590 



NEW HAMPSHIEE. 



lins was elected for the term of six years, be- 

 ginning with March 4, 1877. 



On June 27th the two Houses met in joint 

 convention to elect some State officers and the 

 State Printer, when the following persons were 

 elected: For Secretary of State, Benjamin F. 

 Prescott, of Epping ; for State Treasurer, 

 Solon A. Carter, of Keene ; for Commissary- 

 General, Frank W. Miller, of Portsmouth ; for 

 State Printer, Edward A. Jenks. 



The Legislature of 1876, having continued 

 in session forty-four days, adjourned on July 

 21st. 



Numerous acts and joint resolutions were 

 passed at this session one to provide for a 

 Constitutional Convention ; also a joint reso- 

 lution appropriating $25,000 to defray the ex- 

 penses of the Constitutional Convention. 



The act appointed the 7th day of November, 

 1876, for the people to elect their delegates to 

 the convention, and the first Wednesday of 

 December next following for the delegates to 

 assemble at Concord. 



With respect to political legislation during 

 the session, a new law regulating naturaliza- 

 tion has been enacted, intended to check the 

 abuses alleged to have taken place by the work- 

 ing of the naturalization system previously in 

 force. The students voting bill, passed in 

 1874, was repealed. 



Soon after the adjournment of the Legisla- 

 ture, Governor Cheney, with his Council, in 

 compliance with the provisions of the act re- 

 organizing the judiciary, appointed the six 

 judges composing the new Supreme Court of 

 the State, superseding the former, as follows : 

 For Chief- Justice, Charles Doe ; for Associate 

 Judges, William L. Foster, Clinton W. Stanley, 

 George A. Bingham, Aaron W. Sawyer, and 

 W. H. H. Allen. 



The Republican State Convention to appoint 

 ten delegates to the Republican National Con- 

 vention to be held at Cincinnati on June 14, 

 1876, assembled at Concord, on May 24th. 

 Daniel Hall, of Dover ; Charles H. Burns, of 

 Wilton ; Nathaniel White, of Concord ; and Ira 

 Colby, of Claremont, were elected delegates at 

 large. 



The following resolution was adopted : 



Resolved, That the Kepublieans of New Hampshire, 

 impressed with the importance of securing the best 

 possible nominations, leave their delegation unin- 

 structed and untrammeled. They only require that 

 the delegation shall use every honorable effort to se- 

 cure the nomination of candidates whose names 

 will inspire confidence and enthusiasm, and whose 

 election in November will be an unfailing assurance 

 to the country of a pure and efficient Administration. 



The convention then adjourned as such, and 

 resolved itself into district meetings to choose 

 their respective delegates to the Cincinnati 

 Convention. 



The Democrats of New Hampshire assem- 

 bled in State Convention at Concord, on the 

 19th of September, 1876, and nominated their 

 candidates for presidential electors. Their 

 names were as follows : Samuel K. Mason, 



of Bristol ; Edmund L. Gushing, of Charles- 

 town ; John T. Cloutman, of Farmington ; 

 Edson Hill, of Manchester; and John W. San- 

 born, of Wakefield. 



The following resolutions were adopted by 

 the convention : 



Resolved., That in Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas 

 A. Hendricks we have candidates whose purity of 

 character and marked ability and eminent public 

 services qualify them for the high positions for 

 which they are named, and render them worthy of 

 the support of all patriotic citizens. 



Resolved, That the platform of the Democratic Na- 

 tional Convention acd Governors Tilden and Hen- 

 dricks's letters of acceptance declare the true princi- 

 ples and views upon which the Government should 

 be administered, and we cordially indorse and re- 

 affirm them. 



Resolved, That the recent order of the President 

 for the employment of the army to control the elec- 

 tions in the Southern States is an outrage upon popu- 

 lar rights and the freedom of the ballot, and a gross 

 imposition of power and violation of the Constitution, 

 and merits the severest condemnation of every pa- 

 triotic citizen. 



The delegates to the Constitutional Conven- 

 tion, chosen by the people at the general elec- 

 tion of November 7th, met together and opened 

 its session at Concord on December 6th. Dan- 

 iel Clark was elected president. (Mr. Clark is 

 at present Judge of the United States District 

 Court, and has formerly represented New 

 Hampshire in the Federal Legislature as Sena- 

 tor for twelve years.) The delegates in at- 

 tendance numbered 32, and continued in ses- 

 sion the remarkably short time of eleven days. 

 The session was closed by final adjournment 

 on December 16th, though under the condi- 

 tional resolution, adopted just before dissolv- 

 ing, " That, when this convention adjourn, it 

 is to meet again at the call of the president of 

 this convention, or the Governor of this State, 

 some time in 1877." 



Thirteen amendments to the old constitution 

 of 1792 were proposed by the convention, and 

 submitted to the people for their ratification ; 

 the most important of which seem to be the 

 following : 



The new instrument doubles the number of 

 Senators in the General Court, by making it 

 24 instead of 12, as it now is. The next 

 Legislature is enjoined to divide the State into 

 four-and-twenty'senatorial districts, equalizing 

 them as far as possible in regard to the amount 

 of direct taxes paid. 



It diminishes by about one-fourth the num- 

 ber of Representatives in the Lower House, by 

 making the right of representation to depend, 

 not on ratable polls, as heretofore, but on the 

 number of inhabitants of the place to be repre- 

 sented, by a certain and uniform rule : " Every 

 town or place entitled to town privileges, and 

 wards of cities, having 600 inhabitants by the 

 last general census of the State, may elect one 

 Representative ; having 1,800 such inhabitants, 

 it may elect two Representatives ; and so pro- 

 ceeding in that proportion, making 1,200 such 

 inhabitants the mean increasing number for 



