were to be taken in a very elaborate and complicated manner set forth in the statute. And finally the act provided that no mere informality in the manner of executing the provisions of the act should invalidate any election held under the same, or authorize the rejection of any return from it, nor should any failure on the part of the commissioners to reach or visit any regiment or company, or the failure of any regiment or company to vote, invalidate an election. The right to vote in the field was extended to any part of a company, or to soldiers in any hospital, by an act passed February 27, 1864.2

The question of the constitutionality of this act was decided by the Supreme Court, December 10, 1863.

At the October election, 1862, certain State officers were elected by the votes of soldiers voting in the field outside the State, and were declared elected by the Canvassing Board. A suit was then brought in the District Court to deprive them of their offices, on the ground that the Soldiers' Voting Act was unconstitutional. The Constitution provided that a person who had resided in the State six months next preceding an election, and resided in the County "in which he claimed the right to vote" sixty days before the election, should be entitled to vote. It was claimed that this provision prescribed the place where the voter should vote so that the Legislature could not authorize him to vote anywhere else. The District Court took this view of the matter, and in a somewhat lengthy opinion decided that this clause required a voter to claim his vote in the county of his residence. The case then went to the Supreme Court, and was there argued at great length. The

1 Laws of Iowa, 1862, p. 28.

2 Laws of Iowa, 1864, p. 26.

arguments are printed, and, with the opinion of the Court, occupy forty-seven printed pages in the report. The opinion was written by Judge Wright. The opinion of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin in Chandler vs. Main, which had just been decided, was cited. It was claimed that the affirmative description, of the place of voting as the county of residence of the voter, was a negative to all other places; that it was not necessary to say he should not vote elsewhere. Such negation was implied in the statement that he could vote in his county. It was also claimed that no State could pass a law which operated outside its own territory, and that the penal provisions of the law could not be enforced for that reason.

These objections, with others, were all answered in the opinion of the Court, and it was held that the place of voting was not so specifically prescribed as to prevent the Legislature from authorizing voting anywhere else. In conclusion the Court said:

"Looking, therefore, in conclusion, to both the letter and spirit of the Constitution, only anxious to view the question as one of the legal or constitutional right, we feel constrained to say that this law can be and should be upheld." 1

At the October elections in 1862 the soldiers' vote in the field was 14,880 for the administration candidates, and 4,136 for the opposition candidates, making a total soldiers' vote of 19,013. The total vote of the State was 116,913, which makes the total soldiers' vote about sixteen per cent of the total vote of the State.

The Congressional vote in Iowa in 1862 was: first district Republican 2,499, Democratic 554; second district Republican 2,928, Democratic 828;

Morrison vs. Springer, 14 Iowa, 276.

third district Republican 2,248, Democratic 125; fourth district Republican 3,366, Democratic 1,136; fifth district Republican 2,609, Democratic 672; sixth district Republican 1,214, Democratic 212.

At the State Election in 1863 the soldiers' vote in the field was 17,435 for the Union candidates and 2,289 for the Democratic candidates, making a total soldiers' vote of 19,724 or a little more than 14 per cent of the total vote which was 138,809.

At the presidential election in 1864 the soldiers' vote in the field was 17,310 for Lincoln and 1,921 for McClellan, a total of 19,231 or about 14 per cent of the total vote of the State, which was 138,671.

At the election in 1865 the soldiers' vote in the field was 831 for the Union candidates, and 423 for the opposition, making a total soldiers' vote of 1,254, or less than one per cent of the total vote, which was 125,922.

ΤΗ

CHAPTER VII

WISCONSIN

HE Legislature met in special session on September 10, 1862. In his message to the Legislature, the Governor said with regard to soldiers' voting:

"Another subject to which I desire to call your attention at the present time is the enactment of a law which shall give the soldiers from this state now in the army the right to vote at the next general election. After our quota shall have been filled we shall have about 48,000 men in the army of the Union. Among these, it is safe to presume there are at least 40,000 voters, who certainly have as deep, if not a deeper interest in the welfare of the state and Union, and in the policy that shall guide their counsels in their representative halls as those who have remained at home. The views of these brave and patriotic men should be heard through the ballot box, and should have proper weight in shaping the destiny of our imperilled country. Who votes must bear arms, was the just decision of the Secretary of War; who bears arms should not be disfranchised, but be permitted to vote, should be the policy of the country. There is nothing, I believe, in our Constitution which would prohibit the enactment of such a law. On the contrary, Section 4 of Article 3, provides that 'No person shall be deemed to have lost his residence in this State by reason of his absence on business of the United States or of this State.' This at least indicates that the spirit of our Constitution is against disfranchisement of our soldiers; justice seems to demand that they should be rewarded in a different manner for their patriot

ism than by a loss of the most important rights of citizenship, especially in the present crisis, and it rests therefore with you to say whether our election laws shall be so amended as to permit the taking of the soldiers' vote. It is believed that a law could, without much difficulty, be framed for this purpose, so that the soldiers may vote for the most important public officers, at least for State officers and for their respective representatives in Congress and the State Legislature.

"The three field officers, or in their absence the three ranking officers of each regiment, and three highest commissioned officers, or those acting in their places, of each battery of artillery or each company or squadron of infantry or cavalry on detached service, might be made the inspectors of the election, with power to appoint the proper person clerk of the election, so that the vote may be taken on the day fixed by the Constitution.

"I consider such a law a matter of simple justice, as well as of great importance, and trust therefore that it will meet with your approbation." 1

On the same day a joint resolution was introduced providing that so much of the Governor's message as referred to the granting to soldiers the right of suffrage be referred to a select committee of five to be composed of three members of the Assembly and two members of the Senate, and that they be instructed to report by bill at the earliest possible moment.2 A motion to suspend the rules for the purpose of considering the resolution was lost.

On September 11, so much of the Governor's message as related to giving soldiers in the army the right to vote was referred to a committee of seven.'

On September 13, a resolution was adopted by a vote of 53 to 31, requesting the Attorney General 1 Assembly Journal, Extra Session, 1862, p. 11. 2 Ibid., p. 13.

Ibid., pp. 15, 17.