share in the federal councils on 
 an equal footing with the original states, 
 at as early periods as may be consistent 
 with the general interest." 
 
 To these ends so well set forth, the 
 ordinance provided that, "No person de- 
 meaning himself in a peacable and orderly 
 manner, shall ever be molested on account 
 of his mode of worship or religious senti- 
 ments in the said territory." The habeas 
 corpus and the right of trial by jury were 
 guaranteed to the inhabitants of the terri- 
 tory, and the rights of person and prop- 
 <=rty were sacredly guarded. This provi- 
 sion was also included: "Religion, moral- 
 ity and knowledge, being necessary to good 
 government and the happiness of mankind, 
 schools and the means of education shall 
 forever be encouraged." It will be found 
 by examination of the Wisconsin enabling 
 act that a large tract of land was given 
 to the new state in aid of public schools 
 and for the site of a state university of 
 higher education. 
 
 The section of the Ordinance which con- 
 tributed most to keep Wisconsin's admis- 
 sion free from the controversies of the 
 time is as follows: "There shall be neith- 
 er slavery nor involuntary servitude in 
 said territory, otherwise than in the pun- 
 ishment of crimes whereof the party shall 
 have been duly convicted." The latter 
 part of this article guaranteed that any 
 person from whom labor or service is law- 
 fully claimed in one of the original states, 
 escaping into the Territory, such fugitive 
 
might be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed 
 to such person claiming his or her service 
 or labor." This part of the article was the 
 subject of much discussion while the fugi- 
 tive elave was under consideration soon 
 after the admission of Wisconsin. 
 
 EWort to Pass an Admission Bll>. 
 
 So successiful had the leaders in congress 
 been in securing the passage of the en- 
 abling act for Wisconsin at the first ses- 
 sion, they made a vigorous effort to press 
 through an admission bill in the second 
 session of the Twenty-ninth congress, in 
 the winter of 1846-7. It is not recorded 
 in the annals of congress why this steip 
 ■was not taken by Delegate Martin. He 
 had little part in it. The bill for admis- 
 sion was prepared in the Committee' on 
 Territories of the house and was reported 
 direct fro'm that coimmittee. The action 
 was delayed until so late a time in the 
 session that it was remarkable that its 
 passage through both houses was secured. 
 It was reported on Feb. 9, 1847, but it was 
 not considered by the liouse until Feb. 15. 
 Then the debate was very brief. This in- 
 dicated that the managers of the measure 
 desired tO' press it through and they dis- 
 couraged talk upon the subject. In what 
 was said some lig'ht was thrown upon the 
 sentiments entertained by the political 
 leaders of the time on the territorial and 
 slavery questions. In a short speech on 
 the bill Representative George C. Drom- 
 goole of Virginia advocated the doctrine 
 that the people of tTie new states should 
 be permitted to form their own constitu- 
 tions without the aid or hindrance of con- 
 gress. It might have been open to sus- 
 picion at the time that Mr. Dromgoole, 
 being from a slavery section, was putting 
 in a word on the Wisconsin bill, to have 
 a desired effect on the constitutional ques- 
 tions advanced with reference to the terri- 
 tories cf California and Oregon and New 
 Mexico which were then up for considera- 
 tion and into the diiscussion of which was 
 injected much that periained to the ques- 
 tion of the rights of slavery in those ter- 
 ritories. Mr. Rockwell of Connecticut 
 again alppe'ared with a proposition with 
 reference to Wisconsin. He desired to 
 have adopted an amendment giving adili- 
 tional public lands to Wisconsin in aid of 
 education. He proposed adding the 36th 
 section as well as the 16th section in each 
 township, to be set apart for support of 
 education. An effort to secure the passage 
 of the bill disclosed the fact that there was 
 not a quorum present and the' house ad- 
 journed. On the next day, Feb. 16, the 
 hill was taken up, Mr. Rockwell's amend- 
 ment was defeated by a vote of 80 to 58, 
 and the bill then nassed the house without 
 division. 
 
 Only two weeks of the session remained 
 when the bill appeared in the senate. 
 The measure wai? sent to the Judiciary 
 committee to be considered and was fav- 
 orably reported on Feb. 20, by Senator 
 Chester Ashley of Arkansas. In the press 
 of other matters, incident to the closing 
 days of the session the bill was left un- 
 touched, but on March 2, two days before 
 adjournment it was called up in the sen- 
 ate by Senator Breese of Illinois and it 
 
 passed without debate or division. It was 
 too late for the bill to reach the presi- 
 dent for his signature, and it failed to 
 become a law. The work of securing 
 the passage of an admission bill was left 
 to Delegate J. H. Tweedy, who was chosen 
 in the election of 1846 to represent the 
 Territory in the house in the Thirtieth 
 congress. 
 
 Important Features of tlie Wiscon- 
 sin Ii^na1)Iingr Act. 
 
 The first section of the Enabling act authorized 
 the people of Wisconsin to t'orui a constitution 
 and state government for the purpose of being 
 admitted into the Union on an equal footing with 
 the original states in all respects whatsoever by 
 the name of the state of Wisconsin. 
 
 The boundaries were prescriljed beginning with 
 the northern comer of the nurtliern line of Illi- 
 nois arvd extending up through Lake Michigan. 
 Green Bay and through the Menominee river to 
 the Mississippi river, and from the Mississippi 
 to the mouth of the St. Louis river, thence down 
 due south to the main branch of the St. Croix 
 river, thence to the Mississippi and through that 
 river to the Northwest boundary line of Illinois. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the islands in the Brule and 
 Menominee rivers on the northwest boundary of 
 the state was given to Wisconsin with the pro- 
 vision! .that the boundary so fixed with tlie juris- 
 diction of the islands in Wis(<iiisin sIkiuIcI not be 
 binding on congress unless it was ratified by the 
 state of Michigan by the 1st of June, lb4S. 
 
 The third section covered the question of con- 
 cuiTent jurisdiction of the Mississippi river with 
 the territory bordering on the west bank of that 
 river and provided that the Mississippi and the 
 navigable rivers leading into it shall be forever 
 free to the inhabitants of Wisconsin as well as 
 to all other citizens of the United States without 
 any tax. duty or toll. 
 
 The fourth section extended the laws of the 
 United States ami constituted the territory to 
 be admitted as one judicial district, fixing also 
 a District court to he held twice a year, also fix- 
 ing the jurisdiction of the judge of such court 
 and his compensation at $1,500 a year. 
 
 The fifth section authorized the appointment of 
 a district attorney and gave him a salary in ad- 
 dition to the fees of $2l>0 a year. Also provided 
 for the appointment of a marshal with duties 
 the same as in other United States districts with 
 fees additional to his annual salary of .$200. 
 
 Section six provided that until another census 
 shall be taken the apportionment made In the 
 state of Wisconsin shall entitle her to two repre- 
 sentatives in the congress of the United States. 
 
 The seventh secli.iu included five subdivisions 
 with tlie proviso that the propositions included in 
 the sub-divisions arc tO' be submitted to the con- 
 stitutional c-onve'tttion called to lie held for the 
 purpo.S'e of forming a constitution for the state, 
 for acceptance or rejection, and providing that if 
 accepted by the convention and ratified by an 
 article liu the constitution these provisions should 
 be bindinsr on the United States. The first sub-di- 
 vision gave to the state each section numbered 
 sixteen in every township of the public lands in 
 the state for the use of the scli<x)ls. 'I'be second 
 sub-division gave to the state the second sec- 
 tion of two entire townships of lands .set apart 
 for use and support of the university, to be used 
 as the legislature might prescribe. The third 
 sub-division pix>vide<i sections of land to be se- 
 lected and located by the late legislattire are 
 granted to the state for the purpose of com- 
 pleting the public lands of the state and to take 
 the others at the seat of the government. Under 
 the fourth sub-division grants of not exceeding 
 twelve salt spring.? in the state were made to 
 the state for its use, the same to be selected by 
 the legislature. The last sub-division provided 
 for the payment to the state of 5 per cent, of 
 the net proceeds of sales of all public lands ly 
 ing within the state which had been sold or 
 should be sold from and after the admission of 
 the state into the Union after deducting all ex- 
 pensies incident to such sale. 'Tihis proposition 
 was accomipanied by the provision that the pay- 
 ments are offered on the condition that the con- 
 stitutional convention shall jirovide by a clause 
 in the constitution and irrevocable without the 
 consent of the United States that the state shall 
 never interfere with the primary disposition of 
 
the lanrts witliia the state by the United States, 
 nor with any regulations congress may tinil 
 necessary for securing title to such sale, to a 
 bona tide purchaser thereof. And that no taxes 
 Shall be imposed on lands the property ot the 
 United States, and that in no case shall non- 
 resident proprietors pay taxes higher than resi- 
 dents. Approved Aug. 6, 1846. 
 
 II. 
 
 On Feb. 21. 1S4S, Delegate Jolin 
 H. TT^eedy, Introduced the Bill 
 for tlie Admission of the State. 
 Sad Incident on the Floor of the 
 House on That Day— Efforts of an 
 Illinois Representative to Reduce 
 the Area of the ]Vew State— Abra- 
 ham Lincoln a Member of the 
 House — Jefferson Davis and Ste- 
 phen A. Doug-las in the Senate. 
 
 Congress has prescribed conditions upon which 
 Wisconsin will be admitted into the Union. The 
 state has accepted them. Congress should not 
 now insist upon other conditions. It would be a 
 violation of good faith. The Enabling act had 
 been for the admission of "the state of Wis- 
 consin, not the territory of Wisconsin." Con- 
 gress has, therefore, recognized Wisconsin as a 
 sovereign, independent state before her admis- 
 sion. The constitution does not compel congress 
 to admit new states or new states to enter the 
 Union. Wisconsin might remain without and set 
 up an independent empire. But it must not be 
 expected that 20I>.(XM> people will long remain in 
 territorial bondage.— Hon. John Gayle of Ala- 
 bama, in the liouse of representatives. May !t, 
 1848. 
 
 The bill for the admission of Wisconsin 
 was presented in the first session of the 
 Thirtieth congreiis by Delegate Tweedy 
 from the territory. It was reported from 
 the Committee on Territories, and was de- 
 bated at some length during sessions in 
 May, 1848. 
 
 The visitor from Wisconsin who in- 
 dulges in the pleasure of sight-seeing 
 around the national capital will not fail 
 to see the magnificent piece or statuaiy 
 in the old Hall of Representatives, repre- 
 senting Marquette, the Jesuit explorer. 
 This statue was placed in the hall by the 
 people of Wisconsin to commea.orate the 
 part taken by Marquette in opening the 
 way for white settlements in the reg.ou 
 now comprising the state of Wisconsin. 
 Standing in front of that statue, as one 
 naturally would in order to obtain a goo.l 
 view of its beautiful outlines, the atten- 
 tion of the visitor is certain to be directed 
 to a small bronze shield imbedded in the 
 marble floor of the hall. On this shield is 
 inscribed: 
 
 ! JdllX QUIXCY Al)A.M.-<. * 
 
 : February 21. : 
 
 • ■ 1848. • 
 
 * * 
 
 The tablet commemorates the fact that 
 the sixth president of the United States, 
 the "Old Man Eloquent," fell in fatal ill- 
 ness on that spot on the date mentioned. 
 That fact would be even more interesting 
 to the Wisconsin reader if he would recall 
 that the bill for the admission of Wiscon- 
 sin into the Union of states was intro- 
 duced in the house on Feb. 21, 1848, with- 
 
 in a few moments of the time John Quincy 
 Adams fell. 
 
 When the Thirtieth congress met on 
 Dec. 6, 1847, it was with a Whig majority 
 in the house and a Democratic majority 
 in the senate. Wisconsin territory had 
 retired Morgan L.. Martin, the Democratic 
 delegate who served in the previous con- 
 gress, and sent as delegate to the Thir- 
 tieth congress, John H. Tweedy, a Whig. 
 Mr. Tweedy was a practicing attorney re- 
 siding in Milwaukee. He was a graduate 
 of Yale college and a man of scholarly 
 attainments, which he exhibited during 
 the debates on the Wisconsin admission 
 bill. He had been chosen delegate over 
 Moses M. Strong, Democrat, by a major- 
 ity of about 1,000, in a district which, 
 two years before, had given Mr. Martin 
 near^ly the same majority over his Whig 
 opponent. Mr. Tweedy must have had 
 special delight in entering upon the work 
 to secure the passage of the admission 
 bill in a house composed for the most part 
 of representatives of the party to which 
 he was allied. It is true that he ob- 
 tained no committee assignments, nor 
 could he exercise any privileges on the 
 floor except to speak on measures which 
 attracted his attention. He could talk 
 but tie decid.'ng votes were cast by the 
 respresentatives on the *loor. He could 
 put in his time with perL^opal efforts in 
 urfiiig the members of the liouse U> sup- 
 port the measures in vv'hich Wiscoasin 
 was iiiterested, and he could es:30U;je these 
 measures in debate. He showed himself 
 eq.i'J I) tlie emergency vvhjn tb( bi.l f.r 
 ih'3 admission of the state caiuii up for 
 coi.sidt ration. 
 
 A Session Devoted to Politics. 
 
 Mr. Tweedy did not wait for the Com- 
 mittee on Territories to make a move 
 toward securing the admission of the 
 state. Soon after the holiday recess he 
 introduced the bill, and from that time 
 he pressed it upon the attention of the 
 hous£ until it passed that body. 
 
 It is interesting to note that while the 
 Wisconsin admission bill was under con- 
 sideration in the committee peace was de- 
 clared with Mexico. In order to have hii9- 
 tory repeat itself within the half cen- 
 tury which c:nstitutes the life of the 
 commonwealth of Wisconsin, it should 
 happen that, ere this year has passed off 
 the stage of time, congress should be en- 
 gaged with the questions arising from a 
 conclusion of peace with Spain as a reisuit 
 of the war in which the nation is now 
 engaged. Under such conditions, in order 
 to make a closer parallel as to events in 
 the national arena of politics to those 
 which occupied the attention of the coun- 
 try fifty years ago, we should soon be en- 
 gaged in considering terms as to the ac- 
 quisition by the United States of the Phil- 
 ippine islands, Porto Rico, and perhaps 
 Cuba. Note how the parallel would be 
 made. Just fifty years ago last February, 
 while Wisconsin admission was pending, 
 peace was declared with Mexico and Up- 
 per California was ceded to the United 
 States and, in the settlement of the ques- 
 tions involved, the United States agreed 
 to pay Mexico about $1.5,000,000. As a re- 
 sult of the difficulties with Mexico, from 
 
first to last, considering that the annexa- 
 tion cif Texas came as a result of these 
 differences, although that event preceded 
 and in a large degree incited the difficul- 
 ties, the United States acquired in the 
 Mexican controversy a tract of territory 
 greater than Spain and all her present 
 dependencies on the globe. It is to be 
 hoped, however, that peace may be de- 
 clared with Spain during the present 
 year, and that congress may be engaged 
 in adjusting the questions involved in the 
 conquest by the United States of the 
 Philippines, Cuba and Porto Rico. 
 
 One effect of the congress of 1S48 being 
 divided on political lines was to check 
 the contests over the exciting political 
 questions of those days. The Thirtieth 
 congresis was dull and prosy compared 
 with the busy and exciting congress which 
 immediately preceded lit. The representa- 
 tives and senators in the Thirtieth con- 
 gress were much like those of their latter 
 day brethren in respect to their disposi- 
 tion to take advantage of the period im- 
 mediately preceding elecitions to debate, 
 on the floors of congress, the issues to be 
 considered and passed upon by the people 
 in the elections. Hence it was that the 
 greater part of the first session of the 
 Thirtieth congress was occupied in discus- 
 sion of questions related to the campaign 
 of that year, which resulted in the elec- 
 tion of Zachary Taylor, the "hero of Buena 
 Vista." 
 
 In order to complete the compari- 
 sons of events in 1848 with events of the 
 present day Dewey might be named as a 
 presidential candidate on account of his 
 victory in the Philippines. Taylor re- 
 ceived the thanks of congress for the vic- 
 tory of Buena Vista, and that military hero 
 of fifty years ago distanced Clay and Web- 
 ster, the greatest Whig statesmen of the 
 time, in the race for the presidential nom- 
 ination. These matters were under dis- 
 cussion preliminary to the presidential 
 campaign of 1848, and in the midst of the 
 political talk in congress the admission 
 bill was passed three months before the 
 adjournment of the first sessi:n. Although 
 little was done during that session com- 
 pared with the first session of the Tw^en- 
 ty-ninth congress, the session was of the 
 same length almost to a day. 
 
 Scenes in Congress in 1S4S. 
 
 There appeared in the house of repre- 
 sentatives in the first session of the Thir- 
 tieth congress the stalwart Whig froim 
 Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. Stephen A. 
 Douglas, the great Illinois Democrat, who 
 had rendered such excellent service in be- 
 half of the passage of the Wisconsin en- 
 abling act in the preceding session, had 
 been promoted to the senate, where he 
 became an active and ahlc' worker for the 
 admission of the state. 
 
 The debates in the Thirtieth congress 
 were colored to fit the on-coming presi- 
 dential electiors. The political parties in 
 the country were pretty evenly matched. 
 It was apparent that a decisive victory by 
 one or the other would mean much at that 
 time as an influence in the scale to deter- 
 mine whether the South and slavery 
 should doiminate the affairs of the nation, 
 or whether the anti-slavery people of the 
 
 North should rule the destinies of the re- 
 public. A® indicative of the sentiment in 
 the South at the time it may be recalled 
 that many petitions were presented in 
 congress by the representatives from that 
 section asking the passage of measures to 
 enable the citizens of the slaveholding 
 states to recover slaves escaping into free 
 stateis. This was the prelude to the con- 
 test in the thirty-first congress over the 
 fugitive slave law. In the early part of 
 the session the conduct of the war with 
 Mexico, which came to an end very soon 
 thereafter, was discussed, particularly 
 with reference to the president's message 
 on that eubjcct, which was laid before 
 congress at the beginning of the session. 
 There was also considerable discussion 
 over the question of territorial govern- 
 ments to be organized in California and 
 New Mexico which were acquired from 
 Mexico. On questions of this kind and 
 collateral subjects there were many inter- 
 esting debates in the house, in which 
 Abraham Lincoln participated, and in the 
 senate were heard the brilliant speeches 
 of Stephen A. Douglas, Jefferson Davis, 
 Webster and others. In those debates 
 were laid the foundations for the reimark- 
 able careers in congress of the statesmen 
 of the Civil war period. 
 
 The record made by Abraham Lincoln 
 during the Thirtieth congress, which has 
 been ligihtly pa.^sed over by historians and 
 commentators upon the life of the martyr 
 president, was not so mean and inconse- 
 quential as has been s") often suggested. 
 He participated in the debate®, but it 
 would appear from the course he adopted 
 in that congresis that he felt that his term 
 in congress was rather more of an oppor- 
 tunity for him to size up the situation, and 
 take the measures of the political leaders 
 of the day, than an occasion for preparing 
 himself for a career as a legislator. Was 
 it not really a preparatory course for Lin- 
 coln to fit him for the mighty contest 
 which he felt would involve the nation 
 which perhaps he could see coming and 
 which he felt would involve the nation in 
 war? It is probable that already Lincoln 
 had in mind the idea of making a race 
 againiit Dougla.s for the senate. As evi- 
 dence that he was a far-seeing man, even 
 in the early days of his wcnderful career 
 he had an eye on the presidency. Atten- 
 tion was called to that fact during his 
 memorable debate with Douglass a dozen 
 years later. He put questions to Douglas 
 which, as was suggested at the time, if 
 answ^ered in the affirmative would elect the 
 latter to the senate. Lincoln admitted_that 
 he was after bigger game. He said he had 
 in mind placing Douglas in such a position 
 that the "little giant" would be deserted 
 and denounced by the Southern wing of 
 the Democratic party and thereby prevent 
 him securing the united support of hi® 
 party for the presidential nomination in 
 1860. Considering the far-seeing shrewd- 
 ness of Lincoln immediately preceding the 
 war, it is not too much to suppose that he 
 spent his time in the Thirtieth congress 
 preparing to move the mighty forces at 
 the North whom he knew were against the 
 continuation of slavery under any condi- 
 tions, to say nothing of its extension into 
 new territory. 
 
Appearance of tlie Admission Bill. 
 
 Such were the political conditions in 
 congress and in the country when Dele- 
 gate Tweedy appeared in the house in De- 
 cember, 1847. Mr. Tweedy was assigned to 
 seat number 204, on the back row of the 
 west side of the chamber, within ten feet 
 of where the Marquette statue now stands. 
 Abraham Lincoln had seat No. 191, within 
 three seats of the Wisconsin delegare. 
 John Quincy Adams had seat No. 36, down 
 nearer the speaker, out of respect to his 
 long service and the fact that he was an 
 ex-president. In the house were a num- 
 ber of representatives of prominence in 
 the councils of both political parties, some 
 of whom contributed greatly to making 
 the history of the ante-war period. Among 
 them were Alex. H. Stephens of Georgia, 
 later vice-president of the Confederacy, 
 Joshua R. Giddings, the stalwart Ohio 
 representative, and Jacob CoUamer of Ver- 
 mont, honored by that state with a statue 
 in the old hall, in which he rendered such 
 conspicuous and able service. Mr. Tweedy 
 took up his residence- at Willard's hotel, 
 down Peninsylvania avenue, near the treas- 
 ury. Among those who lived at the hotel 
 were Stephen A. Douglas and Reverdy 
 Johnson of war-time prominence and fame. 
 
 On the opening of the session of the 
 house, Monday, Feb. 21, nearly three 
 months after the Thirtieth congress be- 
 gan its session, the attention of the mem- 
 bers of the house was directed to a num- 
 ber of matters of interest to the people of 
 the Northwest. Soon after the house met 
 Delegate Tweedy offered a bill to reduce 
 the minimum price of certain reserve pub- 
 lic lands in the territory of Wisconsin, and 
 to grant rights of preemption to settlers 
 in the territory. This action gave evidence 
 that the delegate was devoting attention 
 to matters which would contribute toward 
 increasing the population of the territory. 
 "L<ong Johrt" Wentworth of Illinois, then 
 a member of the house, also exhibited his 
 interest in the affairs of Wisconsin terri- 
 tory, and in the commerce of the Great 
 Lakes, by introducing a resolution direct- 
 ing the Committee on Commerce to in- 
 quire into the expediency of constructing 
 a lighthouse in the channel of Death's 
 door, entrance to Green bay. Then Mr. 
 Tweedy arose and presented the bill for 
 the admission of Wisconsin. 
 
 This action on the part of the delegate 
 from Wisconsin occupied the attention of 
 the house but a moment, and the members 
 proceeded to consider a resolution propos- 
 ing the thanks o-f congress to certain of- 
 ficers who had served with distinction in 
 the Mexican war. Then occurred a scene 
 of great excitement the sequel of which 
 cast a gloom over the capitol and prevent- 
 ed sessions of congress for three or four 
 days. There was a controversy lasting a 
 few moments over the resolution, and on 
 the preliminary votes on the measure it 
 was observed that the venerable John 
 Quincy Adams had uttered his negative in 
 a tone filled with disgust and indigna- 
 tion, his face flushed with anger. Mr. 
 Adams had been opposed to the Mexican 
 war from the beginning, and everything 
 connected therewith, and his votes for 
 supplies of the army hal been given under 
 protest, and he regarded the war as un- 
 
 necessary. The time came, however, for 
 the final vote on the resolution of thanks, 
 after ordering it to a third reading, which 
 vote brought from Mr. Adams an explosive 
 and violent negative. Speaker Robert C. 
 Wmthrop arose to put the question on the 
 final vote. It was observed that Mr. 
 Adams was rising as if to speak. He fell 
 forward on his desk. A crowd of members 
 pressed about him and Representative 
 Washington Hunt of New York requested 
 the speaker to desist, as did a number of 
 members in the vicinity of Mr. Adams, 
 who then appeared to be in the agonies of 
 death. He was borne out into the rotunda 
 for air, and then to the speaker's room, 
 where he died two days later. 
 
 Thus the admission of W^isconsin was 
 marked by an event which formed a con- 
 necting link between the present half of 
 the century and the half century which 
 preceded the admission of the state. Mr. 
 Adams was 81 years old. For fifty years 
 he had been in the service of the country, 
 being 22 when the constitution was 
 adopted. 
 
 Bill Reported From the Committee. 
 
 Mr. Tweedy's TdIII for the admission of 
 the state was at once sent to the Commit- 
 tee on Territories. The membership of 
 that committee was as follows: 
 Caleli P.. .Smith of Imliana, chairman. 
 riolierl K. Cranston of Kliode Island. 
 Howell ('(i.l>l) of Geoi-Kia. 
 Julius Rockwell of Massachusetts. 
 James Thompson of Pennsylvania. 
 Daniel Gott of New York. 
 Isaac E. Mor.se of Louisiana. 
 Nath.iii Kvans of Ohio. 
 Timothy l'illsl)ury of Texas. 
 This committee retained the bill until 
 April 13, when it was favorably reported 
 by Chairman Smith. The measure re- 
 mained on the calendar for nearly a 
 month before it was given any attention. 
 On May 9, notice having been given by 
 Chairman Smith of his purpose to- call up 
 the bill for consideration, a motion to 
 close debate upon it at 2 o'clock was 
 made by Alexander H. Stephens of 
 Georgia. The house went intc the "Com- 
 mittee of the Whole" to consider the Wis- 
 consin bill, and Howell Cobb of Georgia 
 was chairman and presided during the 
 discussion. W^hen the first section of the 
 measure had been read, providing that the 
 state of Wisconsin "be, and is hereby ad- 
 mitted into the Union on an equal footing 
 with the original states in all respects 
 whatever," Representative Robert Smith 
 of Illinois proposed an amendment by add- 
 ing at the end of the section the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 ■'With the boundaries prescribed by the act of 
 conjn-ess of .\u,sr. 0, 1840." (The Enablins' act.) 
 
 This action precipitated a lively debate. 
 -Accompanying Mr. Smith's amendment 
 was a detailed amenilnient, designating the 
 proposed boundaries of the new state, 
 wherein it was shown that the boundaries 
 would not be precisely as they were fixed 
 in the Enabling act, but would really cur- 
 tail the area of the state by moving east- 
 ward several miles the boundaries of the 
 state on the northwest line. Mr. Smith 
 explained later that it was his purpose to 
 curtail the area, pointing out that the St. 
 Croix river line, as proposed, would bring 
 within the new state persons who did not 
 
10 
 
 desire to reside in Wisconsin. Thus it will 
 be seen that a second attempt was made 
 by an Illinois member to reduce the size 
 of Wisconsin. Mr. Smith soon discovered 
 that he had awakened a pretty lively op- 
 position. 
 
 A Missouri representative, James B. 
 Bowlin, jumped into the arena and made 
 a short speech in which he pointed out 
 that the boundary proposed by Mr. Smith 
 was neither the boundary fixed by the con- 
 etitution of Wisconsin, nor that fixed by 
 congress, and Mr. Bowlin said he could 
 see no reason for the proposed reduction 
 in the size of the new state. He showed 
 that the boundary lines provided for in 
 the act of congress and as understood by 
 the people of Wisconsin in their constitu- 
 tional convention, would not make the 
 new state disproportionate to other states. 
 He said there was nothing he could see 
 that would recommend the boundary pro- 
 posed by Mr. Smith, whicli, if adopted, 
 would create an unnatural boundary, and 
 for some time keep Wisconsin out of the 
 Union. He said Wisconsin had chosen her 
 state officers, on assurance given her by 
 congress, and she should not now be re- 
 pulsed. 
 
 Mr. Smith was a persistent chap. He 
 defended his amendment, and said it 
 would obviate the objections that had been 
 raised to other lines of boundary that they 
 would bring persons within the new state 
 who had no interests in common with 
 those who lived in the state. He spoke of 
 the distance from the St. Croix river to 
 the capitol at Madison, which he said was 
 about 500 miles. This was a remarkable 
 statement as the greatest length of the 
 state is only 300 miles. He said it would 
 be an injustice to the people of the St. 
 Croix valley to compel them to travel eo 
 gieat a distance to get to the seat of state 
 government. 
 
 Amos Tuck, a representative from New 
 Hampshire, where they can stand on the 
 stone fences and look across to the boun- 
 dary lines of their state, proposed to take 
 a tuck in the size of Wisconsin by leav- 
 ing out the St. Croix valley. He said if 
 the proposition were agreed to by congress 
 the Wisconsin convention could conform 
 to it in a few weeks and no great incon- 
 venience would result. A cheerful chap 
 was Tuck. 
 
 Mr. T^veedy Makes a Speech. 
 
 One can imagine, even at the distance 
 oif fifty years, how the proposition by Mr. 
 Tuck must have struck Delegate Tweedy 
 He at cnce took the floor, and it was ap- 
 parent that he was indignant. He ex- 
 pressed surprise that such an amendment 
 was offered. He said the house had 
 no right to entertain an amendment that 
 was insulting to the dignity of Wisconsin. 
 He went over the terms of the Ordinance 
 of 1787, and said that an attempt was being 
 made to vary the boundaries as intended 
 to be covered by that Ordinance. If the 
 territorial limits were now to be changed 
 it must be done by common agreement be- 
 tween the United States and Wisconsin. 
 Two years before congress had passed an 
 act proposing a 'boundary line for Wis- 
 ooneiu preparatory to admission, and to 
 
 this the state had acceded. The compact 
 was complete. Wisconsin had complied 
 with the terms and was now ready to 
 be admitted. She had a population of 
 more than three times the required num- 
 ber, and she had anticipated no obstacles 
 to her admission. He asserted that not- 
 withstanding thf objections raised by Mr. 
 Smith of Illinois the terms of the latter's 
 amendment would not be accepted by the 
 people of Wisconsin.. 
 
 An Ohio representative, Samuel P. Vin- 
 ton, was captured by the logic of Mr. 
 Tweedy, and he made an argument in 
 favor of the St. Croix river boundary 
 line. Wisconsin had assented "to it and 
 in good faith congress was bound to stand 
 by the agreement made in the enabling 
 act. He said his personal impression was 
 that a line further east would be more 
 preferable, but this could not be done 
 without a violation of public faith. The 
 people of Wisconsin, although favoring a 
 boundary further north and west, had ex- 
 pressed a willingness to abide by the St. 
 Croix line, and it was now too late for 
 congress to go back on its own proposi- 
 tion. Mr. Vinton commended what Mr. 
 Tweedy had said respecting the terms of 
 the Ordinance of 1787. That ordinance had 
 provided that when there were 60,000 
 souls in one of the territories erected in 
 the Northwest it had a right to become a 
 state on equal terms with the other 
 states. Congress had no right to reject 
 Wisconsin. 
 
 A speech w"as then made by Representa- 
 tive James Wilson of New Hampshire. 
 He immediately demonstrated^ that he was 
 not built upon the same contracted plan 
 as his colleague Tuck. He gave evidence 
 of an intimate knowledge of the geogriphy 
 of the Northwest and the interests of that 
 locality. He said the house was familiar 
 with the terms of the Ordinance of 1787. 
 The provision as to the line -drawn due 
 East and West from the Southern ex- 
 terminty of Lake Michigan had been dis- 
 regarded. He called attention to the 
 grab that had been made by the states of 
 Illinois and Indiana in extending their 
 areas by m.oving their northern boundaries 
 far above the line mentioned. After show- 
 ing that three boundary lines had been 
 donsidered for Wisconsin he insisted that 
 the line which had been assented to by 
 the people of the proposed state in their 
 convention was the best. He described 
 the different sections of the territory in 
 point of fertility of the soil and said the 
 greatest fertility was found along the im- 
 mediate boundaries of the streams. He 
 dwelt upon the excellence of the country 
 and the capacity of the Mississippi valley 
 to maintain a dense population. Mr. 
 Wilson insisted that the line agreed to 
 by the people of Wisconsin would avoid 
 separating the people residing in the St. 
 Croix valley. 
 
 R. M. McLane, a representative from 
 Maryland also opposed the boundary sug- 
 gested by Mr. Smith and said that the 
 people of Wisconsin had favored the Rum 
 river boundary, but from fear of further 
 delay in securing admission had con- 
 cluded not to insist upon it. In answer 
 to a direct question Mr. Tweedy said the 
 people of Wisconsin would prefer the 
 
boundary North and West of tne St. 
 Croix, and that he preferred that line 
 but would take the one offered by tlie 
 Dill a® the next best thing. Mr. McLane 
 ■went on to urge that the St. Croix was 
 the best river in Wisconsin, that it 
 watered a fertile country, and should be 
 retained. 
 
 Short speeches were made by William 
 Sawyer, representative from Ohio and 
 John Gayle of Alabama. Mr. Gayle was 
 an enthusiastic defender of the rights of 
 Wisconsin in the premises. He said the 
 United States had not violated faith with 
 Texas and should not do so with Wiscon- 
 sin. Texas had demanded the recognition 
 of the Rio Grande as her Southwestern 
 boundary, and congress had rejected her 
 on that account. Texas eufesequently 
 agreed to leave that question open to ne- 
 gotiation and congress had received the 
 state. Congress should live up to the 
 conditions it bad made for Wisconsin. 
 
 Tlie Persistent Mr. Suiitli of Illinois. 
 
 Rtprosentative Smith was a good fighter 
 for a bad cause. One would think that 
 from the manner in which his amendment 
 had been kicked and batted about the 
 arena of the house by every member who 
 had spoken on the subject, he would 
 have yielded. He would not do iso. He 
 made a lengthy speech in advocacy of the 
 change he proposed. He admitted that 
 under the Ordinance of 1787, Wisconsin 
 had a right to come into the Union as a 
 whole, taking in the vast tract west of 
 the St. Croix, if congress would not 
 take the state with the boundaries pro- 
 posed. Wisconsin contained 90,000 square 
 miles. The line he proposed would give 
 47,000 square miles, while that proposed 
 by the bill would give nearly 60,000. Mr. 
 Smith said that would make a state larger 
 than Ohio. Mr. Smith went after Dele- 
 gate Tweedy with some warm oratorical 
 shot. He said Mr. Tweedy had admitted 
 that as a delegate in the state convention 
 he would have advocated the southerly 
 line, but as a delegate on the floor of the 
 house he had favored the most northerly 
 boundary. He admired the devotion of 
 the delegate to the wishes of his constitu- 
 enti3. It was carrying out the doctrine of 
 iDisrtructions which was a proper course 
 to pursue. Smith contended that congress 
 bad a right to fix the boundary and he had 
 no doubt Wisconsin would accept it rather 
 than be forced in as a state of unwieldly 
 dimensions. The Illinois member waxed 
 warmer as he proceeded, and he showed 
 that he had some facts up his sleeve which 
 evidently came from objecting delegates 
 in the state constitutional convention. He 
 presented a minority report which he said 
 had been offered by a Mr. Brownell from 
 the St. Croix region, in the convention, 
 opposing the St. Croix boundary. Mr. 
 Smith accepted this as showing the in- 
 justice of fixing that line. Dealing with 
 the speech made by Mr. McLane ol Mary- 
 land the Illinois member made a warm 
 retort. He asserted that McLane had ad- 
 vocated the remote line \n the interests of 
 capitalists at the falls of the St. Croix 
 river. Smith said he chose to consider 
 
 the interests of the masses of the people, 
 rather than the capitalists at the Flails. 
 He insisted that he had too long shown 
 devotion to the interests of Wisconsin for 
 anyone to doubt his friendship for that 
 state. 
 
 Failed to Take Final Action. 
 
 The last speaker of the day on the bill 
 was J. W. Houston, a representative from 
 Delaware. He insiisted upon the line that 
 had been agreed to by Wisconsin being 
 adopted. He was willing to receive the 
 state entire if the people of Wisconsin 
 wished it so. At all events be was willing 
 to accede to the wishes of the people of 
 Wisconsin and thought they were best 
 qualified to judge what would promote 
 their own interests. 
 
 The debate had consumed the greater 
 part oif the day. Mr. Smith bad given no 
 indication of withdrawing his amendment, 
 and the house adjourned without com- 
 pleting the measure or taking final ac- 
 tion upon it. On the following day it was 
 taken up and the debate which resulted 
 invaded the whole realm of territorial 
 questions touching the public lands, in- 
 ternal improvememts and aid to popular 
 education. Indeed, it was manifest th,at 
 the house was not busy during that ses- 
 sion with pressing public questions. Both 
 houses of the preceding congress had 
 passed a Wisconsin admission bill with 
 almost no debate, but now the subject 
 engaged the attention of the leading 
 membero of the house, and they made 
 lengthy speeches upon it. 
 
 How much like the house of repre- 
 sentatives of to-day was that popular 
 branch of congress half a century ago. 
 Sometimes devoting bours and days to 
 debate of questions over which there is, 
 little division of opinion or controversy, 
 and at other times rushing through the 
 most important measures without detoate. 
 It depends on the time at the disposal of 
 the houise, and somewhat on the mood of 
 the leaders. These factors evidently con- 
 trolled in the house a half century ago. 
 
 III. 
 
 The Wisconsin Admission Bill Is 
 Eixliaustively Debated in tlie House 
 of Representatives on May lO, 
 18-lS — Questions as to Boundary, 
 and Grants of Public Lands to the 
 Coninion^vealtli in Aid of Canal 
 Iniitroveinents Discussed — Speecli 
 by Abrnliani Lincoln on the Gen- 
 eral Subject of tlie Disposal of 
 Public Lands in Aid of Public Ini^ 
 provenients in the States — Admis- 
 sion Bill Passes the House — Ste- 
 phen A. Donslas Reports the Meas> 
 nre in the Senate— It Passes That 
 Body Without Debate or Amend- 
 
ment — President Polk Affixes His 
 
 Signature on May 20, 1848. 
 
 They (tbe people of Wisconsin) planted them- 
 selves upon the ordinance of 1787. * * They 
 come not as a Britisli province suing at the foot 
 of the throne for the privilege of self-government. 
 If they come into the Union at all they will come 
 into it on a footing of perfect equality with the 
 other states. Wisconsin must come in as a sis- 
 ter or not at all. On tliis iioint men., of all par- 
 tics were as one: every soul in the state was of 
 one mind.— Delegate John 11. Tweedy of Wliscon- 
 sin, in the House of Representatives May 10. 
 1S4S. 
 
 The debate in the house of representa- 
 tives on the Wisconsin Admission bill was 
 concluded on May 11, 1848. It went 
 to the senate where it was passed 
 without debate or division on May 19. The 
 bill was presented to President James K. 
 Folic on May 29, and was signed by the 
 executive on that day. 
 
 When the house met on May 10, 1848, 
 after the disposition of some minor busi- 
 ness Representative Smith of Indiana, on 
 behalf of the Committee on Territories, 
 called Uip the Wi.gconsin Admission bill, 
 and Mr. Cobb of Georgia again took the 
 chair while the measure was considered in 
 committee of the whole. Mr. Cobb stated 
 that the question first to be determined 
 was the amendment proposed by Mr. 
 Smith of Illinois relating to the bounda- 
 ries of the state. 
 
 The debate that followed took in the 
 whole range of questions affecting the re- 
 lations of the general government to the 
 new states coming into the union, and the 
 subject of the disposition of the public 
 lands in aid of education in the new 
 states, or to encourage internal improve- 
 ments. The great political parties of the 
 time were divided on the question of gov- 
 ernmental participation in the prosecution 
 of improvements to facilitate commerce. 
 The Democratic platform of 1840 had de- 
 clared that under the constitution of the 
 United States the government was not au- 
 thorized to carry on a system of internal 
 improvements. The people of the West 
 and Northwest were greatly interested in 
 this question. Federal aid in the wor^k of 
 building up a system of canals and the 
 improvement of harbors on the great lakes 
 and streams which, with improvement, 
 could be made navigable, was of the ut- 
 most importance in the upbuilding of the 
 West. Railroad transportation was in its 
 infancy. Twenty years before the admis- 
 sion of Wisconsin the first railway train 
 was moved in the United States. Travel 
 between the East and the West was a 
 serious problem. The transportation of 
 goods was by the slow means of wagon 
 train. Writing of the condition of trade 
 and travel and industry in 1848 Judge 
 Tourgee once said: 
 
 The time of which we write was near the wak- 
 ing from a long slumber. The canal which 
 stretches from' lake to river (Erie canal) was still 
 the main avenue of transit eastward and west- 
 ward. Beyond that the steamer and tlie stage 
 coach held sway. The grosser products of the 
 West eonsumed tliemselves liefore the.v reached 
 tlie lOastiMii mnrki't.'i. TIu' cattle and swine 
 stretched away in ciidli'ss droves' aeros.s tho stales 
 lying eastward of tlie Mississippi river. The sus- 
 
 tentation of tliese while on the way to the East- 
 ern markets enriched the farmers along the route 
 more than those who reared the drove. Cheese 
 sold at the ports of Lake Erie tlien at 3 cents a 
 liouud. That very year (184S) tens of thousands 
 of fat sheep were slaughtered in Ohio for the 
 hides and tallow — only the hams and tongues lie- 
 ing saved for food. Tlie West was open — kuown 
 to be full of iwssibilities. It teemed with food, 
 but yet was poor. The Bast was at its zenith. 
 Every industry was quick. Labor was ia abund- 
 ance and yet in demand. Wages were low and so 
 were supiilies. The land was a bursting hive, a 
 magazine of possibilities. We were still a nation 
 of handworkers. There was not a mower or har- 
 vester in existence. The telegraph had begun In 
 Washington aiid ended at New York twelve 
 iiKiutlis before. The land was lighted by candles 
 afti-r niglitfall. The spinning wheel and shuttle 
 s(]uuded in e\'ery farmer's house. Butter was lai- 
 marketable 10t> miles from the dairy. The steam 
 saw mill had .inst begua to devour the forest. 
 From Eiast to West was the pilgrimage of a lite: 
 from North to South a voyage of discovery. A 
 day's journey was a serious matter. The canvas 
 covered wagon was the ark of trade. Tlie saddle 
 was the emblem of speed. Men slept yet in their 
 beds. The day began with the dawn, and not 
 with the train's arrival. The turnpike was still 
 the great artery of trade. The highways were 
 dusty and populous. There was time to live. 
 IJrawu and lirain went hand in hand. Every life 
 touched nature. Like Auteus we felt the earth 
 bi'iieath our feet and were strong. We had vau- 
 iliiished nature and sat by the Indus of time 
 weeping for other world's to conquer. 
 
 Men and parties were shifting their po- 
 sitions on this question of internal im- 
 provements. The people of Wisconsin ter- 
 ritory during the period from 1836 to 1848 
 must have watched with keen interest the 
 changes in popular opinion on this ques- 
 tion throughout the nation. It was a mat- 
 ter of great moment to the settlers in the 
 new territory. The people of the state 
 who now see a dozen swift-flying railway 
 trains come and go by their doors every 
 day, to whom a journey across the state 
 or across the continent is a matter of but 
 a few hours, find it difficult to under- 
 stand why so much attention was paid to 
 the question of improving canals and wa- 
 terways during<fthe time when Wisconsin 
 was knocking for admittance at the door 
 of the nation. The canal projects in the 
 new state meant much to its people. They 
 had asked aid from the general govern- 
 ment to carry out a project for the Rock 
 River canal and for the canal to connect 
 the Mississippi river with the Great lakes 
 by way of the Pox and Wisconsin rivers. 
 They wanted an outlet for their produce 
 to the markets of the more populous sec- 
 tions of the country. This explains the 
 land grants in the enabling act and in the 
 admission bill in aid of these canal proj- 
 ects in the new state. It was upon such 
 disposition of the public lands that the 
 leaders of the house, during the debate on 
 the admission bill made lengthy speeches. 
 
 Wisconsin and National Imiirove- 
 nients. 
 
 A majority of the people in Wisconsin, 
 when the territorial government was 
 formed in 1836, were advocates of the prin- 
 ciples of the Democratic party. They 
 wanted internal improvements to aid in 
 developing their territory which they ex- 
 pected soon would be a state. It must 
 have been especially gratifying to those 
 people to pin their faith to the pledges of 
 the national Democratic party made in 'its 
 platform in 1832 which contained this reso- 
 lution: "That a uniform system c\ inter- 
 
nal improvements, sustained and supported 
 by the general government, is calculated 
 to secure, in the highest degree, the 
 strength and permanency of the republic." 
 Adhering to this declaration of a policy 
 that was expected to contribute so much 
 to the upbuilding of their section of the 
 country, it must have been rather dis- 
 couraging to the people of Wisconsin terri- 
 tory when the Democratic party in 1840 
 adopted a platform containing this plank: 
 "That the constitution does not confer 
 upon the general government the power to 
 commence and carry on a general system 
 of internal improvements." The latter 
 declaration was made just ae the people 
 of Wisconsin were appealing for aid in the 
 construction of their canals. It was to 
 this subject as embraced in the admission 
 bill, touching the grant of public lands to 
 the state, and the prices to be asked for 
 such lands, that the house of representa- 
 tives directec" its attention of May 10. 
 
 Representadve Dickinson of Ohio opened 
 the debate with a speech on the boundary 
 question. He recounted o'bjections which 
 had been raised to the various boundary 
 lines proposed, and to the claim made by 
 \he people '-esiding in the St. Croix valley 
 that they would be put to inconvenience 
 by being included within the boundary of 
 Wisconsin. He said this was a point of 
 some weight, but was always an objection 
 that would be largely exaggerated in a 
 new country. He spoke of similar incon- 
 veniences which had been mentioned in 
 the case ;f Ohio when that state was ad- 
 mitted, forty years before. He insisted 
 that Wisconsin had the same power to 
 prescribe her boundaries that congress 
 had, and if congress did not agree to the 
 boundaries it would be willing to allow 
 Wisconsin to remain a territory. But Wis- 
 consin was no longer a territory. She had 
 formed a state constitution, and made all 
 preparations for coming into the Union as 
 a state. Suppose congress did not con- 
 firm the boundary line proposed by the 
 sitate, but insisted upon a new one, which 
 Wisconsin would refuse to accept, by what 
 laws would she then be governed? She 
 would have a state government and yet 
 not be within the Union. Would she be 
 governed by state laws, or by the laws of 
 the territory? He favored the line agreed 
 to by the state. He suggested that pos- 
 sibly the states of Illinois, Indiana and 
 Ohio were all too large. When the Ordi- 
 nance of 1787 was adopted the constitution 
 had not been framed, and at that time it 
 was (Observed that difficulties surrounded 
 the system of dett collection and of regu- 
 lating commerce in the territories. Now 
 under the territorial laws Wisconsin had a 
 right to collect taxes. She was equipped 
 to enter the Union and Mr. Dickinson sail 
 the adtnission bill should be accepted 
 without amendment, and the boundary 
 line which had been proposed in 1S46 
 should be assented to by congress. He 
 hoped the bill would be agreed to as Wis- 
 consin wished. 
 
 Thus the admission bill was given a 
 very good start in the day's deibate, and 
 the amendment of the irrepressible Smith 
 of Illinois was in a fair way to be knocked 
 out. 
 
 Tbe Qaestioii ot riaua urauTs. 
 
 At this juncture one of the most dis- 
 tinguished representatives on the floor en- 
 tered the debate. This was Jacob Collamer 
 of Vermont, who was chairman of the 
 Committee on Public Lands of the house. 
 Judge Collamer was already an eminent 
 man in public affairs. He had been judge 
 of the Supreme court of Vermont and had 
 already served three terms in the house. 
 Later he was elected to the senate, and 
 then was appointed postmaster-general by 
 President Taylor in 1849. Mr. Collamer 
 might have something of importance to 
 say respecting the admission bill. He said 
 that on account of the time limit on the 
 debate he would say nothing about the 
 point under discussion relating to the 
 boundaries of the state. He addressed him- 
 self to the second and third sections of the 
 bill relating to the land grants to the state 
 in aid of canal improvements. He said if 
 these sections were stricken out Wiscon- 
 sin could be admitted as well as if they 
 were retained. The sections mentioned re- 
 lated to grants of land in the state made 
 in 1838 to aid in the construction of the 
 canal connecting Lake Michigan with 
 Rock river. The proposition for the grant 
 had failed and the project had been given 
 up. In the meanwhile, however, some of 
 the reserved sections of the land in ques- 
 tion had been sold at $2.50 an acre. The 
 state had asked to be permitted to locate 
 500,000 acres of land allowed her by con- 
 gress on a part of these reserved sections. 
 As the canal project had been abandoned 
 and the lands were subject to entry, he 
 had no objection to the request made by 
 the state. Judge Collamer then took a shot 
 at the Fox and Wisconsin canal enter- 
 prise, which was just appearing as an is- 
 sue in the political affairs of the time. 
 He spoke of the conditions of the grant of 
 1846 in aid of the project for establishing 
 a continuous water course between the 
 great lakes and the Mississippi. The Wis- 
 consin constitutional convention had asked 
 that the grant be permitted to stand, and 
 that congress lower the price of the re- 
 served sections of the grant to $1.25 an 
 acre. To this he would not agree. It was 
 going a little too far, and to this point he 
 felt it his duty to call the attention of the 
 house. He thought a dangerous precedent 
 would be established if the government 
 should acquiesce in this request. 
 
 Mr. Collamer entered into a general dis- 
 cussion of the canal systems that had 
 been established in New York, Indiana 
 and Ohio, and the plan that had been 
 adopted by congress in granting lands in 
 aid of these enterprises. He insisted that 
 the moment congress assented to the fifth 
 resolution of the Wisconsin convention, it 
 took a step which would cause a loss to 
 the government in respect to its public 
 domain. He also objected to the resolu- 
 tion because nothing had been done on 
 the Fox and Wisconsin canal. He asked 
 that the fifth resolution be stricken out, 
 but added that the remainder of the bill 
 he was willing to leave undisturbed. 
 
 Another Friend of Wisconsin. 
 
 A reply was made to Judge Collamer's 
 speech by a Louisiana representative, 
 Isaac E. Moirse, who was a member of the 
 
14 
 
 Committee on the Territories. Mr. Morse 
 discussed very fully the question of aid 
 to canal improvements in the different 
 states. He believed that the grant made 
 to the Ues Moines river improvement in 
 Iowa was important, and that it had been 
 right to make such a grant to Iowa. He 
 wanted to know if a canal improvement 
 in Wisconsin was not equally important. 
 Why should not Wisconsin obtain a grant 
 upon the same terms? Mr. Morse said he 
 regarded the requested reduction in the 
 price of the reserved sections as an act of 
 sheer justice to Wisconsin, and it came 
 with particularly good grace from that 
 state, as she had agreed to accept this 
 grant as part of the 500,000 acres due her. 
 
 Judge Collamer replied in a lengthy 
 speech, covering much the same ground 
 he had gone over in his first speech. Aft- 
 er Mr. Morse made a rejoinder, a run- 
 ning debate was participated in by Messrs. 
 Collamer and Morse and Representative 
 John A. McClernand of Illinois. The lat- 
 ter gave evidence that he had no sympa- 
 thy with the scheme of his colleague 
 Smith, to further reduce the area of Wis- 
 consin and delay her admission. 
 
 At this point Repre-entative Rockwell 
 of Connecticut, who, it will be remember- 
 ed, participated in the debate on the en- 
 abling act in the previous congress, ap- 
 peared in the discussion. He still had 
 with him his scheme for additional aid to 
 education in Wisconsin, which had been de- 
 feated when the enabling act was pending. 
 He offered it again as an amendment to 
 the admission 'bill. He said he was more 
 in favor of liberality toward Wisconsin 
 because of the splendid course of the 
 state in regard to public lands, which had 
 been liberal in the highest degree. He 
 wanted to give the Thirty-sixth section of 
 land in each township of the state as 
 additional aid to education. He thought 
 all the new states should have more liberal 
 grants for this purpose. 
 
 Delegate T-»vee«ly on Admission and 
 the Canal Grants. 
 
 At this point Delegate Tweedy of Wis- 
 consin secured the floor. He discussed at 
 considerable length the general question 
 of admission and the points raised by 
 Judge Collamer. Mr. Tweedy said he 
 would not spend much time on the bound- 
 ary amendment; he had said all he cared 
 to say on that subject the previous day. 
 He insisted, however, that it must be 
 apparent to everyone that congress had no 
 right to impose upon Wisconsin the 
 boundary line proposed by Mr. Smith or 
 Illinois, and make that a condition of ad- 
 mission. Mr. Tweedy said he knew well 
 the sentiment of his people at home on 
 that question. He had in the state con- 
 vention been in favor of the southerly 
 line, but he would now vote against that. 
 Wisconsin would never come as a beggar 
 at the door of congress asking for what 
 was her right. Her people would place 
 themselves in no such attitude. Mr. 
 Tweedy said that he, and those who w^ere 
 associated with him, had labored with the 
 people of the state day and night to in- 
 duce them to consent to the boundary 
 proposed by congress in the act of 1846. 
 
 rne utmost difficulty had been experienced 
 in holding back his friends who were in- 
 sisting upon the rights of the state. They 
 had planted themselves upon the ordi- 
 nance of 1787. They came not as a people 
 suing at the foot of a throne for self-gov- 
 ernment. If they came into the union at 
 all it would be upon terms of equality 
 with the other states. It was vain for 
 gentlemen to try to bring them in upon 
 any other terms. As to the two northerly 
 lines the house might take its choice. The 
 people of Wisconsin favored the Rum 
 river as their boundary, but if the St. 
 Croix was fixed upon as the boundary they 
 were ready to acquiesce. He added that 
 he had been instructed to favor the more 
 northerly boundary, and he believed it 
 would oarry in the house. 
 
 Mr. Tweedy took up the points raised 
 by Judge Collamer. He did not pretend to 
 say whether congress had established the 
 doctrine of the inviolability of precedent 
 or not. He had heard of no such decision. 
 But he did know that if there was a case 
 that could claim the repeal of such a de- 
 cision, both on the grounds of justice and 
 liberality, this was that case. He called 
 attention to the fact that on the very same 
 day that congress had granted these alter- 
 nate sections of land to Wisconsin for 
 canal improvements, the body had granted 
 to Iowa a strip of land In alternate sec- 
 tions on each side of the Des Moines river, 
 four hundred miles in length, for a work 
 lying wholly within the limits of a state, 
 and which was in no sens^e national. 
 
 Congress had not given Wisconsin a 
 cent, was the next point raised by Mr. 
 Tweedy, and the lands which had been 
 given were clogged with a condition from 
 which Iowa was free. If Wisconsin had 
 enjoyed a 5 per cent, rebate on lands sold, 
 her population had long been sufficient to 
 insure admission, and she would have re- 
 ceived far more from land sales than had 
 been paid to her territorial government. 
 The delegate discussed the grants of lands 
 to states in aid of canals. It was the duty 
 of congress to grant alternate sections to 
 aid such improvememts. This rule ap- 
 plied to railroads or canals passing 
 through a part of the public domain. 
 When such canal or road passed through 
 a region partly settled, the reservation of 
 alternate sections operated as a robbery 
 of the settlers in compelling them to pay 
 double for the lands which they had al- 
 ready improved. The effect was to keep 
 off every immigrant for ten miles around 
 the proposed course of the canal. They 
 were afraid to make improvements for 
 fear that when the alternate sections came 
 to be reserved their houses would fall 
 within the sections reserved by the gov- 
 ernment and they would be compelled to 
 pay double the price that had been pail 
 by their neighbors. That was the situa- 
 tion in Wisconsin. The people were wait- 
 ing and on that account a part of the 
 country remained unsettled. 
 
 This was a strong point made by the 
 Wisconsin delegate, and it had a good 
 effect upon the house, as was demon- 
 strated by the results when the time came 
 for voting on the amendments. Whatever 
 desire there might have been among the 
 members from the older states to econo- 
 
mize iu the matter of public lands, and 
 whatever the disposition of the leading 
 men of the time with respect to the policy 
 of government encouragement of internal 
 improvements, they evinced a sincere de- 
 sire to see the West populated, and that 
 every encouragement should be given to 
 immigration as a means of settling the 
 wilderness of the West. 
 
 A Good AVoril From Illinois. 
 
 When the Wisconsin delegate resumed 
 his seat a friend of Wisconsin admission 
 appeared in the person of an Illinois rep- 
 resentative, John A. McClernand. He hit 
 the proposition made by his colleague, 
 the obstreperous Smith, a hard blow. He 
 did not agree with Smith that the Wita- 
 consin boundary at the Northwest section 
 should be moved further eastward. Mr. 
 MoClernand said he was in favor of the St. 
 Croix river boundary. That line had been 
 fixed by congress and accepted by the peo- 
 ple of the state. The attention of the pub- 
 lic had been called to that boundary and 
 the people were prepared to receive it as 
 the settled line. The faith of congress 
 was pledged to it. He should, therefore, 
 vote against the Rum river, or extreme 
 western boundary proposed, which bad 
 been recommended alternately by the peo- 
 ple of Wisconsin, and also against the 
 amendment proposed by his colleague, Mr. 
 Smith. Mr. McClernand discussed fully 
 the relations of the new states to the gov- 
 ernment and questions of internal im- 
 provements and land grants. 
 
 Caleb B. Smith of Indiana, chairman of 
 the Territories committee, here took the 
 floor and spoke in a general way against 
 the amendment of Illinois Smith. He said 
 he had no objection to the various propo- 
 sitions pending for changing the bounda- 
 ries of the state, and he would be willing 
 to assent to the change suggested by 
 Delegate Tweedy. The committee had 
 recommended the St. Croix boundary in 
 preference to that at Rum river, but as 
 far as he was concerned he could see no 
 reason for th'^ change, and was willing 
 that Wisconsin should have the larger 
 area if it wae wanted. Mr. Smth advo- 
 cated granting the land in aid of canal 
 improvement. 
 
 It became apparent to the Illinois Smith 
 that he had suggested an unpopular 
 scheme, and he offered an amendment ma- 
 teiially changing his proposition, and 
 making it conform nore nearly to that 
 suggested by the committee. Then Mr. 
 Tweedy put in his bid for the larger slice 
 of the territory which later became a 
 part of Minnesota. He offered it in the 
 following form: 
 
 "The change of boundary proposed in the 
 second article of the said convention, to- 
 wit: leaving the boundary line as pre- 
 scribed in the act of congress entitled, etc., 
 (the enabling act) from the foot of the St. 
 Louis Rapids, thence in a direct line bear- 
 ing southwesterly to the mouth of the 
 Ikodewaba or Rum river where the same 
 empties into the Mississippi river, thence 
 down the main line of said river as pre- 
 scribed in that act." 
 
 Mr. Tweedy said this amendment was of- 
 fered as a substitute for that offered by 
 
 the committee, and was intended to fix 
 the Rum river as the northwestern bound- 
 ary instead of the St. Croix. He said it 
 had been recommended by the Wisconsin 
 convention after mature deliberation and 
 therefore he was bound to advocate it. 
 The reason the people of Wisconsin desired 
 this line, Mr. Tweedy frankly avowed, was 
 because they desired the additional terri- 
 tory, and because they believed it would 
 be more convenient and more judicious to 
 bring all the people residing in the St. 
 Croix valley within the state. Another 
 reason was the advantages which were to 
 be derived from steamboat navigation on 
 those upper rivers. 
 
 The Delegate's Plan Defeateil. 
 
 The house could not see it in that way. 
 They rejected Mr. Tweedy's amemdment. 
 He had counted on being able to carry it 
 through, but on the test vote it was beaten 
 by such a vociferous outburst of "noes," 
 that the Wisconsin delegate did not h^ve 
 the hardihood to ask a division of the 
 house to make a record on the question. 
 Posisbly he had visions of being able to fix 
 the matter in the senate. Thus the possi- 
 bility that within Wisconsin there should 
 be built the magnificent cities of St. Paul 
 and Minneapolis was defeated by cutting 
 off that section of the new state and leav- 
 ing it to become a part of Minnesota. It 
 will be understood from these notes of the 
 debate what a narrow escape Wisconsin 
 had from being the greatest state in all 
 respects in the broad region of the North- 
 west. This certainly would have been the 
 result had not Illinois, thirty years before 
 the Wisconsin admission proposition was 
 pending, ■jcooped in the splendid strip of 
 territory skirting the borders of the lower 
 part of Lake Michigan and embracing the 
 present site of Chicago. 
 
 The debate was now practically ended, 
 and the committee proceeded to vote on 
 the amendment. At the suggestion of Mr. 
 Collamer some changes were made in the 
 section relating to the land,° granted to 
 the state in aid of the Fox and Wisconsin 
 improvement. A suggestion by Mr. 
 Tweedy relating to the lands to be given 
 to the Rock river canal improvement was 
 also agreed to. The committee amend- 
 ments relating to the boundary, modified 
 in an unimportant manner by the last 
 changes suggested by Mr. Smith of Illinois, 
 N>/ere adopted. 
 
 Then came up Mr. Rockwell's amend- 
 ment relating to a more liberal grant of 
 lands to the state in the aid of education. 
 Mr. Vinton of Ohio objected strenuously 
 to this scheme. He wanted to know why 
 this liberality should be exercised in re- 
 spect to Wisconsin and denied to Illinois, 
 Indiana, Ohio and the other states. It was 
 a grave question and should not be acted 
 upon without a report from a committee. 
 The amendment was ruled out, and thus 
 the school lands of the state were con- 
 fined to the sixteenth section of each town- 
 ship. After agreeing to two or three sec- 
 tions of the bill the house at a late hour 
 adjourned without completing action upon 
 the admission bill. 
 
 On Thursday, May 11, the admission bill 
 was taken up for final consideration. Hap- 
 
pily the members had talked themselves 
 out on the previous day, so the measure 
 went through without further debate. Im- 
 mediately after the journal was read 
 Speaker Winthrop announced that the 
 next business was the Wisconsin Admis- 
 sion bill. A number of minor amendments 
 of the Territories committee were agreed 
 to, and also one touching the phraseology 
 of the bill offered by Mr. Tweedy. The bill 
 was then ordered to a third reading, read 
 the third time and passed. 
 
 A Speeeli l»y Abraliani Lincoln. 
 
 Delegate Tweedy must have been some- 
 what surprised at this juncture to ob- 
 serve the tall form of Abraham Lincoiu 
 unfolding itself, and when the more than 
 six feet of the gaunt Illinoisan was erect, 
 to hear from Lincoln a motion to recon- 
 sider the bill. Unless Mr. Tweedy had a 
 perfect understanding with his Whig 
 friend, Lincoln, he must have thought O'^ 
 another flank movement against the bill 
 from Illinois. Mr. Lincoln was not long 
 in making his purpose known. He said 
 he had made the motion to reconsider in 
 order to give an opportunity for him to 
 say a few words upon some questions that 
 had been brought out in the course of the 
 debate by Judge Collamer. Mr. Lincoln 
 called attention to some remarks that had 
 been made by Mr. Collamer, whose sug- 
 gestions respecting public lands were en- 
 titled to great weight, he being chairman 
 of the Committee on Public Lands, in re- 
 spect to the reserved sections in grants in 
 aid of public improvements in Wisconsin 
 and elsewhere being enhanced in value, 
 and should be reduced to the minimum 
 price of the public lands. The question of 
 the reduction in value, Mr. Lincoln said, 
 was a matter of indifference to him. He 
 was inclined to think that Wisconsin 
 would be pleased to have the price so 'e- 
 duced. He would not make a special ar- 
 gument in favor of Wisconsin, but he be- 
 lieved in the general policy of giving the 
 alternate sections of land and enhancing 
 the reserved sections. He cited an in- 
 stance in Illinois where this policy had 
 worked to advantage. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln indicated pretty plainly 
 that he favored the internal improvement 
 projects and the grants of land in aid of 
 such enterprises. He attacked some of 
 the statements made by Judge Collamer 
 and asserted that they were unsound. He 
 spoke of the Vermont statesman's remark 
 that the government was interested in the 
 internal improvements as they increased 
 the value of the land unsold, and would 
 also enable the government to sell lands 
 which otherwise would remain unsold. Al- 
 though this policy gave a gain to the 
 country in the way of the internal im- 
 provements, as well as in land sales, and 
 thus the people derived substantial good 
 therefrom, it might be that the lands 
 should not be sold for more than $1.25, 
 instead of $2.50 an acre. Mr. Lincoln said, 
 however, that he had merely mentioned 
 this point in passing, and that he had 
 risen simply to state that the policy of 
 giving these lands for the purposes indi- 
 cated had been favorably considered. There 
 were some gentlemen who had constitu- 
 
 tional scruples against voting money for 
 these purposes, but would not hesitate to 
 vote land. He wanted to say that he was 
 not one who made war against that policy. 
 Having ma'de this statement, which was 
 tinged with irony directed at those who 
 weighed their constitutional scruples so 
 finely that they could agree to vote away 
 the pufblic domain in aid of internal im- 
 provements, but would not agree to vote 
 funds from the treasury for that purpose, 
 Mr. Lincoln withdrew his motion to re- 
 consider the vote by which the admission 
 bill was passed, and the bill went to the 
 senate for final action. 
 
 A«1uii8sion Bill Becomes a La-^v. 
 
 The senate devoted no time to debating 
 the Admission bill. On Friday, May 12, a 
 message was sent to that body from the 
 house that the latter branch had passed 
 the bill for the admission of Wisconsin. 
 Senator Stephen A. Douglas, chairman of 
 the Committee on Territories, arose and 
 moved that the bill be committed to that 
 committee for consideration. The Commit- 
 tee on Territories was composed of the fol- 
 lowing senators: 
 
 Stephoa A. 'Douglas of Illinois, chairman. 
 
 Jesse D. Brlg'ht of Indiana. 
 
 J. M. Clayton of Delaware. 
 
 A. P. Butler of Sonth Carolina. 
 
 John D'avis of Massaclnisetts. 
 
 No time was lost in securing action in 
 the committee. Four days later, on Tues- 
 day, May 16, Senator Douglas reported the 
 bill without amendment and recommended 
 its passage. On Friday, May 19, Jesse D. 
 Bright, a senator from Indiana, and also 
 a member of the Committee on Terri- 
 toriesi, called up the measure in the sen- 
 ate. It was ordered to a. third reading, 
 read the third time and passed without 
 debate, amendment or division. Some de- 
 lay was caused by inaction of the Com- 
 mittee on Engrossed Bills, and failure to 
 secure the signatures of the speaker and 
 the vice-president to the measure, but on 
 May 29 the Admission bill was sent to 
 Presiident Polk, who promptly aifixed his 
 signature to it, and Wisconsin was a state 
 of the American Union. The notification 
 that the president had signed the bill was 
 made in both houses of congress on May 
 30 by the president's secretary, Mr. J. 
 Knox Walker. 
 
 The services of Delegate John H. Twee- 
 dy in congress were at an end. He had the 
 honor to secure the passage of the Admis- 
 sion bill, after a long and spirited debate 
 over the question. He now retired, and 
 the senators and representatives chosen by 
 the new state made their appearance with- 
 in a few days and took their seats in 
 congress. 
 
 Synopsis of tlie Admission Act. 
 
 Whereas, the people of the territory of Wis- 
 consin (lid on the 10th of February, 1848, hy 
 convention O'f delegates, call and assemiWed for 
 the purjMise of forming for themselves a con- 
 stitution and state government, whic'h said con- 
 stitution is ratified: and said convention having 
 askiMl the admission of said teiTitory into the 
 Union as a state upon an equal footing with the 
 original states. 
 
 Be it enacted by the senate and hotise of 
 representatives In congress assembled: 
 
 That the state of Wisconsin he and is hereby 
 admitted to be one of the United Statea of 
 
America, is hereby admitted into the Union on 
 an equal footling with the original states in all 
 respects w-hatever with the boundaries pre- 
 scribed by the act of congress approved Aug. 6, 
 1846, entitled an act to enable the people of 
 Wisconsin territory rto form a constitution and 
 staite government and for the admission of sucii 
 state into the Union, 
 
 Section 2 gave the assent of congress, the first, 
 second, foumtlh and fifth resolutions adopted by 
 the Constitutional conveuCion and the acts of 
 congress ratified in the resolution were amended 
 so that the lands granted by the provisions of 
 the several acts ratified shall be held by the 
 state and disposed of in a manner and for tbe 
 purposes recommended by the convention. Also 
 that the lands reserved to the United States by 
 the act to grant a quantity of land in aid of the 
 Fox and Wisconsin river improvements and for 
 the canal between Lake Michigan and Rocli iver 
 shall be offered for sale at the same minimum 
 price subject to the same rates for preemption as 
 other public lands of the United States, It was 
 also provided for certain preemption rights with 
 reference to these lands. 
 
 Section third relates to the purchase of lauds 
 at the price of Jf2.50 and ,$1.25 un<ler conditions 
 prescribed. Section fourth provided that the judge 
 of the District court shall hold a term of court 
 at Madison on the first Monday of December and 
 another term in Milwaukee on the first Monday 
 in January. Provisions were also made for spe- 
 cial terms of court to hear and decide cases of 
 admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. The fifth 
 section provided for transmission by <-'oe clerks 
 of the District court records of unsatisfied .1udg- 
 ments. The sixth section provided that the clerk 
 of the .Supreme court of tlie territory of Wiscon- 
 sin shall deliver over to the court of tbe United 
 States District courts all records and papers re- 
 lating to bankruptcy under the Bankrupt law. 
 The last section of the act provided that from 
 and after the 4th day of March, 1848, and imlil 
 another census and icppo- tKmm.ent shall be made, 
 the state of Wisconsin shall be entitled to !hri e 
 representatives ;n the congress of tlie Uiiited 
 States. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Appejirniit'e of Senators Dodge and 
 \%'allcer in the Senate, and Rei»re- 
 sentatives Lynde sind Darling in 
 the House in the Closing Part ot 
 the First Session of the Thirtieth 
 Congress — The Historic Senate 
 Chamber in Which the First Wis- 
 consin Senators Sat— Political Is- 
 sues and Leaders of the Time. 
 Senator Walker and the Slavery 
 Issue — Gen. Dodge's Connection 
 With the Exciting Personal En- 
 counter Between Senators Benton 
 and Foote — Mr. Lynde's First 
 Speech— Mr. Darling and the Joke 
 on Horace Greeley— Notes on the 
 First Wisconsin Congressional 
 Delegation. 
 
 Tliere was a state without kings or nobles; 
 • there was a peoi)le gyiverned bv grave mag- 
 istrates which it had selected and by equal laws 
 which rt nad framed.— Riifus Ohoate. 
 
 Senators and representatives from tlie 
 new state of Wisconsin appeared in con- 
 gress in May and June, 1848, Tliey were 
 assigned seats and places on committees. 
 They participated in the legislation of the 
 latter part of the first session, and in the 
 second session of the Thirtieth congress, 
 which ended March 3, 1849. 
 
 Wisconsin was now one of the states 
 of the federal Union. Her people were 
 prompt in sending their senators and rep- 
 resentative© to congress. Under the pro- 
 visions of the enabling act elections had 
 been held in the territory during the 
 spring of 1848. Before the admission bill 
 passed congress, at an election held May 
 8, representatives in congress had been 
 chosen. The First district sent William 
 Pitt Lynde of Milwaukee, and the Second 
 district sent Mason C. Darling of Fond du 
 Lac. The election of senators by the legis- 
 lature followed on June 8, and the first 
 congressional delegation from the new 
 state was ready to take places in the halls 
 of national legislation. 
 
 Political Issues in 18-AS. 
 
 From this time Wisconsin took a promi- 
 nent part in the determination of public 
 questions in which the entire country was 
 interested. The people of the state early 
 gave evidence that they had drunk deep 
 at the fountain of liberty, which had been 
 established in the territory under the Or- 
 dinance of 1787. They were earnest and 
 uncompromising advocates of the equality 
 of all mem before the law, and of the full- 
 est civil and religious liberty. A people 
 entertaining such sentiments must have 
 been restlessi under the already rapidly 
 growing power of the slave-holding aris- 
 tocracy of the South. Evidence of this un^ 
 easiness is furnished in the resolutions 
 which were passed by the legislature of 
 the state in the earliest period of the new 
 relations to the general government. Res- 
 olutions against the extension of slavery, 
 and for the fullest freedom for the pro- 
 posed territorial governments in other 
 sections of the country, were frequently 
 sent to the Wisconsin senators and repre- 
 sentatives for their guidance in represent- 
 ing the people of the state in a legisla- 
 tive capacity. Thesie expressions of the 
 state constituted a note of warning, little 
 heeded, however, to the Southern leaders 
 in congress, that slavery was doomed to 
 destruction. In resolutions of this charac- 
 ter from Wisconsin and other states, to- 
 gether with the speeches and votes in con- 
 gress from the date of the admission of 
 Wisconsin down to the Civil war, are to 
 be found many side-lights upon the po- 
 litical history of those momentous times, 
 and a correct reflex of the sentiments 
 which actuated the people of the state in 
 the early part of the great slavery contest. 
 Resolutions from the legislatures of the 
 Southern states, presented in congress by 
 senators and representatives from that 
 section, afforded an equally correct reflex 
 of the popular opinion in the South that 
 slavery must not be interfered with, and 
 must be permitted to enter into all new 
 territory, or a break between the sections 
 of the country would result. The exten- 
 sion of silavery into the territories was the 
 chief topic under discussion during the 
 first congress in which a delegation from 
 Wisconsin served. For reasons already 
 explained in connection with the account 
 of the Ordinance of 1787, this subject di.i 
 
not come forward to vex the people of 
 Wisconsin when they applied to co-ngress 
 for admission. Following the question of 
 slavery in the territories, came that of 
 the Fugitive Slave law. In this act the 
 doctrine was asserted that owners of 
 slaves who fled from their homes had the 
 constitutional right to pursue slaves even 
 into free territory, and to reclaim and 
 convey such slaves to the homes of the 
 masiters. This question touched the lib- 
 erty-loving people of the Northwest on a 
 tender spot. They had no desire to see 
 their fair land pointed by the foot of the 
 slave catcher. But, according to a sec- 
 tion of the old ordinance, such right of 
 capture of runaway slaves in the North- 
 west territory had been granted by con- 
 gress. The people of the Northwest states, 
 or many of them, rebelled against such an 
 idea as abhorrent to liberty and Chris- 
 tianity. These people had broken from 
 the fetters of the old ordinance and had 
 created free states, with constitutional 
 forms of government guaranteeing free- 
 dom and the stability of republican insti- 
 tutions. In the light of their history it ;s 
 not surprising that the Northwestern peo- 
 ple re'belled against the doctrine of slav- 
 ery. 
 
 ■Wisconsin Representatives Arrive. 
 
 The representatives from Wisconsin, 
 l-aving been first elected, were first to ap- 
 pear in Washington. Mr. Lynde arrived 
 on Monday, June 5, presented himself at 
 the bar of the house and was sworn in. 
 He was assigned to seat No. 220, on the 
 Democratic eide near the central aisle. 
 Near his seat sat the distinguished Penn- 
 sylvanian, David Wilmot, whose memora- 
 ble "proviso," had so conspicuous a part 
 in the history of the time. On Friday, 
 June 9, Mr. Darling arrived, was sworn in 
 as a member of the house and was ais- 
 (Signed to seat No. 229. This seat was in 
 the row back of that in which Mr. Lynde 
 sat, and just across the aisle from Mr. 
 Darling sat Abraham Lincoln, the only 
 Whig representative in that house from 
 Illinois. Among the Democratic leaders 
 in the house who occupied seats near 
 Lynde and Darling were Howell Cobb, 
 who became speaker of the house in the 
 next congress, and Jacob Thompson of 
 Mississippi. The Wisconsin members 
 were soon assigned to service on commit- 
 tees of the house, Mr. Lynde going on the 
 Committee on Revolutionary Claims, and 
 Mr. Darling on Private Land Claims. It 
 is interesting to note the fact that of the 
 nearly twenty members of the two com- 
 mittees in that congress only one name has 
 survived in history, to be recognized by 
 the average student of American political 
 literature. That single exception is An- 
 drew Johnson, who was a member of the 
 Committee on Private Land Claims with 
 Mr. Darling. Messrs. Lynde and Darling 
 were classed as good lawyers and men of 
 high standing in their home communities, 
 but they were not active participants in 
 the debates or legislation pending before 
 congress during the few weeks that re- 
 mained of the session. They introduced 
 a number of bills and resolutions in which 
 their Wisconsin constituents were inter- 
 ested, but spent their time familiarizing 
 
 themselves with their new surroundings 
 and duties. 
 
 The measures of a local character of- 
 fered by the Wisconsin members related 
 mainly to questions affecting the public 
 lands and internal improvements in the 
 state. River and harbor projects were 
 claiming the attention of Wisconsin peo- 
 ple and they sent a number of petitions 
 asking congress to appropriate money to 
 improve harbors on Lake Michigan and to 
 provide harbor lights and otherwise bet- 
 ter the facilities for transportation and 
 commerce on the lakes. As evidence that 
 they were also noting with interest mat- 
 ters pending in congress of a general 
 character, it is observed that Mr. Lynde 
 presented a petition from citizens of the 
 state asking congress to purchase Mount 
 Vernon, the home of George Washington. 
 Like petitions of the present day, the on<3 
 presented by Mr. Lynde appears not to 
 have been very effective. One may imag- 
 ine that it was speedily lost in some dust- 
 covered pigeon-hole of a congressional 
 committee room. At all events congress 
 has not purchased Mount Vernon up to 
 this time, and the petition has had fifty 
 years in which to accomplish the mission 
 upon which it was sent by the petitioners. 
 
 Resolntions From tlie State. 
 
 Wisconsin people also took a deep in- 
 terest in the graver public questiouo of 
 rbe time. Very soon after taking his seat 
 Mr. Darling presented in the homse a reso- 
 lution of the legislature of Wisconsin 
 against the extension of slavery into tlie 
 territories, and asking that in the organic 
 act of any new territory to be created 
 slavery be prohibited. The legislature 
 started in bright and early to keep a close 
 watch of the actions of the state's repre- 
 vsentatives and senators, and it was not 
 long before the attitude of Senator Walker 
 on the slavery question called from the 
 legislature a protesting resolution. About 
 three weeks later Representative Darling 
 received and offered in the house another 
 document of similar import. This was a 
 resolution which had been adopted by the 
 legislature. 
 
 "Instructing their senators and request- 
 ing their representatives to use their ef- 
 forts for the prohibition of slavery in any 
 new territory already acquired, or here- 
 after acquired, in which slavery does not 
 now exist except for crime." 
 
 It will be observed thvat the law-making 
 body of the new «?tate in framing the 
 resolution, considered with nicety and 
 care the point that has been raised re- 
 specting the representative functions of 
 senators and members of the popular 
 branch of congress. It appears already to 
 have reached the lawmakers of Wiscon- 
 sin, what was pointed out in the early 
 debates on the constitutional functions of 
 the legislative branch of congress, that 
 the .senators are delegated from the state, 
 that they represent the sovereign power 
 of the commonwealth, and as such dele- 
 gates, may be instructed by the legisla- 
 tures; wtoereas, on the other hand, the 
 representatives are sent direct by the peo- 
 ple, and are answerable only to the peo- 
 ple of their respective districts. It will 
 
1)8 recalled, however, that in several in- 
 stances 'before and since Wisconsin had 
 senators in congress, and twice in the 
 cases of Wisconsin senators, Walker and 
 Doclittle, have senators declined to obey 
 the requests of legislatures of their states 
 that they resign. In some of these in- 
 stances senators have declined to heed 
 expressions of severe cenrure passed by the 
 legislatures of their respective states. 
 
 Mr. liincoln in tlie Thirtietli Con- 
 
 It is often remarked that a member 
 should be seen and not heard during his 
 first term of service in the house. This 
 alleged rule is brought into service for the 
 purpose of protecting from criticism many 
 representatives during their first terms 
 when, possibly, if the truth were plainly 
 told, it frequently happens they do not, 
 •even in three or four terms, take a front 
 rank in debates or in influence upon legis- 
 lation. 
 
 It has been often charged that Abraham 
 Lincoln did not make a striking success 
 during his single term in the house in the 
 Thirtieth congress. It is doubtful that 
 Messrs. Lynde and Darling had that opin- 
 ion of the Illinois man. A glance over his 
 record as disclosed by the annals of con- 
 gress, will impress the impartial observer 
 that Mr. Lincoln gave evidences of pos- 
 sessing elements of strength and ability 
 of a high order, even at that early period 
 in his wonderful career. This is true al- 
 though he was then comparatively a young 
 man and certainly a novice in the field of 
 constructive statesmanship. Mr. Lincoln 
 was not silent during his first and ouiy 
 term in congress. He participated in a 
 num'ber of important debates. His utter- 
 ances at that early time in his life would 
 not rank well with the great speeches and 
 state papers which he gave to the countiy 
 ten years later, and through the Civil rar 
 period. But he was far from being a dis- 
 interested observer of the momentous 
 events and scenes arjund him. He m:iJe 
 at least three speeches worthy of note 
 Juring the first session of his term. H- 
 was a member of the Committee on Porft- 
 oflices. His first speech was a lengthy 
 discussion of the subject of mail trans- 
 portation by rail and otherwise, especially 
 by rail, which form of transportation was 
 then coming into general use. In that; 
 speech Mr. Lincoln exhibited a wide 
 knowledge of public affairs, and a fund 
 of valuable information as to the condi- 
 tions of trade and transportation through- 
 out the country. When the message of 
 President Polk was presented to congress 
 early in the session, giving an account of 
 the progress of the existing war with 
 Mexico, Mr. Lincoln discussed, in a gen- 
 eral speech on the message, the conduct of 
 the war. He spoke with discrimination 
 and elaborateness on the issues involved 
 in the contest as well as those which had 
 let up to it. Mr. Lincoln also spoke upon 
 the Wisconsin Admission bill and the gen - 
 eral question of internal improvement's 
 aided by public land grants or by direct 
 appropriations from the treasury. Cer- 
 tainly that was not a discre.litable record 
 for a new member. Reminiscences have 
 
 come down to us of the stories told by 
 Lincoln enlivening the cloak rooms and 
 old house postoffice adjoining the hall of 
 representatives. Those who are familiar 
 with the historic points of interest around 
 the capitol are ready to point out the fire 
 place, in the present document room which 
 was the postoffice of the house a half cen- 
 tury ago, beside which Lincoln sat while 
 capturing his colleagues with his quaint 
 humor and droll anecdotes. Running 
 through the reports of his speeches are to 
 be found evidences cf his power and tact 
 in driving home a point by the force of 
 his irresistible humor. But Lincoln as a 
 representative in congress was forgotten 
 in the glory which surrounds his name as 
 the emancipator and martyr president. The 
 success of Lincoln in the broader fields of 
 statemanship obscured what would have 
 stood as a creditable service as a legis- 
 lator, and would have given him a high 
 rank had he chosen to return to congress 
 after 1848. 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas was near the zenith 
 of his fame at this period. He was a 
 powerful man in the house during the 
 great debates over important public ques- 
 tions in the Twenty-ninth congress, and 
 it was not surprising that Illinois sent him 
 to the senate in the Thirtieth congress. 
 The senate recognized the rank which Mr. 
 Douglas had acquired in public life, by 
 making him chairman of the then very 
 important Committee on Territories. That 
 ccmmittee had charge of the debates, 
 which ran through a large part of three 
 congresses, relating to the question of ex- 
 tending slavery into the new territories. 
 
 Mr. Ijjiide'!!! Fir.st Speecli. 
 
 It was not until the second session that 
 Representative Lynde made his first 
 spetch in the house. On Jan. 18, 1849, the 
 house had under consideration an appro- 
 priation bill. Mr. Mullin, a representative 
 from New York proposed an amendment 
 for paying the expenses of the "terri- 
 torial government of Wisconsin." This 
 must have sounded to some persons at the 
 time as a joke. Indeed, the house treat- 
 ed it with some exhibitions of hilarity. 
 What was Wisconsin territory? Wiscon- 
 sin had been changed from a territory to 
 be a state. Yet here was a proposition to 
 pay $10,500 a year for support of the 
 territorial government of Wisconsin. It 
 was disclosed in the debate that when 
 Wisconsin came in as a state there was 
 left a large part of the former territory 
 by that name lying west of the St. Croix 
 river. This section of country was left 
 without a government after the state was 
 created. There was considerable debate 
 over the anomalous situation thus pre- 
 sented. Mr. Lynde did not consider the 
 matter a joke. He made a speech in 
 which he explained the situation, giving a 
 history of the creation of Wisconsin ter- 
 ritory and the admission of the state. He 
 maintained that the territory of Wiscon- 
 sin was not invalidated by the admission 
 act. He said that in the previous ses- 
 sion he and his colleague, and the senators 
 from Wisconsin, had addressed a letter 
 to the secretary of the interior in regard 
 to the remaining part of the territory. 
 
He recognized the existence of the re- 
 mainder of the territory and could see 
 no reason why It should not be provided 
 with a government. The amendment was 
 rejected. It was plain that congress could 
 not be coaxed into having a Wisconsin 
 territory in addition to a Wisconsin state. 
 The difflculty was arranged later in the 
 session by the passage of an act creating 
 the territory of Minnesota, which took in 
 the section of old Wisconsin territory that 
 had been left out in the cold when Wis- 
 consin was admitted. 
 
 Darling' mid tlie •Iok:e on Horace 
 Greeley. 
 
 Mr. Darling wm& modest also. He re- 
 frained from speaking on the floor untii 
 late in the second session. Then he made 
 a short speech, on an unimportant subject, 
 but an amusing one, an incident in 
 the early public career of Horace Greeley. 
 The great journalist had been elected to 
 the house from New York city for the 
 second session of the Thirtieth congress, 
 to fill a vacancy caused by the death of 
 the member originally chosen. Soon after 
 Greeley's appearance in the house a meas- 
 ure was brought up which had some ele- 
 ments of the "salary grab" of later days. 
 It provided for the purchase out of 'he 
 public funds of a number of historical 
 books which were to be given to senators 
 and represen'tatives. It appears that Mr. 
 Greeley was opposed to this grab game, but 
 his opposition was not known until after 
 the house had passed the bill. The editoi-- 
 representative was engaged in sending edi- 
 torials and correspondence to his New 
 York Tribune from Washington. He took 
 occasion in his correspondence to criticise 
 very sharply the action of the house in 
 passing the book grab. When The Tribune 
 containing the article arrived in Washing- 
 ton a few days later, a member who ap- 
 pears to have kept watch of Mr. Greeley's 
 attitude toward the measure, addressed the 
 house and had the article read from the 
 clerk's desk. He named four members who 
 had heard Mr. Greeley i^peak approvingly 
 of the action of the house in voting for the 
 books, and justifying the expenditure. The 
 member also stated that on some of the 
 rising votes taken on the question Mr. 
 Greeley had supported motions for carry- 
 ing out the book purchase scheme. Among 
 those mentioned as cognizant of Mr. 
 Greeley's friendly attitude toward the bill 
 before its passage was Mr. Darling of Wis- 
 consin. Three of the members mentioned 
 by name were called upon and explained 
 what they heard Greeley say on the sub- 
 ject while the bill was pending. Then 
 from all parts of the house there were loud 
 cries of: 
 
 "Darling, Darling, let us hear Darling." 
 Mr. Darling arose and in a short speech 
 stated that he had overheard remarks by 
 Mr. Greeley to members indicating that 
 the editor-member favored the book pur- 
 chase. Mr. Darling's speech was of a 
 humorous character and the house en- 
 joyed it, especially as Mr. Greeley gave 
 evidence of being much annoyed and 
 chagrined by the predicament in which 
 he was placed. The incident made it 
 hotter for him for a few moments 
 
 than one of Tom Nast's cartoons did 
 thirty years later. He explained in 
 a satisfactory manner what he had 
 said in the hearing of the members, but 
 his explanation of his votes on the bill 
 at different stages was not so satisfactory. 
 It would be better understood by those of 
 to-day w^ho have a recollection of the 
 great editor, his childish ways and his 
 abstracted moods. He presumed he had 
 been busy at his desk, and supposed he 
 was following the leadership of the chair- 
 man of the committee in the rising votes, 
 believing that the chairman was opposed 
 to the bill. The house laughed at Mr. 
 Greeley's explanation and the incident was 
 cloised. 
 
 First Wiseonsin Senators Seated. 
 
 The Wisconsin senators, Henry Dodge 
 and Isaac P. Walker, arrived in Washing- 
 ton soon after their election by the legis- 
 lature in June, 1848. Senator Dodge en- 
 tered the senate on June 23. The day be- 
 fore he had been nominated for vice- 
 president iby the Free Soil Democratic 
 convention held in Utica, New York, with. 
 Martin Van Buren as the head of the ticket. 
 The nomination must have been made 
 while Senator Dodge was on his way, by 
 the slow means of conveyance then in. 
 use, from Wisconsin to the capital. In 
 these days a man with a senatorship in 
 hii9 hand and the vice-presidency in the 
 bush, would be a curiosity around the 
 capitol, and he would be looked up to as 
 one of the lions of the hour. It is evi- 
 dent that Gen. Dodge regarded the vice- 
 presidency as much too remotely in the 
 bush, for he declined it, and Charles 
 Francis Adams was nominated. The re- 
 sult of the election justified the action on 
 Dodge's part. The votes for the Van 
 Buren ticket were counted in the "scat- 
 tering" column. 
 
 The credentials of Gen. Dodge were pre- 
 sented by Senator Benton of Missouri, his 
 friend of many years' standing. Their 
 close relations continued in congress an I 
 resulted in an interesting participation by 
 Dodge in the exciting personal encounler 
 between Benton and Poote of Mississippi. 
 "Old Bullion" Benton took the arm of 
 Dodge when the latter stood up before th.? 
 presiding officer of the senate and took 
 the oath of office. On June 26 Senator 
 Dodge performed a like service for his 
 colleague, Mr. Walker. Under the rule 
 which prevails in the senate of deciding 
 by lot the length of the respective terms 
 of senators from new states, a lot was cast 
 to determine into which class the sen- 
 ators from Wisconsin should fall. Dodge 
 being an old Indian fighter probably out- 
 generaled his colleague, for he drew the 
 long term, to expire March 3. 1851, while 
 Mr. Walker's term was fixed to close on 
 March 2, 1849. 
 
 In the Old Senate Chamber. 
 
 It must have been an interesting ex- 
 perience for Messrs. Dodge and Walker to 
 take seats in the senate, the first senators 
 from Wisconsin. They were in a sacred 
 presence. The senate chamber was then 
 the comparatively small room now occu- 
 pied -by the United States Supreme court. 
 
in the old north wing of the capitol. What 
 scenes and incidents have been witnessed 
 in that room. We of modern times think 
 of it as the place where the great Elec- 
 toral commission met in 1877, after the 
 Hayes-Tilden election contest. Fifty years 
 ago it was doutotlesis thought of as the 
 place where the greatest debate of Amer- 
 ican political history was held, the trial 
 of the oratorical giants of the North and 
 the South, Webster and Hayne. That took 
 place in 1830, when the "Great Expound- 
 er" was in the strength and vigor of his 
 young manhood. He was still in the sen- 
 ate in 1848, although eighteen years had 
 elapsed since he made the speech which 
 electrified the continent and fixed his 
 name secure in history as the greatest 
 orator of America, if not of the age. In 
 this chamber Jefferson had taken the oath 
 and delivered his speech to congress as 
 the third president of the republic. In 
 this chamber was ratified the treaty which 
 gave to the country the Louisiana pur- 
 chase, and brought a vast domain to the 
 republic. Here was received the message 
 of James Monroe, declaring the "Monroe 
 doctrine." These events were recent mem- 
 ories in the old senate chamber when Wis- 
 consin's first senators appeared in that 
 body. They remained long enough in the 
 senate witness other events which have 
 ■left in the associations of the old senate 
 chamber hallowed memories. They heard 
 in 1850 the second farewell address of 
 Henry Clay. They heard John C. Calhoun 
 bid farewell to the senate in 1850, and in 
 the same year witnessed the funeral of 
 that greatest leader the South ever had. 
 They heard the "Compromise" speech of 
 Daniel Webster on that memorable July 
 17, 1850, when the mighty man retired 
 from the senate to take the state portfolio 
 in the cabinet of Millard Fillmore. From 
 the attitude Senator Walker had occupied 
 on the territorial questions of that day, it 
 is susipected that he, at least, did not ap- 
 preciate, as did the great body of cue 
 American people, what a loss that speech 
 caused Webster in the affections of the 
 liberty-loving people of the North. . 
 
 Lieaflers in the Senate in 1848. 
 
 The Wisconsin senators found them- 
 selves among the greatest men in the po- 
 litical arenas of the country. In the as- 
 signment of seats. No. 51 fell to Mr. 
 Dodge, and No. 52 to Mr. Walker. These 
 seats were on the front row of the stuffy 
 little senate chamber. It appears to have 
 been the custom in that time to give new 
 senators the front seats. Nowadays they 
 get back seats. In the old chamber, doubt- 
 less, the front seats were lees desirable. 
 The seats taken by Messrs. Dodge and 
 Walker would correspond to those occu- 
 pied by Senators Vest and Cockrell of 
 Missouri in the present senate. Two seats 
 back from Dodge, and on the aisle, sat 
 Benton, and to the right of Benton sat 
 Jefferson Davis. Back of Mr. Walker sat 
 John C. Calhoun, then closing a long and 
 brilliant career. Across the aisle sat 
 Webster, and three seate from him sat 
 Hannibal Hamlin. John A. Dix of New 
 York, the brilliant Tom Corwin of Ken- 
 
 tucky and Douglas of Illinois, were among 
 the leaders in the senate. 
 
 In the committee assignments Senator 
 Dodge was given places on the Commit- 
 tees on Militia and Pensions, and Senator 
 Waliker became chairman of the Commit- 
 tee to Control and Audit the Contingent 
 Expenses of the Senate. Together with 
 Senators Breese of Illinois and Borland of 
 Arkansas Gen. Dodge took up his resi- 
 dence at Willards, while Mr. Walker re- 
 sided at Brown's hotel on the avenue 
 where also resided Senators Sam Houston 
 and T. J. Rusk of Texas. 
 
 Enrly Wisconsin Bills. 
 
 The first session of the Thirtieth con- 
 gress adjourned on Aug. 14, about sixty 
 days after the Wisconsin senators entered 
 the senate. There was little time for them 
 to become familiar with their new duties, 
 and they took little part in the proceed- 
 ingi9 until the session of the following 
 winter. They introduced a number of 
 local bills and resolutions, the latter being 
 of similar import to those introduced by 
 the Wisconsin members. On July 18 Mr. 
 Walker introduced a bill to amend the 
 seventh section of the enabling act, under 
 which Wisconsin was prepared for admis- 
 sion, making some changes in the dispo- 
 eition of the public lands under the act. 
 Mr. Walker went after this legislation 
 with considerable vigor. The bill was 
 promptly reported and passed the senate 
 on July 29. Mr. Walker also introduced 
 a bill granting to Wisconsin the site of 
 the old military reservation at Fort Win- 
 nebago. As an indication of the political 
 sentiment in the state at the time, _and 
 the course adopted to give expression to 
 that eentiment, Mr. Walker offered, on 
 July 31, a resolution of the Wisconsin leg- 
 islature laudatory of the Polk administra- 
 tion. Senator Dodge intrcduced only one 
 bill, a private measure for the relief of 
 John P. B. Gratiot. 
 
 Four days before the adjournment of the 
 first session Mr. Walker participated in a 
 debate of considerable importance on the 
 Oregon territorial question. The debate 
 was conducted by Webster, Douglas, Cal- 
 houn, Foote and Jefferson Davis. Mr. 
 Walker's speech was a short one, but it 
 wa« vigorous and patriotic. 
 
 The event of most consequence in which 
 the Wisconsin senators participated during 
 the first session was voting on the ques- 
 tion of extending the terms of the "Mis- 
 souri compromise" through to the Pacific 
 coast. This came up on the Oregon Ter- 
 ritorial bill, and the vote was taken two 
 days before adjournment. Messrs. Dodge 
 and Walker voted for the extension and 
 it passed the senate in spite of the bitter 
 protests of the Southern senators. The 
 purpose of this compromise policy was to 
 exclude slavery north of a given line ot 
 latitude extending to the Pacific. 
 
 Senator "Walker and Slavery. 
 
 In the short session of the Thirtieth 
 congress little business was transacted of 
 direct interest to the people of Wisconsin. 
 A River and Harbor bill was passed by the 
 Whig house, but it failed to go through 
 
the senate, notwithstanding the brilliant 
 Henry Clay made the greatest fight of his 
 life as a legislator in the interests of the 
 bill. The house also passed a bill for ter- 
 ritorial governmente in California and 
 New Mexico, with the "Wilmot proviso" 
 attached, prohibiting slavery in the terri- 
 tories. The senate rejected the proposition 
 and the contest in both houses was very 
 bitter. On most of the votes taken on 
 these (luestione, in their various stages of 
 progress, the Wisconsin senators voted 
 in opposition to the wishes of their Demo- 
 cratic colleagues from the Southern states, 
 but some votes cast by Senator Walker 
 gave evidence of a disposition on his part 
 to compromise disputed questions by 
 making liberal concessions to the slavery 
 advocates. This was particularly notice- 
 able in connection with the debate which 
 followed the offering of an amendment by 
 Mr. Walker to an Appropriation bill at 
 this session. The purport of the scheme 
 was "to extend the constitution and laws 
 of the United States over the territories." 
 This provoked a spirited debate, and Mr. 
 Walker soon discovered that he v/as out 
 in very deep water. So plain was this 
 that on Feb. 24, he offered to withdraw^ the 
 amendment, but it was so popular with 
 the Southern senators that he was notified 
 by Senator Mason of Virginia, that if the 
 amendment were withdrawn he would re- 
 new it, that the senate mu.3t vote on the 
 quesition. The object of the Southern sen- 
 ators was to force a vote for the moral 
 effect there would be in a delcaration by 
 the senate that the constitution was bind- 
 ing law in the acquired territory of the 
 country. They maintained that the new 
 territory was a part of the United States; 
 that the constitution upheld slavery and 
 that if the constitution was recognized as 
 binding upon the territories slavery could 
 not be excluded therefrom. On the day 
 Mr. Walker offered to withdraw his 
 amendment Senator William L. Dayton, a 
 Whig of New Jersey, made a vigorous 
 speech against the amendment. He op- 
 posed it because it would give the South 
 an advantage in the slavery controversy. 
 The Southern people claimed that the con- 
 stitution gave their people the right to 
 carry islaves into the territories and make 
 it a slave country. Dayton denounced 
 such a proposition. 
 
 Mr. Walker made an extended speech, 
 the purport of which may be gleaned from 
 the following brief extract: 
 
 "But, sir, I say before this senate and be- 
 fore high heaven, that I feel myself incap- 
 able of entertaining such feelings as are 
 expressed by the senator from New Jersey. 
 If the constitution will extend slavery to 
 the new land, let it go. If by that consti- 
 tution slavery is extended, I am willing 
 to stand by that constitution. I am un- 
 willing to withdraw from our Southern 
 brethren any of the rights given to them 
 by that sacred instrument." 
 
 It was such sentiments, and Mr. Walk- 
 er's vote on this and kindred questions, 
 that impelled the legislature of Wisconsin 
 to pass a resolution directing him to re- 
 sign. He did not obey the injunction. 
 
 Mr. Webster Speak.s. 
 
 The position taken by the Whigs and 
 anti-slavery men was, of course, squarely 
 against the amendment. Mr. Webster at- 
 tacked it on constitutional grounds. He 
 followed Mr. Walker with a speech in 
 wihch he said, among other things: 
 
 "It is important that we have clear 
 ideas and correct notions of the questions 
 which this amendment of the senator 
 from Wiscong.in has presented to us. What 
 is meant by the proposition of law tO' ex- 
 tend the constitution of the United States 
 to the territories? Why, sir, the thing is 
 utterly impossible. All the legislation in 
 the world in this general form couid not 
 accomplish it." Mr. Webster maintained 
 that a territory, while yet in a territorial 
 state, is not a part of the United States. 
 Senator Calhoun interrupted to say, "They 
 belong to the United States." Webster re- 
 torted, "That is another thing." 
 
 This suffices to show the sentiments of 
 the senators from the two sections on 
 Walker's proposition. Senator Dodge re- 
 fused to vote for the amendment of his 
 colleague, but it went through the Demo- 
 cratic senate by a vote of 29 to 27, and 
 was subsequently lost in conference. 
 
 Dodge in tlie Benton-Foote Incident. 
 
 This debate on slavery extension was 
 but a prelude to the exciting controversies 
 which arose in the next congress. Feeling 
 ran high. The Fugitive Slave bill was 
 under discussion, and other questions 
 nearly or remotely related to the subject 
 of slavery. On April 13, 1850. occurred the 
 personal encounter between Senators Ben- 
 ton and Foote. During the heat of the de- 
 bate on sectional questions the Mississippi 
 senator indulged in remarks of a personal 
 character against Benton, and the latter 
 strode down the aisle toward Foote in a 
 threatening manner. Foote backed away, 
 at the same time drawing a pistol. The 
 senate was in an uproar and bloodshed was 
 imminent. Senator Dodge, the friend of 
 Benton, was quickly at the side of the Mis- 
 souri senator, grasped him and pushed him 
 back into his seat. Senators crowded 
 around Foote and he was disarmed. Ben- 
 ton was greatly excited, loudly calling 
 upon Dodge, "Let me go. Let the assassin 
 shoot." The excitement was quelled and 
 strong speeches were made on both sides 
 o: the chamber deprecating the disgraceful 
 affair. Senator Dodge made a high-toned 
 and temperate speech denouncing the oc- 
 currence and demanding the appointment 
 of a committee to investigate it and make 
 proper report to the senate. The motion 
 was carried. When the vice-president ap- 
 pointed Gen. Dodge as chairman of the 
 committee, the Wisconsin senator arose 
 and said that his personal relations and 
 friendship for one of the participants 
 would make it improper for him to serve. 
 Senator Foote said that it was well known 
 that the Wisconsin senator meant Benton 
 as his personal friend, but, so far as he 
 (Foote) was cencerned, he would be pleased 
 to have Senator Dodge serve. Dodge per- 
 emptorily declined, however, and another 
 was appointed. The report of the com- 
 mittee made on July 30 made no recom- 
 
mendations, but was In the nature of a re- 
 buke of the participants in the unfortunate 
 affair. 
 
 The Wisconsin congressional delegation 
 was well established at the seat of gov- 
 ernment during the second session of the 
 Thirtieth congrese. In the elections of 
 1848 the Whig tickets were generally suc- 
 cessful throughout the country. The hero 
 of Buena Vista was chosen president. 
 Messrs. Lynde and Darling retired from 
 the house, the former to return agai.i 
 twenty-seven years later. Wisconsin eent 
 as her next representatives Charles Dur- 
 kee, Orsamus Cole and former territorial 
 governor, James Duane Doty, the appor- 
 tionment having given the state an ad- 
 
 ditional representative. Messrs. Dodge 
 and Walker were reelected and served un- 
 til 1857 and 1855 respectively. 
 
 From 1848 down through the half cen- 
 tury of Wisconsin's career as a state, the 
 congresisional delegation s-teadily increased 
 in members, keeping pace with the in- 
 crease in the population of the common- 
 wealth. In the house and senate the state 
 has been represented by men who have 
 upheld through these years the honor and 
 dignity of Wisconsin. Many there are in 
 the long line of legislators from the state 
 in the years from 1848 to 1898 who might 
 have said, when their terms ended: 
 
 "I have done the state some service, and they 
 know't." 
 
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