RESOLVED That in case the odd numbered sections shall be ceded to the state as aforesaid, the same shall be sold by the state in the same manner as other school lands: Provided, That the same rights of pre-emption as are now granted by the laws of the United States shall be secured to persons who may be actually settled upon such lands at the time of the adoption of this constitution: And provided further, That the excess price over and above one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, absolutely or conditionally, contracted to be paid by the purchasers of any part of said sections which shall have been sold by the territory of Wisconsin, shall be remitted to such purchasers, their representatives, or assigns. RESOLVED That congress be requested, upon the application of Wisconsin for admission into the Union, to pass an act whereby the grant of five hundred thousand acres of land, to which the state of Wisconsin is entitled by the provisions of an act of congress entitled "an act to appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and to grant pre-emption rights," approved the fourth day of September, eighteen hundred and forty-one, and also the five per centum of the nett proceeds of the public lands lying within the state, to which it shall become entitled on its admission into the Union, by the provisions of an act of congress, entitled "an act to enable the people of Wisconsin territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union," approved the 6th day of August, eighteen hundred and forty-six, shall be granted to the state of Wisconsin for the use of schools, instead of the purposes mentioned in said acts of congress respectively. RESOLVED That the congress of the United States be, and hereby is requested, upon the admission of this state into the Union, so to alter the provisions of the act of congress, entitled "an act to grant a certain quantity of land to aid in the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and to connect the same by a canal in the territory of Wisconsin," that the price of the lands reserved to the United States, shall be reduced to the minimum price of the public lands. RESOLVED That the legislature of this state shall make provision by law for the sale of the lands granted to the state in aid of said improvements, subject to the same rights of pre-emption to the settlers thereon, as are now allowed by law to settlers on the public lands. RESOLVED That the foregoing resolutions be appended to and signed with the constitution of Wisconsin, and submitted therewith to the people of this territory, and to the congress of the United States. 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 first day of February, A. D. eighteen hundred and forty-eight. |