"It secures to the state 500,000 acres of land as a grant.

"It prohibits lotteries, the grand scheme of swindling.

"It guards against a state debt and thereby saves us from the ruinous measures of other states.

"It gives low salaries and thereby prevents corruption.

"It gives unlimited liberty of conscience; and on the subject of education it is fully ample and adequate to all wants.

"The elective franchise favors men not money, and is, therefore, quite liberal.

"It makes every man his own lawyer, which, by the way, will give to many of the professional 'small fry' leave of absence.

"Its bill of rights contains the most salutary and wholesome provisions contained in any constitution.

"And last, though not least, it contains a safe, expeditious, and cheap remedy for amending the constitution.

"Resolved, That the article on banks and banking contains the only true antidote a free and confiding people have to the oppressive operations of the moneyed aristocracy, the shaving propensities of rag barons, and the destructive speculations of banks and monopolists. That this article is well calculated to save our young and beloved Wisconsin from the fraudulent and destructive tendency of the operations of banks and banking and will exempt the people from the loss, destruction, and ruin consequent upon an explosion of rotten banks, and the circulation of a depreciated paper currency.

"Resolved, That among the many other and highly important provisions the article on the rights of married women and on exemptions from forced sale bears a conspicuous position, and settles beyond successful contradiction the following plain facts: "First. The restoration to married women of those rights and privileges to which by the civil law they were and are entitled and from the enjoyment of which they have been unhumanly deprived by statutory enactments.

"Second. That the real and personal property of the wife before marriage and that acquired after marriage is secured to her, separately, in order to save her and her children, in the case of an unfortunate or dissolute husband, from want and starvation, and that this is in strict accordance with the principles of right and the honest dictates of humanity and mercy, which no honest man should either dread or fear.

"Third. That the saving of forty acres of land or a homestead to every family from forced sale is intended to protect honest industry

and meritorious poverty from the insatiable grasp of hard-hearted and merciless creditors, and to secure to the man, his wife, and children, the very means by which they are to obtain a living, and also to avoid that cruel poverty which has no friends and knows no mercy or mitigation, and

"Fourth. That the husband cannot in a moment of frenzy or rashness sell or dispose of his homestead without his wife's consent, thereby putting it out of the power of designing men at once to beggar husband, wife, and children, and that so far as the credit system is connected with this article we hold it is a settled and undeniable truth that it will make buyers more honest and the sellers more discreet and circumspect in all their business transactions, and enable the latter so to husband their affairs as to meet all their engagements with certainty and save themselves from what too frequently occurs in this our day of wild speculation and unrestrained trading-bankruptcies, assignments, and ruin."

The committee appointed to draft a series of resolutions having returned, the chairman reported the following, which were unanimously adopted, and the committee discharged, viz.,

"Resolved, That we will form a Dane County Constitutional Club, to be governed by a president and such number of vice presidents as may be appointed at any meeting, and two secretaries.

"Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting the adoption of the constitution framed by the recent convention at this place will secure the essential rights and promote the best interests of the people of Wisconsin; while it is the only means of effecting a speedy termination of their present territorial vassalage. That, entertaining these views, we intend to vote for it-to work for it—and to recommend it to our friends throughout the territory, with all earnestness and energy.

"Resolved, That we hail the great leading features of the proposed constitution as presenting the surest, soundest, and broadest platform of civil and religious liberty ever yet laid before the world; and we deem their preservation inestimably more precious than the correction of a few alleged defects, which time and trial may yet approve, or which the people can alter, amend, or eradicate in their own time and way.

"Resolved, That, while we accord to every independent elector the right to think and act for himself, and while we freely admit that objections exist in different minds against different portions of the constitution, we cannot regard those differences as forming any suf

ficient ground for opposing the whole instrument, or for subjecting the people to the danger, the delay, and the expense of a new trial for the doubtful chance of a better instrument.

"Resolved, That in view of the invaluable rights and interests involved in the adoption or rejection of the proposed constitution, we invoke to the subject the candid, cool, and enlightened consideration of men of all parties; we ask them to examine the ground on which they stand and to determine for themselves whether the result of a rejection of this instrument will not be disastrous to the public peace, fruitful in strife and division, prolific of debt and taxation, and, possibly, the first step towards a form of government hostile to the best interests of the sovereign people.

"Resolved, That the occasion calls for the best energies of the friends of popular government; that we call upon them to be up and doing; that we invoke upon their efforts a spirit of harmony, concession, and honorable union; that we pledge ourselves to one another and to the people of the territory to act upon these principles and to give to the constitution our hearty, united, and untiring support, until the ballot boxes shall tell the final result.

"Resolved, That as friends of the constitution we fear to endanger the dear principles of equal rights that are engrafted therein, by refusing to adopt the one now presented for our acceptance.

"Resolved, That while we recommend every voter of Wisconsin to support the constitution on its merits, we think it inexpedient to urge its adoption on party grounds merely."

On motion of J. G. Knapp the meeting proceeded to the permanent organization of the Dane County Constitutional Club by the choice of J. C. Fairchild Esq., as president, and Ira W. Bird and Daniel Noble Johnson, secretaries.

The resolutions introduced by R. W. Lansing Esq. were then taken up and adopted. After several addresses from friends of the cause it was "Resolved, That the proceedings of the meeting be published in the Wisconsin Democrat."

The thanks of the meeting having been tendered to the Chair, on motion the meeting adjourned to meet on Saturday, the sixth of March, at two o'clock, P. M.

"AGRICOLA'S" VIEWS ON EXEMPTION

[March 13, 1847]

BERIAH BROWN Esq., Sir: In my other communication in relation to the constitution I confined my remarks to the article securing the rights of married women. I propose in this to examine the exemption from forced sale. This article provides that "forty acres of land, to be selected by the owner thereof, or the homestead of a family, not exceeding forty acres, which said land or homestead shall not be included within any city or village and shall not exceed in value one thousand dollars, or instead thereof (at the option of the owner) any lot or lots in any city or village, being the homestead of a family and not exceeding in value one thousand dollars, owned and occupied by any resident of this state, shall not be subject to forced sale on execution for any debt or debts growing out of or founded upon contract, either expressed or implied, made after the adoption of this constitution.”

The object and intention of this provision is clearly manifest upon its face. It neither requires lawyers nor judges to expound its meaning, although it had been seen in some of the published speeches and other articles in circulation against this provision-it is said— "that it is the opinion of one of the judges of the supreme court and of several good lawyers that the adoption of this section repeals all laws and prevents all legislation upon the subject of exemptions"; and the same writer or speech maker says that "one of the rules for the construction of constitutions laid down by Judge Story is that the adoption of one provision includes all others upon the same subject." And he proceeds to argue that for these reasons no laws can be passed exempting chattels and other articles of personal property from sale upon execution. As well might it be said that because the legislature had at one time adopted a provision exempting one cow from execution they are forever thereafter inhibited from altering that provision or exercising any jurisdiction upon that subject by way of addition, amendment, or otherwise. Now, sir, everyone knows, even of the most limited information, that in almost all the old states in the Union the laws in relation to the exemption of property from forced sale upon execution have been gradually undergoing modifications and amendments for the last forty years.

I do not pretend to rank among the legal gentlemen, nor have I any pretensions as a lawyer; yet I am willing to place myself before the country in opposition to such a construction of this article in the constitution. It is not only against reason and propriety as well as against all the objects and intentions of its friends who adopted it, but it is equally against the common sense of every man, at variance with every day's practice, and calculated totally to prevent all improvement or advancement in our regulations, laws, or privileges whatever. No man should be envied for entertaining these opinions; he ought rather to be pitied, for if no advancement can be made or improvements suggested in our constitutions and laws, we have come to a standstill have arrived at the utmost limit of human perfection and no further advance in human regulations is to be expected.

From a long course of observation I have become perfectly satisfied that one of the inherent principles implanted in man from his creation, growing with his growth and increasing with his strength, was this: that he was a progressive; by which I mean that he was continually undergoing changes, making improvements, advancing in science and arts, and consequently adopting new and improved systems of government from time to time, as experience should suggest or prudence dictate. In this view of the subject I am persuaded a great majority of the people of this territory concur, and therefore I have no hesitation in submitting this question to them upon its merits.

That a freehold estate should be secured to every household within the state to some amount I am fully persuaded a vast majority of the people are prepared to sanction. The only question in my view of the case is as to the amount of its value. The limitation is fixed by the constitution at one thousand dollars. What better or more proper amount could have been adopted? If anything be exempted, as a homestead of a family, it ought to contain a comfortable dwelling house and some land upon which provision for a family could be raised. And certainly less than forty acres would not answer that purpose, nor could the value be less than one thousand dollars, if the house and other improvements are to be calculated as a part thereof, which they should, as is manifestly the intention of the constitution.

While this provision thus secures to every family a house in which to live, if they have built it, and a small quantity of land from which this land [provision] may be raised, the limitation of its value to one thousand dollars effectually prevents its affording any protection to the fraudulent debtor; nor does it hold out any inducement or