European Settlement

Minnesota's settlement and organization were influenced by three factors: force, as it was conquered by European powers and later the United States; accident, as some European settlers arrived following the fur trade and American civilians drifted into the territory seeking opportunities; and choice, as the American settlers in the territory decided to establish a civil society.

The Stillwater Convention

In 1838, the region that is now Minnesota was divided between the Iowa and Wisconsin territories. The part of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River within the Iowa Territory remained unoccupied by European Americans. It, therefore, did not require a civil government for the next eight years. When Iowa became a state in 1846, Minnesota became an unorganized territory without issue. The area east of the Mississippi River had several hundred American settlers and was organized as St. Croix County within Wisconsin Territory. However, in 1848, Wisconsin became a state, and St. Croix County was left to its own devices. In response, the settlers in the area held a convention in Stillwater and passed resolutions calling for Congress to establish a new territory named Minnesota. An election was held to choose a new territorial delegate to Congress, and Henry Hastings Sibley was elected. This marked the beginning of Minnesota as a territory. Congress responded to this request by passing the Organic Act of Minnesota, which established the territory and provided for its government. This act remains one of the constitutional documents of the state.

The Organic Act

The Organic Act served as the constitution for the Minnesota Territory from June 1849 until May 1858, when Minnesota became a state. The boundaries of the Minnesota Territory included the eastern half of the Dakotas to the Missouri River, but this area was subsequently detached when Minnesota became a state. The capital of the Minnesota Territory was St. Paul, which became the permanent state capital after an unsuccessful attempt was made in 1857 to move the capital to St. Peter. The Minnesota Territory was governed by an appointed governor and secretary and had an appointed judicial system. It also had a legislative assembly consisting of a nine-member council and an eighteen-member house of representatives, which the territory's residents elected. The Minnesota Historical Society was also established in the territory in 1849 and is now the oldest state institution in Minnesota.

The Organic Act of Minnesota established the territory and provided for its government, including creating a legislative assembly and a judicial system. Local governments were also established, with the right to appoint or elect officers as determined by the territorial governor and legislative assembly. The act also defined the qualifications for voting, which were restricted to free white males who were citizens or had declared their intention to become citizens. The legislative assembly had the power to pass legislation on any subject consistent with the Constitution of the United States, and both the territorial governor and Congress had the right to veto acts of the assembly. The governor's veto could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the assembly, while Congress's veto was final. The act also placed a limitation on the legislative assembly's ability to pass laws concerning the disposal of public land. It imposed higher taxes on non-residents' property compared to residents' property. It reserved sections 16 and 36 in every township for the establishment of a universal education system in the future state. Voting was restricted to white male citizens or those who had declared their intention to become citizens. The act granted veto power to both the territorial governor and Congress, with the governor's veto able to be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the assembly. In contrast, Congress's veto could not be overridden.

Population Growth

The establishment of the territorial government of Minnesota in 1849 greatly encouraged the growth and development of the state. The population increased from around 4,000 non-natives in 1849 to 150,000 in 1857, on the eve of statehood. This growth was facilitated by the territorial government's efforts to extinguish Native American land claims and enable settlers to acquire titles to their lands. About three-quarters of the state was opened to non-Indian settlement between establishing the territorial government and achieving statehood.

The Enabling Act

The Enabling Act was a piece of legislation passed by Congress in 1857 that enabled the people of Minnesota to form a state by holding an election for a constitutional convention, writing a constitution, approving it through a referendum, and submitting it to Congress for admission to the Union. The Enabling Act also established the basic system of federal land grants to the states for common schools, a state university, public buildings, and salt springs, and provided that 5 percent of the proceeds of the sale of federal public lands in Minnesota be granted to the state for building public roads. It also set Minnesota's final borders and provided for concurrent jurisdiction on the Mississippi and other rivers and waters bordering the state, declaring that they should be "common highways and forever free."

During the constitutional convention held in St. Paul in July 1857, tensions between Democratic and Republican delegates were high and the two groups ended up writing separate versions of the constitution. However, the two documents were almost identical, with minor differences in spelling, grammar, and style. The two versions were then submitted to the voters of the state as required by the Enabling Act and both were approved, resulting in Minnesota having two original constitutions. The state's constitution has served for almost 160 years and has not undergone significant revision, although there have been periodic proposals for a constitutional convention.^[1]

Creation and Ratification

An election in Minnesota Territory to select Republican and Democratic delegates to a state constitutional convention was held on June 1, 1857, following passage of an enabling act by the U.S. Congress on February 26 of that year ("The Enabling Act for a State of Minnesota"). The Republican version, as drafted by William Winthrop, a Yale Law graduate, abolitionist, future Civil War officer, and leading scholar of military law, called for universal male suffrage.^[2] The convention was held in Saint Paul from July 13 to August 29. However, the divisions between the two political parties were so great that they each held their own separate conventions and never met together aside from five people from each party who met in a conference committee to create a document acceptable to both sides. Still, the tension was so extreme that delegates would not sign anything that had previously been signed by a member of the complementary convention.

In the end, each convention signed their own copies of the document. The two were essentially identical, but had about 300 differences in punctuation, grammar, and wording because of errors in transcription produced as copyists worked late into the night on August 28. The Republican version, written on white paper, ran 39 pages and was signed by 53 delegates, while the Democratic version, written on blue-tinged paper, was 37 pages long and had 51 signatures.

On October 13, an election to approve the constitution was held. Ballots only provided for an affirmative answer, which probably reduced the number of negative votes since doing so required altering the ballot. The tally was 30,055 for acceptance and 571 for rejection.

The territorial secretary, a Democrat, sent a certified copy of the Democratic version to Washington, D.C. to be ratified by the Senate. A copy of the Republican version was also sent by an unknown party, and there is good historical evidence to show that both versions were available to Congress members. Additionally, the Republican version was sent with the bill returned to Minnesota.

The Minnesota State Legislature began to convene before the constitution was ratified, although officials elected to other positions such as governor did not begin acting in their official roles until later. The first two acts created by the legislature were amendments to the constitution, and they were approved by voters on April 15, 1858. One authorized a loan to railroads of US$5 million, and the other related to the term of office of the first state officers. Amended constitutions were apparently the ones viewed by Congress during the ratification process. The validity of the early laws passed by the Legislature is somewhat in doubt, although they have never been challenged in court.

1974 Alteration

In 1971, the legislature created a commission to study the constitution and make recommendations to maintain its utility. After reviewing the document for two years, it was recommended that the constitution be amended to rewrite it in modern language and allow easier reference. The amendment was approved by voters on November 5, 1974. This did not alter the meaning of the constitution, although if there is a case where meaning is ambiguous, the original document remains the final authority.

The earlier wording of the constitution, including all of the amendments approved since adoption in 1857, is printed in the Minnesota Legislative Manual 1973–74, pages 445–484.