interest, and to which the ordinary questions of party difference have little or no relevancy-a conviction we know to be entertained by many individuals of the party-the exclusive party nominations already in the field present but small claim to their favor. A popular movement, then, which might bring directly before the people the questions really to be decided by the election, and present candidates solely on the ground of fitness to the discharge of the momentous duty of framing a constitution would be the most likely to receive the countenance and coöperation of intelligent and conscientious Whigs.

The following is a copy of an invitation to a mass meeting for the nomination of candidates for delegates to the constitutional convention which has been somewhat generally circulated in different parts of the county; and which has, as we are informed, received the signatures of many influential men of all parties:

TO THE ELECTORS OF RACINE COUNTY

You are hereby invited, without distinction of party, to meet in mass convention at the schoolhouse, at Sylvania, on Wednesday the twenty-sixth day of August inst., at 11 o'clock A. M., for mutual discussion and comparison of views, and, if deemed advisable, of nominating a

PEOPLE'S TICKET

of candidates to be supported at the ensuing election, on the seventh day of September next, as delegates to the convention for the formation of a state constitution.

The framing of a constitution is a duty of so serious and important a character, a work of so general and enduring a nature, that the people cannot deliberate too maturely or act too cautiously in delegating this sacred trust. With twenty-eight models of state constitutions before us for our imitation, with all the improvements which experience of their operation has directed or practical wisdom has suggested, and with all the attainments of progressive intelligence in theoretical and practical knowledge of free governments for our guidance, Wisconsin is privileged to enter the confederacy of sovereign and independent states with the very best constitution which human wisdom has ever devised. By faltering in our duty

to ourselves and to posterity, through indifference to the momentous interests we are called upon to decide in the approaching election, or by entrusting the work to incompetent hands or to men prejudiced by education or blinded by selfish and mercenary interests from perceiving the beauty and justice of those judicious reforms which lie near to the hearts of the people, our state may be cursed with the worst constitution of any of the states of the Union-with an impracticable instrument, wild with vagaries of senseless theorists, or hedging about and protecting time-honored abuses, perpetuating principles at variance with true social equality, and restricting privileges to a portion of society which it is the common right of all to enjoy.

We invite you, then, to lay aside all those questions of mere party difference which have no relation whatever to the work of forming a state constitution, and to unite with us, not in a convention of caucus-appointed delegates, or to listen to the dictation or to serve the interests of party leaders, but in an assemblage to which every voter is requested to consider himself a delegate and let us deliberate wisely; and if common interests and common sentiments of patriotism can beget unity of action, let us select a set of men as our candidates for delegates to the convention to form a state constitution, prudent in counsel, and who shall commend themselves to the suffrages of the freemen of Racine County by competency, sound judgment, and fidelity to the great principles of equality and of universal liberty, on which we desire to base the framework of our social compact.

Racine County, August 5, 1846.

This call seems to have been indited in a just appreciation of the importance of the work of framing a state constitution as affecting the present and future prosperity of Wisconsin-and it points at precisely the action which we believe to be right, whatever faction may set itself against it. A convention of the people, assembled for the sole purpose of selecting the most capable and honest men for the discharge of a duty of common interest and of vital momentsuch men as can be relied upon to advocate those principles which the great mass of the people desire to incorporate in their constitution-is precisely what we should like to see, and their nominations we could confide in. If this mass-convention movement be what it purports to be, contemplating,

as it professes to, the spontaneous action of the people, independent of party interests or the dictation of party leaders, the project enlists our warmest sympathies for its complete success. We should prefer to support its nominations, if made in fidelity to the professions set forth in the above call, to supporting a party nomination of the Whigs for delegates to the convention, even with the most flattering promise of success. And this for the reasons that the issues made in their election would be upon such questions, and such only, as relate to the formation of a constitution, and that a constitution framed by men thus selected would be more likely to embody that just compromise of party views and prejudices so desirable in an instrument which is to be, and that permanently, a common blessing or a common curse to all.

To secure to this movement precisely the character desired, it is only necessary that those who approve the objects avowed in the call should attend and take the conduct of its proceedings into their own hands. If this mass convention should not prove to be a meeting of the people, and its proceedings evidence of their honest purposes and wishes in reference to a constitution, it will be solely through the neglect of the people to attend and take the direction of it.

GREAT GATHERING OF FREEMEN IN COUNCIL

[August 29, 1846]

The people's convention on Wednesday was by far the most fully attended, dignified, and respectable political convention we have ever witnessed in Racine County. We have heard the numbers in attendance variously estimated from two to three hundred. It certainly exceeded the former number, but did not, probably, reach the latter. It was an assemblage of independent, honest-hearted men-and was really "without distinction of party," as all parties were well represented in the convention, and party distinctions lost sight

of, perhaps with one or two individual exceptions, in the remarks and proceedings on the occasion. All present evidently came together with a firm conviction of the separate interests of the people, distinct from all party or sectional matters, in the constitutional election-that the trust of delegate to the convention was one too sacred to be made a price in the barter trades of selfish politicians-that the crisis demanded the services in that capacity of the men most distinguished for liberal sentiments, sound judgment, and patriotic intentions-and that a council of the people was more safely to be trusted to select such, than the maneuvering of caucuses and interested delegates.

The resolutions adopted by the convention are a manly declaration of sound and truly liberal sentiments. The ticket selected, as far as propriety will allow us to speak in its praise, is an excellent one-one that should command the confidence and suffrages of the electors of the county-and if the exertions of its friends are worthy of the crisisworthy of the interests they have at stake-it will be elected.

THE MASS CONVENTION OF ELECTORS OF
RACINE COUNTY

[August 29, 1846]

FORENOON SESSION. This convention met, pursuant to call at the meetinghouse, at Sylvania, on Wednesday the twenty-sixth inst., at eleven o'clock A. M.

Convention was permanently organized by the appointment of Gen. John Bullen, of Southport, president; Theodore Newell and Eldad Smith, vice presidents, and R. H. Deming and Henry O. Willson secretaries.

A committee consisting of L. P. Harvey, of Southport, C. Marsh, of Pike, S. E. Chapman, of Rochester, Levi Grant, of Bristol, W. H. Waterman, of Racine, S. S. Derbyshire, of Pt. Prairie, Origin Perkins, of Burlington, Nathan Joy, of Mt. Pleasant, Newman Peck, of Caledonia, W. Wheaton, of

Yorkville, A. P. Foster, of Raymond, and

Paris, were appointed to report resolutions expressive of the sentiments of the meeting.

Convention adjourned to two o'clock P. M.

AFTERNOON SESSION. Committee on resolutions reported the following resolves, which were taken up singly, discussed, and adopted.

Resolved, That in the formation of a constitution for the state of Wisconsin, the convention should enter upon the important work with a spirit of enlightened liberality suited to the progress and advancement of the age; and that the elevation of the mass and the distribution of equal justice to every class, profession, or condition, should be the great object sought to be obtained.

Resolved, That the right of suffrage should be guaranteed to every male citizen of twenty-one years of age or over, unless forfeited as the prescribed penalty of crimeand that freedom of speech, equal political rights, and equal taxation should be guarded by constitutional provisions, without invidious distinctions on account of religion, birth, or color.

Resolved, That universal education is the proper accompaniment and safe-guard of universal suffrage, and that, therefore, the cause of common schools should be among the first objects to claim the attention of the convention, by liberal provisions encouraging their establishment and improvement throughout the state.

Resolved, That the misfortunes of many of the younger members of the confederacy should warn us to adopt a constitutional inhibition to the contraction of a state debt by the legislature, unless authorized by a direct vote of the people-except it be to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or to meet other extraordinary emergencies.

Resolved, That an extensive patronage in the appointing power by the executive is subversive of freedom, and, therefore, that all offices, as far as practicable, should be made elective by the people.