EXHIBIT No. 1.

AN ACT to provide for the call of a convention to form a State constitution.

Be it enacted by the governor and legislative assembly of the Territory of Kansas as follows:

SECTION 1. That there shall be, at the first general election to come off in October, 1856, a poll opened at the several places of voting throughout this Territory, for taking the sense of the people of this Territory upon the expediency of calling a convention to form a State

constitution.

SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the judges at the several election precincts in this Territory, at the election aforesaid, to cause a poll to be opened, which poll shall contain two columns, one to be headed "convention," the other "no convention ;" and they shall cause the vote of each individual voter to be set in the appropriate column.

SEC. 3. All persons qualified by the laws of the Territory to vote for members of the general assembly shall be entitled to vote for or against said convention.

SEC. 4. At the close of said election, at the several precincts in this Territory, the judges thereof shall cause an abstract of the votes given for and against a convention to be made out and certified to the secretary of the Territory.

SEC. 5. The secretary of the Territory shall, from the abstract of votes certified to him to be cast "for" and "against" "convention" by the said judges of elections, make a full report of the same to the next legislature thereof.

SEC. 6. If a majority of persons shall vote in favor of "convention" at said election held therefor, then it shall be the duty of the legislature held next after the said election to provide for and make all necessary provisions for an election of members to said convention, defining their duties, &c.

This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

EXHIBIT No. 2.

AN ACT to provide for the taking a census, and the election of delegates to a conven tion.

Be it enacted by the governor and legislative assembly of the Territory of Kansas as follows:

SECTION 1. That for the purpose of making an enumeration of the inhabitants entitled to vote under the provisions of this act, an apportionment, and an election of members of a convention, it shall be the duty of the sheriffs of the several counties in Kansas Territory, and they are hereby required, between the first day of March and the first H. Rep. Com. 377-2

day of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, to make an enumeration of all the free male inhabitants, citizens of the United States, over twenty-one years of age, and all other white persons actually residing within their respective counties, and for this purpose shall have power to appoint one or more deputies to assist in such duties, not to exceed one in each municipal township, each of whom, before entering upon his office, shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, and faithfully and impartially discharge the duties imposed on him by this act, according to the best of his skill and judgment, which oath or affirmation shall be administered to them severally, and be duly certified by a judge or clerk of the district court of the United States, or judge or clerk of the probate court for the several counties, or by a justice of the peace, and filed and recorded in the office of the secretary of the Territory.

SECTION 2. In case of any vacancy in the office of sheriff, the duties imposed on such sheriff by this act shall devolve upon, and be performed by, the judge of the probate court of the county in which such vacancy may exist, who may appoint deputies, not to exceed one in each municipal township; and in case the office of both sheriff and probate judge in any county shall be or become vacant, the governor shall appoint some competent resident of such county to perform such duty, who shall have the same right to appoint deputies, take and subscribe the same oath, and perform all the requirements of this act, as applied to sheriffs.

SECTION 3. It shall be the duty of the sheriff, probate judge, or person appointed by the governor as herein provided, in each county or election district, on or before the tenth day of April next, to file in the office of the probate judge for such county or election district, a full and complete list of all the qualified voters resident in his said county or election district, on the first day of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, which list shall exhibit in a fair and legible hand the names of all such legal voters.

SECTION 4. It shall be, and is hereby made, the duty of each probate judge, upon such returns being made without delay, to cause to be posted at three of the most public places in each election precinct in his county or district, one copy of such list of qualified voters, to the end that every inhabitant may inspect the same, and apply to said probate judge to correct any error he may find therein, in the manner hereafter prescribed.

SECTION 5. Said probate judge shall remain in session each day, Sundays excepted, from the time of receiving said returns until the first day of May next, at such places as shall be most convenient to the inhabitants of the county or election district, and proceed to inspection of said returns, and hear, correct, and finally determine according to the facts, without unreasonable delay, all questions concerning the omission of any person from said returns, or the improper insertion of any name on said returns, and any other questions affecting the integrity or fidelity of said returns, and for this purpose shall have power to administer oaths and examine witnesses, and compel their attendance in such manner as said judge shall deem necessary.

SECTION 6. That as soon as the said list of legal voters shall thus have been revised and corrected, it shall be the duty of the several probate judges to make out full and fair copies thereof, and without delay furnish to the governor of the Territory one copy, and to the secretary of the Territory one copy; and it shall be the duty of the governor to cause copies thereof, distinguishing the returns from each county or election district, to be printed and distributed generally among the inhabitants of the Territory, and one copy shall be deposited with the clerk of each court of record, or probate judge, within the limits of said Territory, and one copy delivered to each judge of the election, and at least three copies shall be posted up at each place of voting.

SECTION 7. It shall be the duty of the governor and secretary of the Territory, so soon as the census shall be completed and returns made, to proceed to make an apportionment of the members for the convention among the different counties and election districts in said Territory, in the following manner: the whole number of legal voters shall be divided by sixty, and the product of such division, rejecting any fraction of a unit, shall be ratio or rule of apportionment of members among the several counties or election districts; and if any county or election district shall not have a number of legal voters then ascertained, equal to the ratio, it shall be attached to some adjoining county or district, and thus form a representative district; the number of said voters in each county or district shall then be divided by the ratio, and the product shall be the number of representatives apportioned to such county or district: Provided, that the loss in the number of members, caused by the fraction remaining in the several counties in the division of the legal voters thereof, shall be compensated by assigning so many counties or districts as have the largest fraction, an additional member for its fraction as may be necessary to make the whole number of representatives sixty.

SECTION 8. An election shall be held for members of a convention to form a constitution for the State of Kansas, according to the apportionment to be made as aforesaid, on the third Monday in June next, to be held at the various election precincts established in the Territory, in accordance with the provisions of the law on that subject; and, at such election, no person shall be permitted to vote unless his name shall appear upon said corrected list.

SECTION 9. The board of county commissioners shall appoint the places of voting for their respective counties or election districts; they shall appoint three suitable persons to be judges of the election at each place of voting; they shall cause a notice of the places of holding elections in their respective counties or districts to be published and distributed in every election district or precinct ten days before the day of election. If any judge of election so appointed shall fail or refuse to perform the duties of his said office, the legal voters' assembled at the place, and on the day appointed for said election, shall have the power to fill such vacancy by election among themselves.

SECTION 10. The judges of election shall each, before entering on the discharge of his duties, make oath or affirmation that he will aithfully and impartially discharge the duties of judge of the election

according to law, which oath shall be administered by any officer authorized to administer oaths; the clerks of election shall be appointed by the judges, and they shall take the like oath or affirmation, to be administered by one of the judges, or by any of the officers aforesaid. Duplicate returns of election shall be made and certified by the judges and clerks, one of which shall be deposited with the board of county commissioners for the county or district in which the election is held, and the other shall be transmitted to the secretary of the Territory; and the one having the highest number of votes in his county or election district shall be the representative for such county or district; and in case of a tie, or a contest in which it cannot be satisfactorily determined who was duly elected, the convention, when assembled, shall order a new election, as herein provided.

SECTION 11. Every bona fide inhabitant of the Territory of Kansas on the third Monday of June, one thousand eight hundred and fiftyseven, being a citizen of the United States, over the age of twenty-one years, and who shall have resided three months next before said election in the county in which he offers to vote, and no other person whatever shall be entitled to vote at said election; and any person qualified as a voter may be a delegate to said convention, and no other. SECTION 12. All persons hereby authorized to take the census, or to assist in the taking thereof, shall have power to administer oaths and examine persons on oath, in all cases where it may be necessary to the full and faithful performance of their duties under this act.

SECTION 13. If any person by menaces, threats, or force, or by any other unlawful means, shall directly or indirectly attempt to influence any qualified voter in giving his vote, or deter him from going to the polls, or disturb or hinder him in the free exercise of his right of suffrage at said election, the person so offending shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by a fine not less than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not less than three months nor more than six, or by both.

SECTION 14. That every person, not being a qualified voter according to the provisions of this act, who shall vote at any election within said Territory knowing that he is not entitled to vote, and every person who at the same election shall vote more than once, whether at the same or a different place, shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor exceeding two hundred, or by imprisonment not less than three months nor exceeding six, or both.

SECTION 15. Any person whatsoever who may be charged with holding the election herein authorized, who shall wilfully and knowingly commit any fraud or irregularity whatever, with the intent to hinder, or prevent, or defeat a fair expression of the popular vote in the said election, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by fine not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not less than six months nor more than twelve months, or both.

SECTION 16. The delegates thus elected shall assemble in convention at the capital of said Territory on the first Monday of September next, and shall proceed to form its constitution and State government, which

shall be republican in its form, for admission into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, by the name of the State of Kansas.

SECTION 17. Said convention, when assembled, shall elect a presiding officer, and also other officers necessary for the transaction of their business; and the members and officer of said convention shall be entitled to receive the same compensation as the members and officers of the legislative assembly of Kansas Territory, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SECTION 18. All sheriffs and other officers, for the discharge of the duties required of them by this act, shall be entitled to receive four dollars for each day they are necessarily employed.

SECTION 19. Doniphan county shall constitute the first election district; Brown and Nemaha, the second; Atchison, the third; Leavenworth, the fourth; Jefferson, the fifth; Calhoun, the sixth; Marshall, the seventh; Kiley, the eighth; Johnson, the ninth; Douglas, the tenth; Shawnee, Richardson, and Davis, the eleventh; Lykins, the twelfth; Franklin, the thirteenth; Weller, Breckenridge, Wise, and Madison, the fourteenth; Butler and Coffey, the fifteenth; Linn, the sixteenth; Anderson, the seventeenth; Bourbon, McGee, Donn, and Allen, the eighteenth; Woodson, Wilson, Godfrey, Greenwood, and Hunter, the nineteenth.

SECTION 20. All votes given at the election herein provided for shall be viva voce.

SECTION 21. Returns of said enumeration shall be according to the following tabular form:

No. Names of voters.

Heads of families and others. Males. Females. Total.

This bill having been returned by the governor with his objections thereto, and, after reconsideration, having passed both houses by the constitutional majority, it has become a law, this the 19th day of February, A. D. 1857.