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prohibitory amendment, and we are in favor of the submission of said proposed amendment, as well as other proposed amendments, to the people, according to the provisions of the Constitition for its own amendment, and the people have the right to oppose or favor the adoption of any or all the amendments at all stages of their consideration, and any submission of Constitutional amendments to a vote of the people should be at a time and under circumstances most favorable to a full vote, and therefore, should be at a general election.

355. Republican Platform of 1882-Adoption of Pending Amendments (August 9, 1882).

The Republican State Convention of 1882 was held in Indianapolis on August 9. There were four constitutional amendments pending action by the ensuing General Assembly providing that the terms of all county officers should be four years, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, conferring the right of suffrage on women and fixing the terms of State officers at four years. (See Documents Nos. 333, 334, 336 and 339.) The Republicans declared themselves in favor of "the submission, from time to time, in the respectful obedience to what has been deemed the popular will, of amendments to the national constitution, and the constitution of the State," and they adopted the following resolution demanding the adoption of the pending amendments and their submission to the voters at a special election.

[Indianapolis Journal, August 10, 1882.]

That reposing trust in the people as the fountain of power, we demand that the pending amendments to the Constitution shall be agreed to and submitted by the next legislature to the voters of the State for their decision thereon. These amendments were not partisan in their origin, and are not so in character, and should not be made so in voting upon them. Recognizing the fact that the people are divided in sentiment in regard to the propriety of their adoption or rejection, and cherishing the right of private judgment, we favor the submission of these amendments at a special election, so that there may be an intelligent decision thereon, uninfluenced by partisan issues.

THE FIFTY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY (1883).

The personnel of the 53d General Assembly was as follows: Senate, Republicans 22 and Democrats 28; House, Republicans 41, Democrats 58 and Greenback 1. At the preceding session, four amendments were adopted and manifestly were awaiting action by the session of 1883. The proposed amend

ments were designed to prohibit the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, to extend the right of suffrage to women and to fix the term of State and county officers at four years. One additional amendment was proposed at the 53d session providing that a vote of two-thirds of the members of the General Assembly should be required in adopting amendments to the Constitution. An attempt was also made to provide for the calling of a constitutional convention. At the preceding session, the question was raised whether, since there were amendments pending action by the people in 1881, the General Assembly of that year could legally adopt any additional amendments. The serious consideration of this question was subsequently discontinued and it was generally assumed that the General Assembly had not exceeded its rights in the adoption of these amendments. A state-wide campaign in favor of the adoption of the suffrage and liquor amendments was carried on and several members of the legislature were elected on that issue. During the 53d session more than 270 petitions, bearing over 30,000 names, were submitted in the House and an equal or greater number in the Senate in favor of the adoption of the liquor and suffrage amendments and their submission to the people at a special election.

356. Petitions in Favor of State-Wide Prohibition.

Of the few petitions and memorials preserved, the following in favor of the state-wide prohibition amendent will serve as examples.

PETITION OF FACULTY AND STUDENTS OF INDIANA ASBURY

UNIVERSITY.

[Senate Journal, Fifty-third Session, 297.]

GREENCASTLE, January 4, 1883.

To the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:

The undersigned, members of the Faculty and students of the Indiana Asbury University, believing that ours is a "government of the people by the people, and for the people," believing, also, that our legislators can have no just motive for withholding from the people the right to express, by individual ballot, their several views upon any question of organic law, hereby most respectfully petition the honorable Senate and House of Representatives to take such early action as shall secure the repassage of the pending prohibitory constitutional amendment and its submission to the people for their final ratification or rejection.

That the question may be entirely removed from partisan politics, and its merits be fairly presented to each elector, we further petition and ask that the so-called proposed prohibitory amendment be submitted to the people, at an election called especially for the purpose of amending the constitution.

14-5055a

QUARTERLY CONFERENCE OF METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF

WINCHESTER.

[Senate Journal, Fifty-third Session, 300.]

To the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:

WHEREAS, It has been the recognized right of government to prohibit or destroy anything detrimental to the public good, as decided by the Supreme Court of the United States; and,

WHEREAS, The liquor traffic-the foe of God and man— with its long train of crime and wretchedness, stands judged and condemned by large multitudes of good and intelligent people; and

WHEREAS, The present laws of the State, adopted for the pretended regulation of the sale of intoxicating liquors as beverage, have failed to protect the inhabitants of the State against the excessive taxation, pauperism, crime and the destruction of morals, resulting from the liquor traffic; and

WHEREAS, The last session of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana passed a joint resolution, intended as an amendment to our State Constitution forever prohibiting in the State the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage; therefore,

Resolved, That we, the Quarterly Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Winchester, Indiana, do most heartily approve the action of the last General Assembly of the State of Indiana, in voting to submit to a vote of the people such an amendment to our State constitution.

Resolved, That we hereby memorialize, request, petition and pray your honorable body to agree to said amendment, and vote to submit the same to a direct vote of the people at a special election.

R. D. ROBINSON,

Presiding Elder.

E. H. BUTLER,

Secretary.

H. N. HERRICK,

WINCHESTER, IND., December 10, 1882.

Pastor.

HOUSE RESOLUTION RELATIVE TO TEMPERANCE LEGISLATION.

[House Journal, Fifty-third Session, 391.]

MR. SPEAKER:

WHEREAS, The people of Indiana seem to require something in the interest of temperance of this General Assembly;

WHEREAS, The movement in the direction of any amendment to the constitution of the State is declared a failure; therefore, be it

Resolved, That the committee on temperance of this House be requested to report a bill looking to the rigid enforcement of our present excellent temperance law.

357. Woman Suffrage.

Meantime it was suggested that the proposed amendments had not been regularly adopted because they had not been entered at length in the journals of the two Houses of the preceding General Assembly and this apparently was the only controverted question when the General Assembly convened in 1883. The interest in the feminist movement was reflected in the General Assembly by the appointment of a joint committee of the two Houses to consider all questions pertaining to women's rights. On January 5, the Senate adopted a resolution "That a special committee of five be appointed by the Chair to take into consideration such matters as may be referred to them concerning woman suffrage." On January 24, the Senate adopted a resolution "That a committee be appointed, consisting of four Senators and five Representatives, to be known as the Committee on Women's Claims, to which committee all matters affecting the rights, privileges or claims of the women of Indiana shall be referred," and on the same day this resolution was concurred in by the House. A movement was also on foot to secure an amendment to the federal Constitution extending the right of suffrage to women. On January 25, Senator Foulke introduced the following resolution on behalf of the Equal Suffrage Society of Indianapolis.

PETITION OF EQUAL SUFFRAGE SOCIETY OF INDIANAPOLIS.

[Senate Journal, Fifty-third Session, 293.]

INDIANAPOLIS, January 16, 1883.

To the Honorable President and Senators:

The Equal Suffrage Society of Indianapolis (a list of members of which is appended to this paper), believing the claim of women in Indiana to the right of suffrage to be just, and in accordance with the spirit of our republican institutions, ask your honorable body to submit to the qualified voters of the State, at a special

election, an amendment to the Constitution of the State, giving to all its citizens, without distinction of sex, the right of suffrage.

We also ask your honorable body to pass a resolution requesting our Senators and Representatives in Congress to vote for a sixteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, giving the right of suffrage to all the women of our nation.

We also ask that you appoint a special committee to consider the question of equal suffrage in this State. Very respectfully,

MARY E. N. CAREY,

President.

CLAIRE A. WALKER,

Treasurer.

M. C. RARIDEN, Secretary.

AMENDMENT TO FEDERAL CONSTITUTION (FEBRUARY 1, 1883).

A week later, on February 1, Senator Foulke introduced the following concurrent resolution on the same subject.

[Senate Journal, Fifty-third Session, 384.]

Resolved by the Senate of the State of Indiana, the House of Representatives concurring, That we recommend to our Representatives in Congress, and instruct our Senators, to vote for and urge the passage of Senate Bill No.-, now pending in the Congress of the United States, providing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as follows, to-wit: That the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or any State thereof, on account of sex.

358. Governor Porter Considers the Amendments Regularly Adopted (January 5, 1883).

In his message to the General Assembly on January 5, Governor Porter summarized the various events of the controversy relative to the pending amendments, and, citing the Wabash and Erie Canal amendment as a precedent, advised the legislature that in his judgment the amendments had been regularly adopted.

[House Journal, Fifty-third Session, 46.]

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.

The first section of the sixteenth article of the State Constitution is in the following language:

Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may

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