176 Hadden—Early Banking in Wisconsin. 
rency. The experience of the past decade had also been suffi¬ 
cient to prejudice the people against banks of issue in any 
form. 
When the first state constitution, drawn up on December 16th, 
1846, was submitted to a popular vote in April, 1847, the oppo¬ 
sition led by the Whigs, was concentrated not only against the 
prohibition of issues by any bank or corporation but also 
against the provision which was aimed to prevent the adoption 
of any free banking law in the future and to prohibit the legis¬ 
lature from conferring any banking privileges whatever upon 
individuals. This provision, the Whigs and the banks claimed, 
was a constitutional departure and its advocates, while admit¬ 
ting it claimed that stringent measures were necessary and that 
the experience of the past demanded that the entire prohibtion 
of free banking should be tried. This article on banking was 
the main cause of the rejection of the first state constitution of 
Wisconsin. The vote resulted in a majority of 6,112 against 
adoption. 
The second constitution prohibited the legislature from con¬ 
ferring banking privileges except upon condition that the law 
conferring the franchise should, after its passage, be submitted 
to the people and approved by a majority vote. This consti¬ 
tution was ratified March 13, 1848, and Wisconsin was formally 
admitted as a state on May 29. 
After the constitution had been in operation three years there 
was a strong sentiment manifested ,in favor of the adoption of 
some state banking system, partly arising from an ever grow¬ 
ing hostility to the monopoly held by the Mitchell Bank. This 
sentiment crystallized in a session of the legislature held in 
1851, when an act was passed proposing to submit the question 
of banking to the will of the people “at the next general 
election. ” 
Accordingly in 1852, the question of “banks or no banks” 
was submitted and a majority vote was polled in favor of “banks. ” 
Thereupon at the next session a law was framed entitled, “An 
Act to Authorize Banking, ” which, being in turn submitted to a 
referendum vote in accordance with a constitutional provision 
was ratified in November 1852. 
