INDIANA. 



407 



to ratify an amendment proposed to the Constitution 

 of the United States as a condition precedent to rep- 

 resentation in Congress ; that all such acts of ratifi- 

 cation are null and void, and the votes so obtained 

 ought not to be counted to affect the rights of the 

 people and the States of the whole Union ; and that 

 the State of Indiana protests and solemnly declares 

 that the so-called fifteenth amendment is not this 

 day, nor ever has been in law, a part of the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States. 



Resolved, further, by the authority aforesaid, That 

 the State of 4 Indiana does now propose and ask that 

 the Congress of the United States may and will, as 

 soon as practicable, call a convention of the States 

 and the people, according to the provisions of the 

 fifth article of the Constitution of the United States, 

 for the purpose of proposing amendment's to said 

 Constitution for the ratification of the States. 



Resolved, further, by the authority aforesaid, That 

 the Governor of Indiana be, and is hereby, directed to 

 transmit an authenticated copy of these resolutions 

 and the preamble thereto to each of the Governors of 

 the several States of the Union, and to each of our 

 Senators and Representatives in Congress. 



These resolutions passed the Senate by a 

 strict party vote, 26 to 20, and in the House 

 were referred to the Committee on Federal 

 Eelations, by a vote of 47 to 43, from which 

 they had not been reported when the session 

 was broken up by the resignation of Republi- 

 can members already alluded to. 



The controversy regarding the purchase of 

 the Wabash & Erie Canal by the State, or 

 the assumption of the debt incurred in the 

 construction, which had been waged during the 

 political canvass of 1870, was renewed in the 

 Legislature, the members having been chosen 

 mainly with reference to this issue. An ac- 

 count of the origin of this controversy was 

 given in the preceding volume of this work. 

 The subject was brought up at the present 

 session in the following resolutions, which 

 formed the text of a long debate : 



Whereas, For some months past it has been stated 

 in the public prints that an effort would be made to 

 have the present General Assembly of this State 

 purchase the Wabash & Erie Canal, and in pay- 

 ment therefor assume the payment of the canal 

 bonds, the payment of which, by the act of January 

 19, 1846, and the act of January 27, 1847, supplement- 

 ary thereto, commonly known as the " Sutler Bills," 

 is charged exclusively upon said canal, its lands, 

 tolls, and revenues ; and 



Whereas, His Excellency, Governor Baker, did on 

 the 5th day of November, 1868, allow the United 

 States a credit on the allowed war claims held by 

 this State against the United States, of two hundred 

 and seventy-seven thousand three hundred dollars, 

 which credit was allowed because of the United 

 States surrendering to His Excellency one hundred 

 and forty-one old internal improvement bonds of 

 the denomination of one thousand dollars each, and 

 interest thereon to the amount of one hundred and 

 thirty-six thousand three hundred dollars, which 

 improvement bonds were issued prior to the year 

 1846, under the laws to provide for a general system 

 of internal improvement in this State ; and 



Whereas, The payment of the full amount of prin- 

 cipal and interest of said old internal improvement 

 bonds, by His Excellency, was unauthorized by any 

 law of this State, and in direct violation of the act 

 of January 19, 1846, entitled " An act to provide for 

 the funded debt of the State of Indiana, and for the 

 completion of the Wabash & Erie Canal to Evans- 

 ville," and the act of January 27, 1847, supplement- 



ary thereto, and particularly in violation of the lat- 

 ter proviso of section eight of said last-mentioned 

 act : therefore, be it 



Resolved, by the Senate, the House of Represent- 

 atives concurring, That the General Assembly of 

 the State of Indiana has no power under the con- 

 stitution of the State to purchase the Wabash & 

 Erie Canal, and, if the General Assembly had the 

 power, it would be impolitic, unwise, and injurious 

 to the best interests of the people of the State to 

 purchase said canal : And be it further 



Resolved, by the Senate, the House of Represent- 

 atives concurring, That the action of* His Excel- 

 lency, the Governor of this State, on the 5th day of 

 November, 1868, in the settlement of one hundred 

 and forty-one of the old internal improvement bonds, 

 the principal and interest thereof amounting to two 

 hundred and seventy-seven thousand three hundred 

 dollars, was unauthorized by any law of this State, 

 in direct violation of the acts of 1846 and 1847, com- 

 monly known as the " Butler Bills," and meets the 

 disapproval of this General Assembly : And be it 

 further 



Resolved, by the Senate, the House of Represent- 

 atives concurring, That this General Assembly of 

 the State of Indiana will make no provision for the 

 payment of the principal or interest of the old inter- 

 nal improvement bonds, except as provided in the 

 acts ot 1846 and 1847, commonly known as the 

 "Butler Bills." 



This subject was finally disposed of by the 

 adoption of an amendment to the Constitu- 

 tion in the following words, to form an ad- 

 ditional section to the 10th article of that in- 

 strument : 



No law or resolution shall be passed by the 

 General Assembly of the State of Indiana that shall 

 recognize any liability of the State to pay or redeem 

 any certificate of stock issued in pursuance of an act 

 entitled " An act to provide for the funded debt of 

 the State of Indiana and for the completion of the 

 Wabash & Erie Canal to Evansville," passed Janu- 

 ary 19, 1846, and an act supplemental to said act, 

 passed January 29, 1847, which, by the provisions ot 

 said acts, or either of them, shall be payable exclu- 

 sively from the proceeds of the canal-lands and the 

 tolls and revenues of the canal in said acts mention- 

 ed, and no such certificates of stocks shall ever be 

 paid by the State. 



In order to become operative as a part of 

 the constitution, this section must receive the 

 sanction of the Legislature elected in 1872, 

 and then be ratified by a vote of the people. 



Numerous petitions were received asking 

 for the extension of the right of suffrage to 

 women, and several hearings were given, in a 

 joint convention of the two Houses, to the 

 advocates of an amendment to the constitu- 

 tion to secure that object. The whole subject 

 was then referred to a select committee in the 

 Senate, and two reports were subsequently 

 made. A majority of the committee reported 

 adversely upon this proposed change, and a 

 minority submitted a resolution proposing a 

 constitutional amendment giving the elective 

 franchise to all women twenty-one years of 

 age and upward. The vote on this resolution 

 stood 20 to 27, and it was rejected. 



Among the important laws passed was one 

 fixing the compensation of State and county 

 officers, and cutting off all constructive fees 

 and allowances ; one distributing $600,000 in 

 the hands of the State Auditor to the several 



