1967 WISCONSIN BOOK

tutional convention to draft a fundamental law for the government of their
state. The convention submitted its draft constitution to the people in April
of 1847, but this first draft was rejected by the voters with only 14,119 votes
cast for the proposed constitution, while 30,231 votes were cast against it.
A second draft was submitted in March of 1848 and it was ratified by a
vote of 16,799 "for" and 6,384 "against". The constitution then adopted has
remained the Wisconsin Constitution to this day; however, in the intervening
years 43 of its sections have been affected by 75 amendments.
State Powers and Duties. Wisconsin became a state on May 29, 1848. It
was the 30th state to be admitted to the Union. It became a state, according
to the Wisconsin Enabling Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1846, "on an
equal footing with the original States in all respects whatsoever." The original
13 states, in forming the Union by ratifying the U.S. Constitution, had dele-
gated certain powers to the federal government; when Wisconsin became a
state it consented, by becoming a state, to the same delegation of a portion
of its sovereign powers to Washington. Thus, from the moment of its birth
the State of Wisconsin-its people, its lawmaking bodies, its administrative
machinery, its courts-were subject to the provisions of the U.S. Constitution
and to the express prohibitions of Section 10 of Article I of that document:
"No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confedera-
tion; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills
of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in
Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or
Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of
Nobility.
"No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any
Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be
absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net
Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or
Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States;
and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision, and Controul of
the Congress.
"No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty
of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter
into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a for-
eign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such
imminent Danger as will not admit of delay."
The prohibitions enumerated in the preceding excerpt from the U.S. Con-
stitution are absolute. In addition, there are a number of other areas, enu-
merated in Section 8 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution, in which the origin-
al states told the U.S. Congress to act in their stead; among these are the
regulation of interstate commerce, the establishment of a postal system, and
the granting of patents and copyrights. Since all states admitted to the
Union after it was formed by the original 13 states are on an equal footing
with the original states, any restriction on the sovereignty of the original
states also applies to all other states. But, in all areas in which the states did
not delegate their sovereign powers to the federal government they remain
sovereign, and this was specified in the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Con-
stitution:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu-
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people."
Many Sources of State Law. The Pilgrim Fathers, landing at Plymouth
Rock, allegedly could govern their settlement by the brief Mayflower Com-
pact. As the needs for government have become more complicated, the legal
framework in which government operates has become more detailed.

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