[Weekly Indiana State Journal, March 1, 1851.]

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION.

PROCLAMATION.

BY THE GOVERNOR OF INDIANA.

JOSEPH A. WRIGHT, Governor of the State of Indiana, to the several Judges, Inspectors, and Clerks and other officers of the several counties of this State, authorized by law to hold elections for the various offices of the State, and all others whom it may concern, Greeting:

KNOW YE, That the Convention which assembled on the first Monday of October, 1850, at Indianapolis, for the purpose of revising, amending, or altering the Constitution of this State, have, in pursuance of the law of the land, deposited said Constitution so made in the office of the Secretary of State, due notice of which has been given to me, and a copy of said Constitution is herewith published; and that by virtue of an act of the Legislature, approved on the 14th day of February, 1851, it is directed that said instrument shall be submitted to the people of this State for their adoption or rejection, at the next annual August election, and to say whether said instrument shall or shall not be the Constitution of the State, and among other things provided as follows, to-wit:

Section 2. There shall be a vote taken on the first Monday of August next, on the adoption or rejection of said Constitution, and on the adoption or rejection of the separate articles thereof, relating to the exclusion of negroes and mulattoes from this State; and for this purpose it shall be the duty of the inspectors and judges of elections in the several townships in this State, on said first Monday in August next, to open a poll, in which shall be entered all the votes given for and against the adoption of said Constitution, and of said separate article: Said election shall be by ballot, and

shall be governed in all respects by the laws now in force in relation to general elections, so far as applicable.

Section 3. Those voting against the adoption of said Constitution, shall vote written or printed tickets in this form: "Against the Constitution," and those voting for its adoption shall vote written or printed tickets in this form: "For the Constitution;' In like manner those voting against the second article in relation to the exclusion of negroes and mulattoes, and their colonization, shall have written or printed on his ticket these words, "No exclusion and colonization of Negroes;" and every voter who is in favor of adopting said article shall have written or printed on his ticket these words; "Exclusion and colonization of Negroes and Mulattoes."'

Section 4. Poll books shall be kept, votes counted and certified to the clerks of the different counties as in other elections, and the returns of the votes for and against the adoption of said Constitution, and for and against said separate article, shall be made by said clerks to the Secretary of State, within ten days after said election, and said returns shall, within twenty days thereafter, be examined and canvassed by the Auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, or any two of them, in the presence of the Governor, and such other persons as may choose to attend; and proclamation shall be made forthwith, by the Governor, of the result of the election. If it shall appear that a majority of all the votes polled at such election were given in favor of the adoption of said Constitution, it shall then become the Constitution of the State of Indiana, from the first day of November, 1851; but if it shall appear that a majority of all the votes polled for or against the adoption of said Constitution, and said separate article, were given against the adoption of said Constitution, then the same shall be, and remain, inoperative and void. If it shall further appear that a majority of all the votes polled for or against the adoption of said Constitution and said separate article, were given in favor of the article in relation to the exclusion of negroes and mulattoes and their colonization, then said article shall be, and form a part of said Constitution; otherwise said article shall be void.

THEREFORE, In compliance with the provisions of said Constitution, and of the act aforesaid, I do hereby direct and enjoin upon all the officers of this State, authorized by law to hold the next annual August election, and all others whom it may concern,

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to observe and obey, and in all things to conform to each and all the requirements and provisions of said law.

[Seal]

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have signed this Proclamation, and caused the Seal of this State to be hereunto affixed at Indianapolis, on this, the 25th day of February, A.D. 1851, and in the thirty-fifth year of the State, and the seventy-fifth of the Nation.

JOSEPH A. WRIGHT.

BY THE GOVERNOR:

CHARLES H. TEST, Sec'y of State.

146. Printer to the Convention (February 8, 1851).

The state printer in 1850 was Mr. Jacob P. Chapman a constitutional delegate from Marion county and a Whig in politics. The Democrats desired to appoint a member of their own party and they therefore advanced the theory that the state printer was legally incompetent to do the printing for the Convention. Accordingly, the Convention adopted a resolution providing for the appointment of a committee of seven to "inquire into the legality of the claim of the present state printer to do the printing for this Convention." This committee reported that they were "unanimously of opinion that the state printer is not ex officio the printer to this Convention, and has no legal claim by virtue of his office to do the printing for this Convention”, and this report was concurred in. On October 18, Mr. Austin H. Brown was elected as printer to the Convention. The act herewith set out relates to the rival claims of Chapman and Brown.

[Laws, Thirty-Fifth Session, 139.]

AN ACT in relation to the pay of Austin H. Brown, printer to the Constitutional Convention of Indiana.

Section 1. Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That the Auditor of State be, and he is hereby authorized and required to audit the accounts made by the Constitutional Convention of this State now in session, upon the certificate of the President thereof, which certificate of the President of the Convention shall particularly specify the object of each allowance, and the person or persons in whose favor the same is made:17 Provided, That the aggregate price for printing shall be ascertained in the manner prescribed by the law regulating the measurement of the state printing. And Provided, further, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to 17. See Appendix.

operate against the claim of Jacob P. Chapman, the state printer, or his assignee or assignees, if any he or they have against the state.

Sec. 2. That Erastus W. H. Ellis and John S. Spann, the assignees of Jacob P. Chapman, state printer of the State of Indiana, be, and they are hereby authorized to bring suit against the State of Indiana in the Marion circuit court, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 45, of the general laws of 1840, page 66, for such damages, if any, as they may have sustained in consequence of the printing of the Constitutional Convention being withheld from them.

Sec. 3. This act to be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, February 8, 1851.

147. Appropriations for Expenses of Constitutional Convention (February 12, 1851).

[Laws, Thirty-Fifth Session, 132.]

AN ACT to authorize the Governor, Auditor, and Treasurer of State to borrow money to pay the interest due on the funded debt on the first day of July next, and defray the expenses of the Constitutional Convention.

Section 1. Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That the Governor, Auditor, and Treasurer of State be authorized to borrow from the branches of the State bank of Indiana any sum of money not exceeding one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, which sum, when so borrowed shall be appropriated to the payment of the installment of interest due on the funded debt on the first day of July next.

Sec. 2. That said money shall be repaid to such banks as may lend the same, out of any money in the treasury at any time unappropriated, and the whole shall be refunded by the first day of April, 1852.

Sec. 3. That there be hereby appropriated to the payment of the expenses of the Constitutional Convention a sum of not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated: Provided, That there shall first be set aside an amount sufficient to defray the expenses of the legislature and the ordinary expenses of the State. And in case of a deficit, the same shall be made up by a loan, as provided in the first section of this act.

Sec. 4. That the money so borrowed under the provisions of the

preceding section shall be repaid to such branches as may lend the same, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, and that the same shall be repaid by the first day of April, 1852.

Sec. 5. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

148.

Approved, February 12, 1851.

Distribution of Convention Journals and Debates (February 13, 1851).

A Joint Resolution authorizing the distribution of the Debates of the late Constitutional Convention.

WHEREAS, The Constitutional Convention, at its late session, authorized each member of the present General Assembly, and the officers of the same, to receive a copy of the debates of said Convention, and as but one volume of said debates can be had during the present session of the legislature; therefore,

Section 1. Be it Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That the Secretary of State be, and he is hereby authorized and directed, when he distributes the laws and journals of the present (session) of the General Assembly, he is to distribute the remaining copies of the journal of debates and journals to each person entitled to receive the same, and forward them with the laws and journals to the respective clerks' offices in the different counties where such member or officer may reside. Sec. 2. This joint resolution shall be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, February 13, 1851.

149. Governor's Proclamation Declaring Constitution in Force (September 3, 1851).

On September 3, 1851, when the official returns of the election of August 4, 1851, had been received in the office of the Secretary of State, Governor Joseph A. Wright issued the following proclamation announcing the returns and declaring that by its own provision the Constitution would become effective on November 1, 1851. See Appendix VII.