USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc. > Part 44
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SEC. 32. [General laws shall be passed for the transaction of any business prohibited by Section 21 of this Article.] Added by amendment, in 1871.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
ARTICLE V.
SECTION 1. The executive power shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office two years. A Lieutenant Governor shall be elected at the same time and for the same term.
SEC. 2. Governor and Lieutenant Governor must be citizens of the United States. and qualified electors of the State.
SEC. 3. Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected at the times and places of choosing members of the Legislature.
SEC. 4. The Governor shall be (1) commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of the State ; (2) he has power to convene the Legislature in extra session ; (3) he shall communi- cate to the Legislature all necessary information ; (4) he shall transact all necessary business with the officers of the State; and (5) shall expedite all legislative measures, and see that the laws are faithfully executed.
SEC. 5. [The Governor's salary shall be five thousand dollars per annum.] As amended in 1869.
SEC. 6. The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons.
SEC. 7. The executive duties shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor when, from any cause, the executive office is vacated by the Governor.
SEC. 8. The Lieutenant Governor shall be President of the Senate. The Secretary of State shall act as Governor when both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor are incapacitated from any causes to fill the executive office.
SEC. 9. [The Lieutenant Governor shall receive a salary of one thousand dollars per annum.] As amended in 1869.
SEC. 10. All legislative bills shall be presented to the Governor for his signature before they become laws. Bills returned by the Governor without his signature may become laws by agreement of two-thirds of the members present in each house.
ARTICLE VI. ADMINISTRATION.
SECTION 1. A Secretary of State, Treasurer and Attorney General shall be elected at the times and places of choosing members of the Legislature, who shall severally hold their offices for two years.
SEC. 2. The Secretary of State shall keep a record of the official acts of the Legislature and Executive Department. He shall be ex officio Auditor.
SEC. 3. The powers, duties and compensation of the Treasurer and Attorney General shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 4. Sheriffs, Coroners, Registers of Deeds and District Attorneys shall be elected every two years.
ARTICLE VII. JUDICIARY.
SECTION 1. The Senate shall forin the Court of Impeachment. Judgment shall not extend further than removal from office ; but the person impeached shall be liable to indictment. trial and punishment, according to law.
SEC. 2. The judicial power of the State is vested in a Supreme Court, Circuit Courts. Courts of Probate, and in Justices of the Peace. Municipal courts, also, may be authorized.
SEC. 3. The Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction only. Trial by jury is not allowed in any case. The Court shall have a general superintending control over inferior courts. and power to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, injunction, quo warranto, certiorari, and other original and remedial writs.
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CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN.
SEC. 4. [The Supreme Court shall consist of one Chief Justice, and four Associate Justices, each for the term of ten years. ] As amended in 1877.
SEC. 5. The State shall be divided into five Judicial Circuits.
SEC. 6. The Legislature may alter the limits or increase the number of the circuits.
SEC. 7. There shall be a Judge chosen for each Circuit, who shall reside therein ; his term of office shall be six years.
SEC. 8. The Circuit Courts shall have original jurisdiction in all matters civil and crim- ina I, not excepted in this Constitution, and not prohibited hereafter by law, and appellate juris- dic ion from all inferior courts. They shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus, man- daxous, injunction, quo warranto, certiorari, and all other writs necessary to carry their orders an & judgments into effect.
SEC. 9. Vacancies in the office of Supreme or Circuit Judge shall be filled by the Gover- nor_ Election for Judges shall not be at any general election. nor within thirty days before or after said election.
one SEC. 10. Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts shall receive a salary of not less than thousand five hundred dollars, and shall hold no other office, except a judicial one, during
the term for which they are respectively elected. Each Judge shall be a citizen of the United Stan tes, and have attained the age of twenty-five years. He shall also be a qualified elector within the jurisdiction for which he may be chosen.
SEC. 11. The Supreme Court shall hold at least one term annually. A Circuit Court shall be held at least twice in each year, in each county of this State organized for judicial pur- poses.
SEC. 12. There shall be a Clerk of the Circuit Court chosen in each county, whose term of Office shall be two years. The Supreme Court shall appoint its own Clerk.
SEC. 13. Any Judge of the Supreme or Circuit Court may be removed from office by vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to both Senate and Assembly.
SEC. 14. A Judge of Probate shall be elected in each county, who shall hold his office for two years.
the SEC. 15. Justices of the Peace shall be elected in the several towns, villages and cities of State, in such manner as the Legislature may direct, whose term of office shall be two years. Their civil and criminal jurisdiction shall be prescribed by law.
be SEC. 16. Laws shall be passed for the regulation of tribunals of conciliation. These may established in and for any township.
SEC. 17. The style of all writs and process shall be " The State of Wisconsin." Criminal prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by authority of the State; and all indictments shall conclude against the peace and dignity of the same.
SEC. 18. A tax shall be imposed by the Legislature on all civil suits, which shall consti- tute & fund, to be applied toward the payment of the salary of Judges.
SEC. 19. Testimony in equity causes shall be taken the same as in cases at law. The office of Master in Chancery is prohibited.
SEC. 20. Any suitor may prosecute or defend his case in his own proper person, or by attorney or agent.
SEC. 21. Statute laws and such judicial decisions as are deemed expedient, shall be pub- lished. No general law shall be in force until published.
SEC. 22. The Legislature at its first session shall provide for the appointment of three Co mamissioners to revise the rules of practice in the several Courts of Record in the State.
SEC. 23. The Legislature may confer judicial powers on one or more persons in each organized county of the State. Powers granted to such Commissioners shall not exceed that fo a Judge of a Circuit Court at chambers.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
ARTICLE VIII. FINANCE.
SECTION 1. Taxation shall be uniform, and taxes shall be levied upon such property as the Legislature may prescribe.
SECTION 2. [No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of an appro- priation by law. Claims made against the State must be filed within six years after having accrued.] As amended in 1877.
SEC. 3. The credit of the State shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual, association or corporation.
SEC. 4. The State shall never contract any public debt, except in the cases and manner provided in this Constitution.
SEC. 5. A tax shall be levied each year sufficient to defray estimated expenses.
SEC. 6. Debts not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars may be contracted by the State. which shall be paid within five years thereafter.
SEC. 7. The Legislature may borrow money to repel invasion, suppress insurrection or defend the State in time of war.
SEC. 8. All fiscal laws in the Legislature shall be voted on by yeas and nays.
SEC. 9. State scrip shall not be issued except for such debts as are authorized by the sixth and seventh sections of this article.
SEC. 10. No debt for internal improvements shall be contracted by the State.
ARTICLE IX. EMINENT DOMAIN AND PROPERTY OF THE STATE.
SECTION 1. The State shall have concurrent jurisdiction on all rivers and lakes border- ing on Wisconsin.
SEC. 2. The title to all property which has accrued to the Territory of Wisconsin shall vest in the State of Wisconsin.
SEC. 3. The ultimate property in and to all lands of the State is possessed by the people.
ARTICLE X. EDUCATION.
SECTION 1. The supervision of public instruction shall be vested in a State Superintend- ent and such other officers as the Legislature shall direct. The annual compensation of the State Superintendent shall not exceed twelve hundred dollars.
SEC. 2. The school fund to support and maintain common schools, academies and nor- mal schools, and to purchase apparatus and libraries therefor, shall be created out of (1) the proceeds of lands from the United States ; (2) out of forfeitures and escheats; (3) out of moneys paid as exemptions from military duty ; (4) out of fines collected for breach of penal laws ; (5) out of any grant to the State where the purposes of such grant are not specified; (6) out of the proceeds of the sale of five hundred thousand acres of land granted by Congress Sep- tember 14, 1841 ; and (7) out of the five per centum of the net proceeds of the public lands to which the State shall become entitled on her admission into the Union (if Congress shall con- sent to such appropriation of the two grants last mentioned.)
SEC. 3. District schools shall be established by law which shall be free to all children be- tween the ages of four and twenty years. No sectarian instruction shall be allowed therein.
SEC. 4. Each town and city shall raise for common schools therein by taxation a sum equal to one-half the amount received from the school fund of the State.
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CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN.
SEC. 5. Provisions shall be made by law for the distribution of the income of the schools fund among the several towns and cities for the support of common schools therein ; but no appropriation shall be made when there is a failure to raise the proper tax, or when a school shall not have been maintained at least three months of the year.
SEC. 6. Provision shall be made by law for the establishment of a State University. The proceeds of all lands granted for the support of a university by the United States shall consti- tute " the University fund," the interest of which shall be appropriated to the support of the State University. No sectarian instruction shall be allowed in such university.
SEC. 7. The Secretary of State, Treasurer and Attorney General shall constitute a Board of Commissioners to sell school and university lands and for the investments of the proceeds thereof.
SEC. 8. School and university lands shall be appraised and sold according to law. The Commissioners shall execute deeds to purchasers, and shall invest the proceeds of the sales of such lands in such manner as the Legislature shall provide.
ARTICLE XI. CORPORATIONS.
SECTION 1. Corporations without banking powers may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the Legislature, the objects of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws.
SEC. 2. No municipal corporation shall take private property for public use, against the consent of the owner, except by jury trial.
SEC. 3. Cities and incorporated villages shall be organized, and their powers restricted by law so as to prevent abuses. [No county, city, town, village, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall become indebted to exceed five per centum on the value of the taxable property therein.] As amended in 1874.
SEC. 4. Banks shall not be created except as provided in this article.
SEC. 5. The question of " bank " or " no bank " may be submitted to the voters of the State; and if a majority of all the votes cast shall be in favor of banks, the Legislature shall have power to grant bank charters, or pass a general banking law.
ARTICLE XII.
SECTION 1. Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed in either house of the Legis- lature, and referred to the next Legislature and published for three months previous. If agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then the amendment or amendments shall submit them to the vote of the people; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, they shall become a part of the Constitution.
SEC. 2. If a convention to revise or change the Constitution shall be deemed necessary by the Legislature, they shall recommend to the electors of the State to vote at the next general election for or against the same. If the vote shall be for the calling of such convention, then the Legislature, at its next session, shall provide for the same.
ARTICLE XIII. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. -
SECTION 1. The political year for Wisconsin shall commence on the first Monday in Jan- uary in each year. General elections shall be holden on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November.
SEC. 2. A duelist shall not be qualified as an elector in this State.
SEC. 3. United States officers (except Postmasters), public defaulters, or persons convicted of infamous crimes, shall not be eligible to office in this State.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
SEC. 4. A great seal for the State shall be provided, and all official acts of the Governor - (except his approbation of the laws), shall be authenticated thereby.
SEC. 5. Residents on Indian lands may vote, if duly qualified, at the polls nearest their residence. SEC. 6. Elective officers of the Legislature, other than the presiding officers, shall be a Chief Clerk, and a Sergeant-at-Arms, to be elected by each House.
SEC. 7. No county with an area of nine hundred square miles or less, shall be divided, without submitting the question to the vote of the people of the county.
SEC. 8. [The Legislature is prohibited from enacting any special or private laws, for locating or changing any county seat.] See amendment adopted in 1871, as Sec. 31 (Subdivision 5) of Art. IV.
SEC. 9. Officers not provided for by this Constitution shall be elected as the Legislature shall direct.
SEC. 10. The Legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant, and also the manner of filling the vacancy, where no provision is made for that purpose in this Constitution.
ARTICLE XIV. SCHEDULE.
SECTION 1. All rights under the Territorial government are continued under the State government. Territorial processes are valid after the State is admitted into the Union. SEC. 2. Existing laws of the Territory of Wisconsin not repugnant to this Constitution shall remain in force until they expire by limitation or are altered or repealed.
SEC. 3. All fines, penalties or forfeitures accruing to the Territory of Wisconsin shall inure to the use of the State.
SEC. 4. Territorial recognizances, bonds and public property shall pass to and bo vested £d in the State. Criminal prosecutions, offenses committed against the laws, and all actions at law and suits in equity in the Territory of Wisconsin shall be contained in and prosecuted by the _e State.
SEC. 5. Officers holding under authority of the United States or of the Territory of Wis- consin shall continue in office until superseded by State authority. SEC. 6. The first session of the State Legislature shall commence on the first Monday in June next, and shall be held at the village of Madison, which shall be and remain the seat of government until otherwise provided by law.
SEC. 7. Existing county and town officers shall hold their offices until the Legislature of E -f the State shall provide for the holding of elections to fill such offices.
A copy of this Constitution shall be transmitted to the President of the United ~~~ press at its present session. anhmitted to the vote of the people for ratification or TA
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CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
members of the Assembly first elected shall enter upon their duties on the first Monday of June next, and continue in office until the first Monday in January next.
SEC. 15. The oath of office may be administered by any Judge or Justice of the Peace, until the Legislature shall otherwise direct.
We, the undersigned, members of the Convention to form a Constitution for the State of Wisconsin, to be submitted to the people thereof for their ratification or rejection, do hereby certify that the foregoing is the Constitution adopted by the Convention.
In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, at Madison, the 1st day of Feb- ruary, A. D. 1848.
MORGAN L. MARTIN,
President of the Convention and Delegate from Brown County. -
THOMAS MCHUGH, Secretary.
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
CONDENSED.
PREAMBLE.
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
ARTICLE I.
SECTION 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
SEC. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the States, and electors shall have qualifications for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.
Representatives must be twenty-five years of age, and must have been seven years citizens of the United States, and inhabitants of the State in which they shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States according to population, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including apprentices and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of Congress, and every ten years there- after in such manner as Congress shall by law direct. States shall have one Representative only for each thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, New Hampshire shall choose three ; Massachusetts, eight ; Rhode Island, one; Connecticut, five ; New York, six ; New Jersey, four; Pennsylvania, eight; Del- aware, one ; Maryland, six ; Virginia, ten ; North Carolina, five; South Carolina, five, and Georgia, three.
Vacancies in the representation from any State shall be filled by elections, ordered by the executive authority of the State.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
SEC. 3. The Senate shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six years ; and each Senator shall have one vote.
Senators shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes immediately after assem- bling, in consequence of the first election. The first class shall vacate their seats at the expira- tion of the second year ; the second class, at the expiration of the fourth year, and the third class, at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and vacancies happening by resignation or otherwise during the recess of the Legislature of any State may be filled by temporary appointments of the Executive until the next meeting of the Legislature.
All Senators shall have attained the age of thirty years, and shall have been nine years citizens of the United States, and shall be inhabitants of the State for which they shall be chosen.
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The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President.
The Senate shall have the sole power to try impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President is tried, the Chief Justice shall pre- side, and concurrence of two-thirds of the members present shall be necessary to conviction.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall be limited to removal from office and disqualifica- tion to hold any office under the United States ; but the party convicted shall be liable to trial and punishment according to law.
SEC. 4. The Legislature of each State shall prescribe the times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, but Congress may make or alter such regu- lations, except as to the place of choosing Senators.
Congress shall assemble annually, on the first Monday in December, unless a different day be appointed.
SEC. 5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business ; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel attendance of absent members, under penalties.
Each House may determine its own rules of proceeding, punish its members, and, by a two- thirds vote, expel a member.
Each House shall keep a journal, which shall be published at their discretion, and one-fifth of those present may require the yeas and nays to be entered on the journal.
Neither House shall adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other. . . nor to any other place than that in which they are sitting.
SEC. 6. The compensation of Senators and Representatives shall be fixed by law, and d paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall be privileged from arrest during& attendance at the session of their respective Houses, except for treason, felony and breach off the peace, and shall not be questioned in any other place for any speech or debate in eitherer House.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed. to any civil office under the United States which shall have been created or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding office under the United States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.
SEC. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but may be amended by the Senate.
Every bill passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return
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t, with his objections, to that House in which it originated, who shall enter the objections on heir journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after reconsideration, two-thirds shall agree to ass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other House, and, if approved by two- hirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the yeas and nays shall be aken, and entered .upon the journal of each House, respectively. Any bill not returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, shall De a law, as if he had signed it, unless Congress, by adjournment, shall prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution or vote requiring the concurrence of the Senate and House of Rep- esentatives (except a question of adjournment), shall be approved by the President before tak- ng effect ; or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by a two-thirds vote of each House, is in the case of a bill.
SEC. 8. Congress shall have power :
To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States ; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States :
To borrow money on the public credit ;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States and with the Indian tribes ;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bank- ruptcies ;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof and foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures ;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States ;
To establish post offices and post roads ;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries ;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the laws of nations ;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
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